How twice he tam'd proud Ister's rapid flood,
While Dacian mountains stream'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 strove
In youthful arms t' assert the cause 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 intreat in vain.
What tho' the stars contract their heav'nly space,
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' Phœbus longs to mix his rays with thine,
And in thy glories more ferenely shine;
Tho' Jove himself no less content would be,
To part his throne and share his heav'n with thee;
Bisque jugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Iftrum,
Et conjurato dejectos vertice Dacos:
Aut defensa prius vix pubescentibus annis
Bella Jovis. Tuque o Laticæ decus addite fama,
Quem nova maturi fubeuntem exorsa parentis
Æternum fibi Roma cupit: licet artior omnes
Limes agat ftellas, & te plaga lucida cæli
Pleïadum, Borcaque, & biulci fulminis expers
Sollicitet; licet ignipedum frenator equorum
Ipfe tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum
Imprimat; aut magni cedat tibi Juppiter æqua
Yet stay, great Cæfar! and vouchsafe to reign o
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.
The time will come, when a diviner flame Shall warm my breast to fing of Cafar's fame: Meanwhile permit, that my preluding Muse In Theban wars an humbler theme may chuse: Of furious hate furviving death, the fings A fatal throne to two contending Kings, jo And fun'ral flames, that parting wide in air Express the discord of the fouls they bear: Of towns difpeopled, and the wand'ring ghosts, Of Kings unbury'd on the wasted coats When Dirce's fountain blush'd with Grecian blood, or I' And Thetis, near Isimenos swelling Hood
With dread beheld the rolling furges sweepofT In heaps, his flaughter'd fons into the deep cin 1.69
Parte poli; maneas hominum contentus habenis,
Undarum terræque potens, & fidera donesh As
Tempus erit, cum Pierio tua fortion ofhka
Falta canam: nunc tendo chelyn, fatis arma na referre
Aonia, & geminis fceptrum exitiale tyrannis
Nec furiis poft fata modum, flammasque rebelles
Seditione rogi, tumulisque carentia regum
Funera, & egestas alternis mortibus urbes;
Cærula cum rubuit Lernæo fanguine Rikes,
Et Thetis arentes affuetum ftringere ripas,
Horruit ingenti venientem Ismepon acervo.
197
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 hoftile 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,
Led a long death in everlasting night;
But while he dwells where not a chearful ray
Can pierce the darkness, and abhors the day;
The clear, reflecting mind, presents his fin
In frightful views, and makes it day within's
Returning thoughts in endless circles roll, t
And thousand furies haunt his guilty fouk
Quem prius bersum Clio dabis? immodicum ira Tydea? laurigeri fubitos an vatis hiatus? Urget & hoftilem propellens cædibus amnem Turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi 65 Arcados, atque alio Capaneus horrore canendus.
Impia jam merita fcrutatus lumina dextra
Merferat æterna damnatum nocte pudorem
Oedipodes, longaque animam fub morte trabebat.
Illum indulgentem tenebris, imæque receffu
Sedis, inaspectos cælo, radiisque penates
Servantem, tamen affiduis circumvolat alis
Sæva dies animi, fcelerumque in pectore Diræ.
The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies
Those empty orbs from whence he tore his eyes,
Whose wounds yet fresh, with bloody hands ne strook,
While from his breast these dreadful accents broke. 80
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:
Tifiphone, that oft' haft heard my pray'r,
Affift, if Oedipus deserve thy care!
If you receiv'd me from Jocasta's womb,
And nurs'd the hope of mischiefs yet to come
If leaving Polybus, I took my way
To Cyrrha's temple, on that fatal day,
When by the son the trembling father dy'd,
Where the three roads the Phocian fields divide:
Tunc vacuos orbes crudum ac miferabile vitæ
Supplicium oftentat cælo, manibusque cruentis
Pulfat inane folum, fævaque ita voce precatur.
Di fontes animas, anguftaque Tartara pænis
Qui regitis, tuque umbrifera Styx livida fundo,
Quam video, multumque mibi confueta vocari
Annue Tifiphone, perverfaque vota fecunda.
Si bene quid merui, fi me de matre cadentem
Fovisti gremio, & trajectum vulnere plantas
Firmasti: fi stagna petii Cyrrhæa bicorni
Interfufa jugo, possem cum degere falso
Contentus Polybo, trifidaque in Phocidos arce
Longævum implicui regem, fecuique trementis
If I the Sphynx's riddles durst explain,
Taught by thy self to win the promis'd reign:
If wretched I, by baleful furies led,
With monstrous mixture stain'd my mother's bed,
For hell and thee begot an impious brood,
And with full lutt those horrid joys renew'd :
Then felf-condemn'd to shades of endless night,
Forc'd from these orbs the bleeding balls of fight. Ico
Oh hear, and aid the vengeance I-require,
If worthy thee, and what thou might'st inspire!
My fons their old, unhappy fire despise,
Spoil'd of his kingdom, and depriv'd of eyes;
Guideless I wander, unregarded mourn,
While these exalt their sceptres o'er my urn,
These sons, ye Gods! who with flagitious pride,
Insult my darkness, and my groans deride.
Ora fenis, dum quæro patrem : fi Sphyngos iniquæ
Callidus ambages te præmonftrante refolvi :
Şi dulces furias, & lamentabile matris
Connubium gavisus inii: noctemque nefandam
Sæpe tuli, natosque tibi (fcis ipfa) paravi:
Mox avidus pænæ digitis cedentibus ultro
Incubui, miferaque oculos in matre reliqui:
Exaudi, fi digna precor, quæque ipfa furenti
Subjiceres: Orbum visu, regnisque, parentem
Non regere, aut dictis mærentem flectere adorti
Quos genui, quocunque toro: quin ecce fuperbi
(Pro dolor) & nostro jamdudum funere reges,
Infultant tenebris, gemitusque odere paternos.
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