To Thee, much loved, be honour paid,

O glorious Child of Hebrew maid!

To Thee I raise the hymn anew,

Who didst the serpent's wiles subdue,

And drive afar the infernal foe

That filled e'en Paradise with woe:

For, subtle with forbidden fruit,

Of woeful knowledge nurse and root,

Our primal founder he o'ercame,

10And smote the world with death and shame.

All-glorious Thou with many a crown!

Thou didst to wretched earth come down,

To dwell with man by death assailed,

Thyself in mortal body veiled;

And Thou dark Tartarus didst tread,

Midst countless nations of the dead,

Then Hades, ancient-born, amazed,

Did shudder as on Thee he gazed;

And the all-devouring savage hound²⁰²⁰The fabled Cerberus, Janitor Orci.

20Backward recoiled with frightened bound.

But lo! to holy souls, oppressed

With direful woes, Thou gavest rest,

That they in chorus led by Thee,

To praise the Father might be free.

And from below when Thou didst rise,

The demon-hosts beneath the skies,

Unnumbered, quaked, O mighty King,

To hear the judgment Thou shouldst bring.

Then did the stars, immortal band,

30Gazing at Thee, astonished stand.

But Ether laughed, the father he--

The father wise--of harmony;

And mingled from his seven-toned lyre

Bright notes of music's holy fire,

Raising to Lord of earth and sky,

The song of victory on high.

And Lucifer, the guide of day,

With smiling countenance was gay;

And golden Hesperus afar

40Shot beams, the Cythereïan star.

And shepherdess of right, the Moon

Filled her bright crescent with festoon,

And flowering wreath of liquid fire,

And led her peers in joyous choir.

And through the trackless paths of air

Titan spread out his flaming hair:

For God's own Son, the master Mind

Which did all things create and bind

In mutual law, full well he knew,

50From whom his primal fire he drew.

But Thou, as plying heavenly oar,

Or wing of bird, didst upward soar

With holy feet; and o'er the skies

And dark-blue-vaulted heaven didst rise,

Up-mounting to the spheres of light,

The realms of Mind for ever bright.

There goodness from the Fountain-head

In bliss through silent heaven is spread;

There nor deep-flowing restless Time

60Drags earthborn children through the slime

Of coarser matter, nor hard fates

Roll turbid floods o'er mortal states;

But Age himself, the ancient-sprung,

Is ageless, old at once, and young;

And in the unfading courts of love

is steward to the blest above.