:,

F
Raternal Rage the guilty Thebes alarms,

I
Th'alternate reign destroy'd by impibus arms: 1
Demand our song; a sacred fury fires
My ravish'd breast, and all the Muse infpires.
O Goddess, fay, shall I deduce my shimes; 15
From the dire nation in its early times
Europa's rape, Agenor's (tern decree nuus
And Cadmus searching round the spacious. sea ?
How with the serpent's teeth he sow'd the soil,

10
And reap'd an Iron harvest of his toil ?
Or how from joining stones the city sprung,
While to his harp divine Amphion sung?
Or shall I Juno's hate to Thebes resound,
Whose fatal rage th' unhappy Monarch found?
The fire against the son his arrows drew,

Atque adeo jam nunc gemitus, et prospera Cadmi
Praeteriisse finam: limes mihi carminis efto 20
Oedipodae confusa domus : quando Itala nondum
Signa, nec Arctoos ausim sperare triumphos,
Bisque jugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Iftrum,
Et conjurato dejectos vertice Dacos :
Aut defensa prius vix pubescentibus annis
Bella Jovis.' Tuque o Latiae decus addite famae,
Quem nova maturi fubeuntem exorfa parentis
Aeternum fibi Roma cupit: licet arctior omnes
Limes agat ftellas, et te plaga lucida coeli
Pleïadum, Boreaeque, et hiulci fulminis expers 35
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,

4

But waye.whate'er to Cadmus

may belong,
And fixy a Muse! the barrier of thy fong, 20
At Oedipus from his difaftets trace
The long confufions of his guilty race :
Nor yet attempt to stretch thy bolder wings
And mighty Cæsar's conqu’ring eagles fing :
How twice he tam'd proud Ifter's rapid food,
While Dacian mountains stream'd withi barb'rous

blood;
Twice taught the Rhine beneath his laws to roll,
And stretch'd his empire to the frozen Pole,
Or long before, with early valour ftrove;
In youthful arms t'affert the cause of Jove.

30
And Thou; great Heir of all thy father's fame;
Encrease of glory to the Latian name !
Oh bless thy Rome with an eternal reigns
Nor.let defiring worlds entreat in vain.
What tho the stats contract their heav'nly space, 35
And croud their shining ranks to yield thee' place;
Tho' all the skies, ambitious of thy sway,
Conspire to court thee from our world

away; Tho' Phæbus longs to mix his rays with thine, And in thy glories more serenely shine ;

40 Tho' Jove himself no lefs content would be, To part his throne and share his heav'n with thee; Yet stay, great Cæsar! and vouchsafe to reign O'er the wide earth, and o'er the watry main ; VOL. II.

I

47

Tempus erit, cum Pierio tua fortior oestro Facta canam: nunc tendo chelyn. fatis arma referre Aonia, et geminis sceptrum exitiale tyrannis, Nec furiis poft fata modum; flammasque rebelles Seditione rogi, tumulisque carentia regum Funera, et egestas alternis mortibus urbes ; 55 Caerula cum rubuit Lernaeo fanguine Dirce, Et Thetis arentes affuetum ftringere ripas, Horruit ingenti venientem Ismenon acervo.

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 scrutatus lumina dextra Merserat aeterna damnatum nocte pudorem Oedipodes, longaque animam fub morte tenebat.

Resign to Jove his empire of the skies,

45 And people heav'n with Roman deities.

The time will come; when a diviner flame Shall warm my breast to sing of Cæsar's fame : Mean while permit, that my preluding Muse In Theban wars an humbler theme may chuse : 50 Of furious hate furviving death, she sings, A fatal throne to two contending Kings And fun'ral flames, that parting wide in air Express the discord of the fouls they bear : Of towns dispeopled, and the wand'ring ghosts 55 Of Kings unbury'd in the wasted coasts ; When Diree's fountain blush'd with Grecian blood, And Thetis, near Ismenos' swelling floodą With dread beheld the rolling surges sweep, In heaps, his slaughter'd fons into the deep. 60

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 verse extend, And sing with horror his prodigious end.

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

70 NOTE's. Ver. 65. Or how the Youtb] Parthenopæus. P.