STATI U S.

BOOK the FITR S T.

Tranflated in the Year MDCC III.

: J.

Raternal Rage the guilty Thebes alarms,

FRaternal,

f

Th' alternate reign destroy'd by impibus arms. 'I

Demand our fong; a facred fury fires

My ravish'd breaft, and all the Muse inspires.
O Goddefs, fay, fhall I deduce my rhimes:
From the dire nation in its early times,

10

Europa's rape, Agenor's ftern decree,oznat runsbn']
And Cadmus searching round the spacious fea?
How with the ferpent's teeth he sow'd the foil,
And reap'd an Iron harvest of his toil?
Or how from joining stones the city sprung,
While to his harp divine Amphion fung?
Or fhall I Juno's hate to Thebes refound,
Whofe fatal rage th' unhappy Monarch found?
The fire against the fon his arrows drew,

15

O'er the wide fields the furious mother flew,

And while her arms a fecond hope contain,

Sprung from the rocks and plung'd into the main,

Atque adeo jam nunc gemitus, et prospera Cadmi
Praeteriiffe finam: limes mihi carminis esto
Oedipodae confufa domus: quando Itala nondum
Signa, nec Arctoos aufim fperare triumphos,
Bifque jugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Iftrum,
Et conjurato dejectos vertice Dacos:

Aut defenfa prius vix pubefcentibus 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
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

20

35

20

But wave whate'er to Cadmus may belong,
And fix, O Mufe! the barrier of thy fong,
At Oedipus from his disasters trace
The long confufions of his guilty race :
Nor yet attempt to ftretch thy bolder wing,
And mighty Cæfar's conqu❜ring eagles fing;
How twice he tam'd proud Ifter's rapid flood,

25

While Dacian mountains ftream'd with 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 caufe of Jove.

And Thou, great Heir of all thy father's fame,
Encrease of glory to the Latian name !

Oh bless thy Rome with an eternal reign,
Nor.let defiring worlds entreat in vain.

30

What tho' the stars contract their heav'nly space, 35
And croud their fhining ranks to yield thee' place;
Tho' all the fkies, ambitious of thy fway,

Conspire to court thee from our world away;
Tho' Phoebus longs to mix his rays with thine,

And in thy glories more ferenely shine;

Tho' Jove himself no lefs 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;

40

47

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, flammasque 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 Ismenon acervo.

55

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.

Refign to Jove his empire of the skies,

And people heav'n with Roman deities.

The time will come, when a diviner flame Shall warm my breaft to fing of Cæfar's fame : Mean while permit, that my preluding Muse

45

In Theban wars an humbler theme may chufe: 50
Of furious hate furviving death, she fings,
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 difpeopled, and the wand'ring ghofts

55

Of Kings unbury'd in the wasted coafts;
When Diree's fountain blush'd with Grecian blood,
And Thetis, near Ifmenos' fwelling flood,

With dread beheld the rolling furges sweep,

In heaps, his flaughter'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,
Untimely fell, to be for ever mourn'd?
Then to fierce Capaneus thy verse extend,
And fing with horror his prodigious end.
Now wretched Oedipus, depriv'd of fight,

65

Led a long death in everlasting night;

70

VER. 65. Or how the Youth] Parthenopaus. P.

NOTES.