The Godlike

(1820)

In one great man we view with odds A parallel to all the gods. Great Jove, that shook heaven with his brow, Could never match his princely bow. In him a Bacchus we behold: Like Bacchus, too, he ne'er grows old. Like Phoebus next, a flaming lover; And then he's Mercury--all over. A Vulcan, for domestic strife, He lamely lives without his wife. And sure--unless our wits be dull-- Minerva-like, when moon was full, He issued from paternal skull.