For by the black infernal Styx I swear, 420 425 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, mansurum et non revocabile verum, Nil fore quo dictis flectar. quare impiger ales 415 Portantes præcede Notos Cyllenia proles : Aera per liquidum, regnisque illapsus opacis Dic patruo, Superas senior se tollat ad auras Laius, extinctum nati quem vulnere, nondum Ulterior Lethes accepit ripa profundi 420 Lege Erebi: ferat hæc diro mea jufla nepoti: Germanum exilio fretum, Argolicisque tumentem Hofpitiis, quod fponte cupit, procul impius aula Arceat, alternum regni inficiatus honorem: Hinc caufæ irarum: certo reliqua ordine ducam. The The god obeys, and to his feet applies Those golden wings that cut the yielding skies. His ample hat his beamy locks o'erspread, 331 And veild the starry glories of his head. He seiz'd the wand that causes sleep to fly, Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye; That drives the dead to dark Tartarean coasts, Or back to life compels the wand'ring ghosts. 436 Thus, through the parting clouds, the son of May Wings on the whistling winds his rapid way; Now smoothly steers thro' air his equal flight, Now springs 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 kies. 442 Mean time the banish'd Polynices roves (His Thebes abandon'd) thro’th' Aonian groves, While future realms his wand'ring thoughts delight, 445 His daily vision and his dream by night; Paret Atlantiades dictis genitoris, et inde Summa pedum propere plantaribus illigat alis, 430 Obnubitque comas, et temperat altra galero. Tum dextræ virgam inferuit, qua pellere dulces Aut suadere iterum fomnos, qua nigra subire 435 Tartara, et exangues animare assueverat' umbras. Dediluit; tenuique exceptus inhorruit aura. Nec mora, sublimes raptim per inane volatus 440 Carpit, et ingenti designat et ingenti nubila gyro. Interea patriis olim vagus exul ab oris Oedipodionides furto deserto pererrat Aoniæ. jam jamque animis male debita regna 445 Concipit, et longum fignis cunctantibus annum Forbidden a } Forbidden Thebes appears before his eye, 450 Fain would he cast a tedious age away, And live out all in one triumphant day. He chides the lazy progress of the sun, 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 resolves his course to bend Where ancient Danaus' fruitful fields extend, And fam'd Mycene's lofty tow'rs ascend, (Where late the son did Atreus' crimes detest, And disappear'd in horror of the feast). 461 And now by chance, by fate, or furies led, From Bacchus' confecrated caves he fled, Where the shrill cries of frantic matrons sound, And Pentheus' blood enrich'd the rising ground. Stare gemit. tenet una dies noctesque recurfans Cura virum, fi quando humilem decedere regno Germanum, et semet Thebis, opibusque potitum Cerneret, hac ævum cupiat pro luce pascisci. 451 Nunc queritur ceu tarda fugz dispendia: fed mox Attollit flatus ducis, et sedisse superbum Dejecto se fratre putat. fpes anxia mentem 455 Extrahit, et longo consumit guadia voto. Tunc fedet Inachias urbes, Danaeiaque arva, Et caligantes abrupto sole Mycenas, Ferre iter impavidum. seu prævia ducit Erinnys, Seu fors illa viæ, five hac immota vocabat Atropos. Ogygiis ululata furoribus antra Deserit, et pingues Baccheo sanguine colles. 465 Then 'Then sees Cithæron tow'ring o'er the plain, 466 night, And rising Cynthia sheds her filver light, 475 Wide o'er the world in folemn pomp The drew, Her airy chariot hung with pearly dew; All birds and beasts lie hush'd; Sleep steals away The wild desires of men, and toils of day, And brings, descending thro' the filent air, A sweet forgetfulness of human care. Yet no red clouds, with golden borders gay, Promise the skies the bright return of day; 480 Inde plagam, qua molle fedens in plana Cithæron Porrigitur. laffumque inclinat ad æquora montem, Præterit, hinc arcte fcopuloso in limite pendens, Infames Scyrone petras, Scyllæaque rura 471 Purpureo regnata seni, mitemque Corinthon Linquit, et in mediis audit duo littora campis. Jamque per emeriti furgens confinia Phobi 475 Titanis, late mundo subve&ta filenti Rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga. Jam pecudes volucresque tacent; jam Somnus avaris Inserpit curis, pronufque per aera nutat, 480 Grata laboratæ referens oblivia vitæ. Sed nec puniceo rediturum nubila cælo Promisere jubar, nec rarefcentibus umbris N. No faint reflections of the disant light Streak with long gleams the scatt'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 Burst from th’ Æolian caves, and rend the ground, With equal rage their airy quarrel try, 490 And win by turns t’e kingdom of the sky: 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 flash from ev'ry cloud. Now smokes with thow’rs the misty mountain ground, And floated fields lie undistinguish'd round. 486 Longa repercuffo nituere crepuscula Phoebo. Th? |