Ye nymphs of Troy, for beauty fam'd, who

trace

From Xanthus' fertile freams your ancient race,
Oft on whofe fandy banks your tires are laid,
And many a trinket which your hands have made,
What time to Ida's hallow'd mount ye throng,
To join the feftive choir in dance and fong;
No longer on your favourite banks repofe,
But come, the judgment of the fwain disclose.
Say from what hills, to tracklefs deeps unknown,
Rush'd with impetuous zeal the daring clown; fo❘
Say to what end, with future ills replete,
O'er diftant oceans fail'd a mighty fleet;
What feas could this adventurous youth embroil,
Sow difcord's feeds, o'er what difaftrous foil?
Say from what fource arofe the dire debate,
Which fwains could end and goddeffes create.
What his decifion? Of the Grecian dame
Who to the fhepherd's ear convey'd the name ?
Speak, for ye faw, on Ida's still retreat,
Judicial Paris fill his shepherd's seat ;
Venus ye faw, the graces' darling queen,
As on her judge approv'd the fmil'd ferene.
What time Hæmonia's lofty mountains rung
With hymeneal fongs for Peleus fung,
Officious Ganymede, at Jove's request,
Supplied with fparkling wine each welcome gueft;
And all the gods to Thetis' nuptials came,
Sifter of Amphitrite, honour'd dame.
Earth-fhaking Neptune left his azure main,
And Jove fupreme forfook his ftarry plain : 30
From Helicon, with odorous fhrubs o'erfpread,
The mufes' tuneful choir Apollo led.
Him Juno follow'd, wife of fovereign Jove:
With harmony the fmiling queen of love
Haften'd to join the gods of Chiron's feftive

grove.

Cupid's full quiver o'er her fhoulder thrown,
Perfuafion follow'd with a bridal crown.
Minerva, though to nuptial rites a foe,
Came; but no helmet nodded o'er her brow.
Diana to the Centaur's grove reforts,
And for one day forgets her rural (ports.
His loofe locks fhaking as the zephyrs play'd,
Not long behind convivial Bacchus ftay'd.
War's god, as when to Vulcan's dome he fped,
No fpear his hand fuftain'd, no cafque his head,

20

40

Such now, without his helmet or his lance,
Smiling he look'd, and led the bridal dance.
But from thefe blissful scenes was difcord warn'd;
Peleus rejected her, and Chiron fcorn'd.

And by the gadfly ftung, the heifer strays 50
Far from its fields, through every devious maze;
Thus, ftung with envy, difcord roam'd, nor ceas'd
Her baneful arts to interrupt the feast.
Oft from her flinty bed she rush'd amain,
Then flood, then funk into her seat again :
With desperate hand fhe tore her fnaky head,
And with a ferpent-fcourge fhe lafh'd her flinty
bed.

To dart the forky lightning, and command
From hell's abyfs the Titans' impious band,
Jove from his throne with rebel-arm to wreft, 60
Were projects form'd within the fury's breast.
But, though incens'd she dreaded Vulcan's ire,
Who forms Jove's bolt, and checks the raging
fire,

Her purpofe changing, fhe with rattling arms
Diffention meditates and dire alarms;
If haply clattering fhields can strike dismay,
And from the nuptials drive the gods away.
But Mars fhe dreaded, oft in arms array'd,
And this new project with complacence weigh'd..
The burnifh'd apples, rich with golden rind, 70
Growth of Hefperian gardens ftruck her mind.
Refolv'd contention's baneful feeds to fow,
She tore the blushing apple from its bough,
Grafp'd the dire fource whence future battles
fprung,

And midft the gods the golden mifchief flung.
The ftately wife of Jove with wondering eyes
Beheld and wish'd to grafp the golden prize.
Beauty's fair queen to catch the apple ftrove;
For 'tis the prize of beauty and of love.
Jove mark'd the conteft, and, to crush debate, 80
Thus counsel'd Hermes, who befide him fat:
Paris, perchance, from Priam fprung, you'
'know:

His herds he grazes on mount Ida's brow,
And oft conducts them to the dewy meads,

• Through which his streams the Phrygian Xan 'thus leads:

Show him yon prize, and urge him to declare Which of thefe goddeffes he deems most fair:

91

In whom, of all his matchless skill can trace • The close arch'd eyebrow and the roundest face, On fuch a face, where bends the circling bow, The golden apple, beauty's prize, bestow.' Thus fpoke the fire: the willing son obey'd And to their judge the deities convey'd. Each anxious fair her charms to heighten tries, And dart new luftre from her sparkling eyes. Her veil afide infidious Venus flung; Loose from the claíp her fragrant ringlets hung; She then in golden cauls each curl comprefs'd, Summon'd her little loves and thus addrefs'd: Behold, my fons, the hour of trial near! Embrace, my loves, and bid me banish fear. This days decifion will enhance my fame, • Crown beauty's queen, or fink in endless fhame. Doubting I ftand, to whom the swain may say, Bear thou, moft fair, the golden prize away. • Nurs'd was each grace by Juno's foftering hand; And crowns and fceptres fhift at her com'mand.

100

And now they reach mount Ida's graffy steep, Where youthful Paris feeds his father's fheep: What time he tends them in the plains below, .. Through which the waters of Anaurus flow, Apart.he counts his cattle's numerous ftock, Apart he numbers all his fleecy flock.

A wild goat's fkin, around his shoulders cast, 130
Loofe fell and flow'd below his girded waift.
A paftoral staff, which fwains delight to hold,
His roving herds protected and controll'd.
Accoutred thus, and warbling o'er his fong,
He to his pipe melodious pac'd along.
Unnotted oft, while he renews his lay,
His flocks defert him, and his oxen ftray.
Swift to his bower retires the tuneful man,
To pipe the praife of Hermes and of Pan.
Sunk is each animal in dead repofe;
No dog around him barks, no heifer lows:
Echo alone rebounds through Ida's hills,
And all the air with founds imperfect fills.
'The cattle, flunk upon their verdant bed,
Clofe by their piping lord repese their head.
Beneath the fhades which fheltering thickets blend,
When Paris' eye approaching Hermes ken'd,
Back he retires, with fudden fear impress'd,
And fhuns the prefence of the heavenly guest ;

To the thick fhrubs his tuneful reed conveys, 150 | And all unfinish'd leaves his warbled lays. Thus winged Hermes to the shepherd faid, Who mark'd the gods approach with filent dread: 'Difmifs thy fears, nor with thy flocks adide; 'A mighty contest Paris muft decide.

Hafte, judge announc'd; for whose decision wait 'Three lovely females, of celestial state. 'Hafte, and the triumph of that face declare,

Which sweetest looks, and fairest midst the fair: 'Let her, whofe form thy critic eye prefers, 160 'Claim beauty's prize, and be this apple hers.

Thus Hermes fpoke; the ready fwain obey'd,
And to decide the mighty caufe effay'd.
With keenest look he mark'd the heavenly dames;
Their eyes, quick flashing as the lightning's flames,
Their fnowy necks, their garments fring'd with
gold,

And rich embroidery wrought in every fold;
Their gait he mark'd, as gracefully they mov❜d,
And round their feet his eye fagacious rov'd.
But, ere the smiling swain his thoughts exprefs'd,
Grafping his hand him Pallas thus addrefs'd; 171

Regard not Phrygian youth, the wife of Jove, 'Nor Venus heed the queen of wedded love : 'But martial prowess if thy wisdom prize, 'Know, I poffefs it; praise me to the skies.

Thee, fame reports, puissant states obey, 'And Troy's proud city owns thy sovereign sway; 'Her suffering fons thy conquering arm shall 'fhield,

'And stern Bellona fhall to Paris yield.

180

O Comply; her fuccour will Minerva lend, Teach thee war's fcience, and in fight defend.' Thus Pallas ftrove to influence the swain, Whose favour Juno thus attempts to gain:

Should't thou with beauty's prize my charms reward,

All Afia's realms fhall own thee for their lord. Say, what from battles but contention springs? Such contefts fhun; for what are wars to kings? • But him, whose hands the rod of empire sway, Cowards revere, and conquerors obey.

Minerva's friends are oft Bellona's flaves, 190 And the fiend flaughters whom the goddess 'faves.'

Proffers of boundless sway thus Juno made; And Venus thus, contemptuous fmiling, said: But first her floating veil aloft she threw, And all her graces to the fhepherd shew; Loofen'd her little loves' attractive chain, And tried each art to captivate the swain. Accept my boon' (thus fpoke the smiling dame),

Battles forget, and dread Bellona's name. Beauty's rich meed at Venus' hand receive, 'And Afia's wide domain to tyrants leave. 201 The deathful fight, the din of arms l fear; Can Venus' hand direct the martiai spear? Women with beauty stoutest hearts affail, Beauty, their best defence, their strongest mail.

• Prefer domestic ease to martial strife, And to exploits of war a pleasing wife,

To realms extensive Helen's bed prefer,

And scoff at kingdoms, when oppos'd to her.

210

Thy prize with envy Sparta fhall furvey, And Troy to Paris tune the bridal lay.' The shepherd, who astonish'd stood and mute, Confign'd to Venus the Hefperian fruit, The claim of beauty, and the source of woes; For dire debates from this decifion rofe. Uplifting in her hand the glowing prize, She allied thus the vanquish'd deities:

To me, ye martial dames, the prize refign; Beauty I court, and beauty's prize is mine. "Mother of mighty Mars and Vulcan too, 220 Fame fays, the choir of graces fprung from

'you:

Yet distant far, this day, your daughters stray'd, 'And no one grace appear'd to lend you aid. 'Mars too declin'd t' affert his mother's right, Though oft his brandish'd fword decides the fight.

His boafted flames why could not Vulcan cast, 'And at one blaze his mother's rivals blaft? Vain are thy triumphs, Fallas, vain thy fcorn; Thou, not in wedlock, nor of woman born. Jove's teeming head the monstrous birth con⚫tains,

230 * And the barb'd iron ripp'd thee from his brains. 'Brac'd with th' unyielding plaits of ruthlefs

'mail,

Th' extended beach with choice oblations ftor'd,
And his prote&refs Venus oft implor'd,
The billowy deep his furrowing keel divides,
And in the Hellefpont his veffel rides.
But prodigies announce approaching ill,
And with prefages fad each bofom fill. 259
Up-heaving waves heaven's starry concave shroud,
And round each Bear is call a circling cloud.
Clouds and big waves discharge their watery
ftores;

Full on the deck the bursting torrent pours.
Their fturdy ars with unabating fweep
Far whitening agitate the angry deep.
Dardanus pafs'd, and Ilion's fertile plains,

The mouth of Ifmarus' lake th' adventurer gains.

Now, far remote, they view Pangræa's height:
Now Phillis' rifing tomb attracts their fight,
And the dull round the nine times trod in vain,
To view the faithlefs wanderer again. 271
Hæmonia's meads remote, the Trojan spies
Th' Achaian cities unexpected rife:
Phthia, with heroes far renown'd replete;
Mycenæ, fam'd for many a fpacious freet.
Befide the meads, where Erymanthus guides,
Sparta afpires, that boats her beauteous brides;
Sparta with joy th' exp.ting fwain furvey d,
Lav'd by Eurotas, by Atrides fway'd.
Nor diftant far, o'erfhaded by a wood,
Beneath a mountain's brow Therapnæ ftood.
Short was their voyage now: the bending oar
Was heard to lafh the foamy furge no more.
The failors, fafe embofom'd in the bay,
Firm to the beach confine the corded flay.
In purifying waters plung'd the fwain,
And, rifing thence, pic'd flowly o'er the plain;
For much he fear'd, left his incautious tread
O'er his wafh'd feet the fpatter'd mire fhould

fpread:

280

Or left his hair, beneath his cafque confin'd, 290
Should, if he ran, be ruffled with the wind.
The city's fplendour Paris' eye detain,
The citizen's abodes, and gliftering fanes.
Here Pallas' form, in mimic gold pourtray'd,
Here Hyacinthus' image he furvey'd.
Him with delight the Amiclaæans view'd,
Purfuing Phebus, and by him purfa'd;
But, fore difpleas'd at jealous Zephyr's spite,
They urg'd the ftripling to unequal fight;
For Phoebus' efforts ineffectual prov'd,
300
To fave from Zephyr's rage the youth he lov'd.
Earth with compaffion heard Apollo's cries,
And from her befom bade a flower arise,
His favourite's name, imprefs'd upon whofe
leaf,

Still, as the god contemplates, fooths his grief.

Now Priam's fon before Atrides' dome
Exulting ftood in beauty's purple bloom.
Not Semele, by Jove's careffes won,
On Jove bestow'd fo beautiful a fn:
(Forgive me, Bacchus feed of Jove supreme)
Such peerlefs graces round his perfon beam. 311
Touch'd by fair Helen's hand, the bolts recede;
She to the fpacious hall repair'd with speed:
Her form diftin& th' unfolded portals fhow;
She look'd, he ponder'd, and again withdrew.
Then on a radiant feat fhe bade him reft,
And, ftill infariate, gaz'd upon hér guett.
Awhile the likens him in graceful mien
To love, attendant on the Cyprian queen.
But 'tis not love, the recollects again;
Nor bow nor quiver deck this gallant (wain.
'Tis Bacchus fure, the god of wine, she said;
For o'er his cheeks a roty bloem is spread.
Daring at length her fautering voice to raise,
She thus exprefs'd her wonder and her praise:

320

Whence art thou, ftranger? whence thy
' comely race?

Thy country tell me, and thy natal place.
In thee I mark the majefly cf kings:
But not from Greece thy lofty lineage fprings

351

My high defcent from Dardanus I prove; "And ancient Dardanus defcends from Jove. "Th' immortals thus forfake the realms of light, "And mix with mortals in the focial rite. "Neptune and Phoebus thus forfook the sphere, "Firm on its bafe my native Troy to rear. "But know, on three fair goddeffes, of late, "Sentence I pass'd, and clos'd the long debate. "On Venus, who with charms fuperior fione, "I lavish'd praises, and conferr'd my boon. "The Cyprian goddess, pleas'd with my decree, "Referv'd this recompence, O queen, for me; "Some faithful fair, poffefs'd of heavenly charms, "Should, fhe protefted, blefs my longing arms; "Helen her name, to beauty's queen ally'd; 360 "Helen, for thee I stemm'd the troubled tide. "Unite we now in Hymen's mystic bands: "Thus love infpires, and Venus thus commands.

Scorn not my fuit, nor beauty's queen defpife: "More need I add to influence the wife? "For well thou know'ft, how daftardly or bafe "Is Menelaus's degenerate race.

"And well I know, that Græcia's ample coaft "No fair like thee, for beauty fam'd, can boaft."

He faid on earth her fparkling eyes fhe caft, Embarrafs'd paus'd awhile, and spoke at last: 371 To vifit Ilion, and her towers furvey, Rear'd by the god of ocean and of day, (Stupendous lahours by celeftials wrought) Hath oft, illuftrious gueft, employ'd my thought, Oft have I wish'd to faunter o'er the vales, Whofe flowery pafture Phoebus' flocks regales; Where, beneath Ilion's walls, along the meads, The fhepherd-god his lowing oxen feeds. To Ilion I'll attend thee: hafte, away; For beauty's queen forbids our long delay. No hufband's threats, no hufband's fearch I 'dread,

380

Though he to Troy fufpect his Helen fled.' The Spartan dame, of matchlefs charms poffefs'd,

Proffer'd these terms to her consenting guest. Night, which relieves our toils, when the bright fun,

In ocean funk, his daily course has run,
Now gives her fofteft flumbers, ere the ray
Of rifing morn proclaims th' approach of day.
Two gates of airy dreams fhe opens wide;
Of polish'd horn is this, where truths abide:

390

Voices divine through this myfterious gate
Proclaim th' unalterable will of fate.
But through the ivory-gate inceffant troop
Of vain, delufive dreams, a faithless group.
Helen, feduc'd from Menelaus' bed,
Th' adventurous fhepherd to his navy led:
To Troy with speed he bears the fatal freight;
For Venus' proffers confidence create.

At morning's dawn Hermione appears, With treffes difcompos'd and bath'd in tears: She rous'd her menial train, and thus exprefs'd The boding forrows of her troubled breast:

'Where, fair attendants, is my mother fled, Who left me flecping in her lonely bed? For yefternight she took her trufty key, 'Turn'd the ftrong bolt, and lept fecure with me." Her hapless fate the pensive train deplore, And in thick circles gather round the door; Here all contend to moderate her grief, And by their kind condolence give relief: Unhappy princess, check the rifing tear; Thy mother, abfent now, will foon appear. 'Soon as thy forrow's bitter fource she knows, 'Her fpeedy prefence will difpel thy woes.

410

'Sinks languid down, and loses half its bloem.

Deep in the head the tearful eye retires, There fullen fits, nor darts its wonted fires. 419 Eager, perchance, the band of nymphs to meet, 'She faunters devious from her favourite feat, And, of fome flowery mead at length poffefs'd, Sinks on the dew-bespangled lawn to reft. 'Or to fome kindred ftream perchance she strays, Bathes in Eurotas' ftreams, and round its mar.

'gin plays.'

Why talk ye thus?' (the penfive maid replies, The tears of anguish trickling from her eyes) She knows each rofeate bower, each vale and hill,

(

She knows the courfe of every winding rill. The ftars are fet; on rugged rocks the lies: 430 The ftars are up; nor does my mother rise. What hills, what dales thy devious steps detain ? Hath fome relentless beaft my mother flain? But beafts, which lawless round the forest rove, Revere the facred progeny of Jove. [brow, 'Or art thou fall'n from fome fteep mountain's Thy corfe conceal'd in dreary dells below? 'But through the groves, with thickeft foliage 'crown'd, ¡ground, Beneath each fhrivell'd leaf that ftrews the Affiduous have I fought thy corfe in vain: 440 Why should we then the guiltless grove arraign? But have Eurotas' ftreams, which rapid flow, 'O'erwhelmed thee bathing in its deeps below? Yet in the deeps below the Naiads live, And they to womankind protection give.'

Thus spoke the forrowing, and reclin'd her
head,

And fleeping feem'd to mingle with the dead;
For fleep his elder brother's afpe& wears,
Lies mute like him, and undisturb'd by cares.
Hence the fwoln eyes of females, deep distress'd,
Oft, when the tear is trickling, fink to reft. 45%

In this delufive dream the fleeping maid
Her mother faw, or thought the faw, portray'd.
Aloud the fhriek'd, diftracted and amaz'd,
And utter'd thus her anguish as the gaz'd:

Laft night far diftant from your daughter fled. You left me flumbering in my father's bed. What dangerous fteeps have not I strove to gain?

And ftro.l'd o'er hills and dales for thee in vain?' "Condemn me not (replied the wandering "dame): 460

Pity my fufferings, nor augment my fhame. "Me yesterday, a lawless guest beguil'd,

And diftant tore nie from my darling child.
At Cytherea's high command I rove;

"And once more revel in the walks of love."

In vain no mother meets her wistful eyes; And now her tears redouble and her cries:

479

COLUTHUS LYCOPOLITES, a Theban poet, flou- | rished in the reign of the emperor Anaftafius, about five hundred years after Christ. He is faid t have been the author of feveral poems; none of which have come down to us except this, which in many paffages is corrupt and mutilated. There is an excellent edition of this poem by Lennep. There is also an old translation of it by Sir Edward Sherburne; to whom I acknowledge myself indebted for some of his useful annotations.

Did the infertion of this little poem ftand in need of an apology, it might be made by obferving, that the fubjects of the two poems are not wholly diffimilar. In the one is celebrated the rape of Medea, in the other the rape of Helen; two events of equal celebrity in ancient story.

On the title of this poem Sir Edward Sherburne makes the following not unpleafant remark: "The word rape must not be taken in the common acceptation of the expreffion. For Paris was more courtly than to offer, and Helen møre kind-hearted than to fuffer fuch a violence. It must be taken rather for a tranfporting of her with her confent from her own country to Troy: which Virgil feems to infinuate in the first book of his Eneid, where, fpeaking of Heien, he says,

"Pergama cum peteret.

"

The word peteret implies that the quitting of her country, and going along with Paris, was an act the defired, as well as confented to; and thus much the enfuing poem makes good.

Ver. 2. The most celebrated river in Troas: it derived its fource from mount Ida.

Ver. 10. The ancients efteemed the art of hufbandry to be of all others the moft honourable. The hands of princes fuflained at the same time

king of Troy, is reprefented in this poem under the character of a fhepherd. In our times the care of flocks and herds is committed to the loweft orders of the people. Shepherd and clown are terms with us nearly fynonymous. But we must endeavour to feparate from them the ideas of churlishness and ill-breeding, when applied, as the ancients applied them, to heroes and kings.

Ver. 24. It was a fiction of the poets, that Peleus, the fon of Æacus, and pupil of Chiron, married Thetis the daughter of Nereus; and that all the gods attended at their nuptials on mount Pelion, except Eris or Difcord, in whofe prefence a greement and harmony could not long fubfist. See on this fubject, Catullus de Nupt. Pel. & Thet. and Valerius Flaccus, L. i. v. 129.

Ver. 42. The correfpondent lines in the riginal ought to be placed after v. 33. as Lennep rightly obferves: to that place (immediately after the poet's mention of Diana) the translator has reflored them.

Ver. 56. The conjectural reading of Voffius is here preferred; as it feems to contain more fenfe and more poetry than any other. He reads,

χειρὶ δὲ λαιῇ

Ἂν δὲ τὲ κόλλοπ ἔρυξε και ἣν ἐφυράσσατο πέτρην.

Ver. 79. Apples were esteemed the fymbol of love, and dedicated to Venus. They were allo confidered as allurements of love, and were dif tributed among lovers. Hence the expreffions nos and malo petere, in Theocritus and Virgil.

Ver. 89. The ancients looked upon fuch eyebrows, which our poet calls βλεφάρων συνοχήν as effential to form a beautiful face. See Anacreon's defcription of his miftrefs, and Theser Id. viii. 72. Ver. 99. They were fuppofed to be very nu