Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
'Twas on that day which saw the teeming flood
Swell round, impregnate with celestial blood;
Wandering in circles stood the finny crew,
The midst was left a void expanse of blue,
There parent ocean work'd with heaving throes,
And dropping wet the fair Dione rose.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
She paints the purple year with vary'd show,
Tips the green gem, and makes the blossom glow.
She makes the turgid buds receive the breeze,
Expand to leaves, and shade the naked trees.
When gathering damps the misty nights diffuse,
She sprinkles all the morn with balmy dews;
Bright trembling pearls depend at every spray,
And, kept from falling, seem to fall away.
A glossy freshness hence the rose receives,
And blushes sweet through all her silken leaves
(The drops descending through the silent night,
While stars serenely roll their golden light):
Close till the morn, her humid veil she holds;
Then deckt with virgin pomp the flower unfolds.
Soon will the morning blush: ye maids! prepare,
In rosy garlands bind your flowing hair;
'Tis Venus' plant: the blood fair Venus shed,
O'er the gay beauty pour'd immortal red;
From Love's soft kiss a sweet ambrosial smell
Was taught for ever on the leaves to dwell;
From gems, from flames, from orient rays of light,
The richest lustre makes her purple bright;
And she to morrow weds; the sporting gale
Unties her zone, she bursts the verdant veil;
Through all her sweets the rifling lover flies,
And as he breathes, her glowing fires arise.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
Now fair Dione to the myrtle grove
Sends the gay nymphs, and sends her tender love.
And shall they venture? Is it safe to go,
While nymphs have hearts, and Cupid wears a
Yes, safely venture, 'tis his mother's will; [bow?
He walks unarm'd, and undesigning ill,
His torch extinct, his quiver useless hung,
His arrows idle, and his bow unstrung. [charms;
And yet, ye nymphs, beware; his eyes have
And Love that's naked, still is Love in arms.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
From Venus' bower to Delia's lodge repairs
A virgin train complete with modest airs:
"Chaste Delia, grant our suit! or shun the wood,
Nor stain this sacred lawn with savage blood.
Venus, O Delia ! if she could persuade,
Would ask thy presence, might she ask a maid."
Here cheerful quires for three auspicious nights
With songs prolong the pleasurable rites:
Here crouds in measure lightly-decent rove;
Or seek by pairs the covert of the grove,
Where meeting greens for arbours arch above,
And mingling flowrets strow the scenes of love.
Here dancing Ceres shakes her golden sheaves;
Here Bacchus revels, deck'd with viny leaves:
Here wit's enchanting god, in laurel crown'd,
Wakes all the ravish'd Hours with silver sound.
Ye fields, ye forests, own Dione's reign,
And Delia, huntress Delia, shun the plain.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
Gay with the bloom of all her opening year,
The queen at Hybla bids her throne appear;
And there presides; and there the favourite band
(Her smiling Graces) share the great command.
Now, beauteous Hybla! dress thy flowery beds
With all the pride the lavish season sheds;
Now all thy colours, all thy fragrance yield,
And rival Enna's aromatic held.
To fill the presence of the gentle court,
From every quarter rural nymphs resort, [vales,
From woods, from mountains, from their humble
From waters curling with the wanton gales.
Pleas'd with the joyful train, the laughing queen
In circles seats them round the bank of green;
And, "Lovely girls," she whispers, "guard your
hearts:
My boy, though stript of arms, abounds in arts."
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
Let tender grass in shaded alleys spread,
Let early flowers erect their painted head,
To morrow's glory be to morrow seen,
That day, old Ether wedded Earth in green,
The vernal father bid the Spring appear,
In clouds he coupled to produce the year,
The sap descending o'er her bosom ran,
And all the various sorts of soul began.
By wheels unknown to sight, by secret veins
Distilling life, the fruitful goddess reigns,
Through all the lovely realms of native day,
Through all the circled land and circling sea;
With fertile seed she fill'd the pervious earth,
And ever fix'd the mystic ways of birth.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
'Twas she the parent, to the Latian shore
Through various dangers Troy's remainder bore.
She won Lavinia for her warlike son,
And, winning her, the Latian empire won.
She gave to Mars the maid, whose honour'd womb
Swell'd with the founder of immortal Rome.
Decoy'd by shows, the Sabine dames she led,
And taught our vigorous youth the way to wed.
Hence sprung the Romans, hence the race divine
Through which great Cæsar draws his Julian line.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before ;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
In rural seats the soul of pleasure reigns;
The life of Beauty fills the rural scenes;
Ev'n Love (if Fame the truth of Love declare)
Drew first the breathings of a rural air.
Some pleasing meadow pregnant Beauty prest,
She laid her infant on its flowery breast,
From Nature's sweets he sipp'd the fragrant dew,
He smil'd, he kiss'd them, and by kissing grew.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
Now bulls o'er stalks of broom extend their
sides,
Secure of favours from their lowing brides.
Now stately rams their fleecy consorts lead,
Who bleating follow through the wandering shade,
And now the goddess bids the birds appear,
Raise all their music, and salute the year:
Then deep the swan begins, and deep the song
Runs o'er the water where he sails along:
While Philomela turns a treble strain,
And from the poplar charms the listening plain.
We fancy love exprest at every note,
It melts, it warbles, in her liquid throat,
Of barbarous Tereus she complains no more, But sings for pleasure, as for grief before. And still her graces rise, her airs extend, And all is silence till the syren end,
How long in coming is my lovely Spring! And when shall 1, and when the swallow sing; Sweet Philomela, cease:-Or here I sit, And silent lose my rapturous hour of wit: 'Tis gone, the fit retires, the flames decay, My tuneful Phoebus flies averse away. His own Amycle thus, as stories run, But once was silent, and that once undone. Let those loze now, who never lov'd before; Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
HOMER'S BATRACHOMUOMACHIA:
BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND MICE.
Physignathus, one who swells his cheeks.
Pelus, a name for mud.
Hydromeduse, a ruler in the waters.
Hypsiboas, a loud bawler.
Pelion, from mud.
Scutlæus, called from the bees.
Polyphonus, a great babler.
Lymnocharis, one who loves the lake.
Crambophagus, a cabbage-eater.
Lymnisius, called from the lake.
Calaminthius, from the herb.
Hydrocaris, who loves the water.
Borborocates, who lies in the mud.
Prassophagus, an eater of garlic.
Pelusius, from mud.
Pelobates, who walks in the dirt.
Pressæus, called from garlic.
Craugasides, from croaking.
Names of the Mice.
Pternophagus, a bacon-eater.
The dreadful toils of raging Mars I write,
The springs of contest, and the fields of fight;
How threatening mice advanc'd with warlike grace,
And wag'd dire combats with the croaking race.
Not louder tumults shook Olympus' towers,
When earth-born giants dar'd immortal powers.
These equal acts an equal glory claim,
And thus the Muse records the tale of Fame.
Once on a time, fatigued and out of breath,
And just escap'd the stretching claws of Death,
A gentle mouse, whom cats pursued in vain,
Fied swift of foot across the neighbouring plain,
Hung o'er a brink, his eager thirst to cool,
And dipp'd his whiskers in the standing pool;
When near a courteous frog advanc'd his head,
And from the waters, hoarse-resounding, said,
"What art thou, stranger? what the line you
boast?
What chance has cast thee panting on our coast?
With strictest truth let all thy words agree,
Nor let me find a faithless mouse in thee.
If worthy, friendship, proffer'd friendship take,
And entering view the pleasurable lake;
Range o'er my palace, in my bounty share,
And glad return from hospitable fare:
This silver realm extends beneath my sway,
And me, their monarch, all its frogs obey.
Great Physignathus I, from Peleus' race,
Begot in fair Hydrom de's embrace,
Where, by the nuptial bank that paints bis side,
The sw ft Eridanus delights to glide.
Thee too, thy form, thy strength, and port, pro-
A scepter'd king; a son of martial fame; Then trace thy line, and aid my guessing eyes." Thus ceas'd the frog, and thus the mouse repla
"Known to the gods, the men, the birds that fly Through wild expanses of the midway sky, My name resounds; and if unknown to thee, The soul of great Psycarpax lives in me. Of brave Troxartas' line, whose sleeky down In love compress'd Lychomile the brown. My mother she, and princess of the plains Where-e'er her father Pternotractas reigns. Born where a cabin lifts its airy shed, With figs, with nuts, with vary'd dainties fed. But, since our natures nought in common know, From what foundation can a friendship grow ? These curling waters o'er thy palace roll: But man's high food supports my princely soul: In vain the circled loaves attempt to lie Conceal'd in flaskets from my curious eye. In vain the tripe that boasts the whitest hue, In vain the gilded bacon shuns my view, In vain the cheeses, offspring of the pail, Or honey'd cakes, which gods themselves regale; And as in arts I shine, in arms I fight, Mix'd with the bravest, and unknown to fight,
Cnissodioctes, one who follows the steam of Though large to mine the human form appear,
Sitophagus, an eater of wheat.
Meridarpax, one who plunders his share.
To fill my rising song with sacred fire,
Ye tuneful Nine, ye sweet celestial quire!
From Helicon's embowering height repair,
Attend my labours, and reward my prayer;
Not man himself can smite my soul with fear, Sly to the bed with silent steps I go, Attempt his finger, or attack his toe, And six indented wounds with dextrous skill, Sleeping he feels, and only seems to feel. Yet have we foes which direful dangers cause, Grim owls with talons arm'd, and cats with claws, And that false trap, the den of silent Fate, Where Death his ambush plants around the bait: All dreaded these, and dreadful o'er the rest The potent warriors of the tabby vest,,
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If to the dark we fly, the dark they trace,
And rend our heroes of the nibbling race,
But
me, nor stalks nor waterish herbs delight,
Nor can the crimson radish charm my sight,
The lake-resounding frogs selected fare,
Which not a mouse of any taste can bear,”
As thus the downy prince his mind exprest, His answer thus the croaking king addrest:
"Thy words luxuriant on thy dainties rove, And, stranger, we can boast of bounteous Jove: We sport in water, or we dance on land, And born amphibious, food from both command. But trust thyself where wonders ask thy view, And safely tempt those seas, I'll bear thee through: Ascend my shoulders, firmly keep thy seat, And reach my marshy court, and feast in state." He said, and bent his back; with nimble bound Leaps the light mouse, and clasps his arms around, Then wondering floats, and sees with glad survey The winding banks resembling ports at sea. But when aloft the curling water rides, And wets with azure wave his downy sides, His thoughts grow conscious of approaching woe, His idle tears with vain repentance flow, His locks he rends, his trembling feet he rears, Thick beats his heart with unaccustom'd fears; He sighs, and, chill'd with danger, longs for shore: His tail extended forms a fruitless oar, Half drench'd in liquid death his prayers he spake, And thus bemoan'd him from the dreadful lake:
"So pass'd Europa through the rapid sea,
Trembling and fainting all the venturous way;
With oary feet the bull triumphant rode,
And safe in Crete depos'd his lovely load.
Ah, safe at last, may thus the frog support
My trembling limbs to reach his ample court!"
As thus he sorrows, death ambiguous grows,
Lo! from the deep a water-bydra rose;
He rolls his sanguin'd eyes, his bosom heaves,
And darts with active rage along the waves.
Confus'd the monarch sees his hissing foe,
And dives, to shun the sable fates below.
Forgetful frog! the friend thy shoulders bore,
Unskill'd in swimming, floats remote from shore.
He grasps with fruitless hands to find relief,
Supinely falls, and grinds his teeth with grief;
Plunging he sinks, and struggling mounts again,
And sinks, and strives, but strives with Fate in
The weighty moisture clogs his hairy vest, [vain.
And thus the prince his dying rage exprest:
"Nor thou, that fling'st me floundering from thy
back,
[wrack,
As from hard rocks rebounds the shattering
Nor thou shalt 'scape thy due, perfidious king!
Pursued by vengeance on the swiftest wing!
At land thy strength could never equal mine,
At sea to conquer, and by craft, was thine. [eyes:
But Heaven has gods, and gods have searching
Ye mice, ye mice, my great avengers rise!"
This said, he sighing gasp'd, and gasping dy'd,
His death the young Lychopynax espy'd,
As on the flowery brink he pass'd the day,
Bask'd in the beams, and loiter'd life away.
Loud shrieks the mouse, his shrieks the shores re-
The nibbling nation learn their hero's fate: [peat,
Grief, dismal grief ensues; deep murmurs sound,
And shriller fury fills the deafen'd ground.
From lodge to lodge, the sacred heralds run,
To fix their council with the rising Sun;
Where great Troxartas crown'd in glory reigns,
And winds his lengthening court beneath the plains.
Psycarpax' father, father now no more!
For poor Psycarpax lies remote from shore;
Supine he lies! the silent waters stand,
And no kind billow wafts the dead to land!
WHEN rosy-finger'd Morn had ting'd the clouds, Around their monarch-mouse the nation crowds, Slow rose the sovereign, heav'd his anxious breast, And thus the council, fill'd with rage, addrest:
"For lost Psycapax much my sou, endures, 'Tis mine the private grief, the public yours. Three warlike sous adorn'd my nuptial bed, Three sons, alas, before their father dead! Our eldest perish'd by the ravening cat, As near my count the prince unheedful sat. Our next, an engine fraught with danger drew, The portal gap'd, the bait was hung in view, Dire arts assist the trap, the Fates decoy, And men unpitying kill'd my gal ́ant boy! The last, his country's hope, his parent's pride, Plung'd in the lake by Physignathus, dy'd; Rouse all to war, my friends! avenge the deed; And bleed that monarch, and his nation bleed." His words in every breast inspir'd alarms, And careful Mars supply'd their host with arms. In verdant hulls despoil'd of all their beans, The buskin'd warriors stalk'd along the plains: Quills aptly bound their bracing corselet made, Fae'd with the plunder of a cat they flay'd: The lamp's round boss affords them ample shield; Large shells of nuts their covering helmet yield; And o'er the region, with reflected rays, Tail groves of needles for their lances blaze, Dreadful in arms the marching mice appear; The wondering frogs perceive the tumult near, Forsake the waters, thickening form a ring, And ask, and hearken, whence the noises spring. When near the crowd, disclos'd to public view, The valiant chief Embasichytros drew: The sacred herald's sceptre grac'd his hand, And thus his word express'd his king's command: "Ye frogs! the mice, with vengeance fir'd, ad
And deck'd in armour shake the shining lance:
Their hapless prince by Physignathus slain,
Extends incumbent on the watery plain.
Then arm your host, the doubtful battle try;
Lead forth those frogs that have the soul to die."
The chief retires, the crowd the challenge hear, And proudly swelling yet perplex'd appear: Much they resent, yet much their monarch blame, Who, rising, spoke to clear his tainted fame:
"O friends! I never forc'd the mouse to death, Nor saw the gasping of his latest breath. He, vain of youth, our art of swimming try'd, And, venturous, in the lake the wanton dy'd. To vengeance now by faise appearance led, They point their anger at my guiltless head, But wage the rising war by deep device, And turn its fury on the c. afty mice. Your king directs the way; my thoughts, elate With hopes of conquest, form designs of fate. Where high the banks their verdant surface heave, And the steep sides confine the sleeping wave, There, near the margin, clad in armour bright, Sustain the first impetuous shocks of fight: Then, where the dancing feather joins the crest, Let each brave frog his obvious mouse arrest;
Each strongly grasping, headlong plunge a foe,
Till countless circles whirl the lake below;
Down sink the mice in yielding waters drown'd;
Loud flash the waters; and the shores resound:
The frogs triumphant tread the conquer'd plain,
And raise their glorious trophies of the slain."
He spake no more, his prudent scheme imparts
Redoubling ardour to the boldest hearts.
Green was the suit his arming heroes chose,
Around their legs the greaves of mallows close;
Green were the beets about their shoulders laid,
And green the colewort, which the target made.
Form'd of the vary'd shells the waters yield,
Their glossy helmets glisten'd o'er the field:
And tapering sea-reeds for the polish'd spear,
With upright order pierc'd the ambient air.
Thus dress'd for war, they take th' appointed
height,
Poise the long arms, and urge the promis'd fight.
But now, where Jove's irradiate spires arise,
With stars surrounded in etherial skies,
(A solemn council call'd) the brazen gates
Unbar; the gods assume their golden seats:
The sire superior leans, and points to show
What wondrous combats mortals wage below:
How strong, how large, the numerous heroes stride,
What length of lance they shake with warlike
What eager fire their rapid march reveals! [pride!
So the fierce Centaurs ravag'd o'er the dales;
And so confirm'd, the daring Titans rose,
Heap'd hills on hills, and bid the gods be foes.
This seen, the Power his sacred visage rears,
He casts a pitying smile on worldly cares,
And asks what heavenly guardians take the list,
Or who the mice, or who the frogs assist?
Then thus to Pallas: "If my daughter's mind
Have join'd the mice, why stays she still behind?
Drawn forth by savoury steams they wind their
And sure attendance round thine altar pay, [way,
Where while the victims gratify their taste,
They sport to please the goddess of the feast.”
Thus spake the ruler of the spacious skies.
But thus, resolv'd, the blue-ey'd maid replies:
In vain, my father! all their dangers plead,
To such thy Pallas never grants her aid.
My flowery wreaths they etulantly spoil,
And rob my crystal lamps of feeding oil.
(Ills following ills!) but what afflicts me more,
My veil that idle race profanely tore.
The web was curious, wrought with art divine;
Relentless wretches! all the work was mine!
Along the loom the purple warp I spread,
Cast the light shoot, and crost the silver thread;
In this their teeth a thousand breaches tear,
The thousand breaches skilful hands repair,
For which, vile earthly duns thy daughter grieve
(The gods, that use no coin, have none to give,
And learning's goddess never less can owe,
Neglected learning gains no wealth below).
Nor let the frogs to win my succour sue,
Those clamorous fools have lost my favour too.
For late, when all the conflict ceas'd at night,
When my stretch'd sinews work'd with eager fight,
When spent with glorious toil, I left the field,
And sunk for slumber on my swelling shield;
Lo, from the deep, repelling sweet repose,
With noisy croakings half the nation rose:
Devoid of rest, with aching brows I lay,
Till cocks proclaim'd the crimson dawn of day.
Let all, like me, from either host forbear,
Nor tempt the flying furies of the spear;
Let heavenly blood (or what for blood may flow)
Adorn the conquest of a meaner foe.
Some daring mouse may meet the wondrous odds,
Though gods oppose, and brave the wounded gods.
O'er gilded clouds reclin'd, the danger view,
And be the wars of mortals scenes for you."
So mov'd the blue-ey'd queen; her words per-
Great Jove assented, and the rest obey'd. [suade,
Now front to front the marching armies shine,
Halt ere they meet, and form the lengthening line:
The chiefs conspicuous seen and heard afar,
Give the loud signal to the rushing war; [sound,
Their dreadful trumpets deep-mouth'd hornets
The sounding charge remurmurs o'er the ground,
Ev'n Jove proclaims a field of horrour nigh,
And rolls low thunder through the troubled sky.
First to the fight large Hypsiboas flew,
And brave Lychenor with a javelin slew.
The luckless warrior, fill'd with generous flame,
Stood foremost glittering in the post of fame;
When, in his liver struck, the javelin hung,
The mouse fell thundering, and the target rung;
Prone to the ground, he sinks his closing eye,
And soil'd in dust his lovely tresses lie.
A spear at Pelion Troglodytes cast,
The missive spea within the bosom past;
Death's sable shades the fainting frog surround,
And life's red tide ruas ebbing from the wound.
Embasicbytros felt Scutlæus' dart
Transfix and quiver in bis panting heart;
But great Artophagus aveng'd the slain,
And big Scutlæus tumbling loads the plain,
And Polyphonus dies, a frog renown'd
For boastful speech, and turbulence of sound;
Deep through the belly pierc'd, supine he lay,
And breath'd his soul against the face of day.
The strong Lymnocharis, who view'd with ire
A victor triumph, and a friend expire;
With heaving arms a rocky fragment caught,
And fiercely flung where Troglodytes fought
(A warrior vers'd in arts, of sure retreat,
But arts in vain elude impending fate);
Full on his sinewy neck the fragment fell,
And o'er his eye-lids clouds et rnal dwell.
Lychenor (second of the glorious name)
Striding advanc'd, and took no wandering aim;
Through all the frogs the shining javelin flies,
And near the vanquis''d mouse the victor dies.
The dreadful stroke Cambophagus affrights,
Long bred to banquets, less iour'd to fights,
Heedless he runs, and stumbles o'er the steep,
And wildly floundering flashes up the deep;
Lychenor, following with a downward blow,
Reach'd in the lake his unrecover'd foe;
Gasping he rolls, a purple stream of blood
Distains the surface of the silver flood; [throng,
Through the wide wound the rushing entrails
And slow the breathless carcass floats along.
Lymnisius good Tyroglyphus assails,
Prince of the mice that haunt the flowery vales,
Lost to the milky fares and rural seat,
He came to perish on the bank of fate.
The dread Pternoglyphus demands the fight
Which tender Calaminthius shuns by flight,
Drops the green target, springing quits the foe,
Glides through the lake, and safely dives below.
But dire Pternophagus divides his way
Through breaking ranks, and leads the dreadful
day.
No nibbling prince excell❜d in fierceness more,
His parents fed him on the savage boar;
But where his lance the field with blood imbrued,
Swift as he mov'd Hydrocharis pursued,
Till fallen in death he lies, a shattering stone
Sounds on the neck, and crushes all the bone.
His blood pollutes the verdure of the plain,
And from his nostrils bursts the gushing brain.
Lychopinax with Borborocates fights,
A blameless frog, whom humbler life delights;
The fatal javelin unrelenting flies,
And darkness seals the gentle croaker's eyes.
Incens'd Prassophagus, with spritely bound,
Bears Cnissodioctes off the rising ground,
Then drags him o'er the lake depriv'd of breath,
And, downward plunging, sinks his soul to death.
But now the great Psycarpax shines afar
(Scarce he so great whose loss provok'd the war);
Swift to revenge his fatal javelin fled,
And through the liver struck Pelusius dead;
His freckled corpse before the victor fell,
His soul indignant sought the shades of Hell.
This saw Pelobates, and from the flood
Heav'd with both hands a monstrous mass of mud;
The cloud obscene o'er all the hero flies,
Dishonours his brown face, and blots his eyes.
Enrag'd, and wildly sputtering, from the shore
A stone, immense of size, the warrior bore,
A load for labouring Earth, whose bulk to raise,
Asks ten degenerate mice of modern days.
Full on the leg arrives the crushing wound:
The frog, supportless, writhes upon the ground.
Thus flush'd, the victor wars with matchless
Till loud Craugasides arrests his course. [force,
Hoarse croaking threats precede! with fatal speed
Deep through the belly ran the pointed reed,
Then, strongly tugg'd, return'd imbrued with gore,
And on the pile his reeking entrails bore.
The lame Sitophagus, oppress'd with pain,
Creeps from the desperate dangers of the plain;
And where the ditches rising weeds supply
To spread their lowly shades beneath the sky,
There lurks the silent mouse reliev'd from heat,
And, safe embower'd, avoids the chance of fate.
But here Troxartas, Physignathus there,
Whirl the dire furies of the pointed spear;
But where the foot around its ankle plies,
Troxartas wounds, and Physignathus flies,
Halts to the pool, a safe retreat to find,
And trails a dangling length of leg behind.
The mouse still urges, still the frog retires,
And half in anguish of the flight expires.
Then pious ardour young Pressæus brings
Betwixt the fortunes of contending kings:
Lank harmless frog! with forces hardly grown,
He darts the reed in combat not his own,
Which faintly tinkling on Troxartas' shield,
Hangs at the point, and drops upon the field.
Now nobly towering o'er the rest appears
A gallant prince that far transcends his years,
Pride of his sire, and glory of his house,
And more a Mars in combat than a mouse:
His action bold, robust his ample frame,
And Meridarpax his resounding name.
The warrior, singled from the fighting croud,
Boasts the dire honours of his arms aloud;
Then strutting near the lake, with looks elate,
To all its nations threats approaching fate.
And such his strength, the silver lakes around
Might roll their waters o'er unpeopled ground,
But powerful Jove, who shows no less his grace
To frogs that perish, than to human race,
Felt soft compassion rising in his soul,
And shook his sacred head, that shook the pole.
Then thus to all the gazing powers began
The sire of gods, and frogs, and mice, and man:
"What seas of blood I view! what worlds of
An Iliad rising from a day's campaign; [slain!
How fierce his javelin o'er the trembling lakes
The black-furr'd hero Meridarpax shakes!
Unless some favouring deity descend,
Soon will the frogs loquaci us empire end,
Let dreadful Pallas wing'd with pity fly,
And make her ægis blaze before his eye:
While Mars refulgent on his rattling car,
Arrests his raging rival of the war."
He ceas'd, reclining with attentive head,
When thus the glorious god of combats said:
"Nor Pallas, Jove! though Pallas take the field,
With all the terrours of her hissing shield;
Nor Mars himself, thou h Mars in armour bright
Ascend his ear, and wheel amidst the fight;
Not these can drive the desperate mouse afar,
Or change the fortunes of the bleeding war.
Let all go forth, all Heaven in arms arise,
Or lanch thy own red thunder from the skies,
Such ardent bolts as flew that wondrous day,
When heaps of Titans mix'd with mountains lay;
When all the giant race enormous fell,
And huge Enceladus was burl'd to Hell."
'Twas thus th' armipotent advis'd the gods,
When from his throne the cloud-compelier nods,
Deep-lengthening thunders run from pole to pole,
Olympus trembles as the thunders roil.
Then swift he whirls the brandish'd bolt around,
And headlong da ts it at the distant ground;
The bolt discharg'd, inwrap'd with lightning flies,
And rends its flaming passage through the skies;
Then earth's inhabitants, the nibblers, shake,
And frogs, the dwellers in the waters, quake.
Yet still the mice advanc'd their dread design,
And the last danger threats the croaking line,
Till Jove, that inly mourn'd the loss they bore,
With strange assistants fill'd the frighted shore.
Pour'd from the neighbouring strand, deform'd to
They march, a sudden unexpected crew! [view,
Strong suits of armour round their bodies close,
Which, like thick anvils, blunt the force of blows;
In wheeling marches torn oblique they go;
With harpy claws their limbs divide below;
Fell sheers the passage to their mouth command;
From out the flesh their bones by nature stand;
Broad spread their backs, their shining shoulders
rise;
Unnumber'd joints distort their lengthen'd thighs;
With nervous cords their hands are firmly brac'd;
Their round black eye-balls in their bosom plac'd;
On eight long feet the wondrous warriors tread;
And either end alike supplies a head.
These, mortal wits to call the crabs agree,
The gods have other names for things than we,
Now where the jointures from their loins depend,
The heroes tail with severing grasps they rend.
Here, short of feet, depriv'd the power to fly,
There, without hands, upon the field they lie.
Wrench'd from their holds, and scatter'd all around,
The bended lances heap the cumber'd ground.
Helpless amazement, fear pursuing fear,
And mad confusion, through their host appear:
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