Unhappy Cadmus' fate who does not know,
And the long series of fucceeding woe?
How oft the Furies, from the deeps of night,
Arofe, and mix'd with men in mortal fight:
Th' exulting mother, ftain'd with filial blood;
The favage hunter and the haunted wood >
The direful banquet why fhould I proclaim, 325
And crimes that grieve the trembling gods to
name?

Ere I recount the fins of these profane,

The fun would fink into the western main,
And rifing gild the radiant eaft again.

}

Have we not feen (the blood of Laius fhed) 330
The murd'ring fon ascend his parent's bed,
Through violated Nature force his way,
And ftain the facred womb where once he lay?
Yet now in darkness and despair he

groans,

335

And for the crimes of guilty fate atones;
His fons with fcorn their eyelefs father view,
Infult his wounds, and make them bleed anew.

Mens cunctis impofta manet. Quis funera Cadmi
Nefciat? et toties excitam a fedibus imis
Eumenidum bellaffe aciem? mala gaudia matrum,
Errorefque feros nemorum, et reticenda deorum
Crimina! vix lucis fpatio, vix noctis abact 325
Enumerare queam mores, gentemque profanam.
Scandere quin etiam thalamos hic impius heres
Patris, et immerita gremium inceftare parentis 330
Appetiit, proprios monftro revolutus in ortus.
Ille tamen Superis æterna piacula folvit,
Projecitque diem: nec jam amplius æthere noftro
Vefcitur: at nati (facinus fine more!) cadentes
Calcavere oculos. jam jam rata vota tulisti,

B 6

Thy

340

Thy curfe, oh Cedipus, just Heav'n alarms,
And fets th' avenging Thunderer in arms.
I from the root thy guilty race will tear,
And give the nations to the wafte of war.
Adraftus foon, with gods averfe, fhall join
In dire alliance with the Theban line;
Hence ftrife fhall rife, and mortal war fucceed;
The guilty realms of Tantalus shall bleed; 345
Fix'd is their doom; this all-rememb'ring breaft
Yet harbours vengeance for the tyrant's feast.

351

He faid; and thus the Queen of Heav'n return'd: (With fudden grief her lab'ring bofom burn'd); Muft I, whofe cares Phoroneus' tow'rs defend, Muft I, oh Jove, in bloody wars contend? Thou know'it thofe regions my protection claim, Glorious in arms, in riches, and in fame; Though there the fair Egyptian heifer fed, And there deluded Argus flept, and bled;

355

340

Dire fenex; meruere tuz, meruere tenebræ
Ultorem fperare Jovem, nova fontibus arma
Injiciam regnis, totumque a ftirpe revellam
Exitiale genus. belli mihi femina funto
A draftus focer, et fuperis adjun&a finiftris
Connubia. Hanc etiam pœnis inceffere gentem
Decretum: neque enim arcano de pectore fallax
Tantalus, et fævæ periit injuria menfæ.

345
Sic pater omnipotens. Aft illi faucia dictis,
Flammato verfans inopinum corde dolorem,
Talia Juno refert: Mcne, o juftiffime divum,
Me bello certare jubes? fcis femper ut arces 350
Cyclopum, magnique Phoroneos inclyta fama
Sceptra viris, opibufque juvem; licit improbus illic
Cuftodem Pharia, fomno letoque juvenca

355

Tho'

Tho' there the brazen tow'r was ftorm'd of old,
When Jove defcended in almighty gold.
Yet I can pardon thofe obfcurer rapes,

Those bashful crimes disguis'd in borrow'd shapes;
But Thebes, where fhining in celeftial charms 360
Thou cam'it triumphant to a mortal's arms,
When all my glories o'er her limbs were spread,
And blazing lightnings danc'd around her bed;
Curs'd Thebes the vengeance it deferves, may

prove---

Ah why should Argos feel the rage of Jove? 365
Yet fince thou wilt thy fifter-queen control,
Since ftill the luft of difcord fires thy foul,
Go, raze my Samos, let Mycene fall,
And level with the duft the Spartan wall;
No more let mortals Juno's pow'r invoke, 370
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;

Extinguas, feptis et turribus aureus intres.
Mentitis ignofco toris: illam odimus urbem,
Quam vultu confenfus adis; ubi confcia magni 360
Signa tori, tonitrus agis, et mea fulmina torques.
Facta luant Theba: cur hoftes eligis Argos? 365
Quin age, fi tanta eft thalami difcordia fancti,
Et Samon, et veteres armis exfcinde Mycenas;
Verte folo Sparten. cur ufquam fanguine fefto 370
Conjugis ara tuæ, cumulo cur thuris Eoi
Lata calet? melius votis Mareotica fumat
Co; tos, et erifoni lugentia flumina Nili.
Quod fi prifca luunt autorum crimina gentes,

For

376

380

For her, thro' Egypt's fruitful clime renown'd,
Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel found.
But if thou must reform the ftubborn 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 ftream, and thro' the briny tides
Unmix'd to his Sicilian river glides.
385
Thy own Arcadians there the thunder claim,
Whofe impious rites difgrace thy mighty name;
Who raise thy temples where the chariot stood
Of fierce Oenomaus, defil'd with blood;
Where once his fteeds their favage banquet found,
And human bones yet whiten all the ground. 39г
Say, can thofe honours please; and canft thou love
Prefumptuous Crete, that boasts the tomb of Jove!

380

Subvenitque tuis fera hæc fententia curis ;
Percenfere ævi fenium, quo tempore tandem
Terrarum furias abolere, et fecula retro
Emendare fat eft? Jamdudum a fedibus illis

Incipe, fluctivaga qua præterlabitur unda, Sicanos longe relegens Alpheus amores. Arcades hic tua (nec pudor est) delubra nefastis Impofuere locis: illic Mavortius axis

385

Oenomai, Geticoque pecus ftabulare fub Æmo 390 Dignius: abruptis, etiamnum inhumata procorum Relliquiis trunca ora rigent. tamen hic tibi templi Gratus honos. placet Ida nocens, mențitaque manes

And

And fhall not Tantalus' kingdom share
Thy wife and fifter's tutelary care?
Reverse, O Jove, thy too severe decree,

395

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 ex
prefs'd

The rage and grief contending in her breast.
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
Against a nation thy peculiar care.
No lefs Dione might for Thebes contend,
Nor Bacchus lefs his native town defend;
Yet these in filence fee the Fates fulfil

400

406

'I'heir work, and rev'rence our fuperior will. 410

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.

400

Finierat mifcens precibus convicia Juno, At non ille gravis, dictis, quanquam afpera, motus, Reddidit hæc: Equidem haud rebar te mente fe

cunda

Laturam, quodcunque tuos (licet æquus) in Argos Confulerem, neque me (detur fi copia) fallit 401 Multa fuper Thebis Bucchum, aufuramque Dionem

NOTES.

Ver. 399. with fuch fons as those.] Eteocles and Polynices.

For