Th’lgachian streams with headlong fury run, 500
And Erafinus rolls a deluge on:
The foaming Lerna swells above its bounds,
And spreads its ancient poisons o’er the ground:
Where late was duft, now rapid torrents play,
Rush thro’the mounds, and bear the damms away:
Old limbs of trees from crackling forests torn, 506
Are whirl'd in air, and on the winds are borne:
The storm the dark Lycæan groves display'd,
And first to light expos’d the sacred shade.
Th'intrepid Theban hears the buriting iky, 510
Sees yawning rocks in mafly fragments fly,
And views altonith'd, from the hills afar,
The floods descending, and the wat'ry war;
That, driv'n by storms, and pouring o'er the plain,
Swept herds, and hinds, and houses to the main.
Thro' the brown horrors of the night he fled, 516
Nor knows, amaz'd, what doubtful path to tread;

Arcadiæ capita alta madent: ruit agmine facto 500
Inachus, et gelidas surgens Erasinus ad Arctos.
Pulverulenta prius. calcandaque flumina nullæ
Aggeribus tenuere moræ, ftagnoque refula eft
Funditus, et veteri (pumavit Lerna veneno.
Frangitur omne nemus; rapiunt antiqua procella
Brachia fylvarum, nullifque aspecta per ævum 506
Solibus umbrofi patuere æstiva Lycæi.
Ille tamen modo faxa jugis fugientia ruptis
Miratur, modo nubigenas e montibus amnes
Aure pavens, pallimque infano turbine raptas
Paitorum pecorumque domos, non fegnius amens,
Incertusque viæ, per nigra filentia, valtum
Maurit iter: pullat metus undique, et undique frater.

516

a

His brother's image to his mind appears,
Inflames his heart with rage, and wings his feet

with fears.
So fares a failor on the stormy main, 520
When clouds conceal Bootes' golden wain,
When not a star its friendly lustre keeps,
Nor trembling Cynthia glimmers on the deeps;
He dreads the rocks, and ihoals, and feas, and skies,
While thunder roars, and lightning round him flies,

Thus strove the chief, on ev'ry fide distress’d, Thus still his courage with his toils increas'd; With his broad shield oppos'd, he forc'd his way Thro’thickelt woods, and rous'd the beasts of prey; Till he beheld, where from Larissa's height 530 The shelving walls reflect a glancing light. Thither with halte the Theban Hero fies; On this fide Lerna's pois’nous water lies, On that Profymna's grove and temple rise:

}

Ac velut hiberno deprensus navita ponto, 520 Cui neque temo piger, neque amico fidere monstrat Luna vias, medio cæli pelagique tumultu Stat rationis inops: jam jamque aut saxa malignis Expectat submersa vadis, aut vertice acuto Spumantes fcopulos erectæ incurrere proræ: Talis opaca legens nemorum Cadmeius heros Accelerat, vasto metuenda umbone ferarum Excutiens ftabula, et prono virgulta refringit Pectore: dat stimulos animo vis mæsta timoris. Donec ob Inachiis victa caligine tectis 53.0 Emicuit lucem deyexa in monia fundens Lariffæus apex. illo spe concitus omni Evolat. hinc cella Junonia templa Profymnæ

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536

He pass'd the gates which then unguarded lay,
And to the regal palace bent his way;
On the cold marble, spent with toil, he lies,
And waits till pleasing slumbers seal his eyes.

Adrastus here his happy people sways,
Bless'd with calm peace in his declining days. 546
By both his parents of descent divine,
Great Jove and Phæbus grac'd his noble line:
Heav'n had not crown'd his wishes with his son
But two fair daughters heir’d his state and throne.
To him Apollo (wondrous to relate ! 545
But who can pierce into the depths of Fate?)
Had sung----" Expect thy fons on Argos' shore,
“ A yellow lion and a briftly boar.”
This long revolu'd in his paternal breast,
Sat heavy on his heart, and broke his rest; 550

66

Lævus habet, hinc Herculeo fignata vapore 535
Lernæi ftagna atra vadi, tandemque reclufis
Infertur portis. actutum regia cernit
Vestibula. hic artus imbri vento que regentes-
Projicit, ignotæque acclinis poftibus auiæ
Invitat tenues ad dura cubilia fomnos.

Rex ibi tranquillæ medio de limite vitæ
In senium vergens populos Adrastus habebat, 546
Dives avis, et utroque Jovem de fanguine ducens.
Hic sexus melioris inops, sed prole virebat
Fæminea, gemino natarum pignore fultus.
Cui Phæbus generos (monstrum exitiabile dietu!
Mox adaperta fides) ævo ducente canebat 545
Setigerumque suem, et fulvum adventare leonem.
Hæc volvens non, tu ipfe pater, non, docte futuri

This, great Amphiaraus, lay hid from thee,
Tho'tkiil'd in fate, and dark futurity.
The father's care and prophet's art were vain,
For thus did the prediciing god ordain.
Lo hapless Tydeus, whose ill-fated hand

555
Had flain his brother, leaves his native land,
And, seiz'd with horror, in the shades of night,
Thro' the thick deserts headlong urg'd his flight :
Now by the fury of the tempeit driv’n,
He seeks a shelter from th’inclement Heay'n, 560
Till, led by Fate, the Theban's steps he treads,
And to fair Argos' open court succeeds.

When thus the chiefs from diff'rent lands resort T'Adraftus' realms, and hospitable court; The King furveys his guests with curious eyes, And views their arms and habit with surprise. 566 A lion's yellow skin the Theban wears, Horrid his mane, and rough with curling hairs; Such once employ'd Alcides' youthful toils, Ere yet adorn’d with Nemea's dreadful spoils.

a

Amphiarae, vides; etenim vetat autor Apollo. 552 Tantum in corde fedens ægrescit cúra parentis.

Ecce autem antiquam fato Calydona relinquens Olenius Tydeus (fraterni fanguinis illum

556 Confcius horror agit ) eadem lub nocte fopora Lultra terit, fimilelque Notos dequeftus e imbres, Infusam tergo glaciem, et liquentia nimbis Ora, comasque gerens, fubit uno tegmine, cujus Fusus humo gelida, partem prior hospes habebat.-

Hic primum lustrare oculis, cultufque virorum Telaque magna vacat, tergo videt hujus inanem Impexis utrinque jubis horrere leonem,

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580

:

A boar's stiff hide, of Calydonian breed, 570
Oenides' manly shoulders overspread:
Oblique his tusks, erect his bristles stood, i
Alive, the pride and terror of the wood.

Struck with the fight, and fix'd in deep amaze,
The King th' accomplish'd Oracle surveys, 576
Reveres Apollo's vocal caves, and owns
The guiding godhead, and his future fons.
O’er all his bosom secret transports reign,
And a glad horror shoots thro' ev'ry vein,
To heav'n he lifts his hands, erects his fight,
And thus invokes the filent Queen of night.

Goddess of shades, beneath whose gloomy reign
Yon spangled arch glows with the starry train:
You who the cares of heav'n and earth allay,
Till nature quicken’d by th’ inspiring ray 586
Wakes to new vigour with the rising day:
Illius in fpeciem, quem per Theumesia Tempe
Amphitryonjades fractum juvenilibus armis

570
Ante Cleonæi vestitur prælia monstri.
Terribiles contra setis, ac dente recurvo
Tydea per latos humeras ambire laborant
Exuviæ, Calydonis honos. stupet omine tanto 575
Defixus senior, divina oracula Phæbi
Agnoscens, monitufque datos vocalibus antris.
Obtutu gelida ora premit, lætusque per artus
Horror iit, sensit manifesto numine ductos
Affore, quos nexis ambagibus augur Apollo

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Portendi

generos, vultu fallente ferarum,
Ediderat, tunc sic tendens ad fidera palmas :
Nox, que terrarum coelique amplexa labores
Ignea multivago transmittis fidera lapsu,
Indulgens reparare animum, dum proximus ægris
Vol. II.
C

Oh !

580

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