Of furious hate furviving death, the fings,
A fatal throne to two contending kings,
And fun'ral flames, that parting wide in air
Express the difcord of the fouls they bear:
Of towns difpeopled, and the wand'ring ghofts
Of kings unbury'd in the wafted coafts;
56
When Dirce's fountain blush'd with Grecian blood,
And Thetis, near Ifmenos' fwelling flood,
With dread beheld the rolling furges sweep,
In heaps, his flaughter'd fons into the deep.
What hero, Clio! wilt thou first relate?
The rage of Tydeus, or the Prophet's fate?
Or how with hills of flain on ev'ry fide,
Hippomedon repell'd the hostile tide?
Or how the youth with ev'ry grace adorn'd, 65
Untimely fell, to be for ever mourn'd?
Then to fierce Capaneus thy verfe extend,
And fing with horror his prodigious end.
Seditione rogi, tumulifque carentia regum
Funera, et egeftas alternis mortibus urbes;
Cærula cum rubuit Lernæo fanguine Dirce,
Et Thetis arentés affuetum ftringere ripas,
Horruit ingenti venientem Ifmenon acervo.
Quem prius heroum, Clio, dabis? immodicum iræ
Tydea? laurigeri fubitos an- vatis hiatus?
Urget et hoftilem propellens cædibus amnem
Turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi
Arcados, atque alio Capaneus horrore canendus. 65
Impia jam merita fcrutatus lumina dextra
Merferat æterna damnatum nocte pudorem
Ver. 65. Or how the youth] Parthenopaus.
Now wretched Oedipus, deprived of fight,
Led a long death in everlasting night;
But while he dwells where not a cheerful ray
Can pierce the darknefs, and abhors the day;
The clear reflecting mind presents his fin
In frightful views, and makes it day within;
Returning thoughts in endless circles roll,
And thoufand furies haunt his guilty foul,
The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies
Thofe empty orbs from whence he tore his eyes,
Whofe wounds, yet fresh, with bloody hands he
ftrook,
While from his breast these dreadful accents broke.
Ye gods! that o'er the gloomy regions reign, 81
Where guilty fpirits feel eternal pain;
Thou, fable Styx! whofe livid ftreams are roll'd
Thro' dreary coafts, which I, tho' blind, behold;
Tifiphone, that oft haft heard my pray'r,
Affift, if Oedipus deferve thy care!
Oedipodes, longaque animam fub morte tenebat.
Illum indulgentem tenebris, imæque receffu
Sedis, inafpectos cœlo radiifque penates
Servantem, tamen affiduis circumvolat alis
Sæva dies animi, fcelerumque in pectore diræ. 75
Tunc vacuos orbes, crudum ac miferabile vitæ
Supplicium, oftentat coelo, manibufque cruentis
Pulfat inane folum, fævaque ita voce precatur: 80
Di fontes animas, auguftaque Tartara pœnis
Qui regitis, tuque umbrifero Styx livida fundo,
Quam video, multumque mihi confueta vocari
Annue Tifiphone, perverfaque vota fecunda; 85
Si bene quid merui, fi me de matre cadentem
If you receiv'd me from Jocafta's womb,
And nurs'd the hope of mischiefs yet to come:
If leaving Polybus, I took my way
To Cyrrha's temple, on that fatal day,
When by the fon the trembling father dy'd,
Where the three roads the Phocian fields divide:
If I the Sphynx's riddles durft explain,
Taught by thyfelf to win the promis'd reign:
If wretched I, by baleful furies led,
With monstrous mixture ftain'd my mother's bed,
For hell and thee begot an impious brood,
And with full luft thofe horrid joys renew'd;
Then felf-condemn'd to fhades of endless night,
Forc'd from these orbs the bleeding balls of fight:
Oh hear, and aid the vengeance I require,
If worthy thee, and what thou might'it inspire!
My fons their old, unhappy fire defpife,
Spoil'd of his kingdom, and depriv'd of eyes;
Fovifti gremio, et trajectum vulnere plantas
Firmafti; fi ftagna peti Cyrrhæa bicorni
Interfufa jugo, poffem cum degere falfo
Contentus Polybo, trifidæque in Phocidos arce
Longævum implicui regem, fecuique trementis
Ora fenis, dum quæro patrem: fi Sphingos iniquæ
Callidus ambages, te præmonftrante, resolvi;
Si dulces furias, et lamentabile matris
Connubium gavifus ini; noctemque nefandam
Sæpe tuli, natofque tibi (fcis ipfa) paravi;
Mox avidus poenæ digitis cædentibus ultro
Incubui, miferaque oculos in matre reliqui:
Exaudi, fi digua precor, quæque ipfa furenti
Subjiceres orbum vifu regnifque parentem
Guidelefs I wander, unregarded mourn,
While these exalt their fceptres o'er my urn;
These fons, ye gods! who with flagitious pride
Infult my darkness, and my groans deride.
"Art thou a father, unregarding Jove!
And fleeps thy thunder in the realms above? 110
Thou fury, then, some lasting curse entail,
Which o'er their childrens children shall prevail :
Place on their heads that crown diftain'd with gore,
Which thefe dire hands from my flain father tore;
Go, and a parent's heavy curses bear;
Break all the bonds of nature, and prepare
Their kindred fouls to mutual hate and war.
Give them to dare, what I might wish to fee
Blind as I am, fome glorious villany!
Soon fhalt thou find, if thou but arm their hands,
Their ready guilt preventing thy commands: 121
Non regere, aut dictis moerentem flectere adorti
Quos genui, quocunque toro: quin ecce fuperbi
(Pro dolor) et noftro jamdudum funere reges,
Infultant tenebris, gemitufque odere paternos.
Hifne etiam funeftus ego? et videt ista deorum
Ignavus genitor? tu faltem debita vindex.
Huc ades, et totos in pœnam ordire nepotes.
Indue quod madidum tabo diadema cruentis
Unguibus arripui, votifque instincta paternis
I media in fratres, generis confortia ferro
Diffiliant: da Tartarei regina barathri
Quod cupiam vidiffe nefas. nec tarda fequetur
Mens juvenum; modo digna veni, mea pignora
nofces.
Couldst thou fome great, proportion'd mischief
They'd prove the father from whofe loins they
The Fury heard, while on Cocytus' brink Her faakes unty'd, fulphureous waters drink; 125 But at the fummons roll'd her eyes around, And fnatch'd the starting ferpents from the ground. Not half fo fwiftly fhoots along in air, The gliding lightning, or defcending star. Thro' crouds of airy fhades fhe wing'd her flight, And dark dominions of the filent night; Swift as the pafs'd, the flitting ghofts withdrew, And the pale fpectres trembled at her view: To th' iron gates at Tenarus fhe flies,
There fpreads her dufky pinions to the skies. 135 The day beheld, and fick'ning at the fight,
Veil'd her fair glories in the shades of night.
Affrighted Atlas, on the diftant fhore,
Trembled, and shook the heav'ns and gods he bore.
Talia jactanti crudelis diva fevero's
Advertit vultus; inamonum forte fedebat
Cocyton juxta, refolutaque vertice crines,
Lambere fulphureas permiferat anguibus undas.
Ilicet igne Jovis, lapfifque citatior aftris
Triftibus exiliit ripis. difcedit inane
Vulgus, et occurfus dominæ pavet; illa per umbras
Et caligantes, animarum examine campos,
Tænaria limen petit irremeabile portæ.
Senfit adeffe dies; piceo nox obvia nimbo
Lucentes turbavit equos, procul arduus Atlas
Horruit, et dubia cœlum cervice remifit.
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