How mean a fate, unhappy child! is thine?
Ah how unworthy thofe of race divine?
On flow'ry herbs in fome green covert laid,
His bed the ground, his canopy the shade,
He mixes with the bleating lambs his cries,
While the rude fwain his rural mufic tries,
To call foft flumbers on his infant eyes.
Yet ev'n in thofe obfcure abodes to live,
Was more, alas! than cruel fate would give,
For on the graffy verdure as he lay,
And breath'd the freshness of the early day,
Devouring dogs the helpless infant tore,
Fed on his trembling limbs, and lapp'd the gore.
Th' aftonifh'd mother, when the rumour came,
Forgets her father, and neglects her fame,
With loud complaints fhe fills the yielding air,
And beats her breast, and rends her flowing hair; 700
Non tibi digna, puer, generis cunabula tanti Gramineas dedit herba toros, & vimine querno Texta domus: claufa arbutei fub cortice libri Membra tepent, fuadetque leves cava fiftula fomnos, 690 Et pecori commune folum. Sed fata nec illum Conceffere larem: viridi nam cefpite terra Projectum temere, & patulo cælum ore trahentem, Dira canum rabies morfu depafta cruenta Disjicit. Hic vero attonitas ut nuntius aures Matris adit, pulfi ex animo genitorque, pudorque, Et metus: ipfa ultro fævis plangoribus amens Teda replet, vacuumque ferens velamine pecus
Then wild with anguifh to her Sire the flies:
Demands the sentence, and contented dies.
But touch'd with forrow for the dead, too late,
The raging God prepares t' avenge her fate.
He fends a monfter, horrible and fell,
Begot by furies in the depths of hell..
The peft a virgin's face and: bofom, bears ;.
High on her crown a rifing fnake appears,
Guards her black front, and hiflès in her hairs:
About the realm she walks her dreadful round,
When night with fable wings o'erfpreads the ground,
Devours young babes before their parents eyes,
And feeds and thrives on publick miferies.
But gen'rous rage the bold Chorobus warms,
Chorebus, fam'd for virtue, as for arms;
Some few like him, inspir'd with martial flame,
Thought a fhort life well loft for endless fame.
Occurrit confeffa patri. Nec motus, at atro
Imperat, nefandum! cupientem occumbere leto.
Sero memor thalami, mœfiæ folatia morti
Phabe paras. Monftrum infandis Acheronte fub imo 705
Conceptum Eumenidum thalamis; cui virginis ora,
Pelloraque, æternum ftridens a vertice furgit
Et ferrugineam frontem difcriminat anguis.
Hæc tam dira lues nocturno fquallida paffus
Illabi thalamis, animafque a ftirpe recentes
Abripere altricum gremiis morfuque cruento
Dovefci & multum patrio pinguefeere latu.
Haud tulit armorum præftans animique Choræbus ; 715 Seque ultro leis juvenum, qui robore primi Famam pofthabita faciles extendere vita,
Thefe, where two ways in equal parts divide,
The direful monster from afar defcry'd;
Two bleeding babes depending at her fide;
Whofe panting vitals, warm with life, the draws,
And in their hearts embrues her cruel claws.
The youth furround her with extended fpears;
But brave Chorabus in the front appears,
Deep in her breaft he plung'd his fhining fword, 725
And hell's dire monfter back to hell restor❜d.
Th' Inachians view the flain with vaft furprize,
Her twisting volumes, and her rolling eyes,
Her fpotted breaft, and gaping womb embru'd
With livid poison, and our childrens blood.
The croud in ftupid wonder fix'd appear,
Pale ev'n in joy, nor yet forget to fear.
Obtulit. Illa novos ibat populata penates
Portarum in bivio. Lateri duo corpora parvum
Dependent, & jam unca manus vitalibus hæret,
Ferratique ungues tenero fub corde tepefcunt.
Obvius buic latus omne virum ftipante corona
It juvenis, ferrumque ingens fub pectore diro
Condidit: atque imaș animæ mucrone corufco
Scrutatus latebras, tandem fua monftra profundo.
Reddit habere Jovi. Juvat ire, & vifere juxta
Liventes in morte oculos, aterique nefandam
Proluviem,& craffo fquallentia pectora tabo,
Qua noftræ cecidere anima. Stupet Inacha pubes, 730
Magnaque poft lachrymas etiamnum gaudia pallent.
Some with vaft beams the fqualid corps engage,
And weary all the wild efforts of
rage.
The birds obfcene, that nightly flock'd to tafte,
With hollow fcreeches fled the dire repast ;
And ravenous dogs, allur'd by scented blood,
And starving wolves, ran howling to the wood.
But fir'd with rage, from cleft Parnaffus' brow
Avenging Phoebus' bent his deadly bow,
And hiffing flew the feather'd fates below;
A night of fultry clouds involv'd around
The tow'rs, the fields, and the devoted ground:
And now a thousand lives together fled,
Death with his fcythe cut off the fatal thread,
And a whole province in his triumph led.
But Pbabus, afk'd why noxious fires appear,
And raging Sirius blafts the fickly year;
Hi trabibus duris, folatia vana dolori,
Proterere exanimes artus, afprofqué molares
Deculcare genis, nequit iram explere poteftas.
Illam & nocturno circum ftridore volantes
Impasta fugiftis aves, rabidamque canum vim,
Oraque ficca ferunt trepidorum inhiaffe luporum.
Savior in miferos fatis ultricis adempte
Delius infurgit, fummaque biverticis umbra
Parnaffi refidens, arcu crudelis iniquo..
Peftifera arma jacit, campofque, & celfa Cyclopum
Tecta, fuperjecto nebularum incendit amiƐtu.
Labuntur dulces anima: mors fila fororum
Enfe metit, captamque tenens fert manibus urbem.
Quærenti quæ caufa duci, quis ab æthere lavus
Ignis, in totum regnaret Sirius annum?
Demands their lives by whom his monster fell,
And dooms a dreadful facrifice to hell.
Blefs'd be thy duft, and let eternal fame
Attend thy Manes, and preferve thy name;
Undaunted Hero! who, divinely brave,
In fuch a cause disdain'd thy life to fave;
But view'd the fhrine with a fuperior look,
And its upbraided Godhead thus bespoke.
With piety, the foul's fecureft guard,
And conscious virtue, ftill its own reward,
Willing I come, unknowing how to fear;
Nor fhalt thou, Phœbus, find a fuppliant here.
Thy monster's death to me was ow'd alone,
And 'tis a deed too glorious to difown.
Behold him here, for whom, so many days,
Impervious clouds conceal'd thy fullen rays;
Idem autor Paan rurfus jubet ire cruento
Inferias monftro juvenes, qui cæde potiti.
Fortunate animi, longumque in fæcula digne
Promeriture diem! non tu pia degener arma
Occulis, aut certæ trepidas occurrere morti.
Cominus ora ferens, Cyrrhæi in limiue templi
Conftitit; & facras ita vocibus afperat iras.
Non miffus Thymbrae tuos fupplexve penates Advenio mea me pietas, & confcia virtus Has egere vias. Ego fum qui cæde fubegi, Phabe, tuum mortale nefas ; quem nubibus atris, 760 Et fquallente die, nigra quem tabe finiftri
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