Pluto

Pluto, magnanimous, whose realms profound
Are fixed beneath the firm and solid ground,

In Tartarian plains remote from fight,
And wrapt forever in the depths of night;

Terrestrial Jove, thy sacred ear incline,
And pleas’d, accept thy mystic’s hymn divine.

Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king belong,
Its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong.

‘Tis thine, abundant annual fruits to bear,
For needy mortals are thy constant care.

To thee, great king, Avernus is assign’d,
The seat of Gods, and basis of mankind.

Thy throne is fixed in Hade’s dismal plains,
Distant, unknown to rest, where darkness reigns;

Where, destitute of breath, pale spectres dwell,
In endless, dire, inexorable hell;

And in dread Acheron, whose depths obscure,
Earth’s stable roots eternally secure.

O mighty daemon, whose decision dread,
The future fate determines of the dead,

With captive Proserpine, through grassy plains,
Drawn in a four-yoked car with loosened reins,

Rapt over the deep, impelled by love, you flew
Till Eleusina’s city rose to view;

There, in a wonderous cave obscure and deep,
The sacred maid secure from search you keep,

The cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display
An entrance to the kingdoms void of day.

Of unapparent works, thou art alone
The dispensator, visible and known.

O power all-ruling, holy, honored light,
Thee sacred poets and their hymns delight:

Propitious to thy mystic’s works incline,
Rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.