To Pluto
Pluto, magnanimous, whose realms profound
Are fix'd beneath the firm and solid
ground,
In the Tartarian plains remote from sight,
And wrapt forever in the depths of night;
Terrestrial Jove, thy sacred ear incline,
And, pleas'd, accept thy mystic's hymn
divine.
Earth's keys to thee, illustrious king
belong,
Its secret gates unlocking, deep and
strong.
'Tis thine, abundant annual fruits to bear,
For needy mortals are thy constant care.
To thee, great king, Avernus is assign'd,
The seat of Gods, and basis of mankind.
Thy throne is fix'd in Hade's dismal
plains,
Distant, unknown to rest, where darkness
reigns;
Where, destitute of breath, pale spectres
dwell,
In endless, dire, inexorable hell;
And in dread Acheron, whose depths obscure,
Earth's stable roots eternally secure.
O mighty daemon, whose decision dread,
The future fate determines of the dead,
With captive Proserpine, thro' grassy
plains,
Drawn in a four-yok'd car with loosen'd
reigns,
Rapt o'er the deep, impell'd by love you
flew
'Till Eleusina's city rose to view:
There, in a won'rous cave obscure and deep,
The sacred maid secure from search you
keep,
The cave of Atthis, whose wide gates
display
An entrance to the kingdoms void of day.
Of unapparent works, thou art alone
The dispensator, visible and known.
O pow'r all-ruling, holy, honor'd light,
Thee sacred poets and their hymns delight:
Propitious to thy mystic's works incline,
Rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.