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TEN EPISTLES 
 
 OF 
 
 OVID, 
 
 Translated into English Verse, 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 WITH THE LATIN AND NOTES. 
 
 <2To to&iejj are ptifcioinefc, 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF HERO TO LEANDER, AND LEANDER TO HERO, BY 
 
 A DIFFERENT HAND; THAT OF SAPPHO TO PHAON BY 
 
 POPE i AND OF 4)IDO TO ENEAS BY DRYDEN. 
 
 ftonBon x 
 
 PRINTED FOR C. AND R. BALDWIN, BRIDGE-STREET, 
 BLACKFRIARS. 
 
 1807. 
 
% 
 
 
 96-845543 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 IT was Mr. Titzthomas's intention to have 
 presented the public with an entire version of the 
 Epistles of Ovid, (including the Hero to Leander, 
 and Leander to Hero, presented to him by a friend ; 
 together with Pope's Sappho to Phaon, and Dry den* s 
 Dido to Eneas, which he deemed it presumptuous to 
 translate anew) but Death prevented the completion 
 of his design. This, it is hoped, will be deemed a 
 sufficient apology for such inaccuracies, at least, as 
 the want of the author's superintendance of the 
 press may have rendered almost unavoidable. 
 
 ^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Translator of these epistles thinks he may, 
 without apology, prefix the excellent preface 
 written by Dry den, for a translation by several 
 hands, printed in 3.680, to any remarks which 
 he may have to make on the life, genius, and 
 writings of Ovid; especially as the opinion 
 of that great poet and critic does not in every in- 
 stance agree with his own : 
 
 " The Life of Ovid being already written in 
 our language, before the translation of his Meta- 
 morphoses, I will not presume so far upon myself, 
 to think I can add any thing to Mr. Sandys his 
 undertaking. The English reader may there be 
 satisfied, that he flourished in the reign of Augus- 
 tus Caesar ; that he was extracted from an ancient 
 family of Roman Knights : that he was born to 
 the inheritance of a splendid fortune ; that he 
 was designed to the study of the law, and had 
 made considerable progress in it, before he quitted 
 that profession for this of poetry, to which he was 
 more naturally formed. 
 
 " The cause of his banishment is unknown, 
 a 
 
H INTRODUCTION. 
 
 because he was himself unwilling further to pro- 
 voke the Emperor, by ascribing it to any other 
 reason than what was pretended by Augustus, 
 which was the lasciviousness of his Elegies, and 
 his Art of Love. It is true they are not to be 
 excused in the severity of manners, as being able 
 to corrupt a larger empire, if there were any, than 
 that of Rome ; yet this may be said in behalf of 
 Ovid, that no man has ever treated the passion of 
 love with so much delicacy of thought, and of 
 expression, or searched into the nature of it more 
 philosophically than he. And the Emperor who 
 condemned him, had as little reason as another 
 man to punish that fault with so much severity, 
 if at least he were the author of a certain epigram 
 which is ascribed to him, relating to the cause of 
 the first civil war betwixt himself and Mark 
 Antony the Triumvir, which is more fulsome 
 that any passage I have met with in our poet. To 
 pass by the naked familiarity of his expressions to 
 Horace, which are cited in that author's life, I 
 need only mention one notorious act of his, in 
 taking Livia to his bed, when she was not only 
 married, but with child by her husband, then 
 living. But deeds, it seems, may be justified by 
 arbitrary power, when words are questioned in a 
 poet. 
 
 " There is another guess of the grammarians, as 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 far from truth as the first from reason $ they will 
 have him banished for some favours, which they 
 say he received from Julia, the daughter of 
 Augustus, whom they think he celebrates under 
 the name of Corinna in his Elegies. But he who 
 will observe the verses which are made to 
 that mistress, may gather from the whole con- 
 texture of them, that Corinna was not a woman of 
 the highest quality. If Julia were then married to 
 Agrippa, why should our poet make his petition 
 to Isis, for her safe delivery, and afterwards condole 
 her miscarriage 5 which for ought he knew might 
 be by her own husband ? or indeed how durst he 
 be so bold to make the least discovery of such a 
 crime, which was no less than capital, especially 
 committed against a person of Agrippa's rank ? or 
 if it were before her marriage, he would surely have 
 been more discreet, than to have published an 
 accident, which must have been fatal to them 
 both. But what most confirms me against this 
 opinion is, that Ovid himself complains that the 
 true person of Corinna was found out by the fame 
 of his verses to her: which if it had been Julia, 
 he durst not have owned 3 and beside, an imme- 
 diate punishment must have followed. 
 
 <e He seems himself more truly to have touch- 
 ed at the cause of his exile in those obscure 
 verses : % 
 
 a 2 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Cur aliqitid vidi f cur noxia lumina feci f 
 Cur imprudenti cognita culpa mild est ? 
 Inscius Actceon vidit sine veste Dianam, 
 Prcedafuit canibus non minus ille suis. 
 
 Namely, that he had either seen or was conscious 
 to somewhat, which had procured him his disgrace. 
 But neither am I satisfied that this was the incest 
 of the Emperor with his own daughter 5 for 
 Augustus was of a nature too vindicative to have 
 contented himself with so small a revenge, or so 
 unsafe to himself, as that of simple banishment, 
 and would certainly have secured his crimes from 
 publick notice by the death of him who was 
 witness to them. Neither have histories given 
 us any sight into such an action of this Emperor : 
 nor would he, (the greatest politician of his time,) 
 in all probability, have managed his crimes with so 
 little secrecy, as not to shun the observation of any 
 man. It seems more probable, that Ovid was either 
 the confident of some other passion, or that he had 
 stumbled by some inadvertency upon the privacies 
 of Livia, and seen her in a bath: for the words 
 sine veste Dianam, agree better with Livia who 
 had the fame of chastity, than with either of the 
 Julias, who were both noted of incontinency. The 
 first verses which were made by him in his^ 
 youth, and recited publickly, according to the 
 custom, were, as he himself assures us, to Corinna : 
 his banishment happened not until the age of fifty j 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 from which it may be deduced, with probability 
 enough, that the love of Corinna did not occasion 
 it : nay he tells us plainly, that his offence was 
 that of errour only, not of wickedness; and in the 
 same paper of verses also, that the cause was noto- 
 riously known at Rome, though it be left so 
 obscure to after ages. 
 
 <( But to leave conjectures on a subject so incer- 
 tain, and to write somewhat more authentick of 
 this poet. That he frequented the court of 
 Augustus, and was well received in it, is most 
 undoubted : all his poems bear the character of 
 a court, and appear to be written, as the French 
 call it, cavalierement* Add to this, that the titles 
 of many of his elegies, and more of his letters in 
 his banishment, are addressed to persons well known 
 to us, even at this distance, to have been con- 
 siderable in that court. 
 
 " Nor was his acquaintance less with the famous 
 poets of his age, than with the noblemen and 
 ladies. He tells you himself in a particular account 
 of his own life, that Macer, Horace, Tibullus, Pro- 
 pertius, and many others of them, were his fami- 
 liar friends, and that some of them communicated 
 their writings to him : but that he had only seen 
 Virgil. 
 
 u If the imitation of nature be the business of a 
 poet, I know no author who can justly be compar- 
 a 3 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ed with ours, especially in the description of the 
 passions. And to prove this, I shall need no other 
 judges than the generality of his readers -, for all 
 passions being inborn with us, we are almost 
 equally judges, when we are concerned in the re- 
 presentation of them. Now I will appeal to any man 
 who has read this poet, whether he finds not the 
 natural emotion of the same passion in himself, 
 which the poet describes in his feigned persons * 
 His thoughts, which are the pictures and results of 
 those passions, are generally such as naturally arise 
 from those.disorderly motions of our spirits. Yet, 
 not to speak too partially in his behalf, I will con- 
 fess that the copiousness of his wit was such, that 
 he often writ too pointedly for his subject, and 
 made his persons speak more eloquently than the 
 violence of their passion would admit: so that he 
 is frequently witty out of season ; leaving the 
 imitation of nature and the cooler dictates of his 
 judgment, for the false applause of fancy. Yet he 
 seems to have found out this imperfection in his 
 riper age $ for why else should he complain that 
 his Metamorphoses was left unfinished ? Nothing 
 sure can be added to the wit of that poem, or of 
 the rest : but many things ought to have been 
 retrenched 5 which I suppose would have been 
 the business of his age, if his misfortunes had not 
 efrrm too fast upon him. But take him uncorrect- 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 ed as he is transmitted to us, and it must be ac- 
 knowledged, in spite of his Dutch friends, the com- 
 mentators, even of Julius Scaliger himself, that 
 Seneca's censure will stand good against him; 
 nescivit quod bene cessit relinquere : he never knew 
 how to give over when he had done well 5 but 
 continually varying the same sense an hundred 
 ways, and taking up in another place what he had 
 more than enough inculcated before, he some- 
 times cloys his readers, instead of satisfying them 5 
 and gives occasion to his translators, who dare not 
 cover him, to blush at the nakedness of their 
 father. 
 
 " This then is the allay of Ovid's writing, 
 which is sufficiently recompensed by his other 
 excellencies : nay this very fault is not without 
 its beauties 5 for the most severe censor cannot 
 but be pleased with the prodigality of his wit, 
 though at the same time he could have wished 
 that the master of it had been a better manager, 
 Every thing which he does, becomes him 5 and if 
 sometimes he appears too gay, yet there is a secret 
 gracefulness of youth, which accompanies his 
 writings, though the staidness and sobriety of age 
 be wanting. In the most material part, which is 
 the conduct, it is certain that he seldom has mis- 
 carried 3 for if his elegies be compared with those 
 of Tibullus-and Propertius, his contemporaries, 
 
Vm INTRODUCTION. 
 
 it will be found that those poets seldom designed 
 before they writ j and though the language of 
 Ttbullus be more polished, and the learning of 
 Propertius, especially in his fourth book, more set 
 out to ostentation, yet their common practice was 
 to look no further before them than the next line ; 
 whence it will inevitably follow, that they can drive 
 to no' certain point, but ramble from one subject 
 to another, and conclude with somewhat which is 
 not of a piece with their beginning : 
 
 Purpureas late qui splendeat, unus et alter 
 
 Assuitur jpannus, — 
 
 as Horace says -, though the verses are golden, 
 they are but patched into the garment. But our 
 poet has always the goal in his eye, which directs 
 him in his race; some beautiful design, which he 
 first establishes, and then contrives the means 
 which will naturally conduct him to his end. This 
 will be evident to judicious readers in this work 
 of his Epistles, of which somewhat, at least in 
 general, will be expected. 
 
 t€ The title of them in our late editions is Epis- 
 TOL^HEROiDUM,the Letters of the Heroines. 
 But Heinsius has judged more truly, that the in- 
 scription of our author was barely, Epistles ; which 
 he concludes from his cited verses, where Ovid as- 
 serts this work as his own invention, and not bor- 
 rowed from the Greeks, whom, as the masters of 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 their learning, the Romans usually did imitate. But 
 it appears not from their writers, that any of the 
 Grecians ever touched upon this way, which our 
 poet therefore justly has vindicated to himself. I 
 quarrel not at the word Heroidum, because it is 
 used by Ovid in his Art of Love : 
 
 Jupiter ad veteres supplex Heroidas Hat. 
 But sure he could not be guilty of such an oversight, 
 to call his work by the name of Heroines, when 
 there are divers men or heroes, as namely Paris, 
 Leander and Acontius, joined in it. — Except 
 Sabinus, who writ some answers to Ovid's Letters, 
 
 (Quam celer e tote rediit meus orbe SabinusJ 
 I remember not any of the Romans who have 
 treated on this subject, save only Propertius, and 
 that but once, in his epistle of Arethusa to Lycotas, 
 which is written so near the style of Ovid, that 
 it seems to be but an imitation, and therefore 
 ought not to defraud our poet of the glory of his 
 invention. 
 
 " Concerning this work of the Epistles, I shall 
 content myself to observe these few particulars. 
 First, that they are generally granted to be the 
 most perfect piece of Ovid, and that the style of 
 them is tenderly passionate and courtly j two 
 properties well agreeing with the persons, which 
 were heroines, and lovers. Yet where the cha- 
 racters were lower, as in CEnone, and Hero, he 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 has kept close to nature, in drawing his images 
 after a country life 5 though perhaps he has 
 romanized his Grecian dames too much, and made 
 them speak sometimes as if they had been born in 
 the city of Rome, and under the empire of 
 Augustus. There seems to be no great variety 
 in the particular subjects which he has chosen ; 
 most of the Epistles being written from ladies who 
 were forsaken by their lovers : which is the reason 
 that many of the same thoughts come back upon 
 us in divers Letters. But of the general character 
 of women, which is modesty, he has taken a most 
 becoming care 5 for his amorous expressions go 
 no further than virtue may allow, and therefore 
 may be read, as he intended them, by matrons 
 without a blush. 
 
 " Thus much concerning the poet ; whom you 
 find translated by divers hands, that you may at 
 least have that variety in the English, which the 
 subject denied to the author of the Latin. — It 
 remains that I should say something of poetical 
 translations in general, and give my opinion (with 
 submission to better judgments) w r hich way of 
 version seems to me most proper. 
 
 " All translation, I suppose, may be reduced to 
 these three heads : 
 
 " First, that of metaphrase, or turning an author 
 word by word, and line by line, from one language 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xt 
 
 into another. Thus, or near this manner, was 
 Horace his Art of Poetry translated by Ben 
 Jonson. The second way is that of paraphrase, 
 or translation with latitude, where the author is 
 kept in view by the translator, so as never to be 
 lost 3 but his words are not so strictly followed as 
 his sense, and that too is admitted to be amplified, 
 but not altered. Such is Mr. Waller's translation 
 of Virgil's fourth iEneid. The third way is that 
 of imitation, where the translator (if now he has 
 not lost that name) assumes the liberty not only to 
 vary from the words and sense, but to forsake 
 them both, as he sees occasion : and taking only 
 some general hints from the original, to run divi- 
 sion on the ground-work, as he pleases. Such is 
 Mr. Cowley's practice in turning two odes of 
 Pindar, and one of Horace, into English. 
 
 €e Concerning the first of these methods, our 
 master Horace has given us this caution: 
 
 Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere 9 Jldus 
 Interpres, — 
 Nor word for word too faithfully translate ; 
 
 as the Earl of Roscommon has excellently rendered 
 it. Too faithfully is indeed pedantically : it is a 
 faith like that which proceeds from superstition, 
 blind and zealous. Take it in the expression of 
 Sir John Denham, to Sir Richard Fanshaw, on his 
 version of the Pastor Fido : 
 
XII INTRODUCTION. 
 
 That servile path thou nobly dost decline 
 Of tracing word by word, and line by line. 
 A new and nobler way thou dest pursue, 
 To make translations and translators too: 
 They but preserve the ashes, thou the flame, 
 True to his sense, but truer to his fame. 
 
 " It is almost impossible to translate verbally, 
 and well, at the same time $ for the Latin, a most 
 severe and compendious language, often expresses 
 that in one word, which either the barbarity or 
 the narrowness of modern tongues cannot supply 
 in more. It is frequent also that the conceit is 
 couched in some expression, which will be lost in 
 English : 
 
 Atque iidem venti velajidemqueferent. 
 What poet of our nation is so happy as to express 
 this thought literally in English, and to strike wit 
 or almost sense out of it ? 
 
 " In short, the verbal copier is encumbered 
 with so many difficulties at once, that he can never 
 disentangle himself from all. He is to consider 
 at the same time the thought of his author, and 
 his words, and to find out the counterpart to each 
 in another language 5 and besides this, he is to 
 confine himself to the compass of numbers, and the 
 slavery of rhyme. It is much like dancing on 
 ropes with fettered legs : a man may shun a fall by 
 using caution, but the gracefulness of motion is 
 not to be expected : and when we have said the 
 
INTRODUCTION. XUl 
 
 best of it, it is but a foolish task ; for no sober man 
 would put himself into a danger, for the applause 
 of escaping without breaking his neck. We see 
 Ben Jonson could not avoid obscurity in his 
 literal translation of Horace, attempted in the same 
 compass of lines : nay Horace himself could scarce 
 have done it to a Greek poet. 
 
 — ■ Irevis esse Laboro, 
 
 Obscurus fio : 
 
 either perspicuity or gracefulness will frequently 
 be wanting. Horace has indeed avoided both these 
 rocks in his translation of the three first lines of 
 Homer's Odysses, which he has contracted into 
 two : 
 
 Die mihi, Musa virum, captcs post tempora Trojce, 
 Qui mores hominum multorum vidit, et urbes. 
 Muse, speak the man, who since the siege of Troy, 
 So many towns, such change of manners saw. 
 
 Earl of Roscommon. 
 But then the sufferings of Ulysses, which are a 
 considerable part of that sentence, are omited: 
 
 " The considerationof these difficulties, in a 
 servile, literal translation, not long since made 
 two of our famous wits, Sir John Den ham and 
 Mr. Cowley, to contrive another way of turning 
 authors into our tongue, called by the latter of 
 them, imitation. As they were friends, I suppose 
 they communicated their thoughts on this subject 
 b 
 
XIV INTRODUCTIONS 
 
 to each other, and therefore their reasons for it are- 
 little different, though the practice of one is much- 
 more moderate. I take imitation of an author, in 
 their sense, to be an endeavour of a later poet to 
 write like one who has written before him, on the 
 same subject : that is, not to translate his words,, 
 or to be confined to his sense, but only to set him 
 as a pattern, and to write, as he supposes that 
 author would have done, had he lived in our age, 
 and in our country. Yet I dare not say that either 
 of them have carried this libertine way of rendering 
 authours (as Mr. Cowley calls it) so far as my 
 definition reaches ; for in the Pindaric Odes the 
 customs and ceremonies of ancient Greece are still 
 preserved. But I know not what mischief may 
 arise hereafter from the example of such an inno- 
 vation, when writers of unequal parts to him shall 
 imitate so bold an undertaking. To add and to 
 diminish what we please, which is the way avowed 
 by him, ought only to be granted to Mr. Cowley, 
 and that too only in his translation of Pindar ; 
 because he alone was able to make him amends, 
 by giving him better of his own, whenever he 
 refused his author's thoughts. Pindar is generally 
 known to be a dark writer, to want connection, 
 (I mean as to our understanding,) to soar out of 
 sight, and leave his reader at a gaze. So wild and 
 ungovernable a poet cannot be translated literally; 
 
INTRODUCTION. X? 
 
 tiis genias is too strong to bear a chain, and 
 Sampson-like he shakes it off. A genius so 
 •elevated and unconflned as Mr, Cowley's, was but 
 necessary to make Pindar speak English, and 
 that was to be performed by no other way than 
 imitation. But if Virgil, or Ovid, or any regular 
 intelligible authors be ttras used, it is no longer to 
 he called their work, when neither the thoughts nor 
 words are drawn from the original, but instead 
 of them there is something new produced, which 
 is almost the creation of another hand. By this way, 
 it is true, somewhat that is excellent may be invent- 
 ed, perhaps more excellent than the first design, 
 though Virgil must be still excepted, when that 
 perhaps takes place : yet he who is inquisitive to 
 know an author's thoughts, will be disappointed 
 in his expectation 3 and it is not always that a 
 man will be contented to have a present made 
 him, when he expects the payment of a debt. 
 
 " To state it fairly, imitation of an author is the 
 most advantageous way for a translator to shew 
 himself, but the greatest wrong which can be done 
 to the memory and reputation of the dead. Sir 
 John Denham, who advised more liberty than he 
 took himself, gives this reason for his innovation, 
 in his admirable preface before the translation of 
 the second ^Eneid : " poetry is of so subtile 2 
 spirit, that in pouring out of one language into 
 b 2 
 
XVI TXTIIOBUCTIOK. 
 
 another, it will all evaporate; and if a new spirit 
 be not added in the transfusion, there will remain 
 nothing but a caput mortuum" I confess this 
 argument holds good against a literal translation ; 
 but who defends it ? Imitation and verbal version 
 are in my opinion the two extremes, which ought 
 to be avoided ; and therefore when I have proposed 
 the mean betwixt them, it will be seen how far his 
 argument will reach. 
 
 <e No man is capable of translating poetry, who 
 besides a genius to that art, is not a master both 
 of his author's language, and of his own, Nor 
 must we understand the language only of the poet, 
 but his particular turn of thoughts and expression, 
 which are the characters that distinguish, and as 
 it were individuate, him from all other writers. 
 When we are come thus far, it is time to look into 
 ourselves; to conform our genius to his, to give 
 his thought either the same turn, if our tongue 
 will bear it, or if not, to vary but the dress, not to 
 «her or destroy the substance. The like care 
 must be taken of the more outward ornaments, 
 the words; when they appear (which is but seldom) 
 literally graceful, it were an injury to the author 
 that they should be changed. But since every 
 language is so full of its own proprieties, that what 
 is beautiful in one, is often barbarous, nay some- 
 times nonsense in another, it would be unreason- 
 
INTRODUCTION, XV11 
 
 able to limit a translator to the narrow compass of 
 his author's words : it is enough if he choose out 
 some expression which does not vitiate the sense. 
 I suppose he may stretch his chain to such a 
 latitude ; but by innovation of thoughts, methinks, 
 he breaks it. By this means the spirit of an author 
 may be transfused, and yet not lost ; and thus it 
 is plain, that the reason alleged by Sir John 
 Denham has no farther force than to expression : 
 for thought, if it be translated truly, cannot be 
 lost in another language -, but the words that 
 convey it to our apprehension, which are the 
 image and ornament of that thought, may be so 
 ill chosen, as to make it appear in an unhandsome 
 dress, and rob it of its native lustre. There is 
 therefore a liberty to be allowed for the expression^ 
 neither is it necessary that words and lines should 
 be confined to the measure of their original. The 
 sense of an author, generally speaking, is to be 
 sacred and inviolable. If the fancy of Ovid be 
 luxuriant, it is his character to be so 3 and if I 
 retrench it, he is no longer Ovid. It will be 
 replied, that he receives advantage by this lopping 
 of his superfluous branches ; but I rejoin, that a 
 translator has no such right. When a painter 
 •copies from the life, I suppose he has no privilege 
 to alter features, and lineaments, under pretence 
 (that hw picture will look better: perhaps the face 
 b 3 
 
XVili INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which he has drawn would be more exact, if the 
 eyes or nose were altered; but it is his business 
 to make it resemble the original. In two cases 
 only there may a seeming difficulty arise, that is, 
 if the thought be notoriously trivial or dishonest; 
 but the same answer will serve for both, — that 
 then they ought not to be translated : 
 
 e t q UCe 
 
 Despei'es ti aetata ratescere posse y relinquas. 
 
 " Thus I have ventured to give my opinion on 
 this subject, against the authority of two great 
 men, but I hope without offence to either of their 
 memories -, for I both loved them living, and 
 reverence them now they are dead. But if after 
 what I have urged, it be thought by better judges 
 that the praise of a translation consists in adding 
 new beauties to the piece, thereby to recompense 
 the loss which it sustains by change of language, I 
 shall be willing to be taught better, and to recant. 
 In the meantime it seems to me, that the true 
 reason why we have so few versions which are 
 tolerable, is not from the too close pursuing of the 
 author's sense, but because there are so few who 
 have all the talents which are requisite for trans- 
 lation ; and that there is so little praise and so 
 small encouragement for so considerable a part 
 of learning." 
 
INTRODUCTION'. XIX 
 
 It will not, it is hoped, be deemed presumptuous 
 to make some observations upon the preceding 
 Preface of Dryden : and first with regard to the 
 banishment of Ovid. Every circumstance relat- 
 ing to distinguished genius is interesting, and 
 those in which poets are concerned, become in- 
 finitely more so, when they have given rise to any 
 thing of uncommon excellence in their writings. 
 Perhaps there is nothing in the writings of any 
 poet, more exquisite, than the elegy upon the 
 night of his banishment. The Tristia, vulgarly 
 regarded (from his own poetical apology) as in- 
 ferior to the rest of his works, are evidently the 
 produce of that calamity. In them are found the 
 a fleeting verses to his wife and his daughter, 
 (Ei. 3. Lib. 4. and El. 7. Lib. 3, 4,) and that 
 delightful account of his birth, his quality, his 
 education for the bar, his parents, his marriages ; 
 and his lisping, as Mr. Pope happily imitates it, 
 in numbers, that so captivates our boyhood, and 
 our youth, and does not cease to charm our old 
 age, and awaken every compassionate and ingenu- 
 ous sentiment, of which that cold period of life is 
 susceptible. 
 
 Dr. Sumner of Harrow, in such matters a very 
 high authority, was wont to say, that he would 
 rather have been the author of two elegies written 
 by Ovid, viz. that upon the night of his banish- 
 
%X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ment, and that upon the death ofTibullus, than 
 of any other of the compositions of the ancients. 
 
 Of the two supposed causes of his banishment, 
 one, it has been well observed, (the immodest ten- 
 dency of his verses,) was merely ostensible, the 
 other known to his contemporaries, cannot now 
 be discovered ; indeed he has himself told us, that 
 he would not reveal it; 
 
 " Causa mece cunctis nimium quoque nota raince 
 Non est indicio testificanda meo." 
 
 Masson has acutely remarked that it could not 
 have been the accidental privity to any concealed 
 impurities of Augustus ; for, in that case, Ovid 
 would not so often, however obscurely, have 
 glanced at it, If, as Mr. Dry den says, his verses 
 were sufficient to corrupt a larger empire, if 
 there were any larger, than that of Rome 5 even 
 the ostensible cause might be a plausible one for 
 his banishment, provided Rome were not already 
 corrupted, and he the first of her sons who had 
 published any thing injurious to her morals. But 
 the abandoned indulgence of every vice was at 
 that time so licensed at Rome, and apparently so 
 incorrigible, that it seems not only cruel and un- 
 just, but improbable, that the lasciviousness of his 
 poetry should have been the real cause of his mis- 
 fortune. As to any reasoning that may be drawn 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXi 
 
 from the vices of Augustas, or the indecency of 
 his own compositions; such considerations were 
 so far from being likely to incline a crafty tyrant to 
 mercy, that they would render him more relent- 
 less 5 especially when it is remembered that 
 hypocrisy was a striking feature in the character of 
 Augustus. The epigram of his, of which Dryden 
 speaks, may be seen in the commentators upon 
 his life in Suetonius. If Ovid merited banishment 
 from the emperor for his verses, which, however 
 licentious in thought are rarely indelicate in ex- 
 pression, how could those of Catullus be tolerated 
 in the days of Cato, and patronized by Cicero, a 
 person, surely not less virtuous than Augustus? 
 Yet in the epistle to his daughter (El. 7. 1. 3. 
 of theTristia just referred to) which, in any age or 
 time, would be regarded as a master-piece of ele- 
 gance and tenderness, he seems himself to have 
 thought that one real cause of his banishment 
 was the immorality of his verses, unless this was a 
 mere poetical flourish. — 
 
 Pone Perilla mrtutn, tantummcdo femino., tie sit 
 Devia, nee scriptis diseat amare tuis." — 
 
 Fear not, Perilla, to indulge the muse, 
 But let thy verse no virgin ear abuse, 
 No virtuous fair by thee be taught to stray, 
 Nor catch infectious passion from thy lay. 
 
 Many passages to the same purpose occur in the 
 
XX11 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Tristia, and indeed the whole first elegy of the 
 second book is a defence, not only of himself, but 
 of others who had written loose verses, although 
 they had escaped punishment, and even obtained 
 high rewards and reputation for their perform- 
 ances. The approbation bestowed upon the wri- 
 ters for the theatre, afford us no very high idea of 
 the delicacy of a Roman audience. The four fol- 
 lowing verses, from the same elegy, seem to com- 
 prehend all that can be conjectured of the causes 
 of the banishment of Ovid. — 
 
 " Perdiderint cum me duo crimina carmen tt error ; 
 
 Alterius facti culpa silenda mihu 
 'Nam non sum tanti, ut renovem tua vulnera, Ccesar; 
 
 Quern nimio plus est indoluisse semel" 
 
 Two sources my redoubled misery knows; 
 One was my verse ; and, wrapt in dread repose 
 For ever may the awful secret rest, 
 That wounded, Caesar, thy immortal breast! 
 Alas! one pang — that one I bade thee feel — 
 Ne'er shall the cause the babbling muse reveal. 
 
 In this anti-cavalier roundhead age, it is impos- 
 sible not to smile at the species of commendation 
 bestowed upon Ovid by Dryden. All his poems, 
 says he, appear to be written, as the French call 
 it, cavalier-emcnt ; it was the fashion of those days 
 to praise every thing for being cavalier ; and this 
 descended to the middle of the last century j so 
 that a man was not only said to walk, ride, bow, 
 
INTRODUCTION. XKUi 
 
 and dance , to speak in parliament, to plea d, and 
 to preach genteety ; but speeches, pleadings, and 
 even sermons, as well as poems, were said, when 
 the beaus of that time meant to extol them, to be 
 genteel. Perhaps it was this supposed gentility 
 that recommended the volume, to which the 
 preface here introduced and commented upon, is 
 prefixed, to the notice of the ladies and gentlemen 
 of that day, for it ran through eight editions 
 and Pope's Sappho to Phaon was in the last edition 
 only, published so late as 1712 3 and but two 
 of the epistles, the Canace to Macareus, and the 
 Dido to iEneas, which is here given, are by Dry- 
 den. With the Sappho to Phaon of Pope, the 
 present translator has, he hopes innocently, en- 
 riched his little volume : There will at least be 
 one good thing in it. 
 
 Mr. Dryden speaks also with singular compla- 
 cency not only of the friendship cultivated by 
 Ovid with the great poets of the age, but of his 
 acquaintance with the nobles, and the ladies of 
 the court of Augustus. Indeed this has been the 
 good fortune of most of our great poets, the great-, 
 est excepted. Chaucer, Spencer, Milton, Dryden, 
 Pope, Swift, Prior, Rowe, Addison, Gay, Gray, 
 and Mason, as well as Horace, kept what, in the 
 modern phrase, (as well as in the antient one of 
 Optimates and A^a-ra) is called good company, 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 although some of them were not so proud of it as 
 Horace. Such men, as Surry, Raleigh, Rochester, 
 Roscommon, Buckingham, and Waller, were 
 themselves poets, and certainly of no mean attain- 
 ments. In the imitation of nature, Dryden thinks 
 Ovid incomparable ; as he certainly must be con- 
 sidered did no other proof of it exist than the 
 volume before us. The Penelope to Ulysses, the 
 Medea to Jason, the Laodamia to Protesilaus, and 
 the Sappho to Phaon are strong proofs of it ; but 
 he had other excellencies not ncticed by Dryden. 
 No poet was ever, Homer excepted, more senten- 
 tious than Ovid ; however in choice of expression, 
 in modulation of numbers, in design and execu- 
 tion, inferior. In variety of moral sentiments, he 
 is more Homeric than Virgil, more fertile than 
 Horace. No poet, not even these great men, 
 excelled him in that art, for which our own 
 Dryden and Prior were also famous, — the art o. 
 narration ; so brilliantly exhibited in the whole 
 tissue of the Metamorphoses j and the Fasti, 
 perhaps the most correct of his performances, 
 abound with interspersed narrative. One admir- 
 able specimen is here presented from the de arte 
 amandi, in a new translation -, not because it pre- 
 tends to be better, but because it is more faithful 
 than that of Dryden. 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 . XXT 
 
 THE RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN. 
 
 As busy ants, that bear the hoarded grain, 
 
 In countless troops, along the sandy plain; 
 
 As bees through fragrant meads, in summer's prime. 
 
 Skim lightly o'er the flowers and yielding thyme ; 
 
 So when, to grace the hero's funeral rite, 
 
 Or pomp triumphal, theatres invite, 
 
 Thither the highly decorated fair, 
 
 Eager to see, and to be seen, repair; 
 
 Infatuate, love the fatal regions most, 
 
 That the rich spoil of virgin honor boast ; 
 
 And all on pleasure and themselves intent, 
 Are often conquer'd when on conquest bent. 
 
 Oft, while the fluttering throng their charms display'd, 
 Distracting beauty has my choice delay'd. 
 Since first, O Romulus, the Sabine dames 
 Your hardy soldiers seiz'd, at crowded games, 
 Each crowded spectacle, the fair by you 
 Were taught, with soft solicitude, to view. 
 No marble theatres had then been rais'd, 
 Nor on the curtain'd stage the people gaz'd ; 
 The neighbouring wood supplied its leafy shade; 
 Suspended boughs the simple scenery made; 
 On seats of turf the multitude were plac'd, 
 A branch from any tree their temples grae'd, 
 While to the Tuscan pipes unmellow'd sound, 
 The clumsy dancer shook the levell'd ground, 
 And all were busied in applause ; applause 
 Was simple then, and follow'd nature's laws. 
 Around their amorous eyes the warriors throw, 
 Mark each his bride, and for the signal glow ; 
 The promis'd signal soon the king display'd, 
 And shouts the intended violence betray 'd ; 
 c 
 
XXVI INTRODUCTION* 
 
 Sudden they rise, and in the wild dismay, 
 
 The brutal spoiler seiz'd his destin'd prey. 
 
 As trembling doves the eagle's grasping claws, 
 
 As tender lambs the wolf's devouring iaws, 
 
 Thus did they dread the ruffian's rude embrace;, 
 
 Lifeless and pale, was every virgin face ; 
 
 Senseless one sits, another tears her hair, 
 
 And fear in all its various forms was there ; 
 
 Silent with grief is one unhappy maid ; 
 
 And one in vain implores a mother's aid; 
 
 Others with frantic shrieks aloud complain, 
 
 These strive to fly, astonish'd those remain. 
 
 On to the genial couch the victors led, 
 
 New charms o r er ravish'd beauty blushes spread; 
 
 Where bloomM no beauty, to the tearful face 
 
 Reluctant modesty imparts a grace. 
 
 Did one too stubbornly resist her fate, 
 
 Clasp'd to the glowing bosom of her mate, 
 
 In these, or words like these, he sooth'd her fears, 
 
 " Ah, why those lovely eyes deform with tears ? 
 
 " Think what your father to your mother prov'd ; 
 
 " And learn from them to love, and to belov'd." 
 
 No monarch better crown'd the soldier's toils, 
 
 Than thou, O Romulus, with beauty's spoils. 
 
 Slave as I am to indolence and ease, 
 
 I'd be a soldier for rewards like these. 
 
 Hence the proud games that now the fair detain, 
 
 And snares for beauty theatres remain." 
 
 Of the alloy, (according to Dryden) of the 
 writings of Ovid ; the profusion of his wit, the 
 exuberance of his fancy, and the intemperate indul- 
 gence of it ; we may observe, that where there is 
 no excess in such things, there is often a scarcity 5 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV 
 
 notwithstanding some great exceptions, as Virgil, 
 Horace and Pope. But Dryden objects with an 
 ill grace to that, which is so frequently found in his 
 own poetry ; and he adds, with a sort of con- 
 scious generosity, that the most severe censor 
 cannot but be pleased with the prodigality of the 
 wit of Ovid, though at the same time he might 
 have wished that he had been more sparing of it. 
 Ovid however, any more than Dryden, cannot be 
 vindicated upon this ground, but they may both 
 be commended for other merits, which raise 
 them to a very high rank among poets. They 
 much resemble each other, and although Dryden, 
 in one of his prefaces, flatters himself that he has 
 caught the manner of Virgil, he is in general 
 more like to Ovid -, indeed almost all our great 
 writers of rhyme in some degree follow him. 
 There is a certain turn and spirit, as well as flow, 
 in his hexameter and pentameter, which seem to 
 be transmitted into our English couplet : the 
 epigrammatic force of Pope, and the luxuriance 
 of Dryden, are very Ovidian ; and the gallantry 
 and softness of Waller partake of the same origin. 
 Milton certainly admired Ovid, and plainly imi- 
 tated him in his own Latin poetry. Johnson has 
 snid that Pope introduced Ovidian beauties into his 
 Homer. Dryden, though desirous of praising 
 Ovid, takes no notice of the neatness of his 
 c 2 
 
XXV1H INTRODUCTION. 
 
 accidental satire: a striking instance of which 
 presents itself in these lines in the Art of Love : 
 
 Sunt tamen et doctce rarissima turba, puellce ; 
 Sunt (tuoque non doctce, sed tamen esse volunt" 
 
 Some learned maids there are, but few, I deem j 
 Others Rot learned, who would learned seem. 
 
 Again of Helen : 
 
 Quidfaciat ¥ vir abest, et adest non rusticns hospes, 
 Et timet in vacuo sola cubare toro. 
 
 What should she do ? her own dear lord is gone ; 
 She with a gallant stranger left alone, 
 Besides, a female heart it fills with dread, 
 To shiver in a solitary bed I" 
 
 When the flights of his fancy, unchecked by the 
 dictates of his cooler judgment, are mentioned, the 
 pretty story, which Senecahas related of him, should 
 be cited: it is as follows : (Senec. Controv. L. 2: 
 p. S6.) " He (Ovid) was not unconscious, but 
 enamoured, of his poetical faults ; for a request being 
 made to him by three of his friends that he would 
 blot three certain verses which they should point 
 out, he readily consented; provided they would 
 How him to retain an equal number, notwith- 
 standing their objections. This was thought fair. 
 They wrote down those that they wished to 
 expunge : he those which he was disposed to pre- 
 serve. The several papers were opened, and the 
 same passages found in both. The first, (as Al- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXIX 
 
 binovanus Pedius, one of the arbitrators, used to 
 say,) was 
 
 Semibovemque virum, semivirumque hovem. — 
 The second : 
 
 " Egelidum Borea?i, egelidumque Notum." 
 
 Whence it clearly appears that this distinguished 
 poet, confessedly of the most exalted genius, did 
 not want judgment, but inclination, to restrain the 
 extravagance that appeared in his verses. Perhaps 
 he might have thought that they were more popu- 
 lar with their faults, which he would not therefore 
 consent to correct : and there have been times, 
 not very remote from our own, in which they 
 have been admired and imitated. It may be 
 questioned if Milton, with all his learning and 
 judgment, would have consented to the expunging 
 from his immortal poems those passages in which 
 Pope has well said that 
 
 " God the father turns a school divine ; 
 
 or even acknowledged them (as Ovid did those to 
 which his friends objected) to be blemishes j for, 
 in their defence, he said only, that a face was more 
 becoming for having a mole, or something irregu- 
 lar in it. 
 
 Thus Horace, 
 
 Fqrrgio invtnies inspersos corporencevos,-- 
 C3 
 
XXX INTRODUCTTOX. 
 
 Muretus, non sordidus auctor, no mean au- 
 thority, (of whom Heinsius says, that no one 
 since the restoration of letters wrote with less 
 affectation or more elegance,) so admired Ovid, 
 that he considered one who detracted from him 
 as a prodigy, and a fit subject for lustration. It is 
 superfluous to repeat the praises of Muretus, of 
 Julius, and Joseph Scaliger, cited by Heinsius. 
 Daniel Heinsius says, " Omnes Ovidius trancen- 
 dit ;' and he does indeed excel all other poets in 
 those things for which that learned person has 
 praised him ; whose praises are as delicate in their 
 expression as the subjects of them. They appear 
 in the preface to Heinsius' s Ovid. 
 
 For the general commendation of our poet, the 
 reader may be referred to Dry den, who had, no 
 doubt, explored every source of it — but it may be 
 fairly observed, that his translators have reason 
 '■ to blush at their own nakedness, rather than that 
 of their father," as Dryden calls himj and seldom 
 more, than when they endeavour to cover him, as 
 is generally done, with some tawdry trapping. 
 But while Dryden extols Ovid, as the Scaligers 
 and the Heinsii have done, there appears to be 
 no ground for the censure cast by him upon 
 Tibullus and Propertius ; whose common practice 
 he asserts it was, <c to look no farther than the 
 line before them, to ramble from one subject to 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 another, and to conclude with something, which 
 is not of a piece with the beginning. In them 
 the purpureus late qui splendeat unus et alter assui-* 
 tur pannus — though the verses are golden, they 
 are but patched into the garment; but our poet 
 has always the goal in his eye, which directs him 
 in his -race." This however is not the ground 
 upon w 7 hich his asserted superiority ought to be 
 placed; it should be argued from the deeper know- 
 ledge displayed by him, the more extended field 
 that he has laid open of human nature, and the 
 greater variety with which he has described 
 the working of human passions. He wrote 
 poems; from Tibullus aud Propertius we have 
 only elegies, and epistles: but that Ovid, any 
 more than those two poets, had always, as Dryden 
 says, u a goal in his eye, which he first establish- 
 ed, and then contrived the means of attaining," 
 does not perhaps always appear. It is true the 
 whole book of epistles form a design ; but every 
 single epistle might be composed as loosely, after 
 the general idea was formed (and without a 
 general Idea no composition was perhaps ever 
 begun) as any of the single elegies of Tibullus 
 or Propertius. The Metamorphoses indeed, the 
 Fasti, and The Art of Love, must necessarily have 
 had a detailed plan; but one, as systematic as i& 
 required to the conduct of a tragedy or an epic 
 
XXXU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 poem, would not perhaps add to the beauty of 
 detached poetry 3 for much of it seems to arise 
 from the effort of momentary impulse and passion, 
 which might be lost in more exact regularity of 
 arrangement. 
 
 TheArethusa to Lycotas of Propertius, Dryden 
 thinks " written so near the style of Ovid, that 
 it seems to be but an imitation of him, and there- 
 fore (says he) ought not to defraud our author of 
 any part of the glory of his invention." Here 
 indeed Ovid and Propertius might seem fairly to 
 contend, did the subjects of this epistle in any 
 degree resemble those of that poet. But the 
 epistles of Ovid are all drawn from fable; the scene 
 of that of Propertius, whether fictitious or not, is 
 laid in real life j it is supposed to be written to 
 a Roman soldier by his wife, who no more resem- 
 bles the heroines of Ovid, than the Asteria of 
 Horace does the Hypermnestra or Europa of that 
 poet. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, these authorities in 
 favor of Ovid, there are those by whom Tibullus 
 is greatly preferred to him ; and this preference 
 is usually justified from Quintilian. " Tibullus, 
 (says that great critic) is in my opinion the most 
 terse and elegant writer of the Greek elegy. M 
 But because one poet is more correct, or polished, 
 or elegant than another, and that in one species of 
 
introduction. xxxiii 
 
 composition only, does it follow that he is in all 
 respects, or in general, superior to him ? — May 
 not Mason be said to be more terse than Dryden ? 
 is he therefore a greater poet ? The Caractacus 
 and Elfrida are more terse than Samson Agonistes ; 
 do they therefore excel that sublime and affecting 
 poem? Quintilian allows Horace to be more 
 terse than Lucilius, but disapproves the censure 
 cast by him on his predecessor, and seems rather 
 inclined to admit the distinguished excellence of 
 both these great men, than to decide in favor of 
 either j as the admirers of Lucilius had pronounced 
 that poet to be superior to all others. We may 
 observe also that Quintilian often cited Ovid, and 
 but once with disapprobation, and that he has but 
 once mentioned Tibullus, though indeed it is to 
 commend him : nor does he cite him, as he fre- 
 quently does Ovid, to exemplify the powers of 
 eloquence, as Seneca has done to illustrate the 
 subjects of morals and of natural philosophy ; who 
 has distinguished him, even in the midst of objec- 
 tions to his failings as the most ingenious of poets, 
 (poetarum ingeniosissimus,) by which he seems 
 to have meant, the most fertile and inventive, not, 
 as the word is sometimes used, the most witty of 
 poets. 
 
 The discussion of the merits of great poets is 
 often ingenious, amusing, and instructive j the 
 
XxxiV. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 decision upon them commonly absurd. Why are 
 we not permitted separately to admire the softness 
 and elegance of Tibullus, and the fertility of Ovid, 
 the sweetness of his numbers, the variety and apt- 
 ness of his expressions, which speak with such 
 delicate distinction to the understanding, with 
 such irresistible tenderness to the heart ? But the 
 bitterest enemy of Ovid seems to be the Jesuit 
 Strada in his prolusions ; one of which furnishes 
 three very pretty papers in the Guardian ; where it 
 seems to be decided, ( ' that Ovid highly deserved 
 the name of a witty man, but that his language 
 was vulgar and trivial, and of the nature of those 
 things which cost no labor in the invention, but 
 are ready found out to a man's hand." The 
 retailer of Strada s censure was not aware that 
 such an objection would one day be brought 
 against the Spectator, Tatler, and Guardian him- 
 self 5 that a time would come, when to write 
 naturally would be thought to write meanly; 
 when too it would be held, that there is no art 
 where no labour appears ; that the efforts of an 
 author should on all occasions be manifested ; 
 
 " Double, double, toil and trouble : — " 
 
 If this remark of Strada upon the expression of 
 Ovid, be a just one, the objection is weighty 5 for 
 it is certainly very justly said byDryden in his pre- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXV 
 
 face to Virgil, that we ought upon no account to 
 use low or familiar language in serious verse, but 
 it is a rule against which, as has been before 
 observed, no man has more frequently offended 
 than Dryden, although no one more excels in 
 high-wrought and forcible expression. Of that 
 of the antients perhaps it may be humbly con- 
 tended, (whatever we may fancy to be, our 
 proficiency in their languages) that we are not 
 always competent; judges : and this may be in 
 some degree at least, conceived, from the idea of 
 lowness and familiarity which the French often 
 attach to some phrases of Shakspeare, with which 
 no Englishman, not bred in a foreign school, or 
 not tainted with foreign prejudices, was ever 
 offended. Neither Quintilian, nor Seneca, has 
 censured the style of Ovid as low or familiar. But 
 grant that those who have condemned it, are 
 properly qualified to decide upon this matter, 
 yet it must be allowed, that Ovid's subjects are 
 often taken from ordinary life, and common 
 words must of necessity be frequently employed in 
 the management of such subjects. It is remark- 
 able however that Daniel Heinsius has commend- 
 ed him for this very thing — for having displayed 
 such extraordinary powers in the language of 
 ordinary discourse; idque verbis et orationc vul- 
 
XXXVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gari' 7 Lord Roscommon's authority is perhaps 
 equal to Strada's, and he thus characterises Ovid : 
 
 * Familiar Ovid, tender thoughts inspires, 
 And nature seconds all his soft desires/* 
 
 But where exalted passion, or beautiful descrip- 
 tion is introduced, Ovid certainly wants neither 
 dignity nor elegance in treating them. With regard 
 to his Heroic epistles (for so we may call them, ot 
 which we would now speak, byway of distinction 
 from his other epistles,) they are clearly dramatic, 
 and would lose a great deal of their beauty, if lofty 
 language only were employed. A consideration, 
 which, it is hoped, w r ill also supply an excuse for 
 that used by the translator, if it sink not into 
 meanness or vulgarity. If our own language 
 is enriched, our poetry is not improved in force, 
 in pathos, or real elegance, by modern refinement, 
 —unless to Dry den and Pope, we prefer Darwin 
 and his imitators 5 who have extended the power 
 of expression far beyond its just boundaries, and 
 used combinations, and invented words, which 
 neither can be justified by analogy, nor softened 
 by use ; and which frequently offend against the 
 principles of grammar, and sound sense. A Neology 
 has in consequence arisen, which in the latter end 
 of the preceding, and the middle of the last cen- 
 tury, the age of Pope and Swift, would hardly 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXVll 
 
 Ii3ve been understood ; and which, if then pro- 
 duced, would probably have provoked no small 
 portion of ridicule from the latter of those two 
 great men. It cannot however be denied, (if we 
 are really judges of the style of the ancients,) 
 that Ovid's was inferior to that of Virgil and 
 Horace, as Churchill's expression fell below the 
 standard of Pope. In the elegant praise bestowed 
 upon our author by Daniel Heinsius above cited, 
 an instance is produced of his great rapidity of 
 thought and expression. — 
 
 Nox super est; tollamur equis, urbemque pttamus. 
 
 Dicta placent, framis impediuntur equi : 
 Pertulerant dominos, regalia protinus ipsi 
 
 Tecta petunty custos in fore nullus erat. 
 
 The night remains: — to horse:-— let Rome be sought. 
 His words approv'd, the bridled steeds are brought* 
 Receiv'd their masters, to the palace strait 
 They rush— no guard was station'd at the gate. 
 
 And again, 
 
 Sic sedit, sic cultafuit ; sic stamina nevit ; 
 
 Injects collo sic jacuere coma? : 
 I Jos haluit vultnsy fiwc illi verbafuere, 
 
 Hie color , hose fades ; hie nitor oris erat. 
 
 So did she sit; thus drest; so wound the thread: 
 Unbound, her tresses on her neck were spread. 
 Such were her looks; and such her words were heard. 
 And. thus her beauty, thus her bloom appeared, 
 
 d 
 
XXXVlli INTRODUCTION. 
 
 No horse, says Heinsius, hardly can human ima- 
 gination keep pace with such rapidity. It muss 
 be owned that the speed of the horse, (unless it 
 be the winged horse Pegasus) is but a tame illus- 
 tration of that of the poet; which should be — 
 
 Ocyor cervis, et agente nimbos, 
 
 Ocyor Euro. 
 
 Fleeter than Does that on the mountains leap, 
 Or Eurus flying o'er the stormy deep. 
 
 The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 
 Doth glance from heav'n to earth, from earth to heaven 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 Ovid abounds in pictures : but there is a strik- 
 ing one in the Fasti — which perhaps could not 
 be given, in an equal number of words, in any 
 other language : 
 
 (( Pauper, sed mundes sedulitatis y anus.' f 
 Though poor and old, a neat industrious dame. 
 
 The subject has been taken by great painters ; 
 but comprehends so much — the dress, the dwel- 
 ling, mind, manners, and habits, — that no pencil 
 can fully portray it. — Munda sedulitas is an expres- 
 sion of equal neatness, and equally untranslatable, 
 with the simplex munditiis of Horace. 
 
 Dry den objects strongly to the title of Heroides 
 being given to these epistles of Ovid, evidently to 
 distinguish them from his other epistles, because 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXtX 
 
 he says, that Ovid could never be guilty of such 
 an oversight as to call these the epistles of hero- 
 ines, when there are divers men, as Paris, Leander, 
 and Acontius, joined with them : But the trans- 
 lator doubts if any of those epistles be really from 
 the pen of Ovid, who has no where mentioned 
 them as making part of his works 5 neither in the 
 Art of Love, nor in his Epistle to Macer : to 
 whom he seems to attribute the Paris to Helen, 
 and the Helen to Paris ; in the notes upon which 
 some reasons are given for thinking the former, 
 at least, not his own. Mr. Dryden has not 
 pointed out in what respect Ovid has romanized 
 bis Grecian dames, although he has objected this 
 to him. It is evident that in whatever he has 
 taken from Homer or the Greek tragedians, he 
 has faithfully given all that was to be found to his 
 purpose in those great authorities. Neither is it 
 true u that most of the thoughts come back upon 
 us in divers letters;" yet it must be admitted, 
 that repetitions, both of thoughts and facts, are 
 sometimes found in the same epistle, as in the 
 Deianira to Hercules, and the Medea to Jason, 
 and other:»; but, what is the most difficult to be 
 performed, the characters of the heroines are 
 distinct from each other. They do not resemble 
 a certain picture of a great political event, in 
 which the noses of all the persons represented are 
 d2 
 
Xl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the same fashion, and that borrowed from 
 the hero of the piece: for what resemblance is 
 there in the Deianira and Medea, Hypsipyle and 
 Ariadne, Phyllis and Dido, Canace and Phaedra, 
 Sappho and CEnone, Laodamia and Penelope, 
 Briseis and Hermione? The female characters of 
 Shakspeare himself, the most excellent, rather 
 than, as has been absurdly said, the weakest part 
 of his works, are not better marked or more faith- 
 fully preserved, than those in the epistles of Ovid. 
 Bryden's account of the three different modes 
 of translation next demands our particular atten- 
 tion. " But of metaphrase, or literal translation, 
 it is presumed to speak more largely 5 and especi- 
 ally as the present versions may by some be 
 deemed too literal. Concerning this, says he, 
 eur master Horace has given us this caution : 
 
 Nee verbum verbo curabis redder e Jidus 
 
 Interpret" 
 
 Nor word for word too faithfully translate : 
 
 as the Earl of Roscommon has excellently render- 
 ed it. But. notwithstanding the frequent, and tri- 
 umphant citation of this line and a word, which 
 have been affixed to almost every loose transla- 
 tion ever published, and which seem to be con- 
 sidered as a justification for any deviation, how- 
 ever licentious, from original authors, it is indis- 
 putable that Horace was not here giving directions 
 
INTRODUCTION. XU 
 
 lo translators, but to dramatic writers, to whom 
 he recommended taking subjects from the Iliad : 
 and in so doing, says he, you will follow a wiser 
 course than by venturing to form an entirely new 
 fable ; and what is open to all, will thus become 
 exclusively your own, if you manage it with 
 dignity, nor labour, like a faithful interpreter , to 
 give word for word, — nor place yourself in a 
 situation, from which the reverence for your origi- 
 nal, (for so it is conceived, that pudor in this 
 place, may be, and ought to be understood,) and the 
 rule you have prescribed to yourself, forbid you 
 to advance a step. Take the whole passage from 
 Horace, and his admirable translator Coleman : — 
 
 Difficile est proprie communia dicere, tuque 
 
 RectiiLs Iliacum carmen deducts hi actus, 
 
 Quum si proferres ignota iiidietaque primus, 
 
 Puhlica materies privati juris erit, si 
 
 Nee circa vilem patulumque moraberis orlem, 
 
 Nee verhum verbo ciirabis reddere fidus 
 
 Interpres, nee desilies imitator in dictum, 
 
 Unde pedeni prof err e pudor vetat atque nptrk fax" 
 
 Yet hard the task to touch on untried fac ts ,- 
 Safer the Iliad to reduce to arts, 
 Than be the first new regions to explore, 
 And dwell on themes unknown, untold before. 
 Quit but the vulgar broad and beaten round. 
 The public field becomes your private ground : 
 Nor ivord for word too faiihfuUy translate, 
 Nor leap at once into a narrow strait ; 
 d 3 
 
Xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A copyist so close, that rule and line 
 
 Curb your free march, and all your steps confine. 
 
 It appears that this great and elegant poet intended 
 rather to commend, than to reprobate, the faith- 
 ful translator : had it been his design to ridicule 
 his labors, he would hardly have applied to him 
 the word jichis when serxus was ready for his 
 purpose, which he has used with so much grace 
 and force in another place : 
 
 *' Imitatores servum pecus /*' 
 
 The translator is happy to find on his side 
 Bentley, who has censured Jerom for applying the 
 admonition, as Dryden and others without num- 
 ber have done, to transkitors :— if it contain in 
 general good advice, the authority of Horace 
 should not be pressed into the service to give 
 force to it as if it were a positive and particular 
 direction from his pen 5 for here certainly he was 
 speaking of the drama.— Terence we know, for 
 he himself has told us, translated literally from 
 Menander for the stage 5 verbum de verbo extulit 
 —and at him Horace might glance, and praise his 
 fidelity, although he did not recommend his exam- 
 ple. Ben Jonson seems to be the only person 
 who has, in our language, offended against this 
 riile of Horace. In his Catiline, he has literally 
 rendered the first Catilinarian oration from Cicero. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xllil 
 
 tmd the speech of Catiline from Sallust $ which 
 is the more reprehensible because the origi- 
 nals are prose. Nothing can be more stiff and 
 ungraceful than the Quis multa gracilis, &c. 
 of Milton : and the attempts of Ben Jonson in 
 the Art of Poetry, and of Holyday to trans- 
 late Juvenal in an equal number of lines, were 
 as absurd as Dryden has represented them to be, 
 here, and in his preface to the version that he 
 published (would it had been all his own !) of 
 Juvenal ; yet Pope himself condescended to num- 
 ber his lines, and wished it not to escape his 
 readers that his 17th book of the Iliad contained 
 only 65 verses more than the original. But if 
 the sense, the whole sense, and nothing but the 
 sense of an author can be given in translation, 
 with spirit, ease, and perspicuity, and without 
 violence to the language, into which he is tran- 
 slated, the greater the resemblance is, even in 
 words, to the original, surely the better 3 at least 
 such closeness cannot be justly censured. Tran- 
 slators themselves find, that, in many instances, 
 they succeed by a nearer approach to their au- 
 thors, where a wider deviation from them has 
 failed ; yet they frequently reject a rendering 
 that occurs merely because it appears literal, 
 though, in fact, sometimes preferable, for elegance, 
 as well as fidelity, to the laboured paraphrase 
 
XilV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which they adopt. But whatever faults may be 
 imputed, and justly, to literal translation, the 
 most ample proof nvght be produced, that the 
 widest paraphrases are often as deficient in ease 
 and spirit, as the most servile renderings of those, 
 who would most pertinaciously adhere to the 
 words, syllables, and even letters, (were that 
 possible) of their originals \ and that to be at 
 once stiff, and dull, it is not necessary to be 
 literal or faithful, or even to understand the 
 language from which the version is made. Lord 
 Roscommon, in his preface to his translation of 
 the epistle to the Pisos, applies the rule of 
 Horace to translators, happily rendered, 
 
 * Nor word for word too faithfully translate;' 
 
 ^nd says, in a short preface, certainly not con- 
 sidering the context, (any more than Dry den) 
 that Horace has declared himself an enemy to 
 literal translation j but he also says that he has 
 kept as close as he could to the words of Horace; 
 and there cannot be a better authority, unless 
 it be that of Mr. Pope. " It is certain, says 
 that great man in his preface to Homer, that no 
 literal translation can be just to an excellent 
 original in a superior language ; but it is a great 
 mistake to imagine, as many have done, that a 
 rash paraphrase can make amends for this general 
 
INTRODUCTION, xlv 
 
 defect. If there be sometimes a darkness, there is 
 often a light in antiquity, which nothing better 
 preserves, than a version almost literal. The 
 beautiful lines of Sir John Denham to Mr. Fan- 
 shaw prove nothing against fidelity in translation, 
 by which, the " flame of an author is more 
 likely to be preserved than by a licentious para- 
 phrase." It is almost impossible, says Mr. Dry- 
 den, to translate well and verbally : Very often 
 perhaps it is so, but often also, beauties are lost 
 by despising a verbal transmission of them. The 
 conceit couched in the line which Dryden has quot- 
 ed as untranslatable into English, from the Dido 
 to iEneas, might not be worth preserving, but if 
 it were, surely it was not " out of the reach of 
 any poet in the language to strike wit or sense 
 out of it " Let this be tried: 
 
 Certus es ire tamen, miseramque relinquere Dido, 
 Atque idem venti vela Jidemqrae ferenU 
 
 From wretched Dido shall the self-same gales, 
 Waft thy false fleeting vows, that fill thy sails. 
 
 There appears to be no more difficulty in render- 
 ing tlrese than the two following lines: 
 
 Certus es, JEnca, cumfcedere solvere naves, 
 Quwque ubi sint nescis, Itala regno, sequi, 
 
 thus given by Mr. Dryden: 
 
 While you with loosen* d vows and sails prepare 
 To seek a land that flies the searcher's care. 
 
xlvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 If the conceit was not worthy to be preserved in 
 the former instance, it was equally undeserving 
 of labor in the latter: nor is there a greater 
 clashing of sails, winds, and faith, in the second 
 line of the first, than of ships, and anchors, and 
 contracts, in the first of the second couplet. After 
 all, there is nothing more forced in it, than the 
 common poetic idea of perjur'd vows being dis- 
 sipated by the winds, exhibited with the play of 
 words so common in Ovid, which his translator 
 must sometimes indulge, or he cannot do him 
 justice. The double application of the word fero 
 to different objects, is found also in Horace : 
 
 " Ut tufortunam, sic nos te Celseferemus" 
 
 Nor did the ancients reject many of those turns 
 of expression, which we so fastidiously condemn. 
 Horace was not bound to translate Homer faith- 
 fully, because it was to his purpose to cite the 
 modest opening of the Odyssey ; otherwise it 
 surely was not difficult to introduce the longu 
 errorihus actus; nor was there any apparent neces- 
 sity for contracting the three lines into two -, — 
 not however the sufferings, (as Dryden says,) 
 (which are not mentioned in the three first lines 
 of the Odyssey : ) but the wa?iderings of Ulysses are 
 there omitted, which Horace might think includ- 
 ed in the mores kominum multorum xid'tf, ct urkcs; 
 
INTRODUCTION". \l\l\ 
 
 who saw the cities and customs of many people. 
 Pope also, probably following Dry den, has accused 
 Horace of omitting the sufferings of Ulysses, in 
 not having translated the same words, — 'o§ wu,Xc& 
 w&hK. n>itt.yxfiyi. In another place (the epistle to 
 Lollius) Pope observes that he has plainly had 
 regard to these circumstances : 
 
 Qui domitor Trojce multorum providus urles 
 Et mores hominum inspexit, latumque per oequor, 
 Dum sihi, dum sociis reditum parat, aspera multa 
 Pertulit. 
 
 Of many cities (Troy's proud realms subdued,) 
 The men and manners who exploring view'd ; 
 And brav'd the perils of the boundless main, 
 With steady course his native land to gain ; 
 To theirs his lost companions to restore, 
 Vainly he toil'd ; for many toils he bore. 
 
 Indeed it seems probable, that both Dryden and 
 Pope, misled by the similarity of sound in the 
 Latin and Greek words mala, (though of import so 
 widely different,) and by the expression, certainly, 
 not the intended translation of Horace, (aspera 
 multa pertulit J totally misapprehended the passage, 
 and therefore render it, Mala multa perpessus est, in- 
 stead of the plain and just version of the La tin trans- 
 lators — qui valde et multurn erravit. But neither 
 Pope nor Dryden seem sufficiently to have reflected, 
 that Horace was not translating but citing Homer 
 
Xlviii IXTllODUCTIOtf. 
 
 for a particular purpose, which was sufficiently 
 answered by the two lines as they stand, that are 
 the subjects of their criticism. If the absurd 
 endeavours of Ben Jonson and Holy day to render 
 Horace and Juvenal in English verses exactly the 
 same in number as those of the Latin originals 
 was like " dancing upon ropes with fettered 
 legs," a loose paraphrase of a fine ancient author 
 may, with the same justice, becompa r ed to singing 
 a beautiful ballad without enouncing the words $ 
 a practice equally disgusting to those who can 
 feel language and sentiment as well as music, 
 and so enchantingly contrasted by the melodious 
 tones and distinct articulation of Mrs. Jordan. 
 There is an instance, not a solitary one, of the effect 
 of loose translation in Pope's first book of Homer 5 
 where the speeches of Agamemnon and Achilles, &c. 
 are perhaps the most exquisite specimens of tran- 
 slation in our own, or any other language. 
 Homer says, that Nestor uvoparz, sprang up, 
 old and infirm as he was, to compose the strife 
 between the contending princes, as Horace has 
 well represented it- 
 
 -Componere lites 
 
 Inter Peliden festinat et inter Atriden. 
 Mr. Pope's version is— 4 ' Uprising slew the Pyliaa 
 sage :" a rendering particularly faulty, as Nestor 
 
INTRODUCTION. xliX 
 
 h described exerting vigor, and even celerity, upon 
 more -than one occasion less interesting than the 
 present, and requiring greater agility ; his infirmity 
 appears rather in his garrulity than want of 
 force. But in the 24th book, the aged and 
 wretched Priam is described as swiftly springing 
 into his car, when he set off upon his melancholy 
 ▼ isit to Achilles ; (nrsp%of/,ivo$ £"o ytpav far* iz-sfi/iciro 
 &<ppv 5 where the haste and anxiety of Priam is in- 
 deed expressed, but nothing like agility. His haste 
 was the haste of an old man, impelled perhaps 
 by the fear of being retarded by any farther 
 remonstrances; in this Mr. Pope hardly did Ho- 
 mer justice; for had he himself been writing an 
 original poem he would not so have described 
 Priam in the same circumstances. 
 
 The rest of Mr. Dryden's Preface to the Heroic 
 Epistles of Ovid, upon which the translator has 
 presumed to comment, deserves the attention of 
 those who read, or endeavour to produce, transla- 
 tions ; but the latter must acknowledge, with a 
 sigh, the justice of that observation of his, that 
 the true reason why we have so few versions 
 which are tolerable, is, not the too close pursuing 
 the author's sense, but because there are so few 
 that have talents requisite for translation, or, he 
 might have added, wiil submit to the labour 
 necessary to that undertaking — a truth that might 
 
1 IK'tKODUCTION. 
 
 have been well argued from his own edition of the 
 heroic epistles of Ovid by various hands, the pre- 
 face to which he closes with so handsome, but ill- 
 merited, a compliment to those who contributed 
 to it j amongst whom were men certainly not 
 deficient in ability, for Sheffield and Otv/ay were 
 of their number. But Cowley, Waller, Den^ 
 ham, Milton, and Ben Jonson, had been transla- 
 tors, and they were succeeded by Dryden, Pope, 
 Addison, and Congreve. Mr. Pope's Sappho to 
 Phaon was not in the early editions of the tran- 
 slated epistles, perhaps only in the last ; yet they 
 rv ran through eight: so that the complaint, that but 
 ^ ^ little encouragement was given to so considerable 
 ^r a part of learning, was unjust. From the Specta- 
 ^ * tor also, who has spoken of them, at least with- 
 out censure, we find that they were generally 
 read 5 and Will Honeycomb, who talks of Ovid, 
 is accused of knowing him only from their repre- 
 sentation. When Dryden speaks of imitation, 
 he does not include that sort of imitation, employ- 
 ed, if not invented, by Pope, in reproducing the 
 satires and epistles of Horace 5 where the Satire 
 and painting of the originals are so marvellously 
 preserved and applied to modern times and charac- 
 ters ; in which he was followed with so great ability 
 by Johnson in the London, and Vanity of Human 
 Wishes, from Juvenal j yet Johnson has himself 
 
INTRODUCTION". H 
 
 depredated this species of composition, in his 
 Life of Pope. Mr. West certainly made Pindar 
 speak with grace and harmony in a translation ; 
 but we must not pass unnoticed the fine expres- 
 sion of Dryden, (that happy boldness, in which 
 he excels both in verse and prose,) s that the 
 Theban bard cannot bear a chain, and Samson- 
 like, he throws it off.' 
 
 Equally indignant might any great poet feel at 
 the attempt of a puny translator to tower above^ 
 the head of his author, when probably he is 
 unable to reach his shoulders : an idea only fit 
 for the vanity of a Frenchman to encourage. A 
 translator, for acknowledged reasons, must gene- 
 rally be inferior to his original, though he may 
 now and then have the happiness to excel him > 
 nor is he less likely to do so in faithful version, 
 than a loose paraphrase ; and although Dr. John- 
 son has said that he should not be perpetually 
 struggling with his author, there seems to be no 
 good reason for the prohibition : it is his duty 
 to exert all his powers in the contest, however 
 unsuccessful they may prove. 
 
 The letters that passed between Swift and the 
 Abbey Fontaine, the translator of Gulliver, are 
 extremely curious ; the polite and delicate, but 
 mortifying, irony of Swift has exposed in his 
 happiest manner the liberties often assumed by 
 e2 
 
Ki i?JTjioDuCTroK. 
 
 translators, especially French, and the pretences 
 upon which they are not only justified, but gloried 
 in: if Fontaine understood Swift better in his 
 own character than in that of Gulliver, the cor- 
 respondence must have covered him with con- 
 fusion. Thoughts, as well as expressions, may 
 sometimes occur in an ancient or a foreign author, 
 which, if exactly given, would not only be non- 
 sense, as Dryden says, but low and degrading $ 
 and it is certainly fair to elevate such passages, 
 (provided it be chastely and cautiously done,) 
 to the standard of modern, not always fashionable 
 expression. Sometimes the transition may be 
 easy in the original, which would be abrupt, if 
 indulged in the translation — there certainly inser- 
 tions may be made, where they are necessary to 
 perspicuity. — Sometimes the author, apparently 
 for the sake of his metre, or for other reasons, 
 has abridged his thoughts: sometimes the tran- 
 slator, for the improvement of his verse, may 
 fairly extend them, if it can be done without 
 weakening their force or destroying their simpli- 
 city, where it can be preserved. Thus Virgil 
 has sometimes made three or four out of two 
 lines of Homer: but nothing should be curtailed 
 or changed, not even an epithet, if it adds, as all 
 epithets should do, to the beauty or strength of 
 the passage by any other power than that of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 liii 
 
 music. A translator has therefore a hard part to 
 sustain. He is not at liberty to relinquish what 
 he despairs of embellishing, if he deviates in the 
 smallest degree from his author. Those who 
 have that veneration for the ancients, which good 
 taste, improved by classical education, usually 
 inspires, are ready to cry out, " this may be very 
 fme, but it is not Homer, or Virgil, or Horace, 
 or Ovid:" if he scrupulously treads in the steps of 
 his master, and attends him like a faithful esquire, 
 those who despise classical authorities and re- 
 finements, (and those who despise, are usually 
 unacquainted with them,) are equally forward to 
 accuse him (as that excellent and ingenious lady, 
 Miss Seward, does Cowper, in his translation of 
 Homer,) of ' cramped literal ity.' Most persons 
 of judgment would, notwithstanding, prefer the 
 Homer of Cowper, with all its faults, to that of 
 M c Pherson. 
 
 There is confessedly one literal translation at 
 least, not only exquisitely pathetic and simple, 
 but in a variety of instances inimitably sublime : 
 namely, that of the Hebrew and Greek scrip- 
 tures : which, however, in particular parts, cor- 
 rected from the originals, is, notwithstanding, in 
 many places closely rendered from the vulgate, 
 itself a translation. How far modern attempts at 
 greater accuracy or elegance have succeeded, 
 e3 
 
\\v 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 even in the hands of great men, and great scho- 
 lars, is pretty well understood. * Translate us,' 
 we might exclaim, in the language of Gray upon 
 another occasion, ' into a loose flowing para- 
 phrase, the first chapter of Genesis, the history 
 of Joseph, certain portions of Deuteronomy, 
 Numbers, Isaiah, Job, and the Psalms!' How 
 fortunate was it, that these uere done into English 
 by the learned clerks of those times-, that the Jewish 
 lawgivers, chroniclers, prophets, and apostles, 
 were made to speak, as they really did speak, 
 rather, than as it might have been supposed, 
 they would have spoken, had they lived in 
 our days ! yet, the English translators of the 
 Bible, disclaimed tying themselves to an unifor- 
 mity of phrase and identity of words, professing 
 not to be in bondage where they might be free, 
 not to use one word precisely, where another 
 might be used, no less fit, as commodiously, but 
 also to be especially careful not to vary from the 
 sense of what they rendered, making a convenience 
 of their duty. Most of the collects in our Liturgy 
 are literally rendered from the Roman Breviaries 
 and Missals, and what can be more sublime? 
 
 It was once the fortune of the person who 
 thus endeavours to defend faithful translation, to 
 be present at the service of a dissenting chapel, 
 where Gilbert Wakefield's translation of the New 
 
INTRODUCTION. W 
 
 Testament was introduced. The parable of the 
 Pharisee and the Publican was selected for the 
 edification of the polite congregation, of which a 
 noble duke made a conspicuous part. But what 
 is so striking in the gospel of our reprobated 
 Liturgy, appeared so tame and flat in its new 
 cloathing and arrangement, that not the four 
 evangelists seemed to speak, but the four gentle- 
 men who wrote the gospels ; according to the 
 ridiculous language of the person who used to 
 shew the chapel of Trinity College, Oxford, 
 where there are four very fine figures in wood 
 intended to represent the gospel historians with 
 their emblems. In Mr. Wakefield's version, the 
 frequent substitution cf the tax-gatherer for 
 the publican had an effect quite contrary to 
 that which was apparently intended, the raising 
 of the style. The parable was inconceivably 
 debased by the awkward repetition of this 
 unwieldy compound. Perhaps it may be said that 
 the fidelity used in rendering the scriptures was 
 religiously exacted, and therefore not to be urged 
 or followed as an example ; but out of that fide- 
 lity, those chains, as modern translators might 
 call them, what boldness and freedom of expres- 
 sion have arisen! Had the version, instead of 
 being so dignified, and adapted to the purposes of 
 public devotion, been mean and weak, as well as 
 
Ivi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 literal, to its literality probably would the degene- 
 racy of it have been imputed. No poetical autho- 
 rity can be higher than that of several parts of 
 the Jewish, nor is there any more beautiful and 
 forcible expression than is found both in the 
 Hebrew, and Greek scriptures, in the English 
 translation. 
 
 It is not, however, contended that fidelity can 
 justify mean language, or flat verses. The por- 
 trait even of a plain person should not be a bad 
 picture, much less of one that is beautiful. It is 
 a vulgar error, to urge in its defence that it is like 
 to the original. — Thus says Lord Roscommon of 
 the French prose translators of Horace ; and the 
 same may be true of unsuecesful attempts in 
 verse : 
 
 Degrading prose explains his meaning ill, 
 
 And shews the stuff without the workman's skill. 
 
 But if a copy bear no resemblance, or a faint and 
 indistinct one, to its original, it ceases to be a 
 representation of it 5 and here lies the difficulty of 
 translators, and particularly of poetry: no small 
 one, if we may judge from the variety of instances 
 in which they have failed. Some part of their 
 duty at least is fulfilled, if their labors will 
 assist a school- boy, please and inform a sensible 
 woman, or a man unacquainted with the language 
 
INTRODUCTION. lvil 
 
 out of which the version is made, and not disgust 
 a scholar. Mr. Pope carried all these points, and 
 besides enriched our language with a splendid poem. 
 
 But few translators have been equally fortunate, 
 Mr. Sotheby, however, as a translator, has clearly 
 excelled all his masters and competitors in his 
 translation of the Georgics of Virgil. He is often 
 above, never below, Dryden ; and no humble 
 degree of praise is due to him, (nostra non laudis 
 egentij as a poet. 
 
 If the present candidate in the list of metrical 
 translators, has, to professed fidelity, added any 
 portion of spirit, he hopes his endeavours will be 
 received with candor and good humor, when it is 
 considered that he has attempted that which such 
 men as Sheffield and Otway executed indifferently 
 at best -, (to say nothing of those who appear with 
 them,who nobiles et ignobiles vulgus sunt,) that which 
 Dryden performed carelessly •> Pope and Sotheby only, 
 exquisitely ; and indeed no one well besides, except 
 the gentleman who has consented to the reprint- 
 ing of the Hero to Leander and Leander to Hero, 
 in this volume ; of which the translator of the first 
 ten epistles may say with truth, (as Dryden did 
 of his coadjutors, if sincerely, certainly with more 
 kindness than judgment,) that " he doubts not 
 but their merits will make ample satisfaction for his 
 errors.'" He knows of no other modern transla- 
 tor of Ovid's Epistles but Barret, a schoolmaster 
 
Iviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 at Ashford in Kent, who in 1759 published aa 
 entire version of them. But he professed not to 
 labour the verses $ and to write his notes by 
 way of lectures to his scholars. He translated the 
 Sappho to Phaon after Pope. — His successor may 
 share his oblivion, but has derived no assistance 
 from his labours. In what he has here presumed 
 to say of faithful translation, he earnestly depre- 
 cates the stale censure of having layed down 
 rules, and exemplified them by his own failures. 
 
 He would rather be thought stupid than arro- 
 gant -, it will not, he hopes, appear that he is both ; 
 nor that he deserves to be numbered with those 
 whom Congreve so wittily exposes : 
 
 Well do they play the careful critic's part, 
 Instructing doubly by their matchless art ; 
 E.ules for good verse they first with pains indite, 
 Then shew us what are bad, by what they write» 
 
 + 4-+ Frequent mention having been made, in the 
 foregoing pages, of the Elegy upon the death 
 of Tib alius, and of the epistle from Ovid to his 
 wife, in the Tristia, they are both here given, it 
 is hoped, with no very unpardonable intrusion; for 
 them, as well as for his Epistles, (those from 
 Penelope to Ulysses, and from Mnoiie to Paris, 
 excepted, which were begun at coll g ) the tran- 
 slator may plead the same excuse as his master 
 
INTRODUCTION. \\% 
 
 Ovid did for the incorrect state of the Tristia, 
 they were begun as a relief and continued through 
 the intervals of extreme pain , 
 
 Mens intenta suis ne foret usque malis. 
 
 A very fair apology, it may be said, for 
 writing, but none for publishing, the productions 
 of such unhappy circumstances : to which the tran- 
 slator ventures to reply, that however inadequate 
 these may be found, no attempts more successful 
 have yet appeared. 
 
 ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF TIBULLUS. 
 
 A goddess wept when Memnon's spirit fled : 
 A parent goddess wept Achilles dead. 
 Stern fate unmov'd regards the heaven-born fair, 
 And human sorrows, Jove, thy daughters share. 
 Thou, mournful Muse, for lost Tibull us grieve; 
 Thy locks, indignant, bid the winds receive. 
 No lighter verse, O Elegy, thy name 
 Shall here usurp, but genuine sorrow claim — 
 Whose polish'd strain thy gentlest graces form'd, 
 Whose breast thy tenderest inspiration warm'd, 
 Thy bard, thy fame who bore from distant skies, 
 A lifeless corse, thy lov'd Tibullus, lies ! 
 Love's deep despair his flagging pinions shew, 
 Revers'd his quiver, and unstrung his bow; 
 Revers'd his torch, extinguish'd are its fires ; 
 Nor more he plumes his shafts with gay desires. 
 His bosom bare, his hands unpitying wound ; 
 And loud the boy's convulsive sobs resoundl — 
 
Ix 
 
 INTRODUCTION-. 
 
 His locks, which streams of tears descending lave, 
 
 In wild disorder o'er his shoulders wave. 
 
 Thus, of thy sire JEne-as when bereft, 
 
 Thy dome, the god, O fair lulus, left ; 
 
 And on the poet shed as fond a tear, 
 
 As o'er a monarch's or a brother's bier. 
 
 So for Tibullus Citharea mourn ! 
 
 And for Adonis all her woes return. 
 
 But poets, great and sacred is their name ! 
 
 Are heaven's high care; inspir'd by hallow'd flame. 
 
 There are, who deem, enraptur'd of the art, 
 
 To bards divinity the gods impart. 
 
 Lo, death profanes the shrine in which we trust, 
 
 And the fair fabric crumbles into dust. 
 
 On all her sable hands the spectre lays, 
 
 And man belov'd, or child of heaven obeys. 
 
 By Thracian hags, Ismarian Orpheus, rent, 
 
 Ah ! what avail'd to thee thy high descent ? 
 
 Thee, nor the parent muse, that could inspire, 
 
 Nor father sav'd ; the father of the lyre : 
 
 Deaf to the voice that sooth'd the savage brood, 
 
 Relentless furies plung'd thee in the flood. 
 
 Embower'd in Sylvan shades your common si re, 
 
 For Linus, wak'd, in vain, the mournful lyre, 
 
 These Homer follow'd to the infernal gate, 
 
 Like these inspir'd, like thee the sport of fate. 
 
 O'er his pale corse thy deeps, Avemus, close, 
 
 His — from whose lips, (as where perennial flows 
 
 The muses' fountain) the poetic tribe, 
 
 In copious draughts, Pierian streams imbibe. 
 
 His verse alone eludes the funeral flame, 
 
 And proudly challenges immortal fame. 
 
 Thy sufferings, Troy, and hoary Priam slain, 
 
 His slaughter'd sons, and captive dames remain. 
 
 Forever dures the web, that faithful love 
 
 At dawn resum'd, by sleepless nights unwove. 
 
INTRODUCTION. hi 
 
 Thus vulgar fate thy'Nemesis survives, 
 
 And in thy verse, Tibullus, Delia lives. 
 
 Twas Delia first thy youthful bosom fir'd ; 
 
 A later passion Nemesis inspir'd. 
 
 But vain the rites in Rome's proud temples taught, 
 
 With horned Isis from Canopus brought ; 
 
 The sounded Sistrum, and on female fears, 
 
 Connubial fasts impos'd, by lying seers ; 
 
 "When Fates unworthy of the good and brave 
 
 O'erwhelm their virtues in the untimely grave. 
 
 The thought forgive, while I despairing weep, 
 
 Gods there are none I deem, or gods that sleep. 
 
 To deeds of piety devote thy days; 
 
 The gods revere ; and bid their altars blaze : 
 
 Thee, while thy hands the treasur'd offerings bear, 
 
 Death from the temple to the tomb shall tear. 
 
 In verse confide; verse that the wise approve; 
 
 Language of gods ; that listening muses love ; 
 
 Lo, of Tibullus all that now remains ! 
 
 A narrow urn his precious dust contains ! 
 
 Have then the flames, O blameless poet, prey'd 
 
 On thee, nor fear'd thy bosom to invade ? 
 
 Her eyes averted, and in tears was seen, 
 
 So Fame reports, the Erycinian queen. 
 
 Still better, though untimely was thy death, 
 
 Than breath'd in foreign air thy latest breath ; 
 
 Nor on Tibullus press'd the ignoble sod, 
 
 Nor on his corse Phaeacian pirates trod; 
 
 Here, did a mother's hand his eye-lids close, 
 
 Here bid his duly honour'd dust repose. 
 
 A mother's toils, a sister's duty, share, 
 
 While pious sorrow rends her flowing hair. 
 
 Two maids belov'd their tears and kisses blend, 
 
 And faithful o'er the pyre funere-il bend: 
 
 * More blest than thine my passion,' Delia said, 
 
 * Mine while he liv'd, and thine, Tibullus dead/ 
 
 f 
 
Ixii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 c What are my woes to thee ?' the fair replied, 
 * Me with his failing hand he press'd and died/ 
 Yet if, dissolv'd the poet's mortal frame, 
 Ought shall remain but visionary fame, 
 Thou like thy verse shalt scape oblivious hell, 
 And in Elysium's vale Tibullus dwell. 
 Haste, learn'd Catullus, to the hallow'd seat, 
 Thy brows with ivy bound, the youth to greet. 
 Let Calvus still upon thy steps attend ; 
 And thine much-injured Gallus, thither bend; 
 Falsely, if violated friendship's blame 
 Brand, with a traitor's guilt, the poet's name : 
 O prodigal of life, and bath'd in blood, 
 Too dear to flow but for thy country's good! 
 E'en now, if wafted to the immortal plain, 
 Their shadowy forms departed bards retain, 
 Delighted these have hail'd their polish'd guest : 
 Tibullus, thou art mingled with the blest. 
 O may inviolate thy bones repose, 
 And the turf lightly e'er thy ashes close ! 
 
 OVID'S TRISTIA.— El: iii. 1.4, 
 
 Celestial guides, one o'er the Grecian main, 
 
 And one o'er wealthy Sidon's seas, who reign, 
 
 The etherial summit circling gild, nor lave 
 
 Your blazing glories in the western wave, 
 
 One beam on those now towering bulwarks shed. 
 
 That hapless Remus once o'erleap'd, and bled ; 
 
 Of her I love, O penetrate the heart ! 
 
 And, if it faithful beat to me, impart. 
 
 Ah why the stars invoke thy doubts to clear, 
 
 Why sinks the heart with dread, that hope should cheer i 
 
 All thou desir'st believe thy faithful maid; 
 
 So shall she prove ; thy faith by faith repaid : 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ixlii 
 
 And what, from stars that gem the freezing pole, 
 Or those that round his radiant axis roll, 
 Can ne'er to thee, (fond gazing man!) be known, 
 Thou to thyself reveal ; and grateful own, 
 That she, who now employs thy tenderest cares, 
 Thy deepest woes, thy fondest passion shares; 
 Thy voice for ever sounding in her ear, 
 Thou to her raptur'd eye for ever near, 
 Dwells on thy looks, as present to her view ; 
 And each lov'd feature memory bids renew. 
 Say too how thence renew'd thy sorrows flow ; 
 From scenes of former joys redoubled woe. 
 Alas ! I doubt not but with grief opprest 
 And gentle slumber banish'd from thy breast, 
 The walls, the widow'd bed's deserted space, 
 The fond remembrance of thy husband trace. 
 Then feverish heat, then come bewildering dreams, 
 And the slow wasting night eternal seems. 
 Too true the symptoms of thy faithful love, 
 For all a chaste and ardent passion prove. 
 Thy limbs disorder'd o'er the bed are tost, 
 And pains unsooth'd thy restless frame exhaust. 
 Nor less thy anguish for thy husband torn 
 From thy fond bosom to the barbarous bourne, 
 Than the fair Theban, by the Pthian wheels 
 Dragg'd in her sight, for goary Hector feels. 
 How hard my wayward wishes to define, 
 Or speak the feelings, that I would were thine ! 
 Myself, the source, indignant I detest, 
 For me if sorrow pierce thy guiltless breast ; 
 If none ; thee tears I deem may well become, 
 Thy husband banish'd from imperial Rome. 
 Thou then, O sweetest partner of my cares ! 
 Weep thy own woe, while mine thy pity shares. 
 Steal a sad moment to indulge thy grief; 
 Let thy tears flow, for tears afford relief; 
 
Ixiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A secret pleasure to the wretched bring, 
 
 And from the heart o'ercharg'd its burden fling. 
 
 O, on my early tomb had thine been shed, 
 
 And rather thus than living, mourn'd me dead ! 
 
 My fleeting spirit to thy gentlest care 
 
 Resign'd, had vanish'd in it's native air ; 
 
 Thy pious hands had veil'd thy husband's eyes, 
 
 In death uplifted to their native skies : 
 
 Inurn'd my ashes with my sire's repos'd, 
 
 The ground, that first I press'd, my corse inclos'd. 
 
 Pure as my dying, were my living fame, 
 
 Alas ! now branded with a culprit's name. 
 
 More wretched still, if sharing my disgrace, 
 
 Thou too averting hide thy blushing face ; 
 
 Wife of ah exile to be call'd disdain, 
 
 And deem thy nuptial bond with me a stain. 
 
 Ah happy days, (is now their memory lost ?) 
 
 When thy lov'd husband was thy proudest boast ; 
 
 For ever dwelt upon thy lips my name, 
 
 Not whisper'd then with hesitating shame ! 
 
 Then, I remember well, 'twas joy to thee, 
 
 Mine to be thought, and mine indeed to be ! 
 
 In all I pleased ; as in a matron's eyes, 
 
 A husband's graces should superior rise ; 
 
 And all the little graces I possest, 
 
 Love in thy eyes display'd, and feign'd the rest. 
 
 (The earth contain'd not in thy partial eye, 
 
 Such did I seem!) one born with me to vie. 
 
 Ah ! blush not now to hear thy husband's name ! 
 
 Great is thy plea for sorrow, none of shame. 
 
 When the red bolt of Jove's insulted power, 
 
 Hurl'd the rash leader from the Theban tower, 
 
 Who of thy Capaneus, Evadne, hears, 
 
 And deems that shame was blended with thy tears ? 
 
 Or, Phaeton, that Phoebus thee disown'd, 
 
 His fond indulgence though the godbemoan'd, 
 
INTRODUCTION. IxV 
 
 When from the blazing chariot of thy sire 
 
 Jove dash'd thee down, and fire repres't with fire ? 
 
 Nor less for Semele did Cadmus grieve, 
 
 Infatuate, Jove in thunder to receive, 
 
 Death though her own presumptuous vows implor'd ; 
 
 On mortal eyes immortal radiance pour'd. 
 
 Thou too for me thy love, thy pity prove, 
 
 Struck with the thunder of offended Jove. 
 
 Still let no pang of conscious shame bespeak 
 
 The blush that crimsons o'er thy changing cheek. 
 
 But with new ardor glow to serve thy lord; 
 
 A proud example to thy sex afford. 
 
 For all thy virtues sad occasion calls, 
 
 The path of glory, that the weak appals. 
 
 Vain had thy art, ingenious Tiphys, prov'd, 
 
 Had Ocean slumber'd, by the winds unmov'd. 
 
 Phoebus, in vain did'st thou thy healing art, 
 
 If never man implor'd thy aid, impart. 
 
 Troy lull'din peace, whoe'er had Hector known? 
 
 In public grief, is private valor shewn : 
 
 Erect, and nobly prov'd, when Fortune fails ; 
 
 Dormant and sluggish in her flattering gales. 
 
 For thee, if to thy absent husband just, 
 
 My fallen fortunes, and thy guardian trust, 
 
 Thy fond fidelity shall grave a name, 
 
 High in the everduring roll of fame ; 
 
 Nor of the proffer'd palm the glory yield ; 
 
 Lo ! for thy proud career a spacious field ! 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Penebpe to Ulysses 1 
 
 Phyllis to Demophoon 13 
 
 Briseis to Achilles 29 
 
 Phcedra to Hippolytus . * 49 
 
 (Enone to Paris • , . 65 
 
 Dcianira to Hercules 81 
 
 Medea to Jason 99 
 
 Laodamia to Protesilaus 119 
 
 Paris to Helen . . 135 
 
 Helen to Paris 169 
 
 Leander to Hero 195 
 
 Hero to Leander 220 
 
 Sappho to Phaon 245 
 
 Dido to Eneas 267 
 
 Notes , 287 
 
PENELOPE 
 
 TO 
 
 ULYSSES. 
 
 B 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 ULYSSES, the son of Laertes and Ant idea, emu 
 nently distinguished himself at the siege of Troy. 
 The fall of it indeed, after a siege of ten years, 
 was chiefly to be attributed to his valour and wis- 
 dom 5 but having with others of the Grecian chiefs 
 offended Minerva, instead of returning to his 
 native land, he xvas driven over the ocean by the 
 anger of that Goddess, for ten years, during 
 which he suffered shipwreck, and many other 
 hardships; and visited divers countries : his Wife 
 therefore, Penelope, the daughter of Icarus and 
 Polycaste (who preserved her fidelity to him) 
 unacquainted with the causes of his tedious ab« 
 sence, thus urges him to return. 
 
 Vide Odyssey 1, 2, 4, 16, 18, 24. 
 
PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 
 
 1 hus, while he lingers upon foreign shores, 
 His own Penelope her Lord implores. 
 Stay not, O tardy wanderer, to reply, 
 But to her faithful arms, Ulysses, fly. 
 Bane, to the Grecian maid, of every joy, 
 Low in the dust is laid detested Troy, 
 Troy, and old Priam and his conquered host, 
 Scarce worth the labours and the tears they cost. 
 O had the adulterer in the deep been laid, 
 Ere his proud fleet for Lacedemon made ! 
 Mine had not prov'd a cold forsaken bed, 
 Nor had I tedious days in sorrow led ; 
 
 Hanc tua Penelope lento tibi mittit, Ulysse. 
 
 Nil mihi rescribas attamen: ipse veni. 
 Troja jacet certe Danai's invisa puellis: 
 
 Vix Priamus tanti, totaque Troja, fuit. 
 O utinam tunc, cum Lacedasmona classe petebaf, 
 
 Obrutus insanis esset adulter aquis! 
 Non ego deserto jacoissem frigida lecto, 
 
 Nee quererer tardos ire relicta die;,: 
 b 2 
 
4 PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 
 
 Nor, while I sought to waste the night unblest, 
 The pendent web my widow'd hands opprest. 
 How oft my fears beyond the truth would rove ! 
 So full of fond solicitude is love ! 
 Thee still they feign'd the fiercest Trojan's aim, 
 And pale I turn'd at Hector's hated name; 
 When fame reports Antilochus had bled, 
 Thine, in the Youth's untimely fate, I dread; 
 When fell Patroclus, arm'd in borrow'd mail, 
 Fast flowed my tears that stratagem should fail ; 
 The Lycian spear Tlepolemus bedew'd, 
 Thy death, Tlepolemus, my grief renew'd: 
 Till every Grecian in the battle slain 
 Chill'd my fond bosom as the icy plain : 
 — - -- ■ - -*■ 
 
 Nee mini quserenti spatiosam fallere noctem, 
 
 Lassaret viduas pendula tela manus. 
 Quando ego non timui graviora pericula veris ? 
 
 Res est solliciti plena timoris amor. 
 In te iingebat violentos Troas ituros : 
 
 Nomine in Hectoreo pallida semper eram. 
 Sive quis Antilochum narrabat ab Hectore victum; 
 
 Antilochus nostri causa timoris erat. 
 Sive Mencetiaden falsis cecidisse sub armis, 
 
 Flebam successu posse carere dolos. 
 Sanguine Tlepolemus Lyciam tepefecerat hastam; 
 
 Tlepolemi letho cura novata mea est. 
 
PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 5 
 
 But to chaste love some god protection gives, 
 Troy lies in ashes, and my husband lives. 
 The Greeks return, at blazing altars bend, 
 Barbaric spoils to Grecian gods suspend ; 
 The bride presents her gift, with grateful joy, 
 The bridegroom sings the conquered Fates of Troy; 
 Old men admire, and trembling girls grow pale, 
 While the fond wife devours the husband's tale. 
 One, on the table, draws the battle's line, 
 And Troy, all Troy describes in drops of wine. 
 4 Here Simois flow'd, Sigeum's land was here, 
 Here, its proud head did Priam's palace rear. 
 
 Denique, quisquis erat castris jugulatus Achivis, 
 
 Frigidius glacie pectus amantis erat. 
 Sed bene consuluit casto Deus aequus amori: 
 
 Versa est in cinerem sospite Troja viro. 
 Argolici redi&re duces: altaria fumant: 
 
 Ponitur ad patrios barbara praeda Deos. 
 Grata ferunt nymphas pro salvis dona maritis: 
 
 Illi victa suis Troia fata canunt. 
 Mirantur justique senes trepidaeque puellae: 
 
 Narrantis conjux pendet ab ore viri. 
 Atque aliquis posita monstrat fera praelia mensa; 
 
 Pingit & exiguo Pergama tota mero. 
 Hac ibat Simois, hie est Sigeia tellus, 
 
 Hie steterat Priami regia celsa senis. 
 b 3 
 
6 PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 
 
 This was the ground the wise Ulysses chose, 
 Thy proud pavilion there, Achilles, rose; 
 There, all uncurb'd, the fiery coursers drew 
 The mangled Hector, trembling as they flew;' 
 For all from Nestor did your son relate, 
 When sent, in vain, to learn his father's fate: 
 Of Rhesus and of Dolon proud to tell, 
 How one in sleep, deceived the other, fell; 
 Rash man, regardless of each tender tie, 
 Who dar'd'st the horrors of that night defy! 
 The Thracian camp with Diomed invade, 
 So many slaughter^, with a single aid! 
 Cautious till now too little you had dar'd, 
 Your life, for me, perchance too fondly spar'd ! 
 O how I trembled till the boy had said, 
 Through friendly hosts the fatal steeds were led ! 
 
 Illic iEacides, illic tendebat Ulysses, 
 
 Hie lacer admissos terruit Hector equos. 
 Omnia namque tuo senior, te quaerere misso, 
 
 Retulerat nato Nestor: at ille mihi. 
 lletulit & ferro Rhesumque Dolonaque caesos; 
 
 Utque sit hie somno proditus, ille dolo. 
 Ausus es, 6 nimiiim nimiumque oblite tuorum, 
 
 Thracia nocturno tangere castra dolo; 
 Totque simul mactare viros, adjutus ab uno! 
 
 At bene cautus eras, & memor ante mei. 
 
PENELOPE TO ULYSSES, 7 
 
 But what avails to me that llion falls, 
 Or the deep soil where stood the towering walls, 
 Where with the captive ox the victors plough? 
 For others, not for me, its glories bow. 
 Still, as when proud it flourish'd, I remain, 
 And for my absent husband sigh in vain. 
 Now where Troy stood the furrow'd field appears, 
 And rich with Ph^gian blood the harvest bears, 
 O'er men's half buried bones the ploughshare goes, 
 On mouldering ruins the rank herbage grows; 
 My conqueror comes not, and I seek in vain 
 What cause delays him, or what shores detain. 
 
 Usque metu micuere sinus; dum victor amicum 
 
 Dictus es Ismariis isse per agmen equis. 
 Sed mihi quid prodest vestris disjecta lacertis 
 
 Illion; &, murus quod fuit ante, solum: 
 Si maneo, qualis Troja durante manebam; 
 
 Virque mihi dempto fine carendus abest? 
 Diruta sunt aliis, uni mihi Pergama restant ; 
 
 Incola captivo quae bove victor arat. 
 Jam seges est, ubi Troja fuit, resecandaque fa Ice j 
 
 Luxuriat Phrygio sanguine pinguis humus. 
 Semisepulta virum curvis feriuntur aratris 
 
 Ossa: ruinosas occulit herba domos. 
 Victor abes; nee scire mihi, quae causa morandi, 
 
 Aut in quo lateas ferreus orbe, licet, 
 
5 PEKELOPE TO ULYSSES. 
 
 Whatever stranger hither bends his prow, 
 I ask him 'countless questions ere he go, 
 Then give for thee, if found in foreign lands, 
 With solemn charge, a letter to his hands: 
 To Pylos, hoary Nestor's native plain, 
 To Sparta's shores, I sent; but sent in vain; 
 The truth none know, uncertain rumours tell 
 Where late you wander'd, or where now you dwell. 
 Better if standing the Phoebean wall ! 
 Fickle, my vows I hate that doom'd its fall; 
 Then, where you fought I certainly had known, 
 Nor, wept the common chance of war, alone. 
 Not knowing what to fear, now all I dread, 
 A spacious field of woes before me spread ! 
 
 Quisquis ad hsec vertit peregrinam littora puppim, 
 
 Ille mihi de te multa rogatus abit. 
 Quamque tibi reddat, si te modo viderit usquam, 
 
 Traditur huic digitis charta noiata meis. 
 Nos Pylon, antiqui Neleia Nestoris arva, 
 
 Misimus: incerta est fama remissa Pylo. 
 Misimus & Sparten. Sparte quoque nescia veri, 
 
 Quas habitas terras, aut ubi lentus abes. 
 Utilius starent etiam nunc moenia Phcebi. 
 
 Irascor votis heu lev is ipsa meis ! 
 Scirem, ubi pugnares; & tantum bella timerem; 
 
 Et mea cum multis juncta querela foret. 
 
PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 9 
 
 AH, every peril land or seas display, 
 To me are causes of thy long delay. 
 Thus may I doat, while with forbidden fires 
 Your heart perchance a foreign love inspires, 
 Me you describe a fond and rustic fool, 
 And only fit t to teize the housewife's wool;* 
 Perish the thought, to scattering winds a prey, 
 Nor free thy course, and willing be thy stay ! 
 Me from my widow'd bed my angry sire, 
 With threats incessant, urges to retire, 
 And chides the endless causes that I feign. 
 Still let him urge, and chide me still in vain, 
 
 Quid timeam ignoro : timeo tamen omnia demens ; 
 
 Et patet in curas area lata meas. 
 Quascunque aequor habet, quaecunque pericula 
 tellus, 
 
 Tarn longse causas suspicor esse morae. 
 Haac ego dum stulte meditor (quae vestra libido est) 
 
 Esse peregrino captus amore potes. 
 Forsitan & narres, quam sit tibi rustica conjux; 
 
 Quas tantiim lanas non sinat esse rudes. 
 Fallar, & hoc crimen tenues vanescat in auras: 
 
 Neve revertendi liber abesse velis. 
 Me pater Icarius viduo discedere lecto 
 
 Cogit, & immensas increpat usque moras. 
 Increpet usque licet, tua sum, tua dicar pportet. 
 
30 
 
 PENELOPE TO ULYSSES.' 
 
 Proud of the name, Ulysses, wife to thee, 
 
 Thine, only thine, Penelope shall be. 
 
 But him my duty and my constant love, 
 
 And my chaste prayers his generous bosom move 
 
 On me the suitors, a luxurious croud, 
 
 Rush from Dulichium, and Zacynthus proud, 
 
 And Samos, tyrants, here whom all obey, 
 
 Who on thy treasur'd wealth, my vitals, prey ; 
 
 Why on their hateful titles should I dwell, 
 
 Pisander, Polybus and Medon fell ? 
 
 With these Eurymachus rapacious joins, 
 
 His greedy hands Antinous combines; 
 
 A dastard troop, whose vile insatiate needs, 
 
 Earn'd by thy precious blood thy substance feeds; 
 
 Penelope conjux semper Ulyssis ero. 
 Ille tamen pietate mea, precibusque pudicis, 
 
 Frangitur, & vires temperat ipse suas. 
 Dulichii, Samiique, & quos tulit alta Zacynthos, 
 
 Turba, ruunt in me, luxuriosa, proci: 
 Inque tua regnant, nullis prohibentibus, aula; 
 
 Viscera nostra, tua? dilaniantur opes. 
 Quid tibi Pisandrum, Polybumque, Medontaque 
 dirum, 
 
 Eurymachique avidas Antinoi'que manus, 
 Atque alios referam; quos omnes turpiter absens 
 
 Ipse tuo partis sanguine rebus alis ? 
 
PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. ll 
 
 The beggar Irus, and purveyor base, 
 Melantius, crown the spoil and the disgrace: 
 We are but three and weak, a woman one, 
 Laertes old, and, yet a boy, your son; 
 Him too had nearly seiz'd the insidious foe, 
 As hence to Pylos he prepar'd to go; 
 The gods, I pray, in fate's due order give, 
 To close his parents' eyes our child may live; 
 For this the trusty keeper of the swine, 
 Their vows the ancient nurse and herdsman join. 
 Unfit for arms Laertes needs repose, 
 And holds a feeble sway beset with foes; 
 To firmer years Telemachus aspires, 
 But now his youth a father's aid requires. 
 
 Irus egens, pecorisque Melanthius actor edendi, 
 
 Ultimus accedunt in tua damna pudor. 
 Tres sumus imbelles numero; sine viribus uxor, 
 
 Laertesque senex, Telemachusque.puer. 
 Ille per insidias paene est mihi nuper ademptus, 
 
 Dum parat invitis omnibus ire Pylon. 
 Di precor hoc jubeant, ut, euntibus ordine fatis, 
 
 Ille meos oculos comprimat, ille tuos. 
 Hoc faciunt custosque bourn, longasvaque nutrix ; 
 
 Tertius, immundas cura fidelis harae. 
 $ed neque Laertes, ut qui sit inutilis armis, 
 
 Hostibus in mediis regna tenere valet. 
 
12 PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 
 
 Nor can I drive the spoiler from thy home, 
 Our refuge thou, our sanctuary come! 
 Tis time thy son his father's virtues learn, 
 Preserve him heaven till thou in peace return! 
 Think on Laertes, haste to close his eyes, 
 Its last faint gleam the lamp of life supplies; 
 I, though my vows this moment speed you here, 
 I, whom a girl you left, shall old appear. 
 
 Telemacho veniet (vivat modo) fortior oetas: 
 
 Nunc erat auxilhs ilia tuenda patris. 
 Nee mihi sunt vires inimicos pellere tectis. 
 
 Tu citius venias portus & ara tuis. 
 Est tibi, sitque precor, natus; qui mollibus annh 
 
 In patrias artes erudiendus erat. 
 Respice Laerten, ut jam sua lumina condas: 
 
 Extremam fati sustinet ille diem. 
 Certe ego, quae fueram, te discedente, puella, 
 
 Protinus ut redeas facta videbor anus. 
 
PHYLLIS 
 
 TO 
 
 DEMOPHOON. 
 
 c 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 DEMOPHOON, the son of Theseus and Phcedrc, 
 in his return from the Trojan war, was driven 
 upon the coasts of Thrace, and received by Phyllis 
 the queen of the country, whom he married, but 
 upon the death of Mnestheus who had conquered 
 Theseus and usurped the government of Athens, 
 he went thither, promising Phyllis to return in 
 one month : after four had elapsed, she thus ad» 
 dresses him — 
 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 
 
 fc ROM Thracia's once too hospitable shores 
 This fond complaint deserted Phyllis pours; 
 For ere one moon her labors should complete, 
 Here did Demophoon vow to moor his fleet: 
 Four times the sickly moon has conscious wan'd, 
 Four times the splendor of her orb regained, 
 Nor, hither borne upon the swelling tide, 
 In Thracia's ports the Athenian vessels ride. 
 Count, as a lover count, each passing day. 
 Nor think too soon a lover chides thy stay; 
 
 Hospita, Demophoon, tua te Rhodopeia Phyllis 
 
 Ultra promissum tempus abesse queror. 
 Cornua cum Lunse pleno semel orbe coi'ssent, 
 
 Littoribus nostris anchora pacta tua est. 
 Luna quater latuit; toto quater orbe recrevit; 
 
 Nee vehit Actaeas Sithonis unda rates. 
 Tempora si numeres, bene quse numeramus 
 amantes ; 
 
 Non venit ante suum nostra querela diem. 
 Spes quoque lentafuit; tarde, quae creditalaedunt, 
 
 Credimus: invita nunc et amante nocent. 
 e 2 
 
16 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 
 
 Hope, still the wretch's and the lover's care 
 That fondly sooths, forbade me to despair; 
 Ungrateful truths we tardily receive, 
 And I, who love, unwilling now believe ; 
 T'was love inspired the vain, but generous thought, 
 That every wind thy sails propitious brought, 
 Now with rash vows of Theseus I complain, 
 Nor thee, perchance, did Theseus e'er detain ; 
 Now for thy bark the shoals of Hebrus dread $ 
 Thy bark (alas) to Hebrus never sped ! 
 Traitor, for thee the gods 1 oft implore, 
 And incense, suppliant, on their altars pourj 
 When favouring gales from storms the ocean clear, 
 These, if he lives, I cry, will waft him here: 
 - - - - -- 
 
 Saepe fui mendax pro te mihi : saepe putavi 
 
 Alba procellosos vela referre notos. 
 Thesea devovi, quia te dimittere nollet; 
 
 Nee tenuit cursus forsitan ille tuos. 
 Interdum timui, ne, dum vada tendis ad Hebri, 
 
 Mersa foret cana naufraga puppis aqua. 
 Ssepe Deos supplex, ut tu, scelerate, valeres,, 
 
 Sum prece thuricremis devenerata focis. 
 Saepe videns ventos coelo pelagoque faventes, 
 
 Ipsa mihi dixi; Si valet, ille venit. 
 Denique fidusamor, quicquidproperantibusobstar, 
 
 Finxit; et ad causas ingeniosa fui, 
 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOOKf. 17 
 
 Wlrate'er the anxious lover's haste impedes, 
 For thee, my fond, ingenious passion pleads; 
 Thee, to return, by every god above 
 In vain adjur'd^ by every vow of love: 
 Spread to the winds, Demophoon, were thy sails, 
 Thy vows, like them, the sport of wanton gales; 
 By both betray'd, thy absence I deplore, 
 False are thy vows, thy sails return no more : 
 Say for what cause but fond and foolish love, 
 Of thee unworthy should thy Phyllis prove? 
 Merit my guilt should seem, if guilt it be, 
 Perfidious author of the crime, to thee; 
 Where, are the gods to whom you perjur'd bow, 
 Our hands united- and our mutual vow? 
 
 At tu lentus abes: nee te jurata reducunt 
 
 Numina; nee nostro motus amore redis. 
 Demophoon, ventis et verba et vela dedisti ; 
 
 Vela queror reditu, verba carere fide. 
 Die mihi quid feci, nisi non sapienter amavi ? 
 
 Crimine te potui demeruisse meo. 
 Unum in me scelus est; quod te, scelerate, recepi, 
 
 Sed scelus hoc meriti pondus et instar habet. 
 Jura, fides, ubi nunc, commissaque dextera dextra? ? 
 
 Quique erat in falso plurimus ore Deus ? 
 Promissus socios ubi nunc Hymenaeus in annos, 
 
 Qui mihi conjugii sponsor et obses erat? 
 c 3 
 
IS PHYLLIS tO DKMOMlOON. 
 
 The promis'd Hymen's torch, whose lasting fire 
 Should light our years, and but with life expire? 
 By the dread sea, you swore, whose vengeful wave 
 Oft' you had ploughed, and then prepar'd to brave; 
 Him too, yourgrandsire whom perchance you feign, 
 Him you invok'd, who stills the troubled main ; 
 Venus, and Cupid's fiery shafts and bow, 
 Weapons, whose force, alas! too well I know» 
 Her, o'er the genial bed whose power presides, 
 And her, whose torch the mystic orgies guides : 
 Should each insulted deity demand 
 The vengeance due to his immortal hand, 
 Scarce would thy forfeit life their rage suffice, 
 Devoted victim of thy perjuries ; 
 * - " ■* ■ " - ■ ■' ' ■ '■' ■ -•»"■- - ■•" i -■ « + . 
 
 Per mare, quod totum ventis agitatur et undis; 
 
 Per quod sa^pe ieras, per quod iturus eras : 
 Perque tuum mihi jurasti (nisi fictus et ille est) 
 
 Concita qui ventis aequora mulcet, avum: 
 Per Venerem, nimiumque mihi facientia tela, 
 ■ Altera tela arcus, altera tela faces : 
 Junonemque, toris quae prsesidet alma maritis, 
 
 Et per tsediferae mystica sacra Deae. 
 Si de tot laesis sua numina quisque Deorum 
 
 Vindicet ; in pcenas non satis unus eris. 
 At laceras etiam puppes furiosa refeci: 
 
 Ut, qua\ desererer^ firma carina foret. 
 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPIIOON. ~" 19 
 
 Infatuate why did I your sails repair, 
 Your shattered bark refit with foolish care, 
 Launch on the billows, from my sight that bore. 
 And give, alas ! the wound that I deplore ; 
 Fondly, why all your flattering words believe ? 
 And words you never wanted to deceive : 
 Blindly I trusted to your high descent, 
 My easy faith to sounding titles lent; 
 Were thy tears false ? thy tears, dissembler, know 
 Like thee to feign, to thee obedient flow. 
 Well had thy wanton perjuries been spar'd, 
 My simple heart, had half thy vows ensnar'd : 
 Proud I review the cares employ'd to save 
 Thee, and thy vessels, from the stormy w T ave : 
 
 Remigiumque dedi, quo me fugiturus abires. 
 
 Heu patior telis vulnera facta meis! 
 Credidimus blandis, quorum tibi copia, verbis: 
 
 Credidimus generi, nominibusque tuis : 
 Credidimus lacrymis; an et hae simulare docentur? 
 
 Ha* quoque habent artes,quaquejubentur,eunt? 
 Dis quoque credidimus ; quo jam tot pignora nobis \ 
 
 Parte satis potui qualibet inde capi. 
 Nee moveor, quod te juvi portuque, locoque; 
 
 Debuit hoc meriti summa fuisse mei. 
 Turpiter hospitium lecto cumulasse jugali 
 
 Poenitet, et lateri conseruisse latus. 
 
20 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON, 
 
 With bitter pangs recall, and blush to name 
 
 Lost, in thy faithless arms, my virgin fame; 
 
 O 'ere that fatal night the day had clos'd, 
 
 Had Phyllis innocent in death repos'd ! 
 
 Fondly I hop'd, who well deserv'd, success : 
 
 Hope, that from merit springs, the gods should bless* 
 
 Thine is not sure a triumph hardly won, 
 
 A poor fond maid deluded and undone; 
 
 To pity, whose simplicity might move 
 
 A generous bosom, though devoid of love. 
 
 Be this the. envied summit of thy fame, 
 
 For this a statue in mid Athens claim, 
 
 Rang'd with the ^Egidae let Demophoon stand^ 
 
 And proudly rival the illustrious band ; 
 
 Quae fuit ante illam, mallem suprema fuisset 
 
 Nox mihi; dum potui Phyllis honesta mori. 
 Speravi melius, quia me meruisse putavi ; 
 
 Quaecumque ex merito spes venit, aequa venit/ 
 Fallere credentem non est operosa puellam 
 
 Gloria; simplicitas digna favore fuit. 
 Sum decepta tuis et amans et foemina verbis-: 
 
 Di faciant, laudis summa sit ista tuse: 
 Inter et iEgidas medid statuaris in urbe : 
 
 Magnificus titulis stet pater ante suis. 
 Cum fuerit Scyron lectus, torvusque Procrustes, 
 
 Et Sinis, et tauri mistaque forma viri; 
 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 21 
 
 First let thy sire his form majestic rear, 
 And all his glories on the base appear ; 
 There should the Minotaur subdued be read^ 
 Scyron, Procrustes, and his fatal bed ; 
 Sinis, and Thebes, the Centaur's speed, that fail'd, 
 And trembling Pluto's dark domain assail'd ; 
 Thy triumph then the marble shall record, 
 Oer the fond maid, who thee, her guest ador'd. 
 Of all the deeds by godlike Theseus done, 
 One only pleases his aspiring son ; 
 Prone, what excuse demanded, to admire, 
 Heir to the perjuries, that sham'd his sire; 
 His genius culls it from the sacred store, 
 The Cretan maid deserted on the shore ! 
 Her, whom I envy not, sublime in air 
 Match'd with a god, the bridled tygers bear. 
 
 1 ■ ■ ■ ■■■ ii . . ■ ■ .I| M |— ■» , 
 
 Et domitee bello Thebas, fusique bimembres, 
 
 Et pulsata nigri regia caeca Dei : 
 Hoc tua post ilium titulo signetur imago: 
 
 Hie est, cujus am arts hospita capta dolo est. 
 De tanta rerum turba, factisque parentis, 
 
 Sedit in ingenio Cressa relicta tuo. 
 Quod solum excusat, solum miraris in illo. 
 
 Haeredem patriae, perrlde, fraudis agis. 
 Ilia (nee invideo) fruitur meliore marito; 
 
 Inque capistratis tigribus alta sedet. 
 
22 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 
 
 My widow'd bed the slighted Thracians spun), 
 From me, who lov'd a stranger, proudly turn. 
 To Athens now insulting bid me go, 
 And warlike Thrace another leader know. 
 Well, the}' exclaim, her woes her wisdom prove, 
 And well rewards her choice a foreign love ! 
 Ill may the wretch in every wish succeed, 
 Who from the event condemns a generous deed ! 
 White let these billows with thy oars appear, 
 Wise were the choice, that gave thee empire here; 
 But ne'er thy oars shall blanch the Thracian wave, 
 Thy weary limbs Bistonian waters lave. 
 Still thy lov'd form I view upon the shore. 
 While in my ports thy parting ships unmoor. 
 
 At mea despecti fugiunt connubia Thraces, 
 
 Quod ferar externum praeposuisse meis. 
 Atque aliquis, Doctasjam nunc eat, inquit, Atkenas: 
 
 Armiferam Thracem, qui regat, alter crit. 
 Exitus acta probat ; careat successibus opto, 
 
 Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat. 
 At si nostra tuo spumescant sequora remo, 
 
 Jam mihi, jam dicar consuluisse meis. 
 Sed neque consului: nee te mea regia tangit, 
 
 Fessaque Bistonid membra lavabis aqua. 
 Ilia meis oculis species abeuntis inhseret, 
 
 Cum premeret portus classis itura meos. 
 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 23 
 
 Thee my fond arms receiv'd, me thine embrac'd, 
 Thy lips, prolonging kisses to the last, 
 Dar'd, as our tears together mingled flow, 
 To blame the winds, that to thy wishes blow. 
 " Phyllis expect, nor lost Demophoon mourn," 
 Were thy last words " for soon shall he return/' 
 Expect thee ! gone for ever from my sight, 
 Whose sails no more the Thracian seas invite, 
 Still I expect thee; O return and prove, 
 Of time regardless, true at last to love. 
 Vain hope! another holds thee in her chains, 
 Scarce, while the wanton triumphs in my pains, 
 
 Austis es amplecti ; colloque infusus amantis 
 
 Oscula per longas jungere pressa moras: 
 Cumque tuis lacrymis,lacrymas confundere nostras : 
 
 Quodque foret velis aura secunda, queri : 
 Et mihi discedens, suprema dicere voce ; 
 
 Phylli, face expect es Demoplio'dnta tumn. 
 Expectem, qui me nunquam visurus abisti ; 
 
 Expectem pelago vela negata meo t 
 Et tamen expecto, redeas modo serus amanti : 
 
 Ut tua sit solo tempore lapsa fides. 
 Quid precor infelix? jam te tenet altera conjux 
 
 Forsitan, et nobis qui male favit, amor. 
 Utque tibi excidimus, nullam, puto, Phyllida nosti. 
 
 Hei mihi ! si, quae sim Phyllis, et unde, rogas. 
 
24 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 
 
 The long forgotten Phyllis wilt thou own ; 
 Thus to Demophoon Phyllis may be known; 
 The sea beat wanderer, she, whose ports receiv'd, 
 Whose generous friendship, worn with toils reliev'd ; 
 Rich gifts on whom her lavish bounty pour'd, 
 For whom, a kingdom's treasures fondly stor'd ; 
 Realms by Lycurgus rul'd who bade thee sway, 
 Too large a female sceptre to obey. 
 From Rhodope with snows eternal bound, 
 With waving woods to shady Haeraus crown'd, 
 Whose mossy feet the sacred Hebrus laves, 
 And pours through verdant vales his rapid waves. 
 She, who, her zone unbound, in evil hour, 
 Gave to thy treacherous arms her virgin flower. 
 
 Quae tibi, Demophoon, longis erroribus acto 
 
 Threicios portus, hospitiumque dedi. 
 Cujus opes aux£re meae : cui dives egenti 
 
 Munera multa dedi, multa datura fui. 
 Quae tibi subjeci latissima regna Lycurgi, 
 
 Nomine foemineo vix satis apta regi : 
 Quapatetumbrosum Rhodope glacialis ad Haemum, 
 
 Et sacer admissas exigit Hebrus aquas. 
 Cui mea virginitas avibus libata sinistris, 
 
 Castaque fallaci zona recincta manu. 
 Pronuba Tisiphone thalamis ululavit in illis, 
 
 Et cecinit mcestum devia carmen avis. 
 
?HYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 25 
 
 There did the Furies Hymeneals sounds 
 And birds of direst omen scream around ; 
 Thy hands, Tisiphone, the scourge prepare, 
 Alecto wreath'd with hissing snakes was there: 
 To trembling fires, with inauspicious gleam, 
 The torch sepulchral lent it's livid beam. 
 Still the sharp rocks and pebbly shore I tread, 
 Where'er the ocean to my view is spread ; 
 If genial suns, or freezing planets shine, 
 Watch to what point the veering winds incline. 
 Thine, every sail my streaming eyes perceive, 
 Wafted to Thrace by pitying gods, believe. 
 To meet thee, madly would the waters brave, 
 And plunge my feet in the approaching wave ; 
 
 Adfuit Alecto brevibus torquata colubris ; 
 
 Suntque sepulcrali lumina mota face. 
 Moesta tamen scopulos fruticosaque littora calco, 
 
 Quaque patent oculis sequora lata meis. 
 Sive die laxatur humus, seu frigida lucent 
 
 Sidera, prospicio, quis freta ventus agat* 
 Et quascunque procul venientia lintea vidi, 
 
 Protinus ilia meos auguror esse Deos. 
 In freta procurro, vix me retinentibus undis, 
 
 Mobile qua primas porrigit sequor aquas» 
 Quo magis accedunt, minus et minus utilis adsto: 
 
 Linquor, et ancillis excipienda cado. 
 D 
 
4 26 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOOX. 
 
 By faithful handmaids to the beach pursu'd, 
 
 Who bear me lifeless from the whelming flood. 
 
 Oft, by despair invited, I survey 
 
 The rocky limits of a winding bay, 
 
 And thence resolve, nor shall the threat be vain, 
 
 Still if thou 'rt false, to leap into the main. 
 
 My floating body on thy shores shall land, 
 
 Thy eyes behold me tombless on the strand; 
 
 The view at least to pity may incline 
 
 A heart more hard than Adamant, or thine. 
 
 " Not thus the parching wind, and shipless sea," 
 
 Then wilt thou say, " should Phyllis bear to me." 
 
 Then, with vain sorrow, and repentance late, 
 
 Thou'lt own I suffer an unworthy fate. 
 
 For poison now a raging thirst I feel, 
 
 Now pants my bosom for the reeking steel. 
 
 Est sinus adductos modice falcatus in arcus, 
 
 Ultima praerupta cornua mole rigent. 
 Mine mihi suppositas immittere corpus in undas 
 
 Mens fuit ; &, quoniam fallere pergis, erit. 
 Ad tua me fluctus projectam littora portent, 
 
 Occurramque oculis intumulata tuis. 
 Duritia ferrum ut superes, adamantaque, teque; 
 
 Non tibi sky dices, PhijUi, sequendus eram. 
 Sa?pe vencnorum sitis est mihi : saepe cruenta 
 
 Tmjectam gladio morte pcrire juvat. 
 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOOX. 27 
 
 Now with the fatal noose my neck I bind, 
 
 Too oft by thy perfidious arms entwin'd ! 
 
 Be forfeit life for wounded honor paid, 
 
 Nor, by the choice of death, be death delayed! 
 
 Live on my tomb the author of my woe, 
 
 Thou my lov'd guest; for there the verse shall flow; 
 
 " The cause Demophoon's cruelty supplied ; 
 
 By her own hands deserted Phyllis died." 
 
 Colla quoque, infidis quia se nectenda lacertis 
 
 Praebuerunt, laqueis implicuisse libet. 
 Stat nece matura tenerum pensare pudorem : 
 
 In necis electu parva futura mora est. 
 Inscribere meo causa invidiosa sepulcro : 
 
 Aut hoc, aut simili carmine notus eris : 
 Phyllida Demophoon leto dedit, hospes amantem: 
 
 Ilk ncci caiiram pf\cbuit, ipsa manum. 
 
BRISEIS 
 
 TO 
 
 ACHILLES. 
 
 D 3 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE Greeks commenced their operations against 
 Troy by conquering the neighbouring countries 
 under its dominion. The Cilician, Theban, and 
 Lyrnesian territories -were invaded by Achilles : 
 in the latter, in the town ofChrynesium, he found 
 two rery beautiful women, Astrynome the daughter 
 of Chrysis the priest of Apollo, and Hippodamia 
 of Brisa — xvho were afterwards called Chryseis, 
 end Briseis, from the names of their several 
 parents. Chryseis he presented to Agamemnon, 
 and reserved Briseis for himself. But when the 
 king was obliged to restore Chryseis to her 
 father, to preserve the Greeks from the plague 
 sent by Apollo, in resentment to Achilles xcho 
 had urged him to resign he)', he threatened, and 
 afterwards put the threat in execution, to force 
 Breseis from her conqueror: — who retired in dis- 
 gust from the war, and could not be induced to 
 return to the assistance of the Grecians by any 
 inircafies, rejecting even Breseis herself, al- 
 though offered to him with presents of great value. 
 She therefore thus addresses him, in hopes of pe)^ 
 suading him to lay aside his anger, to resume 
 his arms against the Trojans, and receive her 
 from Agamemnon, who offered to restore her to 
 his possession. 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 1 iiese barbarous characters thy eyes that meet,, 
 The lost Briseis speeds, her Lord to greet. 
 Scarce can the Greek my untaught fingers trace, 
 "While the rude marks my falling tears efface. 
 See how the lines they blot, where'er they flow ; 
 Tears yet can speak, and tell the tale of woe : 
 Nor let the fond complaint be pour'd in vain r 
 Of my Iov'd Lord, of thee, if I complain*. 
 Not by thy fault the tyrant's captive made,. 
 Still was the tyrant's power too soon obey'd : 
 For scarce Briseis do the heralds name, 
 Scarce their proud Lord's imperious will proclaim;; 
 
 Quam legis, a rapta Briseide littera venit, 
 
 Vix bene barbarica Graeca notata manu. 
 Quascunque aspicies, lacrymas fecere, lituras ; 
 
 Sed tamen et lacrymas pondera vocis habent. 
 Si mihi pauca queri de te dominoque viroque 
 
 Fas est ; de domino pauca viroqne querar. 
 Non, ego poscenti quod sum citd tradita regi, 
 
 Culpa tua est: quaravishoc quoque culpa tuaesU 
 

 32 BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 Thy stern resolves ere I devoted hear, 
 And the sad partner of their way appear. 
 Talthybius, and Eurybates amaz'd, 
 Their charge accepting on each other gaz'd : 
 But wrapt in pensive silence while they stand, 
 Their eyes the tokens of thy love demand. 
 Some little respite might their haste have stay'd, 
 And sooth'd the cruel sentence it delayed. 
 No kind embrace (alas!) did I receive; 
 Blest had I been one parting kiss to give : 
 My fruitless tears I give, my tresses tear, 
 Doom'd a new Lord's insulting chains to wear. 
 A Conqueror's prey, again I seem to mourn 
 A Captive's fate, and all my woes return* 
 Oft from my guards I meditate my flight, 
 Then fear the Trojans, and approaching night ^ 
 
 Nam simul Eurybates me Talthybiusque vocarunt; 
 
 Eurybati data sum Talthybioque comes. 
 Alter in alterius jactantes lumina vultum, 
 
 Quaerebant taciti, noster ubi esset amor. 
 Differri potui : poena? mora grata fuisset. 
 
 Hei mihi ! diseedens oscula nulla dedu 
 At lacrymas sine fine dedi, rupique capillos : 
 
 Infelix iterum sum mihi visa rapi. 
 Saepe ego decepto volui custode reverti ; 
 
 Sed, me qui timidam prenderer, hostis erat* 
 
 I 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 33 
 
 While paths unknown my trembling footsteps trace, 
 Lest to some haughty dame of Priam's race, 
 A gift they bear- that well may sooth her pride, 
 Thy hand-maid torn, Achilles, from thy side. 
 But what avail the sufferings of a slave ? 
 The King demanded, and Achilles gave. 
 With fond impatience if thy bosom glow, 
 Resume what power compell'd thee to bestow. 
 Me, shall so many nights the Tyrant keep, 
 Thou cease to claim me, and thy fury sleep ? 
 Not so Patroclus (at his Lord's command 
 When forth he leads me with unwilling hand) 
 Deems of thy love, but whispers, while I mourn, 
 " Why do'st thou weep, for soon wilt thou return ?* 
 Go now, Achilles, boast a Lover's riame^ 
 'Whose scorn rejects the maid his hand should claim. 
 
 Si progressa forem, caperer ne forte, timebam, 
 
 Quamlibet ad Priami munus itura nurum. 
 Sed data sim, quia danda fui: tot noctibus absum, 
 
 Nee repetor ; cessas, iraque lenta tua est. 
 Ipse Menoetiades, tunc, cum tradebar, in aurem, 
 
 Quidfies? Lie parco tempore, dixit, eris, 
 Nee repetisse parum est : pugnas, ne reddar, Achille. 
 
 I nunc, et cupidi nomen amantis habe. 
 Venerunt ad te Telamone et Amyntore nati ; 
 
 Ille gradu^ropior sanguinis, ille comes; 
 
34- ERISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 In vain the son of Telamon was sent, 
 In vain Amyntor's urg'd thee to relent; 
 Thy rugged soul no ties of blood can move, 
 Deaf to the voice of friendship, and of love. 
 Nor wise Ulysses, nor his arts prevail, 
 And humble prayers, and costly presents fail ; 
 For twice ten vases thy acceptance sought, 
 Rich in refulgent ore, and highly wrought; 
 Seven tripods added, where the Artist's pride, 
 For worth and beauty, with the metal vie'd ; 
 Ten talents of pure gold the offering grace, 
 Twelve coursers ever foremost in the race ; 
 With them a Captive train of Lesbian fair 
 (To thee superfluous gift!) of beauty rare; 
 Superfluous proffer, of a royal Bride 
 Sprung from the King of Kings, to grace thy side ! 
 
 Laert&que satus: per quos comitata redirem : 
 
 Auxerunt blandas grandia dona preces: 
 Viginti fulvos operoso ex a^re lebetas; 
 
 Et tripodas septem, pondere & arte pares. 
 Addita sunt illis auri bis quinque talenta: 
 
 Bis sex assueti vincere semper equi. 
 Quodque supervacuum, forma praestante puelta 
 
 Lesbides, eversa corpora capta domo. 
 Cumque tot his(sed non opus est tibi conjuge) conj ux 
 
 Ex Agamemnoniis una puella tribus. 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 35 
 
 Do'st thou then scorn, Achilles, to receive 
 
 Me, and the ransom that thy love should give. 
 
 If, to redeem me from his hated hand, 
 
 Gifts great as these Atrid.es should demand ? ~ 
 
 Say of what crime thy once lov'd maid accus'd, 
 
 Chas'd from thy bosom weeps her dower refused ? 
 
 Whither so soon thy fickle passion flown, 
 
 Vile in thy eyes or why Briseis grown? 
 
 Does fate relentless still the wretched press, 
 
 My hopes no gale of pitying Fortune bless? 
 
 I saw thy Myrmidons, repell'd in vain, 
 
 The Mysian citties level with the plain 
 
 I saw my ccrntitry ravag'd by her foes, 
 
 And deeply mourn'd, who largely shar'd her woes. 
 
 Three valiant Youths (one Mother gave us birth) 
 
 Slaughtered I saw bestrew their native earth; 
 
 Si tibi ab Atridd pretio redimenda fuissem, 
 
 Qua? dare debueras, accipere ilia negas ? 
 Qua merui culpa fieri tibi vilis, Achille? 
 
 Quo levis a nobis tarn cito fugit amor ? 
 An miseros tristis fortuna tenaciter urget ? 
 
 Nee venit inceptis mollior aura meis ? 
 Diruta Marte tuo Lyrnessia mornia vidi : 
 
 Et fucram patriae pars ego magna meae. 
 Vidi consortes pariter gencrisque necisque 
 
 Ties cecidissc : tribus, qua? mihi, mater erat. 
 
36 BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 Destin'd one common origin to share, 
 
 One common fate was their's, the fate of war. 
 
 I saw my valiant Husband bleeding lie, 
 
 While his gor'd bosom heav'd the indignant sigh. 
 
 In thee alone, these tender ties restor'd, 
 
 In thee I view'd, a Brother, Husband, Lord. 
 
 Then by your parent Goddess of the main, 
 
 More blest,y ou swore,though captive^I should reign ; 
 
 Now, coldly bid me with my dower return, 
 
 Me, and the Grecians' costly presents spurn. 
 
 Fame too reports that from the shore are drawn 
 
 Thy ships unmoor'd, and ere to-morrow's dawn 
 
 Oer eastern cliffs it's orient lustre shed, 
 
 Thy sails to fanning breezes will be spread ; 
 
 Vidi, quantus erat, fusum tellure cruentd, 
 
 Pectora jactantem sanguinolenta virum. 
 Tot tamen amissis te compensavimus unum : 
 
 Tu dominns, tu vir, tu mihi frater eras. 
 Tu mihi, juratus per numina matris aquosae, 
 
 Utile dicebas ipse fuisse capi. 
 Scilicet ut, quamquis veniam dotata, repellas ; 
 
 Et mecum, fugias, qua3 tibi dentur, opes. 
 Quin etiam fama est, ciim crastina fulserit Eos, 
 
 Te dare nubiferis linea vela notis. 
 Quod scelus ut pavidas misera? mihi contigit aurcs, 
 
 Sanguinis atque animi pectus inane fuit. 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 3/ 
 
 Soon as the rumor pierc'd my trembling ear, 
 My lifeless frame lost every sense, but fear. 
 Thou goes't rash Man, of furious rage the sporty 
 To whom, for solace, shall I left resort ? 
 Let gaping earth absorb me in her womb, 
 Or the red bolt of angry Jove consume, 
 Ere Phthian oars the foaming billows beat, 
 And I deserted view thy parting fleet ! 
 Thee if thy country's charms and Gods invite, 
 Resolv'd no more for thankless Greece to fight, 
 O let me follow, to thy arms restor'd, 
 The blest companion of my injured Lord! 
 Can my fond cares retard thy destin'd way, 
 Or thy proud fleet my little weight delay ? 
 Be mine the patient Captive's lowly doom, 
 To teaze the wool, and labour at the loom ; 
 
 Ibis, et 6 miseram cui me, violente, relinques ? 
 
 Quis mihi desertae mite levamen erit ? 
 Devorer ante, precor, subito telluris hiatu, 
 
 Aut rutilo missi fulminis igne cremer : 
 Quam sine me Phthiis canescant aequora remis, 
 
 Et videam puppes ire relicta tuas. 
 Si tibi jam reditusque placent, patriique penates : 
 
 Non ego sum classi sarcina magna tuas. 
 Victorem captiva sequar, non nupta maritum : 
 
 Est mihi, quae lanas molliat, apta manus* 
 E 
 
38 BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 To thee be led, in wealth's and beauty's pride, 
 Of all Achaia's fair the fairest bride ; 
 Of Peleus worthy and the stock of Jove, 
 And whom thy Grandsire Nereus may approve j 
 Submissive I'll my daily task absolve, 
 Unload the distaff, and my woes revolve; 
 Still see not her, who shares thy envied bed, 
 Despoil the cherish'd honors of my head ; 
 With insults harass me, or hard commands ; 
 Favor (alas !) I hope not from her hands ! 
 Nor to her jealous fury thou resign, 
 And coldly say, that " I too once was thine !" 
 Yes let the Tyrant drive me to despair ; 
 And in thy presence rend my flowing hair, 
 Ere thou fpr ever from my eyes be torn ; 
 O leave me not deserted here to mourn ! 
 
 Inter Achai'adas longe pulcherrima matres 
 
 In thalamos conjux ibit (eatque) tuos. 
 Digna nurus socero, Jovis .ZEginseque nepote ; 
 
 Cuique senex Nereus prosocer esse velit. 
 Nos humiles famulaeque tuae datapensa trahemus; 
 
 Et minuent plenas stamina nostra colos. 
 Exagitet ne me tantum tua deprecor uxor, 
 
 Qua? mihi nescio quo non erit aequa modo. 
 Neve meos coram scindi patiare capillos : 
 
 Et leviter dicas, " Hcec quoque nostra fuitT 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 39 
 
 That worst of fears my tortur'd soul forbodes, 
 That bitterest pang my trembling bosom goads. 
 But never will thy stubborn heart relent ? 
 Behold Atrides of his wrath repent ! 
 Lo Greece, the victim of thy proud retreat, 
 Imploring lies, and prostrate at thy feet. 
 O mighty victor, now thy self subdue ; 
 Shall Hector bath'd in blood the Greeks pursue r 
 Me and thy arms, O Goddess born, resume ; 
 And drive the trembling Phrygians to the tomb. 
 Let me thy wrath appease, for whom it glows, 
 The storm of grief I raised, let me compose ; 
 Nor to my fond intreaties blush to yield, 
 Nor at a Woman's call, thy arms to wield. 
 
 Vel patiare licet; dum ne contempta relinquar. 
 
 Hie mihi vas miserse concutit ossa metus. 
 Quid tamen expectas ? Agameinnona pcenitet ira?, 
 
 Et jacet ante tuos Grascia moesta pedes. 
 Vince animos iramque tuam, qui caste ra vincis. 
 
 Quid lacerat Danaas impiger Hector opes ? 
 Arma cape, iEacida, sed me tamen ante recepta; 
 
 Et preme turbatos Marte favente viros. 
 Propter me mota est, propter me desinat ira : 
 
 Simque ego tristitiae causa modusque tuas. 
 Nee tibi turpe puta precibus succumbere nostris; 
 
 Conjugis (Enides versus in arma prece est. 
 E 2 
 
*Q BRISfelS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 Thus Meleager sought the embattled plain. 
 Nor was the prayer of Atalanta vain. 
 The tale records, a tale to thee well known, 
 Althea's rage on her devoted son. 
 For slaughter^ Brothers, how a Mother's hate, 
 IiuiTd the dread vengeance of impending fate. 
 T'was war, his aid in vain his country seeks ; 
 Her chiefs he spurns, as thou the prostrate Greeks, 
 His wife could bend the hero's haughty soul, 
 Vain are my words, thy fury to controul. 
 Nor that offends me ; often was I led 
 A lowly handmaid to a Master's bed ; 
 Ne'er of a Wife the honors did I claim, 
 Affect the empire, or usurp the name : 
 Mistress when call'd, " forbear, with titles vain, 
 To load," I cried, " a fellow Captive's chain." 
 
 Res audita mi hi, nota est tibi. Fratribus orba 
 
 Devovit nati spemque caputque parens. 
 Bellum erat : ille ferox positis secessit ab armis, 
 
 Et patriae rigida mente negavit opem. 
 Sola virum conjux flexit : felicior ilia ! 
 
 At mea pro nullo pondere verba cadunt. 
 Nee tamen indignor ; nee me pro conjuge gessi, 
 
 Saepius in domini serva vocata torum. 
 Me quaedam (memini) dominam captiva vocabat : 
 
 StrvitiOj dixi, nominu addis onus* 
 
BRISEIS 10 ACHILLES. 41 
 
 But, by my slaughtered Lord's deplor'd remains, 
 Which now a rude and scanty tomb contains ; 
 By my three brothers lost, who side by side, 
 Fell with their country, for their country died; 
 By thy lov'd head, the shrine that I revere \ 
 By mine, if ever to Achilles dear, 
 Oft join'd together in our fond embrace ; 
 By thy dread sword, destruction to my race > 
 For ever leave me if I falsely swear, 
 Ne'er did my bed the Mycenaean share. 
 Bravest of Men, should I the oath impose, 
 Would'st thou too swear, that thine no partner 
 knows ? 
 
 Per tamen ossa viri subito male tecta sepulchro, 
 
 Semper judiciis ossa verenda meis; 
 Perque trium fortes animas, mea numina, fratrum^ 
 
 Qui bene pro patria cum patriaque jacent ; 
 Perque tuum nostrumque caput, quae junximus 
 una; 
 
 Perque tuos enses, cognita tela meis ; 
 Nulla Mycenaeum sociasse cubilia mecum 
 
 Juro : fallentem deseruisse velis. 
 Si tibi nunc dicam : Fortissime tu quoquejura, 
 
 Nulla tibi sine me gaudia facta ; neges. 
 At Danai moerere putant, tibi plectra moventur: 
 
 Te tenet in tepido mollis arnica sinu. 
 
42 BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 While Greece believes her hero rage disarms. 
 
 The willing Youth a yielding fair one charms. 
 
 Better with her on downy purple rest, 
 
 And touch the lyre, and sink upon her breast, 
 
 Than the broad shield or cumbrous lance to bear^ 
 
 Or with the helmet hide his flowing hair. 
 
 Arms and the battle tire; luxurious night, 
 
 Music, and Venus, yield secure delight. 
 
 But gloiy once, not safety, was thy aim, 
 
 And sweet to thee of warlike deeds the fame. 
 
 Say, when her spoil my wretched country gave, 
 
 And me a Captive, only wer't thou brave ? 
 
 Or if thy valour with Lyrnessa falls, 
 
 Thy Fame entomb'd beneath her smoking walls? 
 
 Et si quis quadrat, quare pugnare recuses : 
 
 Pugna nocet: citharae noxque Venusque juva'nt. 
 Tutius est jacuisse toro, tenuisse puellam, 
 
 Threiciam digitis increpuisse lyram : 
 Quam manibus clypeos, et acutae cuspidis hastam, 
 
 Et galeam pressa sustinuisse coma. 
 §ed tibi pro tutis insignia facta placebant : 
 
 Partaque bellando gloria dulcis erat. 
 An tantiim, dum me caperes, fera bella probabas ?-- 
 
 Cumque mea patria laus tua victa jacet ? 
 Di melius : validoque, procor, vibrata lacerto 
 
 Transeat Iiectoreum Pelias hasta latus. 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 43 
 
 Forbid it Heaven! and, spurn'd inglorious rest, 
 Deep sink the Pelian spear in Hector's breast ! 
 Send me ye Greeks, bid me my Lord intreat, 
 I'll blend persuasion soft with kisses sweet. 
 Phoenix nor Ajax, pleading, can prevail, 
 Thy honied words, O wise Ulysses, fail \ 
 But more my circling arms, my eye, shall move, 
 And wake the fond remembrance of his love. 
 Nor, fiercer than thy Mother's parent wave, 
 Shartthoumy tears, though pour'd in silence, brave. 
 Now too with pity view the trembling maid, 
 O great Achilles, who implores thy aid : 
 Think on Briseis, nor to misery doom, 
 While lingering hours of long delay consume. 
 
 Mittite me, Dana'i; dominum legata rogabo: 
 
 Multaque mandatis oscula mista feram. 
 Plus ego quatu Phoenix, plus quamfacundusUlysses, 
 
 Plus ego quam Teucri (credite) frater agam. 
 Est aliquid collum solitis tetigisse lacertis, 
 
 Praesentisque oculos admonuisse sui. 
 Sis licet immitis, matrisque ferocior undis ; 
 
 Ut taceam, 1 aery mis comminuere meis. 
 Nunc quoque (sic omnesPeleus pater impleatannos, 
 
 Sic eat auspiciis Pyrrhus in arma tuis) 
 Respice sollicitam Brisei'da, fortis Achille, 
 
 Nee miseram lenta ferreus ure mora. 
 
44 BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 So his full course of years may Peleus run, 
 Thou view in arms renown'd thy infant son. 
 If to past love indifference cold succeed, 
 Bid her, you banish from your bosom, bleed. 
 Tis done ; already worn with wasting pains, 
 A single hope my shadowy form sustains ; 
 Of that depriv'cl, I'll seek my slaughtered Lord, 
 And my three Brothers, as my Gods ador'd. 
 But thou reflect what glory shall await 
 The stern command, that urg'd a Woman's fate* 
 Pierce then thyself my bosom with thy sword, 
 And in thy sight my reeking blood be pour'd ! 
 The stream, that still my bursting heart retains, 
 Shall freely issue from my languid veins, 
 Searched by thy sword, which, had not Pallas stay 'd, 
 Low in the dust had great At rides lay'd. 
 
 Aut, si versus amor tuus est in taedia nostri, 
 
 Quam sine te cogis vivere, coge mori. 
 Utque facis, coges, abiit corpusque colorque : 
 
 Sustinet hoc animae spes tamen una tui. 
 Qua si destituor, repetam fratresque virurnque : 
 
 Nee tibi magniflcum foemina jussa mori. 
 Cur autem jubeas ? stricto pete corpora ferro. 
 
 Est mihi, qui fosso pectore sanguis eat. 
 Me petat ille tuus, qui, si Dea passa fuisset, 
 
 Ensis in Atridae pectus iturus erat. 
 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLAS. 45 
 
 Ah ! let a suppliant Mistress rather save 
 The life, that once a conqueror's mercy gave. 
 Prey, that may better glut thy thirsty sword, 
 Troy, and proud Troy's triumphant sons, afford. 
 Thou, whether, moor'd upon the shore, remains 
 Thy fleet, or wafts thee to thy native plains, 
 Ere to the wave the pliant oar descend, 
 O bid thy captive slave her Lord attend ! 
 
 Ah ! potius serves nostram tua munera vitam : 
 Quod dederas hosti victor, arnica rogo. 
 
 Perdere quos melius possis, Neptunia praebent 
 Pergama : materiam csedis ab hoste pete. 
 
 Me modd, sive paras impellere remige classenr, 
 Sive manes, domini jure venire jube. 
 
PH^DRA 
 
 TO 
 
 HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 THESEUS, the son of JEgeus, having killed the' 
 Minotaur, escaped with Ariadne the daughter of 
 Minos king of Crete (to whom, in return for the 
 assistance she had afforded him, he had promised 
 marriage) and her sister Phcedra: but being 
 admonished by Bacchus, he left Ariadne at 
 Naxos, or as others say at Chios, and wedded 
 Phaedra — who in his absence fell violently in 
 love with Hippolytus his son by Hippolyte the 
 Amazon — to whom absorbed in the chace, and 
 neglecting all her advances, she addresses this 
 epistle. 
 
PJLEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 XXealth Amazonian Youth from her receive. 
 Health, to whom thou, and only thou can'st give; 
 Nor from the Cretan maid, who fondly sues, 
 Whate'er she trembling writes, to read refuse : 
 What, can a letter, to be fear'd, convey ? 
 Mine may, perus'd, thy toil perchance repay. 
 Foes big with rage or hope the folds unclose, 
 And read the letters they receive from foes : 
 Thus wafted fly the secrets of the soul, 
 Though mountains rise, and seas opposing roll : 
 
 Qua, nisi tu dederis, caritura est ipsa; salutem 
 
 Mittit Amazonio Cressa puella viro. 
 Perlege quodcunque est. Quid epistola lecta 
 nocebit ? 
 Te quoque, in hac aliquid, quod juvet, e»se 
 potest. 
 His arcana notis terra pelagoque feruntur : 
 
 Inspicit acceptas hostis ab hoste notas. 
 Ter tecum conata loqui, ter inutilis hsesit 
 Lingua, ter in primo destitit ore sonus. 
 F 
 
oO PHIDRA TO H1PP0LYTUS. 
 
 Thrice did my palsied tongue it's aid deny, 
 Thrice on my lips the sounds imperfect die. 
 Our soft confessions blushes should reveal, 
 And mingled shame a guiltless passion tell : 
 Spite of my blushes, I my love obey, 
 Love bids me write what shame forbad to say» 
 Love awes the immortal tenants of the skies, 
 Nor safe, to spurn the power who Jove defies. 
 While fear and doubt my labouring bosom rend, 
 . * Write/ said the god, ' the stubborn youth will bend :* 
 <^ Now let him favor ; with resistless fire 
 
 ^Mine while he fills, thy glowing veins inspire ! 
 
 "XNo social bands to burst, my impious aim ; 
 $ Enquire, and spotless thou shal't find my fame. 
 But love, that spar'd my youthful sighs and tears, 
 Now reigns the tyrant of my riper years j 
 
 Qua licet, et sequitur, pudor est miscendus amori : 
 
 Dicere qua? puduit, scribere jussit Amor. 
 Quidquid Amor jussit, non est contemnere tutum: 
 
 Regnat, et in dominos jus habet ille Deos. 
 Ille mihi primo dubitanti scribere, dixit, 
 
 Scribe ; dabit victas for reus ille manus. 
 Adsit, et, ut nostras avido fovet igne medullas, 
 
 Figat sic animos in mea vota tuos. 
 Non ego nequitia socialia fad era rumpam: 
 
 Fama (velim quaeras) crimine nostra vac&t. 
 
£H£.DRA TO HIPPOLYTU3. 5l 
 
 And, later as my conquer' d soul obeys, 
 With pangs more keen, and fiercer passion sways. 
 I burn, I burn, and in my throbbing heart, 
 A deeper wound inflicts the buried dart : 
 Thus to the yoke unwilling steers submit, 
 And the young steed impatient champs the bit. 
 My tortur'd breast thus newborn passions goad, 
 And, yet untam'd, it struggles with the load. 
 Love trains from tender years the practis'd heart, 
 Late when he points, with fury wings the dart ; 
 Thou of my frailty the first fruit receive, 
 To me of thine the virgin offering give : 
 For thee the fond libation I prepared- 
 Consent thy portion of the guilt to share. 
 
 Venit Amor gravius, quo serius; urimur intus, 
 
 Urimur ; et caecum pectora vulnus habent. 
 Scilicet ut teneros lasdunt juga prima juvencos, 
 
 Fraenaque vix patitur de grege captus equus : 
 Sic male vixque subit primos rude pectus amores: 
 
 Sarcinaque haec animo non sedet apta meo. 
 Ars fit, ubi a. teneris crimen condiscitur annis : 
 
 Quae venit exacto tempore, pejus amat. 
 Tu nova servatas capies libamina famae; 
 
 Et pariter nostrum fiet uterque nocens. 
 Est aliquid, plenis pomaria carpere ramis, 
 
 Et tenui primam deligere ungue rosam. 
 r 2 
 
55 PHJ&DRA TO HIPPOLYTtTS. 
 
 Blest am I, still who boast a spotless name, 
 
 If new disgrace must brand my treasur'd fame, 
 
 That you, O loveliest youth, the crime inspire, 
 
 No base adulterer fans the unhallow'd fire : 
 
 More than the crime, the wretched maid who strays, 
 
 To shame a base adulterer betrays. 
 
 To me would Juno yield the Thunderer's love, 
 
 Thee I'd prefer, Hippolytus, to Jove. 
 
 Scarce thou'lt believe what new pursuits engage ; 
 
 War with the savage brood I thirst to wage : 
 
 To quiver' d Dian now my vows I pour, 
 
 But thee I follow, while I her adore ; 
 
 Now with my toils the thicket I surround, 
 
 Now o'er the mountains urge the fleetest hound ; 
 
 Si tamen ille prior, quo me sine crimine gessi, 
 
 Candor ab insolita labe notandus erat ; 
 At bene successit, digno qudd adurimur igni : 
 
 Pejus adulterio turpis adulter abest. 
 Si mihi concedat Juno fratremque virumque ; 
 
 Hippolytum videor praepositura Jovi. 
 Jam quoque (vix credas) ignotas mutor in artes: 
 
 Est mihi per srevas impetus ire feras. 
 Jam mihi prima Dea est, arcu prassignis aduncc* 
 
 Delia. Judicium subsequor ipsa tuum. 
 In ncmus ire libet, pressisque in retia cervis* 
 
 liortari celercs per juga summa canes; 
 
PIIiEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 5 
 
 Boldly my arm the quivering javelin throws; 
 On the bare ground my weary limbs repose. 
 Oft the swift coursers foaming jaws I rein, 
 The chariot whirling o'er the dusty plain. 
 Now like the priestess, when the god prevails, 
 Of maddening Bacchus; or in Ida's vales, 
 That sounds the cymbals to Cybele dear ; 
 Wandering and wildly habited appear; 
 Or as the frantic maid, the horned fawns, 
 Or Dryads, seen, upon her native lawns. 
 My fury ceas'd, the past excess I learn, 
 And know the cause was love; and silent burn. 
 Our race's fate perchance I thus obey, 
 To Venus their devoted tribute pay. 
 
 ». ■ 'i ■ . 1. 1 , . . . n . ... , 
 
 Aut tremulum excusso jaculum vibrare lacerto; 
 
 Aut in graminea ponere corpus humo. 
 Saepe juvat versare leves in pulvere currus, 
 
 Torquentem fraenis ora fugacis equi. 
 Nunc feror, ut Bacchi furiis Elelei'des acta?, 
 
 Quseque sub Idaeo tympana colie movent. 
 Aut quas semideae Dryad es, Faunique bicornes, 
 
 Numine contactas attonuere suo. 
 Namque mihi referunt, cum se furor ille remisit, 
 
 Omnia. Me tacitam conscius urit Amor. 
 Forsitan hunc generis fato reddamus amorem ; 
 
 Et Venus e tota gente tributa petat. 
 T 3 
 
54f PHiEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS, 
 
 Thus with thy blood thy fires, Europa, blend. 
 Thine on thy child, Pasiphae, descend. 
 A milk white bull the form of Jove belied ; 
 And bore Europa through the foaming tide. 
 The God the father of our race became, 
 The parted world receiv'd the virgin's name. 
 The lowing husband of the jealous herd, 
 With passion blind, Pasiphae prefer'd. 
 A monster issu'd from the foul embrace, 
 Load to her womb, and to her kind disgrace. 
 In vain my sire with wily art had 4 wound 
 The tortuous prison that iEgides found. 
 The maze of death thy clue> fond maid, explores, 
 For him who leaves thee upon desert shores* 
 I, lest from Minos I degenerate prove, 
 Close the sad story of incestuous love. 
 
 Jupiter Europen (prima est ea gentis origo) 
 
 Dilexit, tauro dissimulante Deum. 
 Pasiphae mater decepto subdita tauro, 
 
 Enixa est utero crimen onusque suo. 
 Perfidus iEgides, dueentia fila secutus, 
 
 Curva mese fugit tecta sororis ope. 
 En ego nunc, ne forte parum Minoi'a credar, 
 
 In socias leges ultima gentis eo* 
 Hoc quoque fatale est: placuit domus una duabusj 
 
 Me £ua forma capit, capta parente soror* 
 
*H.£BRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 55 
 
 Sure 'twas ordain'd, and fatal are the fires, 
 
 In kindred bosoms that thy race inspires. 
 
 Rich with our spoil the double trophy rear, 
 
 Theseus, and son of Theseus, triumph here. 
 
 My sister prov'd thy father's plighted truth, 
 
 I for thy beauty burn, O lovely youth : 
 
 Still peace, perchance, had in my bosom reign'd, 
 
 Had then the Cretan shores my steps detain'd, 
 
 What time to Ceres holds her hallow'd rites, 
 
 And thither proud Eleusis thee invites. 
 
 Then, nor till then unknown, the subtle flame 
 
 Pierc'd every limit of my yielding frame ; 
 
 White was thy robe, and flowers adorn'd thy head, 
 
 O'er thy young cheeks ingenuous blushes spread. 
 
 Thesides Theseusque duas rapuere sorores. 
 
 Ponite de nostra bina tropica domo. 
 Tempore, quo vobis inita est Cerealis Eleusin, 
 
 Gnosia me vellem detinuisset humus. 
 Tunc mihi praecipue (nee non tamen ante pla- 
 cebas) 
 
 Acer in extremis ossibus haesit amor. 
 Candida vestis erat, praecincti flore capilli : 
 
 Flava verecundus tinxerat ora rubor. 
 Quemque vocant aliae vultum rigidumque tru- 
 cemque, 
 
 Pro rigido, Phaedra judice, fortis erat» 
 
£6 PHiEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Harsh that to others seem'd and fierce the look, 
 To partial Phaedra fortitude bespoke. 
 Begone ye youths, who plait your scented hair, 
 Whose dress, like woman's, is your only care. 
 Such arts by manly beauty should be scorn'd, 
 Best by a manly negligence adorn'd. 
 Thee best becomes thy stern but polish'd brow, 
 Locks that unheeded lie, where'er they flow ; 
 And, lightly scatter' d o'er thy glowing face, 
 Dust, to thy downy cheek that adds a grace. 
 With raptures then upon thy form I gaze, 
 When the fierce steed thy skilful hand obeys ; 
 His struggling neck while bending to the rein, 
 In narrower orbs, he treads the measur'd plain. 
 When from your robe your valiant arm you bare, 
 And hurl the javelin through the parting air, 
 
 Sint procul a nobis juvenes, ut fcemina, compti ; 
 
 Fine coli modico forma virilis amat. 
 Te tuus iste rigor, positique sine arte capilli, 
 
 Et levis egregio pulvis in ore decet. 
 Sive ferocis equi luctantia colla recurvas ; 
 
 Exiguo flexos miror in orbe pedes. 
 Seu lentum valid o torques hastile lacerto ; 
 
 Ora ferox in se versa lacertus habet. 
 Sive tenes lato venabula cornea ferro : 
 
 Denique ; nostra juvat lumiiia, quicquid agas. 
 
PHiEDUA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 5? 
 
 Your nervous arm, with transport fired, I view ; 
 Fix'd are my looks, my soul is nVd, on you : 
 All that you touch I love, your toils, your spear ; 
 All that you do to these fond eyes is dear. 
 Leave but thy fierceness in the thorny .wood, 
 Nor slaughter Phaedra with the savage brood. 
 Why should cold Dian all thy cares invite, 
 And rob soft Venus of a dearer rite ? 
 The powers of man incessant labor strains, 
 Love sooths your toils, and love rewards your pains ? 
 Your own Diana imitate, and know 
 She to preserve it's force, unbends her bow* 
 Like thee in woods was Cephalus renown'd, 
 (Like thine his arrows seldom failM to wound.) 
 
 Tu modo duritiem silvis depone jugosis : 
 
 Non sum materia digna perire tud. 
 Quid juvat incinctae studia exercere Diana?; 
 
 Et Veneri numeros eripuisse suos ? 
 Quod caret alterni requie, durabile non est. 
 
 Haec reparat vires, fessaque membra novat. 
 Arcus (et anna tuae tibi sunt imitanda Diana?) 
 
 Si nunquam cesses tendere, mollis erit. 
 Clarus erat silvis Cephalus, multasque per herbam 
 
 Conciderant, illo percutiente, ferae. 
 Nee tamen Aurora? male se praebebat amandum; 
 
 Ibat ad hunc sapiens a sene Diva viro. 
 
58 PHiEDRA TO HIFPOLYTUS. 
 
 Yet not a churl the wise Aurora fled, 
 
 Who left for his, an aged husband's bed. 
 
 Oft underneath the conscious oak reclin'd, 
 
 In fond embraces, Citherea join'd 
 
 With Cinyra's son, nor shun'd the grassy bed, 
 
 That chance, to soft repose inviting, spread. 
 
 A pledge to love and Atalanta due, 
 
 The Arcadian monster Meleager slew. 
 
 Our names with these let Venus pleas'd record ; 
 
 Woods, without Venus, savage joys afford. 
 
 Let me attend thee ; nor the rocky height, 
 
 Me, nor the boar's tremendous tusks, affright. 
 
 The narrowing coast where parting ocean bounds, 
 
 And either sea's opposing wave resounds, 
 
 Saepe sub ilicibus Venerem, Cinyraque creatum, 
 
 Sustinuit positos quaelibet herba duos. 
 Arsit et (Enides in Maenalia Atalanta : 
 
 Ilia ferae spolium pignus amoris habet. 
 Nos quoque jam primum turba numeremur in ista. 
 
 Si Venerem tollas, rustica silva tua est. 
 Ipsa conies veniam : nee me salebrosa movebunt 
 
 Saxa, nee obliquo dente timendus aper. 
 iEquora bina suis oppugnant fluctibus Isthmon, 
 
 Et tenuis tellus audit utrumque mare. 
 Hie tecum Trcezena colam Pittheia regna : 
 
 Jam nunc est patria gratior ilia mea. 
 
PHJEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 59 
 
 Realms, that thy Grandson Pittheus rul'd of yore, 
 
 To me more grateful than my native shore, 
 
 Troezena ; there with thee O let me reign ! 
 
 Theseus is absent, absent will remain. 
 
 He to his dear Pirithous is gone, 
 
 For Theseus loves Pirithous alone, 
 
 Phaedra no more ; too plain the proofs appear; 
 
 To him, no more Hippolytus is dear. 
 
 Nor lightly injur' d thou nor I, complain, 
 
 Great are the woes from him that both sustain : 
 
 A murder' d brother still must I deplore ; 
 
 A Sister left upon a desert shore: 
 
 The first in valor of the armed fair 
 
 Bore thee, and well a son like thee might bear. 
 
 Tempore abest, aberitque diu, Neptunius heros : 
 
 Ilium Piritho'i detinet ora sui. 
 Praeposuit Theseus (nisi si manifesto negamus) 
 
 Pirithoiim Phsedrse, Pirithoiimque tibi. 
 Sola nee haec nobis injuria venit ab illo. 
 
 In magnis lssi rebus uterque sumus. 
 Ossa mei fratris clava perfracta trinodi 
 
 Sparsit humi : soror est praeida relicta feris. 
 Prima sccurigeras inter virtute puellas 
 
 Te peperit, nati digna vigore parens. 
 Si quadras, ubi sit; Theseus latus ense peregit : 
 
 Nee tanto mater pignore tuta fuit. 
 
60 *Hi£DRA TO HIPPOLYTt/S. 
 
 Her fate enquire, and know by him she died, 
 Know with his sword he pierc'd thy parents side. 
 Nor could the tenderest pledge thy mother save, 
 Nor the due rights of marriage Theseus gave : 
 Why? but lest thou, succeeding to his fame, 
 Heir of his valor, should'st his empire claim. 
 I brought thee brothers, but 'twas he who rear'd| 
 O, ere the hateful progeny appeal 'd,, 
 Fairest of things, to rob thee of thy right, 
 In the same hour that usher' d it to light, 
 Kent by the throes that gave my offspring breathy 
 Oh, had I found in them, the pangs of death! 
 Go now revere a father's sacred bed, 
 Bid me a husband's guard, from mine who fled! 
 Nor let vain names of Stepdame and of son, 
 Teach thee with horror my embrace to shun. 
 
 At nee nupta quidem, taedaque accepta jugali. 
 
 Cur, nisi ne caperes regna patcrna no thus ? 
 Addidit et fratres ex me tibi: quos tamen omne* 
 
 Non ego tollendi causa, sed ille fuit. 
 
 utinam nocitura tibi, pulcherrime rerum, 
 In medio nisu viscera rupta forent ! 
 
 1 nunc, i, meriti lectum reverere parentis : 
 
 Quern fugit, et factis abdicat ille suis. 
 
 Nee, quia privigno videar coitura noverca, 
 
 Terruerint animos nomina vana tuos. 
 
PHJRDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 6i 
 
 Such rustic scruples with old Saturn fell, 
 EnlighterTd ages shall the mist dispel. 
 Jove sanctions all, and in immortal arms, 
 A brother clasps a wedded sister's charms. 
 Firmly the pair unite, howe'er allied, 
 In bands that Venus has presiding tied. 
 Her aid implore ; nor need we to reveal ; 
 And names our fond endearments may conceal ; 
 If seen the son of Theseus to embrace ; 
 'Tis but the love I bear, and owe his race. 
 Thy access here no lingering day retards, 
 A husband's door no surly Argus guards. 
 
 Ista vetus pietas, aevo moritura futuro, 
 
 Rustica Saturno regna tenente, fuit. 
 Jupiter esse pium statuit, quodcumque juvaret: 
 
 Et fas omne facit fratre marita soror. 
 Ilia coit flrma generis junctura catena, 
 
 Imposuit nodos cui Venus ipsa suos. 
 Nee labor est celare, licet; pete munus ab ilia ; 
 
 Cognato poterit nomine culpa tegi. 
 Viderit amplexos aliquis? laudabimur ambo. 
 
 Dicar privigno flda noverca meo. 
 Non tibi per tenebras duri reseranda mariti 
 
 Janua, non custos decipiendus erit. 
 Ut tenuit domus unaduos, domus una tenebit. 
 
 Oscula aperta dabas, oscula aperta d- oi.. 
 G 
 
62 PHAEDRA TO HIPPOLYTTTS. 
 
 Blest underneath one roof we still may live f 
 
 Freely the kiss receive, and freely give. 
 
 Praise shall attend thee to my chamber led, 
 
 Nor censure follow to a Mothers bed. 
 
 Crown but my wishes, nor my bliss delay, 
 
 And Love, my tyrant, smooth thy thornless way ! 
 
 To prayers, thy humble suitor, I descend; 
 
 Where now my boasted pride that scorn'd to bend * 
 
 Long with the guilty flame resolv'd I strove, 
 
 (All what avail our best resolves in love!) 
 
 A royal suppliant now thy knees embrace, 
 
 A lover heeds nor dignity nor place. 
 
 Begone my scruples; modesty retires, 
 
 Nor holds the contest with unblushing fires. 
 
 Tutus eris mecum, laudemque merebere culpi: 
 
 Tu licet in lecto conspiciare meo. 
 Tolle moras tantum, properataque feed era junge. 
 
 Qui mihi nunc sasvit, sic tibi parcat Amor. 
 Non ego dedignor supplex huimlisque precari ! 
 
 Heu! ubi nunc fast us; altaque verba jacent ? 
 Et pugnare din, nee me submittere culpae, 
 
 Certa fui : certi si quid haberet Amor. 
 Victa precor, genibusque tuis regalia tendo 
 
 Bracbia: Quid deceat, non videt ullus amans. 
 Dcpuckiit : profugusque pudor sua signa relinquit. 
 
 Da veniam fassae, duraque corda doma. 
 
PHXDHA TO K1PPOLYTUS. 6$ 
 
 Forgive the bold confession they extort: 
 Bend thy tough heart, nor with my passion sport. 
 Minos my sire, what boots thy splendid lot, 
 Lord of the seas, that Jove thy sire begot ? 
 Or he my grandsire, whose refulgent ray 
 Beams on his front, and lights the genial day I 
 Low lies my birth by tyrant love opprest ; 
 Let that awake compassion in thy breast : 
 Reproach and scorn let wretched Phaedra share, 
 Her blameless ancestors, thy mercy spare : 
 Their gifts accept; I throw them at thy feet ; 
 Be thou, Hippolytus, the Lord of Crete ! 
 Hear me, by Venus hear, whom I adore, 
 So her who spurns thee ne'er mayst thou implore! 
 
 Quo mihi, quodgenitor, qui possidet sequora, Minos ? 
 
 Quod veniant proavi fulmina torta manu ? 
 Quod sit avus, radiis frontem vallatus acutis, 
 
 Purpureo tepidum qui movet axe diem ? 
 Nobilitas sub amore jacet. Miserere priorum: 
 
 Et, mihi si non vis parcere, parce meis. 
 Est mihi dotalis tellus Jovis insula Crete. 
 
 Serviat Hippolyto regia tota nieo. 
 Flecte feros animos. Potuit couumpere taurum 
 
 Mtter: eris tauro savior ipse truci ? 
 Per Venerem parcas oro, quae pluriiua mecum est: 
 
 Sic nunquam, quae te sperncre possii, ar^cs. 
 G 2 
 
6*4 PHADRA TO HIPPOLYTtTS. 
 
 So to thy vows may nimble Dian true, 
 Give the lov'd prey thy ceaseless toils pursue ! 
 So, while the mountain Pans, and Satyrs aid, 
 The bleeding boar upon the ground be laid ! 
 So, when you thirst, though all the fair you spurn, 
 May smiling nymphs present the flowing urn ! 
 My sighs, my tears I add to abject prayer, 
 Think that you see them fall, and Phaedra spare. 
 
 Sic tibi secretis agilis Dea saltibus adsit, 
 
 Silvaque perdendas praebeat alta feras. 
 Sic faveant Satyri, montanaque numina Panes : 
 
 Et cadat adversa cuspide fossus aper. 
 Sic tibi dent Nymphae (quamvis odisse puella* 
 
 Diceris) arentem quae levet unda sitim. 
 Addimus his lacrymas precibus quoque: verba 
 precantis 
 
 Perlegis, et lacrymas finge videre meas. 
 
(ENONE 
 
 TO 
 
 PARIS. 
 
 G 3 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 HECUBA, t he wife of Priam, being big with Paris, 
 dreamed that she was delivered of a firebrand, 
 which was to burn Troy; and the oracle declaring 
 that the child should bring destruction upon his 
 country, Priam commanded it to be exposed to 
 wild beasts ) but the mother, Hecuba, contrived 
 that her son should be preserved, and secretly 
 educated amongst the Icing's shepherds upon mount 
 Ida : where y being grown up, he fell in love with 
 (Enone, whom he forsook, xohen Helen xvas pro- 
 mised him by Venus, as a reivard for deciding in 
 her favour against Juno and Minerva. The de- 
 serted Nymph therefore thus addresses him — 
 
CENONE TO PARIS. 
 
 Say dos't thou read; or does thy jealous bride 
 Frowning forbid? ah read! though Helen chide! 
 No letter speeded by offended kings 
 Here proud defiance from Mycenae brings ; 
 From wrong' d CEnone flow these mournful strains, 
 A nymph renown'd on Phrygia's fertile plains, 
 To her own Paris; if to call thee mine 
 Still thou permit; alas! I once was thine ! 
 What cruel god my fondest vows has crost ? 
 Thee, by what crime, have I for ever lost ? 
 Patience the woes we merit should sustain, 
 But injur* d innocence may well complain. 
 
 Perlegis ? An conjux prohibet nova ? perlege : nonest 
 
 Ista Mycenaea littera facta manu. 
 Pegasis CEnone, Phrygiis celeberrima sylvis, 
 
 Laesa queror de te, si sinis ipse, meo. 
 Quis Deus opposuit nostris sua numina votis ? 
 
 Ne tua permaneam, quod mihi crimen obest ? 
 Leniter, ex merito quicquid patiare, ferendum est : 
 
 Quae venit indignae poena, dolenda venit. 
 Nondum tantus eras, cum, te contenta marito, 
 
 Edita de magno flumine Nympha fui. 
 
6S CENONE TO PARIS. 
 
 Not then so great, the son of Priam now, 
 A slave you were, when I (the truth avow) 
 Deign'd, though a nymph and from the immortal 
 
 wave 
 Of mighty Xanthus sprung, to wed a slave. 
 Oft under trees amid our flocks when laid, 
 Of mingled leaves and grass our bed we made : 
 Oft on the fragrant hay in slumbers lost, 
 The humble cot Kas screen' d us from the frost. 
 Who shew'd you thickets fittest for the chace ? 
 To craggy dens the savage brood to trace ? 
 Oft by your side your meshy toils I rear'd, 
 Oft o'er the mountain tops your dogs I cheer'd. 
 
 Qui nunc Priamides (adsit reverentia vero) 
 
 Servus eras. Servo nubere Nympha tuli. 
 Saepe greges inter requievimus arbore tecti, 
 
 Mistaque cum foliis prsebuit hepba torum. 
 Saepe super stramen foenoque jacentibus alto 
 
 Defensa est humili cana pruina casa. 
 Quis tibi monstrabat saltus venatibus aptos, 
 
 Et tegeret catulos qua fera rupe suos ? 
 Retia saepe comes maculis distincta tetendi; «* 
 
 Saepe citos egi per juga longa canes. 
 Incisae servent a te mea nomina fagi ; 
 
 Et legor (Enone fake notata tud. 
 Et quantum trunci, tantum mea nomina crescunt : 
 
aNONE TO PARIS. 6Q 
 
 Vou bade the wounded beech a word retain, 
 
 Read, and rever'd by every passing swain: 
 
 As grows the trunk still grows (Enone's name ; 
 
 Rise up ye trees, and justify my claim. 
 
 Well I remember where a poplar stands, 
 
 That bears a record graven by your hands : 
 
 Flourish, O poplar, on the margin green, 
 
 Thou, on whose rugged bark these lines are seen; 
 
 M When Paris lives GEnone to forego, 
 
 Back to his fountain head shall Xanthus flow:" 
 
 Be refluent Xanthus, back ye waters borne, 
 
 Paris has left the widow'd nymph to mourn. 
 
 That day decided on my wretched fate ; 
 
 Thence of chang'd love the killing frost I date; 
 
 When the three goddesses, in evil hour, 
 
 Made thee the umpire of disputed power ; 
 
 Crescite, et in titulos surgite recta meos. 
 Populus est (memini) fluviali consita ripa, 
 
 Est in qua nostri litera scripta memor. 
 Popule, vive precor, quae consita margine ripa?, 
 
 Hoc in rugoso cortice carmen habes : 
 Cum Paris (Enone poterit spirare relictd, 
 
 Ad font em Xanthi versa recurret aqua. 
 Xanthe, retro propera ; versseque recurrite 
 lymphs, 
 
 Sustinet (Enonen deseruissc Paris» 
 
fO (EtfOSTE TO PARIS. 
 
 Juno and Venus, and in naked charms 
 Minerva came, more graceful deck'd with arms. 
 My bosom shudder'd, and, with horror cold, 
 My limbs all trembled as the tale yon told. 
 Then for advice, nor moderate was my fear, 
 The wrinkled hag I sought, and aged seer ; 
 The wrinkled hag and aged seer agree 
 My fears were just, all boded ill to me. 
 The lofty Pine descends, the beams are cleav'd, 
 And on the azure waves your ships received ; 
 You wept at parting, do not that deny, 
 Your present love your cheeks might deeper dye ; 
 
 Ilia dies fatum miseras mihi dixit : ab illa\ 
 
 Pessima mutati coepit amoris hyerns : 
 Qua Venus et Juno, sumptisque decentior armis 
 
 Venit in arbitrium nuda Minerva tuum. 
 Attoniti micuere sinus, gelidusque cucurrit, 
 
 Ut mihi nana.ti, dura per ossa tremor. 
 Consuhai (neque enim modice terrebar) anusque, 
 
 Longaevosque senes : constitit esse nefas. 
 Caesa abies, sectaeque trabes, et, classe parata, 
 
 Ca?rula ceratas accipit unda rates. 
 Flesti discedens: hoc saltern parce negare. 
 
 Praeterito magis est iste pudendus amor. 
 Et flesti, et nostros vidisti flentis ocellos : 
 
 Miscuimus lacrymas moestus uterque suas. 
 
CENONE TO PARIS. yi 
 
 Yes you did weep, nor did you weep alone, 
 Our tears we mingled, for our grief was one : 
 To the lov'd elm ne'er faster clang the vine, 
 Than did thy circling arms my neck entwine. 
 The sailors smil'd, how oft did you declare 
 The wind detained you, but the wind was fair. 
 How oft recall me, feigning to dismiss, 
 How oft receive, and give, the parting kiss ! 
 Still in my fond embraces as you hung, 
 How faintly cried ' farewell' your faltering tongue! 
 Your canvas, flagging from the lofty mast, 
 Rose, by the gently springing gale, embrac'd ; 
 The main resounded with the dashing oar, 
 Whose frequent stroke upturn'd the billows hoar ; 
 Far as they can, my straining eyes pursue 
 Your parting sails, my tears the sands bedew. 
 
 Non sic appositis vincitur vitibus ulmus, 
 
 Ut tua sunt collo brachia nexa meo. 
 Ah ! quoties, cum te vento quererere teneri^, 
 
 Riserunt comites ! ille secundus erat. 
 Oscula dimissae quoties repetita dedisti ! 
 
 Quam vix sustinuit dicere lingua, Vale ! 
 Aura levis rigido pendentia lintea malo 
 
 Suscitat ; et remis eruta canet aqua. 
 Prosequor infelix oculis abeuntia vela, 
 
 Qua licet ; et lacrymis humet arena meis. 
 
72 (EtfONE TO PARIS. 
 
 I woo the Nereids soon to bring you home, 
 And, to my sorrow, but too soon you come : 
 My vows have brought thee, but another charms, 
 My cares preserved thee for a harlot's arms. 
 A mountain rises near, whose craggy brow 
 Surveys, and awes, the unfathom'd main below; 
 Here first your sails I knew, with rapture seen, 
 And long'd to rush th rough waves that roll'd between . 
 When lo, not worn by you, the purple dye 
 Flam'd from the prow upon my dazzled eye. 
 Nearer and nearer to the land you drew; 
 A woman's features now I trembling view ; 
 
 Utque celer venias, virides Nereidas oro : 
 
 Scilicet ut venias in mea damna celer. 
 Votis ergo meis, alii rediture, redisti ? 
 
 Hei mihi, pro dira pellice blanda fui ; 
 Aspicit immensum moles nativa profundum ; 
 
 Mons fuit : sequorei's ilia resistit aquis. 
 Hinc ego vela tuae cognovi prima carina? : 
 
 Et mihi per fluctus impetus ire fuit. 
 Dum moror, in summa fulsit mihi purpura prori. 
 
 Pertimui : cultus non erat ille tuus. 
 Fit propior, terrasque cita ratis attigit aura : 
 
 Foemineas vidi corde tremente genas. 
 Non satis id fuerat (quid enim furiosa morabar?) 
 
 Haerebat gremio turpis arnica tuo. 
 
(EKONE tO PARIS, 73 
 
 Distracted wherefore did I longer stay ? 
 The shameless wanton in your bosom lay ; 
 Then mine I beat, my robe, indignant, tear, 
 And wound my cheeks, and rend my flowing hair. 
 With loud laments make sacred Ida ring, 
 Thence to my native rocks my sorrows bring. 
 The woes her crimes have caus'd may Helen bear, 
 Like me deserted weep, like me despair! 
 Those now, who follow you o'er stormy seas, 
 And leave their lawful lords, your fancy please ; 
 Poor on the mountains when our flocks we drove, 
 The fond (Enone was your only love. 
 I am not dazzled by the gold that glares 
 On the proud palace which another shares. 
 
 Tunc vero rupique sinus, et pectora planxi, 
 
 Et secui madidas ungue rigente genas : 
 Implevique sacram querulis ululatibus Iden. 
 
 Illinc has lacrymas in mea saxa tuli. 
 Sic Helene doleat, desertaque conjuge ploret ; 
 
 Quaeque prior nobis intulit, ipsa ferat. 
 Nunc tibi conveniunt, quae te per aperta sequantur 
 
 iEquora, legitimos destituantque viros. 
 At ciim pauper eras, armentaque pastor agebas, 
 
 Nulla, nisi OEnone, pauperis uxor erat. 
 Non ego miror opes, nee me tua regia tangir, 
 
 Nee de tot Priami dicar ut una nurus. 
 H 
 
74* CENON^TO PARIS. 
 
 Me with no raptures wealth or power inspire ; 
 Nor swells 1113^ bosom with the vain desire, 
 Of Priam's many daughters to be one, 
 A daughter wedded to a hundredth son ! 
 Not that my blood would Priam's lineage stain, 
 Or justly Hecuba a nymph disdain. 
 Conscious of inborn worth I dare with pride 
 The wish avow to reign a royal bride. 
 My charms may well a prince's vows repay; 
 My hand, with grace, the envied sceptre sway. 
 Nor thou despise me, that, of high degree, 
 J deign'd thy humble fortunes share with thee ; 
 Though oft our couch the beechy foliage spread, 
 More fit am I to press a royal bed: 
 Can you with Helen as with me repose 
 Secure from fleets, that bear avenging foes ? 
 
 Non tamenut Priamus Nymphas socer esse recuset ; 
 
 Aut Hecuba? fuerim dissimulanda nurus. 
 Dignaque sum, et cupio fieri matrona potentis ; 
 
 Sunt mihi, quas possint sceptra decere, manus, 
 •Nee me, faginea quod tecum fronde jacebam, 
 
 Despice : purpureo sum magis apta toro. 
 Denique, tutus amor meus est tibi : nulla parantur 
 
 Bella, nee ultrices advehit unda- rates. 
 Tvndaris infestis fugitiva reposcitur armis ; 
 
 Mac venit in thalamos dote superba tuos. 
 
CENONE TO PARIS. ~ J 
 
 fought by the thirsty swords of injur'd kings. 
 This is the portion she in triumph brings ; 
 Whom if you must not yet restore, enquire 
 Of all your brothers, and your aged sire ; 
 Of Priam's self though partial to your youth ) 
 The brave Deiphobus shall own the truth ; 
 Counsel receive at valiant Hector's hand, 
 Or of the sage Polydamas demand ; 
 Learn what the grave Antenor may advise, 
 Whom age has taught, experience render'd wise* 
 Base to betray your country's cause for lust, 
 Your's is a shameful plea, the husband's, just ; 
 }sor fondly deem that she, so quickly won, 
 The yielding Helen, will be thine alone. 
 As now Atrides by his guest betray'd 
 Loudly complains of his dishonour'd bed, 
 
 Qua? si sit Danai's reddenda, vel Hectora fratrem^ 
 
 Vel cum Dei'phobo Polydamanta roga. 
 Quid gravis Antenor, Priam us quid suadeat ipse y 
 
 Consule ; queis aetas longa magistra fuit. 
 Turpe rudimentum patriae praponere raptam. 
 
 Causa pudenda tua est; justa vir arma movet. 
 Nee tibi, si sapias, fidam promitte Laccenam, 
 
 Qjae sit in amplexus tain cito versa tuos. 
 Ut minor Atrides temerati fad era lecti 
 
 Clamat, et externa lapsus amore doiet ; 
 h 2 
 
76 CENONE TO PARIS* 
 
 Loudly shalt thou complain ; nor art, nor cost, 
 Can e'er restore a woman's honour lost : 
 She burns for thee; Atrides whom she lov'd, 
 (Good easy man!) the widow'd husband prov'd. 
 Hector's example should have fir'd thy breast, 
 CEnone, like Andromache, been blest. 
 Lighter art thou than leaves the ground that strow^ 
 The sapless leaves, when winds autumnal blow; 
 More weight than thou the chaffy ear retains, 
 Dried by perpetual suns in parching plains. 
 Thus did thy frantic sister, while her hair 
 Stream' d to the winds, my wretched fate declare j 
 
 Tu quoque clamabis. Nulla reparabilis arte 
 
 Laesa pudicitia est : deperit ilia semel. 
 Ardet amore tui ? sic et Menelaon amavit. 
 
 Nunc jacet in viduo credulus ille toro. 
 Felix Andromache, certo bene nupta marito ! 
 
 Uxor ad exemplum fratris habenda fui. 
 Tu levior foliis, tunc, cum, sine pondere succi, 
 
 Mobilibus ventis arida facta cadunt. 
 Et minus est in te quam summa pondus arista* , 
 
 Quae levis assiduis solibus usta riget. 
 Hoc tua (nam recolo) quondam germana canebat, 
 
 Sic mihi diffusis vaticinata comis : 
 Quid facis, CEnojie? quid arence se?nina mundasf 
 
 Non jprofecturis littora bub us aras. 
 
(EKONE TO PARIS. 7f 
 
 u Ah ! why (Enone sow with fruitless pain 
 The barren sands, and plough the shore in vain ? 
 The Grecian heifer on thy labours treads, 
 O haste, avert the ruin that she spreads \ 
 The Grecian heifer comes, her steps I trace, 
 Thee to destroy, thy country, and thy race, 
 Ye pitying gods overwhelm the adulterous prow ; 
 Lo ! thence of Phrygian blood what torrents flow V* 
 Away her handmaids tore the raving fair; 
 Erect with horror stood my golden hair. 
 Too true alas! were her prophetic strains r 
 That Grecian heifer in my pasture reigns; 
 Though fam'd for beauty, an adulteress vile, 
 Whom from her gods a stranger could beguile ; 
 
 Graiajuvenca venit, qua? te, patriamque, domumque, 
 
 Perdat ; To, pro/iibe ; Graiajuvenca venit. 
 Dum licet, obsccenam ponto y Di, mergite puppim : 
 
 Heu quantum Phrygii sanguinis ilia vehit ! 
 Dixerat : In cursu famula? rapuere furenrenu 
 
 At mihi rlaventes diriguere comse. 
 Ah nimium vates misery mihi vera fuisti ! 
 
 Possidet en saltus ilia juvenca meos. 
 Sit facie quamvis insignis, adultera certe est; 
 
 Deseruit socios hospite capta Deos. 
 Illam de patria Theseus (nisi nomine fallor) 
 
 Nescio quis Theseus, abstulit ante sua» 
 h 3 
 
7S CENO^E TO PARIS. 
 
 Her too a certain Theseus (easy prey 1) 
 (Theseus if right I name him.) bore away. 
 Grant that an amorous youth with scorn repaid,, 
 llesign'd inviolate a blooming maid ; 
 Force though she plead, and thus would blame 
 
 escape, 
 She, who so oft is ravish'd, courts the rape. 
 Whence all this knowledge, how these truths I 
 
 prove, 
 Ask, and I answer in a word, I love. 
 True, though betray'd, CEnone still remains, 
 Thy base example, faithless youth, disdains ; 
 Me the lewd herd of satyrs swift pursue, 
 Lost in the woods I vanish from their view ; 
 Nor with the spiral pine on Ida crown'd 
 Hast thou more favor, horned Faunus, found. 
 
 A juvene et cupido credatur reddita virgo. 
 
 Unde hoc compererim tarn bene, quaeris? amo. 
 Vim licet appelles, et culpam nomine veles ; 
 
 Quae toties rapta est, praebuit ipsa rapL 
 At manet CEnone fallenti casta marito : 
 
 Et poteras falli legibus ipse tuis. 
 -Me Satyri celeres (sylvis ego tecta latebam) 
 
 Quaesierunt rapido turba proterva pede : 
 Cornigerumque caput pinu praecinctus acuta 
 
 Faunus, in immensis qua tumet Ida jugis. 
 
(EKONE TO PARIS. 79 
 
 He, from whose hands proud Ilion's bulwarks rose, 
 Lov'd me and forc'd, my fierce resistance knows, 
 My pointed nails his radiant tresses tore, 
 The marks his visage of my fury bore. 
 Gold to atone the wrong my soul abhorr'd ; 
 Ingenuous beauty spurns a base reward. 
 The god inspires me with his healing arts, 
 Grateful their functions to my hands imparts ; 
 All herbs of power to soften human woe, 
 Ail the wide world affords for cure, I know ; 
 Ah that no herb expels a lover's pain ! 
 For my own aid my boasted skill is vain ; 
 
 Me fide conspicuus Trojae munitor amavit : 
 
 Ille mea* spolium virginitatis habet, 
 Id quoque luctando; rupi tamen ungue capillos ; 
 
 Oraque sunt digitis aspera facta meis. 
 Nee pretium stupri gemmas aurumve poposci. 
 
 Turpiter ingenuum munera corpus eraunt. 
 Ipse, ratus dignam, medicas mihi tradidit artes ; 
 
 Admiskque meas ad sua dona manus. 
 Quascunque herba potens ad opem, radixque 
 medendi 
 Utilis in toto nascitur orbe, mea est. 
 Me miscram, quod amor non est medicabilis 
 herbis! 
 Deficior prudens artis ab arte mea. 
 
§0 (EffONE TO PARIS. 
 
 Not him, to man the healing art who gav% 
 From cruel love his own inventions save. 
 From me the shepherd of Pherean plains 
 Received the wound in his immortal veins : 
 Nor genial earth, nor all the herbs that grow 
 Thick on her fruitful bosom, can bestow, 
 No, nor the god of health's restoring hand, 
 Impart the medicine, that my woes demand ; 
 Thou only can'st ; have pity on the maid, 
 Who lost implores, and justly claims thy aid, 
 I bring no hostile armies from afar, 
 Nor stir the avenging Greeks to cruel war; 
 Still am I thine, with thee I fondly past 
 My childish days, with thee would breathe my last. 
 
 Ipse repertor opis vaccas pavisse Pheraeas 
 
 Fertur, et e nostro saucius igne fuit. 
 Quod neque graminibus tellus fcecunda creandis, 
 
 Nee Deus auxilium, tu mihi ferre potes. 
 Et potes, et merui. Dignae miserere puellas. 
 
 Non ego cum Danais arma cruenta fero. 
 Sed tua sum, tecumque fui puerilibus annis : 
 
 Et tua, quod superest temporis, esse precor. 
 
DEIANIRA 
 
 TO 
 
 HERCULES. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 DEIAN1RA was the daughter of ' JEneus king of 
 Cali/don, and the wife of Hercules. While she 
 was closing a letter, reproaching him with his in- 
 fidelity to her (and particularly with the loss of 
 all his glory in the arms of lole, who had gained 
 entire dominion over him, after he had slain her 
 father, and conquered the kingdom of (Echalia) 
 the news arrived that he was expiring in agonies- 
 upon mount Mta, from the effect of poison con- 
 veyed in a robe sent him by Deianira 3 dipped in 
 the blood of Nessus the Centaur ; who thus inge- 
 7iiously contrived to revenge himself upon Hercules. 
 For, knotving that he was wounded by a dart im- 
 pregnated with the venom of the Hydra, and being 
 well acquainted with the amorous dispositioii of 
 his conqueror, he persuaded Deianira to preserve 
 some of his blood ; assuring her that it contained 
 a charm of infallible power to restore the affec- 
 tions of a husband, hozuver they might zcander. 
 Driven to despair by the discovery of her jatal 
 error, she then endeavoured to vindicate the in- 
 nocence of her intentions ; but determined to put 
 an end to her life for becoming, though involun- 
 tarily, the cause of her husband's death. 
 
DEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 
 
 \\ iiile yields CEchalia's tyrant to thy arms, 
 And Thou a captive to the daughter's charms ; 
 With joy I hail the fame thy triumphs reap, 
 The conqueror, vanquished by the conquer'd, weep. 
 The tale through all the Grecian cities flies, 
 And the great deeds of Hercules belies, 
 That He from Iole receives the yoke, 
 Whose mind no toils imposed by Juno broke. 
 Pieas'dmay Eurystheus, and the Thunderer's wife, 
 Thy Stepdame, hear of thy inglorious life ; 
 
 Gratulor (Echaliam titulis accedere vestris : 
 
 Victorem victas succubuisse queror. 
 Fama Pelasgiadas subito pervenit in urbes 
 
 Decolor, et factis inticianda tuis ; 
 Quern nunquam Juno, seriesqueimmensa laborum 
 
 Fregerit ; liuic Iolen imposuisse jugum. 
 Hoc velit Eurystheus, velit hoc germana Tonantis; 
 
 Lsetaque sit vitae labe noverca tua?. 
 At non ille velit, cui nox (si creditur) una 
 
 Non tanti, ut tantus conciperere, fuit. 
 
84 bEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 
 
 Not so thy sire, who banish'd envious light, 
 Trebling, to give thee birth, the hours of night. 
 By Juno's baffled arts thy valor tried, 
 Still rose triumphant, and her rage defy'd ; 
 More fell, enchains thee upon flowery beds, 
 And on thy neck exulting Venus treads. 
 Lo by thy powers the avenged orb at peace, 
 That azure Neptune girds with ambient seas; 
 To thee the guarded land it's quiet owes ; 
 The main protected by thy valor flows ; 
 By thee the mansions of the sun are blest, 
 Where beams the orient god, or sinks to rest ; 
 The stars, when Atlas fail'd, Alcides bore, 
 Those heavens, where men his godhead shall adore: 
 Clos'd are these glories, and notorious shame, 
 His only portion now, succeeds to fame ; 
 
 Plus tibi, quam Juno, nocuit Venus. Ilia premendo 
 
 Sustulit : haec humili sub pede colla tenet. 
 Respice vindicibus pacatum viribus orbem, 
 
 Qua latam Nereus caerulus ambit humum. 
 Se tibi pax terrae, tibi se tuta aequora debent: 
 
 Implesti mentis Solis utramque domum. 
 Quod te laturum est, caelum prior ipse tulisti : 
 
 Hercule supposito sidera fulsit Atlas. 
 Quid nisi notitia est misero quaesita pudori, 
 
 Si maculas turpi facta priora nota ? 
 
DEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 85 
 
 His, in the cradle who victorious strove 
 With two fierce serpents, infant worthy Jove ! 
 Thy early dawn outshines thy riper years, 
 The boy more glorious than the man appears. 
 Whose youthful might a thousand labors prove, 
 He to whom Juno yielded, yields to love. 
 But I, a happy, and an honoured bride, 
 Am wife to Hercules, to Jove allied ! 
 Yok'd with unequal force ill ploughs the steer; 
 To pair with mates superior, maids should fear ; 
 Not by their glories honoured, but opprest : 
 Wed with an equal you who would be blest. 
 
 Tene ferunt geminos pressisse tenaciter angues, 
 
 Cum tener in cunis jam Jove dignus eras ? 
 Coepisti melius quam desinis : ultima primis 
 
 Cedunt : dissimiles hie vir et ille puer. 
 Quern non mille ferae, quern non Stheneleiiis hostis, 
 
 Non potuit Juno vincere ; vincit Amor. 
 At bene nupta feror; quia nominer Herculis uxor; 
 
 Sitque socer, rapidis qui tonat altus equis. 
 Quam male inaequales veniant ad aratra juvenci 
 
 Tarn premitur magno conjuge nupta minor. 
 Non honor est, sed onus, species lsesura ferentem: 
 
 Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari. 
 Vir mihi semper abest; et conjuge notior hospes: 
 
 Monstraque terribiles persequiturque feras. 
 I 
 
86 DEIANIRA TO HERCULES 
 
 My heaven-born husband still delights to roam, 
 (The guest more frequent than the host at home!) 
 Engag'd with monsters, while a widow'd wife 
 The gods I weary, trembling for his life. 
 Me serpents, bristly boars, and lions gaunt, 
 And dogs with triple jaws devouring haunt ; 
 Me reeking entrails, ghastly forms, affright, 
 Stalking in visions of the murky night. 
 Sport of all rumours Fame uncertain speeds, 
 Hope expels fear, and fear to hope succeeds. 
 Thy absent mother weeps the hour she won 
 The sovereign god, or bore to Jove a son. 
 Banish'd Amphitryon ; stranger to my eyes 
 Hyllus, thy loss no smiling babe supplies ; 
 
 Ipsa domo vidua, votis operata pudicis, 
 
 Torqueor ; infesto ne vir ab hoste cadat. 
 Inter serpentes, aprosque, avidosque leones 
 
 Jactor, et esuros terna per ora canes. 
 Me pecudum fibrae, simulacraque inania somni, 
 
 Ominaque arcana nocte petita movent. 
 Aucupor infelix incertae murmura famae : 
 
 Speque timor dubia, spesque timore cadit. 
 •Water abest ; queriturque Deo placuisse potenti. 
 
 Nee pater Amphytrion, nee puer Hyllus adest. 
 Arbiter FAirystheus irae Junonis iniquae 
 
 Sentitur nobis, iraque longa Den?* 
 
BEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 8f 
 
 The wrath of Juno for her injur'd bed 
 
 Eurystheus pours on my devoted head: 
 
 Her rage so far the tyrant's sway extends ; 
 
 So low the offended queen of heaven descends ! 
 
 You to these horrors add your forc»gn loves, 
 
 By whom a mother every harlot proves. 
 
 Nor nymph Ormenian 5 in th' Arcadian vale 
 
 Nor violated maid shall swell the tale ; 
 
 That pictur'd throng, not one of whom you spare. 
 
 To urge the Thespian sisters I forbear, 
 
 By new adulteries and new crimes betray'd, 
 
 The stepdame now of Lydian Lamus made. 
 
 Oft the same realms the god who wandering laves 
 
 And to his bosom winds the refluent waves, 
 
 Ilaecmihiferreparum est: peregrinos addisamores : 
 
 Et mater de te quaelibet esse potest. 
 Non ego Partheniis temeratam vallibus Augen, 
 
 Nee referam partus, Ormeni nympha, tuos. 
 Non tibi crimen erunt Theutrantia turba sorores: 
 
 Quarum de populo nulla relicta tibi. 
 Una recens crimen prsefertur adultera nobis ; 
 
 Unde ego sum Lydo facta noverca Lamo. 
 Meandros, toties qui terris errat in isdem, 
 
 Qui lapsas in se ssepe retorquet aquas ; 
 Vidit in Herculeo suspensa monilia collo ; 
 
 I Ho, cui coelum sarcina parva fuit, 
 1 2 
 
S3 MIAN IRA TO HERCULES* 
 
 Maeander, saw that neck in jewels dress'd, 
 
 On which unbent Jove's starry mansion press'd. 
 
 O shame, to brace those sinewy arms with gold, 
 
 With gems those solid muscles to infold ! 
 
 Thou, whose tferce gripe Nemea's plague subdu'd, 
 
 His skin a trophy on thy shoulders viewed ! 
 
 Those bristly locks the Lydian mitre bound ; 
 
 Better pale poplar had Alcides crown' d ! 
 
 Proud, as a wanton girl, who sees his waist 
 
 The zone surround, nor deems it thus disgrac'd. 
 
 The wretch his steeds with human flesh who fed, 
 
 And fierce Busiris by thy arms who bled, 
 
 Living no greater triumph had desir'd, 
 
 But blush'd to see their conqueror so attir'd ; 
 
 Non puduit fortes auro cohibere lacertos, 
 
 Et solidis gemmas apposuisse toris. 
 Nempe sub his animam pestis Nemeaea lacertis 
 
 Edidit : unde humerus tegmina laevus habet. 
 Ausus es hirsutos mitrd redimire capillos : 
 
 Aptior Herculeae populus alba comae. 
 N<*c te Maeonid, lascivae more puellae, 
 
 Incingi zond dedecuisse putat ? 
 Non tibi succurrit crudi Diomedis imago, 
 
 EfTerus humana qui dape pavit equas ? 
 Si te vidisset cultu Busiris in isto ; 
 
 lluic victor victo nempe pudendus eras. 
 
DEIANIKA TO HERCULtS. 89 
 
 Reveng'd Antaeus from thy neck might tear 
 
 The glittering collar, it could tamely wear ; 
 
 Sighing, that e'er his giant form should bow, 
 
 Crush'd by a wretch, effeminate as thou. 
 
 Do'st thou not blush, a thousand labors told, 
 
 Whose conquering hands the textile osier hold? 
 
 A gentle pupil of the Ionian maid, 
 
 To bear her basket, of her threats afraid ? 
 
 With fingers coarse, the slender thread to weave, 
 
 Slave to a harlot, and her tasks receive ? 
 
 The slender thread while awkwardly they reel, 
 
 Mow oft they break the distaff, and the wheel ! 
 
 Detrahat Antaeus duro redimicula collo ; 
 
 Ne pigeat molli succubuisse viro. 
 Inter Ioniacas calathum tenuisse puellas 
 
 Diceris ; et dominaa pertimuisse minas. 
 Non fugis, Alcide, victricem mille laborum 
 
 Itasilibus calathis imposuisse manuraf 
 Crassaque robusto deducis pullice rila, 
 
 iEquaque formosae pensa rependis herae? 
 Ah quoties, digitis dum torques stamina duris, 
 
 Praevalidas fusos comminuere manus ! 
 £Crederis, infelix, scuticse tremefactus habenis, 
 
 Ante pedes dominae pertimuisse minas.] 
 Eximiis pompis praeconia summa triumph!, 
 
 Factaque narrabas dissimulanda tibi. 
 i 3 
 
.90 
 
 DEIAX1RA TO HERCULES. 
 
 And dar'st thou busied thus thy labors name, 
 From kind oblivion drag thy wounded fame r 
 The serpents strangled by thy infant hands ; 
 The boar, that ravag'd the Arcadian lands, 
 Now loads the earth where late he gave the wound, 
 Whom Erymanthus bred with Cyprus crown'd ; 
 The head that on the Thracian portals glares ; 
 With flesh of slaughter'd men the fatten'd mares ; 
 The triple Cerberus arm'd with snaky crest ; 
 With herds and flocks the triple Geryon blest ; 
 Fell Hydra's heads, that strew'd the poison'd ground, 
 Then sprang redoubled from the fertile wound; 
 
 Scilicet immanes elisis faucibus hydros 
 
 Infantem cunis involuisse manum ? 
 Ut Tegeaeus aper cupressifero Erymantho 
 
 Incubet, et vasto pondere laedat humum ? 
 Non tibi Threiciis afhxa penatibus ora, 
 
 Non hominuiu pingues caede tacentur equae ? 
 Prodigiumque triplex, armenti dives Iberi 
 
 Geryones ; quamvis in tribus unus erat ? 
 Inque canes totidem trunco digestus ab uno 
 
 Cerberus, implicitis angue minante comis ? 
 Quaeqiuj redundabat foecuudo vulnere serpens 
 
 FertiFis, et damnis dives ab ipsa suis ? 
 Quique inter laevumque latus laevumque lacertum 
 
 Praegrave compressa fauce pependit onus ? 
 
DEIANIRA TO HERCULES. gl 
 
 And him, whom stifled in your arms you foil, 
 And crush suspended from his parent soil ; 
 Expeird from Thessaly th' ambiguous breed 
 Of Centaurs, vainly trusting in their speed : 
 Can'st thou on these expatiate, nor thy dress, 
 Thy soft Sidonian robes, thy tongue repress ? 
 Then, while a woman's garb Alcides wears, 
 Drest in her turn like thee the nymph appears ; 
 Assumes the spear, is girded with the sword, 
 And of his trophies robs her captive lord. 
 Now proudly boast ; thy wonderous feats retrace ; 
 Her's is the hero's meed, and thine, disgrace. 
 To her thy glories in the tented field, 
 Or forest gain'd, O mighty conqueror, yield ! 
 
 Et male conflsum pedibus formaque bimembri 
 
 Pulsum Thessalicis agmen equestre jugis ? 
 Haec tu Sidonio potes insignitus amictu 
 
 Dicere ? non cultu lingua retenta silet ? 
 Se quoque Nympha tuis ornavit lardanis armis, 
 
 Et tulit e capto nota tropa^a viro, 
 I nunc tolle animos, et fortia gesta recense. 
 
 Quod tu non esses jure, vir ilia fuit. 
 Qi.a tanto minor es, quanto te, maxime rerum, 
 
 Quam quos vicisti, vincere majus crat. 
 Illi procedit rerum mensura tuarum. 
 
 Cede bonis : ha^res laudis arnica tuae. 
 
m 
 
 DEIASIRA TO HERCULES. 
 
 Thy claim resign; to her transmitted bend 
 Thy living honors, on her head descend. 
 Yet blush to doff the vanquished lion's pride, 
 On her soft limbs to hang his shaggy hide. 
 Nor err the trophy when she proudly bears, 
 'Tis not the lion's spoil, but thine she wears. 
 By thee the tyrant of the forest bleeds, 
 An;d she the haughty victor captive leads. 
 A woman, one, whose feeble hands with pain 
 The loaded distaff, and the w r ool sustain, 
 Sports with the bow ; and arrows, madly bold, 
 Black with Lernean poison, dares to hold. 
 Or grasps the club, that monsters fell subdues ; 
 And then her figure in the mirror views. 
 
 Pro pudor! hirsuti costas exuta leonis, 
 
 Aspera texerunt vellera molle latus. 
 Falleris, et nescis : non sunt spolia ista leonis, 
 
 Sed tua ; tuque feri victor es, ilia tui. 
 Foemina tela tulit Lernaeis atra venenis, 
 
 Ferre grave m lana vix satis apta colum : 
 Instruxitque manum clava domitrice ferarum : 
 
 Vidit et in speculo conjugis arma sui. 
 Hap-c tamen audieram : licuit non credere famae. 
 
 En venit ad sensus mollis ab aure dolor. 
 Ante meos oculos adducitur advena pellex : 
 
 Nee mihi, quae patior, dissimulare licet. 
 
DEIANIRA TO HEUCULES. 93 
 
 The tale I heard unwilling to believe ; 
 Not my ears now, but wounded feelings, grieve. 
 A foreign harlot brought before my eyes 
 Leaves me no power my sufferings to disguise ; 
 By thee conducted through the crowded streets, 
 Fearless, indignant eyes the captive meets ; 
 Not veil'd, as real captives should be seen, 
 With locks dishevel'd, and dejected mein ; 
 Glittering with gold her shameless front she rears, 
 And, like her lord in Phrygia, drest appears. 
 Proud, as from Hercules the battle gain'd, 
 Her sire unrival'd in (Echalia reign'd; 
 And, borne aloft, triumphantly displays 
 Her vaunted beauties to the people's gaze, 
 Pei'anira banish'd from thy bed, 
 Perchance shall Iole be thither led ; 
 
 Non sinis averti ? medians captiva per urbem 
 
 Invitis oculis aspicienda venit. 
 Nee venit incultis captarum more capillis, 
 
 Fortunam vultus fassa tegendo suos. 
 Ingreditur late lato spectabilis auro : 
 
 Qualiter in Phrygia tu quoque cultus eras» 
 Dat vultum populo sublime sub Hercule victo : 
 
 CEchaliam vivo stare parente putes. 
 Forsitan et, pulsa bolide Deianira, 
 
 > T omine deposito pellicis, uxor erit : 
 
9±- 
 
 DEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 
 
 The Moli'du matron bear an exiled name,. 
 A wife's the (Echalian harlot proudly claim. 
 The wanton pair inglorious bands entwine, 
 Her fates, O doating Hercules, with thine ! 
 The monstrous thought my shuddering frame appuLs, 
 My senses fail ; my hand enervate falls. 
 Blush not to own it, nor regret the time, 
 When me you lov'd, and lov'd without a crime ; 
 Nor only lov'd ; but, lifted in my aid, 
 It's valor twice the Herculean arm display 'd. 
 SpoiFd of his honors Acheloiis mourns, 
 Whose watery mansions hide his mangled horns. 
 Nor strength, nor speed devoted Nessus save, 
 His blood, Evenus, dyes thy poison'd wave. 
 
 Eurytidosque Ioles, atque insani Alcidae 
 
 Turpia famosus corpora junget Hymen. 
 Mens fugit admonitu, frigusque perambulat artus, 
 
 Et jacet in gremio languida facta manus. 
 Me quoque cum multis, sedmesinecrimine amasti ; 
 
 Ne pigeat, pugnae bis tibi causa fui. 
 Cornua flens legit ripis Acheloiis in udis, 
 
 Truncaque limosa tempora mersit aqua. 
 Semivir occubuit in letifero Eveno 
 
 Nessus ; et infecit sanguis equinus aquas. 
 Sed quid ego hsec refero ? scribenti nuncia venit 
 
 Fama, virum tunicas tabe perire mea% 
 
DEIANIRA TO HEROULES. 95 
 
 But what avail to me the deeds are past ? 
 Wrapt in my robe my husband breathes his last. 
 What hast thou done, ah whither, luckless maid, 
 Thy frantic steps has jealous love betray'd ? 
 Source of such ills shalt thou the vengeance fly 
 Due to a deed like thine, nor dare to die? 
 On (Eta tortur'd shall thy lord expire, 
 Deianira shun the funeral pyre ? 
 Thy sister there, O Meleager own ; 
 There let the wife of Hercules be known; 
 There laid fulfil the last connubial tie ; 
 Wretch that thou art, why hesitate to die ? 
 
 Hei mihi! quid feci? quo me furor egit amantem? 
 " Impia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? 
 An tuus in media conjux lacerabitur (Eta? 
 
 Tu sceleris tanti causa superstes eris ? 
 Si quid adhuc habeo facti, cur Herculis uxor 
 
 Credar ; conjugii mors mihi pignus erit. 
 Tu quoque cognosces in me, Meleagre, sororem. 
 
 Impia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? 
 lieu devota domus ! solio sedet Agrios alto : 
 
 (Enea desertum nuda senecta premit. 
 Exulat ignotis Tydeus germanus in oris. 
 
 Alter fatali vivus in igne fuit. 
 Exegit ferrum sua per praecordia mater : 
 Impia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? 
 
56 
 
 DEIANIRA TO HERCULES, 
 
 Devoted race! the usurper Agrius reigns, 
 GEneus of age, and faithless friends, complains; 
 My brother Tydeus, stain'd with kindred gore, 
 Wanders an exile on a foreign shore ; 
 Another perish'd ; (O capricious fate!) 
 To fire a victim, and a mother's hate ; 
 That mother pierc'd her bosom with a sword ; 
 Die impious wretch the murd'ress of thy lord ! 
 Yet from one crime absolve my guilty head ; 
 By the dear hallow'd rites that bless'd our bed 
 I swear; and O believe my latest breath! 
 That ne'er my soul consented to thy death. 
 Nessus, when wounded by the poison'd dart, 
 Bade me preserve what issu'd from his heart ; 
 My blood, said he, a powerful charm will prove 
 To fix, O treasure it! a husband's love. 
 The feigned spell on thee I dar'd to try ! 
 Dei'anira, impious Woman, die ! 
 
 Deprecor hoc unum, per jura sacerrima lecti ; 
 
 Ne videar fatis insidiata tuis. 
 Nessus, ut est avidum percussus arundine pectus, 
 
 Hie, dixit, vires sanguis amoris habet. 
 Illita Nesseo misi tibi texta veneno. 
 
 Impia quid dubitas Dei'anira mori ? 
 Jamque vale, seniorque pater, germanaque Gorge. 
 
 Et patria, et patriae frater adempte tuae. 
 
DEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 97 
 
 My sire, my sister, native land farewell, 
 And thou in exile, brother, doom'd to dwell ; 
 Farewell my child ; farewell, (coukTst thou forgive !) 
 And, Oh my injured husband could'st thou live ! 
 Farewell O parting day, O light divine, 
 The last that ever on these eyes shall shine ! 
 
 Et tu lux oculis hodierna novissima nostris, 
 Virque (sed 6 possis) et puer Hylle, vale. 
 
 K 
 
MEDE A 
 
 TO 
 
 JASON. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 JJSON when he came to Colchos in quest of the 
 golden fleece, was received, protected, and be- 
 loved by Medea, the daughter of Hecate and 
 Met a king of Colchos:* she was said to be a 
 great sorceress; probably a learned lady who 
 studied physic. 
 
 This epistle is supposed to be written by Medea to 
 Jason upon his marriage with Creusa the daughter 
 of Creon king of Corinth. 
 
 * See the Medea of Euripides, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 
 VI. and VII, and the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius. 
 
MEDEA TO JASON. 
 
 Y es when the queen of Colchos late I reign'd, 
 All that my art could give thy suit obtain'd. 
 Had but the sisters, who the threads dispose 
 Of mortal life, then mine decreed to close, 
 Medea well had died ; for thence I date 
 Days only lengthen'd by avenging fate. 
 Why to this coast to steer, the youthful band 
 Why did thy fleece, O Phryxus, tempt to land ? 
 Why Colchian eyes Magnesian Argo view, 
 And Phasian waters drink the Grecian crew ? 
 
 At tibi Colchorum (memini) regina vacavi ; 
 
 Ars mea, cum peteres, ut tibi ferret opem. 
 Tunc, quae dispensant mortalia flla, sorures 
 
 Debuerant fusos evoluisse meos. 
 Tunc potui Medea mori bene. Quicquid ab ilio 
 
 Produxi vitae tempore, poena fuit. 
 Hei mihi! cur unquam juvenilibus acta lacertis 
 
 Phryxeam petiit Pelias arbor ovem ? 
 Cur unquam Colchi Magnetida vidimus Argo ; 
 
 Turbaque Phasiacam Graia bibistis aquam ? 
 K 3 . 
 
102 MEDEA TO JASON. 
 
 My captive heart those golden tresses seize, 
 Those feigned words, that graceful figure please ? 
 Else, when these shores thy untried bark had 
 
 made, 
 Thou and thy bold companions dar'd invade, 
 Fire breathing bulls unpitied had ye brav'd, 
 jEson's rash progeny no charm had sav'd ; 
 Quick from the seed upsprung the armed foe, 
 Had lay'd the daring hand that cast it low. 
 What fraud with theehad perish'd had'st thou bled, 
 What ills reserv'd for my devoted head 1 
 Still on ingratitude reproach to heap 
 Is pleasure, all from thee I hope to reap. 
 
 Cur mihi plus aequo flavi placuere capilli ; 
 
 Et decor, et linguae gratia ficta tuae ? 
 Aut (semel in nostras quoniam nova puppis 
 arenas 
 
 Venerat, audaces attuleratque viros) 
 Isset anhelatos non praemedicatus in ignes 
 
 Iminemor iEsonides, oraque adunca bourn. 
 Semina jecisset ; totidem sensisset et hostes, 
 
 Ut caderet cultu cultor ab ipse suo. 
 Quantum perfidias tecum, scelerate, perisset ! 
 
 Dempta forent capiti quam mala multa meo ! 
 Est aliqua ingrato meritum exprobrare voluptas. 
 
 Hac fruar : haec de te gaudia sola feram. 
 
MEDEA TO JASOTh t . 103 
 
 Happy my country ere thy new form'd prow 
 The Colchian wave, presumptuous, dar'd to plough! 
 There I, Medea, ruTd, as here the bride; 
 In wealth with her's my royal father vied : 
 Her's over sea-divided Ephyre reigns, 
 Pontus by Scythia bounded, mine restrains. 
 Thee and thy train his royal dome receives, 
 Thy toils, and their's, his generous care relieves. 
 The Grecian youths the embroider' d couches press 3 
 /Eeta's hospitable board confess. 
 Then first I saw thee, then began to know, 
 Then first my ruin'd peace received the blow. 
 I gaz'd, I died, as on the sacred shrine 
 Devoured by sudden fires, the blazing pine. 
 
 Jussus inexpertam Colchos advertcre puppim, 
 
 Intrasti patriae regna beata meae. 
 Hoc iilic Medea fui. nova nupta quod hie est. 
 
 Quam pater est ilii, tarn mihi dives erat. 
 Hie Ephyren bimarem ; Scythia tenus ille nivosd 
 
 Omne tenet, Ponti qua plaga laeva jacet. 
 Accipit hospitio juvenes iEeta Pelasgos, 
 
 Et premitis pictos corpora Graia toros. 
 Tunc ego te vidi : tunc coepi scire quid esses. 
 
 Ilia fuit mentis prima ruina meae. 
 Ut vidi, ut peril! nee notis ignibus arsi: 
 
 Ardet ut ad magnos pinea tasda Deos. 
 
104 
 
 MEDEA TO JASON. 
 
 Lovely thou wert, and me my fate impelTd; 
 While thine alone my ravish' d eyes beheld ; 
 Traitor thou knew'st, for love who well conceals ? 
 The bursting flame the smother'd fire reveals. 
 Mean time your destin'd labours are display'd ; 
 " That on the untam'd bulls the yoke be laid, 
 The bulls of Mars, with horns that menace death, 
 And fire, tremendous prodigy, their breath. 
 Brass were their feet, their nostrils armed with brass, 
 Black with the flames that o'er the metal pass. 
 Next, that you sow the men-producing seed, 
 Men all in arms to bid the sower bleed. 
 
 Et formosus eras, et me mea fata trahebant : 
 
 Abstulerant oculi lumina nostra tui. 
 Perfide, sensisti : quis enim bene celat amorem? 
 
 Eminet indicio prodita flamma suo. 
 Dicitur interea tibi lex ; ut dura ferorum 
 
 Insolito premeres vomere colla bourn. 
 [Martis erant tauri plus, quam per cornua, ssevi ; 
 
 Quorum terribilis spiritus ignis erat] 
 i£re pedes solidi, praetentaque naribus sera : 
 
 Nigra per afflatus ha?c quoque facta suos. 
 Scmina praeterea populos genitura juberis 
 
 Spargere devota lata per arva manu, 
 Qui peterent secum natis tua corpora telis* 
 
 Ilia est agricolaa messis iniqua suo. 
 
MEDEA TO JASON. 105 
 
 Last, nor the lightest emprise, to elude 
 Those eyes by slumber never yet subdued." 
 ^Eetes spoke ; all rise with grief opprest, 
 They move the banquet from the mournful guest. 
 How far was then Creiisa from your thought, 
 Her sire, or kingdom for a portion sought ? 
 Sad you retire, my swimming eyes pursue, 
 And my tongue murmurs in your ear, ' adieu/ 
 Then deeply wounded to my bed I went, 
 And wept the live long night, on thee intent. 
 The fiery bulls, the horrid harvests rise, 
 The sleepless dragon still before my eyes. 
 
 Lumina custodis succumbere nescia somno 
 
 Ultimus est aliqua decipere arte labor. 
 Dixerat iEetes. Moesti consurgitis omnes : 
 
 Mensaque purpureos deserit alta toros. 
 Quam tibi nunc longe regnum do tale Creiisa?, 
 
 Et socer, et magni nata Creontis erant ? 
 Tristis abis. Oculis abeimtem prosequor udis ; 
 
 Et dixit tenui murmure lingua, Vale. 
 Ut positum tetigi thalamo male saucia lectum ; 
 
 Acta est per lacrymas nox mihi, quanta fuit. 
 Ante oculos taurique meos, segetesque nefandae ; 
 
 Ante meos oculos pervigil anguis erat. 
 Hinc amor, hinc timor est: ipsum timor auget 
 amorem. 
 
106 
 
 MEDEA TO JASON. 
 
 Now fear, now love prevails, and now from fear 
 Love gains new force. When morning's rays ap- 
 pear, 
 My sister comes, I press my averted face, 
 Dissolved in tears, and shunning her embrace. 
 She hop'd my aid her children might receive, 
 The boon she craves to Jason's prayer I give. 
 Deep in a grove which oak and pine o'ershade 
 So thick, that scarce can Phoebus pierce the glade. 
 Long stood, and still Diana's shrine remains, 
 There in barbaric gold the Goddess reigns. 
 With me perhaps the place you have forgot, 
 But there we met, and in that sacred spot 
 
 Mane erat, et thalamo chara recepta soror ; 
 Disjectamque comas aversaque in ora jacentem 
 
 Invenit, et lacrymis omnia plena meis. 
 Orat opem Minyis : petit altera, et altera habebit, 
 
 iEsonio juveni, quod rogat ilia, damus. 
 Est nemus et piceis et frondibus ilicis at rum : 
 
 Vix illuc radiis solis adire licet. 
 Sunt in eo, fuerantque diu, delubra Dianas : 
 
 Aurea barbarici stat Dea facta manu. 
 Nescio an exciderint mecum loca. Venimus illuc. 
 
 Orsus es infido sic prior ore loqui : 
 Jus tibi et arbitrium nostra? Fortuna salutis 
 
 Tradidit: inque tud vitaque morsque manu. 
 
MEDEA TO JASON. 107 
 
 Thus did you speak, " O arbitress of fate, 
 
 On whom my trembling days suspended wait; 
 
 Enough the power, if power to kill be joy, 
 
 But nobler 'tis to save, than to destroy ; 
 
 By all my sufferings, which thy hand can ease, 
 
 Thy grandsire's orb, the subject world who sees, 
 
 By triple Dian's mysteries rever'd, 
 
 Or other gods in this thy country fear'd, 
 
 O in thy virgin heart let pity plead 
 
 For me, and those condemned with me to bleed : 
 
 Then, o'er my days to thee devoted, reign ; 
 
 Haply a Grecian husband thou'lt disdain ; 
 
 Else, (but to hope presumptuous should I dare ?) 
 
 Vanish my spirit into fleeting air ! 
 
 Perdere posse sat est, si quern juvet ipsa potestas. 
 
 Sed tibi servatus gloria major ero. 
 Per mala nostra precor, quorum potes esse levamen; 
 
 Per genus et numen cuncta videntis avi ; 
 ' Per triplicis vultus arcanaque sacra Diana? ; 
 
 Et si forte alios gens habet ista Deos : 
 O virgo, miserere mei ; miserere meorum ! 
 
 Effice me meritis tempus in omne tuum. 
 Quod si fortfe virum non dedignare Pelasgum, 
 
 (Sed mihi tarn faciles unde meosque Deos ?) 
 Spiritus ante meus tenues vanescat in auras, 
 
 Quam thalamo, nisi tu, nupta sit ulla meo. 
 
108 MEDEA TO JASON. 
 
 If other bride than thou, by Jason led 
 Shall e'er ascend with him the genial bed : 
 Hear Juno, queen of nuptial rites, and thou 
 To whom within thy marble fane we bow." 
 This (and how little this of all you said!) 
 Was sure enough to move a simple maid. 
 Then your right hand, with solemn form, to mine, 
 Pledge of the truth of these your words, you join. 
 Your tears I mark'd ; did they too feigned flow ? 
 Soon my young heart gave all it could bestow : 
 The fiery bulls you yoke unhurt, and wound, 
 Guiding the fatal share, the solid ground. 
 For seed with charmed teeth then sow the field ; 
 Upstarts the w 7 arrior with the sword and shield : 
 
 Conscia sit Juno, sacris praefecta maritis ; 
 
 Et Dea, marmorea cujus in aede sumus. 
 Haec animum (et quota pars haec sunt?) movere 
 puellas 
 
 Simplicis ; et dextrae dextera juncta meae. 
 Vidi etiam lacrymas: an pars est fraudis in illis ? 
 
 Sic cito sum verbis capta puella tuis. 
 Jungis et seripedes inadusto corpore tauros, 
 
 Et solidam jusso vomere findis humum. 
 Arva venenatis pro semine dentibus imples : 
 
 Nascitur, et gladios scutaque miles habet. 
 Ipsa ego, quae dederam medicamina, pallida sedi; 
 
MEDEA TO JASON*. 10$ 
 
 Though mine the charm, yet trembling at the sight, 
 Pale I beheld the earthborn brothers fight ; 
 The ever waking dragon's scales resound, 
 Hissing he sweeps in tortuous folds the ground. 
 Where then thy richly portioned royal bride? 
 The Isthmus proud the waters to divide ? 
 I now a poor despis'd barbarian, I, 
 Now stain'd who seem with crimes of deepest dye, 
 Medicin'd the monster's flaming eyes to sleep, 
 And gave to you the fleece, he liv'd to keep. 
 My sire betray'd, and of his daughter reft ! 
 A throne, to live an exil'd handmaid, left ! 
 
 Cum vidi subitos arma tenere viros. 
 Donee terrigense (facinus miserabile) fratres 
 
 Inter se strictas conseruere manus. 
 Pervigii ecce draco squamis crepitantibus horrens 
 
 Sibilat ; et torto pectore verrit humum. 
 Dotis opes ubi tunc ? ubi tunc tibi regia conjux ? 
 
 Quique maris gemini distinet Isthmos aquas ? 
 Ilia ego, qua? tibi sum nunc denique barbara facta, 
 
 Nunc tibi sum pauper, nunc tibi visa nocens > 
 Flammea subduxi medicato lumina somno : 
 
 Et tibi, quae raperes, vellera tuta dedi. 
 Proditus est genitor; regnum patriamque reliqui» 
 
 Munus in exilio quodlibet esse tuli. 
 Virginitas facta est peregrini praeda latronis : 
 L 
 
110 
 
 MEDEA TO JASOX, 
 
 A sister's love despis'd, a mother's power ! 
 A foreign spoiler cropt my virgin flower! 
 4 My brother, O my brother !' here the tale 
 Of wrongs, of sorrows, and of crimes must fail. 
 The deed it dar'd to do, dares not record 
 My trembling hand, but well the avenging sword 
 My limbs, like his, had scatter'd in the dust, 
 And thine, O traitor ! had the gods been just. 
 My woman's heart no guilty fears restrain, 
 Already steel'd in crimes I tempt the main ; 
 Now let the waves dispense the justice due 
 To me, for folly, and for fraud, to you# 
 O had the sister rocks conspir'd to join 
 O'er Thracia's straits, my limbs been crush'd with 
 thine; 
 
 Optima cum card matre relicta soror. 
 At non te fugiens sine me, germane, reliqui. 
 
 Deficit hoc uno litera nostra loco. 
 Quod facere ausa mea est, non audet scribere dextra. 
 
 Sic ego, sed tecum, dilaceranda fui. 
 Nee tamen extimui (quid enim post ilia timerem ? ) 
 
 Credere me pelago fcemina, jamque nocens. 
 Numen ubi est? ubi Di? meritas subeamus in alto, 
 
 Tu fraudis pcenas, credulitatis ego. 
 Compressos utinam Symplegades elisissent. 
 
 Nostraque adhsererent ossibus ossa tuis ! 
 
MEDEA TO JASON. ill 
 
 We to the hungry pack of Scylla tost ; 
 Or in thy whirling gulph, Charybdis, lost ! 
 But safe the victor to his native shore, 
 From rocks and seas, propitious gales restore ; 
 dThessalian cities the proud pomp behold, 
 The crowded fane receives the fleece of gold. 
 What boots it now of Pelias' fate to tell, 
 Victim of filial piety who fell, 
 By fond deluded daughter doom'd to bleed ? 
 Whoe'er condemns, still thou should'st praise thfc 
 
 deed, 
 Thou the sole author of my crimes abhorr'd, 
 Thou, whom my hand obewl, my soul ador'd. 
 What words can grief or rage indignant find 
 For the just sorrows of my wounded mind ? 
 
 Aut ijos Scylla rapax canibus misisset edendos ! 
 
 Debuit ingratis Scylla nocere viris. 
 Quceque vomit fluctustotidem, totidemqueresorbet, 
 
 Nos quoque Trinacriae supposuisset aqua?. 
 Sospes ad Hasmonias victorque reverteris urbes^ 
 
 Ponitur ad patrios aurea lana Deos. 
 Quid referam Peliae natas pietate nocentes, 
 
 Ca?saque virginea membra paterna manu ? 
 Ut culpent alii, tibi me laudare necesse est: 
 
 Pro quo sum toties esse coacta nocens. 
 'Auhus es 6 (justo desunt sua verba dolori) 
 l2 
 
112 
 
 mldea to Jason. 
 
 How speak the heavings of my bursting heart, 
 When thou can'st bid me from thy doors depart? 
 I go, my children share the stern decree, 
 And still pursues my steps the love of thee. 
 Soon as the song of Hymen meets my ears, 
 And wav'd on high his blazing torch appears, 
 To you his pipe which notes of joy resounds, 
 Me, like the trumpet's blast funereal, wounds ; 
 I start with horror, cold my bosom grows, 
 Nor the pang doom'd to pierce it deepest knows. 
 On rush the crowd, and Hymen they repeat, 
 At ev'ry shout my trembling pulses beat ; 
 
 Ansus es, Msonidj dicere, cede domo. 
 Jussa domo cessi, natis comitata duobus ; 
 
 Et, qui me sequitur semper, amore tui. 
 Ut subitd nostras Hymen cantatus ad aures 
 
 Venit, et accenso lampades igne micant, 
 Tibiaque effundit socialia carmina vobis, 
 
 At mihi funesta flebiliora tuba ; 
 Pertimui; nee adhuc tantum scelus esse putabam: 
 
 Sed tamen in toto pectore frigus erat. 
 Turba ruunt, et, Hymen, clamant: Hymcncee, fre- 
 quent ant. 
 
 Quo propior vox hcec, hoc mihi pejus erat. 
 Diversi flebant servi, lacrymasque tegebant. 
 
 Quis vellet tanti nuncius esse mali £ 
 
MEDEA TO JASOtf. US 
 
 My weeping slaves from me their tears conceal, 
 
 For who the real evil would reveal ? 
 
 Better they deem disguis'd the truth than told, 
 
 More than I felt no tidings could unfold. 
 
 Then at' the portal as our younger boy 
 
 The proud procession views with childish joy, 
 
 4 Mother/ he cries, ' the pomp my father leads, 
 
 All gold my father Jason guides the steeds ;' 
 
 I beat my bosom, and my robe I tear, 
 
 Nor do my nails my bleeding visage spare. 
 
 My fury tempts me through the crowd to go, 
 
 And tear the garland from my rival's brow. 
 
 And scarce my frantic purpose I resign, 
 
 To seize my husband, and proclaim him mine. 
 
 Me quoque, quicquid erat, potius nescire juvabat: 
 
 Sed tanquam scirem, mens mea tristis erat. 
 Cum minor e pueris, jussus, studioque videndi, 
 
 Constitit ad geminae limina prima foris : 
 Hicmihi, Mater, abi ; pompam pater, inquit, Iason 
 
 Ducit ; et adjunctos aureus urget equos. 
 Protinus abscissa planxi mea pectora veste : 
 
 Tuta nee h digitis ora fuere meis. 
 Ire animus mediae suadebat in agmina turbaa, 
 
 Sertaque compositis demere rapta comis. 
 Vix me continui, quin sic laniata capillos 
 
 Clamarem, Mens est, injiceremque manus. 
 l3 
 
114 MEDEA TO JASOST. 
 
 O injur'd sire ! if that thy pangs may ease, 
 If that, thy manes, brother, can appease, 
 And }'Ou, if any shall my woes relate. 
 Deserted Colchians, triumph in my fate ; 
 Of friends, my country, of a throne depriv'd, 
 And scorn'd by him for whom alone I liv'd. 
 O'er fiery bulls, and serpents I prevail, 
 One man's unconquer'd heart in vain assail. 
 I, who with charms repel inchanted fire, 
 Now, slave to passion, in my own expire. 
 Vain are my mutter'd spells, in vain T vow 
 New rites to Hecate, or to Dian bow. 
 * To me no day shall e'er seem sweet or fair/ 
 No night with gentle slumbers sooth my care : 
 - - - — ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ j - 
 
 Laese pater, gaude : Colchi gaudete relied. 
 
 Inferias umbrae fratris habete mei. 
 Deseror (amissis regno patriaque domoque) 
 
 Conjuge, qui nobis omnia solus erat. 
 Serpentes igitur potui, taurosque furentes ; 
 
 Unum non potui perdomuisse virum ? 
 Quceque feros pepuli doctis medicatibus ignes, 
 
 Non valeo flam mas effugere ipsa meas ? 
 Ipsi me cantus, herbaeque artesque relinquunt ? 
 
 Nil Dea, nil Hecates sacra potentis agunt ? 
 Non mihi grata Dies > noctes vigilantur amarae ; 
 
 Nee tener in misero pectore somnus adest* 
 
Medea to jasojT. 115 
 
 Yet I to sleep the watchful dragon laid, 
 
 To me alone my arts refuse their aid ; 
 
 A harlot reaps the fruit of all my toils, 
 
 And proudly riots in my kingdom's spoils. 
 
 The limbs I sav'd, and nerv'd with potent charms, 
 
 Now lie infolded in a harlot's arms. 
 
 Oft to your ideot bride, with triumph gay, 
 
 Your wit perchance and prowess you display 5 
 
 My features and my manners may deride, 
 
 And sooth with my defects a rival's pride; 
 
 Pleas'd let her laugh, on downy purple sleep, 
 
 Consum'd with wasting fires she soon shall weep ; 
 
 Revenge while fire, or steel, or poison gives, 
 
 No foe unpunish'd of Medea lives. 
 
 Quae me non possum, potui sopire draconem, 
 
 Utilior cuivis, quam mihi, cura mea est. 
 Quos ego servavi, pellex amplectitur artus : 
 
 Et nostri fructus ilia laboris habet. 
 Forsitan et, stultae dum te jactare maritae 
 
 Quseris, et injustis auribus apta loqui, 
 In faciem moresque meos nova crimina fingas, 
 
 Rideat, et vitiis laeta sit ilia meis. 
 Rideat, et Tyrio jaceat sublimis in ostro, 
 
 Flebit : et ardores vincet adusta meos. 
 Dumferrumflammaequeaderunt,succusqueveneni> 
 
 Hostis Medese nullus inultus erit, 
 
116 
 
 MEDEA TO JAS03T, 
 
 But O, if prayer thy stony heart may bend, 
 Receive the suit to which I now descend; 
 I, who that mercy now in treat from thee, 
 Which, prostrate oft hast thou implor'd of me ; 
 Though me thou scorn, our offspring yet regard, 
 Protect my children from a stepdame hard ; 
 Image of thee too true, my tears they move, 
 And wake the fond remembrance of our love. 
 By the just gods, thy grandsire's genial rays, 
 Our sons, and merits of my former days, 
 Restore the rights for which with thee I fled, 
 Thy aid, thy plighted truth, the genial bed ; 
 
 Quod si forte preces prsecordia ferrea tangunt; 
 
 Nunc animis audi verba minora meis. 
 Tarn tibi sum supplex, quam tu mihi ssepe fuisti : 
 
 Nee moror ante tuos procubuisse pedes. 
 Si tibi sum vilis ; communes respice natos. 
 
 Sseviet in partus dira noverca meos. 
 Et nimium similes tibi sunt: et imagine tangor i 
 
 Et, quoties video, lumina nostra madent. 
 Per superos oro, per avitas lumina flammae, 
 
 Per meritum, et natos prgnora nostra duos : 
 Redde torum : pro quo tot res insana reliqui. 
 
 Adde fidem dictis ; auxiliumque refer. 
 Non ego te imploro contra taurosque virosque ; 
 
 Utque tua serpens victa quiescat ope. 
 
MEDEA TO JASON. 117 
 
 No boon I ask, like that my pity gave, 
 From monsters, or devouring flames to save ; 
 Thee only, thee I claim, my just reward, 
 With whom a parent's tender name I shard. 
 My dower demand; my dower was paid thee down, 
 In that same field with teeth enchanted sown, 
 Whose soil with fire-exhaling monsters thou, 
 Ere gain'd the golden meed, wer't doom'd to plow. 
 My dower the ram ; his fleece of purest ore, 
 A dower, 'twere vain I bade thee to restore. 
 The trembling suppliant of my virgin power, 
 Thou, faithless Jason, art Medea's dower ; 
 Thou and the Greeks my generous pity spar'd ; 
 Boast now Sisyphian wealth with this compar'd. 
 
 Te peto, quern merui, quern nobis ipse dedisti ; 
 
 Cum quo sum pariter facta parente parens. 
 Dos ubi sit, quaeris ? campo numeravimus illo, 
 
 Qui tibi laturo vellus arandus erat. 
 Aureus ille aries villo spectabilis aureo, 
 
 Dos mea : quam, dicam si tibi, Redde ; neges. 
 Dos mea, tu sospes : dos est mea, Graia juventus. 
 
 I nunc, Sisyphias, improbe, confer opes. 
 Quod vivis; quod habes nuptam socerumque po- 
 tentem, 
 
 Hoc ipsum, ingratus quod potes esse, meum est, 
 Quos equidem actutuml sed quidpraedicerepcenam 
 
118 MEDXA TO JASOSf. 
 
 My gift thy vaunted bride of royal line, 
 
 To prove ungrateful that thou liv'st, is mine : 
 
 Live on : but wherefore should my tongue impart 
 
 The deep revenge I treasure in my heart ? 
 
 My rage I follow ; if remorse ensue, 
 
 What, than a traitor sav'd, shall more I rue ? 
 
 The direful issue let the god controul, 
 
 Who stirs this conflict in my troubled soul : 
 
 For some dire deed my brooding mind conceives j. 
 
 With horrors yet unknown my bosom heaves. 
 
 Attinet ? ingentes parturit ira minas. 
 Quo feret ira, sequar. Facti fortasse pigebit ; 
 
 Et piget infldo consuluisse viro. 
 Viderit ista Deus, qui nunc mea pectora versat, 
 
 Nescio quid certe mens mea majus agit. 
 
LAODAMIA 
 
 TO 
 
 PROTESILAUS. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 VROTESILAUS, a Thessalian prince, led forty 
 ships to Troy ; he was the first man who leaped 
 upon the Trojan shore, and ivas killed by Hector. 
 Vide Iliad VI. Laodamia, upon hearing this, is 
 said to have put herself to death ; also to have 
 expired in the arms of the ghost of her husband, 
 which at her desire appeared to her. While the 
 Grecian fleet is detained at Aulis she thus ad- 
 dresses him :— 
 
LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 
 
 .Health, (may it ever on thy steps attend !) 
 Laodamia's fondest wishes send ; 
 O! where they speed it, to her Lord convey'd, 
 Haemonian youth, were thy Haemonian maid ! 
 Your ships at Aulis now the wind detains; 
 Me when you fly, alas! what wind restrains ? 
 Then should the rising waves your oars oppose, 
 Its fury then the gathering storm disclose. 
 More kisses had I for thee, in thy ear 
 Their last commands to breathe had love and fear: 
 A thousand tender things were yet to say ; 
 Hence, in a moment art thou borne away; 
 
 Mittit, et optat amans, quo mittitur, ire, salutem, 
 
 Haemonis Haemonio Laodamia viro. 
 Aulide te fama est vento retinente morari. 
 
 Ah ! me cum fugeres, hie ubi ventus erat ? 
 Turn freta debuerant vestris obsistere remis : 
 
 Illud erat saevis utile tempus aquis. 
 Oscula plura viro, mandataque plura dedissem : 
 
 Et sunt quae volui dicere plura tibi. 
 M 
 
122 LAODAMIA TO PRO TESILA US. 
 
 The wind that waits your spreading sails is fair, 
 Joy to the mariners, to me despair ; 
 No lover's wind ! the sailors' thoughtless race 
 It suits, and tears me from thy lov'd embrace ; 
 Words on my quivering lips unfinish'd hung, 
 Scarce utters one farewell my faltering tongue ; 
 Your sails distending Boreas sternly blows, 
 And far from me Protesilaus goes ; 
 Long as they can, my husband bent to view, 
 Thine to the last my streaming eyes pursue ; 
 When thee I lose, the lessening sails remain, 
 The lessening sails my wearied sight detain ; 
 
 Raptus'es hinc prseceps : et, qui tua vela vocaret, 
 
 Quern cuperent nautae, non ego, ventus erat. 
 Ventus erat nautis aptus, non aptus amanti. 
 
 Solvor ab amplexu, Protesilae, tuo ; 
 Linguaque manciantis verba imperfecta relinquit. 
 
 Vix illud potui dicere triste, Vale. 
 Incubuit Boreas, abreptaque vela tetendit ; 
 
 Jamque meus longe Protesilaus erat. 
 Dum potui spectare virum, spectare juvabat : 
 
 Sumque tuos oculos usque secuta meis. 
 Ut te non poteram, poteram tua vela videre : 
 
 Vela diu vultus detinuere meos. 
 At postquam nee te, nee vela fugacia vidi; 
 
 Et quod spectarem, nil, nisi pontus, erat ; 
 
llllrlllMlllT"' - '■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■ ■ ■■■ 
 
 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 123 
 
 When thou no longer, nor thy sails appear, 
 Nor ought betwixt high heaven and ocean drear, 
 With thee too vanish/ d every ray of light ; 
 Senseless I sink into oblivious night. 
 Scarce can Iphiclus and Acastus hoar, 
 With pious aid, my lifeless frame restore ; 
 Scarce the fann'd breezes of refreshing air, 
 Or water sprinkled by a mother's care, 
 (Kind thankless care !) her murmuring child revive, 
 Indignant, thus to be compcll'd to live. 
 Then with my senses all my woe returns, 
 Stung with chaste love my faithful bosom burns ; 
 To bind my flowing tresses I refuse, 
 Or gems or golden ornaments to use ; 
 
 Lux quoque tecum abiit, tenebiis exanguis obortis 
 
 Succiduo dicor procubuisse genu. 
 Vix socer Iphiclus, vix me grandasvus Acastus, 
 
 Vix mater gelida moesta refecit aqua, 
 Officium fecere pium, sed inutile nobis. 
 
 Indignor miserae non licuisse mori. 
 Ut rediit animus, pariter rediere dolores ; 
 
 Pectora legitimus casta momordit amor. 
 Nee mihi pectendos cura est praabere capillos : 
 
 Nee libet aurata corpora veste tegi. 
 Ut quas pampinea tetigisse Bic.orniger hasta 
 
 Creditur, hue illuc, quo furor egit, eo. 
 m 2 
 
124, 
 
 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS, 
 
 But like the zoneless bacchanal appear, 
 Whom the god touches with his maddening spear. 
 Then thus the assembled matrons sooth my care, 
 * Thy royal robes Laodamia wear/ 
 My robes ? shall I then glare in Tyrian dye ? 
 Beneath proud Uion's walls my husband lie : 
 He toil in arms : array'd in gorgeous dress 
 I wreath my temples : his the helmet press ? 
 No, till war cease, I'll wear the weeds of woe, 
 Thy sufferings imitate, nor pleasure know- 
 Paris, in arms thy fatal beauty drest, 
 Prove a weak foe, as erst a faithless guest ! 
 O had the Spartan bride thy features blam'd, 
 Or thou despis'd her charms so loudly fam'd ! 
 
 Conveniunt matres Phyllei'des, et mihi clamant. 
 
 Indue regales, Laodamia, sinus. 
 Scilicet ipsa geram sa'Juratas murice vestes, 
 
 Bella sub Iliads moenibus ille gerat ? 
 Ipsa comas pectar, galea caput ille prematurr 
 
 Ipsa novas vestes : dura vir arraa ferat ? 
 Qua possum, squalore tuos i mi tat a labores 
 
 Dicar : et hasc belli tempora tristis agam. 
 Dum Pari Priamide, damno formose tnorum, 
 
 Tarn sis hostis iners, quam mains hospes eras. 
 Aut te Taahariae faciem culpasse maritae a 
 
 Aut illi vciletn displicuisse tuara. 
 
LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 125 
 
 You, who too heavily your loss deplore, 
 What woes, At rides, has your wrath in store ! 
 Ye gods, one victim, O, my husband spare ! 
 Let him returned, of guardian Jove the care, 
 To Jove his arms suspend ! yet war I dread ; 
 Tears at the thought like melting snow I shed. 
 Ilion and Ida, Simois, and thy stream 
 O Xanthus, names of sound portentous seem. 
 Nor unprepar'd had the perfidious boy 
 Seiz'd on his prey, he knew the strength of Troy. 
 Gaudy with gold he shone, as though he bore 
 All Phrygians wealth upon the robe he wore. 
 
 Tu, qui pro rapta nimiiim, Menelae, laboras, 
 
 Hei mini, quam multis flebilis ultor eris*! 
 Di, precor, a nobis omen removete sinistrum : 
 
 Et sua det reduci vir meus arma Jovi. 
 Sed timeo : quotiesque subit miserabile bellum, 
 
 More nivis lacrymse sole madentis eunt. 
 Ilion et Tenedos, Simoi'sque et Xanthus et Ide, 
 
 Nomina sunt ipso pene timenda sono. 
 Nee rapere ausurus, nisi se defender? posset, 
 
 Hospes erat : vires noverat ille suas* 
 Venerat (ut fama est) multo spectabilis auro, 
 
 Quique suo Phrygias corpore ferret opes. 
 Classa virisque potens,per quae fera bella geruntur, 
 
 Et sequitur regni pars quotacunque sui. 
 M 3 
 
126 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS, 
 
 Proud ships, and men attending on their lord 
 Display the powers of war his realms afford : 
 These, I suspect, might, Helen, thee subdue, 
 And these, I think, the Grecian host may rue. 
 Hector I fear, for Hector, Paris said, 
 The blood of foes in war relentless shed : 
 Me if thou love, of Hector then beware, 
 (His name recorded in thy memory bear,) 
 Nor of him only, still when you engage, 
 Think many Hectors in the battle rage; 
 And when preparing to attack the foe, 
 To me, reflect, I bade thee, mercy show. 
 If by the Grecian soldier Troy must fall, 
 Be thou unhurt, and sink the accursed wall ! 
 
 His ego te victam, consors Ledasa gemellis, 
 
 Suspicor : hgec Danai's posse nocere puto. 
 Hectora nescio quem timeo. Paris Hectora dixit 
 
 Ferrea sanguinea bella movere manu. 
 Hectora, quisquis is est, si sum tibi cara, caveto. 
 
 Signatum memori pectore nomen habe. 
 Hunc ubi vitaris, alios vitare memento : 
 
 Et multos illic Hectoras esse puta. 
 Et facito dicas, quoties pugnare parabis, 
 
 Parcere mejussit Laodamia sibi. 
 Si cadere Argolico fas est sub milite Trojam ; 
 
 Te quoque non ullum vulnus habente cadat. 
 
LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 1$? 
 
 Let Menelaus, if with Helen pleas'd, 
 
 The dame from Paris force, that Paris seiz'd ; 
 
 Rush on, the foremost ever in the fight, 
 
 Approved in arms superior, as in right : 
 
 You only combat to return with life 
 
 To the fond bosom of a faithful wife. 
 
 Trojans from many spare this single foe, 
 
 Lest from the wounded youth my blood should flow» 
 
 He is not form'd the naked sword to wield, 
 
 Or face opposing heroes in the field ; 
 
 His prowess Cupid's banners better prove, 
 
 Let others fight, Protesilaus love. 
 
 Pugnet, et adversos tendat Menelaus in hostes : 
 
 Ut rapiat Paridi, quam Paris ante sibi. 
 Irruat; et causa quern vincit, vincat et armis. 
 
 Hostibus e mediis nupta petenda viro est. 
 Causa tua est dispar. Tu tantum vivere pugna, 
 
 Inque pios dominae posse redire sinus. 
 Parcite, Dardanidas, de tot (precor) hostibus uni. 
 
 Ne meus ex illo corpore sanguis eat. 
 Non est, quern deceat nudo concurrere ferro, 
 
 Saavaque in oppositos pectora ferre viros. 
 Fortius ille potest, multo quum pugnat amore : 
 
 Bella gerant alii ; Protesilaus amet. 
 Nunc fateor : volui revocare ; animusque ferebat : 
 
 Substitit auspicii lingua timore mali. 
 
128 
 
 LAODAMIA TO PROTES1LAUS. 
 
 Scarce from recalling you I once refrain'd, 
 Fear of ill omens then my tongue restraint ; 
 Your foot the threshold struck, on war when bent 
 Forth from the mansion of your sires you went : 
 I mark'd and pray'd, in secret doom'd to mourn, 
 ' Be that the token of my lord's return !' 
 Thus while I write your rashness to restrain, 
 
 may the winds disperse my boding vain ! 
 
 1 Him too his wretched widow shall deplore, 
 The Greek, who first shall press the Trojan shore ;' 
 (Such they report the stern decree of fate ;) 
 
 O be not forward then, be more than late ! 
 Of all the thousand thine the thousandth bark, 
 Last let thy keel the wearied waters mark ;"• 
 
 Cum foribus velles ad Trojam exire paternis, 
 
 Pes tuus offenso limine signa dedit. 
 Ut vidi, ingemui ; taci toque in pectore dixi : 
 
 Signa reversuri sint precor ista viri. 
 Hsec tibi nunc refero, ne sis animosus in armis : 
 
 Fac meus in ventos hie timor omnis eat. 
 Sors quoque nescio quern fato designat iniquo, 
 
 Qui primus Danaum Troada tangat humum. 
 Infelix, quae prima virum lugebit ademptum! 
 
 Di faciant, ne tu strenuus esse velis ! 
 Inter mille rates tua sit millesima puppis, 
 
 Jamque fatigatas ultima verse t aquas. 
 
LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 129 
 
 Last too, I charge thee, from thy vessel light : 
 Not now thy dear paternal fields invite : 
 With oar and sail returning ply the deep, 
 And on thy native shore with transport leap. 
 If Phoebus crown, or sink beneath, the main, 
 You cloud my day, at night in visions reign ; 
 Night's welcome shades the happy maiden courts, 
 Whose neck a lover's circling arm supports ; 
 Robb'd of my nuptial bliss, the gift of night, 
 I woo fallacious dreams for vain delight. 
 But wherefore pallid does thy form appear, 
 And why complaining accents do I hear ? 
 
 Hoc quoque prsemoneo : de nave novissimus exi. 
 
 Non est, quo properes, terra paterna tibi. 
 Cum venies, remoque move veloque carinam ; 
 
 Inque tuo celerem littore siste gradum. 
 Sive latet Phcebus, seu terris altior extat, 
 
 Tu mihi luce dolor, tu mihi nocte, venis. 
 Nocte tamen, quam luce, magis. Nox grata puellis > 
 
 Quarum suppositus colla lacertus haber. 
 Aucupor in lecto mendaccs ca^libe somnos. 
 
 Dum careo veris, gaudia falsa j a van t. 
 Sed tua cur nobis pollens occurrit imago ? 
 
 Cur venit a verbis multa querela tuis r 
 Excutior somno ; simulacraque noctis adora. 
 
 Nulla caret fumo ThessaJis ara mco, 
 
130 
 
 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILA US. 
 
 From sleep I start, the powers of night adore, 
 On every smoking altar incense pour ; 
 Then add a tear that blazes on the shrine, 
 As when the flame ascends from offer' d wine. 
 When shall my longing arms my lord inclose, 
 I every sense dissolv'd in pleasure lose ; 
 When hear thee, lock'd within thy lov'd embrace, 
 Recount thy prowess and thy dangers trace ? 
 What joy to listen to thy valiant deeds, 
 While oft the mutual kiss the tale impedes ; 
 With happy pause while words for kisses stay, 
 Then flow more ready from the sweet delay ! 
 But when of Troy I think, then seas and storms 
 Cloud the bright hope that thus my bosom warms : 
 
 Thura damus, lacrymamque super; qua sparsa re- 
 lucet, 
 
 Ut solet adfuso surgere flamma rnero. 
 Quando ego, te reducem cupidis amplexa la- 
 certis, 
 
 Languida laetitia solvar ab ipsa mea ? 
 Quando erit, ut lecto mecum bene junctus in uno 
 
 Militias referas splendida facta tuae ? 
 Quae mihi dum referes ; quamvis audire juvabit, 
 
 Multa tamen capies oscula, multa dabis. 
 Semper in his apte narrantia verba resistunt, 
 
 Promptior est dulci lingua referre mora. 
 
^w 
 
 LA0DA3VIIA TO PltOTESILA US. 131 
 
 This too alarms me, that your hostile course, 
 Spite of opposing winds and waves, you force. 
 Who thus would homeward steer ? With adverse wind 
 You sail, and leave your native land behind. 
 To his own city Neptune bars the road, 
 Return, O Grecians, each to your abode. 
 Ah whither rush ye ? hark, the winds forbid ! 
 Nor chance your fury, but the god, has chid. 
 Say what to Troy assembled nations draws ? 
 Return ; a vile adulteress is the cause ; 
 Far be the omen ! why do I recall ? 
 Blow prosperous gales, and bid the billows fall ! 
 
 Sed cum Troja subit, subeunt ventique fretumque; 
 
 Spes bona sollicito victa timore cadit. 
 Hoc quoque, quod venti prohibent exire carinas, 
 
 Me movet : invitis ire paratis aquis. 
 Quis velit in patriam vento prohibente reverti ? 
 
 A patria pelago vela vetante datis. 
 Ipse suam non praebet iter Neptunus ad urbem : 
 
 Quo ruitis ? vestras quisque redite domos. 
 Quo ruitis, Danai! ventos audite vetantes. 
 
 Non subiti casus, numinis ista mora est. 
 Quid petitur tanto, nisi turpis adultera, bello ? 
 
 Dum licet, Inachiae vertite vela rates. 
 Sed quid ego revoco haec ? omen revocantis abesto, 
 
 Blandaque compositas aura secundet aquas. 
 
152 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 
 
 The lot I envy of the Trojan maid, 
 Though on the shore she dwell that foes invade ; 
 And view, (sad spectacle!) her slaughter'd friends; 
 Yet the fond bride upon her lord attends ; 
 She binds the casque upon his warrior brow, 
 And prints a kiss to battle ere he go ; 
 Then softly whispers, prompted by her love, 
 ' Return and dedicate thy arms to Jove/ 
 Cautious he weighs the injunction in his mind, 
 And fighting thinks on her he left behind : 
 The helmet she unclasps, withdraws the shield, 
 Her arms receive him wearied from the field. 
 
 Troasin invideo, quae si lacrymosa suorum 
 
 Funera conspicient, nee procul hostis erit ; 
 Ipsa suis manibus forti nova nupta marito 
 
 Imponet galeam, barbaraque arma dabit. 
 Anna dabit: dumque arma dabit, simul oscula 
 sumet, 
 
 Hoc genus officii dulce duobus erit. 
 Producetque virum ; dabit et mandata reverti : 
 
 Et dicet, Reftras ista face arma Jovi. 
 llle, ferens dominae mandata recentia secum, 
 
 Pugnabit caute, respicietque domum. 
 Exuet haec reduci clypeum, galeamque resolvet, 
 
 Excipietque suo pectora lassa sinu. 
 Nos sumus incertae : nos anxius omnia cogit, 
 
 I 
 
LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 133 
 
 To me distracted, all-fulfill'd appear 
 With fatal certainty, the dreams of fear. 
 But I, my absent warrior doom'd to weep, 
 Still in my view his dear resemblance keep ; 
 Moulded in wax thy shape, thy features trace, 
 Bless with my vows, and clasp in my embrace. 
 Could the wax breathe thy language in my ear, 
 Protesilaus would himself be here. 
 On this I gaze, and to my bosom press'd, 
 Chide for reply, as speech the mute possess'd. 
 By that return which shall my peace restore, 
 By thy lov'd form, the gods that I adore; 
 By all the fires from Hymen's torch that glow ; 
 By all the passion fondest bosoms know ; 
 
 Quse possunt fieri, facta putare, timor. 
 Dum tamen arma geres diverse miles in orbe, 
 
 Quae referat vultus, est mihi cera, tuos. 
 Illi blanditias, i Hi tibi debita verba 
 
 Dicimus : amplexus accipit ilia meos. 
 Crede mihi; plus est, quam quod videatur, imago: 
 
 Adde sonum ceras; Protesilaus erit. 
 Hanc specto, teneoque sinu pro conjuge vero : 
 
 Et tanquam possit verba rcferre, queror. 
 Per reditus, corpusque tuum, mea numina juro; 
 
 Perque pares animi conjugiique faces : 
 Perque, quod ut videam canis albere capillis, 
 N 
 
134 
 
 LAODAMIA TO PROTES1LAUS. 
 
 By thy dear head, that on thy native ground 
 Still may I view, with hoary honours crown'd ! 
 Thy fates I follow, if to life they lead, 
 Or, (Oh my fears !) they destine thee to bleed. 
 Hear then my last, nor long, but earnest prayer, 
 Thy life preserve, if mine be worth thy care. 
 
 Quod tecum possis ipse referre, caput ; 
 Me tibi venturam comitem, quocunque vocaris : 
 
 Sive (quod heu timeo !) sive superstes eris. 
 Ultima mandato claudetur epistola parvo ; 
 
 Si tibi cura mei, sit tibi cura tui. 
 
PARIS 
 
 TO 
 
 HELEN. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 PARIS, sailing to Lacedemon in pursuit of Helen t 
 promised to him by Venus , was honourably received 
 by Menelaus ; who being called to Crete to take 
 possession of the inheritance left him by Atreus, 
 and engrossed with other concerns, commits his 
 wife to the care of Paris, and even seriously en- 
 joins Helen to shew all possible attention to his 
 guest. Paris did not fail to take advantage of 
 these inviting circumstances, nor to recommend 
 himself with the usual address of a lover, xvhich 
 is here most ingeniously displayed ;-— 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Health to fair Helen ; but, O. bid me live, 
 For health to Paris thou alone canst give. 
 Say, must I speak, or need I not reveal 
 The fire, I fondly labour to conceal, 
 Fain now would stifle ; till occasion dear 
 Joys uncontrouFd may bring, and banish fear. 
 O poor dissembler ! for who well restrains 
 The bursting flame, or hides a lover's pains ? 
 If words must tell the passion }^ou inspire, 
 Know that I burn, and with resistless Are. 
 
 Hanc tibi Priamides mitto, Ledaea, salutem ; 
 
 Quae tribui sola te mihi dante potest. 
 Eloquar ? an flammae non est opus indice notae ; 
 
 Et plus, quam vellem, jam meus extat amor ? 
 Ille quidem malim lateat ; dum tempora dentur 
 
 Laetitiae mistos non habitura metus. 
 Sed male dissimulo : quis enim celaverit ignenv 
 
 Lumine qui semper proditur ipse suo ? 
 Si tamen expectas, vocem quoque rebus ut addam ; 
 
 Uror : habes animi nuncia verba mei. 
 N 3 
 
133 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Now my tongue speaks the language of my heart ? 
 Read, nor thy frowns upon the paper dart; 
 With looks benign the bold confession trace, 
 Such as thy beauty suit, and best may grace. 
 Thrice happy paper to thy bosom sped ! 
 O could I follow where my letter led ! 
 Auspicious omen ! nor delusive prove 
 The blessings promised by the queen of love I 
 By her inspired I hither wing'd my way % 
 Despise not thou the goddess I obey 1 
 A mighty deity; nor warn'd offend; 
 But to her will reveal'd submissive bend. 
 Great is the boon I hope ; but justly sue 
 , Thee to my arms from Cytherea due. 
 
 Parce, precor, fasso, nee vultu caetera duro 
 
 Perlege, sed formae conveniente tuae. 
 Jamdudumgratum est, quod epistola nostra recepta 
 
 Spem facit, hoc recipi me quoque posse modo, 
 Quae rata sint, nee te frustra promiserit, opto, 
 
 Hoc mihi quae suasit mater Amoris iter. 
 * Nam que ego divino monitu, ne nescia pecces, 
 
 Advehor : et coepto non leve numen adest* 
 Praemia magna quidem, sed non indebita, posco, 
 
 Pollicita est thalamo te Cytherea meo. 
 Hac duce Sigaeo dubias k littore feci 
 
 Longa Pherecled per fret a puppe via?. 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 139 
 
 She, when from Troy my dubious course I steer'dy 
 Smooth' d the long strait, my guiding star appeared. 
 She fann'd the gentle and propitious breeze, 
 The lovely empress of her native seas ; 
 She, as the waves, shall smooth my troubled breast, 
 And in her port delighted bid me rest. 
 Not here I found, but to the Spartan shore 
 The kindled flame from distant Phrygia bore. 
 Hither no adverse winds, no error drove ; 
 This was the port I sought, my pilot Love : 
 Not as a merchant to increase my store, 
 (Enough is mine, I ask the gods no more !) 
 Nor as a traveller allur'd by fame, 
 Curious to view the Grecian arts, I came. 
 
 Ilia dedit faciles auras, ventosque secundos. 
 
 In mare nimirum jus habet orta mari. 
 Perstet : et, ut pelagi, sic pectoris adjuvet aestum : 
 
 Deferat in portus et mea vota suos. 
 Attulimus flammas, non hie invenimus, illas. 
 
 Hae mihi tarn longae causa fuere viae. 
 Nam neque tristis hyems, neque nos hue appulit 
 error : 
 
 Taenaris est classi terra petita mea?. 
 Nee me crede fretum merces portante caring 
 
 Findere : quas habeo, Di tueantur, opes. 
 Nee venio Graias veluti spectator ad urbes. 
 
140 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 More wealth I left upon my native plains 
 Than in the proudest of your cities reigns. 
 Thee Venus gave, I ask for thee alone, 
 Dear object of my love while yet unknown. 
 Ere my eyes view'd, my mind thy form conceived, 
 And fame, the herald of thy charms, believ'd. 
 Nor wonder that the distant power. I know, 
 PiercM by the missive shafts of Cupid's bow. 
 So fate ordain'd, obedient thou to fate, 
 With reverence hear what I with truth relate. 
 While in my mother's womb I lay inclos'd, 
 A burden now mature to be depos'd ; 
 
 Oppida sunt regni divitiora mei. 
 Te peto ; quam lecto pepigit 'Venus aurea nostro. 
 
 Te prius optavi, quam mihi nota fores. 
 Ante tuos animo vidi, quam lumine, vultus : 
 
 Prima fuit vultus nuncia fama tui. 
 Nee tamen est mirum, si, sicut oporteat, arcu 
 
 Missilibus telis eminus, ictus amo. 
 Sic placuit fatis : quae ne coriveilere tentes, 
 
 Accipe cum verd dicta relata fide. 
 Matris adhuc utero, partu remorante, tenebar ; 
 
 Jam gravidus* justo pondere venter erat. 
 Ilia sibi ingeatem visa est sub imagine somni - 
 
 Flammiferam pleno reddere ventre facem. 
 Territa consurgit; metuenda jue noctis opacae 
 
FARIS TO HELEN. 141 
 
 Lo, in the fever of her sickly dreams, 
 A blazing torch her promis'd offspring seems ; 
 Starting she wakens, and with wild affright, 
 To Priam telrs the horrors of the night, 
 He to the seers : to death they Paris doom, 
 Paris, the torch that Ilion should consume. 
 Vain, superstitious fears ! a torch I prove, 
 My burning bosom is the torch of love. 
 Deep in the vales of Ida lies a glade, 
 Whose devious wild the oak and pine o'ershade ; 
 Untrod by ponderous ox, by placid sheep, 
 By goat unbrows'd that loves the rocky steep. 
 Here, on the border of the opening wood, 
 As 'gainst a tree reclin'd I musing stood, 
 
 Visa seni Priamo, vatibus ille, refert. 
 Arsuram Paridis vates canit Ilion igni. 
 
 Pectoris, ut nunc est, fax fuit ilia mei. 
 Forma vigorque animi, quamvis de plebe videbar, 
 
 Indicium tectae nobilitatis erant. 
 Est locus in mediae numerosis vallibus Ida? 
 
 Devius, et piceis ilicibusque frequens : 
 Qui nee ovis plaridas, nee amantis saxa capella?, 
 
 Nee patulo tardae carpitur ore bovis. 
 Hinc ego Dardaniae muros excelsaque tecta, 
 
 Et freta prospiciens, arbore nixus eram. 
 Ecce pedum pulsu visa est mihi terra moverk 
 
*M$ PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Delighted, Troy's proud palaces to view, 
 While o'er the strait my longing eyes I threw, 
 Sudden the trembling earth appeared to heave ; 
 (The truths I utter scarce wilt thou believe) 
 Borne on swift pinions from the skies, behold, 
 The son of Maia waves his wand of gold ! 
 Sure I may tell, nor bade he to conceal, 
 What powers immortal to my eyes reveal. 
 Soon the three goddesses descending trod^ 
 With soft and printless feet, the verdant sod : 
 Venus with Juno and Minerva came ; 
 Erect my hair, and lifeless was my frame ; 
 Thy fears dismiss the winged Hermes cries, 
 Lo these contend, and thou must judge the prize. 
 
 ■~ i i i .i n i ■ ii « ■ ■ ■ « ■ ■■ P i i ii ■ ~— — m — j0 
 
 Vera loquar, veri vix habitura fidem. 
 Constitit ante oculos, actus velocibus alis, 
 
 Atlantis magni Plei'onesque nepos. 
 Pas vidisse fuit; fas sit mihi visa referre : 
 
 Inque Dei digitis aurea virga fuit. 
 Tresque simul Divse, Venus, et cum Pallade Juno 
 
 Graminibus teneros imposuere pedes. 
 Obstupui ; gelid usque comas erexerat horror. 
 
 Cum mihi, Pone metum, nuncius ales ait. 
 Arbiter es former : cert amino, siste Dearum ; 
 
 Vincere qua: formd digna sit una duas. 
 Neve recusarem, verbis Jovis imperat : et se 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 143 
 
 In beauty which excels thy voice decide, 
 Thy sentence vanquished goddesses abide ; 
 Nor thou refuse, for Jove's commands I bear ; 
 He spoke, and mounting clove the yielding air. 
 Cheer' d by his words no longer I decline 
 To mark the features of each maid divine; 
 Blushing that each should sue, but one obtain, 
 From me, what all so well deserved to gain. 
 Yet one already pleas'd above the rest, 
 Of love the mother and the source confest. 
 Such thirst for conquest in each bosom reigns, 
 With splendid offers each to court me deigns. 
 Sceptres and thrones displays the wife of Jove ; 
 Minerva bids me wise and valiant prove : 
 
 Protinus aeth^ria tollit in astra via. 
 Mens mea convaluit, subitoque audacia venit : 
 
 Nee timui vultu quamque no tare meo. 
 Vincere erant omnes digr.as : judexque verebar 
 
 Non omnes causam vincere posse suam. 
 Sed tamen ex illis jam tunc magis una placebat : 
 
 Hanc esse ut scires, unde movetur amor. 
 Tantaque vincendi cura est ; ingentibus ardent 
 
 Judicium donis sollicitare meum. 
 Regna Jovis conjux, virtutem iilia jactat. 
 
 Ipse potens dubito, fortis an, esse velim. 
 Dulce Venus risit, Nee tc, Pari, munera tangant ; 
 
144 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 But while my throbbing breast ambition wrung, 
 And wisdom's praise, and warlike glory stung ; 
 u Let not, O Paris, these thy heart beguile," 
 Bright Venus said, and conquer'd with a smile ; 
 u Glory and power, if gain'd, O lovely boy, 
 " Are big with anxious cares, and banish joy : 
 w From me, the boon thy youth must sure approve, 
 u Receive the triumphs and the spoils of love. 
 " I'll give fair Leda's daughter to thy arms, 
 " Fairer than Leda in her virgin charms." 
 She spoke ; confirm' d triumphant beauty's sway, 
 And then to heaven victorious wing'd her way. 
 Meantime the fates, if ever fates relent, 
 Propitious seem'd to smile ; and heralds sent 
 Report my person and aspiring mind, 
 That speak my birth, though in a lowly hind : 
 My tokens own, my royal state proclaim ; 
 And to my native walls a prince I came. 
 
 Utraque suspensi plena timoris, ait. 
 JVos dabimus quod ames : et pukhrce Jilia Ledce 
 
 Ibit in ampkxuS) pidchrior ipsa, tuos. 
 Dixit : et ex aequo donis formaque probata, 
 
 Victorem ccelo retulit ilia pedem. 
 Interea (credo, versis ad prospera fatis) 
 
 Regius agnoscor per rata signa puer. 
 Laeta domus nato per tempera longa recepto ; 
 1 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 14-5 
 
 The son long lost is hai-l'd with general joy, 
 And gives another festival to Troy. 
 For you I burn, me courtly dames admire, 
 And many wish what you alone inspire. 
 Nor the proud fair alone to kings allied, 
 The nymphs and Dryads for my favors vied. 
 But rural beauties pall, and courtly charms, 
 Since thou art pi'omis'd to my longing arms. 
 Thee my fond eyes in waking visions view, 
 And thee in fleeting dreams my steps pursue. 
 O, with what rapture seen thy charms inspir'd, 
 Viewless and distant that my bosom nYd ! 
 
 .. i - - . i m ■ i . ■■ MW 
 
 Addit et ad festos hunc quoque Troja diem. 
 Utque ego te cupio, sic me cupiere puellae ; 
 
 Multarum votum sola tenere potes. 
 Nee tantum regum nata3 petiere ducumque : 
 
 Sed Nymphis etiam curaque amorque fui. 
 At mihi cunctarum subeunt fastidia, postquam 
 
 Conjugii spes est, Tyndari, facta tui. 
 Te vigilans oculis, animo te nocte videbam, 
 
 Lumina cum placido victa sopore jacent. 
 Quid facies prassens, quae nondum visa placebas ? 
 
 Ardebam ; quamvis hie procul ignis erat. 
 Nee potui debere mihi spem iongius istam, 
 
 Caerulea peteram quin mea vota via. 
 Troia caeduntur Phrygia pineta securi, 
 O 
 
146 PARIS TO HELE.V. 
 
 Impatient hope no longer brook'd delay, 
 And o'er the azure waters urg'd my way ; 
 The Phrygian groves to Trojan axes bend, 
 Soon to the sea the lofty pines descend; 
 Fell'd are the woods that Gargara's heights adorn, 
 And long and ponderous beams from Ida borne ; 
 The sturdy oak, that best the wave abides, 
 Is curv'd in keels, and ribs the vessel's sides ; 
 The mast uprear'd receives the pendent sail, 
 And on the poop the painted gods we hail ; 
 O'er mine, fair Venus and her son preside, 
 The powers ador'd, that give thee for my bride. 
 The fleet equipp'd I long the sea to brave, 
 And launch my bark on the JEgean wave. 
 
 Quseque erat aequoreis utilis arbor aquis : 
 Ardua proceris spoliantur Gargara sylvis ; 
 
 Innumerasque mihi longa dat Ida trabes. 
 Fundatura citas flectuntur robora naves : 
 
 Texitur et costis panda carina suis. 
 Addimus antennas, et vela sequentia malos : 
 
 Accipit et pictos puppis adunca Deos. 
 Qua tamen ipse vehor, comitata Cupidine parvo, 
 
 Sponsor conjugii stat Dea picta sui. 
 Imposita est facta; postquam man us ultima classi: 
 
 Protinus i£ga?is ire lubebat aquis. 
 Et pater et genetrix inhibent mea vota rogando; 
 
PAH IS TO HELEN. 14:/ 
 
 Fain with intreaties would my sire delay, 
 
 My mother's tears retard my destin'd way. 
 
 Her tresses wildly to the winds display'd, 
 
 Frantic, as ever, then Cassandra stray \i 
 
 On the throng'd shore, and while prepar'd to sail 
 
 Our ships impatient court the rising gale, 
 
 " Whither, ah whither art thou borne?" exclaims, 
 
 " Thy bark returning brings devouring flames: 
 
 " Nor fro irt these waves, that now inviting flow, 
 
 " Know'st thou what vengeful fires are doom'd to 
 
 glow." 
 True were her words, I own the prescient power, 
 And now the flames of love my soul devour. 
 Far from our own propitious breezes bore, 
 And plac'd us, Helen, on thy native shore ; 
 
 Propositumque pia voce morantur iter. 
 Et soror efFusis, ut erat, Cassandra capillis, 
 
 Cum vellent nostras jam dare vela rates ; 
 Quo ?ids? exclamat : referes incendia tecum ; 
 
 Quanta per has nescis Jtamma petatur aquas. 
 Vera fuit vates ; dictos invenimus ignes : 
 
 Et ferus in molli pectore flagrat amor, 
 Portubus egredior; ventisque ferentibus usus 
 
 Applicor in terras, GEbali. Nympha, tuas. 
 Excipit hospitio vir me tuus : hoc quoque factum 
 
 Non sine consilio numinibusque Deum. 
 o 2 
 
MS PARIS TO HELE?C. 
 
 Nor jealous views thy lord our numerous train. 
 But kind invites us, so the gods ordain ; 
 All worthy note displays, obsequious host ! 
 All that his palace, and his city boast ; 
 All, though I praise, and fain would seem to prize ; 
 Thou art not there! I view with vacant eyes. 
 You come ; with pangs unknown, and wild amaze, 
 Pierc'd to the inmost soul I stand and gaze: 
 Such were her looks, soform'd the goddess seem'd, 
 First on my dazzled eyes when Venus beam'd ; 
 Had'st thou contended, dubious had remain'd 
 The palm of beauty Cytherea gain'd ; 
 
 Ille quidern ostendit, quidquid Lacedaemone tola 
 
 Ostendi dignum conspicuumque fuit. 
 Sed mihi laudatam cupienti cernere formam, 
 
 Lumina, nil aliud, quo caperentur, erat. 
 Ut vidi, obstupui ; prsscordiaque intima sensi 
 
 Attonitus curis intumuisse novis. 
 His similes vultus, quantum reminiscor, habebat, 
 
 Venit in arbitrium cum Cytherea meura. 
 Si tu venisses pariter certamen in illud ; 
 
 In dubium Veneris palma futura fuit. 
 Magna quidem de te rumor prseconia fecit, 
 
 Nullaque de facie nescia terra tua est. 
 Nee tibi par usquam Phrygia, nee solis ab ortu 
 
 Inter formosas altera nomen habet* 
 
PARIS TO HELEX. 149 
 
 Like thine no form our Eastern Phrygia blest, 
 None yet so bright adorn'd thy native west. 
 What region hath not heard thy beauty's fame : 
 What shore resounds not with fair Helen's name^ 
 Blest in thy view, I own superior charms, 
 To those the goddess promis'd to my arms : 
 Charms that with love might Theseus well inspire^ 
 Such spoils a hero's high ambition lire. 
 6 For who unmov'd could view thy growing form, 
 1 Th}' limbs expos'd with young exertion warm ; 
 ' When, with admiring youths, the festal dance 
 ' Or race you join, or sportive hurl the lance !' 
 The youth I praise who bore the prize away ; 
 O fool ! that e'er resign'd so rich a prey : 
 
 Credis et hoc nobis ? minor est tua gloria vero : 
 
 Famaque de forma poene maligna tua est. 
 Plus hie invenio, quam quod promiserit ilia: 
 
 Et tua materia gloria victa sua est. 
 Ergo arsit meritd, qui noverat omnia, Theseus ! 
 
 Et visa es tanto digna rapiua viro': 
 More tuse gentis nitida dum nuda palaestra 
 
 Ludis, et es nudis foe mi n a mista viris. . 
 Quod rapuit, laudo: miror, quod reddidit unquam. 
 
 Tarn bona constanter praeda tenenda fuit. 
 Ante recessisset caput hoc cervice cruenta, 
 
 Quam tu de thalamis abstraherere meis. 
 o 3 
 
150 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Sooner this head, that youthful honors deck, 
 The sword should sever from my bleeding neck. 
 Than thou my bride, (O thither wert thou led !) 
 Be dragg'd unwilling from the genial bed. 
 Thee, had these arms, till motionless, releas'd, 
 Thee, this fond bosom, ere to breathe it ceas'd ? 
 At least some trophy in my breast should live, 
 Worth all the joys that vulgar beauties give. 
 Some precious bliss my short possession prove, 
 If not the last, and dearest pledge of love. 
 Grant but my suit, and Paris thou shalt know 
 Constant, till death shall deal the fatal blow, 
 Know that he cherishes the sacred fire, 
 Whose subtle flame shall feed the funeral pyre. 
 With thrones and sceptres though the wife of Jove, 
 With fame to bribe me though Minerva strove ; 
 
 Te-ne manus unquam nostra? dim i It ere vellent ? 
 
 Te-ne meo paterer vivus abire sinu ? 
 Si reddenda fores, aliquid tamen ante tulissem : 
 
 Nee Venus, ex toto nostra fuisset iners. 
 Vel mihi virginitas esset libata ; vel illud, 
 
 Quod poterat salva virginitate rapi. 
 Da modo te ; quse sit Paridi constantia, nosces. 
 
 Flamma rogi flammas flniet una. meas. 
 Praeposui regnis ego te ; quag maxima quondam 
 
 Pollicita est nobis nupta sororque Jovis. 
 1 
 
PARIS TO HELE^. 151 
 
 Thine I preferr'd to glory's dazzling charms, 
 To wealth and power, to press thee in my arms. 
 Proud that my voice to beauty gave the prize, 
 Still thee prefer, and still their gifts despise. 
 Crown but my hopes, nor thou my labors foil y 
 O worthiest object of severest toil ! 
 Nor to a low born mate suppose you bend, 
 From Pleias I, from Jove himself, descend ; 
 Successive kings to number I refrain, 
 Links of our race that form the lengthened chain. 
 Through tracts immense extend my sires domains, 
 On Asia's shores none boast more fertile plains ; 
 
 Dumque tuo possem circumdare brachia collo, 
 
 Contempta est virtus, Pallade dante, mihi. 
 Nee piget ; aut unquam stulte legisse videbor : 
 
 Permanet in voto mens mea firma suo. 
 Spem modo ne nostram fieri patiare caducam, 
 
 Te precor, 6 tanto digna labore peti. 
 Non ego conjugium generosse degener opto. 
 
 Nee mea (crede mihi) turpiter uxor eris. 
 Pliada, si quaeras, in nostra gente Jovemque 
 
 Invenies : medios ut taceamus avos. 
 Sceptra parens Asia?, qua nulla beatior ora, 
 
 Finibus immensis vix obeunda tenet. 
 Innumeras urbes atque aurea tecta videbis : 
 
 Quoeque suos dicas templa decere Deos. 
 
352 PARIS TO HELEtf. 
 
 There countless cities shall thy eyes behold, 
 Fanes worthy gods, and roofs that glow with gold : 
 Proud Uion's towery walls from sounds that rose, 
 Sounds, that the lyre of Phoebus only knows. 
 Scarce can the soil of Troy her sons contain, 
 The swarms that fill the city and the plain. 
 Prostrate to thee the Trojan dames shall bend, 
 Thy entrance greet, and on thy steps attend. 
 While crowds of matrons at the portal wait, 
 By crowds excluded from the rooms of state. 
 More wealth displays (thou'lt own in wonder lost) 
 One Trojan roof, than Grecian cities boast. 
 Not that thy Sparta e'er can move my scorn, 
 Rich is the land to me where thou wert born ; 
 
 Ilion aspicies, firmataque turribus altis 
 
 Mcenia, Phoebece structa canore lyrae, 
 Quid tibi de turba narrem numeroque virorum ? 
 
 Vix populum tellus sustinet ilia suum. 
 Occurrent denso tibi Troades agmine matres : 
 
 Nee capient Phrygias atria nostra nurus. 
 O quoties dices, Quam pauper Acha'ia nostra est I 
 
 Una domus quasvis urbis habebit opes. 
 Nee mihi fas fuerit Sparten contemnere vestram. 
 
 In qua tu nata es, terra beata mihi est. 
 Parca sed est Sparte : tu cultu divite digna es. 
 
 Ad talem form am non facit iste locus. 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 153 
 
 Hut frugal Sparta yields with sparing hand 
 The lavish tribute tl^t thy charms demand ; 
 Beauty like thine to deck should boundless cost, 
 Ingenious luxury, her stores exhaust. 
 View but my splendid train's superb arra}', 
 And judge what pomp the Trojan dames display. 
 Yield only thou, nor, child of Sparta's plain, 
 Let thy proud heart a* Phrygian lord disdain : 
 A Phrygian mingles, in the blest abodes, 
 And of our race, the nectar for the gods. 
 Aurora's husband shar'd, in Phrygia born, 
 The bed and car of her, who leads the morn. 
 To Ida wafted by her conscious doves, 
 Pull oft the mother of the winged loves 
 
 Hanc faciem largis sine fine paratibus uti, 
 
 Deliciisque decet luxuriare novis. 
 Cum v ideas cultum nostra de gente virorum ; 
 
 Qualem Dardanidas eredis habere nurus ? 
 Da modo te facile m ; nee dedignare maritum, 
 
 llure Therapnseo nata puella, Phrygem. 
 Phryx erat et nostro genitus de sanguine, qui nunc 
 
 Cum Dis potandas nectare miscet aquas. 
 Phryx erat Auroras conjux, tamen abstulit ilium 
 
 Ext re mum noctis quag Dea firiit iter. 
 Phryx etiam Anchises : volucrum cui mater amoruta 
 
 Caitdet in Idceis concuhuisse jugis» 
 
154: PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Thy steps, Anchises, would descending trace ; 
 Immortal arms a Phrygian y^outh embrace. 
 Compare our persons, and. our years compare, 
 And for Atrides can thy heart declare ? 
 With me I bring no stepsire's foul disgrace, 
 Whose food obscur'd the sun's unfinish'd race : 
 For ne'er did Phoebus shrink from Priam's deeds, 
 Nor from his banquet turn*the trembling steeds. 
 Nor slew my sire the father of his bride, 
 Nor with his crimes the iEgean waters dy'd. 
 Nor from our race the tortur'd culprit sprang, 
 O'er whom in vain the loaded branches hang. 
 The flowing stream around who views accurst, 
 Condemn'd to parch with never ceasing thirst. 
 
 Nee, puto, collatis forma Menelaiis et annis, 
 
 Judice te, nobis anteferendus erit. 
 Non dabimus certe socerum tibi clara fugantem, 
 
 Lumina; qui trepidos a dape vertat equos. 
 Nee pater est Priamo soceri de ca?de cruentus ; 
 
 Et qui Myrtoas crimine signet aquas. 
 Nee proavo Stygia nostro captantur in unda 
 
 Poma, nee in mediis qua^ritur humor aquis. 
 Quid tamen hoc refert, si te tenet ortus ab ill is I 
 
 Cogitur huic domui Jupiter esse socer. 
 Heu facinus! totis indignus noctibus ille 
 
 Te tenet; amplexu perfruiturque tuo. 
 
PARIS TO HELEST. 155 
 
 Of these the son, if Helen he possess, 
 
 Calls Jove his sire; and Jove his house must bless. 
 
 Whole nights shall he, unworthy of thy charms, 
 
 Hold thee in his, and riot in thy arms ? 
 
 Nor till the banquet comes you bless my sight, 
 
 Nor bring, with pain unmix'd, this short delight. 
 
 Be joys like mine the portion of my foes, 
 
 Soon as with wine the golden goblet glows ; 
 
 For then the monster, void of every grace, 
 
 Dares in my sight thy snowy neck embrace. 
 
 I burst with envy, nor is envy all, 
 
 When o'er thy limbs his spreading garments fall; 
 
 Veil with my cup, or cast upon the ground 
 
 My eyes when kisses from your lips resound. 
 
 At mini conspiceris posita vix denique mensa ; 
 
 Multaque, qu£eIa3dant,hocquoquetempushabet, 
 Hostibus eveniant convivia talia nostris, 
 
 Experior posito qualia saepe mero. 
 Poenitet hospitii, cum, me spectante, lacertos 
 
 Imposuit collo rusticus iste tuo. 
 Rumpor, et invideo (quid enim tamen omnia nar- 
 rem ?) 
 
 Membra superjecta cum tua veste fovet. 
 Oscula cum vero coram non dura daretis ; 
 
 Ante oculos posui pocula sumpta meos. 
 Lumina demitto, cum te tenet arctius ille : 
 
156 ]PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 And fondly while his arm surrounds thy waist. 
 
 The loathed viands pall my sicken'd taste. 
 
 Oft do I sigh, and mark your wanton eyes ; 
 
 You laugh, and seem to triumph in my sighs. 
 
 In vain reclin'd I shun the galling view, 
 
 Soon my fond eyes, though wounded, turn to you. 
 
 Distracted wherefore do I gazing stay ? 
 
 Know fiercer pangs I feel from thee away. 
 
 To wine I fly, but wine, that should inspire 
 
 Mirth to allay, still fauns the blazing fire. 
 
 O could I curb my passion's furious sway ! 
 
 Spite of all art, will love itself betray. 
 
 My truth believe, my tender sufferings own, 
 
 And be my griefs to all, but thee, unknown ! 
 
 Crescit et invito lentus in ore cibus. 
 Scepe dedi gemitus : et te, lasciva, notavi 
 
 In gemku risum non tenuisse meo. 
 Ssepe mero volui flammam compescere : at ilia 
 
 Crevit ; et ebrietas ignis in igne fuit. 
 Multaque ne videam, versa cervice recumbo : 
 
 Sed revocas oculos protinus ipsa meos. 
 Quid faciam dubito ; dolor est meus ilia videre ; 
 
 Sed dolor a facie major abesse tua. 
 Qua licet et possum, luctor celare furorem : 
 
 Sed tamen apparet dissimulatus amor. 
 Nee tibi verba damus. sentis mea vulnera, sentis* 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 157 
 
 How oft the starting tear do I suppress ! 
 Lest he the cause demand, or chance to guess» 
 How oft in wine some amorous tale relate, 
 Then from thy eyes enquire the lover's fate ! 
 Thou art the fair, the lover's case is mine ; 
 Need I explain, and can'st thou not divine ? 
 Thanks to the wine, for wine the words excus'd, 
 And feignd excess, that real passion us'd. 
 Once as I gaz'd, your tunic open flew, 
 And gave your bosom to my ravish'd view ; 
 Than purest milk that bosom, or the snow 
 More white, that glistens on the mountain's brow, 
 ■ ■ i & 
 
 Atque utinam soli sint ea nota tibi ! 
 Ah quoties lacrymis venientibus era reflexi, 
 
 Ne causam fletus quaereret ille mei ! 
 Ah quoties aliquem narravi potus amorem, 
 
 Ad vultus referens singula verba tuos ! 
 Indiciumque mei ficto sub nomine feci. 
 
 Ille ego, si nescis, verus amator eram. 
 Quin etiam, ut possem verbis petulantius uti, 
 
 Non semel ebrietas est simulata mihi. 
 Prodita sunt (memini) tunica tua pectora lax§, 
 
 Atque oculis aditum nuda dedere meis ; 
 Pectora vel puris nivibus, vel lacte, tuamque 
 
 Complexo matrem candidiora Jove. 
 Dum stupeo visis (nam pocula forte tenebam) 
 P 
 
158 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Nor fairer hues, nor brighter radiance shed. 
 Great Jove descending to thy mother's bed. 
 My rapt attention while the vision calls, 
 Down from my trembling hand the goblet falls. 
 You to your daughter gave a mother's kiss, 
 Warm from her lips I seiz'd a lover's bliss : 
 Then, as o'ercharg'd with wine, supinely laid, 
 Love in soft songs, or secret signs convey'd. 
 With humblest suit your handmaids I address; 
 JEthra, and Climene with frowns repress : 
 Alarm'd they only bid me to beware, 
 Then flying leave ; and hear but half my prayer. 
 O would the gods devote thee to be led, 
 The prize of battle to the victor's bed ! 
 
 Tortilis e digitis excidit ansa meis. 
 Oscula si natae dederas ; ego protinus ilia 
 
 Hermiones tcnero laetus ab ore tuli. 
 Et modo cantabam veteres resupinus amores : 
 
 Et modo per nutum signa tegenda dabam. 
 Et comitum primas Clymenen iEthramque tuarum 
 
 Ausus cum blandis nuper adire sonis. 
 Quae mini non aliud, quam formidare, locutae, 
 
 Orantis medias deseruere preces. 
 Pi facerent, magni pretium certaminis esses ; 
 
 Teque suo victor posset habere toro. 
 Ut tulit Hippomenes Schceneida praemia cursus, 
 
PARIS TO HELEN, 159 
 
 As swift Hippomenes outran the maid, 
 
 The Phrygian's skill Hippodamia paid ; 
 
 Deianira as Alcides bore, 
 
 O mangled Achelous from thy shore; 
 
 To these in valor equal would I prove, 
 
 And reap the palm of glory, and of love : 
 
 Thy pity only can I now in treat ; 
 
 f? let me then implore it at thy feet: 
 
 O thou, thy twin celestial brother's pride, 
 
 Jove's offspring, else of Jove a worthy bride ! 
 
 With thee, my prize, I'll gain my native land, 
 
 Or fall an exile on the Spartan strand. 
 
 Venit ut in Phrygios Hippodamia sinus ; 
 Ut ferus Alcides Acheloia cornua fregit, 
 
 Dum petit amplexus, Deianira, tuos ; 
 Nostra per has leges audacia fortiter isset : 
 
 Teque mei scires esse laboris opus. 
 Nunc mihi nil superest, nisi te, formosa, precari ; 
 
 Amplectique tuos, si patiare, pedes. 
 O decus, 6 prsesens geminorum gloria fratrum ; 
 
 O Jove digna viro, ni Jove nata fores ! 
 Aut ego Sigeos repetam te conjuge portus : 
 
 Aut ego Tsenaria contegar exul humo. 
 Non mea sunt summa leviter districta sagitta 
 
 Pectora : descendit vulnus ad ossa meum. 
 Hoc mihi (nam repeto) fore ut a coeleste sagitta 
 p 2 
 
ISO PARIS TO HELEN", 
 
 No shallow wound this bleeding bosom rends; 
 Deep in my heart the searching shaft descends» 
 Cassandra now thy boding I believe, 
 And now the threaten'd dart from heaven receive, 
 Nor spurn, O Helen, what the gods ordain, 
 So from the gods shalt thou thy vows obtain. 
 More in thy ear, and O with what delight ! 
 Best may be whisper'd in the silent night. 
 Say do'st thou blush to violate, and dread 
 The sacred vows that guard the marriage bed f 
 O simple Helen, weak unpractised dame ! 
 ThimVst thou that form was made for spotless fame ? 
 "Beauty and modesty are mortal foes, 
 Destroy thy beauty or to love compose, 
 
 Figar, erat verax vaticinata soror. 
 Parce datum fatis, Helene, contemnere amorem; 
 
 Sic habeas faciles in tua vota Deos. 
 Multa quidem subeunt: sed coram ut pluraloqua- 
 mur, 
 
 Excipe me lecto nocte silente tuo. 
 An pudet, et metuis Venerem temerare maritam, 
 
 Castaque legitimi fallere jura tori ? 
 Ah nimium simplex, Helene, ne rustica dicam, 
 
 Hanc faciem culpa posse carere put as-! 
 Aut faciem mutes, aut sis non dura, nccesse est. 
 
 Lis est. cum forma magna p'udicitiae. 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. l6l 
 
 Scarce, if blood aught avail, begot by Jove, 
 From Leda sprung, can'st thou obdurate prove \ 
 But when to Troy our destin'd course we bend, 
 There be thou chaste, with me alone offend. . 
 That one offence the nuptial hour shall clear, 
 An hour, if Venus truly promise, near. 
 Love's thefts all favour, but Atrides most, 
 Indulgent husband, and complying host ! 
 Whose wisdom finds no fitter time to see 
 The Cretan realms, but leaves me here with thee, 
 Me to thy care his parting words commend, 
 " Wife, on my Trojan guest, for me, attend." 
 Your lord you do not, I protest, obey, 
 To his poor guest no kind attention pay I 
 
 mm** 
 
 Jupiter his gaudet, gaudet Venus aurea furtis. 
 
 Haec tibi nempe patrem furta ded&re Jovem. 
 Vix fieri, si sunt vires in semine avorum, 
 
 Et Jovis et Ledae filia, casta potes. 
 Casta tamen turn sis, cum te mea Troja tenebit : 
 
 Et tua sim, quaeso, crimina solus ego. 
 Nunc ea peccemus, quae corrigit hora jugaiis : 
 
 Si modo promisit non mihi vana Venus. 
 Sed tibi et hoc suadet rebus, non voce, maritus : 
 
 Neve sui furtis hospitis obstet, abest. 
 Non habuit tempus, quo Cressia regna videret, 
 
 Aptius, 6 mira calliditate virum ! 
 p 3 
 
l62 PARIS TO HE1EX. 
 
 Say, can he prize the blessings you bestow, 
 This senseless dolt the worth of beauty know ? 
 He knows it not ; or knowing, would he dare 
 Commit his treasure to a stranger's care ? 
 Thy passion, though my love, nor words excite, 
 His own convenient absence must invite. 
 Blind as himself, or blinder lovers those 
 Who could such safe, such dear occasion lose ! 
 Almost he brings thy suitor in his hand, 
 And thou receive him at thy lord's command. 
 
 Ivit, et Idcei mando tibi 3 dixit iturus, 
 
 Curam pro nobis hospitis, uxor, agas. 
 Negligis absentis (testor) mandata mariti : 
 
 Cura tibi non est hospitis ulla tui. 
 Hunccine tu speres hominem sine pectore dotes 
 
 Posse satis formae, Tyndari, nosse tuae? 
 Falleris ; ignorat : nee, si bona magna putaret 
 
 Quae tenet, externo crederet ilia viro. 
 Ut te nunc mea vox, nee te meus incitet ardor i 
 
 Cogimur ipsius commoditate frui. 
 Aut erimus stulti, sic ut superemus et ipsum, 
 
 Si tarn securum tempus abibit iners. 
 Paene suis ad te manibus deducit amantem, 
 
 Utere non vafri simplicitate viri. 
 Sola jaces viduo tam longa nocte cubili ; 
 
 In viduo jaceo solus et ipse toro. 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 1&3 
 
 For thee a wife the wklow'd couch is spread, 
 
 The live-long night I press my lonely bed ; 
 
 Let mutual joys our mutual wishes join ; 
 
 How would that night the brightest day outshine! 
 
 By any god I'll swear ; thyself shalt choose, 
 
 Thyself the oath impose, nor I refuse ; 
 
 Then, if not vain the hope that points the way. 
 
 Thee to my native realms my queen convey. 
 
 If fear or shame to follow me forbid, 
 
 Mine be the crime, nor guiltless Helen chid. 
 
 That crime, like me, the Son of iEgeus dar'd, 
 
 That crime wi th me thy heaven-born brothers shar'd . 
 
 Their sister, Theseus, from the Spartan shore, 
 
 They, his twin daughters from Leucippus tore. 
 
 Te mihi, meque tibi communia gaudia jungant. 
 
 Candidior medio nox erit ilia die. 
 Tunc ego jurabo qua^vis tibi numina; meque 
 
 Adstringam verbis in sacra jura tuis. 
 Tunc ego, si non est fallax fiducia nostn, 
 
 Efficiam praesens, ut mea regna petas. 
 Si pudet ; et metuis, ne me videare secuta ; 
 
 Ipse reus sine te criminis hujus agar. 
 Nam sequar iEgidae factum, fratrumque tuorum; 
 
 Exemplo tangi non propiore potes. 
 Te rapuit Theseus : geminas Leucippidas illi : 
 
 Quartus in exemplis enumerabor ego. 
 
164 * PARIS TO HELEN; 
 
 The fourth proud ravisher in me behold 7 
 Not in the list of vulgar names enroll'd. 
 My fleet prepar'd expects the favouring gale 
 To ply the oar, and hoist the pendent sail, 
 To Troy to waft us ; where thy beauty shewn 
 Crowds shall adore, and thee a goddess own. 
 Thy incensM steps the fragrant flames surround, 
 And slaughter' d victims load the purple ground. 
 Rich gifts to thee my royal parents send, 
 Their sons, my sisters, and all Troy shall bend, 
 Scarce can thy fancy paint, my tongue relate, 
 The wealth and pomp, that thy arrival wait. 
 Nor fear the rape lest vengeful wars pursue, 
 Or Greece assembled arm it's powers for you. 
 
 Troia classis adest, armis instructa virisque : 
 
 Jam facient celeres remus et aura vias. 
 Ibis Dardanias ingens regina per urbes ; 
 
 Teque novam credet vulgus adesse Deam. 
 Quaque feres gressus, adolebunt cinnama flammae, 
 
 Caesaque sanguineam victima planget humum. 
 Dona pater fratresque, et cum genetrice sorores, 
 
 Iliadesque omnes, totaque Troja, dabunt. 
 Hei mihi ! pars a me vix dicitur ulla futuri. 
 
 Plura feres, quam quae litera nostra refert. 
 Nee tu rapta time, ne nos fera bella sequantur ; 
 
 Concitet et vires Graecia magna suas. 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. \6o 
 
 Believe me, Helen, these are vain alarms ; 
 What ravish'd fair has yet been claim'd by arms ? 
 From Greece the Thracian youth Orythia bore, 
 Yet safe in peace remain'd the Thracian shore. 
 Jason's new bark receives the Phasian maid, 
 Nor Colchian powers Thessalia's plains invade. 
 Theseus, who thee from Sparta captive led, 
 From Crete, and Minos, with his daughter fled ; 
 Yet to revenge his daughter's ravish'd charms 
 Minos the Cretans never call'd to arras. 
 Of threatened ills thus oft we trembling hear, 
 That pass'd, we blush, and wonder at our fear. 
 But, the vain phantom that you dread, suppose, 
 That clad in terror mighty war arose ; 
 
 Tot prius abductis, ecquae repetita per arma est ? 
 
 Crede mihi, vanos res habet ista metns. 
 Nomine ceperunt Aquilonis Erechthida Thraces : 
 
 Et tuta a bello Bistonis ora fuit. 
 Phasida puppe nova vexit Pagasseus Iason : 
 
 Laesa nee est Colcha Thessala terra manu. 
 Te quoque qui rapuit, rapuit Minoi'da, Theseus : 
 
 Nulla tamen Minos Cretas ad arma vocat. 
 Terror in his ipso major solet esse periclo : 
 
 Quaeque timerc libet, pertimuisse pudet : 
 Finge tamen, si vis, ingens consurgere bellum : 
 
 Et mihi sunt vires : et mea tela nocent, 
 
166 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Asia, though Greece combine, may Greece with- 
 stand, 
 Asia, where men and horses crowd the land. 
 In love alone shall I be daring found ? 
 Know that my sword is sharp, my spear can wound. 
 In arms shall Paris to Atrides yield, 
 In love the conqueror, vanquish'd in the field ? 
 When yet a youth, nor yet inspir'd by you, 
 Our herds I rescued, and the robbers slew. 
 Triumphant songs the valiant deed proclaimed, 
 Me grateful shepherds their defender nam'd : 
 My brothers, and the noblest youth of Troy, 
 In youthful games I conquered, yet a boy. 
 In close, or distant fight, I press the foe, 
 And to their aim my fatal arrows go : 
 
 Nee minor est Asiae, quani vestraa copia terrse ; 
 
 Ilia viris dives, dives abundat equis. 
 Nee plus Atrides animi Menelaiis habebit, 
 
 Quam Paris ; aut armis anteferendus erit, 
 Paene puer cassis abducta armenta recepi 
 
 Hostibus : et causam nominis inde tuli. 
 Paene puer vario juvenes certamine vici : 
 
 In quibus Uioneus, Deiphobusque fuit. 
 Neve putes, non me nisi cominus esse timendum : 
 
 Figitur in jusso nostra sagitta loco. 
 
PARIS TO HELEN. 167 
 
 You to Atrides now these gifts convey, 
 Bid him my skill in sport, or war display. 
 Could you the boon bestow, or he receive, 
 Yet can you Hector for a brother give ? 
 A countless host itself is Hector's name, 
 And nations trembling hear of Hector's fame. 
 My powers you rate, my valor, far too low ; 
 Nor of your destined lord the virtues know. 
 These in your bosom every doubt should quell ; 
 No Greeks will arm, or these the Greeks repel. 
 Not that thy charms a cause unworthy seem, 
 Or thee a prize of war too light I deem ; 
 Thy fame, if arm'd for thee the world contend, 
 To latest times immortal shall descend. 
 
 Num potes ha?c illi primas dare facta juventae? 
 
 Instruere Atriden num potes arte mea ? 
 Omnia si dederis; nunquid dabis Hectora fratrem? 
 
 Unus is innumeri militis instar habet. 
 Quid valeam, nescis : et te mea robora fallunt : 
 
 Ignoras cui sis nupta fatura viro. 
 Aut igitur nullo belli repetere tumultu ; 
 
 Aut cedent Marti Dorica castra meo. 
 Nee tamen indigner pro tanta sumere ferrum 
 
 Conjuge : certamen prsemia magna movent. 
 Tu quoque, si de te totus contenderit orbis, 
 
 Nomen ab aeterna posteritate feres. 
 
 1 
 
168 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Thy fears then banish, and propitious gales 
 Shall fill, and gods propitious guide, our sails ; 
 And proudly waft thee to my native Troy, 
 All my fond vows have promis'd to enjoy. 
 
 Spe modd non timida, Dis hinc egressa secundis, 
 Exige cum plena munera pacta fide. 
 
HELEN 
 
 TO 
 
 PARIS. 
 
 Q 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 HELEN first rejects, as if shocked at, the illicit 
 addresses of Paris ; but in the course of her let- 
 ter, yields with becoming decency and precaution: 
 sometimes repulsing and sometimes encouraging, 
 till at last she refers him to her two confidants 
 JEthra and Climene. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 When once my violated eyes have read 
 
 The shameless lines, your treacherous arts con- 
 
 vey'd, 
 Vain were the scorn to answer should refuse, 
 Nor urge the sacred rights you dare abuse.: 
 You, who solicit, with unhaliow'd vows, 
 A matron's faith, your host's entrusted spouse ! 
 For this did .Sparta, from the stormy wave, 
 Moor'd in her ports, your shatter'd vessels save t 
 For this a stranger, serv'd with royal care, 
 Lodge in our palace^ and the banquet share ? 
 
 Nunc oculos tua cum violarit epistola nostros : 
 
 Non rescribendi gloria ^isa levis. 
 Ausus es hospitii temeratis advena sacris 
 
 Legitimam nuptae sollicitare fidem? 
 Scilicet idcirco ventosa per aequora vectum 
 
 Excepit portu Taenaris ora suo ? 
 Nee tibi diversa quamvis e gente venires, 
 
 Oppositas habuit regia nostra fores ; 
 Q 2 
 
2f2 HELEN TO PARIS, 
 
 The generous deed should injury repay f 
 And, like a foe, his host a guest betray ? 
 Uncouth, perchance, and in your polish'd ears 
 A simple tale, my just complaint appears. 
 Still may I simple prove, but free from blame, 
 And rude my speech, but spotless be my fame ! 
 If no feign d downcast looks demure I wear, 
 Nor stern assume a supercilious air, 
 My favors no adulterer yet could boast, 
 Nor basely triumph in my honor lost. 
 What deed of mine thy vain presumption fed * 
 What hope, by me inspired, to share my bed ? 
 If once, compell'd, I follow'd iEthra's son, 
 Must the same course with thee again be run ? 
 .. . » »■■ 
 
 Esset ut officii merces injuria tanti ? 
 
 Qui sic intrabas, hospes an hostis eras ? 
 Nee dubito, quin haec, cum sit tarn justa, vocetur 
 
 Rustica, judicio, nostra querela tuo. 
 Rustica sim san& : dum non oblita pudoris : 
 
 Dumque tenor vitae sit sine labe meae. 
 Si non est iicto vultus mihi tristis in ore ; 
 
 Nee sedeo duris torva superciliis ; 
 Fama tamen claraest: et adhuc sine criminelusi: 
 
 Et laudem de me nullus adulter habet. 
 Quo magis admiror, quae sit iiducia ccepto ; 
 
 Spemque tori declerit quae tibi causa mei. 
 
HELEN TO PARTS. 17$ 
 
 Mine were the blame, if by his arts beguil'd, 
 Complying, on the ravisher, I smil'd. 
 A helpless captive how could I escape ? 
 My part was vain resistance in the rape. 
 Short was the triumph of his bold career, 
 The only violence I suffer'd, fear. 
 Soon I return'd ; the fruit of all his toil, 
 A few forc'd kisses, all his boasted spoil ; 
 Thanks to the gods who thus my honor spar'd! 
 You in his place more fatally had dar'd. 
 The youth inviolate resign'd his prey, 
 And quick repentance did the crime away. 
 
 An, quia vim nobis Neptunius attulit heros, 
 
 Rapta semel, videor bis quoque digna rapi * 
 Crimen erat nostrum, si delinita fuissem. 
 
 Cum sim rapta, meum quid nisi nolle fuit ? 
 Non tamen e facto fructum tulit ille petitum : 
 
 Excepto redii passa timore nihil. 
 Oscula luctanti tantummodo pauca protervus 
 
 Abstulit : ulterius nil habet ille mei. 
 Quae tua nequitia est, non his contenta fuisset ; 
 
 Di melius ! similis non fuit We tui. 
 Reddidit intactam ; minuitque modestia crimen: 
 
 Et juvenem facti poenituisse patet. 
 Thesea pcenituit, Paris ut succederet illi ; 
 
 Ne quando nomen non sit in ore meum ? 
 Q3 
 
\T\ HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 Thesens repented ; and lest Helen's name 
 In silence rest, shall Paris spreads ? her fame ? 
 Nor thy warm vows offended do I hear: 
 What woman hates a lover, if sincere? 
 There lies the doubt that fills me with alarms, 
 Not that- 1 hear unconscious of my charms. 
 But fond credulity the maid betrays, 
 And man with faithless vows the trust repays. 
 If matrons rarely to their lords are true ; 
 Why should not I be numbered with the few ? 
 My mother's fault you urge; fallacious plea! 
 Vain the excuse her frailty yields to me : 
 Leda descending Jove a bird believ'd, 
 Oer-shadowing plumage and the god deceiv'd. 
 
 Nee tamen irascor (quis enim succenset amanti ?) 
 
 Si rnodo, quern prefers, non simulatur amor. 
 Hoc quoque enim dubito: non quod liducia desit, 
 
 Aut mea sit fades non bene nota mihi: 
 Sed quia credulitas damno solet esse puellis ; 
 
 Verbaque dicuntur vestra carere fide. 
 At peccant alia3 ; matronaque rara pudica est. 
 
 Quid prohibet raris nomen inesse meum ? 
 Nam mea qudd visa est tibi mater idonea, cujus 
 
 Exemplo flecti me quoque posse putes ; 
 Matris in admisso falsa sub imagine lusa? 
 
 Error inest: pluma tectus adulter erar. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 175 
 
 With thee offending, can her daughter prove 
 Oer-shadowing plumage, and descending Jove ? 
 From kings you trace, and gods, your race divine, 
 This house can boast as long, as proud a line. 
 Did Tyndarus nor Tantalus our race, 
 Nor Jove thy ancestry, Atrides, grace, 
 Leda made Jove my sire, for Leda prest, 
 Deceiv'd, the winged traitor to her breast. 
 Of Phrygian noble stem now boast aloud; 
 Of Priam, and Laomedon be proud ; 
 Names I with you revere ; but fifth you prove 
 From Jove descended, I the first from Jove. 
 
 Nil ego, si peccem, passim nescisse: nee ullus 
 
 Error, qui facti crimen obumbret, erit. 
 Ilia bene erravit, vitiumque auctore redemit : 
 
 Felix in culpa quo Jove dicar ego ? 
 Quod genus et proavos, et regia nomina jactas : 
 
 Clara satis domus hasc nobilitate sua. 
 Jupiter tit soceri proavus taceatur, et omne 
 
 Tantalidse Pelopis Tyndareique decus ; 
 Dat toihi Leda Jovem eyeno decepta parentem^ 
 
 Qua3 falsam gremio credula fovit avem. 
 I nunc, et Phrygian late primordia gentis, 
 
 Cumque suo Priamum Laomedonte refer. 
 Quos ego suspicio; sed, qui tibi gloria magna est, 
 
 Quintus, is a nostro nomine primus erit. 
 
178 HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 # 
 
 Now my short whispers breathe, " O shameless 
 
 youth I* 
 Now longer murmurs ; and they breathe the truth. 
 Now trac'd in wine upon the board I read 
 Helen, and Helen find " I love" succeed. 
 To this my downcast eyes assent refuse, 
 Alas ! such language have I learn'd to use ! 
 A softer heart than mine thy arts may bend, 
 And mine, could I an ear to flattery lend, 
 I own thy graces, and some happier fair, 
 The joys I dare not, may b© proud to share; 
 Her's be the pleasure free from guilty pain, 
 While I unblest, and innocent remain ! 
 
 »■ ■ ■ ii I» ■■ ^ .i.»i i ■ .i ■■ ■ a . 
 
 Orbe quoque in mensae legi sub nomine nostro f 
 
 Quod deducta mero littera fecit, AMO. 
 Credere me tamen hoc oculo renuente negavi. 
 
 Hei mihi ! jam didici sic quoque posse loquL 
 His ego blanditiis, si peccatura fuissem 
 
 Flecterer : his poterant pectora nostra capi. 
 Est quoque (confiteor) facies tibi rara: potest- 
 que 
 
 Velle sub amplexus ire puelia tuos. 
 Altera vel potiu- felix sine crimine fiat, 
 
 Quam cadat externo noster amore pudor. 
 Disce meo exemplo, formosis posse care re* 
 
 Est virtus placitis abstinuisse bonis. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 179 
 
 Fiy then from beauty, be the example mine, 
 And learn, what most invites thee, to resign. 
 Tbiuk'st thou, does Helen Paris only charm, 
 And fond desire thy single bosom warm r" 
 Modest, not blind, the silent youth adore, 
 Nor less their passion, but their reverence more; 
 My virgin heart a thousand rivals sought ; 
 Had thy swift bark thy vows then hither brought, 
 Peace to Atrides, thine had been the prize, 
 On thee at once had nVd my wavering eyes. 
 Vain is it now to plead thy hopeless flame, 
 The proud possessor mocks thy tardy claim* 
 Blest had I been with thee in Troy to reign ; 
 Nor Sparta I, nor Sparta's lord disdain : 
 
 Quam multos credas juvenes optare, quod optas, 
 
 Qui sapiant? oculos an Paris unus habes ? 
 Non tu plus cernis : sed plus temerarius audes : 
 
 Nee tibi plus cordis, sed magis oris adest. 
 Tunc ego te vellem celeri venisse carind, 
 
 Cum mea virginitas mille petita procis. 
 Si te vidissem, primus de mille fuisses : 
 
 Judicio veniam vir dabit ipse meo. 
 Ad possessa venis praeceptaque gaudia serus : 
 
 Spes tua lenta fuit ; quod petis, alter habei. 
 Ut tamen optarem fieri tibi Troi'a conjux, 
 
 Invitam sic me nee Menelaus habet. 
 
ISO HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 Then let thy words my aching bosom spare, 
 And her, thy love pursues, to wound forbear : 
 There let her rest, her lot where fortune plac'd, 
 Nor with her ruin'd fame be thou disgraced. 
 Shall then the promises of Venus fail ? 
 For lo ! to thee appear'd, in Ida's vale, 
 Three naked goddesses ; and kingdoms one, 
 Another proffer' d fame by valor won ; 
 The third, and she the envied prize obtain'd, 
 To give the wife of Menelaiis deign' d ! 
 Hard to believe ; to thee their charms reveal'd, 
 To thy award celestial forms appeal'd ! 
 More, that the victress promised to thy arms 
 The poor possession of my little charms ! 
 
 Desine molle, precor, verbis convellere pectus : 
 
 ,Neve mihi, quam te dicis amare, noce. 
 Sed sine, quam tribuit sortem Fortuna, tueri : 
 
 Nee spolium nostri turpe pudoris habe. 
 At Venus hoc pacta est : et in altae vallibus Ida? 
 
 Tres tibi se nudas exhibuere Deae : 
 Unaque cum regnum, belli daret altera laudem ; 
 
 Tyndaridos conjux, tertia dixit, eris. 
 Credere vix equidem coelestia corpora possum 
 
 Arbitrio formam supposuisse tuo. 
 Utque sit hoc verum ; certe pars altera ficta est, 
 
 Judicii pretium qua data dicor ego. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 1 77 
 
 Nor such my beauty fondly do I deem, 
 Worthy a goddess that the boon should seem. 
 Enough for me if mortal eyes approve; 
 I ask no praises from the queen of love : 
 Nor slight her favors, nor her gifts decline, 
 What my heart flatters why should I resign I 
 And thou forgive that slowly I believe, 
 For slow assent important truths receive. 
 I glory now that Venus should propose 
 Me for his high reward ; that Paris chose. 
 For Helen wealth and kingdoms, Juno's boast, 
 For Helen, fame by Pallas vaunted, lost. 
 
 Non est tanta mihi fiducia corporis, ut me. 
 
 Maxima, teste Dea, dona fuisse putem. 
 Contenta est oculis hominum mea forma probari: 
 
 Laudatrix Venus est invidiosa mihi, 
 Sed nihil inflcior : faveo quoque laudibus istis : 
 
 Nam mea vox quare, quod cupit, esse neget? 
 Nee tu succense nimium mihi creditus asgre : 
 
 Tarda solct magnis rebus inesse fides. 
 Prima mea est igitur Veneri placuisse voluptas: 
 
 Proxima, me visam prsemia sumraa tibi : 
 Nee te Palladios, nee te Junonis honores 
 
 Auditis Helenas praeposuisse bonis. 
 Ergo ego sum virtus? ego sum tibi nobile regnum? 
 
 Ferrea sim, si non hoc ego pectus amem. 
 R 
 
ITS HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 I then to thee am wealth, and power and fame ? 
 
 Love from a heart of stone such offerings claim. 
 
 A fruitless passion to indulge afraid, 
 
 Of stone, believe me, Helen is not made. 
 
 Why feed a hope but vainly to deplore, 
 
 Sow on the sands, and plough the watery shore ? 
 
 In amorous fraud unskilled, by him ador'd, 
 
 I ne'er till now (Heaven knows !) deceiv'd my lord, 
 
 These furtive lines my trembling fingers trace, 
 
 New to the work, and conscious of disgrace. 
 
 Happy the maid experienc'd in the art ! 
 
 I find the guilty not an easy part ; 
 
 My fears are torture, and all eyes, but thine, 
 
 Abash'd I meet, and think them fix'd on mine. 
 
 Ferrea, crede mihi, non sum : sed amare repugno 
 
 Ilium, quern fieri vix puto posse meum. 
 Quid bibulum curvo proscindere littus aratro, 
 
 Spemque sequi coner, quam locus ipse neget ? 
 
 Sum rudis ad Veneris furtum : nullaque ridelem 
 
 (Di mihi sunt testes) lusimus arte virum. 
 Nunc quoque, qudd tacito mando mea verba libello, 
 
 Fungi tur officio litera nostra novo. 
 Felices, quibus usus adest ! ego nescia rerum 
 
 Difficilem culpa? suspicor esse viam. 
 Ipse malo metus est: jam nunc confundor,etomnes 
 
 In nostris oculos vultibus esse reor. 
 
HELEK TO PARIS. IJ9 
 
 Nor vain my terrors ; for the daring croud, 
 ^Ethra reports, indulge in murmurs loud. 
 Dissemble then thy purpose, or resign ; 
 Rather with love dissimulation join : 
 Thy joy conceal ; the absence of my lord 
 Much may ailow, not all we wish afford : 
 Absence, that sudden from his native land 
 Causes of import high, and just, demand; 
 By me approv'd ; and as he lingering stay'd, 
 " Go, and to Helen soon return ;" I said. 
 Charm'd with the omen, fondly he caress'd, 
 And clasp'd me, unsuspecting, to his breast. 
 t€ Look to my house and wealth, noi meanly spare; 
 And be," he adds, " my Trojan guest thy care." 
 
 Nee reor hoc falso : sensi mala murmura vulgi : 
 
 Et quasdam voces retulit iEthra mihi. 
 At tu dissimula: nisi si desistere mavis. 
 
 Sed cur desistas ? dissimuiare potes. 
 Lude, sed occulte ; major, non maxima nobis 
 
 Est data libertas, quod Menelaus abest. 
 Ille quidem procul est, ita re cogente profectus : 
 
 Magna fuit subitas justaque causa via\ 
 Aut mihi sic visum est. Ego, cum dubitaret an irct, 
 
 Quampriffitm, dixi, fac rediturus cas. 
 Omine la?tatus dedit oscula : Rcsque, domusque, 
 
 Et tibi ait cum Tro'icus hospes, ait, 
 K 2 
 
3§0 HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 While smother'd laughter strain'd my blushing 
 
 cheek ; 
 " He shall/' was all my quivering lips could speak. 
 Thanks to the prosperous gale ! to Crete he's gone, 
 Bat think not therefore I am now thy own : 
 Absent, his wife, and rights he can defend; 
 For far, you know, a monarch's hands extend. 
 His fears thy loud encomiums justly raise, 
 O fatal beauty, and more fatal praise ! 
 Feign would I now resign my proudest claim, 
 And cheat the busy tongue of babbling fame. 
 Nor that he leaves me here with thee admire, 
 My life and m-anners confidence inspire ; 
 
 Vix tenui risum ; quern dum compescere luctor, 
 
 Nil illi potui dicere, praeter, Erit. 
 Vela quidem Creten ventis dedit ille secundis : 
 
 Sed tu non ideo cuncta licere puta. 
 Sic meus hinc vir abest, ut me custodiat absens. 
 
 An nescis longas regibus esse manus ? 
 Fama quoque est oneri ; nam quo constantius ore 
 
 Laudamur vestro, justius ille timet. 
 Qua? juvat, ut nunc est, eadem mihi gloria damno 
 est : 
 
 Et melius famae verba dedisse foret. 
 Nee, quod abest, hie me tecum mirare relictam : 
 
 Moribus et vitae credidit ille mea?. 
 
IIELEX TO PARIS. 181 
 
 His fear, if fear his generous bosom knows, 
 Not from my conduct, but my beauty flows. 
 You urge the precious moments that we lose, 
 The boon, my own convenient spouse, bestows : 
 Desire and doubt my labouring bosom rend, 
 Willing to yield, yet fearful to offend : 
 My absent husband leaves my unguarded side; 
 The nights are long, you press no blooming bride* 
 Beauty in both, by both admir'd, incites 
 The mutual flame, to mutual joys invites: 
 Beneath one roof we live, and soft desire, 
 (For still our talk is love) thy words inspire : 
 All that can tempt to crime my steps betrays ; 
 And fear, alas ! and only fear delays : 
 
 De facie metuit, vitas confidit: et ilium 
 
 Securum probitas, forma timere facit. 
 Tempora ne pereant ultro data pra?cipis ; utque 
 
 Simplicis utamur commoditate viri. 
 Et libet, et timeo : nee adhuc exacta voluntas 
 
 Est satis; in dubio pectora nostra la bant. 
 Et vir abest nobis ; et til sine conjuge dermis : 
 
 Inque vicem tua me, te mea forma capit ; 
 Et longae noctes ; et jam sermone coimus : 
 
 Et tu (me miseram !) blandus; et una domus. 
 Et peream, si non invitant omnia culpam : 
 
 Xescio quo tardor seel tamen ipsa metu. 
 R 3 
 
JS2 HELENA TO PARIS. 
 
 Nor think, rash youth, by force to conquer fcar y 
 
 And thus o'erwhelm the doubts you cannot clear: 
 
 Though some their wishes gain by force possess'd f 
 
 And I perchance by violence were blest. 
 
 The infant passion better now to tame; 
 
 A little water checks the kindling flame. 
 
 A stranger's fickle love no law obeys, 
 
 And to new regions like the wanderer strays ; 
 
 When fondest hope upon his faith relies, 
 
 " Spreads his light wings and in a moment flies." 
 
 Thus wert thou left thy widowed bed to weep, 
 
 Betray'd Hypsipile ; from balmy sleep 
 
 The Cretan's daughter waking, thus deplores 
 
 (Ah wretched pair !) her fate on desart shores. 
 
 Quod male persuades, utinam bene cogere possis : 
 
 Vi mea rusticitas excutienda fuit. 
 Utilis interdum est ipsis injuria passis : 
 
 Sic certe felix esse coacta velim. 
 Dum novus est, potius ccepto pugnemus amori : 
 
 Flamma recens parva sparsa resedit aqua. 
 Certus in hospitibus non est amor; errat, ut ipsi : 
 
 Cumque nihil speres iirmius esse, fuit. 
 llypsipyle testis, testis Minoia virgo est; 
 
 In non exhibitis utraque questa toris. 
 Tu quoque dilectam multos, infide, per anno* 
 
 Diceris CEnonen destituisse tuam. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 153 
 
 Thee too, the partner of thy youth, in vain, 
 (Enone strove, O traitor, to detain. 
 Deny it not, for all that thee concerns, 
 Know, that my anxious fond enquiry learns. 
 Nor would thy constancy unfeign'd avail; 
 E'en now the Trojan barks prepare to sail ; 
 E'en while we talk, and wait the promis'd joy, 
 Upsprings the gale that bears thee back to Troy^ 
 Torn from new pleasures in their mid career; 
 To fickle man new pleasures ever dear I 
 Thy love will vanish, on the winds, with thee; 
 Or must I follow vaunted Troy to see ? 
 Of proud Laomedon to'swell the race ? 
 I am not yet so callous to disgrace ; 
 
 Nee tamen ipse negas ; et nobis omnia de te 
 
 Quserere, si nescis, maxima cura fuit. 
 Adde quod, ut cupias constans in amore manere, 
 
 Non potes ; expediunt jam tua vela Phryges. 
 Dum loqueris mecum, dum nox sperata paratwv 
 
 Qui ferat in patriam jam tibi ventus erit. 
 Cursibus in mediis novitatis plena relinques 
 
 Gaudia : cum ventis noster abibit amor. 
 An sequar, ut suades ; laudataque Pergama visam> 
 
 Pronurus et magni Laomedontis ero ? 
 Non ita contemno volucris prceconia Famse, 
 
 Ut probris terras implcat ilia meis, 
 
]S4 HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 O'er the wide world to spread a guilty fame, 
 
 Through Greece and Asia my dishonoured name. 
 
 **ow will of me deserted Sparta deem ? 
 
 What to thy native Troy will Helen seem ? 
 
 A child like me old Priam's heart will grieve, 
 
 Can such a daughter Hecuba receive ? 
 
 Thy many valiant brothers me will spurn, 
 
 From me thy lofty sisters proudly turn ; 
 
 Thyself will never on my faith rely, 
 
 But dread the example that thy crimes supply j 
 
 To Troy's proud ports whatever guest shall steet 
 
 Shall fill thy tortur'd breast with jealous fear. 
 
 To call me then adulteress, O forbear ! 
 
 And think how deeply that reproach you share. 
 
 Quid de me Sparte poterit, quid Achaia tota, 
 
 Quid gentes Asia?, quid tua Troja loqui ? 
 Quid Priamus de me, Priami quid sentiet uxor ; 
 
 Totque tui fratres, Dardanidesque nurus ? 
 Tu quoque, qui poteris tibi me sperare fide- 
 lem ? 
 
 Et non exemplis anxius esse tuis ? 
 Quicunque Iliacos intraverit advena portus, 
 
 Is tibi solliciti causa timoris erit. 
 Ipse mihi quoties iratus, Adultera, dices 1 
 
 Oblitus nostro crimen inessc tuum. 
 Delicti ties idem reprehensor et auctor. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 185 
 
 Let never passion hurl it from thy tongue, 
 
 Nor, author of the deed, avenge the wrong. 
 
 Deep be my beauties buried in the ground, 
 
 Ne'er may that word my conscious bosom wound ! 
 
 But Prion's sons my nod shall, sooth, controul, 
 
 And at my feet the wealth of Phrygia roll, 
 
 The regal purple shall my limbs enfold, 
 
 And mine be treasur'd heaps of massy gold ! 
 
 Forgive my plainness, not thy gold I prize, 
 
 I linger here detain'd by dearer ties. 
 
 If wrong'd, in Phrygia can a foreign maid 
 
 Implore a father's, or a brother's aid ? 
 
 All homage Jason to Medea swore, 
 
 Yet drove the wretched wanderer from his door : 
 
 Terra, precor, vultus obruat ante meos. 
 At fruar Iliacis opibus, cultuque beato: 
 
 Donaque promissis uberiora feram. 
 Purpura nempe mihi, pretiosaque textadabuntur: 
 
 Congestoque auri pondere dives ero. 
 Da veniam fassa? ; non sunt tua munera tanti. 
 
 Nescio quo tellus me tenet ista modo. 
 Quis mihi, si laedar, Phrygiis succurrat in oris ? 
 
 Unde petam fratres, unde parentis opem ? 
 Omnia Medeae fallax promisit Iason : 
 
 Pulsa est iEsonia num minus ilia domo ? 
 Non erat ^Eetes, ad quern despecta rediret: 
 
1S6 HELEN TO PAKIS. 
 
 Nor there ^etes could his child redress, 
 Chalciope console, Ipsea bless. 
 Nor such my fears ; nor did Medea fear ; 
 Most flattering, oft, fallacious hopes appear : 
 Storms in the ocean rend the labouring sails, 
 Spread in the harbour to propitious gales. 
 Dreadful to me is what thy mother dream'd, 
 The torch to issue from her womb that seem'd. 
 The Grecian fire that Ilion should consume, 
 For so the Trojan seers assembled doom. 
 Thy vows if grateful Citherea hears, 
 To her thy voice the double trophy rears ; 
 
 Non Ipsea parens, Chalciopeque soror. 
 Tale nihil timeo : sed nee Medea timebat : 
 
 Fallitur augurio spes bona ssepe suo. 
 Omnibus invenies, qua? nunc jactantur in alto, 
 
 Navibus a portu lene fuisse fretuni. 
 Fax quoque me terret : quam se peperisse cruen- 
 tarn 
 
 Ante diem partus est tua visa parens. 
 Et vatum timeo monitus : quos igne Pelasgo 
 
 Ilion arsuram praemonuisse ferunt. 
 Utque favet Cytherea tibi, quia vicit, habetqus 
 
 Parta per arbitrium bina tropsea tuum ; 
 Sic illas vereor : qua?, si tua gloria vera est, 
 
 Judice te causam non tenu6re duae. 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 187 
 
 Two vanquish'cl goddesses thy judgment rue, 
 And they thy steps with vengeance shall pursue. 
 Mine war shaii surely follow, if they stray, 
 Love through opposing swords must wing his way. 
 Did heroes curb the Centaurs brutal rage, 
 War for the vvrong'd Hippodamia wage ? 
 Tamely shall my disgrace Atrides bear; 
 Tamely, with Tyndareus, my brothers share ? 
 Loudly thy words proclaim thy valorous deeds, 
 That face of thine in other language pleads ; 
 That form may Venus more than Mars approve* 
 Let others fight, thou Paris only love : 
 Of martial fame to Hector yield thy share, 
 Another warfare be thy better care ! 
 
 Nee dubito, quin, te si prosequar, arma parentur. 
 
 Ibit per gladios (hei mihi!) noster amor. 
 Kon fera Centauris indicere bella coegit 
 
 A tracts Ha^monios Hippodamia viros ? 
 Tu fore tarn justa lentum Menelaon in ira, 
 
 Et geminos fratres, Tyndareumque putas ? 
 Quod bene te jactas, et fortia facta recenses ; 
 
 A verbis. facies dissidet ista suis. 
 Apta magis Veneri, quam sint tua corpora Marti: 
 
 Bella gerant fortes : tu, Pari, semper ama. 
 Hectora, quern laudas, pro te pugnare jubeto: 
 
 Militia est operis altera digna tuis. 
 
183 HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 In that, thy prowess, though my fears repress, 
 Some happier, wiser maid, perchance may bless. 
 Me too, for I my scruples may survive, 
 And time bestow the boon I blush to give. 
 But know when secret meetings you request, 
 Some harmless interviews, in hours of rest ; 
 Forsooth, that freer converse we may hold ! 
 The kind intention I with ease unfold : 
 You press too rashly, and would reap the field, 
 Ere golden fruit the growing harvest yield : 
 But still it ripens with the fostering day ; 
 Still may you profit by the kind delay. 
 Tis time that here the furtive lines I close, 
 My weary fingers from the work repose ; 
 
 His ego, si saperem, pauloque audacior essem, 
 
 Uterer ; utetur, si qua puella sapit. 
 Aut ego deposito faciam fortasse pudore ; 
 
 Et dabo conjunctas tempore victa manus. 
 Quod petis, ut furtim pra?sentes plura loquamur ; 
 
 Scimus quid captes, colloquiumque voces. 
 Sed nimium properas ; et adhuc tua messis in herb& 
 est. 
 
 Haec mora sit voto forsan arnica tuo. 
 Hactenus arcanum furtivas conscia mentis 
 
 Littera jam lasso pollice sistat opus. 
 Caetera per sociasClymeneniEthramque loquamur, 
 
HELEN TO PARIS. 193 
 
 ^Lthra and Climene shall more impart, 
 
 They know, too well, the secrets of my heart ! 
 
 Quae mihi sunt comites consiliumque duae. 
 
LEANDER TO HERO, 
 
 iKD 
 
 HERO TO LEANDER. 
 
 BY 
 
 A DIFFERENT HAND. 
 
 N. B. The translator of these two Epistles has 
 felt himself encouraged, by the approbation 
 bestowed upon them in some of the Reviews, 
 to attempt the correction of what appeared 
 to him most defective in his translation : he 
 submits them again to the public, with a 
 trembling hope, that, incorporated into a 
 complete version of the Heroic Epistles, they 
 may be found not unacceptable by those who 
 know the difficulty of transfusing into a 
 modern language the spirit and elegance of 
 antient poetry. 
 
 s 2 
 
ARGUMENT, 
 
 ON the two opposite shores of the Hellespont? at the 
 distance of someivhat less than a mile, stood the 
 towns of Sestos and Abydos. Leander, an inha- 
 bitant of Abydos, being engaged in an amour with 
 Hero, who resided in a tower by the seaside in 
 the vicinity of Sestos, was in the habit of swim- 
 ming over to visit her in the night. Their inter- 
 course was at last interrupted by tempestuous 
 weather ; and the lover having waited some time 
 in vain for a calm, formed the desperate resolu- 
 tion of attempting to cross over in spite of the 
 tempest. In this attempt he was drowned ; and 
 Ms mistress, having discovered his body, which 
 had floated to the Sestian shore, in despair threw 
 herself into the sea. The Epistles are supposed to 
 be written just before the deplorable event, whilst 
 Leander was encouraging himself to proceed on 
 the fatal voyage. The whole story may be found 
 beautifully depictured in the poem on this subject,, 
 attributed to Moschus, which has been often, and 
 in a late instance very elegantly, translated into 
 the English language: the reader, however, will 
 observe, that the story of Moschus differs, in many 
 material circumstances, from the one described in 
 these Epistles. 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 
 
 .Health to the Mistress of the Sestian tower! 
 Health from thy love, all-anxious for the hour, 
 When, Ocean resting from it's angry roars, 
 Himself may bring thee what his verse implores ! 
 Yet, if the powers of Heav'n indulgent prove, 
 Nor check the blossoms of my vernal love, 
 Thine eye reluctant o'er these lines shall stray, 
 And ask one dearer object of survey. 
 But not indulgent those eternal Powers ! 
 Else why, so many tedious, torturing hours, 
 My vows, the longings of my soul, deny'd ? 
 And clos'd my passage thro' the well-known tide ? 
 
 Mittit Abydenus, quam mallet ferre, salutem, 
 Si cadat ira maris, Sesta puella, tibi. 
 
 Si mihi Di faciles et sunt in amore secundi, 
 Invitis oculis haec mea verba leges. 
 
 Sed non sunt faciles: nam cur mea vota morentur, 
 Currere me nota nee patiantur aqua ? 
 $ 3 
 
J9S LEANDER TO HERO. 
 
 Lo ! what a pitchy gloom deforms the skies ! 
 Each following blast, how forcible it flies ! 
 Such tumult working in the restless wave, 
 Ev'n hollow barks the tempest fear to brave ! 
 One only mariner, of courage try'd, 
 And taught the terrors of the deep to ride, 
 'Has dar'd from shelter of the port emerge, 
 And launch his vessel venturous on the surge. 
 With him, whose hands this weeping scroll convey, 
 Myself had climb'd, and try'd the dangerous way! 
 But, while he loos'd his cable to the flood, 
 Observant on the cliffs our whole Abydos stood : 
 I could not, as before, with dark disguise 
 Have mock'd the vigilance of parent-eyes : 
 Nay, clear had shone, to laughing crouds betray 'd, 
 The loves we destined to concealing shade. 
 
 Ipsa vides ccelum pice nigrius ; et freta vent is 
 
 Turbida, perque cavas vix adeunda rates. 
 Unus, et hie audax, a quo tibi litera nostra 
 
 Redditur, e portu navita movit iter. 
 Ascensurus eram : nisi quod, cum vincula prora: 
 
 Solveret, in speculis omnis Abydos erat. 
 Non poteram celare meos, velut ante, parentes : 
 
 Quemque tegi volumus, non latuisset amor. 
 Prpiinus base scribens, felix, i, litera, dixi : 
 
 Jam tibi formosam porrigct ilia manum. 
 
LEAXDER TO HERO. 19$ 
 
 While thus I wrote, began my sighs to flow : 
 " Go, favoured letter, where 'tis bliss to go! 
 " Seems she not now, impatient now to stand, 
 M Trembling with eagerness her beauteous hand ? 
 " Nor glows her lip's soft pressure, while she tries 
 " With snowy tooth to burst thy silken ties '"?" 
 Vocal thus far my fond repinings rose : 
 The rest this hand relating, paints my woes. 
 Ah ! might that hand such poor employment leave, 
 Thro* subject seas her conquering path to cleave ! 
 Her aptest toil, her proudest aim to sweep 
 With sinewy strokes the level of the deep : 
 Yet, that deny'd, this lowlier task she claims; 
 In all, the pleas'd assistant of my flames. 
 
 This sev'nth sad night successive wakes my moan^ 
 (The longest, weariest year I yet have known!) 
 
 For sit an admotis etiam tangere labellis ; 
 
 Rumpere dam niveo vinculo dente volet. 
 Talibus exiguo dictis mihi murmure verbis, 
 
 Csetera cum charta dextra locuta mea est. 
 Ah quanto mallem, quam scriberet, ilia nataret, 
 
 Meque per assuetas sedula ferret aquas ! 
 Aptior ilia quidcm placido dare verbera ponto : 
 
 Est tamen et sensiis apta ministra mei. 
 Septima nox agitur, spatium mihi longius anno ; 
 
 Sollicitum raucis ut mare fervet aquis. 
 
tOO LEANDER TO HERO. 
 
 Since first the troubled main began to roar, 
 And heave it's surges on the whitening shore. 
 These nights, if once the charmer-sleep has prest 
 His downy pinions on my aching breast, 
 Long may the sea maintain these mad alarms, 
 Me still withholding from thy cheated arms ! 
 On some rude rock I take my lonely place ; 
 To thy lost shores I turn my drooping face; 
 And, fancy-led, explore those blissful scenes, 
 And curse each trackless wave that intervenes. 
 And, ever and anon, with straining eye, 
 I spy that darling light, or seem to spy, 
 Which o'er thy tower it's nightly vigils keeps, 
 And fondly calls me thro' the customed deeps. 
 Thrice on the sands my vestment have I laid, 
 And thrice the conquest of the floods essay'd : 
 
 His ego si vidi mulcentem pectora somnum 
 
 Noctibus : insani sit mora longa freti. 
 Rupe sedens aliqua specto tua littora tristis : 
 
 Et quo non possum corpore, mente feror. 
 Lumina quin etiam sumrna vigilantia turre, 
 
 Aut videt, aut acies nostra videre putat. 
 Ter mihi deposita est in sicca vestis arena, 
 
 Ter grave tentavi carpere nudus iter. 
 Obstitit inceptis tumidum juvenilibus aequor : 
 
 Mersit et adversis ora natantis aquis. 
 
LIAKDER TO HERO, ^01 
 
 The high-swol'n floods my wrestling strength defy'd, 
 And plung'd me headlong in the showery tide. 
 But why on me thy wrath perpetual driv'n, 
 Boreas, stern ruler of th' inclement heav'n ? 
 For not the floods alone thy blast deforms ; 
 I more than share the buffet of the storms. 
 With looser rein thy fury scarce could rove, 
 Had ne'er thy bosom felt the force of love ! 
 For once, 'tis own'd, that unrelenting breast, 
 Tho' folds of frost the stubborn frame invest, 
 Relax'd and melted in the genial flame, 
 Shot from the glance of Athens' beauteous dame. 
 In those soft hours, had some superior might 
 Check'd the swift course of that impassion'd flight, 
 Which hurry'd thee to rapture ; crost thy joy, 
 And stopp'd thee, fleetest courier of the sky ; 
 
 At tu de rapidis immansuetissime ventis, 
 
 Quid mecum certa praelia mente geris ? 
 In me, si nescis, Borea, non aequora, saevis. 
 
 Quid faceres, esset ni tibi notus amor ? 
 Tam gelidus cum sis, non te tamen, improbe, quon- 
 dam 
 
 Ignibus Actaeis incaluisse negas. 
 Gaudia rapturo si quis tibi claudere vellet 
 
 Aerios aditus; quo paterere modo ? 
 Parce, precor; facilemque move moderatiusaurann 
 
202 LEANDE'R TO HERO, 
 
 Had'st thou not told th/ aereal realms thy pain, 
 Shaken th' indignant wing, and curst th' unworthy 
 
 chain ? 
 Oh then, in mercy to my kindred woe, 
 Give but the gentlest of thy gales to blow ! 
 So may your prince the pious deed requite, 
 And all he asks be labours of delight ! 
 
 In vain these sighs th' unpitying Blast implore ; 
 Responsive to my sighs, I hear him roar : 
 Again his breath the depths of ocean shakes, 
 And mightier uproar in the waters wakes. 
 O would then Dsedalus, of skill divine, 
 To me the steerage of his plumes consign ! 
 My love-led flight no danger should controul, 
 (Tho* close beneath th* Icarian surges roll) 
 Could I these active limbs in air upheave, 
 Which oft have quiver'd on the dubious wave ! 
 
 Imperet Hippotades sic tibi triste nihil. 
 Vana peto, precibusque meis obmurmurat ipse : 
 
 Quasque quatit, nulla parte coercet aquas. 
 Nunc daret audaces utinam mihi Daedalus alas ! 
 
 Icarium quamvis hie prope littus adest. 
 Quicquid erit, patiar: liceat modo corpus in auras 
 
 Tollere ; quod dubia saepe pependit aqud. 
 Interea, dum cuncta negant ventique fretum- 
 que, 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 203 
 
 But while the winds, conflicting with the main, 
 Now the deep sighings of my soul disdain, 
 Reflective fancy loves, within, to frame 
 The first endearments of our secret flame. 
 The night began ; love occupy'd my soul ; 
 From my parental doors I softly stole ; 
 Aside all terror with my garb I flung, 
 And swift into the liquid region sprung. 
 Around me pour'd the moon her trembling ray ; 
 She seem'd the kind companion of my way : 
 Full on her orb my supplicating sight 
 I nVd, and hail'd the queen of beauteous night. 
 
 " O pride of heav'n !" I said, " be calm, be kind ! 
 " Recall the rocks of Latmos to thy mind ; 
 
 Mente agito furti tempora prima mei. 
 Nox erat incipiens (namque est meminisse volup- 
 tas) 
 
 Cum foribus patriis egrediebar amans. 
 Nee mora : deposito pariter cum veste timore, 
 
 Jactabam liquido brachia lenta mari. 
 Luna fere tremulum praebebat lumen eunti, 
 
 Ut comes in nostras officiosa vias. 
 Hanc ego suspiciens, Faveas, Dea Candida, dixi ; 
 
 Et subeant animo Latmia saxa tuo. 
 Non sinat Endymion te pectoris esse severi : 
 
 Fkcte, precor, vultus ad mea furta tuo&. 
 
£04 LEAKBER TO HERO. 
 
 44 Think of Endymion: on thy cloudless breast 
 
 " O be that conscious, soft'rring scene imprest ; 
 
 " That, sweetly shed from thy blue realms above, 
 
 " Thy smile may glisten on the thefts of love ! 
 
 " Twas thine, O goddess, once, thy spangled reign 
 
 11 To leave, enamour* d of an earthly swain : 
 
 " And now thy supplicant, (can truth displease ?) 
 
 " To seek a goddess, roams the silent seas. 
 
 " For not her life and manners to pourtray, 
 
 " Tho' meet to deck a sister of the day ; 
 
 u The natural beauties of her faultless frame 
 
 n Her genuine title to the skies proclaim ; 
 
 u HeavVs proudest palm disdaining to resign, 
 
 " Save to the Paphian graces, or to thine. 
 
 %i Trust not my voice ; thyself with equal eyes 
 
 if Serene observe, and fairly judge the prize. 
 
 " Far as thy calm broad orb, and silvery light, 
 
 " Transcend the twinkling lustres of the night ; 
 
 Tuy Dea, mortalem ccelo delapsa petelas : 
 
 Vera loqui Uceat : quam sequor, ipsa Dea est. 
 Neu referam mores ccelesti pectore digfios ; 
 
 Forma nisi in veras non cadit ilia Deas. 
 A Veneris facie non est prior tdla, tudque : 
 
 Neve rneis credas vocibus, ipsa vides. 
 Quantby cum fidges radiis argentea puris, 
 
 Concedimt flammis sidera cuncta tuis ; 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 205 
 
 «< So, passing far the gems of mortal race, 
 
 " Beam the bright honours of her form and 
 
 face. 
 " Doubt'st thou, O envious queen of mimic day I 
 " Then leaden are thy shafts, and dull thy ray.* 
 In these, or terms not much unlike, I spoke; 
 On thro' the smiling sea, meanwhile, I broke : 
 Play'd on the deep the moon's reflected gleam ; 
 The night a rival of the noontide beam: 
 No stillest air urismooth'd the calm profound ; 
 Nor caught my listening ear the gentlest sound ; 
 Save what, by tits, the parted waves reply 'd ; 
 Or Halcyons, brooding on the peaceful tide, 
 Were heard to moan, — a sweet and solemn strain, 
 Their Ceyx lost beneath the watery plain ! 
 
 Tantb formosis formosior omnibus ilia est : 
 
 Si dub it as, caecum, Cynthia, lumen babes. 
 Hagc ego, vel certe non his diversa, locutus 
 
 Per mihi cedentes nocte ferebar aquas. 
 Unda repercussa? radiabat imagine luna?, 
 
 Et nitor in tacita nocte diurnus erat : 
 Nullaque vox, nostras nullum veniebat ad aures, 
 
 Pra&ter dimotas corpore murmur aquse. 
 Alcyones solas memores Ce'ycis amati 
 Nescio quid visas sunt mihi dulce queri. 
 Jamque fatigatis humero sub utroque lacertis, 
 T 
 
1206 LEANDER TO HERO. 
 
 And now these arms, by long fatigue subdued, 
 
 With fainter force their oaring sweeps pursued ; 
 
 Then, ere my spirits yet entirely fled, 
 
 Slow from the wave I rear'd my languid head : 
 
 Soon as remote the sparkling sign I spy'd, 
 
 " Behold my star !" with new-born hope I cry'd ; 
 
 * c Its beams, as distant round the shore they play, 
 
 €i Call me to bliss, and I the call obey \" 
 
 I said ; returning strength my sinews felt; 
 
 The rigour of the deep appear'd to melt : 
 
 O love all-powerful, from thy rising fire 
 
 The bosom's frost, the water's cold retire ! 
 
 Now near and nearer to the coast I drew; 
 Broad o'er the wave it's shade the turret threw : 
 At the blest sight my beating bosom rose; 
 And seem'd too soon my briny task to close, 
 
 Fortiter in summas erigor altus aquas. 
 Ut procul aspexi lumen, Mens ignis in illo est. 
 
 Ilia meum, dixi, littora lumen habent. 
 Et subito lassis vires rediere lacertis : 
 
 Visa-que, quam fuerat, mollior unda mi hi. 
 Frigora ne possim gelidi sentire profundi, 
 
 Qui calet in cupido pectore, prcestat amor. 
 Quo magis acccdo, propri-oraque littora fiunt; 
 
 Quoque minus restat, plus libet ire mihi. 
 Cum vero possum ccrni quoque ; protinus addi» 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 207 
 
 But when I see, delighted on the strand, 
 Thee, dear spectatress of my labour, stand ;. 
 My leaping heart redoubled vigour fires ! 
 Redoubled energy my limbs inspires; 
 With bolder strokes I shoot the yielding seas, 
 And toss my frolic arms, thy sight to please. 
 Thee can thy nurse, officious, scarce restrain,, 
 Scarce hold thy footsteps eager from the main : 
 {With secret joy those eager steps I spy'd ; 
 Nor could thy soul the fond impatience hide) 
 Nor, spite of all her struggles, can she save 
 Thy foot from bathing in the foremost wave., 
 Next am I welcomed in thy warm embrace ; 
 Thy precious kisses wander o'er my' face ; 
 
 Spectatrix animos, ut valeamque facis. 
 Tunc etiam nando dominse placuisse laboro, 
 
 Atque oculis jacto brachia nostra tuis. 
 Te tua vix prohibit nutrix descendere in altum ; 
 
 Hoc quoque enim vidi : ncc mihi verba dabas. 
 Nee tamen effecit, quamvis retinebat euntem, 
 
 Ne fieret prima pes tuus udus aqua. 
 Excipis amplexu, feliciaque oscula jungis : 
 
 Oscula (Di magni!) trans mare digna peti. 
 Eque tuis demptos humeris mihi tradis amictus : 
 
 Et madidam siccas aquoris imbre comam. 
 Cetera nox, et nos, et turris conscia novit,. 
 
 T 2 
 
205 LEANDEU TO HERO, 
 
 My glowing limbs thy ready vest supplies - ? 
 Thy clasping hand my briny ringlets dries. 
 The rest (O rapture!) to ourselves alone, 
 To night, and to the conscious tower is known m T 
 And that dear lamp, whose solitary rays 
 Pointed my path along the watery maze. 
 Fast fleet the moments on our loves employ' d ; 
 Of time a penuiy, but well-enjoy'd : 
 No loveless interval in slumber past, 
 But fresh delights still added to the last ; 
 In number as the floating weeds that ride 
 Thick-sown on Hellespont's tempestuous tide. 
 
 And now the day-star* thro' the dusky shade* 
 His beam, the prelude of the morn, displayed : 
 Stung with the sight, an intermingled shower 
 Of ardent kisses, all in haste, we pour ; 
 
 Quodque mihi lumen per vada monstrat iter. 
 Nee magis illius numerari gaudia noctis, 
 
 Hellespontiaci quam maris a,lga potest. 
 Quo brevius spatium nobis ad furta dabatur, 
 
 Hoc magis est cautum, ne foret illud iners. 
 Jamque, fugatura Tithoni conjuge noctem, 
 
 Praevium Auroras Lucifer ortus erat. 
 Oseula congerimus properata sine ordine raptim> 
 
 Et querimur parvas noctibus esse moras. 
 Atquc ita, cunctatus monitum nutricis amara?* 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 209 
 
 And blame the jealous night, whose stealthy pace 
 Too swift had sped her pleasurable race. 
 This poor delay thy bitter nurse reproves, 
 Till her sharp warning separates our loves : 
 The scene of rapture, sighing, we forsake, 
 And down the beach our silent steps betake :. 
 In tears we part ; I slowly quit the shore, 
 And the cold marble of the seas explore : 
 Yet, long as stay'd thy lingering form in view,- 
 Back on that form a mournful glance I threw- 
 
 O what a change! with manly strokes, methought,. 
 I oar'd my progress, as thy strand I sought : 
 But now, retiring to my native plain, 
 I seem to float, a shipwreck on the main!. 
 Besides, as onward to thy arms I glide, 
 A smooth descent the sloping seas provide : 
 But, when those arms returning I resign, 
 Up arduous steeps I toil of heavier brine ! 
 
 Frigida deserta littora turre peto. 
 Digredimur flentes : repetoque ego virginis asquor,- 
 
 Respiciens dominam, dum licet, usque meam. 
 Si qua fides vero est ; veniens hue esse natatory 
 
 Cum redeo, videor naufragus esse mihi. 
 Hoc quoque si credas ; ad te via prona videtur :: 
 
 A te cum redeo, clivus inert is aquae. 
 Invitus repeto patriam ; quis credere possit ? 
 l3 
 
230 LEANDER TO HERO. 
 
 With sighs I bade thy stranger-sands adieu ; 
 Again with sighs my parent-walls I view : 
 And there, ah ! now, reluctant there I stay? 
 Of winds and waves the prisoner, and the prey ! 
 
 Ah ! why, cemented in our kindred minds, 
 Why are we several by the waves and winds ? 
 Fixt as inhabitants of separate plains, 
 AVhile but one soul in both our bosoms reigns I 
 O call to Sestos me, no more to roam } 
 Or in Abydos be thy future home ! 
 With each alike would either shore agree ; 
 To thee my dwelling's dear, as thine to me. 
 For why, when storms disturb the watery reign^ 
 As deep disturbance must my breast sustain ? 
 Why must each breeze, that stirs the floating air ? 
 Pour thro' my soul the bitter blast of care ? 
 Our loves to all the wondering deeps are known; 
 The common fable of the dolphins grown ; 
 
 Invitus certe nunc moror urbe mea. 
 Hei mihi ! cur animo juncti, secernimur undis ? 
 
 Unaque mens, tellus non habet una duos ? 
 Vel tua me Sestos, vel te mea sumat Abydos: 
 
 Tarn tua terra mihi, quam tibi nostra placet. 
 Cur ego confundor, quoties confunditur aequor t 
 
 Cur mihi causa levis ventus obesse potest ? 
 Jam nostros curvi norunt delphines amores i 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 211 
 
 My form familiar to the scaly train , 
 And counted half a brother of the main. 
 Worn by recurrence of perpetual sweeps, 
 My very track seems printed on the deeps ; 
 The semblance of a street, that hourly feels 
 The glowing pressure of laborious wheels. 
 In happier hours, my fond repinings flow'd, 
 That thro' the waters lay the toilsome road : 
 But fester now my plaints, and louder rise, 
 That angry heav'n that only road denies. 
 
 High foams the virgin-sea with mightiest waves, 
 And scarce her pledge the trusted harbour saves* 
 Such was the rage, I deem, these waters knew, 
 From Helle's death their title when they drew : 
 
 Ignotum nee me piscibus esse reor. 
 Jam patet attritus solitarum limes aquarurn ; 
 
 Non aliter, multa quam via pressa rota. 
 Quod mihi non esset, nisi sic iter, ante quere- 
 bar : 
 
 At nunc per ventos hoc quoque decsse queror. 
 Fluctibus immodicis Athamantidos aequora canent r 
 
 Vixque manet portu tuta carina suo. 
 Hoc mare, cum primum de virgine nomina mersa>. 
 
 Quae tenet, est nactum, tale fuisse puto. 
 Et satis amissa locus hie infamis ab Helle est : 
 
 Utque mihi parcat, crimine nomen habeU. 
 
212 LEAtfDER TO HERO. 
 
 From Helle's death they own sufficient sbame ? 
 Nor need my murder to procure a name 
 I feel my bosom swell with sudden spite, 
 To think, how Phiyxus won his easy flight, 
 High on the golden fleece securely plac'd, 
 O'er the loud tumult of this watery waste ! 
 Yet I no help of fabled flocks desire ; 
 No floating vessel for my speed require : 
 Grant me but power my flexile limbs to play, 
 And this wild winter of the floods allay ; 
 Content and pleas'd, my travels I pursue ; 
 Myself the ship, the steersman, and the crew ! 
 
 Nor ask I Helice's directing fire, 
 Nor Arctos, follow'd by the sails of Tyre : 
 Such public guides, the mark of thousand eyes— 
 Ah ! not on such my partial love relies. 
 
 In video Phryxo ; quern per freta tristia tutum 
 
 Aurea lanigero vellere vexit ovis. 
 Nee tamen officium pecoris navisve requiro : 
 
 Dummodo, quas findam corpore, dentur aquas, 
 Arte egeo nulla: fiat modo copia nandi> 
 
 Idem navigium, navita, vector, ero. 
 Nee sequar aut Helicen, aut,, qua Tyros utitur, 
 Arcton : 
 
 Publica non curat sidera noster amor. 
 Andromedan alius spectet, claramve Coronam, 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 213 
 
 On bright Andromeda let others gaze, 
 Or watch the coronet's collected blaze. 
 Or see the sparkles from Calisto stream, 
 Cheering the frozen pole with keenest beam : 
 Yet not from these, exulting in the love 
 Of Perseus, Bacchus, and imperial Jove, 
 Not the gay glitter of their lamps I crave, 
 To-mark the passage of the doubtful wave. 
 One other light, and truly mine, I boast, 
 To me more sure than all the starry host : 
 One other light, in long experience try'd, 
 The midnight wanderings of my love shall guide* 
 While this unfailing star mine eyes survey, 
 To Colchos durst I plough my lengthened way ; 
 And those wild oceans of the north explore, 
 Her venturous keel where far-fam'd Argo bore. 
 Steer' d by this sign, I could with steadier force 
 Urge thro' the yielding waves my rapid course, 
 
 Quaeque micat gelido Parrhasis Ursa polo. 
 At mihi, quas Perseus et cum Jove Liber amarunt> 
 
 Indicium dubia? non placet esse via?. 
 Est aliud lumen multo mihi certius istis ; 
 
 Non erit in tenebris quo duce noster amor. 
 Hoc ego dum spectem, Cole! os, et in ultima Ponti, 
 
 Quaque viam fecit Thcssala pinus, earn : 
 Et juvenem possim superare Palsemona nando, 
 
214 LEANDER TO HERO. 
 
 Than, mastering the blue deeps in youthful pride,. 
 Ptound Neptune's car the sportive sea-gods glide. 
 Oft have these arms,, of toil the victims, lain 
 Faint and enfeebled on the whelming main : 
 But when I whisper, what the darling meed 
 Their nighily labour destin'd to succeed ; 
 How soon, emerging from the weedy brine, 
 Round that dear neck delighted shall they twine! 
 Fresh to the task, with added nerve, they rise, 
 And stretch and struggle for the plighted prize : 
 As some proud steed each high-set sinew strains,. 
 For glory starting on Olympiads plains. 
 
 Thus, as my guide, I mark with eagle-gaze 
 The loves, diffusing thro' my breast their blaze :.- 
 And thee I follow, of my toils the prize, 
 Dear nymph, O worthier of th* expecting skies ! 
 
 Miraque quern subito reddidit herba Deum. 
 Ssepe per assiduos languent mihi brachia motus,. 
 
 Vixque per immensas fessa trahurtur aquas. 
 His ego cum dixi, Prelivm von rile labor is, 
 
 Jam dom'nm rob is col I a tenenda dabo, 
 Protinus ilia vaient, atque ad sua praeHaia tendunt; 
 
 Ut celer Eleo carcere missus equus. 
 Ipse meos igitur servo, qui bus uror, amores : 
 Teque, magis ceelo digna puella, sequor. 
 Digna quidem ccelo,. sed adhuc tellure mor.are t 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 215 
 
 worthier of the skies ! yet deign awhile 
 To gild our earth with thy benignant smile : 
 Or tell me, parting, by what arduous road 
 
 1 may pursue thee to that blest abode ! 
 
 Yes! here thou art; a few, fast-fleeting hours, 
 Lent to thy lover from the starry bowers : 
 But storm-beat seas preclude each dear delight* 
 And in my breast as wild a storm excite. 
 
 What boots me now, the slave of deep distress, 
 That short the tract these envious waves possess? 
 With stronger bars, than this contracted tide, 
 Not broadest ocean could our loves divide. 
 On earth's remotest margin were I fixt, 
 With boundless seas and continents betwixt, 
 Ev'n there with less vexation might I rove, 
 Far from false hope, as from the maid I love. 
 How near thou art, in fancy while I roll, 
 The nearer anguish fastens to my soul ; 
 
 Aut die ad superos et mihi qua sit iter. 
 Hie es, et exiguum misero contingis amanti: 
 
 Cumque mea iiunt turbida mente freta. 
 Quid mihi, quod lato non separor cequore, prodest ? 
 
 Num minus hoc nobis tarn brevis obstat aqua? 
 An malim dubito, toto procul orbe remotus 
 
 Cum domina longe spem quoque habere mea. 
 Quo propius nunc es, flammd propiore calesco: 
 
'2l6 LEANDER TO HElld, 
 
 My longing grasp the valued gem betrays , 
 But hope's illusive dream perpetual stays. 
 Almost (so close our neighbour-cities rise) 
 This hand extended grasps the tempting prize : 
 But that almost (a word of spacious woe) 
 Full-frequent gives the fount of tears to flow. 
 I seem that fabled wretch, by furies plac'd 
 In midst of plenty which he must not taste ; 
 Fast from whose gripe the shadowy fruits retire, 
 Whose ardent lips in vain the flitting stream require. 
 
 And must I never that sweet smile survey, 
 Unless the waves relenting smooth my way ? 
 To distant skies unless the storm retire, 
 In vain to pleasure must these arms aspire ? 
 And must each hope eternally recline 
 On the light breezes, and inconstant brine ? 
 
 Et res non semper, spes mihi semper adest. 
 Pene manu, quod amo (tanta est vicinia,) tango ; 
 
 Saspe sed (heu !) lacrymas hoc mihi "peril mo vet. 
 Velle quid est aliud fugientia prendere poma, 
 
 Spemque suo refugi fluminis ore sequi ? 
 Ergo ego te numquam,nisi cum volet unda, tenebo ? 
 
 Et me felicem nulla videbit hyems ? 
 Cumque minus firmum nil sit, quam ventus et 
 unda, 
 
 In ventis et aqud spes mea semper erit ? 
 
LEANDER TO HERO. 217 
 
 Nor yet the summer's genial hours are fled ! 
 What new distraction has my soul to dread, 
 What time Bootes (wintry star) deforms 
 The darkened ocean with unceasing storms! 
 Yet love, ev'n then, in that distressful hour, 
 (Too well I know his rash, resistless power) 
 Absence from thee unable to sustain, 
 Shall send me headlong thro' the roaring main. 
 And deem not thou, as distant days I vaunt, 
 That danger's image, face to face, can daunt 
 My spirit firm, and flxt to bring thee home 
 (Nor long delay'd) a pledge of deeds to come. 
 Yes ! some few nights if yet the whirlwind rave, 
 I stand prepar'd to combat with the wave; 
 
 JEstus adhuc tamen est : quid cum mihi laeserit 
 aequor 
 Plias et Arctophylax Oleniumque pecus ? 
 Aut ego non novi, quam sit temerarius; aut me 
 
 In freta non cautus tunc quoque mittet Amor. 
 Neve putes id me, quod afcest, promittere tem- 
 pus, 
 Pignora polliciti non tibi tarda dabo. 
 Sit tumidum paucis etiam nunc noctibus asquor: 
 
 Ire per invitas experiemur aquas. 
 Aut mihi continget felix audacia salvo : 
 Aut mors solliciti finis amoris eriu 
 U 
 
£iS 
 
 IEANDSR TO ETE'ROT^ 
 
 By bold emprize the fruit of bliss to prove, 
 Or quench in death the flame of cureless love. 
 Yet, ev'n in death, one darling wish I boast, 
 Lifeless to float to yon forbidden coast ; 
 That safe, at last, these weary limbs may share 
 A refuge from the storms i for thou art there, 
 With pious tears my livid cheek to grace, 
 Strain my sfcilFd bosom in a last embrace; 
 And own thyself the guiltless cause r that gave 
 The youth, who lov'd thee, early to the grave» 
 
 But these sad bodings of uncertain fate 
 Will fond disquiets in thy breast create : 
 On such dark prospects cease my lines to dwell; 
 Ah ! dry those tears ! that heaving sigh repel ! 
 And O with mine thy warmest vow combine, 
 That soon the waters may their rage resign ! 
 
 Optabo tamen, ut partes expellar in illas ; 
 
 Et teneant portus naufraga membra tuos. 
 Flebis enim, tactuque meum dignabere corpus : 
 
 Et, Mortis r dices,, huic egu T causa fuu 
 Scilicet interitus ofFenderis omine nostri : 
 
 Literaque invisa est hae mea parte tibi. 
 Desino; parce queri. Sed et ut mare finiat iram, 
 
 Accedant, quaeso fac tua vota meis. 
 Pace brevi nobis opus est : dum transferor isto : 
 
 Ciim tua contigero littora, perstet hyems. 
 
LEANBEIt TO HERO. gijl 
 
 ©ne little hour I ask -the floods to cease ; 
 That hour shall waft me to the land of peace.; 
 And, instant as I press that welcome shore, 
 The loosen'd spirit of the storm restore ! 
 For there my barge her chosen station knows ; 
 There sleeps her keel in undisturbed repose : 
 There, ye kind blasts, her lingering sail delay, 
 Where cloudless pleasure crowns the lengthen'd 
 
 stay ! 
 Then I no more will to the deaf surge wail, 
 Nor point my curses at the jealous gale ; 
 But, long confin'd on that delightful coast, 
 Much by the storms, by thy embraces most; 
 Slow will I be the dangerous deeps to try, 
 And trust for my return a brighter sky ! 
 
 Farewell, my love! and when the storms subside, 
 Expect to see me cleave the smoothen'd tide ; 
 
 Illic est aptum nostrae navale carinas: 
 
 Et melius nulla stat mea puppis aqua. 
 Illic me claudat Boreas, ubi dulce morari. 
 
 Tunc piger ad nandum., tunc ego cautus ero. 
 Nee faciam surdis convitia fluctibus ulla : 
 
 Triste nataturo nee querar esse f return. 
 Me pariter venli teneant, pariterque lacerti : 
 
 Per causas istic impediarque duas. 
 Ciun patictur hyems, remis ego corporis utar : 
 u 2 
 
220 LEANDEll TO HERO, 
 
 So thou forget not, with the closing day, 
 To bid thy signal pour it's welcome ray I 
 Meanwhile, these letters, in their master's room, 
 Permit to dissipate thy widow'd gloom ; 
 And still with mine thy fervent prayer renew, 
 That swift the writer may the lines pursue ! 
 
 Lumen in aspectu tu modd semper habe. 
 Interea pro me pernoctet epistola tecum ; 
 
 Quam precor ut minima prosequar ipse mor&, 
 
HERO TO LEANDER. 
 
 1 hat health, Leander, which thy words convey 'd, 
 Sweet words of comfort to thy love-lorn maid, — 
 Must that transmitted health be truly mine, 
 
 haste ! or, absent, can I cease to pine ? 
 Long, very long, this joyless pause appears; 
 This languid interval, a lapse of years. 
 Forgive the warmth my artless love inspires ; 
 
 1 own no patience in my dear desires* 
 
 Our mutual breasts with equal ardour flame : 
 But not our fortitude, nor force the same. 
 In man, be sure, some hardier spirit reigns, 
 Strong-built to suffer what his fate ordains : 
 But softer souls in female bosoms sway, 
 Soft as the texture of their melting clay. 
 
 Quam mihi misisti verbis, Leandre, salutem, 
 Ut possim missam rebus habere ; veni. 
 
 Longa mora est nobis omnis, quae gaudia differt : 
 Da veniam fassae ; non patienter amo. 
 
 Urimur igne pari : sed sum tibi viribus impar : 
 •Fortius ingenium suspicor esse viris. 
 v 3 
 
222 HERO TO LEANDER, 
 
 yet a little mock me with disdain, 
 
 1 faint, unequal to th' inflicted pain ! 
 
 Your favour'd sex what various scenes employ ! 
 The chace now calls you to the sylvan joy : 
 See earth beneath your culturing care rejoice : 
 The silent forum listens to your voice : 
 Now glorious for the wrestler's palm you sweat ; 
 Now break the training courser's active heat ; 
 For heav'n's free tenants now the gin prepare ; 
 Now tempt the tribes of ocean to the snare. 
 The vine, besides, her blushing harvest showers, 
 To steep in revelry your evening hours. 
 
 For me, of all this varied sport bereft, 
 To dull, unsocial, joyless leisure left, 
 (Ev'n if my breast with feebler passion strove) 
 Ah ! what employment can be mine, but love ? 
 
 Ut corpus teneris ita mens infirma puellis : 
 
 Deficiam ; parvi temporis adde moram. 
 Vos, modo venando, modo rus geniale colendo, 
 
 Ponitis in varia tempora longa mora. 
 Aut fora vos retinent, aut unctae dona palaestra? : 
 
 Flectitis aut fraeno colla sequacis equi. 
 Nunc volucrem laqueo, nunc piscem ducitis hamo. 
 
 Diluitur posito serior hora mero. 
 His mihi submota?, vel si minus acriter urar, 
 
 Quod faciam, superest, praeter amare, nihil. 
 
HERO TO LEANDER. 223 
 
 Confin'd to love, I court the dear employ; 
 And O for thee, my bosom's only joy ! 
 I burn impassioned with such warm desires, 
 Beyond return the glowing zeal aspires ! 
 
 Here with my nurse, lone partner of my days, 
 Of thee to talk, my languid voice I raise, 
 And much admire, what fearful cause detains 
 Thy custom'd haste : or, round the salt-sea plains 
 Turning my sicken'd sight, in words like thine, 
 I breathe my curse against the restless brine. 
 But, when awhile the wind forgets to rush, 
 And gentler waves the sandy margin brush, 
 I sigh, that less the storm thy course impedes, 
 Than thy neglect of what the storm concedes : 
 And, while I sigh, fast down my faded cheek 
 The bitter tears of disappointment break : 
 
 Quod superest facio : teque 6 mea sola voluptas, 
 
 Plus quoque, quam reddi quod mihi possit, amo. 
 Aut ego cum cara de te nutrice susurro ; 
 
 Quaeque tuum miror causa moretur iter : 
 ,Aut mare prospiciens, odioso concita vento, 
 
 Corripio verbis aequora pene tuis : 
 Aut ubi saevitiae paulum gravis unda remisit ; 
 
 Posse quidem, sed te nolle venire, queror. 
 Dumque queror; lacrymae per amantia lumina 
 manant : 
 
$24« HERO TO LEANDER. 
 
 Her trembling hand the tender nurse applies* 
 And each big drop in conscious silence dries. 
 Frequent the sands my redden'd eyes explore, 
 To catch thy parting footsteps on the shore, 
 Thoughtless how soon each sadly-pleasing trace 
 With envious sweep the following waves efface. 
 And oft I ask, in anxious hope to gain 
 Tidings of thee, and send my tale of pain, 
 If any seaman with adventurous oar 
 Has hither crost, or seeks your Asian shore. 
 And must I tell thee, how my lips impress 
 Their softest seal on thy forsaken dress, 
 That here reluctant from thy arms is laid, 
 Ere Hellespont their morning sweeps invade? 
 
 When thus are worn the hours of light away, 
 And eve, triumphant o'er the banish'd day, 
 
 Pollice quas tremulo conscia siccat anus. 
 Saepe tui specto si sint in littore passus : 
 
 Impositas tanquam servet arena notas. 
 Utque rogem de te, et scribam tibi, si quis Abydo 
 
 Venerit, aut quaero, si quis Abydon eat 
 -Quid referam, quoties dem vestibus oscula, quas 
 tu 
 
 Hellespontiaca ponis iturus aqua ? 
 Sic ubi lux acta est, et noctis amicior hora 
 
 Exhibuit pulso sidera clara die 4 
 
HERO TO LEANDER, 225 
 
 With glist'ning stars has sown her bright alcove, 
 
 With stars, the friends and harbingers of love : 
 
 First, all-expectant, on the turret's height, 
 
 With trembling hands, I fix the faithful light, 
 
 Love's polar star ! which there it's vigils keeps, 
 
 To hail, and guide thee thro' the glimmering deeps. 
 
 Then round and round, with restless care, I whirl 
 
 The busy wheel, that murmurs as I twirl 
 
 The growing threads ; intent myself to lose 
 
 In female tasks, and heavy time amuse. 
 
 The leaden hours revolving, would'st thou know, 
 
 W T hat change of converse serves to sooth my woe? 
 
 One ceaseless sound my faithful lips proclaim, 
 
 And dwell for ever on Leander's name. 
 
 " O tell me, nurse, has yet my dear delight 
 
 " His father's wall abandon'd for the night ? 
 
 " Or stays he, fearful of his friends awake ? 
 
 " Now hastes he, tell me, from his arms to shake 
 
 Protinus in summo vigilantia lumina tecto 
 
 Ponimus, assuetae signa notamque via?. 
 Tortaque versato ducentes stamina fuso 
 
 Fceminea tardas fallimus arte moras. 
 Quid loquar interea tarn longo tempore, quaeris ? 
 
 Nil, nisi Leandri nomen, in ore meo est. 
 Jamne putes cxisse domo me a gaudia, nutrix? 
 
 An vigilant omnes ? et timet ille suos ? 
 
226 HERO TO LEANDER. 
 
 " The cumbering garb r and, eager for the toil, 
 -" Now smears his limbs with lubricating oil?*' 
 To most I ask, with painful watching spent, 
 Listless and faint, she nods a half assent : 
 Not that her age regards our youthful vows, 
 No, creeping slumber bends her hoary brows* 
 Then, the least interval of silence past, 
 " Ah ! sure by this he sails, in strenuous haste 
 ** Cleaving the waste of waters :*' and anon, 
 Ere many lengths of tedious yarn are spun, 
 With fresh demands the drowsy nurse I teize, 
 If right I deem thee past the middle seas. 
 And eager next along the gloom I peep ; 
 And now, in supplication soft but deep, 
 
 Jamne suis kumeris ilium depotiere Testes; 
 
 Palladeja?n pingui tingere membra putes ? 
 Annuit ilia fere : non nostra quod oscula curet, 
 
 Sed movet obrepens somnus anile caput. 
 Postque moras minimum, Jam certl navigat, in- 
 quam ; 
 
 Lentaque dimotis braclilajactat aquis. 
 Paucaque cum tacta perfeci stamina terra, 
 
 An possis medio quasrimus esse freto. 
 Et modo prospicimus ; timida modo voce preca- 
 mur, 
 
 Ui tibi dct faciles utilis aura vias. 
 
HERO TO LEANDER. 22/ 
 
 Implore the breath of some indulgent gale, 
 Gently to speed thee thro' the watery vale. 
 With anxious ears, at intervals, I try 
 To catch each sound that trembles thro' the sky; 
 And, as the blast the sullen surges heaves, 
 Thy breast, I dream, the dashing ocean cleaves» 
 
 When, fondly wasted in this idle strain, 
 The slow-worn night approaches to her wane, 
 By soft degrees my weary'd eyelids close, 
 And my long sorrows settle to repose. 
 Then, tho' perhaps reluctant here to roam, 
 Thy image visits this neglected home : 
 Then, tho' perhaps intent on fresher charms, 
 Slumbers thy breast in these once-pleasing arms. 
 For now I seem, slow youth, on thee to gaze, 
 Dashing the white surf of the watery ways ; 
 
 Auribus interdum voces captamus, et omnem 
 
 Adventus strepitum credimus esse tui. 
 Sic ubi deceptae pars est mihi maxima noctis 
 
 Acta ; subit furtim lumina fessa sopor. 
 Forsitan invitus, mecum tamen, improbe, dormis : 
 
 Et quanquam non vis ipse venire, venis. 
 Nam modo te videor prope jam spectare natantem, 
 
 Brachia nunc humeris humida ferre meis : 
 Nunc dare, quaesoleo, madidis velamina mewbris; 
 
 Pectora nunc juncto nostra fovere sinu. 
 
228 HETtO TO LEANDER, 
 
 Now round thy neck the custom'd garb to throw; 
 Now in thy clasp with panting heart to glow ; 
 And much besides of ancient bliss to prove, 
 Lost in sweet visions of delusive love. 
 For poor, alas! and fleeting the delight; 
 And all a passing phantom of the night : 
 Sleep's flattering dews my downy couch forsake, 
 And thou art vanished, as to grief I wake. 
 
 O come ! and fraught with love's exalted fires, 
 Our's be that firmer union love requires ; 
 Our's be the strict embrace, the burning kiss, 
 And sense of more than visionary bliss ! 
 Why cold, alas ! as monumental clay, 
 Have roird so many widow'd nights away ? 
 Ah! why, thou loiteiing journeyer of the deep ! 
 So frequent have I known to watch and weep ? 
 
 Multaque praeterea, linguae reticenda modestas; 
 
 Quae fecisse juvat, facta referre pudet. 
 Me miseram! brevis est haec et non vera voluptas; 
 
 Nam tu cum somno semper abire soles. 
 Firmius 6 cupidi tandem coeamus amantes : 
 
 Nee careant vera gaudia nostra fide. 
 Cur ego tot viduas exegi frigida noctes ? 
 
 Cur toties h, me, lente natator, abes ? 
 Est mare (confiteor) nondum tractabile nanti : 
 
 Nocte sed hesterna lenior aura fuit. 
 
HERO TO LEANDER. Z2$ 
 
 With such a vehemence the whirlwind raves, 
 'Twere death, I own, to tempt yon madd'nin* 
 
 waves : 
 But gentler in the night the breezes blew : 
 Ah ! thoughtless truant, why neglected flew 
 The golden hour ? why trust the changeful day ? 
 Why passed the calm, nor met thee on the way ? 
 Should the rude clamour cease again to blow, 
 And the still'd waves a second truce bestow, 
 What first was present, was the best to seize : 
 In love, the first could never fail to please. 
 But soon, too soon, the treacherous calm gave place; 
 The gloom-deep-settling furrow'd ocean's face : 
 Yet oft, when love collected all their force, 
 As soon thy limbs have sped their nightly course. 
 Here wert thou caught, the prisoner of the storm, 
 Sure not one wish for freedom couldst thou form : 
 
 Cur ea praeterita est ? cur non ventura timebas ? 
 
 Tarn hona cur periit, nee tibi rapta via est } 
 Protinus ut similis detur tibi copia curstis; 
 
 Hoc melior certe, quo prior, ilia fuit. 
 At cito mutata est jactati forma profundi : 
 
 Tempore, cum properas, saepe minore vein's. 
 Hie puto, deprensus nil, quod querereris, haberes; 
 
 Meque tibi amplexo nulla noceret hyems. 
 Certe ego turn ventos audirem lenta sonantes, 
 X 
 
230 HERO TO LEANBER. 
 
 Here wert thou folded in these sheltering arms, 
 Thou couldst not tremble at the deep's alarms. 
 Or I. at least, without one shuddering sigh, 
 Should watch the whirlwind shake the lab'ring sky, 
 Delighted listen to the dashing roar, 
 And ask old ocean to be calm no more. 
 
 Yet O what strange, what unsuspected cause 
 The boasted valour from thy veins withdraws ; 
 And bids thee, trembling, note with gaze forlorn 
 These waters, late thy mockery and scorn ? 
 For no, not yet the dear remembrance sleeps, 
 That thou, erewhile, hast trod the troubled deeps, 
 Tho' then as high the tempest vainly rose ; 
 As high, — for love no nice distinction knows : 
 What time, down-rushing to the beach, I cry'd ; 
 " Undaunted youth, be wanness thy guide ! 
 " Lest resolution, deaf to prudent fears, 
 " Instead of rapture, be the source of tears !" 
 
 Et nunquam placidas esse precarer aquas. 
 Quid tamen evenit, cur sis metuentior unda? ? 
 
 Contemptumque prius, nunc vereare, fretum I 
 Nam memini, cum te saevum veniente minaxque 
 
 Non minus, aut multo non minus aequor erat : 
 Cum tibi clamabam, Sic tu temerarius esto, 
 
 Ne miseroe virtus sit tua Jlenda mihi 
 Unde novus timor hie? quoque ilia audacia fugit? 
 
HERO TO LEANDER. 231 
 
 Then whence these strange, mysterious terrors 
 
 grown? 
 Whither that once-unconquer'd spirit flown? 
 Ah ! where that mighty swimmer, fond to brave 
 The high-swoln blast, and mock th' encountering 
 
 wave ? 
 Yet rather stay the sluggard-thing thou art, 
 Than act once more that bold, that dangerous part; 
 Be passive while the storm unfriendly lours, 
 And trust our pleasure to serener hours. 
 But, here or absent, O be still the same ! 
 True to thy vows, retentive of thy flame ! 
 Less from the fear of these malignant gales, 
 The gathering blood my loaded heart assails ; 
 Than lest from me thy weary 7 d love may range. 
 Those gales resembling in the lust of change; 
 
 Magnus ubi est spretis ille natator aquis ? 
 Sis tamen hoc potius, quam quod prius esse sole- 
 bas : 
 
 Et facias placidum per mare tutus iter. 
 Dura modo sis idem : dum sic, ut scribis, amemur: 
 
 Flammaque non fiat frigid us ilia cinis. 
 Non ego tarn ventos timeo mea vota morantes, 
 
 Quam simiiis vento ne tuus erret amor : 
 Ne non sim tanti, superentque pericula causam : 
 
 Et videar merces esse labore minor, 
 x 2 
 
£32 HERO TO LEAKDIR. 
 
 Than lest 1 ill reward thy lavish pain ; 
 
 So vast the purchase, and how poor the gain! 
 
 And frequent too, suspicious thoughts awake 
 
 Of me neglected for my country's sake ; 
 
 Of me, the daughter of uncultur'd Thrace, 
 
 Misdeemed the stain of your Abydan race. 
 
 Yet this, and all the mockeries of scorn, 
 
 Tho* barb'd with anguish, might perhaps be borne; 
 
 Unless these hours, to me (false man) deny'd, 
 
 Be spent in dalliance with some rival-bride; 
 
 Unless thy neck some stranger : arms entwine ; 
 
 A new love starting, from the grave of mine 1 
 
 O ere that crime may I lie cold in clay; 
 
 My death the prelude of that barbarous day ! 
 
 But not, I own, these warm expressions flow 
 From signs in thee, to justify my woe ; 
 
 Interdum metuo, patria ne lsedar; et impar 
 
 Ducar Abydeno Thressa puella toro. 
 Ferre tamen possum patientiirs omnia; quam si 
 
 Otia nescio qua pellice captus agas. 
 In tua si veniant alieni colla lacerti ; 
 
 Sitque novus nostri finis amoris amor : 
 Ah potius peream, quam crimine vulnerer isto : 
 
 Fataque sint culpa nostra priora tua ! 
 Nee quia venturi dederis mihi signa doloris, 
 
 Haec loquor, aut fama sbllicitata no\a. 
 
HERO TO LEANDER» 23$ 
 
 Nor slander's tale has reach'd my startled ears : 
 Yet still I tremble with spontaneous fears; 
 (For who can love, and yet the heart be peace ?) 
 And absence feeds my fears with large increase. 
 Blest, as the bright-hair' d progeny of Jove, 
 The maid, whose lasting presence with her lov© 
 Full in her sight each act of guilt displays, 
 Each baseless, visionary doubt allays ! 
 On me (fond wretch) ideal wrongs obtrude; 
 While acted injuries my search elude: 
 How each mistake, alike, my peace confounds, 
 And tears my bleeding breast with equal wounds ! 
 O mayst thou come ! or (must that wish be vain) 
 May the rude storms thy glowing haste detain, 
 Thy rigid father force thy torturing stay, 
 Or aught but woman work the vile delay! 
 
 Omnia sed rereor (quis enim securus amavit?) 
 
 Cogit et absentes plura timere locus, 
 Felices illas, sua quas prcesenfia nosse 
 
 Crimina verajubet, falsa timere vetat! 
 Nos tarn vana movet, quam facta injuria fallit : 
 
 Incitat et morsus error uterque pares. 
 O utinam venias! aut ut ventusve paterve, 
 
 Causaque sit certae foemina nulla mora?! 
 Quod si quam sciero; moriar(mihi crede)dolendo: 
 
 Jamdudum peccas, si mea fata petis. 
 x 3 
 
534 HERO TO LEANDER. 
 
 If such be found the deprecated cause, 
 Not long thy love this vital spirit draws : 
 This blush of health thy perjuries consume, 
 And false Leander drags me to the tomb I 
 But vain these terrors of my throbbing heart : 
 Thou canst not, wilt not act so base a part : 
 Slow as thou art to tread the watery plains, 
 ? Tis the wild winter, that thy speed restrains. 
 
 O Heav'ns ! what surges rock the frighted bay I 
 What gather'd clouds inwrap the dubious day ! 
 Perhaps the sea-nymph, from whose hapless blood 
 Poor Helle sprung, is present in the flood, 
 And deluges with tears the weeping wave, 
 A pious tribute to the daughter's grave I 
 Or she, stern stepdame of unfeeling ire, 
 (Admitted since to ocean's azure choir) 
 Pursues she still, with unrelenting aim, 
 These waves, detested for the damsel's name ? 
 
 Sed neque peccabis, frustraque ego terreor istis : 
 
 Quoque minus venias, invida pugnat hyems. 
 Me miseram ! quanto planguntur littora fluctu ! 
 
 Et latet obscura condita nube dies I 
 Forsitan ad pontum mater pia venerit Helles, 
 
 Mersaque roratis nata fleatur aquis : 
 An mare ab inviso privignre nomine dictum 
 
 Vex at in aequoreatn versa noverca Deam ? 
 
HERO TO LEANDER. 235 
 
 Some spirit, surely, haunts this fated place, 
 Of lasting rancour to the female race : 
 Here Helle sank ; and not a yawning wave r 
 But summons me, and seems a watery grave. 
 
 But thee, great Neptune, master of the main ! 
 (Thy breast so prone to thrill with amorous pain) 
 111 fits it thee these thundering blasts to rouse r 
 The rude disjunction of our plighted vows I 
 If truly Circe blest thine azure arms, 
 And Tyro blazing with superior charms * T 
 If Amymone to thy breast was dear ; 
 Celaeno, nVd in heavVs resplendent sphere,. 
 And bright Alcyone, her sister- star ; 
 Laodice, with golden length of hair,, 
 And she, whose fatal form was after seen 
 With serpent-terrors clad, and petrifying mien :— 
 
 Non favet, ut nunc est, teneris locus iste puellis^ 
 
 Hac Helle periit ; hac ego lasdor aqua. 
 At tibi flammarum memori, Neptune, tuarum^ 
 
 Nullus erat ventis impediendus amor : 
 Si neque Amymone, nee laudatissima forma 
 
 Cri minis est Tyro fabula vana tui r 
 Lucidaque Alcyone, Circeque, et Alymone nata, 
 
 Et nondum nexis angue Medusa comis, 
 Flavaque Laodice, cceloque rccepta Celaeno, 
 
 Et quarum memini nomina lecta mini. 
 
236 HERO TO LEANDEH. 
 
 If these, and many a maid, whose amorous names, 
 
 Sacred to song, the sportive Muse proclaims, 
 
 (For well thy frolics I remember read) 
 
 Have shar'd the dalliance of thy youthful bed ; 
 
 How then, rude tenant of the watery bowers, 
 
 So deeply vers'd in love's despotic powers, 
 
 Hast thou the cruelty our path to close, 
 
 Inflicting separation's well-known woes ? 
 
 King of the sea ! these shameful storms assuage, 
 
 And turn to worthier scenes that dare thy rage : 
 
 The floods immense beneath thy trident shake; 
 
 But leave unruffled this inglorious lake. 
 
 On some strong-timber'd barge thy blasts employ, 
 
 Or princely navies in thy wrath destroy ! 
 
 Ill with the monarch of the main agrees, 
 
 A boy to frighten, stealing thro' the seas ! 
 
 Has certe pluresque canunt, Neptune, poetae 
 
 Molle latus lateri composuisse tuo. 
 Cur igitur toties vires expertus amoris, 
 
 Assuetum nobis turbine claudis iter ? 
 Parce, ferox, latoque mari tua praelia misce : 
 
 Seducit terras hagc brevis unda duas. 
 Te decet aut magnas magnum jactare carinas ; 
 
 Aut etiam totis classibus esse trucem. 
 Turpe Deo pelagi, juvenem terrere natantem : 
 
 Gloriaque est stagno quolibet ista minor. 
 
HERO TO LEANDEK. 237 
 
 From no plebeian stock, I own, he springs ; 
 The worthy branch of chiefs and story' d kings \ 
 Yet not of him, thy ancient wrath who bore, 
 Curst by thy son on the Cyclopean shore. 
 Spare him, O spare ! and two thy mercy saves ! 
 The youth alone ascends the rolling waves ; 
 But, while the surge sustains his bounding limbs, 
 On that same surge the life of Hero swims. 
 
 Meanwhile, the lamp, whose ever-useful light 
 Assists, these characters of love to write — 
 
 I hear it sneeze and crackle as it shines, 
 And mark with gladness the prophetic signs. 
 And lo ! with wine, well-pleas'd, our hoary dame 
 Feeds, drop by drop, the favourable flame; 
 
 And cries, (the goblet tasting ere she cries,) 
 
 II A guest, to-morrow, meets our brightening 
 
 eyes \" 
 
 Nobilis ille quidem est, et clarus origine: sed non 
 
 A tibi suspecto duck Ulysse genus. 
 Da veniam, servaque duos : natat ille ; sed isdem 
 
 Corpus Leandri, spes mea, pendet aquis. 
 Sternuit et lumen : posito nam scribimus illo : 
 
 Sternuit: et nobis prospera signa dedit. 
 Ecce merum nutrix faustos instillat in ignes : 
 
 Crasque erimus plures, inquit, et ipsa bibit, 
 Effice nos plures evicta per aequora lapsus t 
 
240 KERO TO LEANDER. 
 
 To each, by turns, inconstant as I rove, 
 I wish for honour, but delight in love. 
 
 When Jason, landing with his warrior-host, 
 Had nVd his cable to the Colchian coast, 
 He stay'd expectant, till his dashing oar 
 To distant Greece th' enamour'd virgin bore. 
 When Paris, far from Ide's forsaken groves, 
 In Lacedasmon sought his promis'd loves, 
 Not till his captive on the deck reclin'd, 
 He loos'd his canvas to the favouring wind. 
 But thou thy prize, with waste of toil obtained, 
 Delightest to forsake, ere hardly gain'd ; 
 Struggling so frequent thro' the storm-vext main, 
 Not hardened oak the labour could sustain. 
 
 Yet O thou youth, of spirit prompt to scourge 
 With lording arms the menace of the surge ! 
 
 r 
 
 Quid sequar in dubio est : haec decet ; ille juvat. 
 Ut semel intrayit Colchos Pegasa?us Iason, 
 
 Impositam ceieri Phasida puppe tulit. 
 Ut semel Ida^us Lacedsemona venit adulter; 
 
 Cum pragcul rediit protinus ille sua. 
 Tu, quam sa^pe petis quod amas, tarn saepe relin- 
 quis : 
 
 Et quoties grave sit puppibus ire, natas. 
 Sic tamen, 6 juvenis tumidarum victor aquarum, 
 
 Sic facito spernas, ut vereare, fretum. 
 
HERO TO LEANDER, 241 
 
 Push not so far thy fervour and thy pride, 
 As not to dread the tempest-shaken tide ! 
 Elaborate with art, and mighty charge, 
 Deep in the surges splits the beam-built barge: 
 And thinkest thou, superior strength informs 
 Thy breast, to struggle with the murderous storms? 
 These floods, by thee observ'd with ardent eyes, 
 With shudd'ring fear the conscious seaman spies: 
 Such floods, as now are crouding to the shore, 
 Burst the strong plank, and snap the flexile oar. 
 But why these cautions ? — fond and fearful maid ! 
 I cannot, will not wish them to persuade : 
 These woman-fears I ask thee to despise, 
 And bid thy soul above dissuasion rise : 
 Till, boldly travell'd to this welcome shore, 
 Thy limbs, emerging from the liquid roar, 
 Safe on this breast, their better home recline, 
 Faint with laborious dashings of the brine 1 
 
 Arte laboratae merguntur ab aequore puppes : 
 
 Tu tua plus remis brachia posse putes ? 
 Quod cupis, hoc nautae metuunt, Leandre, natare* 
 
 Exitus hie fractis puppibus esse solet. 
 Me miseram ! cupio non persuadere, quod hortor : 
 
 Sisque, precor, monitis fortior ipse meis. 
 Dnmmodo pervenias, excussaque saepe per undas, 
 
 Injicias humeris brachia lassa meis. 
 Y 
 
242 HETtO TO LEANDER. 
 
 Yet frequent, wistful as I turn to gaze 
 On the white tumult of the watery ways,. 
 A deathlike weight my silent heart constrains r 
 And the warm purple freezes in my veins. 
 With equal terrors, I recall to sight 
 The dream I witness' d at the close of night : 
 For, just ere morn assum'd her orient grey. 
 The pale lamp dwindling to a dying ray, 
 (That very season, when tradition tells 
 The glimpse of truth in twilight visions dwells) 
 I>ropt from my feeble hands th' untwisted threacl r 
 And the soft down receiv'd my sinking head. 
 There as I lay, of sleep the powerless slave, 
 I saw a dolphin struggling with the wave ; 
 I saw the wretch,, unable to withstand,, 
 Dash'd by the surges on the groaning strand - T 
 
 Sed mihi, coeruleas quoties obvertor ad undas 
 
 Nescio qua? pavidum frigora pectus habent. 
 Ntc minus hesternas confundor imagine noctis, 
 
 Quamvis est sacris ilia piata meis. 
 Namque sub auroram, jam dormitante lucerna, 
 
 (Somnia quo cerni tempore vera solent) 
 Stamina de digitis cecidere sopore remissis : 
 
 Collaque pulvino nostra ferenda dedi. 
 Hie e^o ventosas nantem delphina per undas 
 Cernere non dubia sum mihi visa fide. 
 
HXRO TO LEA^DER. 243 
 
 His bulk all-shatter'd in th' unequal strife, 
 Bereft, at once, of water, and of life, 
 Whatever bodes the dream, my terrors rise.; 
 Nor thou these visions of the morn despise ; 
 Stay till the dgemon of the tempest sleeps, 
 Nor trust thy safety, but to stormless deeps ! 
 If for thyself thy spirit scorn to.care, 
 Thy love, thy darling maid, for pity spare ; 
 Whose health, dependent on thy length of days, 
 Lasts with thy life, and in thy death decays J 
 
 Farewell ! yet while these pensive lines I close, 
 The broken waves seem sinking to repose : 
 Then swift be thine, with fearless arms to swee£ 
 *The liquid marble of rae peaceful deep! 
 But since, meanwhile, the sullen storms refuse 
 The power to penetrate the ruffled ooze, 
 ■ ■ ■ ■ - ■ ■ ' ■ ■ - f** +* * ■ ■— ■ 
 
 Quern, postquam bibuJis illisit fluctus arenis, 
 
 Unda simul miserum vitaque deseruit. 
 Quicquid id est, timeo: nee tu mea somnia ride: 
 
 Nee, nisi tranquillo brachia crede mari. 
 Si tibi non parcis, dilectae parce puellse : 
 
 Qua3 nunquam, nisi te sospite, sospes erit. 
 Spes tamen est fractis vicinae pacis in undis. 
 
 Turn placidas tuto pectore iinde vias. 
 Interea, nanti quoniam freta pervia non sunt, 
 
 L^niat invisas litera missa moras. 
 y 2 
 
244 
 
 HEftO TO LEANBER. 
 
 
 Sent are these rhymes to smooth the dull delay* 
 And while the weariness of time away ! 
 
SAPPHO 
 
 TO 
 
 PHAON. 
 
 (POPE'S TRANSLATION^ 
 
 ¥-3 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 SAPPHO, a lady of Lesbos, was ardently ena- 
 moured of Phaon, a youth of uncommon beauty, 
 and universally admired, who returned her pas- 
 sion. On the departure, however, of Phaon front 
 Ijesbos to Sicily, she, fearing that his love was on 
 the decline, addresses him in this epistle ; in which 
 she endeavours to recal him by urging every cir- 
 cumstance that can excite his compassion; de- 
 claring it to be her resolution, should he continue 
 obdurate, to throw herself into the sea from the 
 promontory of Leucadia in Epirus ; and thereby 
 " either cease to live or cease to love" 
 
SAPPHO TO PHAON. 
 
 Say, lovely youth, that dost my "heart command, 
 Can Phaon's eyes forget his Sappho's hand ? 
 Must then her name the wretched writer prove, 
 To thy remembrance lost, as to thy love ? 
 Ask not the cause that I new numbers chuse, 
 The lute neglected, and the lyric Muse ; 
 Love taught my tears in sadder notes to flow, 
 And tun'd my heart to elegies of woe. 
 I burn, I burn, as when through ripen'd corn 
 By driving winds the spreading flames are borne. 
 
 Ecquid, ut inspecta est studiosa? littera dextrae, 
 
 Protinus est oculis cognita nostra tuis? 
 An, nisi legisses auctoris nomina Sapphus, 
 
 Hoc breve nescires unde movetur opus ? 
 Forsitan et quare mea sint alterna requires 
 
 Carmina; cum lyricis sim magis apta modi's. 
 Flendus amor meus est : elegeia flebile carmen. 
 
 Non facit ad lacrymas barbitos ulla meas. 
 Uror, ut, indomitis ignem exercentibus Euris, 
 
 Fertilis accensis messibus ardet ager. 
 
348 SAPPHO TO PHAOtf. 
 
 Phaon to Etna's scorching fields retires, 
 While I consume with more than ^Etna's fires! 
 No more my soul a charm in music finds, 
 Music has charms alone for peaceful minds. 
 Soft scenes of solitude no more can please, 
 Love enters thpre, and Tin my own disease. 
 No* more the Lesbian dames my passion move, 
 Once the dear objects of my guilty love; 
 All other loves are lost in only thine, 
 Ah youth ungrateful to a flame like mine ! 
 Whom would not all those blooming charms sur- 
 prise, 
 Those heavenly looks, and dear deluding eyes? 
 
 Arva Phaon celebrat diversa Typhoi'dos Mtnx* 
 
 Me calor iEtnseo non minor igne coquit. 
 Nee mihi, dispositis quae jungam carmina nervis, 
 
 Proveniunt; vacua? carmina mentis opus. 
 Nee me Pyrrhiades Methymniadesve puellse, 
 
 Nee me Lesbiadum ca?tera turba juvant. 
 Vilis Anactorie, vilis mihi Candida Cydno: 
 
 Non oculis grata est Atthis ut ante, meis. 
 Atque aliae centum, quas non sine crimine amavi, 
 
 Improbe, multarum quod fuit, unus habes. 
 Est in te facies, sunt apti lusibus anni. 
 
 O facies oculis insidiosa meis ! 
 Sume fidem et pharetram ; fies manifestus Apollo. 
 
SAPPHO TO PHAOtf. 249 
 
 The harp and bow would you like Phoebus bear, 
 A brighter Phoebus Phaon might appear; 
 Would you with ivy wreathe your flowing hair, 
 Not Bacchus self with Phaon could compare : 
 Yet Phoebus lov'd, and Bacchus felt the flame ; 
 One Daphne warm'd, and one the Cretan dame. 
 Nymphs that in verse no more could rival me, 
 Than ev'n those gods contend in charms with thee. 
 The Muses teach me all their softest lays, 
 And the wide world resounds with Sappho's praise. 
 Though great Alcseus more sublimely sings, 
 And strikes with bolder rage the sounding strings, 
 }?o less renown attends the moving lyre ; 
 Which Venus tunes, and all her loves inspire ; 
 To me what nature has in charms deny'd, 
 Is well by wit's more lasting flames supply 'd. 
 
 Accedant capiti cornua ; Bacchus eris. 
 Et Phoebus Daphnen, et Gnosida Bacchus amavit ; 
 
 Nee norat lyricos ilia vel ilia modos. 
 At mi hi Pegasides blandissima carmina dictant : 
 
 Jam canitur toto nomen in orbe meum. 
 Nee plus Alcceus, consors patriasque lyraeque, 
 
 Laudis habet; quamvis grandius ille sonet. 
 Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit ; 
 
 Ingenio formse damna rcpendo meae. 
 Sum brevis : at nomen, quod terras impleat omnes, 
 
250 SAPrilO TO PHAOK. 
 
 Though short my stature, yet my name extends 
 
 To heaven itself, and earth's remotest ends. 
 
 Brown as I am, an Ethiopian dame 
 
 Inspir'd young Perseus with a generous flame; 
 
 Turtles and doves of differing hues unite, 
 
 And glossy jet is pair'd with shining white. 
 
 If to no charms thou wilt thy heart resign, 
 
 But such as merit, such as equal thine, 
 
 By none, alas ! by none thou canst be mov'd ; 
 
 Phaon alone by Phaon must be lov'd ! 
 
 Yet once thy Sappho could thy cares employ, 
 
 Once in her arms you center'd all your joy : 
 
 No time the dear remembrance can remove, 
 
 For, oh ! how vast a memory has love ! 
 
 ^ *■ 
 
 Est mihi : mensuram nominis ipsa fero. 
 Candida si non sum ; placuit Cepheia Perseo 
 
 Andromede, patriae fusca colore suae* 
 Et variis albae junguntur saepe columbae ; 
 
 Et niger a. viridi turtur amatur ave. 
 Si, nisi qua? facies poterit te digna videri, 
 
 Nulla futura tua est ; nulla futura tua est. 
 At, me cum legeres, etiam formosa videbar : 
 
 Unam jurabas usque decere loqui. 
 Cantabam ; memini (meminerunt omnia aman- 
 tes) 
 
 Oscuia cantanti tu mihi rapta dabas. 
 
SAPPHO TO PHAON. 25£ 
 
 My music, then, you could for ever hear, 
 And all my words were music to your ear. 
 You stopp'd with kisses my enchanting tongue, 
 And found my kisses sweeter than my song. 
 In all I pleas'd, but most in what was best ; 
 And the last joy was dearer «than the rest. 
 Then with each word, each glance, each motion 
 
 hYd, 
 You still enjoy'd, and yet you still desir'd, 
 Till all dissolving in the trance we lay, 
 And in tumultuous raptures dy'd away. 
 The fair Sicilians now thy soul inflame; 
 Why was I born, ye gods ! a Lesbian dame ? 
 But ah, beware, Sicilian nymphs ! nor boast 
 That wand'ring heart which I so lately lost ; 
 
 Haec quoque laudabas: omnique a parte placebam: 
 
 Sed turn prascipue, cum fit amoris opus. 
 Tunc te plus solito lascivia nostra juvabat, 
 
 Crebraque mobilitas, aptaque verba joco : 
 Quique, ubi jam amborum fuerat confusa voluptas, 
 
 Plurimus in lasso corpore languor erat. 
 Nunc tibi Sicelides veniunt nova prseda puellae. 
 
 Quid mihi cum Lesbo ? Sicelis esse volo. 
 At vos erronem tellure remittite nostrum 
 
 Nisiades matres, Nisiadesque nurus. 
 Neu vos decipiant blandae mendacia linguae. 
 
252 SAPPHO TO PIIAON- 
 
 Nor be with all those tempting words abusM, 
 Those tempting words were all to Sappho us'd, 
 And you that rule Sicilians happy plains, 
 Have pity, Venus, on your poet's pains ! 
 Shall fortune still in one sad tenor run, 
 And still increase tKe woes so soon begun? 
 Inured to sorrow from my tender years, 
 My parent's ashes drank my early tears : 
 My brother next neglecting wealth and fame. 
 Ignobly buru'd in a destructive flame : 
 An infant daughter late my griefs increas'd, 
 And all a mother's cares distract my breast. 
 
 Quae dicit vobis, dixerat ante mihi. 
 Tu quoque quae montes celebras, Erycina, Sicanos, 
 
 (Nam iua sum) vati consule, Diva, tuae. 
 An gravis incoeptum peragit Fortuna tenorem, 
 
 Et manet in cursu semper acerba suo ? 
 Sex mihi natales ierant ; dim lecta parentis 
 
 Ante diem la cry mas ossa bibere meas. 
 Arsit inops frater victus meretricis amore ; 
 
 Mistaque cum turpi damna pudore tulit. 
 Factus inops agili peragit freta caerula remo ; 
 
 Quasque male amisit, nunc male quaerit opes. 
 Me quoque, quod monui bene multa fuleliter, 
 odit. 
 
 Hoc mihi libertas, hoc pia lingua dediU 
 
SAPPHO TO P 11 A OK. 25* 
 
 Alas, what more could fate itself impose, 
 But thee, the last and greatest of my woes f 
 No more my robes in waving purple flow, 
 Nor on my hand the sparkling diamonds glow*; 
 No more my locks in ringlets curl'd diffuse 
 The costly sweetness of Arabian dews ; 
 Nor braids of gold the varied tresses bind, 
 That flow disorder'd with the wanton wind : 
 For whom should Sappho use si>ch arts as these? 
 He's gone, whom only she desir'd to please 1 
 Cupid's light darts my tender bosom move, 
 Still is there cause for Sappho still to love : 
 
 _Et tanquam desint, qua? me sine fine fatigent, 
 
 Accumulat curas filia parva meas. 
 Ultima tu nostris accedis <rausa querelis, 
 
 Non agitur vento nostra carina suo, 
 Ecce, jacent collo sparsi sine lege capilli : 
 
 Nee premit articulos lucida gemma meos. 
 Veste tegor vili: nullum est in crinibus aurum : 
 
 Non Arabo noster rore capillus olet. 
 Cui colar infelix, aut cui placuisse laborem ? 
 
 Ille mei cultus unicus auctor abest. 
 Molle meum levibus cor est violabile telis : 
 
 Et semper causa est, cur ego semper amem, 
 Sive ita nascetfti legem dixere sorores ; 
 
 Nee data sunt vita? rlla severa mese ; 
 Z 
 
254 SAPPHO TO PIIAON, 
 
 So from my birth the sisters hVd my doom? 
 And gave to Venus all my life to come ; 
 Or, while my Muse in melting notes complains-, 
 My yielding heart keeps measure to my strains. 
 By charms like thine which all my soul have won, 
 Who might not — ah ! who would not be undone ? 
 For those Aurora Cephalus might scorn, 
 And with fresh blushes paint the conscious morn; 
 For those might Cynthia lengthen Phaon's sleep, 
 And bid Endymion nightly tend his sheep : 
 Venus for those had rapt thee to the skies, 
 But Mars on thee might look with Venus' eyes. 
 O scarce a youth, yet scarce a tender boy ! 
 O useful time for lovers to employ ! 
 
 Sive abeunt studia in mores, artesque magistras ; 
 
 Internum nubis molle Thalia facit. 
 Quid mirum, prima? si me lanuginis aetas 
 
 Abstulit, atque anni, quos vir amare potest ? 
 Hunc ne pro Cephalo raperes, Aurora, timebam, 
 
 Et faceres : sed te prima rapina tenet. 
 Hunc si conspiciat, quae conspicit omnia, Phoebe; 
 
 Jussus erit somnos continuare Phaon. 
 Hunc Venus in caelum curru vexisset eburno ; 
 
 Sed videt et Marti posse placere suo. 
 O nee adhuc juvenis, nee jam puer ; utilis oetas i 
 
 O decus, atque aevi gloria magna tui ! 
 
SAPPHO TO PHA05T. $5§ 
 
 Pride of thy age, and glory of thy race, 
 Come to these arms, and melt in this embrace I 
 The vows you never will return receive; 
 And take at least the love you will not give. 
 See, while I write, my words are lost in tears f 
 The less my sense, the more my love appears. 
 Sure 'twas not much to bid one kind adieu ; 
 (At least to fain was never hard to you.) 
 Farewell, my Lesbian love, you might have said ? 
 Or coldly thus, Farewell, oh Lesbian maid ! 
 No tear did you, no parting kiss receive, 
 Nor knew I then how much I was to grieve. 
 No lover's gift your Sappho could confer, 
 And wrongs and woes were all you left with her. 
 
 Hue ades : inque sinus, formose, relabere nostros-. 
 
 Non ut ames oro, verum ut am a re sinas. 
 Scribimus, et lacrymis oculi rorantur obortis. 
 
 Aspice, quam sit in hoc multa litura loco 1 
 Si tarn certus eras hinc ire, modestius isses; 
 
 Et mod 6 dixisses, Lcsbi puella, vale, 
 }von tecum lacrymas, non oscula suraraa tulisti. 
 
 Denique non timui, quod dolitura fui. 
 Nil de te mecum est, nisi tantum injuria: nee te 
 
 Admonuit, quod tu pignus amantis habes. 
 Non mandata dedi : neque enim mandata dedissem 
 
 Uiia, nisi> ut nolles immemor esse mei. 
 a2 
 
256' SAPPHO TO PHAO». 
 
 No charge I gave you, and no charge could 
 
 give, 
 But this, be mindful of our loves, and live. 
 Now by the Nine, those powers ador'd by me r 
 And love, the god that ever waits on thee, 
 When first I heard (from whom I hardly knew) 
 That you were fled, and all my joys with you, 
 Like some sad statue, speechless, pale I stood, 
 Grief chill'd my breast,, and stopp'd my freezing 
 
 blood». 
 No sigh to rise, no tear had power to ftowy. 
 Fix'd in a stupid lethargy of woe \. 
 But when it's way th' impetuous passion found j. 
 I rend my tresses, and my breast I wound ; 
 I rave, then weep ; I curse, and then complain ; 
 Now swell to rage, now melt in tears again. 
 
 Per tibi, qui nunquam longe discedat, Amorem, 
 
 Perque novem juro numina nostra Deas ! 
 Cum mini nescio quis, Fugiunt tua gaudic, dixit ; 
 
 Nee me flere diu, nee potuisse loquL 
 lit laerymas- dee rant oculis, et lingua palato :. 
 
 Astrictum gelido f rigor© pectus erat. 
 Postquam se dolor invenit; nee pectora plangv 
 
 Nee puduit scissis exululare comis : 
 Non aliter, quam si gnati pia mater adempti 
 
 Portet ad exstructos corpus inane rogos.. 
 
S A FPH O TO P II A X. £5? 
 
 Not fiercer pangs distract the mournful dame* 
 Whose first-born infant feeds the funeral flame» 
 My scornful brother With a smile appears, 
 Insults my woes, and triumphs in my tears : 
 His hated image ever haunts my eyes ; 
 And why this grief? ' thy daughter lives/ he cries* 
 Stung with my love, and furious with despair, 
 All torn my garments, and my bosom bare,. 
 My woes, thy crimes, I to the world proclaim ; 
 Such inconsistent things are love and shame ! 
 'Tis thou art all my care and my delight, 
 My daily longing, and my dream by night : 
 .O night, more pleasing than the brightest day, 
 When fancy gives what absence takes away, 
 
 Gaudet, et e nostro crescit moerore Charaxus 
 Frater ; et ante oculos itque reditque meos. 
 Utque pudenda mei videatur causa doloris ; 
 
 Quid dolet hcec? certe Jilia vhit, ait. 
 Kon veniunt in idem pudor.atque amor: omne vi- 
 debat 
 
 Vulgus; eram lacero pectus aperta sinu. 
 Tu mihi cura, Phaon : te somnia nostra reducunt; 
 
 Somnia formoso candidiora die. 
 Illic te invenio ; quanquam regionibus absis. • 
 
 Sed non longa satis gaudia somnus habet. 
 z 3 
 
258 Sappho tophao;^ 
 
 And, dress'd in , all its visionary charms, 
 Restores my fair deserter to my arms I 
 Then round your neck in wanton wreaths I twiner 
 Then you, methinks, as fondly circle mine : 
 A thousand tender words I hear and speak ;. 
 A thousand melting kisses give, and take ■: 
 Then fiercer joys; I blush to mention these, 
 Yet, while I blush, confess haw much they please* 
 But when, with day, the sweet delusions fly, 
 And all things wake to life and joy, but I> 
 As if once more forbaken, I complain, 
 And close my eyes to dream of you. again : 
 
 Saepe tuos nostra cervice orrerarc lacertos, 
 
 Ssepe tuas videor supposuisse meos. 
 Blaridior interdum* verisque simillima verba 
 
 Eloquor : et vigilant sensibus ora meis. 
 Oscula cognosco, quae tu eommittere lingua?, 
 
 Aptaque consueras accipere, apta dare. 
 TJlteriora pudet narrare : sed omnia fiunt : 
 
 Et juvat, et sine te non libet esse mihi. 
 At cum se Titan ostendit, et omnia secum ; 
 
 Tarn cito me somnos destituisse queror. 
 Antra nemusque peto; tanquam nemus antraqu*- 
 prosint. 
 
 Conscia ddiciis ilia fuere tuis. 
 
SAPPHO TO PHAOS7. tb^P 
 
 Then frantic rise, and like some fury rove 
 Through lonely plains, and through the silent 
 
 grove ; 
 As if the silent grove, and lonely plains, 
 That knew my pleasures, could relieve my pains, 
 I view the grotto, once the scene of love, 
 The rocks around, the hanging roofs above, 
 That charm'cT me more, with native moss o'er* 
 
 grown, 
 Than Phrygian marble, or the Parian stone. 
 I find the shades that veil'd our joys before; 
 But, Phaon gone, those shades delight no more. 
 Here the press'd herbs with bending tops betray 
 Where oft entwin'd in amorous folds we lay ; 
 
 llliic mentis inops, ut quam furialis Erichtho 
 
 Impulit, in collo crine jacente, feror, 
 Antra vident oculi scabro pendentia topho, 
 
 Quae mihi Mygdonii marmoris instar erant. 
 Invenio sylvam, qua; ssgpe cubilia nobis 
 
 Prasbuit, et multa texit opaca coma: 
 At non invenio dominum sylvaeque meumque : 
 
 Vile solum locus est : dos erat ille loci. 
 Agnovi pressas noti mihi cespitis herbas : 
 
 De noslro curvum pondere gramen erat. 
 Incubui; tetigique locum, qua parte fuisti. 
 
 Grata prius lacrymas combibit herba meas 3 
 
£&0 SAPPHO TO FHAOlf. 
 
 I kiss that earth which once was press'd by you, 
 And all with tears the withering herbs bedew. 
 For thee the fading trees appear to mourn, 
 And birds defer their songs till thy return : 
 Night shades the groves, and all in silence lie, 
 All but the mournful Philomel and I : 
 With mournful Philomel I join my strain, 
 Of Tereus she, of Phaon I complain. 
 
 A spring there is, whose silver waters show, 
 Clear as a glass, the shining sands below ; 
 A flowery Lotos spreads its arms above, 
 Shades all the banks, and seems itself a grove > 
 Eternal greens the mossy margin grace, 
 Watch'd by the sylvan Genius of the place. 
 
 Quin etiam rami positis lugere videntur 
 
 Frondibus : et nullas dulce queruntur aves. 
 Sola virum non ulta pie moestissima mater 
 
 Concinit Ismarium Daulias ales Ityn. 
 Ales Ityn, Sappho desertos cantat-amores. 
 
 Hactenus y ut media csetera nocte silent. 
 Est nitidus, vitroque magis perlucidus omni, 
 
 Fons sacer; hunc multi numen habere putant. 
 Quern supra ramos expandit aquatica lotos, 
 
 Una nemus : tenero cespite terra viret. 
 Hie ego cum lassos posuissem fletibus artus, 
 
 Constitit ante oculos Nai'as una meos. 
 
SAPPHO TO FHA03T. 201 
 
 Here as I lay, and swell'd with tears the flood, 
 Before my sight a watery virgin stood : 
 She stood and cry'd, " O you that love in vain ! 
 li Fly hence, and seek the fair Leucadian main. 
 " There stands a rock, from whose impending steep 
 " Apollo's fane surveys the rolling deep ; 
 H There injur'd lovers, leaping from above, 
 M Their flames extinguish, and forget to love. 
 u Deucalion once with hopeless fury burn'd, 
 " In vain he lov'd, relentless Pyrrha scorn'd : 
 iS But when from hence he plung'd into the main, 
 " Deucalion scorn'd, and Pyrrha lov'd iiv vain. 
 u Haste, Sappho, haste y from high Leucadia throw 
 " Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below V 9 
 
 Constitit, et dixit, Quoniam non ignibus cequis 
 
 Ureris, Ambracias terra petenda tibi. 
 Phcebus ab excelso, quantum pat et, aspicit cequor: 
 
 Actiacum populi Leucadiumque vocant. 
 Illnc se Deucalion Pyrrhce succensus amaze- 
 
 Mlsit, et illceso corpore pressit aquas. 
 Nee mora: versus amor tetigit hntissima Pyrrh& 
 
 Pectora : Deucalion igne levatus erat. 
 llanc legem locus ille tenet, pete protinus altam 
 
 Leucada ; nee saxo dtslluisse time. 
 Ut nionuit ; cum voce abiit: ego frigida surgo;. 
 
 Nee gravidas lacrymas continuere genae. 
 
262 SAPPHO TO PHAQN. 
 
 She spoke, and vanish'd with the voice— I rise. 
 And silent tears fall trickling from my eyes. 
 I go, ye Nymphs ! those rocks and seas to prove *. 
 How much I fear, but ah, how much I love ! 
 I go, ye Nymphs, where furious love inspires ; 
 Let female fears submit to female fires. 
 To rocks and seas I fly from Phaon's hate, 
 And hope from seas and rocks a milder fate. 
 Ye gentle gales, beneath my body blow, 
 And softly lay me on the waves below I 
 And thou, kind love, my sinking limbs sustain, 
 Spread soft thy wings, and waft me o'er the main, 
 Nor let a lover's death the guiltless flood profane ! - 
 On Phoebus' shrine my harp I'll then bestow, 
 And this inscription shall be placed below. 
 
 Ibimus, 6 Nymphae, monstrataque saxa petemus. 
 
 Sit procul insano victus amore timor. 
 Quicquid erit, melius quam nunc erit: aura su- 
 bito: 
 
 Et mea non magnum corpora pondus habent. 
 Tu quoque, mollis Amor, pennas suppone cadenti : 
 
 Ne sim Leucadiae mortua crimen aquas. 
 Inde chelyn Phcebo, communia munera ponam : 
 
 Et sub ea versus unus et alter erunt. 
 Grata lyram posui tibi, Phccbe, pottria Sappho* l 
 
 Convenit ilia mihi } commit ilia tibL 
 
 .tain, % 
 main, > 
 fane ! 3 
 
SAPPHO TO PHAOX. 263 
 
 u Here she who sung, to him that did inspire, 
 " Sappho to Phoebus consecrates her lyre ; 
 11 What suits with Sappho, Phoebus, suits with thee> 
 " The gift, the giver, and the god agree." 
 But why, alas, relentless youth, ah why 
 To distant seas must tender Sappho fly ? 
 Thy charms than those may far more powerful be, 
 And Phoebus' self is less a god to me. 
 Ah ! canst thou doom me to the rocks and sea, 
 O far more faithless, and more hard than they ? 
 Ah ! canst thou rather see this tender breast 
 Dash'd on these rocks than to thy bosom press'd ; 
 This breast, which once, in vain! you lik'd so well; 
 Where the loves play'd, and where the Muses dwell? 
 
 Cur tamen Actiacas miseram me mittis ad oras, 
 
 Cum profugum possis ipse referre pedem ? 
 Tu mihi Leucadia potes esse salubrior unda; 
 
 Et forma et mentis tu mihi Phoebus eris. 
 An potes, 6 scopulis undaque ferocior ilia, 
 
 Si moriar, titulum mortis habere meae ? 
 At quanto melius jungi mea pectora tecum, 
 
 Quam poterant saxis praecipitanda dari ! 
 Haec sunt iila, Phaon, quae tu laudare solebas ; 
 
 Visaque sunt toties ingeniosa tibi. 
 Nunc veliem facunda forent : dolor artibus obstat; 
 
 Ingeniumque meis substitit omne malis. 
 
£54? SAPPHO TO PHAOST, 
 
 Alas ! the Muses now no more inspire, 
 Untun'd my lute, and silent is my lyre ; 
 M3 7 languid numbers have forgot to flow, 
 And fancy sinks beneath a weight of woe. 
 Ye Lesbian virgins, and ye Lesbian dames, 
 Themes of my verse, and objects of my flames. 
 No more your groves with my glad songs shall 
 
 ring, 
 No more these hands shall touch the trembling 
 
 string. 
 My Phaon's fled, and I those arts resign : 
 (Wretch that I am to call that Phaon mine !) 
 Return, fair youth., return, and bring along 
 Joy to my soul and vigour to my song : 
 Absent from thee, the poet's flame expires ; 
 But ah ! how fiercely burn the lover's fires ! 
 
 Non mihi respondent veteres in carmina vires : 
 
 Plectra dolore tacent : muta dolore lyra est. 
 Lesbides aequorese, nupturaque nuptaque proles; 
 
 Lesbides, JEAm nomina dicta lyra. 
 Lesbides, infamem quae me fecistis amatae ; 
 
 Desinite ad citharas turba venire meas. 
 Abstulit omne Phaon, quod vobis ante placebat ; 
 
 (Me miseram ! dixi quarn modo pene, meus !) 
 Efflcite ut redeat : vates quoque vestra red i bit. 
 
 Ingenio vires ille dat, ille rapi*. 
 
SAPPHO TO PHAOtf. 265 
 
 Gods! can no prayers, no sighs, no numbers, move 
 One savage heart, or teach it how to love ? 
 The winds my prayers, my sighs, my numbers bear, 
 The flying winds have lost them all in air ! 
 Oh when, alas ! shall more auspicious gales 
 To these fond eyes restore thy welcome sails ? 
 If you return— ah why these long delays ? 
 Poor Sappho dies while careless Phaon stays. 
 O launch thy bark, nor fear the watery plain ; 
 Venus for thee shall smooth her native main. 
 O launch thy bark, secure of prosperous gales ; 
 Cupid for thee shall spread the swelling sails. 
 If you will fly — (yet ah I what cause can be, 
 Too cruel youth, that you should fly from me ?) 
 
 Ecquid ego precibus ? pectusne agreste movetur ? 
 
 An riget ? et Zephyri verba caduca ferunt ? 
 Qui mea verba ferunt, vellem tua vela referrent. 
 
 Hoc te, si saperes, lente decebat opus. 
 Sive redis, puppique tuse votiva parantur 
 
 Munera ; quid laceras pectora nostra mora ? 
 Solve ratem : Venus orta mari, mare prasstet eunti. 
 
 Aura dabit cursum ; tu modo solve ratem. 
 Ipse gubernabit residens in puppe Cupido : 
 
 Ipse dabit tenera vela legetque manu. 
 Sive juvat longe fugisse Pelasgida Sappho; 
 
 (Non tamen invenies, cur ego digna fuga.) 
 A A 
 
Q&5 SAPPHO TO PHAOI. 
 
 If not from Phaon I must hope for ease. 
 Ah let me seek it from the raging seas: 
 To raging seas unpity'd I'll remove, 
 And either cease to live, or cease to love ! 
 
 O saltern miserae, crudelis epistola dicat ; 
 Ut mihi Leucadiae fata petantur aquas, 
 
 
DIDO 
 
 TO 
 
 M N E A S. 
 
 A A 2 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 MNEAS, the son of Venus and Anchises, having, at 
 the destruction of Troy, saved his father, and son 
 Ascanius, from the fire, put to sea with twenty 
 mil of ships, and teas driven by a storm upon the 
 shore of Libya, where queen Dido (flying from 
 the cruelty of Pygmalion her brother, who had 
 killed her husband Sichoeus) had lately built 
 Carthage. She entertained Mneas and his fol- 
 lowers with great civility, and fell passionately in 
 love ivith him. But Mercury admonishing JEneas. 
 to go in search of Italy, (a kingdom promised to 
 him by the gods) he readily prepared to obey him. 
 Dido soon perceived it, and having in vain tried 
 all other means to engage him to stay, at last in 
 despair xvrites to him this epistle* 
 
DIDO TO JENEAS. 
 
 So, on Meander's banks, when death is nigh, 
 
 The mournful swan sings her own elegy. 
 
 Not that I hope (for, oh, that hope were vain !) 
 
 By words your lost affection to regain ; 
 
 But, having lost whate'er was worth my care, 
 
 Why should I fear to lose a dying prayer ? 
 
 Tis then resolv'd poor Dido must be left, 
 
 Of life, of honour, and of love bereft ! 
 
 While you, with loosen'd sails and vows, prepare 
 
 To seek a land that flies the searcher's care. 
 
 Sic, ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis, 
 
 Ad vada Mseandri concinit albus olor, 
 Nee, quia te nostra sperem prece posse moveri, 
 
 Alloquor : adverso vovimus ista Deo. 
 Sed merita et famam, corpusque, animumque pu- 
 dicum 
 
 Cum male perdiderim : perdere verba leve est, 
 Certus es ire tamen, miseramque relinquere Dido: 
 
 Atque iidem venti vela fidemque ferent. 
 Certus es, ^Enea, cum foedere solvere naves : 
 
 Quaeque ubi sint nescis, Itala regna sequi. 
 
 A A 3 
 
270 DIDO TO &NEAS. 
 
 Nor can my rising towers your flight restrain, 
 Nor my new empire, offer'd yon in vain. 
 Built walls you shun, unbuilt you seek ; that land 
 Is yet to conquer; but you this command/ 
 Suppose you landed where your wish design'd, 
 Think what reception foreigners would find* 
 What people is so void of common sense, 
 To vote succession from a native prince ? 
 Yet there new sceptres and new loves you seek £ 
 New vows to plight and plighted vows to break. 
 When will your towers the height of Carthage know I 
 Or when your eyes discern, such crowds below ? 
 If such a town and subjects you could see, 
 Still would you want a wife who lov'd like me. 
 
 Nee nova Carthago, nee te crescentia tangunt 
 
 Mcenia : nee seeptro tradita sum ma tuo- 
 Facta fugis; facienda petis. Qua^renda per orbem 
 
 Altera, quaesita est altera terra tibi. 
 Ut terram invenias, quis earn tibi tradet habendam ? 
 
 Quis sua non notis arva tenenda dabit ? 
 Alter habendus amor tibi restat, et altera Dido : 
 
 Quamque iterum fallas, altera danda fides. 
 Quando erit, ut eondas instar Carthaginis urbera, 
 
 Et videas populos altus ab arce tuos ? 
 Omnia ut evenianr, nee te tua vota morentur^ 
 
 Unde tibi, qua; te sic amet, uxor erit ? 
 
DIDO TO JENEAS. 271 
 
 For, oh, I burn, like iires with incense bright : 
 Not holy tapers flame with purer light : 
 ^Eneas is my thoughts* perpetual theme ; 
 Their daily longing and their nightly dream» 
 Yet he's ungrateful and obdurate still : 
 Fool that I am to place my heart so ill ! 
 Myself I cannot to myself restore; 
 Still I complain, and still I love him more, ' 
 Have pity Cupid on my bleeding heart, 
 And pierce thy brother's with an equal dart. 
 I rave : nor canst thou Venus' offspring be, 
 Love's mother could not bear a son like thee. 
 
 Uror, ut inducto ceratae sulfure tasdae : 
 
 Ut pia fumosis addita thura focis. 
 iEneas oculis semper vigilantis inhasret : 
 
 iEnean animo noxque diesque refert. 
 Ille quidem male gratus, et ad mea munera surdus; 
 
 Et quo, si non sim stulta, carere velim : 
 Non tamen /Enean, quamvis male cogitat, odi r 
 
 Sed queror infidum, questaque pejus amo. 
 Parce, Venus, nurui, durumque amplectere fratrem, 
 
 Frater Amor : castris militet ille tuis. 
 ^ut ego quae coepi (neque enim dedignor) amarey 
 
 Materiam curas praebeat ille meag. 
 Fallor ; et ista mihi falso jactatur imago. 
 
 Matris ab ingcnio dissidet ille suae. 
 
272 DIDO TO JENEAS. 
 
 From harden'd oak, or from a rock's cold womb, 
 At least thou art from some fierce tigress come ; 
 Or on rough seas, from their foundation torn, 
 Got by the winds, and in a tempest born : 
 Like that which now thy trembling sailors fear, 
 Like fhat whose rage should still detain thee here. 
 Behold how high the foamy billows ride ! 
 The winds and waves are on the juster side. 
 To winter weather and a stormy sea 
 I'll owe, what rather I would owe to thee. 
 Death thou deserv'st from heaven's avenging laws ; 
 But I'm unwilling to become the cause. 
 To shun my love, if thou wilt seek thy fate, 
 ? Tis a dear purchase, and a costly hate. 
 
 Te lapis, et montes, innataque rupibus altis 
 
 Robora, te saevae progenuere ferae: 
 Aut mare, quale vides agitari nunc quoque ventis : 
 
 Quo tamen adversis fluctibus ire paras. 
 Quo fugis? obstat hyems: hyemismihi gratia prosit 
 
 Aspice, ut eversas concitet Eurus aquas. 
 Quod tibi maluerim, sine me debere procellis. 
 
 Justior est animo ventus et unda tuo. 
 Non ego sum tanti (quamvis merearis, inique) 
 
 Ut pereas, dum me per freta longa fugis. 
 Exerces pretiosa odia, et constantia magno ; 
 
 Si, dum me careas, est tibi vile mori. 
 
DIDO TO JENEAS. $73 
 
 Stay but a little, till the tempest cease, 
 And the loud winds are lull'd into a peace. 
 May all thy rage, like theirs, unconstant prove ! 
 And so it will, if there be power in love. 
 Know'st thou not yet what dangers ships sustain ? 
 So often wreck'd, how dar'st thou tempt the main ? 
 Which were it smooth, were every wave asleep, 
 Ten thousand forms of death are in the deep. 
 In that abyss the gods their vengeance store, 
 For broken vows of those who falsely swore- 
 There winged storms on sea-born Venus wait, 
 To vindicate the justice of her state. 
 
 Jam venti ponent, strataque sequaliter unda, 
 
 Caeruleis Triton per mare curret equis. 
 Tu quoque cum ventis utinam mutabilis esses ! 
 
 Et, nisi duritia robora vincis, eris. 
 Quid, si nescieris, insana quid aequora possint ? 
 
 Expertae toties tarn male credis aquae ? 
 Ut pelago suadente etiam retinacula solvas, 
 
 Multa tamen latus tristia pontus habet. 
 Nee violasse jfidem tentantibus aequora prodest : 
 
 Perfidiae pcenas exigit ille locus. 
 Praecipue cum laesus Amor: quia mater Amoris 
 
 Nuda Cytheriacis edita fertur aquis. 
 Perdita ne per dam timeo, noceamve nocenti ; 
 
 Neu bibat aequoreas naufragus hostis aquas* 
 
274 DIDO TO JENEAS. 
 
 Thus I to thee the means of safety show ; 
 And, lost myself, would still preserve my foe. 
 False as thou art, I not thy death design : 
 O rather live to be the cause of mine ! 
 Should some avenging storm thy vessel tear, 
 (But heaven forbid my words should omen bear) 
 Then in thy face thy perjur'd vows would fly ; 
 And my wrong'd ghost be present to thy eye. 
 With threatening looks think thou behold'st me 
 
 stare, 
 Gasping my mouth and clotted all my hair. 
 Then, should fork'd light'ning and red thunder fall, 
 What could'st thou say, but, i I deserv'd them all ?' 
 
 Vive, precor: sic te melius, quam funere, perdam, 
 
 Tu potius leti causa ferare mei. 
 Finge, age, te rapido (nullum sit in omine pon- 
 dus!) 
 
 Turbine deprendi : quid tibi mentis erit ? 
 Protinus occurrent falsa? perjuria lingua?, 
 
 Et Phrygi& Dido fraude coacta mori, 
 Conjugis ante oculos decepta? stabit imago 
 
 Tribtis, et effusis sanguinolenta comis. 
 Quicquid id est, to turn merui, concedite, dicas : 
 
 Quseque cadent, in te fulmina missa putes. 
 Da breve saevitiae spatium pelagique tuaeque : 
 
 Grande morae pretium tuta futura via est. 
 
DIDO TO ^NEAS. 2?5 
 
 Lest this should happen, make not haste away ; 
 
 To shun the danger will be worth thy stay. 
 
 Have pity on thy son if not on me, 
 
 My death alone is guilt enough for thee. 
 
 "What has his youth, what have thy gods deserv'd ? 
 
 To sink in seas who were from fires preserved ? 
 
 But neither gods nor parent didst thou bear ; 
 
 Smooth stories all to please a woman's ear, 
 
 False as the tale of thy romantic life : 
 
 Nor yet am I thy first-deluded wife: 
 
 Left to pursuing foes Cretisa stay'd, 
 
 By thee, base man, forsaken and betray'd. 
 
 Nee mihi parcatur: puero parcatur Iulo. 
 
 Te satis est titulum mortis habere meae. 
 Quid puer Ascanius, quid Di meruere Penates ! 
 
 Ignibus ereptos obruet unda Deos. 
 Sed neque fers tecum; nee, quae mihi, perfide, jac- 
 tas, 
 
 Presserunt humeros sacra paterque tuos. 
 Omnia mentiris. Nee enim tua fallere lingua 
 
 Incipit a nobis ; primaque plector ego. 
 Si quaeras, ubi sit formosi mater luli : 
 
 Occidit h duro sola relicta viro. 
 Haec mihi narraras : at me movere merentem. 
 
 Inde minor culpd pcena futura mea est. 
 
 i 
 
g/6 DIDO TO ^NEAS. 
 
 This when thou told'st me, struck my tender 
 
 heart, 
 That such requital follow'd such desert. 
 Nor doubt I but the gods, for crimes like these, 
 Seven winters kept thee wandering on the seas. 
 Thy starved companions, cast ashore, I fed, 
 Thyself admitted to my crown and bed. 
 To harbour strangers, succour the distrest, 
 Was kind enough ; but, oh, too kind the rest ! 
 Curst be the cave which first my ruin brought, 
 Where, from the storm, we common shelter sought! 
 A dreadful howling echo'd round the place : 
 The mountain nymphs, thought I, my nuptials 
 
 grace. 
 
 Nee mihi mens dubia est, quin te tua numina dam- 
 nent. 
 
 Per mare, per terras septima jactat hyems. 
 Fluctibus ejectum tutd statione recepi, 
 
 Vixque bene audito nomine, regna dedi. 
 His tamen officiis utinam contenta fuissem ; 
 
 Et mihi concubitus fama sepulta foret ! 
 Ilia dies nocuit, qu& nos declive sub antrum 
 
 Cseruleus subitis compulit imber aquis. 
 Audieram voces; Nymphas ululasse putavi. 
 
 Eumenides fatis signa dedere meis. 
 
DIDO TO INEASi 277 
 
 I thought so then, but now too late I know 
 
 The furies yell'd my funerals from below. 
 
 O chastity and violated fame, 
 
 Exact your dues to my dead husband's name ! 
 
 By death redeem my reputation lost, 
 
 And to his arms restore my guilty ghost. 
 
 Close by my palace, in a gloomy grove, 
 
 Is rais'd a chapel to my murder'd love ; 
 
 There, wreath'd with boughs and wool, his statue 
 
 stands, 
 The pious monument of artful hands. 
 Last night, methought he call'd me from the dome, 
 And thrice, with hollow voice, cry'd * Dido, come/ 
 She comes; thy wife thy lawful summons hears ; 
 But comes more slowly, clogg'd with conscious 
 
 fears. 
 
 Exige, laese pudor, poenas, violate Sichaeo : 
 
 Ad quas (me miseram !) plena pudoris eo. 
 Est mihi marmorea sacratus in asde Si chains : 
 
 Appositce frondes velleraque alba tegunt. 
 Hinc ego me sensi noto quater ore citari : 
 
 Ipse sono tenui dixit, EJissa "cent» 
 Nulla mora est; venio. Venio tibi debita conjux-: 
 
 Sed tamen admissi tarda pudore mei, 
 Da veniam culpa?; decepit idoneus auctor. 
 
 Invidiam noxa? detrahit ille mere. 
 B B 
 
278 BIDO TO ^NEAS. 
 
 Forgive the wrong I offer'd to thy bed ; 
 
 Strong were his charms, who my weak faith misled. 
 
 His goddess mother, and his aged sire 
 
 Borne on his back, did to my fall conspire. 
 
 Oh ! such he was, and is, that were he true, 
 
 Without a blush I might his love pursue. 
 
 But cruel stars my birth-day did attend ; 
 
 And as my fortune open'd, it must end. 
 
 My plighted lord was at the altar slain, 
 
 Whose wealth was made my bloody brother's gain. 
 
 Friendless, and followed by the murderer's hate, 
 
 To foreign countries I remov'd my fate ; 
 
 And here, a suppliant, from the native hands 
 
 I bought the ground on which my city stands, 
 
 Diva parens ; seniorque pater pia sarcina nati, 
 
 Spem mihi mansuri rite dedere viri. 
 Si fuit errandum, causas habet error honestas. 
 
 Adde fidem ; nulla parte pigendus erit. 
 Durat in extremum, vitaeque novissima nostra? 
 
 Prosequitur fati, qui fuit ante, tenor. 
 Occidit internas conjux mactatus ad aras : 
 
 Et sceleris tanti praemia frater habet. 
 Exul agor ; cineresque viri patriamque relinquo : 
 
 Et feror in duras hoste sequente vias. 
 Applicor ignotis : fratrique elapsa fretoque, 
 
 Quod tibi donavi, perfide, littus emo. 
 
DIDO TO iNEAS, 279 
 
 With all the coast that stretches to the sea; 
 Ev'n to the friendly port that shelter'd thee : 
 Then rais'd these walls, which mount into the air, 
 At once ray neighbours' wonder, and their fear. 
 For now they arm; and round me leagues are made, 
 My scarce-established empire to invade. 
 To man my new-built walls I must prepare, 
 An helpless woman, and unskill'd in war. 
 Yet thousand rivals to my love pretend ; 
 And for my person would my crown defend : 
 Whose jarring votes in one complaint agree, 
 That each unjustly is disdain' d for thee. 
 To proud Hyarbas give me up a prey ; 
 (For that must follow, if thou goest away.) 
 Or to my husband's murderer leave my lite, 
 That to the husband he may add the wife. 
 
 Urbem constitui ; lateque patentia fixi 
 
 Moenia, finitimis invidiosa locis. 
 Bella tument: bellis peregrina et foemina tentor: 
 
 Vixque rudes portas urbis et afma paro. 
 Mille procis placui : qui me coiere querentes 
 
 Nescio quem thalamis prseposukse suis. 
 Quid dubitas vinctam Gastulo traderelarbse ? 
 
 Pra3buerim sceleri brachia nostra tuo. 
 Est etiam frater: cujus manus impia possit 
 
 Respergi nostro, sparsa cruore viri. 
 b b 2 
 
580 BIDO TO JENEAS. 
 
 Go then, since no complaints can move thy mind: 
 Go, perjur'd man, but leave thy gods behind. 
 Touch not those gods, by whom thou art forsworn, 
 Who will in impious hands no more be borne : 
 Thy sacrilegious worship they disdain, 
 And rather would the Grecian fires sustain. 
 Perhaps my greatest shame is still to come, 
 And part of thee lies hid within my womb. 
 The babe unborn must perish by thy hate 
 And perish guiltless in his mother's fate. 
 Some god, thou say'st, thy voyage does command; 
 Would the same god had barr'd thee from my land I 
 
 Pone Deos, et quae tangendo sacra profanas : 
 
 Non bene codes tes impia dextra colit. 
 Si tu cultor eras elapsis igne futurus ; 
 
 Pcenitet elapsos ignibus esse Deos. 
 Forsitan et gravidam Dido, scelerate, relinquas, 
 
 Par&que tui lateat corpore clausa meo. 
 Accedet fatis matris miserabilis infans ; 
 
 Et nondum nato funeris auctor eris. 
 Cumque parente sua frater morietur lull, 
 
 Peenaque connexos auferet una duos. 
 Sed jubet ire Deus. Vellem vetuisset adire ; 
 
 Punica nee Teucris pressa fuisset humus. 
 Hoc duce (nempe Deo) ventis agitaris iniquis, 
 
 Et teris in rapido tempora longa freto. 
 
DIDO TO jENEAS. 281 
 
 The same, I doubt not, thy departure steers, 
 Who kept thee out at sea so many years ; 
 While thy long labours were a price so great, 
 As thou to purchase Troy would not repeat. 
 But Tyber now thou seek'st, to be at best, 
 When there arriv'd, a poor precarious guest. 
 Yet it deludes thy search : perhaps it will 
 To thy old age lie undiscover'd still, 
 A ready crown and wealth in dower I bring, 
 And, without conquering, here thou art a king. 
 Here thou to Carthage may'st transfer thy Troy s 
 Here young Ascanius may his arms employ ; 
 
 Pergama vix tanto tibi erant repetenda labore, 
 
 Hectore si vivo quanta mere forent. 
 Non patrium Simoenta petis; sed Tybridis undas. 
 
 Nempe, ut pervenias quo cupis, hospes eris. 
 Utque latet, vitatque tuas abstrusa carinas, 
 
 Vix tibi continget terra petita seni. 
 Hoc potius populos in dotem, ambage remissd, 
 
 Accipe ; et advectas Pygmalionis opes. 
 Ilion in Tyriam transfer felicius urbem, 
 
 Inque loco regis sceptra sacrata tene. 
 Si tibi mens avida est belli, si qucerit lulus 
 
 Unde suo partus Marte triumphus eat ; 
 Quem superet, ne quid desit, praebebimus hostem; 
 
 Hie pads leges, hie locus arma capit. 
 b a 3 
 
582 DIDO TO jENEAS. 
 
 And while we live secure in soft repose, 
 
 Bring many laurels home from conquer'd foes. 
 
 By Cupid's arrows, I adjure thee, stay ; 
 
 By all the gods, companions of thy way. 
 
 So may thy Trojans, who art yet alive, 
 
 Live still, and with no future fortune strive ; 
 
 So may thy youthful son old age attain, 
 
 And thy dead father's bones in peace remain : 
 
 As thou hast pity on unhappy me, 
 
 Who knew no crime, but too much love of thee. 
 
 I am not born from fierce Achilles' line, 
 
 Nor did my parents against Troy combine. 
 
 To be thy wife if I unworthy prove, 
 
 By some inferior name admit my love. 
 
 Tu modo, per matrem fraternaque tela sagittas, 
 
 Perque fugse comites Dardana sacra Deos : 
 (Sic superent quoscunque tua de gente reportas, 
 
 Mars ferus et damni sit modus ille tui. 
 Ascaniusque suos feliciter impleat annos, 
 
 Et senis Anchisoe molliter ossa cubent) 
 Parce precor domui, quae se tibi tradit habendam. 
 
 Quod crimen dicis, praeter amasse, meum ? 
 Non ego sum Phthias, magnisque oriunda Mycenis : 
 
 Nee steterunt in te virque paterque meus. 
 Si pudet uxoris; non nupta, sed hospita dicar. 
 
 Dum tua sit Dido, quidlibet esse feret. 
 
DIDO TO ^NEAS. 283 
 
 To be secur'd of still possessing thee, 
 What would 1 do, and what would I not be ! 
 Our Libyan coasts their certain seasons know, 
 When free from tempests passengers may go : 
 But now with northern blasts the billows roar, 
 And drive the floating sea-weed to the shore. 
 Leave to my care the time to sail away ; 
 W r hen safe, I will not suffer thee to stay. 
 Thy weary men will be with ease content ; 
 Their sails are tatter'd, and their masts are spent. 
 If by no merit I thy mind can move, 
 What thou deny'st my merit, give my love. 
 
 Kota mihi freta sunt Afrum frangentia littus : 
 
 Temporibus certis dantque negantque viam. 
 Cum dabit aura viam, praebebis carbasa ventis. 
 
 Nunc levis ejectam continet alga ratem. 
 Tempus ut observem, manda mihi ; certius ibis : 
 
 Nee te, si cupies ipse, manere sinam. 
 Et socii requiem poscunt, laniataque classis 
 
 Postulat exiguas semirefecta moras. . 
 Pro mentis et siqua tibi debebimus ultro, 
 
 Pro spe conjugii tempora parva peto. 
 Dum freta mitescunt, et Amor: dum tempore el 
 usu 
 
 Fortiter edisco tristia posse pati. 
 
284 DIDO TO XNEAS. 
 
 Stay, till I learn my loss to undergo ; 
 
 And give me time to struggle with my woe. 
 
 If not, know this, I will not suffer long ; 
 
 My life's too loathsome, and my love too strong. 
 
 Death holds my pen, and dictates what I say, 
 
 While cross my lap the Trojan sword I lay. 
 
 My tears flow down ; the sharp edge cuts their 
 
 flood, 
 And drinks my sorrows that must drink my blood. 
 How well thy gift does with my fate agree ! 
 My funeral pomp is cheaply made by thee. 
 To no new wounds my bosom I display : 
 The sword but enters where love made the way. 
 
 Sin minus ;' est animus nobis effundere vitam. 
 
 In me crudelis non potes esse diu. 
 Adspicias utinam, quaet sit scribentis mago ! 
 
 Scribimus, et gremio Troi'cus ensis adest : 
 Perque genas lacrymae strictum labuntur in ensem; 
 
 Qui jam pro lacrymis sanguine tinctus erit. 
 Quam bene conveniunt fato tua munera nostro ! 
 
 Instruis impensd nostra sepulcra brevi. 
 Nee mea nunc primo feriuntur pectora telo: 
 
 Ille locus saevi vulnus araoris habet. 
 Anna soror, soror Anna, meae male conscia culpa?, 
 
 Jam dabis in cineres ultima dona meos. 
 
DIDO TO JINEAS, 285 
 
 Bat thou, dear sister, and yet dearer friend, 
 
 Shalt my cold ashes to their urn attend. 
 
 Sichaeus' wife let not the marble boast, 
 
 I lost that title, when my fame I lost. 
 
 This short inscription only let it bear : 
 
 " Unhappy Dido lies in quiet here. 
 
 " The cause of death, and sword by which she dy'd, 
 
 u ^Eneas gave: the rest her arm supply'd." 
 
 Nee, consumpta rogis, inscribar Elissa Sichaei ; 
 
 Hoc tamen in tumuli marmore carmen erit : 
 Prcebuit Mneas et causam mortis et ensem. 
 
 Ipsa sud Dido concidit usa manu. 
 
J5ote& 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 
 
 Page 3, line l, Thus, while he lingers upon foreign shores^ 
 
 His own Penelope her lord implores : 
 Ten years elapsed after the taking of Troy, before Ulysses 
 returned to his kingdom and the faithful Penelope, of whose 
 virtues and sufferings a full account may be seen in the Odys- 
 sey, in Books i. ii. iv. xvi. xviii. and xxiii. 
 P. 3, line 9, the adulterer — Paris. 
 
 P. 4, line 2, The pendent web — . For the history of this web 
 see Iliad ii. p. 93, and Mr. Pope's Translation, Book ii. 1. 107 
 to 127, and Spectator, Vol. 8, N° 606 : it is thus exquisitely 
 alluded to in the Bath guide,* 
 
 Pray are not your ladies at Bath better plac'd 
 Than the wife of a king who herself so disgrae'd, 
 And at Ithaca liv'd in such very bad taste? 
 Poor soul, while her husband thought proper to leave her, 
 She slav'd all the day like a spital-field's weaver, 
 And then like a fool, when her web was half spun, 
 Pull'd to pieces at night all the work she had done. 
 P. 4, line 7, Antilochus — the son of Nestor. He was killed 
 by Memnon not by Hector ; the commentators have there- 
 fore proposed to read Amphimachus for Antilochus ; but it 
 suited the purpose of Ovid to make Hector the general mur- 
 derer j such we may suppose the fears of Penelope as well as 
 Laodamia to represent him : it must not be therefore con- 
 ceived that any thing in Homer was unknown to our author^ 
 
 * Perexiguum volumen sed infinite dukedinis. 
 
288 NOTES, 
 
 of whom one of the best judges* declared it hard to pronounce 
 whether he were a more elegant, or learned poet. Antiloehus 
 was the neighbour of Penelope, and therefore more likely to 
 occur to her. 
 
 P. 4, line 9, Patroclus — killed in the armour of Achilles. 
 Iliad xvi. 
 
 P. 4, line 11, The Lycian spear — Sarpedon's. 
 
 P. 6, line 7, Rhesus, king of Thrace, brought horses to Troy 
 which were to render it invincible if they ever tasted the 
 waters of Xanthus ; but arriving too late to be admitted into 
 the city, he encamped under the walls, where he was op- 
 pressed, with twelve of his followers, as he slept in his tent, 
 by Diomed and Ulysses, who had received intelligence of his 
 situation from Dolon, a Trojan spy ; Dolon fell also by the 
 same hands that slew the unfortunate prince, and that carried 
 off the fatal steeds. Iliad x. 
 
 Ardentesque avertit equos in castra priusquam 
 
 Pabula gustassent Trojae, Xanthumve bibissent. iEneid i. 
 
 Then took the fiery steeds, ere yet the food 
 
 Of Troy they taste, or drink Scamander's flood. Dryden. 
 
 P. 9, line 6, And only fit to teize the housewife's wool; vide 
 Comus. — It seems fair to restore this line to Ovid, from whom 
 Milton certainly had it, and whom he both admired and imi- 
 tated. No translator could have found one more fit for his 
 purpose. 
 
 P. 12, line 8, I, whom a girl you left, shall old appear. — It 
 is somewhere remarked by Mr. Addison (as the transla- 
 tor thinks,) that a woman generally speaks her mind in a 
 postscript ; thus Penelope, (perhaps the passage had not es- 
 caped the remarker) Peneiepe, the pattern of female con- 
 stancy and virtue, is here made to bring before her husband 
 
 * Poeta elegantior incertum an doctior. (Lowlh de sacra 
 poesi Hebrseorum ) 
 
NfcTES. £8J> 
 
 mil the miseries produced by the siege of Troy ; the detes- 
 tation entertained of it, even in ashes, by the Grecian women, 
 her widowed bed, her days of sorrow and nights of labour, 
 her love, her dread of Hector, his slaughter of the Grecians, 
 his own mangled body drawn round the walls of Troy, her 
 wretched state even after its fall, the desolation of the place 
 itself, her fears of the perils to which Ulysses was exposed by 
 land and sea in his return, her frequent and anxious enquiries, 
 her jealousy, her fidelity, the hateful addresses and plunder of 
 the suitors, the treachery and insolence of his servants, the 
 danger of his son, the imbecility and extremity of his father, 
 and to close the whole with the reflection upon the loss of her 
 beauty, and the deplorable circumstance, that she whom he 
 left a girl, must now (even though he should immediately re- 
 turn) appear an old woman {Anus, a word of great force in the 
 original, especially as the concluding one) in the eyes of her 
 husband. 
 
 Vix Priamus tanti, totaque Troja fuit. 
 
 Perhaps the last two lines of this epistle would be better 
 rendered thus, 
 
 I, an old woman doubtless shall appear, 
 Come when you will ; a girl you left me here. 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 
 
 P. 16, line 9, The skoals of Hebrus dread. — Hebrus a river 
 
 famous in poetic story, particularly for having received the 
 
 head of Orpheus thrown into it by the Thracian women, — 
 
 a tale so sweetly told by Virgil.— Vide Georgic 4th, and 
 
 Cc 
 
230 3JOTE8. 
 
 Mr. Sotheby's faithful and elegant translation, nostra nets 
 laudis egentem. 
 
 P. 2T), line 13, The JEgidce— the descendants of jEgeus, from 
 whom only two generations had yet sprung^ -the distinction 
 supposes many likely to succeed. 
 
 P. 21, line 3, There should the Minotaur. — The Minotaur 
 was supposed to be a monster whose upper part was that 
 of a man, and his lower of a bull.— See Notes of Phaedra to 
 Hippolytus. 
 
 P. 2J, line 4, Scyron—a famous robber who committed de- 
 vastations in the neighbourhood of Megara, and was slain by 
 Theseus. 
 
 Procrustes, another robber who infested the country of 
 Athens. He was supposed to keep a bed for the purpose of 
 tormenting those who fell into his hands : if their bodies ex- 
 ceeded the length of it they were curtailed; if found short of 
 its dimensions they were extended by torture. 
 
 P. 23, line 14, The Cretan maid. — Ariadne, the daughter of 
 Minos, who gave Theseus a clue of thread to guide him out 
 of the labyrinth in which he was involved by Minos to be de- 
 voured by the Minotaur whom he killed, and escaped with 
 Ariadne. He left her afterwards asleep in the island of Naxus, 
 warned as the fable says, by Bacchus, who protected the lady 
 and exalted her to a place amongst the constellations. It 
 seems ungallant to suspect that her propensity to wine had 
 disgusted her lover, and that he had left her in the arms of 
 Sleep, whom her libations to Bacchus had rendered so power- 
 ful, that she was insensible to the departure of Theseus : nor 
 surely could so magnanimous a hero have put her into a state 
 of intoxication, more commodiously to desert her; nor her 
 translation to the stars by Bacchus imply that she fell a victim 
 t© the excess of fondness for the god, in his earthly represen- 
 tation. However these things really were, or if they never 
 were, very pretty use of them is made here, in the Ariadne 
 to Theseus, and in the Phaedra to Hippolytus. 
 
NOTES. 291 
 
 P. 22, line S, To Athens noiv insulting lid me go. — It is hardly 
 to be supposed that the learned Ovid would call Athens the 
 learned Athens in the time of Demophoon, unless the city 
 being under the tutelage of Minerva, might justify him in 
 distinguishing it by such an epithet. Perhaps this was a li- 
 berty in which he chose to indulge himself ; and the transla- 
 tor, had there been any thing convenient or inviting in it, 
 would have followed him. Nothing however is said of the 
 learning of Athens, or the Athenians, in the catalogue of 
 Homer. 
 
 Commentators have not remarked this, perhaps thinking 
 it not worthy notice. It may be supposed that ancient critics 
 ivere more indulgent than the "modern. 
 
 P. 24, line 13, Her zone unpfcind. — The zone was a girdle 
 which the bride put on, and the husband unbound in bed ; 
 it was made of wool, probably, at first, only because it was 
 soft and easily loosened. The reasoning of the commenta- 
 tors upon this seems far-fetched — that as the wool when wound 
 was united, so should she be united to her husband. 
 
 P. 25, line 1, There did the furies hymcnceals sound,— -This 
 circumstance seems to be borrowed from a passage in th« 
 Fourth Book of Virgil — 
 
 Summoque ulularunt virtice nymphse : — 
 finely rendered by Dryden. 
 
 Hell from below, and Juno from above, 
 
 And howling Nymphs were conscious to their love. 
 
 Uiulo is sometimes used to express the sounds of joy — as, 
 httis ululare triumphis. 
 
 The three furies were Tysiphone, Alecto, and Megan?, 
 daughters of Night and Acheron, but the greatest of these 
 was Tysiphone. 
 
 P. 27, line b y Lice on my tomb, &c. — The epistle of Dido 
 «loses much in the same way. 
 
2S'2 NOTES.- 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 
 
 Page 31, line l, These barbarous characters, &c. — Whether 
 the Greeks called foreigners and their language barbarous, 
 before the time of the Trojan war, is considered in the notes 
 upon another epistle. Ovid only does what others had done 
 before him. Briseis pleads, as a foreigner, her want of skill 
 and practice in writing Greek. The line in the original seems 
 to be applicable to most modern specimens of Greek com- 
 position. 
 
 P. 31, line 11, Heralds. — Talthybius and Eurybates, em- 
 ployed upon this occasion in Homer. 
 
 P. 32, line 11. My fruitless tears I give, my hair Hear. — 
 Briseis is described in Homer as passing in dignified and silent 
 grief, as is well remarked by Pope. Ovid is however un- 
 usually abstemious in adding only the circumstance of tearing 
 her hair, the ordinary mode of expressing great affliction. 
 
 P. 33, line 9, Me shall so many nights, &c. — Briseis endea- 
 vours to pique the love, and the honour of Achilles, who can 
 live without her, and leaves her, at least in possession of 
 another man, so many nights. Parted lovers count time by 
 nights, rather than days. Thus Horace describes the husband 
 •f Asterie— frigidas, 
 
 Noctes non sine multis, 
 Insomnis lacrymis agit. 
 
 These lines in English would be accused of kissing. 
 
 P. 33, linen, Not so Patroclus, ©'c— This trait of the 
 good nature of Patroclus is very prettily given by Ovid, and 
 quite in character. Briseis therefore laments over him with 
 
NOTES. 2§3 
 
 distinguished gratitude and affection in the igth Iliad, and 
 particularly as ptikixos *&h a disposition the most likely to 
 gain the love and excite the regret of mankind: the wise and 
 great are admired, and feared, the gentle and benevolent be- 
 loved and lamented. 
 
 P. 34, line ] and 2, The son ofTelamon, Ajax. 
 
 The son ofAmyntor, Phoenix. 
 
 P. 34, line 3, Thy rugged soul no ties of blood can move, 
 Deaf to the voice oj friendship and of love, 
 
 Telamon the father of Ajax was the brother of Peleus. 
 
 Phoenix was the friend and tutor of Achilles. 
 
 P. 34, line 11, Ten talents of pure gold.— The talent, here 
 supposed to be meant, was 60 minse — a mina about three 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 P. 34, line 13, With them a captive train of Lesbian fair, 
 (To thee superfluous gift) of beauty rare! 
 
 It is not clear whether Briseis means to imply that Achilles 
 had captives enough, and that there was no necessity for 
 supplying him with other beauty, when he had rejected her's ; 
 or whether she intends to accuse him of coldness and insen- 
 sibility, notwithstanding she reproaches him, in a different 
 way, in another part of the epistle: inconsistency is natural 
 to jealousy. 
 
 Y.34,\intl 5, Supei fawns proffer of a royal bride 
 
 Sprung from the king of kings, to grace thy side» 
 
 Literally — one of the three daughters of Agamemnon for a 
 bride : 
 
 Ex Agamemnoniis una puella tribus. 
 
 Their names were Chrysothemis, Iphianissa or Iphigenia, 
 and Laodice. 
 
 P. 35, line 11 and 15, I saw thy Myrmidons, &c. 
 Three valiant youths, &c. 
 
 This is finely taken frcm the speech of Briseis lamenting 
 over Patroclus in the 19th book of the Iliad. The Latin of 
 
294? NOTES, 
 
 Ovid may be understood, as if she had said that her mother 
 fell at the same time with her husband and brothers ; and in- 
 deed the Delphin editors so render it — u tres occubuisse, et 
 matrem tribus quae erat mihi mater :" but besides that there 
 is no mention of this in Homer, and that it is unlikely that 
 Briseis would have reminded Achilles of such barbarity, had 
 he been guilty of it, the words will very well bear the sense 
 in which Heinsius understands them, agreeably to Homer — 
 fratres suos innuit. 
 
 Tres cecidisse, tribus, quae mihi, mater erat. Tribu&qu» 
 mater erat, mihi mater erat. Andromache in the oth book 
 of the Iliad recounts the slaughter of her father, and seven 
 brothers, and the captivity of her mother. Ovid also makes 
 Sappho lament the misfortunes of her family ; but they are 
 less affecting than those of Andromache or Briseis. 
 
 P. 38, lines, Of Peleus worthy and the stock of Jove.—* 
 This too is borrowed from Homer, who makes Achilles say, 
 when he refuses one of the daughters of Agamemnon, that 
 if the gods preserve him he shall receive a wife at the hands, 
 ©f his father Peleus, from amongst the daughters of the Princes 
 ofAchaia. We see here the extreme reverence for parents 
 inculcated by Homer. Achilles, the hero of his poem, even 
 after a. ten years war, in which he had borne the most distin- 
 guished part, looks forward to be married to the Princess,, 
 whom his father should choose for him at his return to his 
 country. , 
 
 P. 38, line 5, Submissive Filmy daily task ahsolve.—This 
 whole passage is finely imitated by Prior, in his Henry and 
 Emma. 
 
 «' This potent beauty this triumphant fair> 
 
 " The happy object of our different care. 
 
 " Her let me follow, her let me attend 
 
 " A servant, she may scorn the name of friend. 
 
 " What she demands incessant I'll prepare, 
 
 « I'll weave her garments, and I'll pleat her hair. 
 
3T0TES. 295 
 
 " My busy diligence shall deck her board, 
 " For there at least I may approach my lord. 
 " And when her Henry's softer hours advise 
 " His servant's absence : with dejected eyes," 
 " Far I'll recede, and sighs forbid to rise!" 
 P. 40, line 1, Thus Meleager sought the embattled plain,— • 
 This is taken from the speech of Phoenix in the 9th boek of 
 the Iliad, where it is much objected to by the critics. Ovid 
 would not have borrowed what he disapproved : but perhaps 
 the judgment of Ovid in such cases may be disputed. What, 
 however, is tedious or misplaced in the mouth of Phoenix, 
 may come very properly from Briseis. 
 
 Meleager was the son of CEneus king of Calydon and 
 Althea: soon after his birth she overheard the fates, who» 
 sat by the fire, say, that the new born infant should live till 
 the billet, then burning, which she held in her hand, should 
 be consumed; which the mother upon their departure extin- 
 guished, and carefully preserved : when he was grown up, 
 Diana offended with his father, who had forgotten her in his. 
 sacrifices to the gods after harvest, sent a prodigious boar to 
 ravage his lands ; which Meleager slew, and presented the 
 head to Atalanta the daughter of Jasius, king of the Argives, 
 who had given the first wound to the monster. His mater- 
 nal uncles so resented this that they endeavoured to take the 
 head from the princess, whom he married, and they were 
 killed by him in the conflict that ensued: his mether in a 
 rage threw the billet into the fire, and he died soon after of a 
 raging fever. 
 
 P. 41, line 8, By thy dread sword destruction to my race»— 
 This was. appealing in the strongest way to his compassion. 
 
 P. 42, line 2, The willing youth a yielding fair one charms* 
 — When Ajax, Ulysses, and Phcenix, go (in the 9th Iliad) 
 to persuade Achilles to return to the army, they find the 
 place of Briseis supplied by Diomede, and Patroclus attended 
 by Iphis. This was so much the fashion that even Nestor 
 had a mistress, Achilles therefore could not merely for this 
 
295 NOTES. 
 
 be justly accused of sacrificing his glory to ease or pleasure, 
 which might as well be objected to him while Briseis was 
 in his possession, as after he had resigned her: but jealousy 
 would not be well painted, if, in its complaints, it were made 
 to pay any regard to candour. But if Achilles was an incon- 
 stant, neither was he a tender lover, and his pride seems to 
 be more wounded than his passion for the lady, in the loss of 
 Briseis, who, at his reconciliation with Agamemnon, he 
 wishes had died in the ships that brought her from Lyrnessa, 
 rather than have given rise to his dispute with that prince, 
 the consequent loss of so many Grecians, and the triumph 
 ©f the Trojans. This is an imputation upon his gallantry, of 
 which the ingenuity of Mr. Pope in vain endeavours to acquit 
 him, by saying, that he only wished Diana had killed her, or 
 that she ought to have died before he had known or loved - 
 her. For after that intercourse had taken place, when the 
 speech was made, the case was very different ; and however 
 proper it might be in council, it certainly did not come well 
 from the mouth of a lover, upon the mention of a faithful, . 
 affectionate, and beautiful woman: neither was Briseis, but 
 Chryseis, the original subject of contention. A Woman how- 
 ever is the cause of the war between the Grecians and Tro- 
 jans. A woman also is the cause of the most important cir- 
 cumstances in the war. 
 
 P. 43, line 2, The Pelian spear, &c. — so called either from 
 a mountain in Thrace whence it was cut, or because it was 
 the weapon of Peleus, which no person could wield but him- 
 self and Achilles, and therefore was not assumed by Patro- 
 elus with the other arms of Achilles. 
 
 P. 44, line 2, Thou view in arms renown' d thy infant son. 
 — Pyrrhus the son of Achilles by Deidamia. 
 
 P. 44, line 15, Search' d by thy sword, that, had not Pallas 
 stay'd, 
 Low in the dust had great Strides lay'd. 
 When Achilles seizes his sword to kill Agamemnon (in the 
 
NOTES. 2#T 
 
 first book of Homer) Pallas descends and prevails upon him 
 to repress his fury. 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 PHAEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 P. 49, line 9 and 10, Thus wafted fly the secrets of the soul, 
 Though mountains rise, and seas opposing relt. 
 His arcana notis, caelo, pelagoque feruntur. 
 Perhaps this line of Ovid was in the mind of Mr. Pope 
 when he wrote : 
 
 Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, 
 And waft a sigh from Indus to the pole. 
 P. 50, line 6, Love bids me write what shame forbade to say, 
 Litera non erubescit. — Cicero to Lucceius. 
 
 A letter does not blush. 
 Vie virgin's wish without her fears impart, 
 Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart, 
 P. 50, line 8, Nor safe to spurn the power who Jove defies, 
 
 Quicquid amor jussit, non est contemnere tutum. 
 Thus in the Paris to Helen : 
 
 Namque ego divino monitu ne nescia pecces. 
 Evehor, &c. 
 
 P. 51, line 9, Love trains from tender years the practis*d 
 heart ; 
 Late when he points, with fury wings the dart. 
 Ovid is supposed to shew great knowledge of human na- 
 ture, in this description of the strength of a late passion in 
 love. 
 
*9S NOTES. 
 
 P. 53, line 5, Now like the priestess when the god prevails, 
 Of maddening Bacchus , or in Idas vales. 
 That sounds the Cymbals to Cybele dear. 
 The rites of Cybele were celebrated in the groves of Mount 
 Ida. They were similar to those of Bacchus, but performed 
 by men— -such men as Ovid here calls women : 
 
 Quaeque sub Idaeo tympana colle movent. 
 P. 53, line Q, The horned fawns or Dryads, — Dryads were 
 the nymphs of the woods, fawns and satyrs the gods of the 
 groves and. fields. They are described with horns on their 
 heads, and their lower parts like goats. Madness was be- 
 lieved to be the consequence of seeing them : our Dryads, 
 the fairies, are more harmless, whose visions are held to be 
 fortunate, as well as delightful. 
 
 P. 53, line 13, Our race's fate, perchance, I thus obey. 
 To Venus their devoted tribute pay. 
 
 Venus having been exposed to Vulcan her husband, in the 
 arms of Mars, by the sun, decreed in revenge that no woman, 
 who descended from him, should be chaste. Pasiphae, the 
 mother of Phaedra and Ariadne, was the daughter of Apollo. 
 
 P. 54, line 1, Thus with thy blood thy fires Europa blend. — 
 Europa, the daughter of Agenor, whom Jupiter the king of 
 Crete carried away from Phoenicia in a ship, whose ensign 
 was a bull, or the master of it called after that animal : the 
 story is beautifully told in the Metamorphoses books, fab. 13. 
 and finely introduced in the 18th Ode of the 3d book ©f 
 Horace. 
 
 P. 54, line 7, The loiving husband of the jealous herd, 
 With passion blind, Pasiphae preferred. 
 
 It is strange that Ovid should make Phaedra remind Hippo- 
 lytus, who was chastity itself, of the disgraceful passion of 
 her mother, and dwell with seeming pleasure upon so dis- 
 gusting a commerce — preserving these — Veneris monumenta 
 nefandae. He has done this more fully in the Art of Love ; 
 and Virgil both in his Eclogues and iEneid ; yet there is a 
 
notes. %99 
 
 charm in their language that hides, with exquisite fascina- 
 tion, what revolts us in our own. The translator would, if 
 he had dared, have omitted these lines : the stOf-y of them is 
 this : Pasiphae is said to have inclosed herself in* the wooden 
 form of a cow made by Daedalus, and thus gratified her 
 bestial appetite : for the credit however of humanity (at least) 
 this is contradicted ; and we learn that she had an amour 
 with a general or minister of her husband's, whose name was 
 Taurus — and that Dsedalus assisted her in the affair ; perhaps 
 exercised his ingenuity in contriving some secret bower for 
 the reception of the queen and her lover : one would think 
 that the fictions of poetry should rather soften than exagge- 
 rate the infirmities and vices of mankind ; but the marvel- 
 lous, especially in very early days, seems to have absorbed 
 the attention of the poet ; and in the pursuit of that delusive 
 object propriety and delicacy were neglected. 
 
 P. 54, line 12, /Egides. Theseus. 
 
 P.54,-linei3,T7zc maze of death, — Thelabyrinth, from which 
 Ariadne extricated him, by a thread that conducted him to the 
 termination of it; and supplied from her family another sub- 
 ject for the wrath of Venus. 
 
 Line 55, p. 10, What time Eleusis; — A city in the Athenian 
 territory so called from the arrival of Ceres : for Eleusis in 
 Greek signifies coming. She had a temple there in which 
 the Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated. 
 
 P. 55, line 13, White was thy role, and flowers adorned thy 
 head. 
 
 This probably was part of the dress of candidates for the 
 mysteries. 
 
 P. 56, line 5, Such arts by manly beauty should be scorn' d 9 
 Best by a manly negligence adorn* d. 
 
 The whole picture of Hippolytus is drawn with great force 
 and skill ; his incipient manhood at the time of his initiation 
 in the mysteries ; his ingenuous blushes ; his noble air ; his 
 dark and manly complexion (for so we may understand 
 
300 NOTES. 
 
 fiava or a;) the strength and grace of his person, and his agi- 
 lity in his sports and exercises — all likely to captivate an 
 amorous woman. 
 
 P. 5$, line 11, With raptures then upon thy form I gaze, 
 
 When the fierce steed thy skilful hand obeys. 
 It is ©bserved that Phaedra follows Hippolytus through all 
 his exercises, and admires him in all. 
 
 P. 57> line 13, Like thee in woods was Cephalus renown'd. 
 — This was a very proper example for Phaedra to cite, for he 
 at first resisted Aurora, who seduced him from his wife by 
 sending him in disguise to try her chastity, which was not 
 proof against so unfair an attack. 
 
 P. 58, line 5, Cinyra f s $em.— Adonis. Cinyra was king of 
 Cyprus. 
 
 P. 59, line 3, Trcezena, an Argive city, situated in the 
 Peloponese, to the east of the Isthmus of Corinth. 
 
 P. 59, line 5, Pirithous, the son of Ixion, with whom 
 Theseus descended into hell, to assist him in carrying off 
 Proserpine.: he was devoured by Cerberus. 
 
 P. 59, line 11, A murder' d&rother — the Minotaur. 
 
 P. 59> line 12, A sister left upon a desert shore — Ariadne. 
 
 P. 59, line 13, The first in valour of the armed fair'-' 
 Hippolyte. 
 
 P. 60, line 2, Know with his sword he pierc'd thy parent's side, 
 —Hippolyte was said, on the contrary, to have been killed, 
 by an Amazen, fighting by the side of Theseus. 
 
 P. 60, line 7, J brought thee brothers~-Demophoon and 
 Amphiloch us—or Acamantes — 
 
 But 'twas he who rear'd. 
 
 The cruelty of the ancients, in exposing their children, is 
 sufficiently proved by their history as well as poetry : but it 
 was usual for the tenderness of mothers to save the children 
 from being exposed ; whereas Phaedra professes to have been 
 
X0TE5. 301 
 
 desirous of sacrificing her own offspring to the interests of 
 Hippolytus, and her unnatural passion for her son in law 
 seems to resemble the ferocious ambition of Lady Macbeth— 
 I have given suck, and know 
 How tender 'tis to love the Babe that milks me ; 
 I would, while it was smiling in my face, 
 Have pluckt my nipple from his boneless gums, 
 
 And dasht the brains out 
 
 P. 60, line 15, Nor let vain scruples. — Ovid should not be 
 accused of justifying the commerce Phaedra wished to pro 
 cure with Hippolytus ; while he is describing the extravagant 
 passion of a furious and abandoned woman in her own words 
 and character. 
 
 P. 62, line 3, Praise shall attend thee to my chamber led, 
 
 Nor censure follow to a mo her's bed. 
 Tears and intreaties are here the last resource of Phaedra ; 
 but finding Hippolytus inexorable, like the wives of Prcetus 
 and Potiphar, she accused him to her husband of attempting 
 her chastity, by whose rash orders he was quartered by his 
 •own horses, and thrown into the sea. 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 (ENONE TO PARIS, 
 
 Page 67, line 4, Mytence— The country of Menelaus and 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 P. 72, line 4, My cares preserved thee. — Very fine use is 
 made of this thought by the Spectator, in a letter from a 
 mother to a son. Vol. IV. N° 263. 
 Do 
 
802 NOTES. 
 
 P. 74, line 4, A daughter wedded to a hundredth son* 
 Vkii Hecubam ce?itunujuc nurus. Virgil ii. 505. 
 Sad they beheld amid the mournful scene, 
 The hundred daughters to the mother queen. Pit. 
 Dryden calls them wives. 
 P. 75, line 6, The have Deiphobus shall own the truth; — 
 The mention of Deiphobus in this place is somewhat singu- 
 lar, considering that he was afterwards married to Helen, and 
 the unfortunate figure he makes in the sixth book of Virgil, 
 probably in the hand of every body when this epistle ap- 
 peared ; unless Ovid intended to insinuate bow fallible those 
 often prove, who are thought to be, and really are, most 
 capable of advising others. 
 
 Atque hie Priamiden laniatum corpore toto 
 Deiphobum vidit lacerum crudeliter ora, 
 Ora, manusque ambas, populataque tempora raptis 
 Auribus, et truncas inhonesto vulnere nares. 
 Vix adeo agnovit pavitantem, et dira tegentem 
 Supplicia; ***** 
 
 me fata mea et scelus exitiale Lacuna 
 
 His mersere malis: ilia haec monumenta reliquit. 
 Namque, ut supremam falsa inter gaudia noctcm 
 Egerimus. ***** 
 
 Turn me, confectumouris somnoque gravatum 
 Infelix habuit thalamus, pressitque jacentem 
 Dulcis et alta quies, placidseque similima morti : 
 Egregia interea conjunx arma omnia tectis 
 Emovet, et fidum capiti subduxerat ensem: 
 Intra tecta vocat Menelaum, et limina pandit. 
 Here Priam h son, Deiphobus, he found, 
 Whose face and limbs were one continued wound : 
 * Dishonest with lopp'd arms, the youth appears, 
 Spoil'd of his nose, and shorten'd of his ears. 
 
 * Dishonest here means disgraced, unseemly. 
 
NOTES. 303 
 
 fie scarcely knew him, striving to disown 
 His blotted form and blushing to be known. 
 
 " cruel fate, and my more cruel wife 
 
 } 
 
 To Grecian swords betray'd my sleeping life ; 
 These are the monuments of Helen's love, 
 The shame I bear below, the marks I bore above 
 You know in what deluding joys we past 
 That night, that was by heaven decreed our last^ 
 With watching overworn, with cares opprest, 
 Unhappy I had laid me down to rest, 
 And heavy sleep my weary limbs opprest ; 
 Meantime my worthy wife our arms mislaid, 
 And from beneath my head my sword convey'd, 
 The door unlatch'd, and, with repeated calls, 
 Invites her former lord within my wails." 
 
 The consequence is above described. 
 
 P. 76, line 1 1, Thus did thy frantic sister> — Cassandra, who 
 received the gift of prophecy from Apollo as the price of 
 favours which she refused to grant; the offended god, there- 
 fore, rendered useless the boon which he could not withdraw, 
 and she was doomed eternally to foretel events that were 
 really to happen, and never to be believed. 
 
 P. 77, line 1, Ah! why CEnone, &c— Whoever will not 
 allow that Ovid is frequently sublime, as well as witty, 
 spkite^, and tender, (in spite of Suada and his followers; 
 either does not comprehend, or is not disposed to do him jus- 
 tice : the original speech of Cassandra, besides the animated 
 expressions in which it is couched, has in it that mysterious 
 obscurity which is at once characteristic of the prophetic 
 style, and an acknowledged source of the sublime; the de- 
 scription also of her in the fury of inspiration, and of CEnone 
 listening, is extremely picturesque, though in few words, in 
 rhe original. 
 
JQ4 NOTES. 
 
 P. 79, line 1, He, from whose hands proud Ilion's bulwarks 
 rose, — Apollo. 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 DEIANIRA TO HERCULES. 
 
 Page 83, line l, While yields CEchalia's tyrant, &c. — There 
 were three CEchalias, one in Thessaly, one in Arcadia, and 
 another, here spoken of, in Euboea. Hercules laid siege to 
 it* because Eurytus had refused him his daughter Iole in. 
 marriage, who was the wife of his own son. 
 
 P. 83, line 9, Pleas' d may Eurystheus, and the Thunderer's 
 wife. 
 
 Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, was the instrument of Juno 
 in subjecting Hercules to the labours which he performed. 
 
 P. 84, line c i, Trebling, to give thee birth, the hours of night, 
 —The fable w T as, that Jupiter had extended the night which 
 he passed with Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, to three 
 times it's usual space — probably that he spent three days and 
 nights with her: an unusual favour of the Father of the Goda 
 and Men, who had so many engagements of this sort upon 
 his hands. 
 
 P. 84, line 13, The stars, when Atlas fail' d, Alcides lore.--' 
 Hercules is said to relieve Atlas from the burthen of the 
 heavens, because he succeeded to his fame in astrology, in 
 which he was instructed by Atlas. 
 
 P. 86, line 5, Me serpents, &c. —and dogs with triple jaws,&c. 
 —Alluding to the Hydra and Cerberus, whom Hercules drag- 
 ged from hell. 
 
NOTES. 305 
 
 P. 86, line 7, Me reeking entrails, &c. — The commenta- 
 tors refer this to the entrails consulted by her, and the nightly- 
 search of omens, (ominaque:J the translator has rendered it 
 (perhaps not truly) of the horror of dreams arising from 
 ruminating upon the deeds of Hercules employ'd in the de- 
 struction of beasts, whose entrails presented themselves to 
 the distracted imagination of his sleeping wife— as in the 
 Medea : 
 
 Ante ondos tauriqve meos y segetesque nefandcei 
 
 Ante meos oculos pervigil anguis erat. 
 The fiery bulls, the horrid harvests rise, 
 The sleepless dragon still before my eyes- 
 
 P. 87, line 7, Nor nymph Ormenian, oSfc. — Astydamia, 
 whom Hercules ravished, after having killed her father, who 
 had refused him his daughter in marriage, knowing that 
 Deianira was his wife. By Astydamia he had a son named 
 Ctesippus. 
 
 P. 87, line 9, That pictured throng, SFc. — This is understood 
 of the fifty daughters of Thespius the son of Erectheus, all 
 of whom Hercules was said to have ravished in the same 
 eight : fifty children sprung from the rape, who were called 
 Thespides. A picture representing this fable was preserved at 
 Teuthrantium, a town in Attica. 
 
 P. 87, line 12, The step dame now of Lydian Lamus made, 
 — By Omphale the queen of Lydia. 
 
 P. 88, line 1, M wander, a celebrated river dividing Lydia 
 from Caria^ so winding in its course, that it seemed to re- 
 volve into itself; a deception similar to that of the Symple- 
 gades mentioned in the Medea to Jason. The shifts of 
 crooked policy were by the ancients termed Mseande rings. 
 We use the word in a less figurative sense, and apply it to 
 the windings of streams, but chiefly in poetry. 
 
 P. 88, line 5, Nemcas plague.— The lion killed by Hercules 
 iiQ the Nemean forest. 
 
 D D 3 
 
30(> srOTES. 
 
 P. 88, line f, Those bristly locks the Lydian mitre bound.—* 
 The mltra was a covering worn by the Lydian women, and 
 their effeminate countrymen. 
 
 P. 88, line 8, Pale poplar — of which Hercules made him- 
 self a garland when he descended into hell to drag out Cer- 
 berus. The tree was, for that reason, sacred to him. 
 
 P. 88, line 11, The wretch his steeds ivith human Jiesh who 
 fed. 
 
 Diomed, a cruel tyrant in Thrace, who was said to feed his 
 horses with the flesh of travellers, or his guests. Hercules 
 slew and gave him for food to his own horses. Perhaps this 
 prince lavished the sums upon his horses, expended by others 
 in sumptuous entertainments. 
 
 P. 88, line VI, And fierce Busirig — a king of iEgypt who 
 sacrificed human victims to the Nile to procure the season- 
 able inundation, and was proceeding to seize Hercules as a 
 proper subject, but was slain by him in the attempt. A 
 story of his justice (the justice of tyrants who are pleased 
 when they can mingle it with cruelty) is very prettily told by 
 Ovid in the first book of the Art of Love : — 
 
 Dicitur iEgyptos caruisse juvantibus arva 
 Imbribus, atque annos sicca fuisse novem. 
 
 Cum Thrasius Busirin adit, monstratque piari 
 Hospitis effuso sanguine posse Jovem. 
 
 Ill i Busiris, fies Jovis hostia primus, 
 
 Inquit, et iEgypto, Tu dabis^ Hospes, aquam. 
 
 For nine whole years, on ^Egypt's sultry plains, 
 
 From heaven descended no refreshing rains ; 
 
 A Thracian guest Busiris hop'd to please, 
 
 And taught, a stranger's blood might Jove appease. 
 
 Thou then, the tyrant cries, the victim prove, 
 
 Give iEgypt rain, a stranger's blood to Jove! 
 
 P. 89, line 1, Reveng'd Antaus, figfr. — A giant the son of 
 Saith, or as some say of Neptune, who used to compel 
 
NOTES. 307 
 
 strangers to wrestle with him and destroy them. Hercules 
 overcame him by lifting him from his native soil, from 
 which, whenever he touched it, he received new strength : 
 probably some powerful and ambitious prince whose re- 
 sources from his own country Hercules cut off. 
 
 P. 89, line 7, A gentle pupil of the Ionian maid. — Omphale. 
 
 P, 90, line 4, The hoar that ravag'd the Arcadian lands. — 
 This monster was said to lay waste Arcadia, and was brought 
 to Tegea alive by Hercules, and presented to Eurystheus: 
 probably some robber whom Hercules made prisooer. 
 
 P. 90, line 10, The triple Geryon. — A king of Spain, or 
 ratber of the Gades, who was feigned by the poets to have 
 had three heads and three bodies — from the three islands 
 over which he reigned, his three sons and three armies. 
 
 P. 90, line 11, Fell Hydra's heads. — This serpent was re- 
 ported by some to have had seven heads, some furnished it 
 with ten, some with fifty, and others with a hundred; from 
 each of which, when struck off, two sprang up. But Her- 
 cules obviated this difficulty by directing Iolaus to apply fire 
 to the wound : perhaps some prince of great resources, which 
 Hercules cut off by sending his General to burn the enemy's 
 country. 
 
 P. 91, lin: 3, The amliguous breed of Centaurs, fife. — The 
 first men who were seen mounted upon horses ; and therefore 
 said to have the upper part of a man, and the lower of a 
 horse. 
 
 P. 91, line 6, Sidonian roZ'es.— Sidonia was famous for the 
 purple dye, and probably from that circumstance, for highly 
 ornamented dress. Thus we find Tyre and Sidon censured 
 for their luxury in Scripture. 
 
 P. 91, line 8, The nymph appears. — Omphale the daughter 
 of Iardanus. 
 
 P, 92, line 12, Black with Lernean poison — dipped in the 
 blood of the Hydra, 
 
30$ NOTES. 
 
 P. 94, line 11, Achelous mourns. — The son of the earth 
 and sea, or of Thetis, who endued him with the power of 
 assuming various shapes ; under that of a bull he lost one of 
 his horns contending with Hercules for Deianira, which horn 
 the nymphs preserved, and then filling it with the various 
 produce of the earth, it became the Cornucopia. In other 
 words, Hercules diverted one of the two branches of the 
 river, which fertilized the countries through which it flowed : 
 the story is very prettily told in the 9th book of the Meta- 
 morphoses : thus the Bicornis, and the Tauriformis Aufidus. 
 Rivers are also called bulls from the sound of their waters. 
 Vide Homer on the Scamander in c . 
 
 P. 94, line 14, Evenus — a river in yEtolia. 
 
 P. gfi, line l, The usurper Agrius.— The brother of CEneus 
 the father of Deianira* 
 
 P. 90, line 3, My hrother Tydeits — who having killed his 
 father or uncle fled to Adrastus, king of Argos, whose daugh- 
 ter he afterwards married, 
 
 P. 96, line 5, Another (brother) &c. — Meleager, whose life 
 depending upon a certain piece of wood, his mother Althaea, 
 enraged with him for killing her brothers, threw it into the 
 fire. Probably some rebellion excited by her, who, as well as 
 her brothers, disapproved of his marriage with Atalanta, tb 
 whom he presented the head of the boar. 
 
 P. 96, line 7, That mother. — Althaea, who, in despair for 
 the death of her son, slew herself with a sword, or as Dio- 
 slorus says, applied the noose to her neck. 
 
NOTES. 309 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 MEDEA TO JASON. 
 
 Page 105, line 5, Creusa — daughter of Creon king of 
 Corinth. 
 
 P. 106, line 5, SJie hop'd my aid her children might receive, 
 — Chalciope, the sister of Medea, had four sons in the expe- 
 dition with Jason. 
 
 P. 107, line 6, Thy grandsire's orl,— iEeta, the father of 
 Medea, was the son of Apollo. 
 
 P. 107, line 7, Triple Dian.— Luna in the heavens, Diana 
 upon the earth, and "Proserpina in the infernal regions : she is 
 represented also with three heads, of a man, a horse, and 3 
 «tog. 
 
 P. 109, line 6, The Isthmus — of Corinth. 
 
 P. 109, line 9j Medicin'd the monster 1 s flaming eyes to sleep» 
 
 nor poppy, nor mandragora, 
 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world 
 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep, 
 "Which thou ow'd'st yesterday. Othello. 
 Johnson says the verb medicine is obsolete. 
 P. 110, line 3, ' My brother, O my brother J' Douglas. 
 Absyrtus, the brother of Medea, whom she was said to 
 have cut to pieces, and to have scattered his limbs in the way 
 of her father, and thus retarded his pursuit ; the grief of the 
 father might render him incapable of pursuing the murderers 
 of his son. 
 
 P. 110, line 13, O had the sister rocks conspired to join,— • 
 Symplegades— Two rocks in the Thracian Bosphorus, or 
 
310 NOTES, 
 
 Tather in the mouth of the Euxine, so close to each other 
 that, seen at a distance, they appear to join, and were fabled 
 by the poets to open and close. 
 
 P. ill, line 7, What boots it now of Peiias 9 fate to tell. — 
 Medea is said to have persuaded the daughters of Peiias that 
 they might restore him to youth as she had done /Eson, the 
 father of Jason, provided they would discharge the old blood 
 from his veins with the knife, and infuse that taken from 
 some young and healthy subject. This was probably an opera- 
 tion recommended by Medea, and ill performed by the daugh~ 
 ters of Peiias. Dr. Darwin supposed the restoring iEetes to 
 youth by boiling him, to have meant the use of the warm 
 bath. 
 
 P. 114, line 13, * To me no day shall e'er seem sweet or fair* 
 
 Hardyknute. 
 
 P. UJ, line 14, Boast now Sisyphian wealth with this com» 
 pared* 
 
 Creon was the son of Sisyphus. 
 
 P. 118, line 3, Live on: but wherefore should my tongue 
 impart 
 The deep revenge I treasure in my heart f 
 
 Quos ego: sed motos praestat componere fluctus. JEneid. I. 
 139. 
 
 No, you unnatural hags, 
 
 I will have such revenges on you both, 
 
 That all the world shall 1 will do such things, 
 
 What they are, yet I know not ; but they shall be 
 
 The terrors of the world. Lear. 
 
 Medea being banished from Corinth by Creon, requested 
 to remain there one day, which was granted ; and in return, 
 she sent, as a present to his daughter, the wife of Jason, a 
 robe and a crown of gold, which that princess put on, and 
 died in conseqirtnee ; Creon perished also, in the infectious 
 embraces of his daughter. Medea, after murdering her two 
 children, fled to Athens, drawn by dragons in a chariot given 
 
NOTES. 311 
 
 to her by the sun; there she married Mgcus, the son of Pan- 
 dion. Argument of the Medea ofEuripede*. Stephens's Edit. 
 Sit Medea ferox invictaque: a character certainly well pre- 
 served and highly wrought by Ovid. 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 
 
 Page 124, line 2, spear. — The Thyrsus, a staff or spear 
 covered with vine leaves, which was said to inspire with 
 madness those touched by it. 
 
 P. 124, line 4, Thy royal robes Laodamia wear. — It is im- 
 possible not to smile at this assembly of the ladies of the 
 court, the result of their grave deliberations, and the solemn 
 display (as we may suppose) of finery, the panacea for the 
 griefs of ordinary female minds, so spiritedly rejected by the 
 original Laodamia, that voluptuous but faithful princess. 
 
 P. 125, line 11, Gaudy with gold he shone. — It is some- 
 where remarked that Paris came very properly equipped to 
 win the heart of the lady. 
 
 P. 127, line 10, He is not formd the naked sword to wield, 
 Or face opposing heroes in the field. 
 
 There is no foundation in Homer for making Protesilaus 
 this unwarlike character; on the contrary, being the first 
 man who landed, and falling in consequence, he is intitled 
 to a place amongst the most distinguished heroes of the Iliad; 
 the tenderness and the passion of Laodamia only can excuse 
 this. 
 
 P. 130, line 9, What joy to listen to thy valiant deeds. — 
 Laodamia, after having laboured to make her husband avoid 
 
312 NOTES, 
 
 danger, is still desirous of sharing his glory, and heating him 
 recount his valiant deeds: so fond are women of bravery in 
 men, even where their fears are most interested. 
 
 P. 131, line 5, To his own city Neptune Lars the road,— 
 Neptune and Apollo built the walls of Troy. 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 PARIS TO HELEN. 
 
 Page 138, line 14, Thee to my arms from Cither ea c?m£.— 
 Venus so called from the Island Cytheris, situated between 
 Crete and the Peloponese. Islands are certainly famous for 
 the production of beauty, as the Grecian islands— the British 
 islands, &c. 
 
 P. 145, line 6, The nymphs and Dryads — a reference to 
 CEnone — Vid. her Ep. to Paris. 
 
 P. 146, line 5, Gargaras heights, — Gargara, a town and 
 district of the Troas upon the summit of Mount Ida, famous 
 also for its fertility. 
 
 P. 149, line 9, For who unmov'd y &c. — To describe Helen 
 as exercising naked with naked men in the Palaestra, seems 
 to be an anachronism, or at least an anticipation that would 
 hardly be tolerated in our days — but Ovid (if these four lines 
 be not an interpolation, for the sense would proceed very 
 well if they were excluded) is justified by Euripides, who 
 makes Peleus in the Andromache reproach Menelaus with 
 this circumstance: Vid. Varior. ed. and the references; per- 
 haps Ovid could not resist the picture of Helen so displayed. 
 From the opposition Lycurgus found, it is not likely that he 
 jnfy regulated what was before established. Unless there be 
 
SOTES. 3\$ 
 
 learned authority to the contrary, with which the translator 
 confesses himself unacquainted, he hopes he shall not be 
 censured for the presumption of this note. 
 
 P. 151, line 8, From Pleias, I, &V.— Electra the daughter of 
 Atlas, one of the seven Pleiades, and the mother of Darda- 
 nus by Jupiter. 
 
 P. 152, line 3, Proud Ilion's towery walls — built by Nep- 
 tune and Apollo. The stones were said to have moved into 
 their proper places to the Lyre of Apollo ; a fable expressive 
 perhaps of the harmony that subsisted between the two 
 deities, or of the order and ability with which the undertaking 
 was conducted. 
 
 P. 153, line 9, A Phrygian mingles, &c. — Ganymede. 
 
 P. 153, line 11, Aurora* s husband. — Tithon the son of Lao- 
 medon, and the brother of Priam. 
 
 P. 154, line 1, Anchises — the son of Capys, and the father 
 of iEneas. 
 
 P. 154, line 5, With me I bring no stepsire'sfoul disgrace. — 
 As Menelaus does, whose father Atreus to revenge the viola- 
 tion of his bed, served up the children of his brother Thyestes 
 to their father in a banquet — from which the sun is said to 
 have shrunk with horror. 
 
 P. 154, line 9, Nor slew my sire the father of his bride. 
 
 As Pelops did (Enomaus, that he might get possession of his 
 daughter Hippodamia. 
 
 P. 154, line 10, Nor with his crimes tK JEgean waters dyd, 
 —The iEgean sea called also the Myrtoan sea, from Myrtilus 
 the charioteer of GEnomaus, whom Pelops was said to have 
 drowned in it, adding ingratitude to cruelty, for he had con- 
 quered GEnomaus in the race by the assistance of this 
 Myrtilus. 
 
 P. 1 54, line 11, The tortured culprit— Tantalus. 
 
 P. 159, line 1, As swift Hippomenes outran the maid. 
 
 Hippomenes the son of Macareus, or Megareus, who over- 
 Ee 
 
314 NOTES. 
 
 came Atalanta in the race, by the assistance of Venus : the 
 goddess supplied him with three golden apples from the gar- 
 dens of the Hesperides, which he threw in her way. Charmed 
 with their beauty she stopped to take them up, and he passed 
 and won her. Vid. Metam. loth book. 
 
 P. 159, line 2, The Phrygian's skill Hippodamia paid.— 
 The Phrygian, Pelops, who conquered her father CEnomaus 
 in the chariot race. 
 
 P. 160, line 8, Best might he whisper' d in the silent night. — 
 This is a very modest proposal in the original. 
 
 Excipe me lecto, nocte silente, tuo. 
 
 P. 160, line 13, Beauty and modesty are mortal foes.~- 
 Ovid should not be too severely censured for this sentiment ; 
 it is put into the mouth of a seducer : " Those whom she 
 makes fair she scarce makes honest, and those whom she 
 makes honest she scarce makes fair." Yet Shakspeare's beau- 
 tiful women are almost all exemplary for their virtue. Nothing 
 is more false than that beautiful women are not equally chaste 
 with those who are less pleasing : they are indeed more ex- 
 posed, but beauty and innocence are naturally friends not 
 foes, though too often unfortunately separated : this is finely- 
 treated by Milton in his Comus. 
 
 P. 163, line 12, That crime with me thy heaven-born brothers 
 shar'd. 
 
 Castor and Pollux, the sons of Leda by Jupiter. 
 
 P. 163, line 14, They his twin daughters from Leucippus 
 tore. 
 
 Phoebe and Elaira. Vid. Fasti 5th book. 
 
NOTES* 315 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF 
 HELEN TO PARIS. 
 
 *** This epistle is by many supposed not to be the work 
 of Ovid but of Sabinus. The translator on the contrary 
 thinks it more likely to belong to Ovid than to his imitator. 
 In the first place to him it appears to be a superior composi- 
 tion to the former : he doubts if any of the epistles given to 
 men be really from the hand of Ovid. They have generally 
 that inferiority which marks a subject too far extended. The 
 circumstances in the first epistle seem rather to be fished out 
 of the answer, than those in the letter of Helen to arise out 
 of that of her lover. People of genius seldom give the pro 
 and the con. Thus Pope wrote the Eloisa to Abelard, but 
 left the Abelard to Eloisa to some future imitator of that ex- 
 quisite poem. It is in the way of Ovid to search into the 
 hearts of women, and he is proud of developing their weak- 
 cesses ; their little arts to conceal, their delicacy in betraying, 
 and their heedless violence in gratifying their passions : it 
 would little flatter his vanity to give an intriguing letter from 
 the adulterer to his mistress, the contents of which every fop 
 in Rome might anticipate ; but the artifice and treachery of 
 Helen, the unfolding her intentions, and the steps she took 
 to fulfil them, afforded a subject tempting to his wit, and 
 proper to produce the knowledge, he intended to display, Of 
 female character. The whole epistle appears to the translator 
 to be written with a view to render Helen ridiculous, and 
 yet without offending against the delicacy, with which, it is 
 well observed, Homer has treated that celebrated lady. Far be 
 it from the present interpreter, like his predecessors, to impute 
 the artifices of Helen to her sex in general ; but those of a 
 woman of intrigue are here, certainly, admirably illustrated. 
 
 £E2 
 
SiS NOTES. 
 
 P. 173, line 7, The fruit of all his toil, 
 
 A few fore' d kisses all his boasted spoil. 
 The scandalous chronicle of some commentators records, 
 however, Iphigenia as the daughter of Helen by Theseus. 
 
 P. 175, line 5, Tyndarus— was the husband of Leda the 
 mother of Helen. 
 
 P. 176, line 4, The Greeks your fertile Phrygia barbarous 
 deem. 
 
 Whether foreigners and every thing foreign were called bar- 
 barous by the Greeks in the time of Homer, is a question which 
 the translator does wot presume to discuss : it seems probable at 
 least, that they were not noted by that contemptuous appellation 
 before theTrojan war. Homer's ear had perhaps been wounded 
 by the language of the Carians, but his calling themonly barbar- 
 ous of ' speech y seems to weaken, rather than to confirm, the proof 
 of the universality of the reproach, even in his days ; for had 
 it obtained he would probably have introduced it in more than 
 one place, and applied it to the Trojans and their auxiliaries, 
 from the mouth of some of the Grecian heroes. Vid. Iliad, 
 B. line 867, and the note in Clarke, and Pope's Homer at the 
 close of the second book of the Iliad. 
 
 ■ the Carian throngs, 
 
 With mingled clamors, and with barbarous tongues. 
 
 P. 181, line 7> My absent husband leaves my unguarded side. 
 — This has been held to be a good plea even by the severest 
 judges. 
 
 P. 18'2, line 1, Nor think rash youth by force to conquer 
 fear. 
 
 It was deemed more delicate to make the lady invite (in the 
 spirit of the rest of the epistle) by forbidding, than by recom- 
 mending, violence—this important question is well treated in 
 the first book De arte amandi. 
 
 P. 182, line 10, Spreads his light wings, and in a moment 
 Jlies. 
 
 The translator hopes to be excused for makiog free with 
 
NOTES. 317 
 
 this line of Pope, who seems to have had the original in his 
 eye. 
 
 P. 182, line 12, Hypsipyle— the daughter of Thoas. Sh> 
 was queen of Lemnos, whom Jason forsook, after living two 
 years with her. Vid. the epistle from her to Jason. 
 
 P. 186, line l and 2, JEetes the father, Chalciqpe the sister, 
 Ipsea the mother of Medea» 
 
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