His arms, enliven'd by the sculptor's art,

With golden monsters brave each hostile dart;
While his shield bears the Sun's reflected ray,
Nor shines inferior to the god of day.
When Jove beheld him in his bloody car,
Array'd in all the terrours of the war,

He cries: "Let Argos feel thy wasting force,

320

And death and slaughter mark thy dreadful course:
Still on thy visage may these clouds remain,
And cause a purple deluge o'er the plain.

Let Thebes no more the rage of Tydeus mourn,
But breathe revenge, and for the combat burn;
To thee devote her warriors' lives and hands,
And freely execute thy dire commands.

360

370

And trace from the records of distant age
Past actions which deserve my present rage.
For, by the glories of the starry sphere,
And Styx, whose awful naine the gods revere,
This dreaded arm shall crush the Theban race,
And rend each structure from its solid base;
In one huge ruin heap the realms around,
And level Argive turrets with the ground:
Then bid the deep no more confinement know,
And give to Neptune all the world below.
In vain shall Juno deprecate its fall;
Or, clinging to her fane's devoted wall,
Of angry Jove, and partial fate complain:
Resent she may, but must resent in vain."
He spoke nor durst the pow'rs of Heav'n reply :
A rev'rend horrour silenc'd all the sky.
Such stilness o'er the face of Nature reigns,
When summer smiles auspicious on the plains;
When not a breath of air disturbs the deep,
And billows on the shore reclining sleep:
The peaceful groves retain their youthful green,
And not a cloud o'ercasts the beauteous scene;
While, half-exhausted by the thirsty Sun,
Beneath their banks the peaceful rivers run.
Meanwhile the god of arms prepares for fight,
Resumes the floating reins, and shuns the right.
Prone down the steep of Heav'n the chariot flies,
Glows in the whirl, and burns along the skies;
When Venus, offspring of the briny flood,
To stay his dreaded progress adverse stood.
The steeds recoil'd, reluctant to the reins,
And smooth, in rev'rence, their erected manes :
Then champ, in honour of th' acknowledg'd fair,
The foaming bit, and snuff the trembling air.
Her snowy bosom gently press'd the yoke,
350 And thus, with previous tears, the goddess spoke
"Will Mars with his own offspring then engage,
And on a guiltless nation vent his rage?
Say, shall the product of our mutual love,
And these my tears e'er unavailing prove?

From hence repair to rouse the states of Greece,
Dissolve the truce, and break the bonds of peace.
'Tis thine in Heav'n to kindle fierce debate, 331
And fire immortal breasts with mutual hate.
Nor is this task assign'd to thee alone;
Jove has himself the seeds of discord sown :
See Tydeus, loaded with Baotian spoils,
To Argos bears the product of his toils,
From his report shall lasting strife succeed,
And either candidate for empire bleed.
Thou but inspire the nations with belief,
And arm them to revenge their injur'd chief. 340
Hear then, ye pow'rs, and what you hear, approve,
Nor with entreaties tempt almighty Jove;
For thus th' impartial destinies decreed,
And have our sanction to complete the deed.
While Nature yet in wild confusion lay,
Nor Phoebe rul'd the night, nor Sol the day;
The fates had seal'd this nation's future doom,
And laid the plan of battles yet to come.
Permit me then to warn succeeding times,
(Avenging on the son his father's crimes)

the orb of his shield matches that of the Sun. The
invention of his passage from Thrace (which was
feigned to be the country of that god) is a very
beautiful and poetical manner of celebrating the
martial genius of that people, who were engaged
in perpetual wars.

323. Still on thy visage] In this beautiful allegory, we may discover an amazing boldness, and exact propriety of expression. This chain or continuation of metaphors is reducible (though much superior) to a simile. Jupiter wishes, that the frowns on the brow of Mars might be as productive of an effusion of blood, as clouds are of a shower of rain. If this is not the curiosa fælicitas of Quintilian, I know not where it exists.

343. For thus th' impartial destinies] The learned differ in their opinions concerning the power of the Fates and Jupiter: some affirming the former, and others the latter to be superior. But I think the best way is to steer the middle course, and suppose them eudued with an equal degree of authority, and always acting in conjunction as here fate decrees the destruction of Thebes; but Jupiter, having the power of incidents to bring it to pass, fulfils that decree by providing means for it. Jupiter begins his speech to the gods in a similar manner in the 8th book of Homer.

Κίκλυτέ μευ πάντες τε θεοί, πᾶσαί τε θέαιναι,
Ορ ̓ ἔπω τά με θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι κελεύει.
Μήτε τις ὧν θηλεια θεός τόγε, μητε τις άρσην

*Πειξάτω διακέρσαι ἐμὸν ἐπιθυ· ἀλλ ̓ ἅμα πάντες

380

390

379. When Venus, offspring, &c.] The ancients (to whom we owe many things) first taught us to turn the virtues and endowments of the mind into persons, to make the springs of action become visible; and because they are given by the gods, represent them as gods themselves descending from Heaven. In the same manner they described the vices, which occasion our misfortunes, as supernatural powers, inflicting them upon us, and even our natural punishments are represented as punishers themselves. Hence it is, that we find Juno and Minerva on the one side, and Venus on the other, in continual variance through the whole Iliad, Eneid, and Thebaid.

387. Will Mars then] This speech of Venus is written in the spirit of Dido's to Encas; and in many places not only the sentiment, but even the diction is similar, as for example:

Say, shall the product] so Virgil,
Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,
Nec moritura tenet crudeli fanere Dido?

Did I for this consent, &c.]
Extinctus pudor, et, quâ solâ sidera adibam,
Fama prior.

Go then; thy flight, &c.]

Neque te tenco, neque dieta refello.

Amit', opga táxisÚ TAMUTHON rádi igya. Verse 5. I, sequere Italiam ventis, pute regna per undas.

LEWIS'S TRANSLATION

400

410

Did I for this consent to your embrace,
Bereft of honour, branded with disgrace?
Go then; thy flight no longer I detain;
Go; bathe in kindred blood the Theban plain.
Yet Vulcan (tho' from him I little claim)
Not thus would slight the object of his flame.
How would th' uxorious God at my demand
In toils unceasing ply his skilful hand,
And scarcely doubt (so valued are my charms)
For Mars himself to frame immortal arms!
But hold, nor let me waste my time in vain;
Or hope from Mars a trifling suit to gain :
Can hearts of adamant, or breasts of steel
The gentle impulse of compassion feel?
Yet say, for what, by whose inducements won,
You sought alliance with Agenor's son;
And forc'd the pledge of our delights to share
Woes she deserves not, and another's care?
You promis'd once a progeny divine
Of The bans rising froin the Tyrian line
Should stand renown'd in arms and martial fame,
And to succeeding times transmit their name.
But had the fates assented to my vows,
More distant climes had yielded her a spouse,
Where endless winter Thracian seas constrains,
And binds the frozen flood in chrystal chains.
Yet could my tears but bid the Thebans live,
These ancient crimes I could with ease forgive:
Though on erected spires our daughter roves,
And darts fresh poison on th' Illyrian groves." 420
Thus spoke the fair, with sorrow-streaming eye,
When the fierce god, half willing to comply,
Leap'd from his car, and rushing to her arms,
With eager eyes devour'd her heav'nly charms:
At length replies; while sympathetic woe
Unbends his soul, and bids the torrent flow.
"O dearer far than war, or hostile spoils,
Source of my bliss, and solace of my toils!
To whom alone of all the pow'rs of Heav'n
To meet my dreaded arins, unhurt, 'tis giv'n, 430
To stop my coursers in their full career,
And bid my hand dismiss the brandish'd spear.
Your former favours I can ne'er forget;
Nor words express, nor deeds discharge the debt:

450

But ere oblivion shall thy name erase,
Or make me slow in Cytherea's praise,
May Pluto, and the shades of Orcus claim
This soul, bereft of its immortal frame!
Meanwhile, O queen, permit me to fulfil
The Fates' decree, and Jove's unalter'd will: 440
(For here thy Vulcan little would avail,
And all his boasted art and labours fail)
Hard is the task, alas! you now enjoin,
T'oppose the lord of cther's fix'd design.
I war not with the Highest: all above
Submit and tremble at the hand of Jove.
Then banish sorrow, and your fears resign,
(Secure, what Mars can do, is ever thine)
And bear with patience what the Fates ordain;
To thwart is rashness, and resistance vain:
But, when Bellona waves her flaming brand,
And summons to the war each Argive band,
Myself will head in fight the Theban train,
Then, goddess, say, will Mars unjust appear,
And heap with slaughter'd foes the crimson plain.
When Argive blood shall smoke upon
This right I challenge in the field of fame,
his spear?
This fate allows, nor Jove disputes my claim."
He spoke and, eager for the promis'd war,
Urg'd o'er the vast expanse his rapid car.
Thus falls the bolt, when from the northern pole,
Jove bares his arm, and bids the thunder roll;
Pregnant with death the glaring mischief files,
And cleaves a triple furrow in the skies:
A fatal omen to the greedy swain,

460

470

Or trembling sailors on the wat'ry main.
Meanwhile young Tydeus seeks the winding shore,
And measures back the fields he cross'd before.
His eyes, attracted with the distant glare,
Survey the temple of the queen of air.
His hair grew stiff with dust and mingled gore,
While streams of sweat distil from ev'ry pore;
His eyes, bereft of wonted sleep, display
A sanguine hue, and sicken at the day.

435. But ere oblivion] These voluntary imThus Dido : precations were customary among the ancients.

Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat;

407. And forc'd the pledge] This was Harmonia, Vel pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine adumbras, who was married to Cadmus.

409. You promis'd once] The same goddess reminds Jupiter of a like promise concerning neas and his companions.

Certè hinc Romanos olim volventibus annis,
Iline fore ductores revocato a sanguine Teucri,
Qui mare, qui terras omni ditione tenerent.

Virg. Æneid, lib. 1. verse 238.

423. And rushing to her arms] In the common editions, the words are,

Clycoque receptam
Lædit in amplexu.

But Barthius very reasonably objects to this as
erroneous, and corrects it thus,

Illigat amplexu,

which sense I have adopted in the translation.

Pallentes umbras Erebi, noctemque profundam,
Ante, pudor, quam te violo, aut tua jura resolve,

Lib. 4.

441. For here thy Vulcan] Here is a sarcastical reflection on the infirmity of Vulcan, and an liat of his own superiority. His oration is delivered with the usual bluntness of a soldier, and his subsequent behaviour highly consistent. He does not stay to see what impression his excuse will make on the mind of Venus, or whether his offers in part will compensate for his non-compliance with the whole; but hurries on with a seeming indifference about the result of it.

461. Thus falls the bolt] Lucan has made use of the same comparison in the first book of his Pharsalia:

Qualiter expressum ventis per nubila fulmen
Etheris impulsi sonitu, mundique fragore
Emicuit, rupitque diem, populosque paventes

429. To whom alone] Here is a latent prohi-Terruit, obliquâ præstringens lumina flammâ:
bition to Venus to repeat the same indiscretion:
he tells her, that she alone, being the weakest of
all the gods, could have done it with impunity.

In sua templa furit: nullâque exire vetante
Materiâ, magnamque cadens, magnamque revertchs
Dat stragem late, sparsosque recolligit igues.

His toil increases, as his breath he draws,
And parching thirst inflames his clammy jaws:
Yet, unimpair'd by toils, or hostile blows,
His soul with undiminish'd ardour glows.
Thus, when the victor-bull surveys again
The subject herd, and late-abandon'd plain;
He roars, and, traversing the fields around,
Proclaims his conquest in each echoing ground;
Or eyes the swelling honours of his breast,
And blood, his adversary once possest,
While from afar, his rival with a groan,
Surveys the pleasing kingdoms once his own.
Meanwhile Oenides, as he pass'd along,
In ev'ry town convenes the rustic throng:
His words the crowd to yield him aid engage,
And fire the youth already prone to rage.
His country, name, by whom, and whither sent,
Are soon divulg'd, and what the dire event.
The sight and tale of the returning chief,
Among the trembling crowd enforce belief:
Then, sent by Mars, officious Fame appears,
Removes each doubt, and doubles all their fears.
Scarce had he reach'd the palace, when he view'd
Adrastus, studious of the public good,
Amidst his peers enthron'd; while thus they sate,
Attentive to the subject in debate,
500
Arms, arms," he cries: "now, monarch, may'st
thou prove

490

540

Was this, proud chief, the only way to show
Thy causeless hate, and prove thyself a foe?
Then let me not-Ah! can I wish to live,
And Tydeus, wounded in my cause, survive?
Meanwhile, may Argos flourish in repose,
480 Nor owe to me the cause of future woes!
No matron, angry for her children slain,
Of me, the source of mischief, shall complain.
No widow shall of me her spouse require,
Nor orphan, weeping for his absent sire.
I rush to death, nor seek ye to detain;
'Tis honour prompts me, and you urge in vain.
To Tydeus, Thebes, my country, this I owe,
Their welfare claims, nor I retard the blow."
Thus veil'd the chief the wishes of his mind,
And artfully pronounc'd the speech design'd.
At first his audience wept the injur'd chief:
Now stronger wrath supplies the place of grief.
Nor did the youth alone impatient glow,
To wrest the sceptre from th' usurping foe: 550
A like resentment fires the breast of age,
And rous'd the dying sparks of martial rage.
One will inclin'd to draw the glitt'ring blade,
One voice declar'd their promises of aid.
But old Adrastus, great in arts of sway,
And prudence, thus enjoins a short delay,
And cries: " Awhile, ye sons of Argos, cease
From lawless arms, nor violate the peace.
To Jove and kings alone the right belongs
Of waging battle, or avenging wrongs.
Nor thou, young warrior, of redress despair,
Thy welfare claims our seasonable care.
Let us on Tydeus now our thoughts employ,
Nor be less prone to save than to destroy.

510

Thy blood, and martial heat deriv'd from Jove.
Justice and piety are now no more,
And slighted faith has fled the Theban shore.
More amicable treatment had I found
Where endless slaughter dyes the Scythian ground:
Or the stern guardian of Bebrycia's grove
Once reign'd, in scorn of hospitable Jove.
Nor blame I those, by whom it was enjoin'd,
Nor mourn, repentant of the task assign'd.
By Jove 'twas pleasant to dispute the claim
Of boasting Thebes to military fame.
Full fifty chiefs, (forgive the seeming boast)
The flow'r, the pride, the bulwark of their host,
Came forth as if to storm some leaguer'd town,
O'erthrow its walls, or throw its ramparts down.
Tho' naked and unarm'd, I scoin'd to fly,
Resolv'd to conquer, or with honour die.
But hear the sequel: all in fight o'erthrown,
Lie wallowing in their blood before the town. 520
But oh! what trophies must the Thebans yield,
Would Argos lead her armies to the field
While fear prevails, while, scatter'd on the plain,
They pay the last sad office to the slain!
Myself will share the fortune of the day,
Though these few wounds require a short delay."
The senate rose: while with dejected eyes,
The warrior sprung from Cadmus, thus replies.
"How hateful to the gods, alas! I'm grown,
To view those wounds, deserv'd by me alone! 530

1 Busiris.

560

to allege such arguments as either are easily answered, or may be retorted upon himself; the former is a weak part, the latter a dangerous one; and Polynices here designedly deals in both. For it is plain, that if a man must not use weak arguments, or such as may make against him, when he intends to persuade the thing he says; then on the other side, when he does not intend it, he must observe the contrary proceeding, and make what are the faults of oratory in general, the excellencies of that oration in particular, or otherwise he will contradict his own intention, and persuade the contrary to what he means. I have dweit the longer on this remark, to render the beauty of this speech more visible and obvious; and to prevent any scrupulous objections, which might be of disadvantage to our author.

555. But old Adrastus] The reader may per haps be at a loss to conceive how Adrastus, who had promised Polynices his aid in case of a rupture between him and his brother, should hesitate one moment about fulfilling his engagement, after such a complicated series of ill usage from Eteocles. But there were many reasons, which will

529. How hateful to the gods] It is an exqui-justify this conduct: such as the care of his own site piece of art, when you seem to persuade one safety (for it was uncertain what would be the thing, and at the same time enforce the contrary. event of his taking up arms). Secondly, the preThis kind of rhetoric is of great use in all occa- vention of those calamities, which his people must sions of danger, and of this Statius has afforded a necessarily undergo in the course of a long war; most striking instance in the oration of Polynices. and, thirdly, the avoiding the anger of the gods, It is a method perfectly wonderful, and even car- who ought always to be consulted upon such occaries in it an appearance of absurdity; for all that sions, according to the opinion of the heathens. we generally esteem the faults of oratory, by this We may see then, that this suspension of hostiliincans become the virtues of it. Nothing is look-ties was the result of the most consummate prued upon as a greater errour in a rhetorician, than dence, strict piety, and patriotic humanity.

His limbs oppress'd with toil and hostile blows,
In speedy sleep require a short repose.

Me too the same desire of vengeance warms,
But reason moderates the love of arms."

570

580

Meanwhile, involv'd in shades of deepest night,
The god of war renews his airy flight.
His rattling armour thunders o'er the sky,
The subject hills and vales in turns reply.
Where e'er he moves, he kindles vengeful fires,
And love of war, and thirst of blood inspires, 610
Stern wrath and rage adjust his coursers' manes,
And fear array'd in armour, guides the reins.
Commission'd by the god, before the car
Fame flies, and sounds aloud the charge of war;
And, by the breathing coursers wafted, springs
Aloft in air, and shakes her clatt'ring wings.
Oft premature the watchful goddess flies,
Feigns things undone, and mingles truth with lies.
For Mars, and his impatient charioteer 619
With goads provoke her, and the Scythian spear.
Thus when dismiss'd from their Æolian caves,
The winds invade the calm Ægean waves,
The lord of ocean follows; while around
The tumult thickens, and the deeps resound.
Then storms and show'rs collected from afar,
Enclose the god, and rage around his car.
Scarce can the Cyclades the shock sustain,
And Delos, fearing lest she float again,
Invokes the pow'r, by whose auspicious smiles
590 She stands connected with her sister-isles.
Now had the seventh Aurora chas'd the night,
And deck'd the courts of Jove with new-born light,
When old Adrastus from his couch arose,
And left his chamber, satiate with repose:
Revolving much within his lab'ring breast
The future war, and wrongs of either guest:
And doubtful, whether to pollute the peace,
And summon to his aid the states of Greece;
Or for a season bid his wrath subside,
And leave the fortune of the war untry'd.

His wife and friends enclose the weary chief,
Anxious, and emulous to give relief,
While he, reclining on a pillar, stood,
Joyful amidst his toils and loss of blood.
Fam'd Idmon was at hand to prove his art,
And to the wounded warrior ease impart.
One while, the juice of lenient herbs he tries,
Then bathes the wound, or crooked knife applies,
While he relates at large, from whence arose
The wrath and ambush of his Theban foes,
How, sent by night, within the winding way,
To bar his passage, fifty warriors lay;
And, those defeated in the gloomy vale,
He spar'd but one to bear the dreadful tale.
Caught with the sound of these heroic deeds,
Each chief, in prospect, for his country bleeds:
But Polynices most the love of fame,
And thirst of empire and revenge inflame.
The Sun, descending from th' aerial steep,
Had gain'd the confines of the western deep,
And bath'd his rays in the reflecting flood;
His coursers panting on the margin stood:
Till, swift emerging from their pearly caves,
The Hours, and sea-green daughters of the waves
Releas'd them from the yoke and hated reins,
To range at will, and crop the verdant plains.
'Twas theirs his foaming horses to unbrace,
And fix the car on its immortal base.
The night succeeds, and wrapt in ambient clouds,
In one huge veil the whole creation shrouds;
While sleep consigns each anxious breast to
peace,

And bids the howlings of the forest cease.
Adrastus, and the Theban prince alone
The want of sleep and inward ease bemoan.
While Tydeus charg'd with visionary spoils,
In dreams re-acts his late illustrious toils.

600

630

640

605. Meanwhile, involv'd] The characteristic
of Statius, as an heroic poet, is an amazing bold-
ness in imagery and diction. To say he always
reaches the pure sublime, would be running coun-
ter to the opinion of the best critics, and conse-
quently presumptuous and dogmatical. But to
affirm he never does, would be equally unjust and
unreasonable. The present passage is of the
mixed kind, and, at the same time that it borders
upon fustian, is not wholly destitute of sublimity.
I will only add, that the most celebrated instance
of this kind in Homer or Virgil, when reduced to
the standard of reason, will seem a pleasing
extravagance, and elaborate piece of nonsense.
617. Oft premature] So Virgil,

Tam ficti pravique tenax, quam nuncia veri.
Æn. book 4. verse 188.

628. And Delos, fearing lest she float] I know not where this passage is better illustrated than in the following lines of Virgil:

Sacra mari colitur medio gratissima tellus
Nercidum matri, et Neptuno Ægeo;
Quam pius Arcitenens oras et littora circum
Errantem, Gyaro celsâ Myconeque revinxit,
Immotanique coli dedit, et contemnere ventos.
Æn. 3. v. 73.

631. Now had the seventh Aurora] Since Tydeus had returned from his embassy to the court of Thebes.