IX.
TO NATURE.
* The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS.
NATURE, all parent, ancient, and divine, O Much-mechanic mother, art is thine; p.
127 Heav'nly, abundant, venerable queen, In ev'ry part of thy dominions seen.
p.
128 Untam'd, all-taming, ever splendid light, 5 All ruling, honor'd, and supremly bright.
Immortal, first-born, ever still the same, Nocturnal, starry, shining, glorious dame.
Thy feet's still traces in a circling course, By thee are turn'd, with unremitting force.
10 Pure ornament of all the pow'rs divine, Finite and infinite alike you shine; 12 To all things common and in all things known, Yet incommunicable and alone.
Without a father of thy wond'rous frame, 15 Thyself the father whence thy essence came.
All-flourishing, connecting, mingling soul, Leader and ruler of this mighty whole.
Life-bearer, all-sustaining, various nam'd, And for commanding grace and beauty fam'd.
20 Justice, supreme in might, whose general sway The waters of the restless deep obey.
Ætherial, earthly, for the pious glad, Sweet to the good, but bitter to the bad.
All-wife, all bounteous, provident, divine, 25 A rich increase of nutriment is thine; p.
129 Father of all, great nurse, and mother kind, Abundant, blessed, all-spermatic mind: Mature, impetuous, from whose fertile seeds And plastic hand, this changing scene proceeds.
30 All-parent pow'r, to mortal eyes unseen, Eternal, moving, all-sagacious queen.
By thee the world, whose parts in rapid flow, 33 Like swift descending streams, no respite know, On an eternal hinge, with steady course 35 Is whirl'd, with matchless, unremitting force.
Thron'd on a circling car, thy mighty hand Holds and directs, the reins of wide command.
Various thy essence, honor'd, and the best, Of judgement too, the general end and test.
40 p.
130 Intrepid, fatal, all-subduing dame, Life-everlasting, Parca, breathing flame.
Immortal, Providence, the world is thine, And thou art all things, architect divine.
O blessed Goddess, hear thy suppliant's pray'r, 45 And make my future life, thy constant care; Give plenteous seasons, and sufficient wealth, And crown my days with lasting, peace and health.
Footnotes 126:* Nature, according to the theologists, as related by Proclus, in Tim.
p.
iv.
is the last of the demiurgic causes of this sensible world, and the boundary of the latitude of incorporeal essences: and is full of reasons and powers, by which she governs the universe, every where connecting parts with their wholes.
Hence p.
127 Nature is represented in this Hymn as turning the still traces of her feet with a swift whirling.
For since she is the last of the demiurgic causes, her operations aptly symbolize with the traces of feet.
Now the reason why the epithets of much-mechanic, all-artist, connecting, all-wife, providence, &c.
are given to nature, which evince her agreement with Minerva, is because that Goddess, according to the Orphic theology, fabricated the variegated veil of nature, from that wisdom and virtue of which she is the presiding divinity.
Themes
◆Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
Nature is described as 'incommunicable,' 'to mortal eyes unseen,' and transcending finite categories.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
[auto] The text explicitly names Nature as 'Providence' and 'provident,' governing the universe with 'unremitting force.'
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] The text describes a flow from divine intellect to matter through 'temporal signatures of things eternal' and 'divisible representatives'.