WHEN I have borne in memory what has tamed Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed. But dearly must we prize thee; we who find In thee a bulwark of the cause of men; WORDSWORTH. VOL. 1. ODE ΤΟ THE DEPARTING YEAR. Ιού, τοὺ, ὦ & κακά. Υπ ̓ αὖ με δεινὸς ὀρθομαντείας πόνος Τὸ μέλλον ἥξει. Καὶ σὺ μην τάχει παρὼν ESCHYL. Agam. 1225. ARGUMENT. The Ode commences with an Address to the Divine Providence, that regulates into one vast harmony all the events of time, however calamitous some of them may appear to mortals. The second Strophe calls on men to suspend their private joys and sorrows, and devote them for a while to the cause of human nature in general. The first Epode speaks of the Empress of Russia, who died of an apoplexy on the 17th. of November, 1796; having just concluded a subsidiary treaty with the Kings combined against France. The first and second Antistrophe describe the Image of the Departing Year, &c. as in a vision. The second Epode prophecies, in anguish of spirit, the downfall of this country. ODE ON THE DEPARTING YEAR.* I. SPIRIT who sweepest the wild Harp of Time! Yet, mine eye fixed on Heaven's unchanging clime Then with no unholy madness Ere yet the entered cloud foreclosed my sight, * This Ode was composed on the 24th, 25th, and 26th days of December, 1796: and was first published on the last day of that year. |