Distinguish'd praise fhall crown our daring youth,
Our pious honour, and unfhaken truth.
Mean is our offering, Cæfar, we confess;
For fuch a chief, what foldier can do less?
Yet oh! this faithful pledge of love receive!
Take it, 'tis all that captives have to give.
Oh! that, to make the victim yet more dear,
Our aged fires, our children had been here:
Then with full horrour fhould the flaughter rife,
And blaft our paler foes' astonish'd eyes ;
Till, aw'd beneath that fcorn of death we wear,
They bless the time our fellows 'fcap'd their fnare:
Till with mean tears our fate the cowards mourn,
And tremble at the rage with which we burn.
Perhaps they mean our conftant fouls to try,
Whether for life and peace we may comply.
Oh! grant, ye gods! their offers may

be great,

That we may gloriously disdain to treat,
That this laft proof of virtue we may give,

840

845

850

855

And shew we die not now, because we could not live.
That valour to no common heights must rise,
Which he, our god-like chief himself, shall prize.
Immortal fhall our truth for ever ftand,
If Cæfar thinks this little faithful band
A lofs, amidst the host of his command.
For me, my friends, my fix'd refolve is ta'en,
And fate, or chance, may proffer life in vain;
I fcorn whatever fafety they provide,

And caft the worthlefs trifling thought aside.
The facred rage of death devours me whole,
Reigns in my heart, and triumphs in my foul:

}

865

I fee, I reach the period of my woe,
And taste thofe joys the dying only know.
Wifely the gods conceal the wondrous good,
-Left man no longer fhould endure his load;
Left every wretch like me from life should fly,
Seize his own happiness himself, and die.

870

875

880

He spoke. The band his potent tongue confest,
And generous ardour burn'd in every breaft.
No longer now they view, with watery eyes,
The swift revolving circle of the skies ;
No longer think the setting stars in haste,
Nor wonder flow Böotes moves fo faft;
But with high hearts exulting all, and gay,
They wish for light, and call the tardy day.
Yet, nor the heavenly axis long delays,
To roll the radiant figns beneath the feas;
In Leda's twins now rofe the warmer fun,
And near the lofty Crab exalted shone;
Swiftly night's fhorter fhades began to move,
And to the weft Theffalian Chiron drove.
At length the morning's purple beams difclofe
The wide horizon cover'd round with foes;
Each rock and fhore the crouding Iftrians keep,
While Greeks, and fierce Liburnians spread the deep :

When yet, ere fury lets the battle loose,

Octavius wooes them with the terms of truce.
If haply Pompey's chains they choose to wear,
And captive life to inftant death prefer.
But the brave youth, regardless of his might,
Fierce in the scorn of life, and hating light,

885

890

895

Fearless,

900

905

Fearlefs, and carelefs of whate'er may come,
Refolv'd, and felf-determin'd to their doom;
Alike disdain the threatening of the war,
And all the flattering wiles their foes prepare.
Calmly the numerous legions round they view,
At once by land and fea the fight renew;
Relief, or friends, or aid, expect they none,
But fix one certain truth in death alone.
In oppofition firm awhile they ftood,
But foon were fatisfy'd with hoftile blood.
Then turning from the foe, with gallant pride,
Is there a generous youth (Vulteius cry'd)
Whose worthy fword may pierce your leader's fide?
He faid; and at the word, from every part,
A hundred pointed weapons reach'd his heart;
Dying he prais'd them all, but him the chief,
Whose eager duty brought the first relief :
Deep in his breast he plung'd his deadly blade,
And with a grateful ftroke the friendly gift repay'd.
At once all rufh, at once to death they fly,
And on each other's fword alternate die,
Greedy to make the mischief all their own,
And arrogate the guilt of war alone.

A fate like this did Cadmus' harveft prove,
When mortally the earth-born brethren ftrove;
When, by each other's hands of life bereft,
An omen diré to future Thebes they left.

915

920

Such was the rage inspir'd the Colchian foes,
When from the dragon's wondrous teeth they rofe;

925

When

When urg'd by charms, and magic's myftic power,
They dy'd their native field with ftreaming gore;
Till ev'n the fell enchantrefs ftood dismay'd,
And wonder'd at the mischiefs which she made.
Furies more fierce the dying Romans feel,
And with brave breafts provoke the lingering steel;
With fond embraces catch the deadly darts,
And prefs them plunging to their panting hearts.
No wound imperfect, for a fecond calls;
With certain aim the fure deftruction falls.
This laft beft gift, this one unerring blow,
Sires, fons, and brothers, mutually bestow;
Nor piety, nor fond remorse prevail,

And if they fear, they only fear to fail.

Here with red streams the blushing waves they stain,
Here dafh their mangled entrails in the main.
Here with a last disdain they view the skies,
Shut out heaven's hated light with fcornful eyes,
And, with insulting joy, the victor foe despise.
At length the heapy flaughter rofe on high,
The hostile chiefs the purple pile defcry;
And while the laft accuftom'd rites they give,
Scarcely the unexampled deed believe :
Much they admire a faith by death approv'd,

930

935

940

}

950

And wonder lawless power could e'er be thus belov'd. Wide through mankind eternal fame displays

This harpy crew, this fingle veffel's praise.
But, oh the story of the godlike rage

Is loft, upon a vile, degenerate age;

The bafe, the flavish world will not be taught,

With how much eafe their freedom may be bought.

955

Still arbitrary power on thrones commands,
Still liberty is gall'd by tyrants bands,
And fwords in vain are trusted to our hands.
-Oh! death thou pleasing end of human woe,
Thou cure for life, thou greatest good below;
Still may'ft thou fly the coward and the flave,
And thy foft flumbers only blefs the brave.

Nor war's pernicious God lefs havock yields,
Where fwarthy Libya spreads her fun-burnt fie ds.
For Curio now the stretching canvas spread,
And from Sicilian fhores his navy led;
To Afric's coaft he cuts the foamy way,
"Where low the once victorious Carthage lay.
There landing to the well-known camp he hies,
Where from afar the distant seas he fpies;
Where Bagrada's dull waves the fands divide,
And slowly downward roll their fluggish tide.
From thence he seeks the heights renown'd by fame,
And hallow'd by the great Cornelian name :
The rocks and hills which long, traditions fay,
Were held by huge Antæus' horrid sway.

961

965

970

976

980

Here, as, by chance, he lights upon the place,
Curious he tries the reverend tale to trace.
When thus, in short, the ruder Libyans tell, .
What from their fires they heard, and how the case befel.
The teeming earth, for ever fresh and young,
Yet, after many a giant fon, was strong;
When labouring, here, with the prodigious birth, 985
She brought her youngest-born Antæus forth.
Of all the dreadful brood which erst she bore,
In none the fruitful beldame glory'd more:

Happy