Metamorphoses by Ovid

Meantime they seek who may the mighty load Sustain; who may succeed so great a king. Fame, harbinger of truth, the realm decreed To noble Numa. Not content to know The laws and customs of the Sabine race, His mind capacious grasp'd a larger field. He sought for nature's laws. Fir'd by this wish, His country left, he journey'd to the town Of him, who erst was great Alcides' host: And as he sought to learn what founder first These Grecian walls rear'd on Italia's shore, Thus an old 'habitant, well vers'd in tales Of yore, reply'd.--"Jove's son, rich in the herds "Iberia bred, his prosperous journey bent "By ocean unto fair Lacinia's shores: "Enter'd himself the hospitable roof "Of mighty Croto, while his cattle' stray'd "Amid the tender grass; and his long toil "Reliev'd by rest.

Here dwelt a sage whom Samos claim'd by birth, But Samos and its masters he had fled; A willing exile from tyrannic rule. Though from celestial regions far remov'd His mind to heaven could soar; with mental eyes He things explor'd which to the human ken Nature deny'd. When all with watchful care Was learnt in secret, to the listening crowd He public spoke. Told to their wondering ears The primal origin of this great world; The cause of things; what nature is; what god; Whence snow; and whence tremendous thunder springs, -- From Jove, or from the rattling of rent clouds; What shakes earth's pillars; by what law the stars Wander; and what besides lies hid from man. And first that animals should heap the board For food, he strict forbade; and first in words Thus eloquent, but unbeliev'd he spoke.