Great Heav'n, whose mighty frame no respite knows,
Father of all, from whom the world arose:
Hear, bounteous parent, source and end of all,
Forever whirling round this earthly ball;
Abode of Gods, whose guardian pow'r surrounds (6)
Th' eternal World with ever during bounds;
Whose ample bosom and encircling folds
The dire necessity of nature holds.
Aetherial, earthly, whose all-various frame (7)
Azure and full of forms, no power can tame.
All-seeing Heav'n, progenitor of Time,
Forever blessed, deity sublime,
Propitious on a novel mystic shine,
And crown his wishes with a life divine.
6: Whose guardian power surrounds, &c. and line II, All-seeing Heaven, o tou OrfeoV ouranoV ouroV kai pantwn fulax einai bouletai, i.e. "according to Orpheus, Heaven is the inspector and guardian of all things."
7: We have already observed in our Dissertation, that according to the Platonists, subordinate natures are contained in the supreme, and such as are supreme in the subordinate: and this doctrine which is originally Egyptian, is mentioned by Proclus in Tim. p. 292. as Orphical. esti gar kai en gh ouranoV kai en ouranw gh, kai entauqa men o ouranoV cqoniwV, ekei de ouraniwV h gh, i.e. "heaven is in earth, and earth in heaven; but here heaven subsists in an earthly manner, and there earth in a celestial manner."
