Quam vultu confeffus adis: ubi confcia magni
Signa tori, tonitrus agis, et mea fulmina torques.
Facta luant Theba: cur hoftes eligis Argos?
Quin age, fi tanta eft thalami difcordia fancti,
Et Samon, et veteres armis exfcinde Mycenas.
Verte folo Sparten. cur ufquam fanguine fefto
Conjugis ara tuæ, cumulo cur thuris Eoi
Læta calet? melius votis Mareotica fumat
Coptos, et ærifoni lugentia flumina Nili.
Quod fi prifca luunt autorum crimina gentes,
Subvenitque tuis fera hæc fententia curis ;
Percenfere ævi fenium, quo tempore tandem
Terrarum furias abolere, et fecula retro
Emendare fat eft? jamdudum ab fedibus illis
Incipe, fluctivaga qua præterlabitur unda
Sicanos longe relegens Alpheus amores.
Arcades hic tua (nec pudor eft) delubra nefastis
But Thebes, where fhining in celestial charms
Thou cam'it triumphant to a mortal's arms,
When all my glories o'er her limbs were spread,
And blazing light'nings danc'd around her bed;
Curs'd Thebes the vengeance it deferves, may prove→
Ah why should Argos feel the rage of Jove?
Yet fince thou wilt thy fifter-queen controul,
Since ftill the luft of difcord fires thy foul,
Go, rafe my Samos, let Mycene fall,
And level with the duft the Spartan wall;
No more let mortals Juno's pow'r invoke,
Her fanes no more with eastern incense smoke,
Nor victims fink beneath the facred stroke;
But to your Ifis all my rites transfer,
Let altars blaze and temples fmoke for her;
For her, through Egypt's fruitful clime renown'd,
Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel found.
But if thou must reform the stubborn times,
Avenging on the fons the father's crimes,
And from the long records of distant age
Derive incitements to renew thy rage;
Say, from what period then has Jove defign'd
To date his vengeance; to what bounds confin'd?
Begin from thence, where first Alpheus hides
His wand'ring stream, and through the briny tides
Unmix'd to his Sicilian river glides.
Thy own Arcadians there the thunder claim,
Whofe impious rites difgrace thy mighty name;
Impofuere locis: illic Mavortius axis
Enomai, Geticoque pecus ftabulare fub Emo
Dignius abruptis etiamnum inhumata procorum
Relliquiis trunca ora rigent. tamen hic tibi templi
Gratus honos. placet Ida nocens, mentitaque manes
Creta tuos. me Tantaleis confiftere tectis,
Quæ tandem invidia eft? belli deflecte tumultus,
Et generis miferefce tui. funt impia late
Regna tibi, melius generos paffura nocentes.
Finierat mifcens precibus convicia Juno, At non ille gravis, dictis, quanquam afpera, motus Reddidit hæc: Equidem haud rebar te mente fecunda Laturam, quodcunque tuos (licet æquus) in Argos Confulerem, neque me (detur fi copia) fallit Multa fuper Thebis Bacchum, aufuramque Dionem Dicere, fed noftri reverentia ponderis obstat. Horrendos etenim latices, Stygia æquora fratris Obteftor, manfurum et non revocabile verum,
Who raise thy temples where the chariot flood
Of fierce Enomäus, defil'd with blood;
Where once his fteeds their favage banquet found,
And human bones yet whiten all the ground.
Say, can those honours please; and can't thou love
Presumptuous Crete that boafts the tomb of Jove?
And fhall not Tantalus's kingdoms share
Thy wife and fifter's tutelary care?
Reverse, O Jove, thy too fevere decree,
Nor doom to war a race deriv'd from thee;
On impious realms and barb'rous Kings impofe.. Thy plagues, and curfe 'em with fuch fons as those. Thus, in reproach and pray'r, the Queen exprefs'd The rage and grief contending in her breaft; Unmov'd remain'd the ruler of the sky,
And from his throne return'd this ftern reply:
'Twas thus I deem'd thy haughty foul would bear The dire, tho' juft, revenge which I prepare
VER. 399. with fuch fons as thofe.] Eteocles and Polynices.
quo dictis flectar. quare impiger ales
Portantes præcede Notos Cyllenia proles:
Aëra per liquidum, regnifque illapfus opacis
Dic patruo, Superas fenior fe tollat ad auras
Laïus, extinctum nati quem vulnere, nondum
Ulterior Lethes accepit ripa profundi
Lege Erebi: ferat hæc diro mea juffa nepoti:
Germanum exilio fretum, Argolicifque tumentem
Hofpitiis, quod fponte cupit, procul impius aula
Arceat, alternum regni inficiatus honorem :
Hinc caufæ irarum: certo reliqua ordine ducam.
Paret Atlantiades dictis genitoris, et inde
Summa pedum propere plantaribus illigat alis,
Obnubitque comas, et temperat aftra galero.
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