45

Sollicitet; licet ignipedum frenator equorum
Ipfe tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum
Imprimat, aut magni cedat tibi Jupiter aequa
Parte poli; maneas hominum contentus habenis,
Undarum terraeque potens, et fidera dones.
Tempus erit, cum Pierio tua fortior oeftro
Facta canam : nunc tendo chelyn. fatis arma referre
Aonia, et geminis fceptrum exitiale tyrannis,
Nec furiis poft fata modum, flammafque rebelles
Seditione rogi, tumulifque carentia regum
Funera, et egeftas alternis mortibus urbes;
Caerula cum rubuit Lernaeo fanguine Dirce,
Et Thetis arentes affuetum ftringere ripas,
Horruit ingenti venientem Ifmenon acervo.

55

Tho' all the skies, ambitious of thy sway,
Confpire to court thee from our world away;
Tho' Phœbus longs to mix his rays with thine,
And in thy glories more ferenely shine;

40

Tho' Jove himself no less content would be,
To part his throne and share his heav'n with thee;
Yet ftay, great Cæfar! and vouchsafe to reign
O'er the wide earth, and o'er the watry main;
Resign to Jove his empire of the skies,

And people heav'n with Roman deities.

45

The time will come, when a diviner flame Shall warm my breast to fing of Cæfar's fame: Mean while permit, that my preluding Muse In Theban wars an humbler theme may chufe: 50 Of furious hate furviving death, fhe 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 ghosts 55 Of Kings unbury'd in the wafted coasts; When Dirce's fountain blufh'd with Grecian blood, And Thetis, near Ifmenos' fwelling flood, With dread beheld the rolling furges fweep,

In heaps, his flaughter'd fons into the deep. 60.

Quem prius heroum Clio dabis? immodicum irae Tydea? laurigeri fubitos an vatis hiatus? Urget et hoftilem propellens caedibus amnem Turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi Arcados, atque alio Capaneus horrore canendus. Impia jam merita fcrutatus lumina dextra Merferat aeterna damnatum nocte pudorem Oedipodes, longaque animam fub morte tenebat. Illum indulgentem tenebris, imaeque receffu Sedis, inafpectos coelo, radiifque penates Servantem, tamen affiduis circumvolat alis Saeva dies animi, fcelerumque in pectore Dirae. 75 Tunc vacuos orbes, crudum ac miferabile vitae Supplicium, oftentat coelo, manibufque cruentis Pulfat inane folum, faevaque ita voce precatur: 80 Dî fontes animas, anguftaque Tartara poenis Qui regitis, tuque umbrifero Styx livida fundo, Quam video, multumque mihi confueta vocari

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 tyde ?

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.
Now wretched Oedipus, depriv'd of fight,
Led a long death in everlasting night;
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75

But while he dwells where not a cheerful ray
Can pierce the darkness, 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 thousand furies haunt his guilty foul,
The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies
Those empty orbs from whence he tore his eyes,
Whose 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,
Where guilty spirits feel eternal pain;
Thou, fable Styx! whose livid streams are roll'd
Thro' dreary coafts, which I tho' blind behold:

NOTES.

VER. 65. Or how the Youth] Parthenopaus,

85

90

Annue Tifiphone, perverfaque vota fecunda.
Si bene quid merui, fi me de matre cadentem
Fovisti gremio, et trajectum vulnere plantas
Firmafti: fi ftagna petî Cyrrhaea bicorni
Interfufa jugo, poffem cum degere falso
Contentus Polybo, trifidaeque in Phocidos arce
Longaevum implicui regem, fecuique trementis
Ora fenis, dum quaero patrem: fi Sphyngos iniquae
Callidus ambages te praemonftrante refolvi:
Si dulces furias, et lamentabile matris
Connubium gavifus inî: noctemque nefandam
Saepe tuli, natosque tibi (scis ipsa) paravi :
Mox avidus poenae digitis cedentibus ultro
Incubui, miferaque oculos in matre reliqui:
Exaudi, fi digna precor, quaeque ipfa furenti
Subjiceres: orbum vifu regnifque parentem
Non regere, aut dictis moerentem flectere adorti
Quos genui, quocunque toro: quin ecce fuperbi
(Pro dolor) et noftro jamdudum funere reges,
Insultant tenebris, gemitufque odere paternos.

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100