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He against this right sagely would advise,
And old examples set before my eyes;
Tell how the Roman matrons led their life,
Of Gracchus' mother, and Duilius' wife;
And close the sermon, as beseem'd his wit,
With some grave sentence out of holy writ.
Oft would he say, "Who builds his house on sands,
Pricks his blind horse across the fallow lands;
Or let his wife abroad with pilgrims roam,
'Deserves a fool's-cap, and long cars at home."
All this avail'd not; for whoe'er he be
That tells my faults, I hate him mortally:
And so do numbers inore, I boldly say,
Men, women, clergy, regular, and lay.

My spouse (who was, you know, to learning bred)
A certain treatise oft at evening read,
Where divers authors (whom the Devil confound
For all their lies) were in one volume bound.
Valerius, whole; and of St. Jerome, part;
Chrysippus and Tertullian, Ovid's Art,
Solomon's Proverbs, Eloisa's Loves;

And many more than sure the church approves.
More legions were there here of wicked wives,
Than good in all the Bible and saints lives.
Who drew the lion vanquish`d? 'twas a man.
But could we women write as scholars can,
Men should stand mark'd with far more wickedness,
Than all the sons of Adam could redress.
Love seldom haunts the breast were learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.
Those play the scholars, who can't play the men,
And use that weapon which they have, their pen;
When old, and past the relish of delight,
Then down they sit, and in their dotage write,
That not one woman keeps her marriage vow.
(This by the way, but to my purpose now).

It chane'd my husband, on a winter's night,
Read in this book, aloud, with strange delight,
How the first female (as the Scriptures show)
Brought her own spouse and all his race to woe.
How Samson fell; and he whom Dejanire
Wrapp'd in the envenom'd shirt, and set on fire.
How curs'd Eryphile her lord betray'd,
And the dire ambush Clytemnestra lail.
But what most pleas'd him was the Cratan Dame,
And Husband-bull-oh monstrous! fly for shame!
He had by heart the whole detail of woe
Xantippe made her good man undergo;
How oft she scolded in a day, he knew,
How many piss-pots on the sage she threw ;
Who took it patiently, and wip'd his head;
"Rain follows thunder," that was all he said.
He read, how Arius to his friend complain'd,
A fatal tree was growing in his land,

On which three wives successively had twin'd
A sliding noose, and waver'd in the wind.
"Where grows this plant," reply'd the friend, "oh
For better fruit did never orchard bear.
Give me some slip of this most blissful tree,
And in my garden planted shall it be."

[where?

'Then how two wives their lord's destruction prove, Through hatred one, and one through too much love; That for her husband mix'd a poisonous draught, And this for lust an amorous philtre bought: The nimble juice soon seiz'd his giddy head, Frantic at night, and in the morning dead. How some with swords their sleeping lords have slain, And some have hammer'd nails into their brain, And some have drench'd them with a deadly potion; All this be read, and read with great devotion.

Long time I heard, and swell'd, and blush'd and
frown'd:

But when no end of these vile tales I found,
When still he read, and laugh'd, and read again,
And half the night was thus consum'd in vain :
Provok'd to vengeance, three large leaves I tore,
And with one buffet fell'd him on the floor.
With that my husband in a fury rose.

And down he settled me with hearty blows.
I groan'd, and lay extended on my side;
"Oh! thou hast slain me for my wealth," I cry'd,
"Yet I forgive thee-take my last embrace--"
He wept, kind soul! and stoop'd to kiss my face,
I took him such a box as turn'd him blue,
Then sigh'd and cry'd, “ Adieu, my dear, adieu!"
But after many a hearty struggle past,
I condescended to be pleas'd at last.
Soon as he said, 64
My mistress and my wife,
Do what you list, the term of all your life;"
I took to heart the merits of the cause,
And stood content to rule by wholesome laws;
Receiv'd the reins of absolute command,
With all the government of house and land,
And empire o'er his tongue, and o'er his hand.
As for the volume that revil'd the dames,
"Twas torn to fragments, and condemn'd to flames.

Now Heaven on all my husbands gone bestow
Pleasures above, for tortures felt below:
That rest they wish'd for, grant them in the grave,
And bless those souls my conduct help'd to save!

THE FIRST BOOK OF

STATIUS HIS THEBAIS.

TRANSLATED IN THE YEAR MECCIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

CEDIPUS king of Thebes, having by mistake slain his father Laïus, and married his mother Jocasta, put out his own eyes, and resigned the realm to his sons, Etcocles and Polynices. Being neglected by them, he makes his prayer to the fury Tisiphone, to sow debate betwixt the brothers. They agree at last to reign singly, each a year by turns, and the first lot is obtained by Eteocles. Jupiter, in a council of the gods, declares his resolution of punishing the Thebans, and Argives also, by means of a marriage betwixt Polynices and one of the daughters of Adrastus, king of Argos. Juno opposes, but to no effect; and Mercury is sent on a message to the Shades, to the ghost of Laius, who is to appear to Eteocles, and provoke him to break the agreement. Polynices in the mean time departs from The bes by night, is overtaken by a storm, and arrives at Argos; where he meets with Tydeus, who had fled from Calydon, having killed his brother. Adrastus entertains them, having received an oracle from Apollo, that his daughter should be married to a boar and a lion, which he understands to be meant of these strangers, by whom the hides of those beasts were worn, and who arrived at the time when he kept an annual feast in honour of that god. The rise of this solemnity he relates to his guests, the loves of Phoebus and Psamathe, and the story of Chortebus. He inquires, and is made acquainted with their

descent and quality. The sacrifice is renewed, and the book concludes with a hymn to Apollo. The translator hopes he need not apologise for his choice of this piece, which was made almost in his childhood; but, finding the version better than he expected, he gave it some correction a few years afterwards.

THE FIRST BOOK OF

STATIUS HIS THEBAIS.
FRATERNAL rage, the guilty Thebes alarms,
The alternate reign destroy'd by impious arms,
Demand our song; a sacred fury fires
My ravish'd breast, and all the Muse inspires.
O goddess, say, shall I deduce my rhymes
From the dire nation in its early times,
Europa's rape, Agenor's stern decree,
And Cadmus searching round the spacious sea?
How with the serpent's teeth he sow'd the soil,
And reap'd an iron harvest of his toil?

Or how from joining stones the city sprung,
While to his harp divine Amphion sung?
Or shall I Juno's hate to Thebes resound,
Whose fatal rage th' unhappy monarch found?
The sire against the son his arrows drew,
O'er the wide fields the furious mother flew,
And while her arms a second hope contain,
Sprung from the rocks, and plung'd into the main.
But wave whate'er to Cadmus may belong,
And fix, O Muse! the barrier of thy song
At Edipas-from his disasters trace
The long confusions of his guilty race:
Nor yet attempt to stretch thy bolder wing,
And mighty Cæsar's conquering eagles sing;
How twice he tam'd proud Ister's rapid flood,
While Dacian mountains stream'd with barbarous
blood;

Twice taught the Rhine beneath his laws to roll,
And stretch'd his empire to the frozen pole:
Or long before, with carly valour, strove
In youthful arms t' assert the cause of Jove.
And thou, great heir of all thy father's fame,
Increase of glory to the Latian name!

FRATERNAS acies, alternaque regna profanis
Decertata odiis, sontesque evolvere Thebas,
Pierius menti calor incidit. Unde jubetis
Ire, Deæ gentisne canam primordia diræ ?
Sidonios raptus, et inexorabile pactuin
Legis Agenorea scrutantemque æquora Cadmum?
Longo retro series, trepidum si Martis operti
Agricolam infandis condentem prælia sulcis
Expediam, penitusque sequar quo carmine muris
Jusserit Amphion Tyrios accedere montes:
Unde graves iræ cognata in moenia Baccho,
Quod sævæ Junonis opus; cui sumpserit arcum
Infelix Athamas, cur non expaverit ingens
Ionium, socio casura Palemone mater.
Atque adeo jam nunc gemitus, et prospera Cadmi
Præteriisse sinam: limes mihi carminis esto
Edipode confusa domus: quando Itala nondum
Signa, nec Arctoos ausim sperare triumphos,
Bisque jugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Istrum,
Et conjurato dejectos vertice Dacos:
Aut defensa prius vix pubescentibus annis
Bella Jovis. Tuque o Latiæ decus addite famæ,
Quem nova maturi subeuntem exorsa parentis

bless thy Rome with an eternal reign, Nor let desiring worlds entreat in vain. What though the stars contract theirheavenly space, And croud their shining ranks to yield thee place; Though all the skies, ambitious of thy sway, Conspire to court thee from our world away; Though Phoebus longs to mix his rays with thine, And in thy glories more serenely shine, Though Jove himself no less content would be To part his throne, and share his Heaven with thee; Yet stay, great Cæsar! and vouchsafe to reign O'er the wide earth, and o'er the watery main ; Resign to Jove his empire of the skies, And people Heaven with Roman deities.

The time will come, when a diviner flame Shall warm my breast to sing of Cæsar's fame : Meanwhile permit, that my preluding Muse In Theban wars an humbler theme may chuse : Of furious hate surviving death, she sings, A fatal throne to two contending kings, And funeral flames, that parting wide in air Express the discord of the souls they bear: Of towns dispeopled, and the wandering ghosts Of kings unbury'd in the wasted coasts; When Dirce's fountain blush'd with Grecian blood, And Thetis, near Ismenos' swelling flood, With dread beheld the rolling surges sweep, In heaps, his slaughter'd sons into the deep. What hero, Clio! wilt thou first relate? The rage of Tydeus, or the prophet's fate? Or how, with hills of slain on every side, Hippomedon repell'd the hostile tide? Or how the youth, with every grace adorn'd, Untimely fell, to be for ever mourn'd? Then to fierce Capaneus thy verse extend, And sing with horrour his prodigious end.

Now wretched Edipus, depriv'd of sight, Led a long death in everlasting night; But, while he dwells where not a chearful ray Can pierce the the darkness, and abhors the day, The clear reflecting mind presents his sin In frightful views, and makes it day within; Æternum sibi Roma cupit; licet arctior omnes Lines agat stelas, et te plaga lucida cœli Pleïadum, Boreæque, et hiulci fulminis expersSollicitet; licet igaipedum frænator equornum Ipse tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum Imprimat, aut magni cedat tibi Jupiter æqua Parte poli; maneas hominum contentus habenis. Undaram terræque potens, et sidera dones. Tempus erit, cum Pierio tua fortior œstro Facta canam : nunc tendo chelyn. Satis arma referre Aonia, et geminis sceptrum exitiale tyrannis, Nec furiis post fata modum, flammasque rebelles Seditione rogi, tumulisque carentia regum Funera, et egestas alternis mortibus urbes; Cærnia cum rabuit Lernæo sanguine Dirce, Et Thetis arentes assuctum stringere ripas, Horruit ingenti venientem Ismenon acervo.

Quem prius heroum Clio dabis? immodicum ires
Tydea? laurigeri subitos an vatis hiatus?
Urget et hostilem propellens cædibus amnem
Turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi
Arcados, atque alio Capanens horrore canendus.
Impia jam merita scrutatus lumina dextra

| Merserat æterna damnatum nocte pudorem
Edipodes, longaque animam sub morte tenebat.
Illum indulgentem tenebris, imæque recessu
Sedis, inaspectos cœlo, radiisque penates
Servantem, tamen assiduis circumvolat alis

Returning thoughts in endless circles roll,
And thousand furies haunt his guilty soul;
The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies
Those empty orbs from whence he tore his eyes,
Whose wounds, yet fresh, with bloody hands he
strook,

While from his breast these dreadful accents broke: "Ye gods! that o'er the gloomy regions reign, Where guilty spirits feel eternal pain;

Thou, sable Styx! whose livid streams are rolld
Through dreary coasts, which I, though blind, be-
Tisiphone, that oft has heard my prayer, [hold:
Assist, if Oedipus deserve thy care!
If you receiv'd me from Jocasta's womb,

And nurs'd the hope of mischiefs yet to come :
If leaving Polybus, I took my way
To Cyrrha's temple, on that fatal day,
When by the son the trembling father dy'd,
Where the three roads the Phocian fields dívide:
If I the Sphynx's riddles durst explain,
Taught by thyself to win the promis'd reign:
If wretched I, by baleful Furies led,
With monstrous mixture stain'd my mother's bed,
For Hell and thee begot an impious brood,
And with full lust those horrid joys renew'd;
Then, self-condemn'd to shades of endless night,
Fore'd from these orbs the bleeding balls of sight:
O hear, and aid the vengeance I require,
If worthy thee, and what thou mightst inspire!
My sons their old unhappy sire despise,
Spoil'd of his kingdom, and depriv'd of eyes;
Guideless I wander, unregarded mourn,
While these exalt their sceptres o'er my urn;
These sons, ye gods! who, with flagitious pride,
Insult my darkness, and my groans deride.
Art thou a father, unregarding Jove?
And sleeps thy thunder in the realms above?

Sæva dies animi, scelerumque in pectore Dira.
Tunc vacuos orbes, crudum ac miserabile vitæ
Supplicium, ostentat cœlo, manibusque cruentis
Pulsat inane solum, sævaque ita voce precatur:
Di sontes animas, angustaque Tartara pœnis
Qui regitis, tuque umbrifero Styx livida fundo,
Quam video, multumque mihi consueta vocari
Annue Tissiphone, perversaque vota secunda,
Si bene quid merui, si me de matre cadentem
Fovisti gremio, et trajectum vulnere plantas
Firmâsti; si stagna petî Cyrrhæa bicorni
Interfusa jugo, possem cum degere falso
Contentus Polybo, trifidæque in Phocidos arce
Longævum implicui regem, secuique trementis
Ora senis, dum quæro patrem; si Sphingos iniquæ
Callidus ambages, te præmonstrante, resolvi ;
Si dulces farias, et lamentabile matris
Connubium gavisus ini; noctemque nefandam
Sæpe tuli, natosque tibi (scis ipsa) paravi;
Mox avidus pœnæ digitis cædentibus ultro
Incubui, miseraque oculos in matre reliqui:
Exaudi, si digna precor, quæque ipsa furenți
Subjiceres orbum visu regnisque parentem
Non regere, aut dictis mærentem flectere adorti
Quos genui, quocunque toro: quin ecce superbi
(Proh dolor) et nostro jamdudum funere reges,
Insultaut tenebris, gemitusque odere paternos.
Hisne etiam funestus ego? et videt ista deorum
Ignavus genitor? tu saltem debita vindex
Hur ades, et totos in pœnam ordire nepotes.
Indue quod madidum tabo diadema cruentis
Unguibus arripuí, votisque instincta paternis

Thou Fury, then, some lasting curse entail,
Which o'er their children's children shall prevail :
Place on their heads that crown distain'd with gore,
Which these dire hands from my slain father torej
Go, and a parent's heavy curses bear;
Break all the bonds of Nature, and prepare
Their kindred souls to mutual hate and war.
Give them to dare, what I might wish to see
Blind as I am, some glorious villainy!
Soon shalt thou find, if thou but arm their hands,
Their ready guilt preventing thy commands:
Couldst thou some great, proportion'd mischief
frame,
[came."
They'd prove the father from whose loins they
The Fury heard, while on Cocytus' brink

Her snakes, unty'd, sulphureous waters drink;
But at the summons roll'd her eyes around,
And snatch'd the starting serpents from the ground.
Not half so swiftly shoots along in air
The gliding light'ning, or descending star,
Through crowds of airy shades she wing'd her flight,
And dark dominions of the silent night;
Swift as she pass'd, the flitting ghosts withdrew,
And the pale spectres trembled at her view:
To th' iron gates of Tænarus she flies,
There spreads her dusky pinions to the skies.
The Day beheld, and, sickning at the sight,
Veil'd her fair glories in the shades of night.
Affrighted Atlas, on the distant shore,
Trembled, and shook the heavens and gods he bore.
Now from beneath Malea's airy height
Aloft she sprung, and steer'd to Thebes her flight;
With eager speed the well-known journey took,
Nor her regrets the Hell she late forsook.
A hundred snakes her gloomy visage shade,
A hundred serpents guard her horrid head,
In her sunk eye-balls dreadful meteors glow
Such rays from Phoebe's bloody circles flow,
When, labouring with strong charms, she shoots
from high

A fiery gleam, and reddens all the sky.

Blood stain'd her cheeks, and from her mouth there

came

Blue steaming poisons, and a length of flame.

[bras

I media in fratres, generis consortia ferro
Dissiliant: da Tartarei regina barathri
Quod cupiam vidisse nefas, nec tarda sequetur
Mens juvenum; modo digna veni, mea pignora
Talia jactanti crudelis Diva severos [nosces.
Advertit vultus; inamænum forte sedebat
Cocyton juxta, resolutaque vertice crines,
Lambere sulfurcas permiserat anguibus undas,
Ilicet igne Jovis, lapsisque citatior astris
Tristibus exiliit ripis, discedit inane
Vulgus, et occursis dominæ pavet; illa per um-
Et caligantes animarum examine campos,
Tænariæ limen petit irremeabile porta.
Sensit adesse dies; piceo nox obvia nimbo
Lucentes turbavit equos. Procul arduus Atlas
Horruit, et dubia cœlum cervice remisit.
Arripit extemplo Malea de vaļle resurgens
Notum iter ad Thebas: neque enim velocior ullas
Itque reditque vias, cognataque Tartara mavult.
Centum illi stantes umbrabant ora gerastæ,
Turba minor diri capitis: sedet intus abactis
Ferrea lux oculis; qualis per nubila Phobes
Atracea rubet arte labor: suffusa veneno
Tenditur, ac sanie gliscit cutis: igneus atro
Ore vapor, quo longa sitis, morbique, famesque,

From every blast of her contagious breath,
Famine and drought proceed, andplagues,anddeath.
A robe obscene was o'er her shoulders thrown,
A dress by Fates and Furies worn alone.
She toss'd her meagre arins; her better hand
In waving circles whirl'd a funeral brand:
A serpent from her left was seen to rear
His flaming crest, and lash the yielding air.
But when the Fury took her stand on high,
Where vast Citharon's top salutes the sky,
A hiss from all the snaky tire went round;
The dreadful signal all the rocks rebound,
And through th' Achaian cities send the sound.
Qete, with high Parnassus, heard the voice;
Eurotas' banks remurmur'd to the noise;
Again Lucothoë shook at these alarms,
And press'd Palæmon closer in her arms.
Headlong from thence the glowing Fury springs,
And o'er the Theban palace spreads 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 possess'd,
Stung to the soul, the brothers start from rest,
And all their Furies wake within their breast.
Their tortur'd minds repining Envy tears,
And Hate, engender'd by suspicious fears;
And sacred thirst of sway; and all the ties
Of Nature broke; and royal perjuries;
And impotent Desire to reign alone,
That scorns the dull reversion of a throne;
Each would the sweets of sovereign rule devour,
While Discord waits upon divided power.

As stubborn steers by brawny plowmen broke,
And join'd reluctant to the galling yoke,
Alike disdain with servile 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 confusion lay;
Such was the discord of the royal pair,
Whom fury drove precipitate to war.

Et populis mors una venit. Riget horrida tergo
Palla, et cærulei redeunt in pectore nodi.
Atropos hos, atque ipsa novat Proserpina cultus.
Tum geminas quatit illa manus: hæc igne rogali
Fulgurat, hæc vivo manus aëria verberat hydro.
Et stetit, abrupta qua plurimus arce Citharon
Occurrit cælo, fera sibila crine virenti.
Congeminat, signum terris, unde omnis Achæi
Ora maris late, Pelopiaque regna resultant.
Audiit et mediis cœli Parnassus, et asper
Eurotas, dubiamque jugo fragor impulit Eten
In latus, et geminis vix fluctibus obstitit Isthmos.
Ipsa suum genetrix, curvo delphine vagantem
Arripuit frenis, gremioque Palemona pressit.
Atque ea Cadmæo præceps ubi limine primum
Constitit, assuetaque infecit nube penates,
Protinus attoniti fratrum sub pectore motus,
Gentilesque animos subiit furor, ægraque lætis
Invidia, atque parens odii metus: inde regendi
Savus amor: ruptæque vices, jurisque secundi
Ambitus impatiens, et summo dulcius unum
Stare loco, sociisque comes discordia regnis.
Sic ubi delectos per torva armenta juvencos
Agricola imposito sociare affectat aratro :
Illi indignantes quis nondum vomere multo
Ardea nodosos cervix descendit in armos,
In diversa trahunt, atque æquis vincula laxant
Viribus, et vario confundunt limite sulcos:

Haud secus indomitos præceps dis grdia fratres

In vain the chiefs contriv'd a specious way,
To govern Thebes by their alternate sway:
Unjust decree! while this enjoys the state,
That mourns in exile his unequal fate,
And the short monarch of a hasty year
Foresees with anguish his returning heir.
Thus did the league their impious arms restrain,
But scarce subsisted 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 stone the pompous arches grac'd;
No nightly bands in glittering armour wait
Before the sleepless tyrant's guarded gate;
No chargers then were wrought in burnish'd gold,
Nor silver vases took the forming mould;
Nor gems on bowls emboss'd were seen to shine,
Blaze on the brims, and sparkle in the wine—
Say, wretched rivals! what provokes your rage?
Say, to what end your impious arms engage?
Not all bright Phoebus views in early morn,
Or when his evening beams the west adorn,
When the south glows with his meridian ray,
And the cold north receives a fainter day;
For crimes like these, not all those realms suffice,
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 soul that day? When all were slaves thou couldst around survey, Pleas'd to behold unbounded power thy own, And singly fill a fear'd and envy'd throne!

But the vile vulgar, ever discontent, Their growing fears in secret murmurs vent ;

Asperat. Alterni placuit sub legibus anni Exilio mutare ducem. sic jure maligno Fortunam transire jubent, ut sceptra tenentem Fodere præcipiti semper novus angeret hæres. Hæc inter fratres pietas erat; hæc mora pugnæ Sola, nec in regem perduratura secundum.

Et nondum crasso laquearia fulva metallo, Montibus aut alte Graiis effulta nitebant Atria, conjestos satis explicitura clientes. Non impacatis regum advigilantia somnis Pila, nec alterna ferri statione gementes Excubiæ, nec cura mero committere gemmas, Atque aurum violare cibis. Sed nuda potestas Armavit fratres: pugna est de paupere regno. Dumque uter angustæ squalentia jugera Dirces Verteret, aut Tyrii solio non altus ovaret Exulis, ambigitur; periit jus fasque, bonumque, Et vitæ, mortisque pudor. Quo tenditis iras, Ah miseri? quid si peteretur crimine tanto Limes uterque poli, quem Sol emissus Föo Cardine, quem porta vergens prospectat Ibera? Quasque procul terras obliquo sidere tangit Avius, aut Borea gelidas, madidive tepentes Igne Noti; quid si Tyriæ Phrygiæve sub unum Convectentur opes? loca dira, arcesque nefanda Suffecere odio, furtisque immanibus emptum est Oedipoda sedisse loco. Jam sorte carebat Dilatus Polynicis honos. quis tum tibi, sæve, Quis fuit ille dies? vacna cum solus in aula Respiceres jus onine tuum, cunctosque minores, Et nusquam par stare caput Jam murmura serpunt Plebis Echioniæ, tacitun que a principe vulgus Dissidet, et (qui mes populis) venturus amiatur. Atque aliquis, cui mens humili læsisse veneno Summa, nec impositos unquam cervice volenti

>

Still prone to change, though still the slaves of | state,

And sure the monarch whom they have, to hate;
New lords they madly make, then tamely bear,
And softly curse 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 spite
With scandal arm'd, th' ignoble mind's delight)
Exclaim'd-" O Thebes! for thee what fates re-
What woes attend this inauspicious reign! [main!
Must we, alas! our doubtful necks prepare,
Fach haughty master's yoke by turns to bear,
And still to change whom chang'd we still must fear?
These now control a wretched people's fate,
These can divide, and these reverse the state:
Ev'n Fortune rules no more:-O servile land,
Where exil'd tyrants still by turns command!
Thou sire of gods and men, imperial Jove!
Is this th' eternal doom decreed above?
On thy own offspring hast thou fix'd this fate,
From the first birth of our unhappy state;
When banish'd Cadmus, wandering o'er the main,
For lost Europa search'd the world in vain,
And, fated in Baotian fields to found
A rising empire on a foreign ground,
First rais'd our walls on that ill-omen'd plain,
Where earth-born brothers were by brothers slain?
What lofty looks th' unrival'd monarch bears!
How all the tyrant in his face appears!
What sullen fury clouds his scornful brow?
Gods! how his eyes with threatning ardour glow!
Can this imperious lord forget to reign,
Quit all his state, descend, and serve again?
Yet who, before, more popularly bow'd,
Who more propitious to the suppliant croud?
Patient of right, familiar in the throne?
What wonder then? he was not then alone.
O wretched we, a vile submissive train,
Fortune's tame fools, and slaves in every reign!
"As when two winds with rival force contend,
This way and that, the wavering sails they bend,
While freezing Boreas and black Eurus blow,
Now here, now there, the reeling vessel throw:
Thus on each side, alas! our tottering state
Feels all the fury of resistless fate;

Ferre duces: Hancne Ogygiis, ait, aspera rebus
Fata tulere vicem? toties mutare timendos,
Alternoque jugo dubitantia subdere colla!
Partiti versant populorum fata, manuque
Fortunam fecere levem.
semperne vicissim

Exulibus servire dabor? bi, summe deorum,
Terrarumque sator, sociis hanc addere mentem
Sedit? an inde vetus Thebis extenditur omen,
Ex quo
Sidonii nequicquam blanda juvenci
Pondera, Carpathio jussus sale quærere Cadmus
Exul Hyanteos invenit regna per agros:
Fraternasque acies foetæ telluris hiatu,
Augurium, seros dimisit, adusque nepotes?
Cernis ut erectum torva sub fronte minetur
Sævior assurgens dempto consorte potestas?
Quas gerit ore minas? quanto premit omnia fastu?
Hiene unquam privatus erit? tamen ille precanti
Mitis et aflatu bonus et patientior aqui.

Quid mirum? non solus erat. nos vilis in omnes
Prompta manus casus domino cuicunque parati.
Qualitur bine gelidus Boreas, hinc nubifer Eurus
Vela trahunt, nutat media fortuna carinæ.

[sea.

And doubtful still, 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 blest abodes:
Far in the bright recesses of the skies,
High o'er the rolling heavens, a mansion lies,
Whence, far below, the gods at once survey
The realms of rising and declining day,
And all th' extended space of earth, and air, and
Full in the midst, and on a starry throne,
The majesty of Heaven superior shone;
Serene he look'd, and gave an awful nod,
And all the trembling spheres confess'd the god.
At Jove's assent, the deities around
In solemn state the consistory crown'd.
Next a long order of inferior powers
Ascend from hills, and plains, and shady bowers;
Those from whose 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 sacred silence reigns, and universal peace.
A shining synod of majestic gods
Gilds with new lustre the divine abodes;
Heaven seems improv'd with a superior ray,
And the bright arch reflects a double day.
The monarch then his solemn silence broke,
The still creation listen'd while he spoke;
Each sacred 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' cluded 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' Folian forge exhausted of its fires.
For this I suffer'd Phoebus' steeds to stray,
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.

Heu dubio suspensa metu, tolerandaque nullis
Aspera sors populis! bic imperat ; ille minatur.
At Jovis imperiis rapidi super atria cœli
Lectus concilio divâm convenerat ordo
Interiore polo. spatiis hinc omnia juxta,
Primæque occiduæque domus, effusa sub omni
Terra atque unda die. mediis sese arduus infert
Ipse deis, placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu,
Stellantique locat solio. nec protinus ausi
Calicolæ, veniam donec pater ipse sedendi
Tranquilla jubet esse manu. mox turba vagorum
Semideûm, et summis cognati nubibus Amnes,
Et compressa metu servantes murmura Venti.
Aurea tecta replent; mixta convexa deorum
Majestate tremunt: radiant majore sereno
Culmina, et arcano florentes lumine postes.
Postquam jussa quies, filuitque exterritus orbis.
Incipit ex alto, (grave et immutabile sanctis
Pondus adest verbis, et vocem fata sequuntur)
Ferrarum delicta, nec exsuperabile diris
Ingenium mortale queror. quonam usque nocen-
Exigar in pœnas? tædet sævire corusco
Fulmine; jampridem Cyclopem op rosa fatiscunt
Brachia, et Foliis desunt incudibus ignes.
Atque ideo tuleram falso restore solutos
Solis equos, cælumque rotis (rrantibus uri,
Et Phaëtontæa mundum squallere favilla.,

tum

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