Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/289

271 To manly virtue. Shall thou hold Thy seat within the northern skies, Or where his fiercest rays the sun Sends forth? Or in the balmy west Wilt shine, where thou mayst hear the waves On Calpe's shore resound? What place In heaven serene shalt thou obtain? When great Alcides is received Among the stars, who will be free From fear? May Jove assign thy place Far from the raging Lion's seat, And burning Crab, lest at sight of thee The frightened stars confuse their laws And Titan quake with fear. So long as blooming flowers shall come With wakening spring; while winter's frosts Strip bare the trees, and summer suns Reclothe them with their wonted green; While in the autumn ripened fruits Fall to the ground: no lapse of time Shall e'er destroy thy memory Upon the earth. For thou shalt live As comrade of the sun and stars. Sooner shall wheat grow in the sea, Or stormy straits with gentle waves Beat on the shore; sooner descend The Bear from out his frozen sky And bathe him in forbidden waves: Than shall the thankful people cease To sing thy praise. And now to thee, O father of the world, we pray: Let do dread beast be born on earth, No monstrous pest; keep this poor world Prom abject fear of heartless kings; Let no one hold the reins of power Who deems his kingdom's glory lies In the terror of his naked sword. But if again some thing of dread