But if this facred gift you difcftecm,
Then cruel plagues (which Heav'n divert on them!)
Shall fall on Priam's ftate: but if the horse Your walls afcend, affifted by your force, A league 'gainst Greece all Afia fhall contract, Our fons then fuff 'ring what their fires would act." Thus by his fraud and our own faith o'ercome, A feigned tear deftroys us, against whom Tydides nor Achilles could prevail, Nor ten years' conflict, nor a thousand fail. This feconded by a moft fad pertent, Which credit to the firft impofture lent, Laocoor, Neptune's prieft, upon the day Devoted to that god, a bull did slay; When two prodigious ferpents were defcry'd, Whofe circling ftrokes the fea's fmooth face divide: Above the deep they reife their scaly crests, And ftem the ficod with their erected breafts; Their winding tails advance and fleer their courfe, And 'gainst the fhore the breaking billows force. Now landing, from their brandifh'd tongues there A direful hifs, and from their eyes a flame. [came Amaz'd we fly; directly in a line Laocoon they pursue, and first entwine (Each preying upon one) his tender fons; Then him, who armed to their refcue runs, They feiz'd, and with entangling folds embrac'd, His neck twice compaffing and twice his waift: Their pois'nous knots he ftrives to break and tear, While flime and blood his facred wreaths befmear; Then loudly roars, as when th' enraged bull From the altar flies, and from his wounded skull Shakes the huge axe. The conq'ring ferpents fly To cruel Pallas' altar, and there lie Under her feet, within her field's extent. We, in our fears, conclude this fate was fent Justly on him who ftruck the facred oak With his accurfed lance. Then to invoke The goddefs, and let in the fatal horse, We all confent.
A fpacious breach we make, and Troy's proud wall, Built by the gods, by our own hands doth fall. Thus all their help to their own ruin give, Sonie draw with cords, and fome the monster drive With rolls and levers: thus ur works it climbs, Big with our fate; the youth with fongs and rhymes,
Some dance, fome haul the rope; at last let down, It enters with a thund'ring noise the town. Oh, Troy! the feat of gods, in war renown'd! Three times it fruck, as oft' the clashing found Of arms was heard; yet blinded by the power Of Fate, we place it in the facred tower. Caffandra then foretells th' event, but the Finds no belief (fuch was the gods' decree.) The altars with fresh flowers we crown, and wake In feafts that day, which was (alas!) our laft. Now by the revolution of the skies Night's fable fhadows from the ocean rife, Which heav'n and earth, and the Greek frauds in- The city in fecure repofe diffolv'd, When from the admiral's high peop appears A light, by which the Argive fquadron fteers
Their filent course to Ilium's well-known fhore, When Sinon (fav'd by the gods' partial power) Opens the horse, and through the unlock'd doors To the free air the armed freight reftores. Ulyffes, Stheneleus, Tifander flide
Down by a rope, Machaon was their guide; Atrides, Pyrrhus, Thoas, Athamas, And Epeus, who the fraud's contriver was: The gatesthey feize; the guards, with fleep and wine Opprefs d, furprife, and then their forces join. 'Twas then, when the first fweets of fleep repair Our bodies spent with toil, our minds with care, (The gods' beft gift) when, bath'd in tears aud blond,
Before my face lamenting Hector ftood, His afpect fuch when, foil'd with bloody duft, Dragg'd by the cords which through his feet were thruft
By his infulting foe: O how transform'd! How much unlike that Hector who return'd Clad in Achilles' fpoils! when he among A thousand fhips (like Jove) his lightning flung! His horrid beard and knotted trefies flood Stiff with his gore, and all his wounds ran blood. Entranc'd I lay, then (weeping) faid, The joy, The hope and lay of thy declining Troy! What region held thee? whence, fo much defir'd, Art thou reftor'd to us, confum'd and tir'd With toils and deaths? But what fad caufe con-
Thy once fair looks, or why appearthose wounds? Regardless of my words, he no reply
Returns, but with a dreadful groan doth cry,
Fly from the flame, O goddefs-born! our walls "The Greeks poffefs, and Troy confounded falls "From all her glories; if it might have stood By any pow'r, by this right hand it fhould. "What man could do by me for Troy was done. "Take here her relics and her gods, to run "With them thy fate; with them new walls expect,
"Which, tofs'd on feas, thou fhalt at laft ere&:" Then brings old Vefta from her facred quire, Her holy wreaths, and her eternal fire. Mean-while the walls with doubtful cries refound From far; (for fhady coverts did surround My father's houfe) approaching ftill more near, The clash of arms and voice of men we hear. Rous'd from my bed, I fpeedily afcend The houfes' tops, and lift'ning there attend. As flames roll'd by the winds' confpiring force O'er full-ear'd corn, or torrents' raging course Bears down th' oppofing oaks, the fields deftroys, And mocks the ploughman's toil, th' unlook'd-for noife,
From neighb'ring hills th' amazed fhepherd hears; Such my furprife, and fuch their rage appears. First fell thy houfe, Ucalegon! then thine Deiphobus! Sigean feas did fhine
Bright with Troy's flames; the trumpets' dread
The louder groans of dying men confound. Give me my arms, I cry'd, refolv'd to throw Myfell 'mong any that oppos'd the foc :
Rage, anger, and despair, at once fuggeft, That of all deaths to die in arms was beft. The firft I met was Pantheus, Phoebus' prieft, Who, 'fcaping with his gods and relics, fled, And t'wards the fhore his little grandchild led. Pantheus, what hope remains? what force, what place
Made good? but, fighing, he replies, "Alas! Trojans we were, and mighty Illium was; But the laft period and the fatal hour
Of Troy is come; our glory and our power Incensed Jove transfers to Grecian hands: The foe within the burning town commands, And (like a fmother'd fire) an unfeen force Breaks from the bowels of the fatal horse; Infulting Sinon flings about the flame,
And thousands more than e'er from Argos came Poffefs the gates, the paffes, and the streets, And these the sword o'ertakes, and those it meets. The guard nor fights nor flies; their fate fo near, At once fufpends their courage and their fear." Thus by the gods, and by Atrides' words Infpir'd, I make my way through fire, through fwords,
Where noises, tumults, outcries, and alarms, I heard. First Iphitus, renown'd for arms, We meet, who knew us; (for the moon did shine) Then Ripheus, Hypanis, and Dymas join Their force, and young Chorobus, Mygdon's fon, Who by the love of fair Caffandra won, Arriv'd but lately in her father's aid; Unhappy, whom the threats could not diffuade Of his prophetic spouse;
Whom when I faw, yet dating to maintain The fight, I faid, Brave spirits! (but in vain) Are you refolv'd to follow one who dares Tempt ail extremes? The ftate of our affairs You fee: the gods have left us, by whofe aid Our empire flood; nor can the flame be stay'd: Then let us fall amidst our foes; This one Relief the vanquifh'd have, to hope for none. Then reinforc'd, as in a ftormy night Wolves, urged by their raging appetite, Forage for prey, which their neglected young With greedy jaws expect, ev'n fo among Foes, hire, and fwords, t' affured death we pafs; Darkness our guide, Despair our leader wass Who can relate that ev'ning's woes and fpoils, Or can his tears proportion to our toils? The city, which fo long had flourish'd, falls; Death triumphs o'er the houses, temples, walls. Nor only on the Trojans feil this doom; Their hearts at last the vanquish'd re-affume, And now the victors fall: on all fides fears, Groans, and pale Death, in all her shapes appears. Androgeus firft with his whole troop was caft Upon us, with civility misplac'd
Thus greeting us; "You lofe, by your delay "Your fhare both of the honour and the prey; "Others the spoils of burning Troy convey "Back to thofe fhips which you but now forfake."- We making no return, his fad mistake
Too late he finds; as when an unfeen fnake
A traveller's unwary foot hath preft,
Who trembling starts, when the fnake's azure creft, Swoln with his rifing anger, he efpies,
So from our view furpris'd Androgeus flies: But here an eafy victory we meet;
Fear binds their hands, and ignorance their feet. Whilst fortune our firit enterprife did aid, Encourag'd with fuccefs, Chorebus faid, "O friends! we now by better Fates are led, "And the fair path they lead us let us tread. "First change your arms, and their diftin&icas bear;
"The fame in foes deceit and virtue are." Then of his arms Androgeus he divests, His fword, his fhield, he takes, and plumed crefts; Then Ripheus, Dymas, and the reft, all glad Of the occafion, in fresh spoils are clad. Thus mix'd with Grecks, as if their fortune ftill Follow'd their fwords, we fight, purfue, and kill Some re-afcend the horse, and he whofe fides Let forth the valiant, now the coward hides. Some to their safer guard, their fhips, retire; But vain's that hope 'gainst which the gods con- fpire.
Behold the royal virgin, the divine Caffandra, from Minerva's fatal fhrine Dragg'd by the hair, cafting t'wards heav'n, in vain,
Her eyes; for cords her tender hands did strain : Chorobus at the fpectacle enrag'd, Flies in amidst the foes: we thus engag'd To fecond him, among the thickest ran : Here first our ruin from our friends began, Who from the temple's battlements a fhower Of darts and arrows on our heads did pour : They us for Greeks, and now the Greeks (who knew
Caffandra's refcue) us for Trojans flew. Then from all parts Ulyffes, Ajax then, And then th' Atridæ, rally all their men ; As winds that meet from fev'ral coafts conteft, Their prifons being broke, the fouth and weft, And Eurus on his winged courfers borne, Triumphing in their speed, the woods are torn, And chafing Nereus with his trident throws The billows from their bottom; then all thofe Who in the dark our fury did escape Returning, know our borrow'd arms and shape, And diff'ring dialect: then their numbers fweil And grow upon us. First Chorobus fell Before Minerva's altar; next did bleed Juft Ripheus, whom no Trojan did exceed In virtue, yet the gods his fate decreed. Then Hypanis and Dymas, wounded by Their friends: nor thee, Pantheus! thy piety Nor confecrated mitre from the fame Ill fate could fave. My country's fun'ral flame, And Troy's cold afhes, I atteft and call To witnefs for myself, that in their fall No foes, no death, nor danger, I declin'd, Did and deferv'd no lefs my fate to find. Now Iphitus with me, and Pelias, Slowly retire; the one retarded was
By feeble age, the other by a wound.
To court the cry directs us, where we found Th' affault fo hot, as if 'twere only there, And all the reft fecure from foes or fear: The Greeks the gates approach'd, their targets caft Over their heads; fome fcaling ladders plac'd Against the walls, the reft the steps afcend, And with their fhields on their left arms defend Arrows and darts, and with their right hold faft The battlement; on them the Trojans caft Stones, rafters, pillars, beams; fuch arms as thefe, Now hopelets, for their last defence they seize. The gilded roofs, the marks of ancient state, They tumble down; and now against the gate Of th' inner court their growing force they bring : Now was our laft effort to fave the king, Relieve the fainting, and fucceed the dead. A private gallery 'twixt th' apartments led, Not to the foe yet known, or not obferv'd, (The way for Hector's hapless wife referv'd, When to the aged king her little fon
She would prefent) through this we pass, and run Up to the highest battlement, from whence The Trojans threw their darts without offence, A tow'r so high, it seem'd to reach the sky, Stood on the roof, from whence we could defcry All flium-both the camps, the Grecian fleet : This, where the beams upon the columns meet, We loofen; which like thunder from the cloud Breaks on their heads, as sudden and as loud; But others ftill fucceed Me n-time nor ftones Nor any kind of weapons ceafe.
Before the gate in gilded armour fhone Young Pyrrhus, like a snake, his fkin new grown, Who, fed on pois'nous herbs, all winter lay Under the ground, and now reviews the day Fresh in his new apparel, proud and young, Rolls up his back, and brandishes his tongue, And lifts his fealy breast against the sun; With him his father's fquire Automedon, And Peripas, who drove his winged steeds, Enter the court; whom all the youth fucceeds Of Scyros' ifle, who flaming firebrands flung Up to the roof: Pyrrhus himself among The foremost with an axe an entrance hews Through beams of folid oak, then freely views The chambers, galleries, and rooms of ftate, Where Priam and the ancient monarchs fat. At the first gate an armed guard appears, But th' inner court with horror, noife, and tears, Confus'dly fill'd, the women's fhrieks and cries The arched vaults re-echo to the fkies; Sad matrons wand'ring through the fpacious rooms Embrace and kifs the pofts; then Pyrrhus comes; Full of his father, neither men nor walls His force fuftain; the torn portcullis falls; Then from the hinge their ftrokes the gates divorce, And where the way they cannot find they force. Not with fuch rage a fwelling torrent flows, Above his banks th' oppofing dams o'erthrows, Depopulates the fields, the cattle, sheep, Shepherds and folds, the foaming furges fweep. And now between two fad extremes I ftood, Here Pyrrhus and th' Atride drunk with blood,
There th' hapless queen amongst an hundred
And Priam quenching from his wounds those flames
Which his own hands had on the altar laid ; Then they the fecret cabinets invade Where flood the fifty nuptial beds, the hopes Of that great race: the golden posts, whose tops Old hoftile spoils adorn'd, demelifh'd lay, Or to the fee or to the fire a prey. Now Priam's fate perhaps you may inquire. Seeing his empire loft, his Troy on fire, And his own palace by the Greeks poffeft, Arms long difus'd his trembling limbs invest; Thus on his foes he throws himself alone, Not for their fate, but to provoke his own. There ftood an altar open to the view Of heav'n, near which an aged laurel grew, Whofe fhady arms the household gods embrac'd, Before whole feet the queen herself had caft With all her daughters, and the Trojan wives, As doves whom an approaching tempeft drives, And frights into one flock; but having spy'd Old Priam clad in youthful arms, the cry'd, "Alas! my wretched husband! what pretence "To bear those arms? and in them what defence? "Such aid fuch times require not, when again "If Hector were alive he liv'd in vain : "Or here we fhall a fanctuary find, "Or as in life we fhall in death be join'd." Then, weeping, with kind force held and embrac'd, And on the fecret feat the king the plac'd. Mean-while Polites, one of Priam's fons, Flying the rage of bloody Pyrrhus, runs Through foes and fwords, and ranges all the court And empty galleries, amaz'd and hurt;
Pyrrhus purfues him, now o'ertakes, now kills, And his laft blood in Priam's prefence fpills. The king (though him so many deaths inclofe) Nor fear nor grief, but indignation fhews: "The gods requite thee, (if within the care "Of thofe above th' affairs of mortals are) "Whofe fury on the fon but loft had been, "Had not his parents' cyes his murder feen. "Not that Achilles (whom thou feign'ft to be
Thy father) fo inhuman was to me; "He bluth'd when I the rights of arms implor'd, "To me my Hector, me to Troy, restor'd." This faid, his feeble arm a jav'lin flung, Which on the founding fhield, fcarce ent'ring, rung. Then Pyrrhus; "Go a meffenger to hell "Of my black deeds, and to my father tell "The acts of his degen'rate race." So through His fon's warm blood the trembling king he drew To th' altar in his hair one hand he wreaths, His fword the other in his bofom fheaths. Thus fell the king, who yet surviv'd the state, With fuch a fignal and peculiar fate, Under so vaft a ruin, not a grave Nor in fuch flames a fun'ral fire to have. He whom fuch titles fwell'd, fuch pow'r made proud, To whom the fceptres of all Afia bow'd, On the cold earth lies th' unregarded king, A headlefs carcafe, and a nameless thing!
PASSION OF DIDO FOR ENEAS.
HAVING at large declar'd Jove's embaffy, Cyllenius from Encas ftraight doth fly; He, loath to disobey the gods command, Nor willing to forfake this pleafant land, Afham'd the kind Eliza to deceive, But more afraid to take a folemn leave, He many ways his lab'ring thoughts revolves, But fear o'ercoming fhame, at laft refolves (Inftructed by the god of Thieves *) to steal Himself away, and his escape conceal. He calls his captains, bids them rig the fleet, That at the port they privately should meet, And fome diffembled colour to project, That Dido fhould not their defign fufpect; But all in vain he did his plot difguife; No art a watchful lover can furprife.
She the first motion finds; love though most sure, Yet always to itself feems unfecure. That wicked fame which their first love proclaim'd Foretells the end: the queen with rage inflam'd, Thus greets him. "Thou diffembler! wouldst thou fly
"Out of my arms by ftealth perfidioufly? "Could not the hand I plighted, nor the love, "Nor thee the fate of dying Dido, move? "And in the depth of winter, in the night, "Dark as thy black defigns, to take thy flight, "To plough the raging feas to coafts unknown, "The kingdom thou pretend'ft to not thine own! "Were Troy reftor'd thou fhould miftruft a wind "Falfe as thy vows, and as thy heart unkind.
"By thee, no more my husband, but my guek, "Betray'd to mischiefs, of which death's the leaft." With fixed looks he ftands, and in his breast, By Jove's command, his ftruggling care fuppreit "Great Qucen! your favours and deferts fo great, "Though numberlefs, I never fhall forget; "No time, until myself I have forgot, "Out of my heart Eliza's name fhall blot : "But my unwilling flight the gods enforce, "And that muft juftify our fad divorce. "Since I must you forfake, would Fate permit "To my defires I might my fortune fit,
Troy to her ancient fplendour I would raise, "And where I first began would end my days. "But fince the Lycian Lots and Delphic god "Have deftin'd Italy for our abode; "Since you proud Carthage (fled from Tyre) enjoy, "Why should not Latium us receive from Trey? "As for my fon, my father's angry ghost, "Tells me his hopes by my delays are croft, "And mighty Jove's ambaffador appear'd "With the fame message, whom i faw and heard; "We both are griev'd when you or I complain, "But much the more when all complaints are vain! "I call to witnefs all the gods, and thy "Beloved head, the coaft of Italy
While thus he speaks, fhe rolls her sparkling eyes, Surveys him round, and thus incens'd replies: Thy mother was no goddefs, nor thy ftock "From Dardanus, but in fome horrid rock,
Fly't thou from me! By thefe dear drops of Perfidious wretch! rough Caucafus thee bred,
"I thee adjure, by that right hand of thine,
By our efpoufals, by our marriage-bed, "If all my kindefs aught have merited; "If ever I ftood fair in thy efteem, "From ruin me and my loft houfe redeem. "Cannot my pray'rs a free acceptance find? "Nor my tears foften an obdurate mind? "My fame of chastity, by which the fkies "I reach'd before, by thee extinguish'd dies. "Into my borders now Iarbas falls,
"And my revengeful brother scales my walls; "The wild Numidians will advantage take; "For thee both Tyre and Carthage me fortake. "Hadft thou before thy flight but left with me "A young Æneas, who, refembling thee, "Might in my fight have sported, I had then "Not wholly loft, nor quite deferted been;
"And with their milk Hyrcanian tigers fed. "Diffimulation I fhall now forget,
"And my referves of rage in order fet,
Could all my pray'rs and soft entreaties force Sighs from his breaft, or from his look remorse. "Where fhall I first complain? can mighty Jove "Or Juno fuch impieties approve? "The just Aftrea fure is fled to hell,
"Nor more in earth nor heav'n itself will dwell. "Oh, Faith him on my coafts by tempefts caft, Receiving madly, on my throne I plac’d: "His men from famine and his fleet from fire "I refcu'd now the Lycian Lots confpire "With Phoebus; now Jove's envoy through the air "Brings difmal tidings, as if fuch low care "Could reach their thoughts, or their repose disturb "Thou art a falfe impoftor and a fourbe.
Go, go, purfue thy kingdom through the main, "I hope, if Heav'n her justice still retain, "Thou shalt be wreck'd, or caft upon fome rock, "Where thou the name of Dido fhalt invoke : "I'll follow thee in fun'ral flames: when dead "My ghoft fhall thee attend at board and bed: "And when the gods on thee their vengeance fhew, "That welcome news fhall comfort me below."
This faying, from his hated fight he fled, Conducted by her damfels to her bed: Yet restless the arole, and looking out, Beholds the fleet, and hears the feamen fhout When great Æneas pafs'd before the guard, To make a view how all things were prepar'd. Ah! cruel Love! to what doft thou enforce Poor mortal breafts! again fhe hath recourse To tears and pray'rs, again the feels the smart Of a fresh wound from his tyrannic dart. That the no ways nor means may leave untry'd, Thus to her fifter she herself apply'd: "Dear fiter! my refentment had not been "So moving, if this fate I had foreseen; "Therefore to me this last kind office do; "Thou haft fome int'reft in our fcornful foe; "He trufts to thee the counfels of his mind, "Thou his foft hours and free access canft find: "Tell him I fent not to the Ilian coaft
My fleet to aid the Greeks; his father's ghost "I never did difturb: afk him to lend "To this the laft request that I shall send, "A gentle ear; I wish that he may find "A happy paffage and a profp'rous wind: "That contract I not plead which he betray'd, "Nor that his promis'd conquest be delay'd; "All that I afk is but a fhort reprieve, "Till I forget to love, and learn to grieve: "Some pause and respite only I require, "Till with my tears I fhall have quench'd my fire. "If thy addrefs can but obtain one day "Or two, my death that service shall repay." Thus fhe entreats; such messages with tears Condoling Anne to him, and from him, bears: But him no pray'rs, no arguments, can move; The Fates refift; his ears are flopp'd by Jove. As when fierce northern blaftsfrom th' Alpsdefcend, From his firm roots with struggling gufts to rend An aged sturdy oak, the rattling found [ground Grows loud, with leaves and fcatter'd arms the Is overlaid, yet he ftands fix'd; as high As his proud head is rais'd towards the fky, So low t'wards hell his roots defcend. With pray'rs And tears the hero thus affail'd, great cares He fmothers in his breaft, yet keeps his poft, All their addreffes and their labour loft. Then the deceives her fifter with a smile: "Anne, in the inner court erect a pile; "Thercon his arms and once-lov'd portrait lay: "Thither our fatal-marriage bed convey; "All curfed monuments of him with fire "We must abolish, (fo the gods require.") She gives her credit for no worse effect Than from Sichæus' death fhe did suspect, And her commands obeys.
Aurora now had left Tithonus' bed,
And o'er the world her blufhing rays did spread.
The queen beheld, as soon as day appear'd, The navy under fail, the haven clear'd : Thrice with her hand her naked breaft the knocks, And from her forehead tears her golden locks. "O Jove!" fhe cry'd," and fhall he thus delude "Me and my realm? why is he not purfu'd? "Arm, arm," fhe cry'd, "and let our Tyrians board "With ours his fleet, and carry fire and fword; "Leave nothing unattempted to destroy "That perjur'd race, then let us die with joy. "What if th' event of war uncertain were ? "Nor death nor danger can the defp'rate fear. "But, oh, too late! this thing I should have done "When first I plac'd the traitor on my throne. "Behold the faith of him who fav'd from fire "His honour'd household gods! his aged fire "His pious fhoulders from Troy's flames did bear. Why did I not his carcafe piece-meal tear, "And caft it in the fea? why not destroy "All his companions, and beloved boy "Afcanius? and his tender limbs have dreft, "And made the father on the fon to feaft? "Thou Sun! whofe luftre all things here below
Surveys, and Juno! confcious of my woe, Revengeful Furies! and Queen Hecate! "Receive and grant my pray'r! if he the fea "Muft needs escape, and reach th' Aufonian land, "If Jove decree it, Jove's decree must stand. "When landed, may he be with arms oppreft
By his rebelling people, be distrest
"By exile from his country, be divorc'd "From young Afcanius' fight, and be enforc'd "To implore foreign aids, and lose his friends By violent and undeferved ends!
"When to conditions of unequal peace "He fhall fubmit, then may he not poffefs
Kingdom nor life, and find his funeral
"I' th' fands, when he before his day fhall fall! "And ye, oh Tyrians! with immortal hate "Purfue this race; this fervice dedicate "To my deplored afhes: let there be ""Twixt us and them no league nor amity.
May from my bones a new Achilles rife "That fhall infeft the Trojan colonies "With fire, and fword, and famine, when at length "Time to our great attempts contributes strength; "Our feas, our fhores, our armies, theirs oppofe, "And may our children be for ever foes!" A ghaftly paleness death's approach portends, Then trembling the the fatal pile afcends. Viewing the Trojan relics, the unfheath'd Æneas' fword, not for that use bequeath'd; Then on the guilty bed the gently lays Herfelf, and foftly thus lamenting prays; "Dear relics! whilft that Gods and Fates give leave, "Free me from care, and my glad foul receive. "That date which Fortune gave I now must end, "And to the fhades a noble ghost descend. "Sichæus' blood, by his false brother spilt, "I have reveng'd, and a proud city built. "Happy, alas! too happy, I had liv'd, "Had not the Trojan on my coaft arriv'd. "But fhall I die without revenge? yet die Thus, thus with joy to thy Sichæus fly.
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