XXXIV.

And now, regretful of the joys his birth
Had promised; deserts, mounts and streams he crost,
To find, amid the loveliest spots of earth,
Faint likeness of the heaven he had lost.

And oft, by unsuccessful searching pained,
Weary he fainted thro' the toilsome hours;
And then his mystic nature he sustained
On steam of sacrifices--breath of flowers. (4)


XXXV.

Sometimes he gave out oracles, amused
With mortal folly; resting on the shrines;
Or, all in some fair Sibyl's form infused,
Spoke from her quivering lips, or penned her mystic lines. [FN#13]


[FN#13] This passage merely accords with the belief that the
responses of the ancient oracles were spoken by fiends, or evil
spirits. We need only look into the "New Testament for a confirmation
of the power which such beings were supposed to possess of speaking
from the lips of mortals."