Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/444

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
408
MISCELLANIES.

PROLOGUE

to

Mr. ADDISON's Tragedy

of

CATO.

TO wake the soul by tender strokes of art,To raise the genius, and to mend the heart;To make mankind in conscious virtue bold,Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold:For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage,Commanding tears to stream thro' ev'ry age;Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,and foes to virtue wonder'd how they wept.Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move,The hero's glory, or the virgin's love;

In

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.