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 The thief beholds them, with ambitious eyes, And bent on fraud, he meditates the prize; As the most noble gift he could bestow (Next to the fire) on human race below; At length th' immortals reconcil'd, resign'd The fair celestial sisters to mankind. Tho' bound to Caucasus with solid chains, Th' aspiring robber groan'd in endless pains; By which deter'd, for ages lay supine The race of mortals, nor invok'd the nine; 'Till heav'n in verse shew'd man his future state, And open'd every distant scene of fate. First the great father of the gods above, Sung in Dodona, and the LybianLibyan [sic] grove; Next to th' inquiring nations Themis gave Her sacred answers from the Phocian cave; Then Phœbus warn'd 'em from the Delphick dome Of future times, and ages yet to come; And rev'rend Faunus utter'd truths divine To the first founders of the Latian line. Next the great race of hallow'd prophets came, With them the sibyls of immortal fame. Inspir'd