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Still arbitrary power on thrones commands,
Still liberty is gall'd by tyrants bands,
And fwords in vain are trufted 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 slave,
And thy foft flumbers only bless the brave.

Nor war's pernicious God less havock yields,

Where fwarthy Libya spreads her fun-burnt fie ds.
For Curio now the ftretching 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 diftant feas he fpies;
Where Bagrada's dull waves the fands divide,
And flowly downward roll their fluggish tide.
From thence he feeks 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.
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,

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What from their fires they heard, and how the cafe 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 erft the bore,
In none the fruitful beldame glory'd more:

Happy

Happy for those above fhe brought him not,
Till after Phlegra's doubtful field was fought.
That this, her darling, might in force excel,
A gift fhe gave: whene'er to earth he fell,
Recruited strength he from his parent drew,
And every flackening nerve was strung anew.
Yon cave his den he made; where oft for food,
• He fnatch'd the mother lion's horrid brood.
Nor leaves, nor fhaggy hides, his couch prepar'd,
Torn from the tiger, or the spotted pard;
But ftretch'd along the naked earth he lies:
New vigour ftill the native earth fupplies.
Whate'er he meets, his ruthlefs hands invade,
Strong in himself, without his mother's aid.
The frangers that unknowing feek the fhore,
Soon a worse shipwreck on the land deplore.
Dreadful to all, with matchlefs might he reigns,
Robs, fpoils, and maflacres the fimple fwains,
And all unpeopled lie the Libyan plains.
At length, around the trembling nations spread,
Fame of the tyrant to Alcides fled.

The Godlike Hero, born, by Jove's decree,
To fet the feas, and earth, from monfters free;
Hither in generous pity bent his course,
And fet himself to prove the giant's force.

Now met, the combatants for fight provide,
And either doffs the lion's yellow hide.
Bright in Olympic oil Alcides fhone,
Antæus with his mother's duft is ftrown,
And feeks her friendly force to aid his own,

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Now feizing fierce their grasping hands they mix,
And labour on the fwelling throat to fix;

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Their finewy arms are writh'd in many a fold,
And, front to front, they threaten stern and bold.
Unmatch'd before, each bends a fullen frown,
To find a force thus equal to his own.
At length the godlike victor Greek prevail'd,
Nor yet the foe with all his force affail'd.
Faint dropping fweats bedew the monster's brows,
And panting thick with heaving sides he blows;
His trembling head the flackening nerves confefs'd,
And from the hero fhrunk his yielding breast.
The conqueror purfues, his arms entwine,
Infolding gripe, and ftrain his crashing chine,
While his broad knee bears forceful on his groin.
At once his faltering feet from earth he rends,
And on the fands his mighty length extends.
The parent earth her vanquish'd fon deplores,
And with a touch his vigour loft restores :
From his faint limbs the clammy dews the drains,
And with fresh streams recruits his ebbing veins;
The muscles (well, the hardening finews rise,
And bursting from th' Herculean grasp he flies.
Astonish'd at the fight Alcides stood :
Nor more he wonder'd, when in Lerna's flood
The dreadful fnake her falling heads renew'd.
Of all his various labours, none was feen
With equal joy by heaven's unrighteous queen;
Pleas'd the beheld, what toil, what pains he prov'd,
He who had borne the weight of heaven unmov'd.

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Sudden

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'Sudden again upon the foe he flew,
The falling foe to earth for aid withdrew;
The earth again her fainting fon fupplies,
And with redoubled forces bids him rife:
Her vital powers to fuccour him the fends,
And earth herfelf with Hercules contends.
'Confcious at length of fuch unequal fight,
And that the parent touch renew'd his might,
No longer halt thou fall, Alcides cry'd,
Henceforth the combat standing shall be try'd;
If thou wilt lean, to me alone incline,
And rest upon no other breaft but mine.
He faid; and as he faw the monfter stoop,
With mighty arms aloft he rears him up:
No more the diftant earth her fon fupplies,
Lock'd in the hero's ftrong embrace he lies;
Nor thence difmifs'd, nor trufted to the ground, 1065
Till death in every frozen limb was found.
Thus, fond of tales, our ancestors of old
The story to their childrens children told;
From thence a title to the land they gave,
And call'd this hollow rock Anteus' cave.
But greater deeds this rifing mountain grace,
And Scipio's name ennobles much the place;
While, fixing here his famous camp, he calls
Fierce Hannibal from Rome's devoted walls.
As yet the mouldering works remain in view,
Where dreadful once the Latian eagles flew.
Fond of the profperous victorious name,
And trusting fortune would be still the fame,

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Hither

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Hither his hapless enfigns Curio leads,
And here his unaufpicious camp he spreads.

A fierce fuperior foe his arms provoke,

And rob the hills of all their ancient luck.

O'er all the Roman powers in Libya's land,
Then Atius Varus bore fupreme command;
Nor trufting in the Latian ftrength alone,
With foreign force he fortify'd his own;
Summon'd the fwarthy monarchs all from far,
And call'd remotest Juba forth to war.

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O'er many a country runs his wide command,
To Atlas huge, and Gades' western strand;
From thence to horned Ammon's fane renown'd,
And the wafte Syrts unhospitable bound:
Southward as far he reigns, and rules alone
The fultry regions of the burning zone.
With him, unnumber'd nations march along,
Th' Autololes with wild Numidians throng
The rough Getulian, with his ruder steed;
The Moor, refembling India's fwarthy breed;
Poor Nafamons, and Garamantines join'd,

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With fwift Marmaridans that match'd the wind; 1100
The Mazax, bred the trembling dart to throw,
Sure as the shaft that leaves the Parthian bow;
With thefe Maffylia's nimble horfemen ride,
They, not the bit, nor curbing rein provide,
But with light rods the well-taught courfer guide.
From lonely cots the Libyan hunters came,
Who ftill unarm'd invade the favage game,
And with spread mantles tawny lions tame.

But

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