"Pray not for us, the nimble Dictys cry'd;
"Dictys, that could the main-top-mast bestride,
"And down the ropes with active vigour slide.
"To the fame purpose old Epopeus spoke,
"Who over-look'd the oars, and tim'd the stroke;
"The fame the pilot, and the fame the rest ;
"Such impious avarice their fouls poffeft.
"Nay, heaven forbid that I should bear away
"Within my veffel so divine a prey,

"Said I; and stood to hinder their intent:
"When Lycabas, a wretch for murder fent
"From Tufcany, to fuffer banishment,
"With his clench'd fift had ftruck me over-board,
"Had not my hands in falling grasp'd a cord.
"His bafe confederates the fact approve;

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"When Bacchus (for 'twas he) began to move,
"Wak'd by the noife and clamours which they rais'd;
“And shook his drowsy limbs, and round him gaz'd:
"What means this noife? he cries; am I betray'd?
"Ah! whither, whither muft I be convey'd ?

"Fear not, faid Proteus, child, but tell us where
"You wish to land, and truft our friendly care,
"To Naxos then direct your course, fays he;
"Naxos a hofpitable port shall be

"To each of you, a joyful home to me.

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By every God, that rules the sea or sky, "The perjur'd villains promife to comply, "And bid me haften to unmoor the fhip. "With eager joy I launch into the deep; "And, heedlefs of the fraud, for Naxos ftand:

They whisper oft, and beckon with the hand.

}

"And

"And give me figns, all anxious for their prey,
"To tack about, and fteer another way.
"Then let fome other to my poft fucceed,

"Said I, I'm guiltlefs of fo foul a deed.

"What, fays Ethalion, muft the ship's whole crew "Follow your humour, and depend on you? "And ftraight himself he feated at the prore, "And tack'd about, and fought another fhore. "The beauteous youth now found himself betray'd, "And from the deck the rifing waves furvey'd "And feem'd to weep, and as he wept he faid; "And do you thus my eafy faith beguile ? "Thus do you bear me to my native ifle? "Will fuch a multitude of men employ "Their strength against a weak defenceless boy? "In vain did I the Godlike youth deplore, "The more I begg'd, they thwarted me the more. "And now, by all the Gods in heaven that hear "This folemn oath, by Bacchus' felf, I fwear, "The mighty miracle that did enfue, "Although it feems beyond belief, is true. "The veffel, fix'd and rooted in the flood, "Unmov'd by all the beating billows ftood. "In vain the mariners would plough the main "With fails unfurl'd, and strike their oars in vain ; Around their oars a twining ivy cleaves,

"And climbs the maft, and hides the cords in leaves : "The fails are cover'd with a chearful green,

"And berries in the fruitful canvas feen.

"Amidft the waves a fudden foreft rears
"Its verdant head, and a new fpring appears.

"The

"The god we now behold with open eyes; "A herd of spotted panthers round him lies "In glaring forms; the grapy clusters fpread "On his fair brows, and dangle on his head. "And whilft he frowns, and brandishes his fpear, "My mates, furpriz'd with madness or with fear, Leap'd over-board; firft perjur'd Madon found "Rough fcales and fins his stiffening fides surround : "Ah what, cries one, has thus transform'd thy look? Straight his own month grew wider as he spoke : "And now himfelf he views with like furprize. "Still at his oar th' induftrious Libys plies; "But, as he plies, each bufy arm shrinks in, "And by degrees is fashion'd to a fin. "Another, as he catches at a cord, "Miffes his arms, and, tumbling over-board, "With his broad fins and forky tail he laves "The rifing furge, and flounces in the waves. "Thus all my crew transform'd, around the ship, "Or dive below, or on the furface leap,

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"And spout the waves, and wanton in the deep.
"Full nineteen failors did the ship convey,
"A fhole of nineteen dolphins round her play.
"I only in my proper shape appear,

Speechlefs with wonder, and half dead with fear, "Till Bacchus kindly bid me fear no more.

"With him I landed on the Chian fhore, "And him fhall ever gratefully adore.”

}

"This forging flave, fays Pentheus, would prevail

"O'er our just fury by a far-fetch'd tale;

"Go,

"Go, let him feel the whips, the fwords, the fire,
"And in the tortures of the rack expire."
Th' officious fervants hurry him away,

And the poor captive in a dungeon lay.

But, whilft the whips and tortures are prepar'd,
The gates fly open, of themselves unbarr'd;
At liberty th' unfetter'd captive stands,

And flings the loosen'd fhackles from his hands.

THE DEATH OF PENTHEUS.

But Pentheus, grown more furious than before,
Refolv'd to fend his meffengers no more,
But went himself to the distracted throng,
Where high Citharon echo'd with their fong.
And as the fiery war-horse paws the ground,
And fnorts and trembles at the trumpet's found;
Transported thus he heard the frantic rout,
And rav'd and madden'd at the diftant fhout.

A fpacious circuit on the hill there ftood,

Level and wide, and skirted round with wood;
Here the rash Pentheus, with unhallow'd eyes,
The howling dames and myftic orgies spies.
His mother fternly view'd him where he stood,
And kindled into madnefs as the view'd :
Her leafy javelin at her fon fhe caft;

And cries, "The boar that lays our country waste!
"The boar, my fifters! aim the fatal dart,
"And ftrike the brindled monster to the heart."

Pentheus aftonifh'd heard the difmal found, And fees the yelling matrons gathering round;

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He fees, and weeps at his approaching fate,
And begs for mercy, and repents. too late.
« Help, help! my aunt Autonöe, he cry'd;
"Remember how your own A&tæon dy'd.”
Deaf to his cries, the frantic matron crops
One ftretch'd-out arm, the other Ino lops.
In vain does Pentheus to his mother fue,
And the raw bleeding ftumps prefents to view:
His mother howl'd; and, heedlefs of his prayer,
Her trembling hand fhe twisted in his hair,
"And this, the cry'd, shall be Agave's share.”
When from the neck his ftruggling head the tore,
And in her hands the ghaftly vifage bore,
With pleasure all the hideous trunk furvey;
Then pull'd and tore the mangled limbs away,
As ftarting in the pangs of death it lay.
Soon as the wood its leafy honours casts,
Blown off and scatter'd by autumnal blasts,
With fuch a fudden death lay Pentheus flain,
And in a thousand pieces ftrow'd the plain.

By fo diftinguishing a judgment aw'd,
The Thebans tremble, and confess the god.

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