Plebis Echioniae, tacitumque a principe vulgus
Diffidet, et (qui mos populis) venturus amatur.
Atque aliquis, cui mens humili laefiffe veneno
Summa, nec impofitos unquam cervice volenti
Ferre duces: Hancne Ogygiis, ait, afpera rebus
Fata tulere vicem? toties mutare timendos, 236
'Alternoque jugo dubitantia fubdere colla!
Partiti verfant populorum fata, manuque
Fortunam fecere levem. femperne viciffim
Exulibus fervire dabor? tibi, fumme deorum,
Terrarumque fator, fociis hanc addere mentem
Sedit? an inde vetus Thebis extenditur omen,
quo Sidonii nequicquam blanda juvenci
Pondera, Carpatheo juffus fale quaerere Cadmus

Ex

Still prone to change, tho' ftill the flaves of state, And fure the monarch whom they have, to hate;

New lords they madly make, then tamely bear,

And foftly curfe the Tyrants whom they fear. And one of those who groan beneath the fway 230 Of Kings impos'd, and grudgingly obey,

(Whom envy to the great, and vulgar spight With scandal arm'd, th' ignoble mind's delight,) Exclaim'd-O Thebes! for thee what fates re

main,

What woes attend this inauspicious reign? 235
Muft we, alas! our doubtful necks prepare,
Each haughty master's yoke by turns to bear,
And still to change whom chang'd we still must
fear?

These now controul a wretched people's fate,
These can divide, and these reverse the state: 249
Ev'n Fortune rules no more :---O fervile land,
Where exil❜d tyrants still by turns command!
Thou fire of Gods and men, imperial Jove!
Is this th' eternal doom decreed above?

On thy own offspring haft thou fix'd this fate, 245
From the first birth of our unhappy state ;
When banish'd Cadmus, wand'ring o'er the main,
For loft Europa fearch'd the world in vain,

250

Exul Hyanteos invenit regna per agros:
Fraternafque acies foetae telluris hiatu,
Augurium, feros dimifit adufque nepotes?
Cernis ut erectum torva fub fronte minetur
Saevior affurgens dempto conforte poteftas ?
Quas gerit ore minas? quanto premit omnia fastu?
Hicne unquam privatus erit? tamen ille precanti
Mitis, et affatu bonus et patientior aequi, 260
Quid mirum ? non folus erat. nos vilis in omnes
Prompta manus cafus domino cuicunque parati.
Qualiter hinc gelidus Boreas, hinc nubifer Eurus
Vela trahunt, nutat mediae fortuna carinae.
Heu dubio fufpenfa metu, tolerandaque nullis
Afpera fors populis! hic imperat : ille minatur. 276

And fated in Baotian fields to found

A rifing empire on a foreign ground,

250

First rais'd our walls on that ill-omen'd plain, Where earth-born brothers were by brothers flain? What lofty looks th' unrival'd monarch bears ! How all the tyrant in his face appears!

What fullen fury clouds his fcornful brow! 255
Gods! how his eyes with threat'ning ardour glow!
Can this imperious lord forget to reign,

Quit all his ftate, descend, and ferve again?
Yet, who, before, more popularly bow'd?
Who more propitious to the fuppliant croud? 260
Patient of right, familiar in the throne?
What wonder then? he was not then alone.
O wretched we, a vile, submissive train,
Fortune's tame fools, and flaves in ev'ry reign!

As when two winds with rival force contend, 265
This
way and that, the wav'ring fails they bend,
While freezing Boreas, and black Eurus blow,
Now here, now there, the reeling veffel throw:
Thus on each fide, alas! our tott'ring state
Feels all the fury of refistless fate,

And doubtful still, and still distracted stands,

270

While that prince threatens, and while this com

mands.

At Jovis imperiis rapidi fuper atria coeli Lectus concilio divûm convenerat ordo Interiore polo. fpatiis hinc omnia juxta, Primaeque occiduaeque domus, effufa fub omni Terra atque unda die. mediis fefe arduus infert 280 Ipfe deis, placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu, Stellantique locat folio. nec protinus aufi Coelicolae, veniam donec pater ipse sedendi Tranquilla jubet effe manu. mox turba vagorum Semideûm, et fummis cognati nubibus Amnes, Et compreffa metu fervantes murmura Venti, Aurea tecta replent; mixta convexa deorum Majeftate tremunt: radiant majore fereno Culmina, et arcano florentes lumine postes. 295

NOTES.

VER. 281.] placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu, is the common reading; I believe it should be nutu, with reference to the word quatiens. P.