Heav'n 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 liften'd while he spoke,
Each facred accent bears eternal weight,
And each irrevocable word is Fate.
How long shall man the wrath of Heav'n defy, 300 And force unwilling vengeance from the sky! Oh race confed'rate into crimes, that prove Triumphant o'er th' eluded rage of Jove! This weary'd arm can scarce the bolt sustain, And unregarded thunder rolls in vain: Th' o'erlabour'd Cyclops from his task retires Th' Æolian forge exhaufted of its fires. For this I fuffer'd Phoebus' fteeds to ftray, And the mad Ruler to misguide the day. When the wide earth to heaps of ashes turn'd, And heav'n itself the wand'ring chariot burn'd.
Majeftate tremunt: radiant majore fereno
Culmina, et arcano florentes lumine poftes.
Poftquam juffa quies, filuitque exterritus orbis,
Incipit ex alto: (grave et immutabile fanctis
Pondus adeft verbis, et vocem fata fequuntur)
Terrarum delicta, nec exfuperabile diris
Ingenium mortale queror. quonam ufque nocentum
Exigar in poenas? taedet faevire corufco
Fulmine; jampridem Cyclopum operofa fatifcunt
Brachia, et Æoliis defunt incudibus ignes.
Atque ideo tuleram falfo rectore folutos
Solis equos, coelumque rotis errantibus uri,
Et Phaetontaea mundum fquallere favilla.
Nil a&tum eft: neque tu valida quod cufpide late
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For this, my brother of the watʼry 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 thefe, fee Jove himself defcend.
The Theban Kings their line from Cadmus trace,
From godlike Perfeus thofe of Argive race.
Unhappy Cadmus' fate who does not know,
And the long feries of fucceeding woe?
How oft the Furies, from the deeps of night,
Arofe, 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 recount the fins of thefe profane,
The fun would fink into the western main,
And rifing gild the radiant eaft again.
325
Fre per illicitum pelago, germane, dedisti.
Nunc geminas punire domos, quis fanguinis auter
Ipfe ego, defcendo. Perfeos alter in Argos
Scinditur, Aonias fluit hic ab origine Thebas.
Mens cunctis imposta manet. Quis funera Cadmi
Nefciat? et toties excitam a fedibus imis
Eumenidum bellaffe aciem mala gaudia matrum,
Errorefque feros nemorum, et reticenda deorum
Crimina? vix lucis fpatio, vix noctis abactae
Enumerare queam mores, gentemque profanam.
Scandere quin etiam thalamos hic impius haeres
Patris, et immeritae gremium inceftare parentis
Apetiit, proprios monftro revolutus in ortus.
Ille tamen Superis aeterna piacula folvit,
Projecitque diem: nec jam amplius aethere noftro
Have we not feen (the blood of Laius fhed)
The murd'ring fon afcend his parent's bed,
Thro' violated nature force his way,
And ftain the facred womb where once he lay ?
Yet now in darkness and despair he groans,
And for the crimes of guilty fate atones;
His fons with scorn their eyeless father view,
Infult his wounds, and make them bleed anew.
Thy curse, oh Oedipus, juft heav'n alarms,
And fets th' avenging Thunderer in arms.
I from the root thy guilty race will tear,
And give the nations to the wafte of war.
Adraftus foon, with Gods averse, shall join
In dire alliance with the Theban line:
Hence ftrife fhall rife, and mortal war fucceed;
The guilty realms of Tantalus fhall bleed;
Fix'd is their doom; this all-rememb'ring breaft
Yet harbours vengeance for the tyrant's feaft.
He faid; and thus the Queen of heav'n return'd; (With fudden grief her lab'ring bofom burn'd)
Vefcitur: at nati (facinus fine more!) cadentes
Calcavere oculos. jam jam rata vota tulisti,
Dire fenex; meruere tuae, meruere tenebrae
Ultorem fperare Jovem, nova fontibus arma
Injiciam regnis, totumque a ftirpe revellam
Exitiale genus. belli mihi femina funto
Adraftus focer, et fuperis adjuncta finiftris
Connubia. Hanc etiam poenis inceffere gentem
Decretum: neque enim arcano de pectore fallax
Tantalus, et faevae periit injuria menfae.
Sic pater omnipotens. Aft illi faucia dictis,
Flammato verfans inopinum corde dolorem,
Tala Juno refert: Mene, ô juftiffime divêm,
Muft I, whofe cares Phoroneus' tow`rs defend, 350
Must I, oh Jove, in bloody wars contend?
Thou know'ft thofe regions my protection claim,
Glorious in arms, in riches, and in fame:
Tho' there the fair Ægyptian heifer fed,
And there deluded Argus flept, and bled;
Tho' there the brazen tow'r was ftorm'd of old,
When Jove defcended in almighty gold.
Yet I can pardon those obscurer rapes,
Those bafhful crimes difguis'd in borrow'd fhapes;
But Thebes, where, fhining in celeftial charms, 360
Thou cam'ft triumphant to a mortal's arms,
When all my glories o'er her limbs were fpread,
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 discord fires thy foul,
Go, rafe my Samos, let Mycenè fall,
And level with the duft the Spartan wall;
365
350
Me bello certare jubes? fcis femper ut arces Cyclopum, magnique Phoroneos inclyta fama Sceptra viris, opibufque juvem; licet improbus illic Cuftodem Phariae, fomno letoque juvencae 355 Extinguas, feptis et turribus aureus intres. Mentitis ignofco toris: illam odimus urbem, Quam vultu confeffus adis: ubi confcia magni 360 Signa tori, tonitrus agis, et mea fulmina torques. - Facta luant Thebae: cur hoftes eligis Argos? Quin age, fi tanta eft thalami difcordia fancti, Et Samon, et veteres armis exfcinde Mycenas. Verte folo Sparten, cur ufquam fanguine fefto
365
No more let mortals Juno's pow'r invoke,
Her fanes no more with eaftern incense smoke,
Nor victims fink beneath the facred ftroke;
But to your Ifis all my rights transfer,
Let altars blaze and temples fmoke for her;
For her, thro' Egypt's fruitful clime renown'd, 375
Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel found.
But if thou must reform the ftubborn times,
Avenging on the fons the father's crimes,
And from the long record 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 thence, where firft Alpheus hides
His wand'ring ftream, and thro' the briny tides
Unmix'd to his Sicilian river glides.
Thy own Arcadians there the thunder claim,
Whofe impious rites difgrace thy mighty name;
Who raise thy temples where the chariot stood
Of fierce Oenomäus, defil'd with blood;
Conjugis ara tuae, cumulo cur thuris Eoï
Laeta calet; melius votis Mareotica fumat
Coptos, et aerifoni lugentia flumina Nili.
Quod fi prifca luunt autorum crimina gentes,
Subvenitque tuis fera haec fententia curis ;
Percenfere aevi fenium, quo tempore tandem
Terrarum furias abolere, et fecula retro
Emendare fat eft? jamdudum ab fedibus illis
Incipe, fluctivaga qua praeterlabitur unda
Sicanos longe relegens Alpheus amores.
Arcades hic tua (nec pudor eft) delubra nefaftis
Impofuere locis: illic Mavortius axis
Oenomaï, Geticoque pecus ftabulare fub Aemo
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