Like hers Medea's copious tears descend,
Such agonizing griefs her tortur'd bosom rend.
The royal pair retir'd with wonted state
From the throng'd city to their palace-gate.
On their soft couch reclin'd, at evening's close,
Long conference held they on Medea's woes.
Thus to Alcinous the queen express'd
The kind suggestions of her pitying breast:
"Oh! may the Minyans, prince, thy favours
share:

1270

Oh! shield from Colchian foes an injur'd fair. 1260
Not distant far Hæmonia's plains extend,
And near our island Argos' frontiers end.
But far remote eta reigns; his name
Unknown to us, or faintly known by fame.
She, in whose sorrows now I bear a part,
Hath, to redress them, open'd all my heart.
Let no rude Colchian bear her hence away,
To her sire's vengeance a devoted prey.
Her errour this: the fiery bulls to quell,
Fond and officious she prepar'd the spell.
Augmenting then (as oft offenders will)
Her first with future errours, ill with ill,
Far from her native home, impress'd with dread,
Far from her angry sire the damsel fled.
But bound is Jason by strong ties, says fame,
To wed the wanderer, and retrieve from shame.
Urge him not then, with many an added threat,
His faith to violate, his oaths forget;
Nor stimulate Eeta's wrath to rise:
Their daughters parents rigorously chastise. 1230
Thus Pycteus, with parental zeal o'ercome,
Compell'd his child Antiope to roam.
Thus Danaë, by her wrathful sire secur'd,
Toss'd in the troubled deep distress endur'd.
Nor long since Echetus, a wretch accurs'd,
With brazen pins his daughter's eye-balls pierc'd:
Pent in a dungeon's awful gloom she pin'd,
Doom'd by her savage sire obdurate brass to grind."
She said: soft pity touch'd the sovereign's
breast,

Who thus his supplicating queen address'd: 1290
"In me, O queen, these heroes should descry,
For the fair sufferer's sake, a firm ally;
Soon should my arms the Colchian foes remove,
But I revere the just decrees of Jove.
Unsafe I deem Aeta to deride,
Who sways the sceptre with a monarch's pride;
Able, though distant, if averse from peace,
To scatter discord through the realms of Greece.
Hear my proposal then; which you, I trust,
And all who hear it, will applaud as just:
If still a virgin's spotless name she bear,
Safe to her sire's domains conduct the fair:
But if one bed the wedded pair contain,
I will not sever Hymen's silken chain.
Forbid it, Heav'n! that I in wrath expose
Her sinless offspring to insulting foes."

1300

He said, and sunk to rest: his sage resolves Anxious and oft the wakeful queen revolves. She rose: their princess' footstep heard, arise Her femaletrain, and each her wants supplies. 1310 "Go," to her page apart Arete said, "Bid Æson's valiant son the virgin wed. Bid him no more Alcinous' ears assail With long entreaties and a well-known tale. Himself, unask'd, his advocate will go, And tender these conditions to the foe: If still the fair a spotless maid remain, 6con shall she view her father's courts again;

1320

But, if a matron's honour'd name she bear,
He will not separate the wedded pair."
She said: her herald, eager to convey
The royal message, sped without delay;
To son's son he told Arete's word,
And the kind counsels of her sovereign lord.
Hard by their ship, in glistering arms array'd,
Deep in the port of Hyllicus embay'd,
He spies the chiefs, his embassy repeats,
And every gallant heart with transport beats.
They crown the goblets to the powers divine,
And drag th'accustom'd victims to the shrine: 1330
Then for the pensive fair officious spread
In a sequester'd grot the bridal bed.
Hither, in days of yore, fair Macris came,
Daughter of Aristæus, honour'd name!
He taught mankind the virtues and the use
Of the bee's labours, and the olive's juice.
For, know, when Hermes infant-Bacchus bore,
Snatch'd from the flames, to fair Euboea's shore,
Macris embrac'd him with a mother's love,
And there, awhile, she nurs'd the seed of Jove,
And there with honey fed; till Juno's spite 1341
Far from Euboea's isle compell'd her flight.
At length, of this Phæacian grot possess'd,
She with vast opulence the natives bless'd.

To deck with honours due the bridal bed,
Around it wide the golden fleece was spread.
With sweetest flowers, that deck or dale or hill,
Th' assiduous nymphs their snowy bosoms fill.
The golden fleece emits so bright a ray,
They shone all radiant as the star of day,
Inspiring love: the prize though strong desire
Prompts them to touch, with reverence they re-
tire.

1350

These are the daughters of the Ægeän flood,
Those, Meletæum, haunt thy lofty wood.
From groves, from streams, at Juno's call they ran,
To grace the nuptials of this godlike man.
The sacred grot, recorded still by fame,
Bears to this day Medea's honour'd name.
For here the nymphs, their veils around them
spread,

1360

To nuptial joys the happy lovers led:
And every chief, to guard the blissful spot,
Clad in bright armour, stood before the grot,
Lest hostile troops, with rude tumultuous noise,
Should force an entrance, and distract their joys.
Thus station'd, they protect the hallow'd ground,
Their festive brows with leafy chaplets crown'd.
As Orphens struck his tuneful lyre, they sung,
And Hymeneals round the grotto rung.
But in Alcinous' court the fair to wed,

O'er Jason's anxious mind disquiet spread: 1370
Full oft he wish'd lolcos' coast to gain,
And wed the virgin in his sire's domain;
Such too Medea's wish: but fate severe
Forc'd him to celebrate his nuptials here.
For pleasure unalloy'd we look in vain;
Pleasure to suffering man is mix'd with pain.
Whether the Colchian foe had scorn'd or clos'd
With the just terms Phæacia's prince propos'd,
Of this they doubted: mid' the mirthful scene
Fears, which these doubts suggested, intervene.
Aurora now her orient beams display'd,
And pierc'd the sullen night's surrounding shade.
The circling shores and dew-bespangled ground
Reflect her rays: the streets with noise resound.
The citizens and Colchians, who possess'd
The distant coast, awake from balmy rest.

1381

Impatient now his purpose to disclose,
To plead Medea's cause the monarch rose.
His hand sustain'd a sceptre's massy gold, 1389
Which kings, deciding right, were wont to hold.
Around their prince, in glistering arms array'd,
Phœacia's peers a seemly pomp display'd.
Eager on each adventurous chief to gaze,
A female troop beyond the city strays.
In festive bands the distant swains unite:
For Juno had divulg'd the nuptial rite)
One from his fold a ram selected brought,
A heifer one, to feel the yoke untaught;
Flagons of wine some for libation bear:
The smoke of victims blacken'd all the air.
As women wont, the female train select
Their costly veils, with gay embroidery deck'd:
Such golden toys, such trinkets they provide,
As on a nuptial day adorn the bride.
The comely chiefs their admiration won;
But more than all Æager's tuneful son,
As lightly to the lyre's melodious sound
Tripp'd the brisk dancer o'er the measur'd ground,
In concert full the virgin-choir prolong
The happy day with hymeneal song.
Here a fair band, collected in a ring,
Praises to thee, auspicious Juno, sing.
By thee inspir'd, disclose the royal dame
The friendly terms her prince was pleas'd to name.
Nor are the terms Alcinöus nam'd disown'd:
(For now their faithful loves hath Hymen crown d)
True to his oath, he heard with fix'd disdain
And deem'd Eeta's vengeful fury vain.

1410

Soon as the Colchians saw their purpose cross'd Defeated all their schemes, their labour lost; 1420 That to the sovereign's terms they must accede, Or quit his ports, and sail away with speed; Dreading the monarch's wrath, submiss they try To win his friendship, and commence ally. Settling at last, long time the Colchian host Dwelt with the natives on Phæacia's coast: Till Bacchus' hated race from Corinth fled, Exil'd these Colchians, and the isle o'erspread. They sought the neighbouring shores: in times to

come

1430

Their sons emigrating explor'd a home,
Where far and wide extends th' Illyric coast,
And the Ceraunian hills in clouds are lost.
But these events, which now my Muse engage,
Were late fulfill'd in some succeeding age.
Yet still, in Phœbus' fane, uninjur'd stand
The altars rais'd by fair Medea's band:
Some to the fates are pil'd with victims due,
Some to the nymphs their annual rites renew.
Towards the parting train the royal pair
Their generous love by costly gifts declare. 1440
Twelve fair Phacians, at the queen's command,
Conduct Medea to the sea-beat strand.

On the seventh morn with gently-breathing gales

Propitious Jove expanded Argo's sails;
Argo, decreed fresh dangers to sustain,
Ere Greece beholds her gallant sons again.
Ambracia's bay had open'd to their view,
Beside Curetes' land the galley flew,
The clustering isles, Echidanes, they pass'd,
And Pelops' distant realm beheld at last.
Nine tedious nights and days the vessel sweeps
The troubled surface of the Libyan deeps:
Til, driven by rapid tides and storms astray,
She near the Syrtes' quicksands plough'd her way:

1450

1470

"What country this? on what bleak clime at

last

Have the rude tempests heaven-built Argo cast? Oh! had we dar'd, devoid of vulgar fear,

Our course undaunted through those fragments steer,

Like heroes then (though Jove success deny'd)
We in the bold attempt had bravely died.
What can our skill devise? the least delay
Is fatal here; the winds forbid our stay.
How bleak and barren is the coast we tread!
And what a desert waste is wide around us spread!"
He said; and, joining in the loud lament, 1481
Ancæus thus foreboded the event:

"What dire mishaps our gallant host befall!
Thus by stern fate's decree we perish all!
What woes await us, on this desert cast,
If from the land awakes the furious blast!
For slimy seas my sight far off commands,
And whitening billows bursting o'er the sands.
And dreadfully had Argo's yawning sides,
Remote from shore, receiv'd the gushing tides,
Had not the surge, which lifted her to Heav'n, 1491
Full on the pebbly beach the vessel driv❜n.
But now the tide retiring quits the strand,
And waves unfaithful skim the levell'd sand.
Our projects baffled, and hope's cheerly dawn
From our expecting sight thus soon withdrawn,
Let other hands the pilot's art display,
And they who fear not danger steer the way.
But our joint labours Jove decrees to foil,
Nor will our native home reward our toil,"
He said; and all, renown'd for naval skill,
Close with his words, and wait th' impending ill.
From every beart the vital motion fled,
O'er every face a deadly paleness spread.

15300

1510

As when from street to street, in wild dismay, Affrighted mortals, like pale spectres, stray; Expecting wars, or plagues, or bursting rains, That deluge all the harvest of the plains: Or, as when statues drops of blood distil, And fancied bellowings the temples fill; The noon-day Sun eclips'd involves in night Th' astonish'd world, and stars emit their light: Thus on the beach they stalk'd, a heartless clan! Like sweating statues, or like spectres wan. His feeble arm each round his comrade cast, Then sunk into the sand to breathe his last, Resoly'd, as now the star of Hesper rose, To share the solace of united woes.

Some here, some there select their clay-cold bed, And round their shivering limbs their garments

spread:

1520

1530

Resign'd to death, in midnight's sullen shade
And at mid-day, here languishing they laid.
Remote, Medea's fair attendants moan,
Cling round their queen, and groan return for groan.
As when a nest, surcharg'd with callow young,
Falls from the lofty cliff to which it clung,
Th' unfeather'd brood by shrillest cries attest
Their far-flown mother, and their ruin'd nest:
As on the banks Pactolus' streams bedew,
Melodious swans their dying notes renew;
The rivers, gliding the rich vales among,
Bear on their silver streams the soothing song:
Thus they, their golden locks besmear'd with gore,
All night in plaintive elegies deplore.
Their toils yet incomplete, the godlike band
Had now ignobly perish'd on the sand,
But the bold heroines, who guard the coast,
Beheld with pitying eye the drooping host:
Those nymphs, who, when in glistering arms array'd,
Rush'd from the thunderer's brain the martial
maid,

In needful hour their kind assistance gave, 1541
And cleans'd her infant-limbs in Triton's wave.

'Twas noon: o'er Libya's sands the god of day Darted the splendours of his fiercest ray. Full before Jason stood the nymphs confess'd, And gently from his head withdrew the vest. Sudden he starts, impress'd with silent dread, And from his fair protectors turns his head. They in compassion's mild address began To free from terrours vain the hopeless man! 1550 "Why griev'st thou thus? Oh! bid thy sorrows

cease:

We know thy coming's cause, the golden fleece.
We know the various toils by land you bore;
How toss'd on ocean, how distress'd on shore.
Terrestrial powers, for acts of friendship known,
We make the shepherd's rural cares our own.
We, Libya's daughters and avengers, boast
Our sway extended o'er the Libyan coast.
Arise, nor sink beneath thy sorrow's weight;
But rouse thy fellows from their drooping state.
When Amphitrite with officious speed
Unreins from Neptune's car the fiery steed,
Thy mother then with duteous care repay,
Whose womb hath borne thee many a toilsome
day.

1561

Discharge this duty, and resail to Greece,
Safe and triumphant with the golden fleece,"
They spoke, and vanish'd: from his sandy bed
Jason arose, and looking round he said;

"Ye godlike powers, the desert plains who rove,
Ye fair, who tend the flocks, propitious prove. 1570
Those dark mysterious truths your tongues foretold,
I go, if haply can my friends unfold.
Conven'd, may they some prudent scheme devise,
For in th' advice of numbers safety lies."

He said: and, wading thro' the driven sand, Rous'd with loud voice the sad, desponding band. Thus, while the lion his lost mate explores, The forests ring, Earth trembles as he roars: Herdsmen and herds o'erwhelm'd with equal fear, All mute and trembling deem destruction near. But grateful to the host was Jason's call; No fears it cherish'd, but gave hope to all. Yet with dejected looks the heroes meet. Beside the female train to each his seat He, near the shore, assign'd; in order due His wondrous tale relates, and cheers the pensive

crew:

1581

1600

Which, low descending, girt their slender waist.
High o'er my head they stood; with gentle hand
My vesture rais'd, and gave this dread command:
That I with speed my piteous bed forsake,
And, risen, haste my comrades to awake.
That mindful we our mother's cares repay,
Whose womb sustain'd us many a toilsome day,
When Amphitrite with officious speed
Unreins from Neptune's car the fiery steed.
Long have I sought this wonder to explain,
And, still revolving, 1 revolve in vain.
In the bold name of heroines they boast,
Daughters and guardians they of Libya's coast.
Known to these nymphs are all the toils we bore
On the rough ocean, and the faithless shore.
Nor staid they long; but, sudden, from my view
Their radiant forms an ambient cloud withdrew."
He said: on every face sat boding fears;
When, lo! a portent, greater far, appears.
Fierce from the foamy deep, of wondrous size,
Springs a huge horse; his mane expanded flies. 1610
From his strong sides he shakes th' adherent spray,
Then towards the coast directs his rapid way.
Skill'd in whate'er this prodigy portends,
With pleasure Peleus thus consoles his friends:
"Now by his consort's hand releas'd I see
The car of Neptune, and bis horses free.
A mother's name (or I predict in vain)
Argo may boast; she feels a mother's pain.
Her pregnant womb a troop of heroes bears,
And endless perils for their safety shares.
Come, let us now our boasted strength display,
And on our shoulders bear our ship away.
Steer we through depths of sand our dangerous

course,

1620

High on your shoulders rais'd the vessel's.weight,
All that its womb contain'd, a mighty freight!
What woes o'ertook them, and what toils befell,
No verse can celebrate, no tongue can tell.
Such brave exploits proclaim'd their godlike line,
For, as their lineage, were their deeds, divine. 1640
But when Tritonis' lake the chiefs attain,
They eas'd their shoulders, and embark'd again.
Doom'd to acuter griefs they now are curs'd
With all the miseries of burning thirst;
Like dogs they run its fury to assuage,
And at a fountain's head suppress its rage.
Nor wander'd they in vain; but soon explor'd
The sacred spot with golden apples stor'd,
In Atlas' realm: the serpent's wakeful eyes
Watch'd, till but yesterday, the golden prize. 1650
The fair Hesperides with kind survey
Tended the serpent as they tun'd their lay.

But, lo! the monster, by Alcides slain,
Beneath a branching pear-tree press'd the plain.
His tail still vibrates, though his ghastly head
And spine immense lie motionless and dead.
Flies in thick swarms his gory sides surround,
Drink his black blood, and dry the dripping wound,
Made by the darts, whose poison'd tips detain
The deadly venom of the hydra slain.
As Ladon's fate the pensive maids deplore,
Their hands they wrung, their golden locks they
tore;

1660

But, sudden, as the heroes hasten'd near,
They to the dust descend and disappear.
Struck with the prodigy his eyes survey'd,
Thus to the nymphs observant Orpheus pray'd:
"Ye goddesses, with blooming beauty bless'd,
Look with benevolence on men distress'd.
Whether ye grace the splendid courts of Jove,
Or on this humbler Earth auspicious move; 1670
Whether to flowery pastures ye repair,
And the lov'd name of shepherdesses bear;
Illustrious nymphs, from ocean sprung, arise,
Bless with a recent view our longing eyes.
Bid from the thirsty soil a torrent burst,
Or open some hard rock to slake our thirst.
Should we again our tatter'd sails expand,
And greet at last the dear Achaian land,
Grateful we then these favours will repay,
And choicest offerings on your altars lay:
No goddess, who frequents the courts of Jove,
Shall greater honour share, or greater love."
Thus Orpheus pray'd, with feeble voice and
low:

The listening nymphs commiserate their woe.
First tender grass they bade the soil disclose:
Then high above it verdant branches rose.
Erect and strong, the spreading boughs display'd
Wide o'er the barren soil an ample shade.
A poplar's trunk fair Hespera receives,
And in a weeping willow Egle grieves.
But Erytheis in an elm remains:
Each in her tree her proper shape retains;
Stupendous sight! first Ægle silence broke,
And kindly thus the suppliant band bespoke:

1690

"Hither some lawless plunderer came of late, Who will reverse the colour of your fate. Yon beast he slew, for whom we sorrow now, And tore the golden apples from their bough. But yesterday the desperate giant came; From his black eye-brows flash'd the livid flame: A lion's shaggy skin, besmear'd with gore, 1701 Wide o'er his shoulders spread, the monster wore. On his stout staff his fearless step rely'd, And by his deadly dart the serpent died. He, like a sturdy traveller, stalk'd along, Seeking some fount to cool his fiery tongue. With eager haste he trod the dusty plain, And still for water look'd, but look'd in vain. To this tall rock, hard by Tritonis' lake, Some god conducted him, his thirst to slake. 1710 Struck by his heel, its deep foundations shook, And from the yawning clefts a torrent broke. Prone on the ground the limpid streams he swills, And, groveling like a beast, his belly fills."

Elated with the tale, they speed their course, To find, as Ægle told, the fountain's source. As when assembled ants with joint essay Strive in some chink their lifted grain to lay: Or as when flies some liquid sweet explore, They hang in clusters round the honied store; 1720

Like them the Mynians: such their numbers

seem,

And such their haste to gather round the stream.
Conjecturing thus some grateful hero said,
As from the rill refresh'd he rais'd his head:

1750

"Ye gods! though absent, great Alcides gives These limpid streams; by him each bero lives. Come, haste we now the country to explore, And the lost wanderer to our host restore." Instant to council rose th' associate band, Selecting heroes to explore the land. For nightly winds dispersing o'er the plains The light, loose sands, no step impress'd remains. Boreas' fleet sons, who wing their airy flight, Sagacious Lynceus bless'd with keenest sight, Euphemus swift of foot, and Cantheus speed: Him his brave spirit urg'd and Heaven decreed To ask Alcides, on what fatal coast He left his comrade, Polyphemus lost. When this bold chief had rear'd on Mysian ground, And fenc'd with circling walls a city round, 1740 Wide o'er the country, Argo's fate to learn, He roam'd, with Argo anxious to return. Scarce had his feet Calybian frontiers press'd, Ere fate consign'd him to eternal rest. Along the beach, with stately poplars spread, They rear'd a tomb in honour of the dead. But Lynceus deems, that, o'er the distant lands His sight the long-lost Hercules commands. Thus sees the clown, or thinks he can descry 1749 The new Moon breaking through a cloudy sky. Back to his comrades hastes the joyous chief, Precludes their further search, and gives their mind

way.

1761

Sudden, his flock to guard, the shepherd flew,
And with a rock's huge fragment Canthus slew.
This sturdy villager, Caphaurus nam'd,
His lofty lineage from Apollo claim'd,
And Acacallis : conscious of his might,
He fear'd no rival, nor declin'd the fight.
Minos her sire, to Libya's coast remov❜d
Fair Acacallis, by the god belov❜d.
To Phoebus here a hopeful son she gave,
Amphithemis or Garamans the brave.
Thy love, Amphithemis, Tritonis crown'd,
And grac'd thy bed with Nasamon renown'd, 1770
And bold Caphaurus; whose decisive blow
Transmitted Canthus to the shades below.
The bloody deed divulg'd to all the host,
Not long his conquest could Caphaurus boast.
They to its sepulchre the corse convey,
Weeping; and make the shepherd's flocks their

prey.

To Pluto's realms prophetic Mopsus fled, And join'd, on that sad day, the mighty dead. With fate's decrees must mortal man comply, And the wise seer, in spite of prescience, die. 1780 For, shelter'd from the fierce meridian ray, Beneath a sandy bank, a serpent lay. Innoxious till incens'd, he ne'er annoy'd, But strove th' affrighted traveller to avoid. But all, whome'er the foodful earth contains, Who feel his darted venom in their veins,