(The fumigation from Myrrh)

 

Hear, Neptune, ruler of the sea profound,

Whose liquid grasp begirts the solid ground;

Who, at the bottom of the stormy main,

Dark and deep-bosom'd, hold'st thy wat'ry reign;

Thy awful hand the brazen trident bears,

And ocean's utmost bound, thy will reveres:

Thee I invoke, whose steeds the foam divide,

From whose dark locks the briny waters glide;

Whose voice loud sounding thro' the roaring deep,

Drives all its billows, in a raging heap;

When fiercely riding thro' the boiling sea,

Thy hoarse command the trembling waves obey.

Earth shaking, dark-hair'd God, the liquid plains

(The third division) Fate to thee ordains,

'Tis thine, caerulian daemon, to survey

Well pleas'd the monsters of the ocean play,

Confirm earth's basis, and with prosp'rous gales

Waft ships along, and swell the spacious sails;

Add gentle Peace, and fair-hair'd Health beside,

And pour abundance in a blameless tide.