LXXXII. To Ocean

The Fumigation from AROMATICS

OCEAN I call, whose nature ever flows,

From whom at first both Gods and men arose;

Sire incorruptible, whose waves surround,  3

And earth's concluding mighty circle bound:

Hence every river, hence the spreading sea, 5

And earth's pure bubbling fountains spring from thee:

Hear, mighty fire, for boundless bliss is thine,

Whose waters purify the pow'rs divine:

Earth's friendly limit, fountain of the pole,

Whose waves wide spreading and circumfluent roll.

Approach benevolent, with placid mind,

And be for ever to thy mystics kind.

Footnotes

219:3 LXXXII. Ver. 3.] Whose waves surround, &c. Gesner well observes, that this opinion of the ocean surrounding the earth, is exceeding ancient. see his Præl. i. de Navigationibus vet. § I.

LXXXIII.