a

In such heroic games I yield to none,

The herald to his hand the charge conveys, Or yield to brave Laodamas alonc:

Not fond of fatt'ry, nor unpleas'd with praise. Shall I with brarc Laodamas contend?

When now the rage of hunger was allay'd, A friend is facred, and I style him friend. Thus to the lyrift wile Ulyfies laid: Ungen'rous were the man, and bate of heart, O more than man! thy foul the mufe inspires, Who takes the kind, and pays th’ungrateful part: Or Phæbus animates with all his fires : Chicfly the man, in foreign realms conrin'd, For who, by Phæbus uninform'd, could know Base to his friend, to his own interest blind. The woc of Greece, and fing to well the woe?

Just to the talc, as present at the fray,

Or taught the labours of the dreadful day; § 29. Defcription of the ancient Horours cubich The fong recals patt hərror to my eves,

And bids proud lion from her ashes risc. queri conferred on Puetry and Misfic.

Once more harmonious ttrike the founding ftring, THE HE herald now arrives, and guides along Th’Epxan fabric, fram'd by Pallas, fing: The facred master of celosial song,

How Itern Ulyffes, furious to destrov, Icar to the muse! who gave his days to How With latent hicrocs fack d imperial Troy. With mighty blessings, mix'd with mighty woe: If faithful thou record the tale of fame, With clouds of darkness quench'd his visual ray, The god hirtelf inspires thy brcast with Aame : But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay.

And mine shall be the task henceforth to raise High on a radiant throne fublime in state, In ev'ry land thy monument of praise. Encircled by huge multicudos he late :

Full of the god he rais'd his lofty strain, With silver shone the throne ; his iyre, well ftrung How the Grecks rush'd tumultuous to the main : To rapt’rous founds, at hand Pontonous hung: How blazing tents illumin'd half ile 1kics, Before his feat a polith'd table shines ;

While from the shores the winged navy fiics: And a full goblet foams with gen'rous wincs ! How cven in Ilion's walls, in deathful bands, His food a herald bore; and now they fedi Came the stern Greeks, by Troy's atlifting hands: And now the rage of craving hunger Hed. All Troy up-heav'd the steed: of diff'ring inind,

Then fird hy all the mulc, aloud he fings Various the Trojans couníellid; part confign'd The mighty decds of demigods and kings: The monster to the sword, part sentence gave From that fierce wrath the noble fong arole, To plunge it headlong in the whelming wave : That made Vlyfles and Achilles focs :

Th'unwile award to lodge it in the tow'rs, How o'er the feast they doom the fall of Troy ; An oft”ring sacred to th’immortal pow'rs: The stern debate Atrides hcars with joy : Th'unwile prevail, they lodge it in the walls ; For Heaven foretold the conteft wl:en he trod And by the gods decree proud Ilion falls; The marble threthold of the Delphic god,

Destruction enters in the treach'ious wood, Curious to learn the counsels of the sky, And vengeful laughter, fierce for human blood. Erc yet he loos’d the rage of war on Troy. He lung the Greeks stern-issuing from the steed;

Touch'd at the long, Ulyties straight reign'd How Ilion burns, how all her fathers bleed: To soft affliction all his manly mind :

How to thy dome, Deiphobus! ascends, Before his eves the purple veit he drew, The Spartan king; how Ithacus attends, Industrious to conceai the falling dew :

Horrid as Mars; and how with dire alarms But when the music pausid, he ceas d to shed He fights, subdues ; for Pallas (trings his arms. The Howing tear, and rais'd his drooping head : Thus, while he sung, Ulyiles 'griefs renew, And lifting to the gols a goblue crown'd, Tears bathe his cheeks, and tears the ground beduw: He pour'd a purc libation to the ground. Conccal'd he griev'd: the king obferv'd alone

Transported with the forg, the lit’ning train The filent tear, and heard the fecrct groan : Again with loud applause demand the strain : Then to the bard aloud : Oh cease to fing, Again Ulyfies veil'd his pentive head;

Dumb be thy voice, and mure the tuneful liring; Again, unmann'd, a Now'r of forrow thcd. To ev'ry note his tears responsive flow,

And his great heart heaves with tumultuous woe; Now each partakes the feast, the wine prepares, Thy lay too deeply moves: then ccase the lay, Portions the food, and each the portion shares. And o cr the banquet ev'ry heart be gay. The bard an herald guides: the gazing throng Par low obcyfance as he moves along :

§ 30. Introduction to the Story of Polspbemus. Beneath a sculptur'd arch he sits enthron’d, The peers encircling forin an awful round.

4

GIANT shepherd here his flock maintains Then from the chine Ulyilts carves with art

Far from the rest, and solitary reigns, Delicious food, an honorary part :

In Thelicr thick of horrid fhade reelin'd; This let the master of the lyre receive,

And glooiny mischiefs labour in his mind. A pledge of love! 'tis all a wretch can give.

A form onorinous ! far unlike the race Lives there a man bencath the {pacious skies, Of human birth, in stature or in face : Who sacred honours to the bard denies?

As some lone mountain's nonsticus growth he The muse the bard infpires, exalts his mind;

Itood, The muse indulgent loves th' harmonious kind. Crown'd with rough thickets, and a noudne wood.

-LO!

184

ELEGANT EXTRACTS, BOOK IV.
-Lo! he comes at last,

O prince! O friend! lo here thy Medon fands,
Near half a forest on his back he boie,

Ah stop the hero's unrefifted hands,
And cast the pood'rous burden at the door. Incens'd too justly by that impious brood;
It thunder'd as it fell

W'hose guilty glories now are set in blood.

To whom Ulysses with a pleasing eye:

Be bold, on friendship and my fon rely: $ 31. Discovery of Ulsfes by Euryska. Lire, an example for the world to read,

How much more safe the good than evil deed. DEEP o'er his knee inseam'd remain'd the scar:

Which ncted token of the woodland war When Euryclea found, th' ablution ceas'd;

$ 33. Unfis discovered by Penelope. Down dropp'd the leg, from her Nack hand releas'd ;

WHILE yet he speaks, her pow'rs of life decay, The mingled fluids from the vase redound;

She fickens, trembles, falls, and faints away: The vafe reclining floats the floor around :

At length recov'ring, to his arms she flew, Siniles dew'd with tears the pleasing strifeexpress’d And strain'd him close, as to his breast the grew; Of grief and joy alternate in her breast.

The tears pour'd down amain: and, Oh, she cries, Her flutt’ring words in melting murmurs died;

Let not against thy spouse thinc arger rise ! At length abrupt-My son ! -my king!-the overs'd in ev'ry turn of human art, cricd.

Forgive the weakness of a woman's heart !
The righteous pow’rs that mortal lots dispose,
Decree us to sustain a length of woes,

And from the flow'r of life, the bliss deny
32. U!..Fe's pares the Life of Pbemins.

To bloom together, fade away, and die. PHEMIUS alore the hand of Vengeance spar'd, Oh let me, let me not thine anger move,

Picmius the tweet,the Heaven-instructed bard. That I forbore, thus, thus, to ipcak my love; Beside the gate the rev'rend minstrel stands;

Thus in fond killes, while the transport warnis, The lyre, now filent, trembling in his hands;

Pour out my soul, and die within thy arms! Dubious to fupplicate the chief, or fiy,

I dreaded fraud ! men, faithless men betray To Jove's inviolable altar nigh,

Our tasy faith, and make the fex their prey: Where oft Laertes holy vows had paid,

Against the fonducís of my lieart I Atrove, And oft Ulysses smoaking victims laid.

'Twas caution, O my lord! not waut of love: His honour'd harp with care he first let down,

Like me had Helen fear'd, with wanton charms Between the laver and the silver throne:

Ere the fair mischief set two worlds in arms, Then proftrate ftretch'd before the dreadful

Ere Greece rofe dreadful in th’avenging day,

man, Persualive thus with accent loft began :

Thus had the fear'd, she had not gone altray.
O king! to mercy be thy soul inclin'd, But Heaven, averle to Greece, in wrath decreed,
And spare the poet's ever-gentle kind.

That the should wander, and that Greece thould
A deed like this thy future fame would wrong,
For dear to gods and inen is facred long.

Blind to the ills that from injustice flow,
Self-taught I ling; by Ileaven, and Heaven alone, She colour'd all our wretched lives with woe.
The genuine feeds of poely are fown;

But why these forrows when my lord arrives? And (what the gods bestow) the lofty lay

I yield, I yield ! my own Ulyses lives!

I To gods alone, and godlike worth, we pay.

The secrets of the bridal bed are known Save then the poet, and thyself reward;

To thee, to me, to Actoris alone 'Tis chine to merit, mine is to record.

(My father's pretent in the spousal hour, That bere I furg, was force, and not desire ;,

The sole attendant on our genial bow'r);
This hard reluctant touch'd the warbling wire : Since what no eye hath feen, thy tongue reveal'd,

Hard and distrustful as I am, I yield.
And let thy fon atrest, nor sordid pay
Nor fervile tia:t'ry stain'd the inoral lay.

Touch'd to the soul, the king with rapture hears,
The moving words Telemachus attends, Hangs round her neck, and speaks his joy in tears,
His fire approaches, and the bard defends :
Oh mix not, father, with those impious dead
The man divinc ; forbear that facred head; § 34. Ulfes discovers bimself to bis Faber.
Mudon the herald, too, our arms may spare,

BUT all alone the hoary king he found;
Medin, who made my infancy his care.

His habit coarse, but warnily wrapt around;
If yer be breathes, permit thy son to give His head, that bow d with many a pensive care,
Thus much to gratitude, and bid him live. Fenc'd with a double cap of goat-skin hair:

Beneath a table, trembling with dismay, His buskin old, in former service torn,
Couch'd close to eart'ı, unhappy Medon lay, But well repaid; and gluves against the thorn,
Wrapp'd in a new-flain ox's ample hide; In this array the kingly gard'ner stood,
Swift at the word he cast his screen aside,

And clear'd a plant encumber'd with its wood.
Spring to the price,cmibrac'd his linee with tears,

Beneath a neighb'ring tree, the chief divine And thus with grateful voice addreis d his cars: Gaz’d o'er his fire, re-tracing ev'ry line,

The

TH

bleed:

a

a

The ruins of himself! now worn away

But tell me, ftranger, be the truth confest, With age, yet still ma estic in decay !

What ycars have circled since thou saw 'ft that Sudden his eves releas'd their wat'ry store ; That haplets guest, alas ! for ever gone! (gucit : The much-enduring man could bear no more. Wretch ihat he was! and that I am! my fond Doubtful he ftood, if inttant to embrace

If ever man to mifery was born, His aged limbs, to kiss his rev’rend face, 'Twas his to suffer, and 'tis mine to mourn ! With eager transport to disclose the whole, Far from his friends, and from his native reign, And pour at once the torrent of his soul ? He lies, a prey to montters of the main, Not fo: his judgment takes the winding way Or savage beasis his mangled reliques tear, Of question diftant, and of loft efsay,

Or fereaming vultures scatter through the air:
More gentle methods on weak age employs,

Nor could his mother fun’ral unguents thed,
And moves the forrows to enhance the joys. Nor wail'd his father o'er th' untimely dead,
Then to his fire with beating heart he moves, Nor his lad confort on the mournful bier
And with a tender plcatantry reproves : Scal'd his cold eyes, or dropp'd a tender tear!
Who digging round the plant still hangs his head, But tell me who thou art, and what thy race!
Nor aught remits the work, while thus he faid: Thy town, thy parents, and thy native place?

Great is thy skill, O father! great thy toil, Or, if a merchant in pursuit of gain,
Thy careful hand is stamp'd on all the joil: What port receiv'd thy vefsel from the main?
Thý squadron i vineyards well thy art declare, Or com'ít thou single, or attend thy train :
The olive green, blue fig, and pendant pear;

Then thus the fon : From Alybas I came,
And not one empty spot escapes thy care. My palace there; Eperitus my name.
On ev'ry plant and tree thy cares are thewn, Not vulgar born, from Aphidas the king
Nothing neglected but thyself alone.

Of Poiyphemon's royal line I spring.
Forgive me, father, if this fault I blame; Some adverse dæmon from Sicania bore
Age fo advanc'd may some indulgence claim. Our wand'ring course, and drove us on your shore:
Not for thy soth, I dum thy lord unkind; Far from the town, an unfrequented bay
Nor speaks thy form a mcau or servile mind : Receiv'd our weary vessel from the fca.
I read a monarch in that princely air,

Five years have circled since these eyes pursued
The same thy aspect, if the same thy care ; Ulyffes parting through the fable tlood;
Soft sleep, fair garments, and the joys of wine, Proip'rous he fail'd, with dexter auguries,
These are the rights of age, and should be thine. And all the wing'd good omens of the skies.
Who then thy master, fay? and whole the land Well hop'd we then to meet on this fair fhore,
So dress d and manag'd by thy skilful hand ? Whom Heaven, alas! decreed to meet no more,
But chicf, ch tell me (what I qucation most), Quick thro’the father's heart these accents ran;
Is this the far-fam'd Ithacenfian coait ?

Griet seiz'd at once, and wrapp'd up all the man;
For so reported the first man I view'd,

Deep from his soul he figh’d, and forrowing spread (Some furly islander, of manners rude)

A cloud of ashes on his hoary head.
Nor farther conferencc vouchtaf'd to stay; Treur bling with agonics of strong delight
Heedlefs he whistled, and pursued his way. Stood the great fon, heart-wounded with the right:
But thou whom years have taught to understand, He ran, he sciz'd him with a strict embrace,
Humanely hear, and answer my demand : With thousand killes wand'ring o'er his face.
A friend I leek, a wise one and a brave, I, I am he; O father! rise, behold
Say, lives he yet, or moulders in the grave ? Thy son, with twenty winters now grown old;
Tiine was (my fortunes then were at the besi) Thy fon, so long detir'd, so long detain d,
When at my house I lodg'd this foreign guest; Rettorld and breathing in his native land :
He said, from Ithaca's fair isle he came,

Theti floods of sorrow, O my fire, restrain !
And old Laertes was his father's naine.

The vengeance is complete; the suitor-train, To him, whatever to a guest is ow'd

Stretch'd in our palace, by these hands lie flain. I paid, and hospitable gifts bestow'd;

Amaz'd Laertes: “ Give foine certain sign,
To him feven talents of pure ore I told, “If such thou art, to manifest thee mine.'
Twelve cloaks, kwelve vests, twelve tunics stiff Lo here the wound, he cries, receiv'd of yore,
with gold;

The scar indented by the tušky boar,
A bowl, that rich with polish'd filrer flames; When by thyself and by Anticlea sent,
And, fill d with female works, four lovely daines. To old Autolychus's realins I went.

At this the father, with a father's fears Yet by another sign thy offspring know;
-(His venerable eyes bedimm d with tears), The leveral trees you gave me leng ago,
This is the land; but, ah! thy gifts are lost, While, yet a child, these fields I lov'd to tracc,
For godless men, and rude, policis the coast :

And trod thy footsteps with unequal pace :
Sunk is the glory of this once-fam'd shore ! To ev'ry plant in order as we came,
Thy ancient friend, O ftranger, is no more ! Well pleas'd you told its nature and its name,
Full recompence thy bounty else had borne ; Whate'er my childish fancy ask'd, bestow'd;
For ev'ry good man yields a just return: Twelve pear-trees bowing with their pendant
So civil rights demand; and who begins

load,
The track of friendthip, not pursuing, fins. And ten, that red with blushing apples glow'd;

Full

a

a

Thrill;

Full fisty purple figs; and many a row

$ 37. Defcription of Armida's ronaerful Parra. Of varicus vines that then began to blow, A future vintage! when the hours produce

WITH party-colour'd plumes, and purple bil,
Their latent buds, and Sol exhales the juice.

A wondrous bird among the rest there flex,
Smit with the ligns which all his doubts explain, ( That in plain speech tung love-lays loud and
His heart within hiin melts; his knces furtain
Their feeble weight no more ; his arms alone

Here Leden was like human language true ;
Sapport him, round the lov'd Ulyffus thrown;

So much the talk'd, and with such wit and kil, He faints, hc finks, with mighty joys oppreft.

That strange it seemed, how much good the Ulyfes clasps him to his cayer breast.

knew : Soon as returning life regains its seat,

Her feather'd fellows all ficod hush to hear; And his breath lengthens, and his pulfes beat;

Dumb was the wind, the waters silent were. Yes, I believt, he cries, almighty Jove! The gentle budding rose, quoth she, behold, Heaven rules us yet, and gods there are above. That first scant peeping forth with virgin beams,

Halt ope, half thut, her beauties doth unfold

In its fair leaves, and, less fecn, fairer seems,
FAIRFAX'S TASSO.

And after spreads them forth more broad and

buld, $ 35. Difcription of the Vision conjured up by Then languitheth, and dics in last extremes ; Aletto.

Nor tecins the fame that decked bed and bow's A

MURDER'D body huge beside him food, Of many a lady late and paramour.
Of head and right-hand both but lately So, in the passing of a day, doth pass
froild;

The bud and blossom of the life of man,
The left-hand bore the head, whose visage good
Both pale and wan, with dust and gore defild,

Nor ere doth flourish more; but, like the grass
Yet Ipake, to' dead; with those fad words the oh, gather then the role, while time thou haft ;

Cut down, becomcth wither'd, pale, and wan: blood Forth at his lips in huge abundance boild

Short is the day, done when it fcant began; Fly, Argillan, from this falte camp fly far,

Gather the role of Love, while yet thou mayf,
Whole guide a traitor, captaijs murd'rers are.

Loving be lov'd, embracing be embrac'd.
She ceas'd ; and, as approving all she spoke,

The choir of birds their hearenly tune renew; § 36. Image of Armida and Attendants, enringed The turtles sig'i’d, and fighs with killes broke;

at Rinn!do's be wing down ibe Myrike to elijölve The fowls to inades unseen by pairs withdrew : the Cham.

It seem'd, the laurel chaste, and stubborn cak, Helift his brand; nor car'd, tho' oft he pray'd,

And all the gentle trees ou earth that grew; And the her form to other thape did change ;

It seem'd, the land, the fea, and heaven above, Such monsters huge, when men in dieams arc laid,

All breath'd out fancy fiveet, and ligh'd out Oft in their ille fancies roame and range:

love.
Her body swelld, her face obscure was made ;
Vanith'd her garments rich, and vestures strange ;

A giantess before him high the stands,
Arin'd, like Briareus, with an hundred hands :

GIOVER'S LEONIDAS.
With fifty swords, and tifty targets bright,

§ 33. Leonidas's Aclirss to his Countrymina She threaten'd death, the roar d, the cried, and

-He alone
fought;
Each other nymph, in armour likewise dight,

Remains unthaken. Rising he displays
A Cyclops great became; he feard them nought, Adorn his frame, and manly bauty, iou'd

His godlike presence. Dignity and grace
But on the myrtle finote with all his might,
Which groan'd, like livirg fouls to death nigh Sublimelt virtue, and desire of fame,

With strength Herculoan. "On his afpect thines
brought;
The sky feem'd Pluto's court, the air seem'd hell, The inextinguithable spark, which fires

Where juftice gives the laurel; in his eye
Thereia such monsters roar, such 1pirits yell.
Lighten'd the heaven above, the earth below

The souls of patriots; while his brow fupports

Undaunted valour, and contempt of death. Roared aloud : that thunder'd!, and this thook :

Serene he rose, and thus addreis d the throng: Bluster'd the tempeftsstrong: the whirlwinds blow;

Why this astonishinent on ev'ry face,
The bitter storm drove hail-zones in his look ;

Ye meu of Sparta : Does the name of death
But yet his arm grew neither weak mor flow,
Túllow to earth the woundedrrec down bended: Why do we labour thiro' the arduous paths

Create this fear and wonder: O my friends!
Nor of that fury heed or care he took,

Which lead to virtue: Fruitlois were the toil, Then fled the fpirits all, the charmıs all endud.

Above the reach of human feet were plac'd * Rinaldo.

The

a

§ 39:

The distant summit, if the fear of death To forrow and to thame ; for thou must weep
Could intercept cur passage. But in vain With Lacedæmon, must with her sustain
His blackest frowns and terrors he assumes Thy painful portion of oppreffion's weight.
To shake the firmness of the mind, which knows Thý fons behold now worthy of their names,
That, wanting virtue, life is pain and woe;

And Spartan birth. Theirgrowing bloom muft pine
That, wanting liberty, ev'n virtue mourns,

In thame and bondage, and their youthful hearts
And looks around for happincís in vain.

Beat at the found of liberty no more.
Then speak, 0 Sparta, and demand my life; On their own virtue, and their father's fame,
My heart exulting, answers to thy call,

When he the Spartan freedom hath confirm'd,
And smiles on glorious fate. To live with fame Before the world illustrious shall they rise,
The gods allow to many; but to die

Their country's bulwark, and their mother's joy.
With equal lustre, is a bletling Heaven

Here paus'd the patriot. With religious aws.
Selects from all the choicest boons of fatc, Grief heard the voice of virtue. No complaint
And with a sparing hand on few bestows.

The folemn silence broke. Tears ccas'd to flow :

Ceas'd for a moment; soon again to streain.
Lconidas's Anfrver to the Persian Ambaf- His brave companions of the war demand

For now, in arms before the palace rang’d,
fador,

Their Icader's presence; then her griefs renew'd,
RETURN to Xerxes; tell him on this rock Too great for utt'rance, intercept her siglas,

The Grecians, faithful to their post, await And freeze each accent on her fault'ring tongue.
His chosen myriads ; tell him, thou hast seen In specchless anguish on the hero's breast
How far the lust of empire is below

She links. On cv'ry side his children press,
A frec-born mind : and tell him, to behold Hang on 'his knees, and kiss his honour'd hand.
A tyrant humbled, and by virtuous death His loul no longer struggles to confine
To seal my country's freedom, is a good Its strong compunction. Down the hero's check,
Surpassing all his boasted pow'r can give. Down flows the manly forrow. Great in woe,

Amid his children, who inclose him round,

He stands indulging tendernefs and love
§ 40. Paibetic Farenvel of Leonidas to his wife | In graceful tears, when thus, with lifted eyes,
and Family.

Addrels'd to Heaven: Thou ever-living Pow'r,
I SEE, I feel thy anguish, nor my soul

Look down propitious, fire of gods and men!
Has ever known the prevalence of love,

And to this faithful woman, whose dcfert
E’cr prov'd a father's fondness, as this hour; May claim thy favour, grant the hours of

peace,
Nor, when most ardent to allert my fame, And thou, my great forefather, son of Jove,
Was once my heart intenlible to thee.

O Hercules, neglcct not these thy race !
How had it stain'd the honours of my name

But since that spirit I from thee derive,
To hesitate a moment, and luspend

Now bears me from them to refiftlels fate,
My country's fate, till Thameful life preferrd Do thou support their virtue! Be they taught,
By my inglorious colleague left no choice, Like thee, with glorious labour life to grace,
But what in me were infamy to fhun,

And from their father let them learn to die I
Not virtue to accept! Then deem no more
That, of my love regardless,

or thy tears,
I hafte uncall'd to death. The voice of fare,

§ 41. CharaEiers of Teribazus and Ariana.
The gods, my fame, my country, bid ine bleed.
Othou dear mourner wherefore fircams afresh | AMD the van of Persia was a youth
That flood of woe? Why heayes with sighs re-

Nam'd Teribazus, not for golden stores,
new'd

Not for wide pastures travers'd o'er with herds,
That tender breast: Leonidas must fall. With bleating thoutands, or with bounding feeds,
Alas! far heavier mitery impends

Nor
yet

for pow'r, nor splendid honours, fam'd.
O'er thee and there, if foften'd by thy tears Richi was his mind in ev'ry art divine,
I thamefully refuse to vield that breath, And thro' the paths of science had he walk'd
Which juitice, glory, liberty, and Heaven The vorary of wisdom. In the years
Claim for my country, for my sons, and thee. When tender down invests the ruddy check,
Think on my long unalter'd love. Retleet He with the Magi turn'd the hallow'd page
On my paternal fondnofs. Has my heart Of Zoroaster ; then his tow’ring soul
E'er known a pause of love, or pious care ? High on the plumes of contemplation foar'd,
Now shall that care, that tenderness, be prov'd And from the lofty Babylonian fane
Most warm and faithful. When thy husband dies With learn’d Chaldæans trac'd the mystic Spheres
For Lacedæmon's safety, thou wilt lhare, There number'd o'er the vivid fies that gleam
Thou and thy children, the diffusive good. Upon the dusky bofom of the night.
Should I, thus fingied from the rest of men, Nor on the sands of Ganges were unheard
Alone entrusted by th’immortal gods

The Indian lages from fcqucher'd bow'rs,
With pow'r to fare a people, thould my soul While, as attention wonder'd, they disclos'd
Detere that facred caule, ince too 1 yield

The jow'rs of nature; whether in the woods,

The