Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

From every blaft of her contagious breath,
Famine and drought proceed, and plagues, and
death.

A robe obfcene was o'er her fhoulders thrown,
A drefs by fates and furies worn alone.
She tofs'd her meagre arms; her better hand
In waving circles whirl'd a funeral brand:
A ferpent from her left was feen to rear
His flaming creft, and lash the yielding air.

But when the Fury took her ftand on high,
Where vaft Citharon's top falutes the sky,
A hifs from all the fnaky tire went round;
The dreadful fignal all the rocks rebound,
And through th' Achaian cities fend the found..
Octe, with high Parnaffus, heard the voice;
Eurotas' banks remurmur'd to the noise;
Again Leucothoë shook at these alarms,
And prefs'd Palæmon closer in her arms.
Headlong from thence the glowing Fury springs,
And o'er the Theban palace fpreads her wings,
Once more invades the guilty dome, and shrouds
Its bright pavilions in a veil of clouds.
Straight with the rage of all their race poffefs'd,"
Stung to the foul, the brothers ftart from reft,
And all their furies wake within their breast.
Their tortur'd minds repining Envy tears,
And Hate, engender'd by suspicious fears;
And facred thirst of fway; and all the ties
Of nature broke; and royal perjuries;
And impotent Defire to reign alone,
That fcorns the dull reverfion of a throne;
Each would the sweets of fovereign rule devour,
While Difcord waits upon divided power.

As ftubborn fteers by brawny ploughmen broke, And join'd reluctant to the galling yoke, Alike difdain with fervile necks to bear Th' unwonted weight, or drag the crooked share, But rend the reins, and bound a different way, And all the furrows in confufion lay; Such was the difcord of the royal pair, Whom fury drove precipitate to war. In vain the chiefs contriv'd a fpecious way, To govern Thebes by their alternate sway; Unjuft decree! while this enjoys the state, That mourns in exile his unequal fate, And the fhort monarch of a hafty year Forefees with anguifh his returning heir. Thus did the league their impious arms reftrain, But fcarce fubfifted to the second reign.

Yet then, no proud aspiring piles were rais'd, No fretted roofs with polish'd metals blaz'd; No labour'd columns in long order plac'd, No Grecian flone the pompous arches grac'd; No nightly bands in glittering armour wait Before the fleepless tyrant's guarded gate; No chargers then were wrought in burnish'd gold. Nor filver vafes took the forming mould; Nor gems on bowls embofs'd were feen to fhine, Blaze on the brims, and sparkle in the wineSay, wretched rivals! what provekes your rage? Say, to what end your impious arms engage? Not all bright Phoebus views in early morn, Or when his evening beams the weft adorn, When the fouth glows with his meridian ray, And the cold north receives a fainter day;

For crimes like thefe, not all thofe realms fuffice, Were all those realms the guilty victor's prize!

But fortune now (the lots of empire thrown) Decrees to proud Eteocles the crown:

What joys, oh tyrant! swell'd thy foul that day,
When all were flaves thou couldst around survey,
Pleas'd to behold unbounded power thy own,
And fingly fill a fear'd and envy'd throne!
But the vile vulgar, ever difcontent,
Their growing fears in fecret murmurs vent;
Still prone to change, though ftill the flaves of state,
And fure the monarch whom they have, to hate;
New lords they madly make, then tamely bear,
And foftly curfe the tyrants whom they fear.
And one of those who groan beneath the sway
Of kings impos'd, and grudgingly obey,
(Whom envy to the great and vulgar fpite
With scandal arm'd, th' ignoble mind's delight)
Exclaim'd-O Thebes! for thee what fates remain
What woes attend this inaufpicious reign!
Muft we, alas! our doubtful necks prepare,
Each haughty masters yoke by turns to bear,
And ftill to change whom chang'd we still must
fear?

Thefe now controul a wretched people's fate,
Thefe can divide, and these reverse the ftate :
Ev'n fortune rules no more :-O fervile land,
Where exil'd tyrants ftill by turns command!
Thou fire of gods and men, imperial Jove!

Is this th' eternal doom decreed above?
On thy own offspring haft thou fix'd this fate,
From the first birth of our unhappy state;
When banish'd Cadmus, wandering o'er the main,
For loft Europa fearch'd the world in vain,
And, fated in Beotion fields to found
A rifing empire on a foreign ground,

Firft rais'd our walls on that ill-omen'd plain,
Where earth-born brothers were by brothers flain?
What lofty looks th' unrival'd monarch bears!
How all the tyrant in his face appears!
What fullen fury clouds his fcornful brow?
Gods! how his eyes with threatening ardour glow!
Can this imperious lord forget to reign,
Quit all his state, defcend, and ferve again?
Yet who, before, more popularly bow'd,
Who more propitious to the fuppliant crowd?
Patient of right, familiar in the throne?
What wonder then? he was not then alone.
O wretched we, a vile fubmiffive train,
Fortune's tame fools, and flaves in every reign!

As when two winds with rival force contend,
This way and that, the wavering fails they bend,
While freezing Boreas and black Eurus blow,
Now here, now there, the reeling veffel throw;
Thus, on each fide, alas! our tottering state
Feels all the fury of refiftless fate;

And doubtful fill, and still distracted stands,
While that prince threatens, and while this com-
And now th' almighty father of the gods [mands.
Convenes a council in the bleft abodes:
Far in the bright receffes of the skies,
High o'er the rolling heavens, a manfion lies,
Whence, far below, the gods at once furvey

The realms of riding and declining day, "."[fea. }

Full in the midft, and on a starry throne,
The majefty of heaven fuperior fhone;
Serene he look'd, and gave an awful nod,
And all the trembling spheres confefs'd the God.
At Jove's affent, the deities around
In folemn state the confiftory crown'd.
Next a long order of inferior powers
Afcend from hills, and plains, and shady bowers;
Those from whofe urns the rolling rivers flow;
And those that give the wandering winds to blow:
Here all their rage, and ev'n their murmurs cease,
And facred filence reigns, and univerfal peace.
A fhining fynod of majestic gods
Gilds with new lustre the divine abodes;
Heaven feems improv'd with a fuperior ray,
And the bright arch reflects a double day.
The monarch then his folemn filence broke,
The ftill creation liftened while he spoke;
Each facred accent bears eternal weight.
And each irrevocable word is fate.

How long shall man the wrath of Heaven defy,
And force unwilling vengeance from the sky!
Oh race confederate into crimes, that prove
Triumphant o'er th' eluded rage of Jove!
This weary arm can scarce the bolt sustain,
And unregarded thunder rolls in vain :

Th' o'erlabour'd Cyclop from his task retires;
Th' Æolian forge exhaufted of its fires,
For this I fuffer'd Phoebus' steeds to ftray,
And the mad ruler to misguide the day,
When the wide earth to heaps of ashes turn'd,
And heaven itself the wandering chariot burn'd.
For this, my brother of the watery reign
Releas'd th' impetuous fluices of the main :
But flames confum'd, and billows rag'd in vain.
Two races now, ally'd to Jove, offend:
To punish these, see Jove himself defcend.

}

The Theban kings their line from Cadmus trace,
From godlike Perfeus those of Argive race.
Unhappy Cadmus' fate who does not know,
And the long series of fucceeding woe?
How oft the furies, from the deeps of night,
Arose, and mix'd with men in mortal fight:
Th' exulting mother, ftain'd with filial blood;
The favage hunter, and the haunted wood?
The direful banquet why should I proclaim,
And crimes that grieve the trembling gods to
name?

Ere I recount the fins of these profane,
The fun would fink into the western main,
And rifing gild the radiant east again.
Have we not feen (the blood of Laius fhed)
The murdering fon afcend his parent's bed,
Through violated nature force his way,
And ftain the facred womb where once he lay?
Yet now in darkness and defpair he groans,
And for the crimes of guilty fate atones;
His fons with fcorn their eyelefs father view,
Infult his wounds, and make them bleed anew.
Thy curfe, oh! Oedipus, juft heaven alarms,
And lets th' avenging thunderer in arms.
I from the root thy guilty race will tear,
And give the nations to the wafte of war.
Adrailus foon, with gods averfe, thall join

[blocks in formation]

(With fudden grief her labouring bofom burn'd):
Muft I, whofe cares Phoroneus' towers defend,
Muft I, oh Jove, in bloody wars contend?
Thou know'st thofe regions my protection claim,
Glorious in arms, in riches, and in fame :
Though there the fair Ægyptian heifer fed,
And there deluded Argus flept, and bled;
Though there the brazen tower was storm'd of old,
When Jove defcended in almighty gold.
Yet I can pardon those obfcurer rapes,
Those bashful crimes difguis'd in borrow'd fhapes;
But Thebes, where, fhining in celeftial charms,
Thou cam'ft triumphant to a mortal's arms,
When all my glories o'er her limbs were spread,
And blazing lightnings danc'd around her bed;
Curs'd Thebes the vengeance it deferves may

prove

Ah, why fhould Argos feel the rage of Jove?
Yet, fince thou wilt thy fifter queen controul,
Since ftill the luft of difcord fires thy foul,
Go, raze my Samos, let Mycene fall,
And level with the duft the Spartan wall;
No more let mortals Juno's power invoke,
Her fanes no more with eaftern incenfe fmoke,
Nor victims fink beneath the facred ftroke;
But to your Ifis all my rights transfer,
Let altars blaze and temples smoke for her;
For her, through Egypt's fruitful clime renown'd,
Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel found.
But if thou muft reform the ftubborn times,
Avenging on the fons the father's crimes,
And from the long records of distant age
Derive incitements to renew thy rage;
Say, from what period then has Jove defign'd
To date his vengeance; to what bounds confin'd?
Begin from whence, where first Alpheus hides
His wandering ftream, and through the briny

tides

Unmix'd to his Sicilian river glides.

Thy own Arcadians there the thunder claim,
Whole impious rites difgrace the mighty name;
Who raise thy temples where the chariot stood
Of fierce Oenomäus, defil'd with blood;
Where once his fteeds their favage banquet found
And human bones yet whiten all the ground.
Say, can thofe honours please? and canft thou
love
Prefumptuous Crete, that boafts the tomb of Jove!
And fhall not Tautalus's kingdom share
Thy wife and fifter's tutelary care?
Reverse, O Jove, thy too severe decree,
Nor doom to war a race deriv'd from thee;
On impious realms and barbarous kings impofe
Thy plagues, and curfe them with fuch fons as

thofe.

Thus, in reproach and prayer, the queen exprefs'd The rage and grief contending in her breaft; Unmov'd remain'd the ruler of the sky,

'Twas thus I deem'd thy haughty foul would bear" The dire, though juft, revenge which I prepare Against a nation thy peculiar care :

No lefs Dione might for Thebes contend,
Nor Bacchus lefs his native town defend ;
Yet thefe in filence fee the fates fulfil

Their work, and reverence our fuperior will.
For, by the black infernal Styx I swear,
(That dreadful oath which binds the thunderer),
'Tis fix'd; th' irrevocable doom of Jove;
No force can bend me, no perfuafion move.
Haste then, Cyllenius, through the liquid air;
Go mount the winds, and to the shades repair;
Bid hell's black monarch my commands obey,
And give up Laius to the realms of day,
Whose ghoft, yet shivering on Cocytus' fand,
Expects its paffage to the farther strand:
Let the pale fire revifit Thebes, and bear
Thefe pleafing orders to the tyrant's ear;
That, from his exil'd brother, fwell'd with pride
Of foreign forces, and his Argive bride,
-Almighty Jove commands him to detain
The promis'd empire, and alternate reign:
Be this the cause of more than mortal hate:
The reft, fucceeding times fhall ripen into fate.
The god obeys, and to his feet applies
Those golden wings that cut the yielding skies.
His ample hat his beamy locks o'erfpread,
And veil'd the starry glories of his head.
He feiz'd the wand that causes fleep to fly,
Or in foft flumbers feals the wakeful eye;
That drives the dead to dark Tartarian coafts,
Or back to life compels the wandering ghofts.
Thus, through the parting clouds, the son of May
Wings on the whistling winds his rapid way ;
Now smoothly fteers through air his equal flight,
Now springs aloft, and towers th' etherial height;
Then wheeling down the steep of heaven he flies,
And draws a radiant circle o'er the skies.

Meantime the banish'd Polynices roves (His Thebes abandon'd) through th' Aonian groves, [light, While future realms his wandering thoughts deHis daily vision, and his dream by night; Forbidden Thebes appears before his eye, From whence he sees his abfent brother fly, With transport views the airy rule his own, And fwells on an imaginary throne. Fain would he caft a tedious age away, And live out all in one triumphant day. He chides the lazy progress of the fun, And bids the year with fwifter motion run. With anxious hopes his craving mind is toft, And all his joys in length of wifhes loft.

The hero then refolves his course to bend Where ancient Danaus' fruitful fields extend, And fam'd Mycene's lofty towers ascend, (Where late the fun did Atreus' crimes deteft, And disappear'd in horror of the feast.) And now, by chance, by fate, or furies led, From Bacchus' confecrated caves he fled, Where the fhrill cries of frantic matrons found. And Pentheus' blood enrich'd the rifing ground. Then fees Citharon towering o'er the plain,

Next to the bounds of Nifus' realm repairs, Where treacherous Scylla cut the purple hairs? The hanging cliffs of Scyron's rock explores, And hears the murmurs of the different fhores : Paffes the ftraight that parts the foaming feas, And ftately Corinth's pleafing fite furveys.

'Twas now the time when Phoebus yields tonight,
And rifing Cynthia sheds her filver light,
Wide o'er the world in folemn pomp the drew
Her airy chariot hung with pearly dew;
All birds and beafts lie hufh'd: fleep fteals away
The wild defires of men, and toils of day,
And brings, defcending through the filent air,
A sweet forgetfulness of human care.
Yet no red clouds, with golden borders gay,
Promise the skies the bright return of day;
No faint reflections of the diftant light
Streak with long gleams the scattering fhades of
night;

From the damp earth impervious vapours rise,
Increase the darkness, and involve the skies.
At once the roaring skies with rushing found
Burft from th' Æolian caves, and rend the ground.
With equal rage their airy quarrel try,
And win by turns the kingdom of the sky;
But with a thicker night black Auster shrouds
The heavens, and drives on heaps the rolling clouds,
From whofe dark womb a rattling tempeft pours,
Which the cold north congeals to haily showers.
From pole to pole the thunder roars aloud,
And broken lightnings flash from every cloud.
Now fmokes with fhowers the misty mountain

ground,

And floated fields lie undistinguish'd round.
Th' Inachian streams with headlong fury run,
And Erifinus rolls a deluge on:

The foaming Lerna (wells above its bounds,
And spreads its ancient poisons o'er the grounds:
Where late was duft, now rapid torrents play,
Rush through the mounds, and bear the dams a◄
way:

Old limbs of trees from crackling forests torn,
Are whirl'd in air, and on the winds are borne:
The ftorm the dark Lycæan groves display'd,
And first to light expos'd the facred fhade.
Th' intrepid Theban bears the bursting sky,
Sees yawning rocks in massy fragments fly,
And views aftonish'd from the hills afar,
The floods defcending, and the watery war,
That, driven by storms, and pouring o'er the plain,
Swept, herds and hinds, and houses to the main.
Through the brown horrors of the night he fled,
Nor knows, amaz'd, what doubtful path to tread;
His brother's image to his mind appears,
Inflames his heart with rage, and wings his feet,
with fears.

So fares a failor on the ftormy main,
When clouds conceal Boote's golden wain,
When not a star its friendly luftre keeps,
Not trembling Cynthia glimmers on the deeps;
He dreads the rocks, and fhoals, and feas, and skies,
While thunder roars, and lightning round him

flies.

Thus ftrove the chief, on every side distress'd,

With his broad fhield oppos'd, he forc'd his way Through thickest woods, and rous'd the beafts of

prey.

Till he beheld, where from Leriffa's height
The shelving walls reflect a glancing light:
Thither with hafte the Theban hero flies;
On this fide Lerna's poisonous water lies,
On that Profymna's grove and temple rife:
He pafs'd the gates which then unguarded lay,
And to the regal palace bent his way;
On the cold marble, spent with toil, he lies,
And waits till pleafing flumber feal his eyes.
Adraftus here his happy people sways,
Bleft with calm peace in his delining days.
By both his parents of descent divine,

Great Jove and Phœbus grac'd his noble line:
Heaven had not crown'd his wishes with a fon,
But two fair daughters heir'd his state and throne.
To him Apollo (wondrous to relate!

But who can pierce into the depths of fate ?)
Had fung-" Expect thy fons on Argos' shore,
"A yellow lion, and a briftly boar."
This long refolv'd in his paternal breast,
Sate heavy on his heart, and broke his reft;
This, great Amphiaraus, lay hid from thee,
Though skill'd in fate, and dark futurity.
The father's care and prophet's art were vain,
For thus did the predicting god ordain.

Lo hapless Tydeus, whofe ill fated hand
Had flain his brother, leaves his native land,
And feiz'd with horror in the fhades of night,
Through the thick deferts headlong urg'd his flight:
Now by the fury of the tempeft driven,
He feeks a fhelter from th' inclement heaven,
Till, led by Fate, the Theban's steps he treads,
And to fair Argos' open court fucceeds.

When thus the chiefs from different lands refort T' Adraftus' realms, and hofpitable court; The king furveys his guests with curious eyes, And views their arms and habit with furprise. A lion's yellow fkin the Theban wears, Horrid his mane, and rough with curling hairs; Such one employ'd Alcides' youthful toils, Ere yet adorn'd with Nemea's dreadful spoils. A boar's fliff hide, of Calydonian breed, Denides' manly fhoulders overspread: Oblique his tufks, erect his briftles ftood; Alive, the pride and terror of the wood. Struck with the fight, and fix'd in deep amaze, The king th' accomplish'd oracle furveys, Reveres Apollo's vocal caves, and owns The guided godhead, and his future fons. O'er all his bofom secret transports reign, And a glad horror fhoots through every vein. To heaven he lifts his hands, erect his fight, And thus invokes the filent queen of night: Goddess of fhades, beneath whofe gloomy reign, Yon' fpangled arch glows with the starry train; You who the cares of heaven and earth allay, Till nature quicken'd by th' infpiring ray, Wakes to new vigour with the rifing day; O thou who freeft me from my doubtful state, Long loft and wilder'd in the maze of fate! Be prefent ftill, oh goddefs! in our aid;

We to thy name our annual rites will pay,
And on thy altars facrifices lay.
The fable flock fhall fall beneath the ftroke,
And fill thy temples with a grateful smoke.
Hail, faithful Tripos! hail, ye dark abodes
Of awful Phoebus: I confefs the gods!

Thus, feiz'd with facred fear, the monarch
pray'd;

Then to his inner court the guests convey'd :
Where yet thin fumes from dying sparks arife,
And duft yet white upon each altar lies,
The relics of a former facrifice.

The king once more the folemn rites requires,
And bids renew the feafts, and wake the fires.
His train obey, while all the courts around
With noify care and various tumult found.
Embroider'd purple clothes the golden beds; ·
This flave the floor, and that the table spreads;
A third difpels the darkness of the night,
And fills depending lamps with beams of light;
Here loaves in canisters are pil'd on high,
And there in flames the flaughter'd victims fly.
Sublime in regal state Adraftus fhone,
Stretch'd on rich carpets on his ivory throne;
A lofty couch receives each princely guest;
Around at awful diftance wait the rest.

And now the king, his royal feaft to grace,
Aceftis calls, the guardian of his race,
Who first their youth in arts of virtue train'd,
And their ripe years in modest grace maintain'd;
Then foftly whisper'd in her faithful ear,
And bade his daughters at the rites appear.
When, from the clofe apartments of the night,
The royal nymphs approach divinely bright;
Such was Diana's, fuch Minerva's face:
Nor fhine their beauties with fuperior grace,
But that in these a milder charm endears,
And lefs of terror in their looks appears.
As on the heroes first they caft their eyes,
O'er their fair cheeks the glowing blushes rife,
Their downcaft looks a decent shame confefs'd,
Then on their father's reverend features rest.

The banquet done, the monarch gives the sign
To fill the goblet high with sparkling wine,
Which Danaus us'd in facred rites of old,
With sculpture grac'd, and rough with rifing gold.
Here to the clouds victorious Perfeus flies,
Medusa seems to move her languid eyes,
And, ev'n in gold, turns paler as she dies.
There from the chafe Jove's towering eagle bears,
On golden wings, the Phrygian to the stars:
Still as he rifes in th' etherial height,
His native mountains leffen to his fight;
While all his fad companions upward gaze,
Fix'd on the glorious fcene in wild amaze;
And the fwift hounds, affrighted as he flies,
Run to the shade, and bark against the skies.
This golden bowl with generous juice was
crown'd,

The first libation sprinkled on the ground:
By turns on each celeftial power they call;
With Phoebus' name refounds the vaulted hall.
The courtly train, the strangers, and the reft,
Crown'd with chafte laurel, and with garlanda

While with rich gums the fuming altars blaze,
Salute the god in numerous hymns of praife.

Then thus the king: Perhaps, my noble guefts,
These honour'd altars, and these annual feafts
To bright Apollo's awful name defign'd,
Unknown, with wonder may perplex your mind.
Great was the caufe; our old folemnities
From no blind zeal or fond tradition rife;
But, fav'd from death, our Argives yearly pay
These grateful honours to the God of day.

When by a thousand darts the Python flain With orbs unroll'd lay covering all the plain, (Transfix'd as o'er Caftalia's streams he hung, And fuck'd new poifons with his triple tongue) 'To Argos' realms the victor god reforts, And enters old Crotopus' humble courts. This rural prince one only daughter blefs'd, That all the charms of blooming youth poffefs'd; Fair was her face, and spotlefs was her mind, Where filial love with virgin fweetness join'd. Happy! and happy ftill fhe might have prov'd, Were the lefs beautiful, or lefs belov'd! But Phoebus lov'd, and on the flowery fide Of Nemea's ftream the yielding fair enjoy'd : Now, e'er ten moons their orb with light adorn, Th' illuftrious offspring of the God was born; The nymph, her father's anger to evade, Retires from Argos to the fylvan fhade; To woods and wilds the pleafing burden bears, And trufts her infant to a fhepherd's cares.

[ocr errors]

How mean a fate, unhappy child, is thine! Ah, how unworthy thofe of race divine! On flowery herbs in fome green covert laid, His bed the ground, his canopy the shade, He mixes with the bleeting lambs his cries, While the rude fwain his rural music tries, To call foft flumber on his infant eyes. Yet even in those obscure abodes to live, Was more, alas! than cruel fate would give; For on the graffy verdure as he lay, And breath'd the freshness of the early day, Devouring dogs the helpless infant tore, Fed on his trembling limbs, and lapp'd the gore. Th' aftonifh'd mother, when the rumour came, Forgets her father, and negle&s her fame, With loud complaints the fills the yielding air, And beats her breasts, and rends her flowing hair; Then wild with anguish to her fire fhe flies, Demands the fentence, and contented dies.

But, touch'd with forrow for the dead too late, The raging god prepares t' avenge her fate. He fends a monfter, horrible and fell, Begot by furies in the depths of hell. The peft a virgin's face and bofom bears; High on a crown a rifing snake appears, Guards her black front, and hiffes in her hairs: About the realm the walks her dreadful round, When night with fable wings o'erfpreads the ground,

Devours young babes before their parents eyes, And feeds and thrives on public miferies.

But generous rage the boid Chorebus warms, Chorobus, fam'd for virtue, as for arms; Some few like him, infpir'd with martial flame,

Thefe, where two ways in equal parts divide,
The direful monster from afar defcry'd;
Two bleeding babes depending at her fide,
Whose panting vitals, warm with life, fhe draws,
And in their hearts embrues her cruel claws.
The youths furround her with extended fpears;
But brave Chorcbus in the front appears,
Deep in her breast he plung'd his fhining (word,
And hell's dire monster back to hell reftor'd.
Th' Inachians view the flain with vast surprise,
Her twifting volumes, and her rolling eyes,
Her spotted breast, and gaping womb embru'd
With livid poifon, and our children's blood.
The crowd in ftupid wonder fix'd appear,
Pale ev'n in joy, nor yet forget to fear.

Some with vaft beams the fqualid corpfe engage,

And weary all the wild efforts of rage,
The birds obfcene, that nightly flock'd to tafte,
With hollow fcreeches fled the dire repaft;
And ravenous dogs, allur'd by scented blood,
And ftarving wolves ran howling to the wood.

But, fir'd with rage, from cleft Parnaffus' brow
Avenging Phobus bent his deadly bow,
And hiffing flew the feather'd fates below:
A night of fultry clouds involv'd around
The towers, the fields, and the devoted ground:
And now a thousand lives together fled,
Death with his fcythe cut off the fatal thread,
And a whole province in his triumph led.

But Phoebus, afk'd why noxious fires appear,
And raging Sirius blafts the fickly year;
Demands their lives by whom his monfter fell,
And dooms a dreadful facrifice to hell.

Bleft be thy duft, and let eternal fame
Attend thy manes, and preferve thy name,
Undaunted hero! who, divinely brave,
In fuch a caufe difdain'd thy life to fave:
But view'd the fhrine with a fuperior look,
And its upbraided godhead thus bespoke :

With piety, the foul's fecureft guard,
And confcious virtue, ftill its own reward,
Willing I come, unknowing how to fear;
Nor fhalt thou, Phoebus, find a fuppliant here.
Thy monster's death to me was ow'd alone,
And 'tis a deed too glorious to difown.
Behold him here, for whom, fo many days.
Impervious clouds conceal'd thy fullen rays;
For whom, as man no longer claim'd thy care,
Such numbers fell by peftilential air!
But if th' abandon'd race of human kind
From gods above no more compaffion find;
If fuch inclemency in heaven can dwell,
Yet why muft unoffending Argos feel
The vengeance due to this unlucky fteel?
On me, on me, let all thy fury fall,
Nor err from me, fince I deferve it all:
Unless our defert cities pleafe thy fight,
Or funeral flames reflect a grateful light,
Discharge thy fhafts, this ready bofom rend,
And to the fhades a ghoft triumphant fend;
But for my country let my fate atone,
Be mine the vengeance, as the crime my own.
Merit diftrefs'd, impartial heaven relieves :

« AnteriorContinuar »