For by the black infernal Styx I fwear,
(That dreadful oath which binds the Thunderer)
'Tis fix'd; th' irrevocable doom of Jove;
No force can bend me, no perfuafion move.
Hafle then, Cyllenius, thro' the liquid air;
Go mount the winds, and to the fhades repair;
Bid hell's black monarch my commands obey,
And give up Laius to the realms of day,
Whole ghoit yet shiv'ring on Cocytus' fand,
Expects its paffage to the further strand:
Let the pale fire revifit Thebes, and bear
Thefe pleafing orders to the tyrant's ear;
That, from his exil'd brother, fwell'd with pride
Of foreign forces, and his Argive bride,,
Almighty Jove commands him to detain
The promis'd empire, and alternate reign.
Be this the cause of more than mortal hate :
The rest, fucceeding times shall ripen into Fate.
Dicere, fed noftri reverentia ponderis obftat.
Horrendos etenim latices, Stygia æquora fratris
Obteftor, manfurum et non revocabile verum,
Nil fore quo
dictis flectar. quare impiger ales 415
Portantes præcede Notos Cyllenia proles:
Aera per liquidum, regnifque illapfus opacis
Dic patruo, Superas fenior fe tollat ad auras
Laius, 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:
Hine caufa irarum: certo reliqua ordine ducam.
The god obeys, and to his feet applies Thofe golden wings that cut the yielding skies. His ample hat his beamy locks o'erspread, 331 And veil'd the starry glories of his head. He feiz'd the wand that causes fleep to fly, Or in foft flumbers feals the wakeful eye; That drives the dead to dark Tartarean coafts, Or back to life compels the wand'ring ghosts. 436 Thus, through the parting clouds, the fon of May Wings on the whistling winds his rapid way; Now smoothly fteers thro' air his equal flight, Now fprings aloft, and tow'rs th' ethereal height; Then wheeling down the steep of heav'n he flies, And draws a radiant circle o'er the fkies.
Mean time the banish'd Polynices roves (His Thebes abandon'd) thro' th' Aonian groves, While future realms his wand'ring thoughts de
His daily vifion and his dream by night;
Paret Atlantiades dictis genitoris, et inde Summa pedum propere plantaribus illigat alis, 430 Obnubitque comas, et temperat aftra galero. Tum dextræ virgam inferuit, qua pellere dulces Aut fuadere iterum fomnos, qua nigra fubire 435 Tartara, et exangues animare affueverat umbras. Defiluit; tenuique exceptus inhorruit aura. Nec mora, fublimes raptim per inane volatus 440 Carpit, et ingenti defignat et ingenti nubila gyro. Interea patriis olim vagus exul ab oris Oedipodionides furto deferto pererrat
Aoniæ. jam jamque animis male debita regna 445 Concipit, et longum fignis cunctantibus annum
Forbidden Thebes appears before his eye,
From whence he sees his absent brother fly,
With transport views the airy rule his own,
And fwells on an imaginary throne.
Fain would he caft a tedious age away,
And live out all in one triumphant day.
He chides the lazy progrefs of the fun,
And bids the year with swifter motion run.
With anxious hopes his craving mind is toft, 455
And all his joys in length of wishes loft.
The hero then refolves his courfe to bend
Where ancient Danaus' fruitful fields extend,
And fam'd Mycene's lofty tow'rs afcend,
(Where late the fon did Atreus' crimes deteft,
And disappear'd in horror of the feast).
And now by chance, by fate, or furies led,
From Bacchus' confecrated caves he fled,
Where the fhrill cries of frantic matrons found,
And Pentheus' blood enrich'd the rifing ground.
Stare gemit. tenet una dies noctefque recurfans
Cura virum, fi quando humilem decedere regno
Germanum, et femet Thebis, opibufque potitum
Cerneret, hac ævum cupiat pro luce pafcifci. 451
Nunc queritur ceu tarda fuge difpendia: fed mox
Attollit flatus ducis, et fediffe fuperbum
Dejecto fe fratre putat. fpes anxia mentem
Extrahit, et longo confumit guadia voto.
Tunc fedet Inachias urbes, Danaeiaque arva,
Et caligantes abrupto fole Mycenas,
Ferre iter impavidum. feu prævia ducit Erinnys,
Seu fors illa viæ, five hac immota vocabat
Atropos. Ogygiis ululata furoribus antra
Deferit, et pingues Baccheo fanguine colles. 465
Then fees Citharon tow'ring o'er the plain, 466
And thence declining gently to the main.
Next to the bounds of Nifus' realms repairs,
Where treach'rous Scylla cut the purple hairs:
The hanging cliffs of Scyron's rock explores, 470
And hears the murmurs of the diff'rent fhores:
Paffes the ftrait that parts the foaming seas,
And stately Corinth's pleafing fite furveys.
'Twas now the time when Phoebus yields to
night,
And rifing Cynthia fheds her filver light,
Wide o'er the world in folemn pomp fhe drew,
Her airy chariot hung with pearly dew;
All birds and beasts lie hufh'd; Sleep steals away
The wild defires of men, and toils of day,
And brings, defcending thro' the filent air,
A fweet forgetfulness of human care.
Yet no red clouds, with golden borders gay,
Promise the skies the bright return of day;
Inde plagam, qua molle fedens in plana Citharon
Porrigitur. laffumque inclinat ad æquora montem,
Præterit, hinc arête fcopulofo in limite pendens,
Infames Scyrone petras, Scyllæaque rura
Purpureo regnata feni, mitemque Corinthon
Linquit, et in mediis audit duo littora campis.
Jamque per emeriti furgens confinia Phoebi 475
Titanis, late mundo fubvecta filenti
Rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga.
Jam pecudes volucrefque tacent; jam Somnus avaris
Inferpit curis, pronufque per aera nutat,
Grata laboratæ referens oblivia vitæ.
Sed nec puniceo rediturum nubila cœlo
Promisere jubar, nec rarefcentibus umbris
No faint reflections of the diflant light
Streak with long gleams the fcatt'ring fhades of
night;
485
From the damp earth impervious vapours rise,
Increase the darkness, and involve the skies.
At once the rushing winds with roaring found
Burft from th' Æolian caves, and rend the ground,
With equal rage their airy quarrel try,
And win by turns the kingdom of the fky:
But with a thicker night black Aufter shrouds
The heav'ns, and drives on heaps the rolling
clouds,
From whofe dark womb a rattling tempest pours,
Which the cold North congeals to haily fhow'rs.
From pole to pole the thunder roars aloud, 496
And broken lightnings flafh from ev'ry cloud.
Now fmokes with fhow'rs the misty mountain-
ground,
And floated fields lie undiftinguish'd round.
Longa repercuffo nituere crepufcula Phœbo.
Denfior a terris, et nulli pervia flammæ
Subtexit nox atra polos. jam clauftra rigentis
Æoliæ percuffa fonant, venturaque rauco
Ore minatur hiems, venti tranfverfa frementes
Confligunt, axemque emoto cardine vellunt, 490
Dum coelum fibi quifque rapit. fed plurimus Aufter
Inglomerat noctem, et tenebrofa volumina torquet,
Defunditque imbres, ficco quos afper hiatu
Perfolidat Boreas. nec non abrupta tremifcunt 495
Fulgura, et attritus fubita face rumpitur æther.
Jam Nemea, jam Tænareis contermina lucis
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