Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The House of Fame
12:56 Full in the midst of this created space,
12:57 Betwixt Heav'n, Earth, and skies, there stands a place,
12:58 Confining on all three, with triple bound;
12:59 Whence all things, tho' remote, are view'd around;
12:60 And thither bring their undulating sound.
12:61 The palace of loud Fame, her seat of pow'r,
12:62 Plac'd on the summet of a lofty tow'r;
12:63 A thousand winding entries long and wide,
12:64 Receive of fresh reports a flowing tide.
12:65 A thousand crannies in the walls are made;
12:66 Nor gate, nor bars exclude the busie trade.
12:67 'Tis built of brass, the better to diffuse
12:68 The spreading sounds, and multiply the news:
12:69 Where eccho's in repeated eccho's play:
12:70 A mart for ever full, and open night and day.
12:71 Nor silence is within, nor voice express,
12:72 But a deaf noise of sounds, that never cease.
12:73 Confus'd and chiding, like the hollow roar
12:74 Of tides, receding from th' insulted shore,
12:75 Or like the broken thunder heard from far,
12:76 When Jove at distance drives the rouling war.
12:77 The courts are fill'd with a tumultuous din
12:78 Of crouds, or issuing forth, or entring in:
12:79 A thorough-fare of news: where some devise
12:80 Things never heard, some mingle truth with lies;
12:81 The troubled air with empty sounds they beat,
12:82 Intent to hear, and eager to repeat.
12:83 Error sits brooding there, with added train
12:84 Of vain credulity, and joys as vain:
12:85 Suspicion, with sedition join'd, are near,
12:86 And rumours rais'd, and murmurs mix'd, and panique fear.
12:87 Fame sits aloft, and sees the subject ground,
12:88 And seas about, and skies above; enquiring all around.
12:89 The Goddess gives th' alarm; and soon is known
12:90 The Grecian fleet descending on the town.
12:91 Fix'd on defence, the Trojans are not slow
12:92 To guard their shore, from an expected foe.
12:93 They meet in fight: by Hector's fatal hand
12:94 Protesilaus falls, and bites the strand:
12:95 Which with expence of blood the Grecians won;
12:96 And prov'd the strength unknown of Priam's son.
12:97 And to their cost the Trojan leaders felt
12:98 The Grecian heroes; and what deaths they dealt.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The House of Fame
12:56 Full in the midst of this created space,
12:57 Betwixt Heav'n, Earth, and skies, there stands a place,
12:58 Confining on all three, with triple bound;
12:59 Whence all things, tho' remote, are view'd around;
12:60 And thither bring their undulating sound.
12:61 The palace of loud Fame, her seat of pow'r,
12:62 Plac'd on the summet of a lofty tow'r;
12:63 A thousand winding entries long and wide,
12:64 Receive of fresh reports a flowing tide.
12:65 A thousand crannies in the walls are made;
12:66 Nor gate, nor bars exclude the busie trade.
12:67 'Tis built of brass, the better to diffuse
12:68 The spreading sounds, and multiply the news:
12:69 Where eccho's in repeated eccho's play:
12:70 A mart for ever full, and open night and day.
12:71 Nor silence is within, nor voice express,
12:72 But a deaf noise of sounds, that never cease.
12:73 Confus'd and chiding, like the hollow roar
12:74 Of tides, receding from th' insulted shore,
12:75 Or like the broken thunder heard from far,
12:76 When Jove at distance drives the rouling war.
12:77 The courts are fill'd with a tumultuous din
12:78 Of crouds, or issuing forth, or entring in:
12:79 A thorough-fare of news: where some devise
12:80 Things never heard, some mingle truth with lies;
12:81 The troubled air with empty sounds they beat,
12:82 Intent to hear, and eager to repeat.
12:83 Error sits brooding there, with added train
12:84 Of vain credulity, and joys as vain:
12:85 Suspicion, with sedition join'd, are near,
12:86 And rumours rais'd, and murmurs mix'd, and panique fear.
12:87 Fame sits aloft, and sees the subject ground,
12:88 And seas about, and skies above; enquiring all around.
12:89 The Goddess gives th' alarm; and soon is known
12:90 The Grecian fleet descending on the town.
12:91 Fix'd on defence, the Trojans are not slow
12:92 To guard their shore, from an expected foe.
12:93 They meet in fight: by Hector's fatal hand
12:94 Protesilaus falls, and bites the strand:
12:95 Which with expence of blood the Grecians won;
12:96 And prov'd the strength unknown of Priam's son.
12:97 And to their cost the Trojan leaders felt
12:98 The Grecian heroes; and what deaths they dealt.