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On every verdant leaf the hungry feed,

And fnatch the forage from the fainting steed;
Then ravenous on their camp's defence they fall, 690
And grind with greedy jaws the turfy wall.
Near on the neighbouring coaft at length they spy,
Where Bafilus with focial fails draws nigh;
While, led by Dolabella's bold command,
Their Cæfar's legions fpread th' Illyrian ftrand: 695
Straight with new hopes their hearts recovering beat,
Aim to elude the foe, and meditate retreat.
Of wondrous form a vast machine they build,
New, and unknown upon the floating field.
Here, nor the keel its crooked length extends,
Nor o'er the waves the rifing deck afcends
Is;
By beams and grappling chains compacted strong,
Light fkiffs, and casks, two equal rows prolong:
O'er thefe, of folid oak fecurely made,

Stable and tight a flooring firm is laid ;

Sublime, from hence, two planky towers run high,
And nodding battlements the foe defy.
Securely plac'd, each rifing range between,
The lufty rower plies his tafk unseen.
Mean-while nor oars upon the fides appear,
Nor fwelling fails receive the driving air :
But living feems the mighty mafs to sweep,
And glide felf-mov'd athwart the yielding deep.
Three wondrous floats, of this enormous fize,
Soon by the skilful builder's craft arise;
The ready warriors all aboard them ride,
And wait the turn of the retiring tide,

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Backward

Backward at length revolving Tethys flows,

And ebbing waves the naked fands disclose :

Straight by the ftream the lanching piles are borne 720Shields, fpears, and helms, their nodding towers adorn; Threatening they move in terrible array,

And to the deeper ocean bend their way.

Octavius now, whofe naval powers command
Adria's rude feas, and wide Illyria's strand,
Full in their course his fleet advancing stays,
And each impatient combatant delays:
To the blue offing wide he seems to bear,
Hopeful to draw th' unwary vessels near;
Aloof he rounds them, eager on his prey,
And tempts them with an open roomy sea.
Thus when the wily huntsman spreads his nets,
And with his ambient toil the woods befets;
While yet his busy hands, with skilful care,

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The meshy hayes and forky props prepare ;,

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Ere yet the deer the painted plumage spy,

Snuff the ftrong odour from afar, and fly;

His mates, the Cretan hound and Spartan bind,

And muzzle all the loud Moloffian kind;

The quefter only to the wood they loose,

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Who filently the tainted track pursues:

Mute figns alone the confcious haunt betray,

While fix'd he points, and trembles to the prey. 'Twas at the feafon when the fainting light,

Juft in the evening's clofe, brought on the night: 745 When the tall towery floats their ifle forfook,

And to the fea their course, adventurous, took.

But

But now the fam'd Sicilian pirates, skill'd
In arts and warfare of the liquid fieid,
Their wonted wiles and ftratagems provide,
To aid their great acknowledg'd victor's fide.
Beneath the glafly furface of the main,

From rock to rock they ftretch a ponderous chain;
Loosely the flacker links suspended flow,
Tenwrap the driving fabrics as they go.
Urg'd from within, and wafted by the tide,
Smooth o'er the boom the first and fecond glide; -
The third the guileful latent chain enfolds,

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And in his steely grafp entwining holds:
From the tall rocks the fhouting victors roar,
And drag the refty captive to the shore.

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For ages paft an ancient cliff there stood,

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Whose bending brow hung threatening o'er the flood:
A verdant grove was on the fummit, plac'd,
And o'er the waves a gloomy shadow cast;
While near the bafe wild hollows fink below,
There roll huge feas, and bellowing tempefts blow:
Thither whate'er the greedy waters drown,
The fhipwreck, and the driving corpfe, are thrown:
Anon the gaping gulph the spoil restores,

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And from his lowest depths loud-fpouting pours.
Not rude Charybdis roars in sounds like these,
When thundering, with a burst, she spews the foamy feas..
Hither, with warlike Opitergians fraught,

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The third ill-fated prifoner float was brought;

The foe, as at a fignal, fpeed their way,

And hafte to compafs in the deftin'd prey;

The

The croudidg fails from every station press,
While armed bands the rocks and shores poffefs.
Too late the chief, Vulteius, found the fnare,
And ftrove to burft the toil with fruitless care:
Driv'n by despair at length, nor thinking yet
Which way to fight, or whither to retreat,
He turns upon the foe; and though distrest,
By wiles intangled, and by crouds oppreft,
With fcarce a fingle cohort to his aid,
Against the gathering host a stand he made.
Fierce was the combat fought, with flaughter great,
Though thus an odds unequally they meet,
One with a thousand match'd, a fhip against a fleet.
But foon on dufky wings arofe the night,
And with her friendly fhade restrains the fight;
The combatants from war confenting cease,
And pafs the hours of darkness o'er in peace.

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When to the foldier, anxious for his fate,
And doubtful what fuccefs the dawn might wait,
The brave Vulteius thus his fpeech addrest,
And thus compos'd the cares of every beating breast.

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My gallant friends! whom our hard fates decree,
This night, this short night only, to be free;
Think what remains to do, but think with haste,
Ere the brief hour of liberty be past.
Perhaps, reduc'd to this so hard extreme,

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Too fhort, to fome, the date of life may seem;
Yet know, brave youths, that none untimely fall,
Whom death obeys, and comes but when they call.

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"Tis true, the neighbouring danger waits us nigh;
We meet but that from which we cannot fly;
Yet think not but with equal praise we die.
Dark and uncertain is man's future doom,
If years, or only moments, are to come ;
All is but dying; he who gives an hour,
Or he who gives an age,gives all that 's in his power.
Sooner, or late, all mortals know the grave,
But to choose death distinguishes the brave.
Behold where, waiting round, yon hoftile band,
Our fellow-citizens, our lives demand.

Prevent we then their cruel hands, and bleed;
'Tis but to do what is too fure decreed,
And where our fate would drag us on, to lead.
A great confpicuous flaughter fhall we yield,
Nor lie the carnage of a common field;

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Where one ignoble heap confounds the slain,

And men, and beafts, promiscuous ftrow the plain.
Plac'd on this float by some diviner hand,
As on a stage, for public view we stand,
Illyria's neighbouring fhores, her ifles around,
And every cliff, with gazers fhall be crown'd;
The feas, and earth, our virtue shall proclaim,
And ftand eternal vouchers for our fame;

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Alike the foes and fellows of our cause,
Shall mark the deed, and join in vast applause.
Bleft be thou, fortune, that has mark'd us forth,
A monument of unexampled worth;

To latest times our story shall be told,

Ev'n rais'd beyond the nobleft names of old.

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Diftinguish'd

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