O Glory of the Greeks ! who first didst chase 

 The mind's dread darkness with celestial day. 

 The worth illustrating of human life — 

 Thee, glad, I follow — with firm foot resolved 

 To tread the path imprinted by thy steps ; 

 Not urged by competition, but, alone. 

 Studious thy toils to copy; for, in powers, 

 How can the swallow with the swan contend? 

 Or the young kid, all tremulous of limb. 

 Strive with the strength, the fleetness of the horse; 

 Thou, sire of science ! with paternal truths 

 Thy sons enrichest : from thy peerless page, 

 Illustrious chief ! as from the flowery field 

 Th' industrious bee culls honey, we alike 

 Cull many a golden precept — golden each — 

 And each most worthy everlasting life. 



For as the doctrines of thy godlike mind 

 Prove into birth how nature first uprose. 

 All terrors vanish; the blue walls of heaven 

 Fly instant — and the boundless void throughout 

 Teems with created things. 



— Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, Book III. 



