LEWIS'S TRANSLATION

Where'er this came, th' affrighted Graces fled;
Love pin'd, and beauty droop'd her sick'ning
head:

340

Sorrow still haunts the mansion where it lies,
And hate-engender'd rage and fears arise.
Harmonia first its direful influence prov'd,
As o'er the furrow'd plains on spires she rov'd,
And fill'd with hissings dire th' Illyrian coast,
Till all the woman in the snake was lost;
Then Semele, for whose superior charms
The thund'rer left his jealous consort's arms.
Jocasta too, by fate's resistless will

360

(As fame reports) possess'd this source of ill, 350
And deck'd with it, in cultur'd beauty shone,
Unconscious of her crime, her guilt unknown.
Distinguish'd thus, Argia pass'd along,
And mov'd supreme amid the female throng.
Fair Eriphyle the rich gift beheld,
And her sick breast with secret envy swell'd.
Not the late omens and the well-known tale
To cure her vain ambition aught avail.
Oh! had the wretch by self-experience known
The future woes, and sorrows not her own!
But fate decrees, her wretched spouse must bleed,
And the son's phrenzy clear the mother's deed.
But when the thirteenth rising Sun had view'd
Their banquets ended, and their toils renew'd,
Revolving thoughts the banish'd prince remind
Of his lost Thebes, and empire left behind.
That day returns, when Fortune's partial hand
To his proud brother gave the whole command,
How the revolting gods against him join'd,
When to a private state reduc'd, he pin'd,
And saw his friends misdeem'd in crowds resort,
To bask beneath the sunshine of the court.
One faithful sister would have shar'd his fate,
But mourns, abandon'd at the palace-gate.
Her plaintive cries, unmov'd, the warrior hears,
For rage refus'd a passage to his tears.

590

400

410

Thus fares a lordly bull, when forc'd to yield His lovely mistress, and forsake the field: But when his wonted vigour he regains, And a fresh tide of blood recruits his veins, He roars, impatient for the promis'd war, Snuffs the fresh gale, and spurns the sand afar; Amaz'd, the swains his strength restor❜d survey, And the late victor trembles for his sway. While thus for war the youth in secret pines, Argia penetrates his close designs. One morn, ere yet Aurora promis'd day, (As in the folds of love entwin'd they lay) "Why seeks my lord," she fondly said, For nought escapes an ardent lover's eye. Say, why that bosom heaves with broken sighs, And sleep for ever shuus those watchful eyes: What hidden cause extorts the silent tear? Think not a widow'd bed alone I fear, Or the mere lust of nuptial joys should stay The destin'd course, or prompt an hour's delay: Though scarce twelve suns have deck'd the courts of Since Hymen smil'd upon our mutual love. [Jove, And only this thy parting could retard. Thy bliss alone and welfare I regard, But oh! what rashness, helpless and alone T' attempt th' enjoyment of the Theban crown! Will he, whose pride and tyranny you found Ere the first Sun had run his annual round, Tamely resign the scepter and obey, Till the clos'd year restore th' alternate sway? The gods some sudden ruin sure prepare, My boding soul presaging fibres scare. Amid the dusky silence of the night Imperial Juno stood confess'd to sight. Say, what at Thebes can your attention claim, But the fair object of a former flame?" The smiling hero clasp'd her to his breast, And with the stamp of love her cheeks impress'd; Prevents with blandishments the rising tears, And kindly thus dispels her jealous fears. In this rough track. The clouds may break again, "Think not the wheel of chance will e'er remain And a far brighter sun than yet hath shoue, Survey thee partner of a double throne. Resign thy cares to Heav'n, dismiss thy fears; From Jove's strict justice and all-seeing eyes At least they suit not with thy tender years. The perjur'd villain ne'er unnotic'd flies." From hence t' Adrastus, on whose hoary head 355. Fair Eriphyle] Statius seems in the cha-Speeds the young Theban; nor was Tydeus slow A length of years had their experience shed, racter of Eriphyle to have given a lesson of advice T assist, but shar'd an equal weight of woe: to the fair sex on their passion for dress and finery. For the same flame, which gen'rous souls disjoirs, His great master Virgil has afforded him a prece- With equal lustre, when united, shines. dent in the episode of Camilla, whom he intro-Long they debate: at length by joint consent duces pursuing Chloreus for the sake of his rich armour and horse-trappings.

370

Meanwhile, amid the silence of the night,
Reflecting men'ry brings back to his sight
Those friendly few, that, ere from Thebes hestray'd,
Condol'd, and these who signs of joy display'd. 580
Anger and frantic grief by turns controul
His lab'ring breast, and shake his inmost soul.
While lust of pow'r, untaught to brook delay,"
Flames in his breast, and chides the ling'ring day.
At length the chief prepares to steer his course
To tow'ring Thebes, and Dirce's sacred source.

-Unum ex omni certamine pugnæ

Cæca sequebatur, totumque incauta per agmen
Fæmineo prædæ et spoliorum ardebat amore.
Eneid, Lib. 11. 780.

|

Decree to sound the brother-king's intent

420

440

abridgment of that beautiful description in the
387. Thus fares a lordly bull] This simile is an
third book of Virgil's Georgics.

437. Nor was Tydeus slow] Amidst the time

something very amiable in his character: not that
pretend to exculpate him for carrying his
though it was the result of friendship, and found-
revenge to that savage, unprecedented height,
ed on an honourable basis. He quarrels amf

361. Her wretched spouse must bleed] Herture of barbarism and ferocity of Tydens there is husband was Amphiaraus, a celebrated augur, whom she betrayed to Polynices for the sake of this bracelet, when he was endeavouring to avoid accompanying him in the wars, in which he knew he should certainly perish. As for her sou, the distresses of his family wrought so great an im-fights with Polynices; but upon the knowledge pression upon his spirits, that he was at length of his misfortunes strikes an alliance with him, seized with an incurable phrenzy. and even sacrifices his life in his service.

OF THE THEBAID OF STATIUS. BOOK II.

By embassy, ere yet from hostile force

They seek redress, the last and worst resource.
Fraught with th' advent'rous task bold Tydeus
glows,

460

470

Though long oppos'd by his dissuading spouse:
At length the compact, which in ev'ry state
Secures th' ambassador a safe retreat,
His sire's commands, and sister's tears, prevail,
O'ercome her pray'rs, and sink the doubtful scale.
Now on the woody coast the warrior strays, 451
And soon the fam'd Lernæan lake surveys,
Where the fell bydra was by flames subdu'd,
(For blows in vain the toiling chief renew'd)
And Nemea, where c'en now the timid swains
Rarely, as erst, chant forth their artless strains.
From thence in view of Corinth's tow'rs he came,
And left the port, which bears Palæmon's name;
Where in the midst the parting isthmus lies,
And swelling seas on either side arise.
Then Nisus' flow'ring sides the hero gains,
And on the left views Ceres' favour'd plains.
At last the glitt'ring prospect greets his eyes
Of Theban tow'rs, that shade the middle skies.
Sublime in regal pomp th' usurper sate:
A grove of spears defends th' impervious gate.
Here by his subjects fear'd, not lov'd, he reigns,
And ill-got pow'r by tyranny maintains.
He blames his brother's flight and long delay,
And wonders, he so late demands the sway:
Nor wants the tyrant e'er a specious plea
To veil his guilt, and mask his villainy.
Amid the thronging guards young Tydeus stands,
(A peaceful olive decks his waving hands)
And thus began (his name and message known)
Rough as he was in speech, and ever prone
To wrath, nor cautious to offend the ear,
Diminish'd aught the truth, howe'er severe.
"Say, tyrant, (had it been your firm design
At the due time your empire to resign)
Why heralds did not from your court appear
T'inform your brother of his ruling year?
Twas then your duty calmly to sit down,
Till the next year replac'd you on the throne.
But he, convinc'd how well you love to reign,
Deigns thus to ask, what basely you detain.
Phœbus hath now his annual progress made,
And cloth'd the mountains with returning shade,
[known.
Since Polynices abject and alone
Hath stray'd in exile drear through realms un-
Tis yours in turn th' alternate lot to share,
And bear the wintry wind and open air.
Resign it then, while guiltless shines the crown,
Nor lay too late the bright temptation down.
Your pow'r in Thebes you've long enough dis-
In robes of Tyrian die, and gold array'd. [play'd,
Now teach your subjects; those who merit sway,
Should first convince the world, they can obey."
He paus'd; and now the tyrant's looks reveal'd
The boiling wrath he had in vain conceal'd.
Thus with erected pride, the crested snake
By stones provok'd, shoots thro' the thorny brake,

480

491

500

462. Ceres' favour'd plains] These are the plains known to the ancients by the name of Eleusinian, from Eleusis, a neighbouring city. They were remarkably fertile, in return for which blessing the inhabitants built a temple to Ceres, their supposed bencfactress.

587

510

521

531

His scales reflect the Sun's attracted ray:
With rolling spires he marks the furrow'd way,
And through his agitated body draws
The liquid venom to his thirsty jaws.
"Had not my brother's love of strife been known"
(He cries)" it would appear from thee alone;
In whom is stamp'd the image of his mind,
Alike of manners rude, and savage kind.
Though now thou talk'st, as if th' assailing foe
Had min'd our walls, and laid our bulwarks low;
Yet shouldst thou thus among a Scythian throng
Indulge thy lust of prate, and lawless tongue,
Thy trampled limbs and corse would scarce atone
For the bare crimes thy sland'rous mouth has done.
Avaunt; no more provoke my rage, and know,
Thy sacred office scarce can stay the blow:
But first this answer to th' Argolic lord;
That since his rashness has unsheath'd the sword,
And thus attack'd me with unkingly pride,
Bellona shall alone our rights decide,
Nor my contentious brother rule the land
Which chance and birthright gave me to command.
Meanwhile, unenvied, you may wear the crown
Which lawful Hymen has decreed your own;
The sons of Argos may thy laws obey,
And noted Lerna own thy happy sway.
Contented, we'll enjoy our Dirce's plain,
And fill the throne where Cadmus held his reign:
Nor blush the wretched Oedipus to trace
From Labdacus the founder of our race;
Though you can boast an origin divine,
And draw from Jove himself the glorious line.
Say, can the fair Argia, wont to live
In all the pomp a regal birth can give,
Forget the grandeur of her former state,
Nor cast a wish beyond our palace-gate;
Whose ornaments, the produce of our land,
We owe to our laborious sister's hand?
She'll loath perchance our mother's coarse attire,
And sordid rags, which woes like hers require.
Yet more-iny father from his gloomy cell
Will grate her tender years with many a yell.
The vulgar's stubborn spirit now is broke,
Their neck inur'd to bear the royal yoke;
To this we'll add, the Thebans will not bear
The doubtful rule of each alternate heir.
Ὡς δὲ δράκων ἐπὶ χειῆ ὀρίσῳῷ ἄνδρα μίνησι
Βεβιωκώς κακὰ φάρμακ', ἔδυ δέ τε μιν κόλΘ αἶνός,
Σμερδαλέον δὲ δέδορκεν ἑλισσόμενος περί χειή.
Iliad, Lib. 22, 92.
Virgil has also imitated it in his Eneid.
Qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus,
Frigida sub terra tumidum quem bruma tegebat,
Lubrica convolvit sublato pectore terga
Nune positis novus exuviis, nitidusque juventâ,
Arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ore trisuleis.
Agamemnon mentions this behaviour of Tydeus
as worthy to be imitated by his son Diomede. See
Iliad, b. 4. 370.

540

525. Meanwhile unenvied] There is a vast deal of hidden sarcasm and gall in this reply. The arguments are strong and well placed, the language elegant and easy, and the whole full of spirit and fire.

531. Nor blush the wretched Oedipus] This is the very height of dissimulation: we are told by the. poet, that he had despised, insulted, and drove his 501. Thus with erected pride] The courage and father from his palace; and that all the succeedintrepidity of Tydeus are admirably well illustrat-ing calamities were derived from his cruel usage ed in this simile, which is taken from Homer:

of him.

This prize of villainy you bear away;
550 Our year we claim.-But why do I delay"
The warrior spoke, and with resistless force
Urg'd thro' the band of guards his furious course,
Thus rag'd the boar, by vengeful Cynthia seat,
To mark with ruin Caledon's extent;

Can I then basely sacrifice the state
To my returning brother's treasur'd hate?
Or should a resignation be my choice,
Say, can I influence the senate's voice?
Will they, to whom my gentle sway is known,
Permit me thus to give away the crown?"
More had he said, but impotent to bear,
Thus Tydeus stopt him in his full career.
"Though art and nature should conspire to form
Huge battlements against Bellona's storm,
And rocks, as erst at your Amphion's call,
Spring from their base, and form a triple wall: 560
Yet should those bulwarks, and those walls, beat
Compel thee to resign the guilty crown; [down,
Or should thy pride and rashness still remain
Amidst thy ruin'd town, and heaps of slain,
Torn from the head of its expiring lord
The shining spoil should deck my conqu'ring
Howe'er enrag'd, I yet must pity those,
Whom thy ambition makes my guiltless foes,
Torn from their country, wives and sons away
To sure destruction in th' unequal fray.
What breathless heaps shall raise Citharon's
height!

[sword.

How shall Ismenos groan beneath the weight!
Though void of faith, and of fraternal love,
Yet dare you thus confront the gods above?
Will they in calm neutrality look down

570

On broken oaths, and honour's fence o'erthrown?
What wonder then? Can we expect to trace
Fair virtue's footsteps in so foul a race?
Can length of years absolve th' incestuous brood,
Or free the long confusions of their blood?
But hold the fates revoke their first decree,
And Oedipus revives alone in thee.

580

557. Though art and nature] Horace has a passage equally grand and elevated.

Ter si resurgat murus aheneus
Auctore Phobo; ter pereat meis
Excisus Argivis, ter uxor

His bristled back appear'd a thick-set grove,
And Jove's own thunder from his mouth he
drove.

In vain the shouting sons of Greece surround, 591
And from hurl'd stones inflict a distant wound.
In triumph he surveys the prostrate foe,
Till at Oenides leveiling a blow,
The sideling chief preves the glancing wound,
And with his javelin nails him to the ground.
Thus anger'd, Tydeus left the guilty town,
And seem'd to make his brother's cause his own.
On earth the fruitless branch in haste be threw,
And o'er the plains with winged ardour flew; 600
The matrons eye from their balconies' height
The chief, and vent in curses their despight,
But not on him alone.-The tyrant bears
His share of hate convey'd in secret pray'rs.
Nor does the monarch's turn for treach'ry fail,
By nature taught too often to prevail:
With bribes and threats he gains a chosen throng
T'assault young Tydeus as he pass'd along:
Whose daring spirit and intrepid mien
Made them fit actors of so vile a scene.
-Oh! fatal madness of th' ambitious soul!
What lengths can bind it, or what heights controal!
Which dares attack, what each preceding are
Had justly deem'd exempt from hostile race.
No arts he'd leave untry'd, no means forego,
Would fortune yield him up his brother-foe.
Meanwhile th' unfolding gates disclose a train
Of chiefs ne'er destin'd to return again:
In one firm orb was rang'd the glitt'ring band,
Oppos'd, ye gods! to Tydeus' single hand,
As if prepar'd to storm some hostile town,
Or beat the walls with batt'ring engines down.

Capta virum puerosque ploret. Lib.3. Ode 5. For fear had thus the scatter'd troop combin'd,

571. What breathless heaps]

Eheu quantus equis, quantus adest viris Sudor, quanta moves funera Dardanæ Genti! jam galeam Pallas et ægida, Currusque et rabiem parat. B. 1. Ode 15. 581. The fates revoke their first decree] This is a stroke of the strongest satire that could possibly have been given. The thought is not one of that tinsel and flashy kind, which occurs so often in the French and Italian poets; but manly, spirited, and truly laconic.

587. Thus rag'd the boar] The passage subjoined from Ovid will exhibit to the reader's view, whence our author culled the chief circumstances which adorn this beautiful simile.

-Ocneos ultorem spreta per agros

Misit aprum.

610

620

The sure attendant of a guilty mind.
Through thorny woods, a near and secret way,
They march'd, unnotic'd, wedg'd in firm array.
Far from the town two shaded hills arise,
And lose their adverse summits in the skies:
At manus Oenidæ variat: missisque duabus,
Hasta prior terrâ, medio stetit altera tergo,
Nec mora: dum sævit, dum corpora versat in
orbem,

Stridentemque novo spumam sanguine fundit,
Vulneris auctor adest, hostemque irritat ad iram,
Splendidaque adversos venabula condit in armes.

Metamorph. book 8. fabik 4

603. The tyrant bears] Not all the grandet and privileges of a crowned head, can secure it from the ill wishes of an injured people. The fear of punishment may restrain the tongue, but cannot influence the sentiments of the heart.

625. Through thorny woods, &c.] This phe of ambush is not unlike that described by Vri in the eleventh book of his Eneid.

Est curvo anfractu vallis, accommoda fraudi
Armorumque dolis: quam densis frondibus atrem
Urget utrumque latus: tenuis quo semita ducit,
Angustæque ferunt fauces, aditusque maligni
V. 523

One side is bounded by the grove's embrace;

A mountain's brow o'erhangs the middle space. 630
The nature of the place, and gloomy site
Seem'd form'd for ambuscade, and deeds of night.
A path obscure here winds the rocks between,
Beneath are spacious fields, a flow'ring scene.
Here, posted on a cliff's declining brow,
From whence she might survey the vale below,
The sphynx once dwelt.-Her cheeks were pale to
And her fell eyes suffus'd with gory dew. [view,
Oft with expanded wings the monster prest
The mould'ring bones of mortals to her breast, 640
And hurt'd her eyes along the winding way,
Lest, unobserving, she should lose her prey.
But if his fate, or the avenging gods
Had drawn some wretch to her obscene abodes,
She clapp'd her wings distain'd with human gore,
And fill'd with yellings the retentive shore.
Then with protended nails his face she struck,
And oft her breaking teeth their hold forsook.
Thus long she reign'd; at last with headlong flight
Sprung from the rocks, and sought the realms of
night,

650

660

For Oedipus, by Phoebus' aid, disclos'd
The dark enigina which she'd long propos'd.
Untouch'd the grass, neglected lies the wood,
And hungry beasts at distance seek their food.
The dryads never haunt these loathsome bow'rs,
Nor swains with incense bribe the rural pow'rs.
To other groves ill-omen'd birds repair,
And from afar abhor the tainted air.
Meanwhile the Thebans, urg'd by cruel fate,
Th' Ætolian chief in silent pomp await;
Reclining on their spears, the wood surround,
And rest their bucklers on the dewy ground.
The Sun recall'd his unavailing light,
And on the shaded ocean rush'd the night;
When Tydeus from an eminence, survey'd
Their shields and helmets glitt'ring thro' the shade,
Where thro' the scanty branches Phoebe gleams
On their bright armour with refracted beams.
Amazement seiz'd him, yet he onward hied,
And grasp'd the faithful sabre at his side:
A pointed javelin glitter'd in his hand,

While he accosts them with this stern demand.

670

With war's alarms, the night's alternate reign?"
Silent they stood; and no return of sound
Convinc'd the chief he treads on hostile ground.
A javelin soon supplies the want of tongue,
By Chthonius hurl'd, the leader of the throng.
The weapon whizzes in its airy course,
Nor miss'd the mark, tho' destitute of force: 680
It pierc'd the Etolian boar's erected hide,
(The chief's defence, and erst the monster's pride)
And o'er his shoulder flew, unstain'd with blood,
Where the false point deserts the feeble wood.
Then paleness cloath'd his face, but such as shows
Excess of wrath.-His stiff'ning hair arose.
And now he huris his angry looks around,
And views, amaz'd, the num'rous foe surround.
"Whence does," he said, "this needless terrour

grow,

690

Of meeting on the plain a single foe?
Advance, like sons of Thebes, and bravely wield
Your glittering weapons on this open field."

two adventurers in the ninth neid are dis-
covered by the same accident.

Cum procul hos lævo flectentes limite cernunt:
Et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra
Prodidit immemorem, radiisque adversa refulsit.
V. 372.

673. Warriors, whence come ye?] As we are now arrived at this great action of Tydeus, it may be worth while to transcribe a passage from Crucius's Lives of the Roman Poets, relative to it.

Nothing can equal the intrepidity of Tydeus, when he was attacked, by surprise, by fifty men that Eteocles (whom he had provoked by his haughty behaviour, during his embassy to him from Polynices) secretly dispatched after him from Thebes, to put him to death. When he comes to discover their numbers, he turns pale with anger at so base an enterprise, and, by the slaughter he makes amongst them, soon convinces them of their errour, who easily expected to overpower one man with their numbers. To secure himself from behind, he climbs up a high mountain, and from thence hurls a prodigious fragment of a

635. Here, posted] Oedipus in Seneca speaks rock at his pursuers, which the strongest yoke of

thus of the sphynx.

Nec sphinga cæcis verba nectentem modis
Fugi. Cruentos vatis infandæ tuli
Rictus, et albens ossibus sparsis solum.
Cumque ex superbâ rupe, jam prædæ imminens,
Aptaret alas, verbera et caudam movens,
Savi leonis more, concuteret minas;
Carmen poposci. Sonuit horrendum; insuper
Crepuère male: saxaque impatiens moræ
Revulsit unguis, viscera expectans mea.
Nodosa sortis verba, et implexos dolos,
Ac triste carmen alitis solvi feræ.

Oedipus, Act I. v. 92. 649. At last with headlong flight] Milton alIndes to these verses of our author.

The Theban monster that propos'd
Her riddle, and him that solv'd it not, devour'd;
That once found out and solv'd, for grief and
spight,

Cast herself headlong from th' Ismenian steep.

665. When Tydeus from an eminence] The

oxen could hardly draw. This likewise is imi-
tated from Ajax in Homer, and the poet has en-
deavoured to express this action in his numbers,
The spondees of the first line express his conten-
tion in tearing it away from the rock: the begin
ning of the third breaks it off with a crack: the
rest of the third and fourth heave it up, and poise
it in the air.

Saxum ingens, quod vix plenâ cervice juvenci
Vertere humo, murisque valent inferre gementes,
Rupibus avellit, dein toto sanguine nixus
Sustinet, immanem quærens librare ruinam.

B. 2. Theb.

To soften the improbability of so prodigious a victory as this, which Tydeus here gained over the fifty Thebans, who were all slain but one man, whom he forced to live, and bear the fatal message of this misfortune to Thebes, the poet discovers Minerva, who is said to have secretly protected and strengthened him during the engagement, and reproves him afterwards for vainly ascribing the success to his own valour." Life of Statius, vol. 1.

Scarce had he spoke, when rushing from their | But here, alas! on foot be sought the war,

holds,

A num'rous band the intrepid chief infolds:
From hill and dale they pour; their bucklers
yield

701

A silver sound, and brighten all the field.
So when the mingled cry of men and hounds
Invades the forest, or the wood surrounds,
From covert bound the stags, a fearful train,
And scour in num'rous herds the verdant plain.
The hero then ascends a mountain's height,
The best retreat from such unequal fight.
From hence, when posted on the impending brow,
He might with ease annoy the foes below.
Enrag'd, he tore the fragment of a rock,
(Earth deeply groan'd beneath the mighty shock)
Then swung it round, and poising it on high,
Sought where to let the pond'rous rain fly.
Two steers beneath th' enormous weight would
groan,

730

Nor join'd swift horses to the rapid car.
Last, Phædimus in death's eternal shade
Sunk, unexperiencing great Bacchus' aid.
When fiercer now, he saw them quit the fray;
He rush'd, a lion, on his helpless prey;
With swift-whirl'd javelins fed their growing
fear,

Annoy'd the front, and gall'd them in the rear.
With headlong rage he issues on the plain,
(Nor cares of life or safety can detain,)
Then seiz'd a glitt'ring target, which before,
While fate permitted, valiant Theron bore:
The spacious orb he moves on ev'ry part,
And stands impervious to each hostile dart. 749
The flaming sabre waves their heads above,
(The shining earnest of paternal love)
Now these, now those, with fatal blows he ply'd,
And the red slaughter swells on ev'ry side.
But while the Theban troops prolong the fray,
710 Involv'd in night, disorder and dismay,
With heedless rage they deal their blows around,
And on their comrades oft inflict a wound:
O'er breathless heaps alternately they reel,
Darts hiss on darts, and steel descends on steel.
He presses on, o'ercoming those who try
The conflict, and o'ertaking those who fly.
Briareus thus (if Phlegra credit claim)
Oppos'd the regents of the starry frame.
The thund'rer lanch'd his flaming bolt in vain,
Nor Phœbus' shafts, nor Pallas' snakes restrain
The spear of haughty Mars unheeded flies,
And Etna's forge in vain new bolts supplies.
Unmov'd he stalks along the fields of light,
And with regret beholds th' exhausted fight. T
Thus Tydeus in the glorious conflict glows,
And pours, like lightning, on his trembling foes:
Then, as if bent on flight, around them wheel'd,
And intercepts their anger with his shield.
Oft from its orb he pluck'd a bristling wood,
The darts, returning, drink their masters' blood.
His wounded breast stopp'd many a weapon's

But Tydeus hurl'd it from the rock alone,
Thus, with a goblet lifted in his hand,
Brave Pholeus routed the Thessalian band.
Thus sapp'd by time, from some o'erhanging
A rolling fragment thunders on the deep. [steep,
The Thebans felt it, ere they saw it fly,
And crush'd in one promiscuous ruin lie.
Four chiefs, intomb'd beneath th' oppressive
Clos'd their dim eyes in one united fate; [weight,
The rest to their strong holds again repair,
Unmindful of their charge, and promis'd care. 720
His inward worth and virtue fail'd to save
Brave Dorylas from the relentless grave.
In vain proud Theron boasts his noble race,
And draws his lineage from the god of Thrace.
Next Halys fell, a chief whose strength could tame
The bounding steed, in arms a mighty name;

700. And scour in num'rous herds] This account of the deer flying together in herds is confirmed by Virgil.

-Aliâ de parte patentes
Transmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cervi
Pulverulenta fugâ glomerant montesque relin-
quunt.

705. He tore the fragment] It may not perhaps be disagreeable to the reader, to see how the heroes in Homer and Virgil handle this kind of

course;

But Heav'n disarm'd them of their fatal force.
Deiolochus beneath a whirling blow,
Not unattended, sought the shades below;
For Phlegeus, bounding with elated heart,
And axe upheav'd, rush'd on the victor's dart.
Then Lycophon, and mighty Gyan bled,
By Tydeus number'd with the vulgar dead.

751

770

753. Briareus thus] Briareus was one of the bold invaders of Heaven. He is reported to have had an hundred arms and a hundred breasts. In the midst of his attempt he was struck with a

Turnus in the twelfth book of the Æneid, verse thunderbolt, and buried under mount Etna. How

896.

ever, at his first assault, be spread such a terror amongst the gods, that they metamorpi osed themselves into beasts and birds, and betook them selves to different countries till the storm wai

over..

This simile, upon the whole, is really grand and noble; and was intended to give the reader the most advantageous ideas of our hero's valour and intrepidity; and we must own, the poet has gained a double end: and does not leave us in greater admiration of Tydeus's courage, than f his own art and genius. The two last times aft elevated to the highest degree, and cannot fail pleasing every true lover of the sublime.