Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

The God obeys, and to his Feet applies

Those golden Wings that cut the yielding Skies;
His ample Hat his beamy Locks o'erfpread,

And veil'd the Starry Glories of his Head:
He feiz'd his Wand that caufes Sleep to fly,
Or in foft Slumbers feals the wakeful Eye;
That drives the Dead to dark Tartarean Coasts,
Or back to Life compells the wondring Ghosts.
Thus, thro' the parting Clouds the Son of May
Wings on the whistling Winds his rapid way,
Now fmoothly steers through Air his equal Flight,
Now fprings aloft, and tow'rs th' Ethereal Height,
Then wheeling down the Steep of Heav'n he flies,
And draws a radiant Circle o'er the Skies.

Mean time the banish'd Polynices roves (His Thebes abandon'd) thro' th' Aonian Groves,

While future Realms his wandring Thoughts de[light,

His daily Vision, and his Dream by Night;
Forbidden Thebes appears before his Eye,
From whence he sees his absent Brother fly,
Enjoys an airy Empire, all his own,
And fwells on an imaginary Throne.
Fain wou'd he cast a tedious Age away,
And live out all in one triumphant Day.
He chides the lazy Progress of the Sun,
And bids the Year with swifter Motion run.
With anxious Hopes his craving Mind is toft,
And all his Joys in length of Wishes loft.

The Hero then refolves his Course to bend Where ancient Danaus' fruitful Fields extend, And fam'd Mycene's lofty Tow'rs afcend, (Where late the Sun did Atreus' Crimes deteft And disappear'd, in Horrour of the Feast.)

And

And now by Chance, by Fate, or Furies led, From Bacchus' confecrated Caves he fled, Where the fhrill Cries of frantick Matrons found, And Pentheus' Blood enrich'd the rifing Ground. Then fees Cytharon towring o'er the Plain, And thence declining gently to the Main. Next to the Bounds of Nifus' Realm repairs, Where treach'rous Scylla cut the Purple Hairs:: The hanging Cliffs of Scyron's Rocks explores, And hears the Murmurs of the diff'rent Shores; Paffes the Strait that parts the foaming Seas,

And ftately Corinth's pleafing Site furveys.

[ocr errors]

[Night,

'Twas now the Time when Phebus yields to

And rifing Cynthia sheds her filver Light;
Wide o'er the World in folemn Pomp the drew
Her airy Chariot, hung with Pearly Dew;

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

All Birds and Beafts lye bufh'd; Sleep steals away
The wild Defires of Men, and Toils of Day,
And brings, defcending thro' the filent Air,
A fweet Forgetfulnefs of Human Care.
Yet no red Clouds, with golden Borders gay,
Promise the Skies the bright Return of Day;
No faint Reflections of the diftant Light

[Night;
Streak with long Gleams the fcatt'ring Shades of
From the damp Earth impervious Vapours rife,
Encrease the Darknefs and involve the Skies.
At once the rushing Winds with roaring Sound
Burft from th' Æolian Caves,and rend the Ground,
With equal Rage their airy Quarrel try,
And win by turns the Kingdom of the Sky:
But with a thicker Night black Aufter throuds

[Clouds,

The Heav'ns, and drives on heaps the rowling Then down on Earth a rating Tempest pours, Which the cold North congeals to haily Show'rs. From

From Pole to Pole the Thunder roars aloud,
And broken Lightnings flash from ev'ry Cloud.
Now fmoaks with Show'rs the fifty Mountain-
[Ground,
And floated Fields lye undistinguifh'd round:
Th' Inachian Streams with headlong Fury run,
And Erafinus rowls a Deluge on:

The foaming Lerna fwells above its Bounds,*
And spreads its ancient Poyfons o'er the Grounds:
Where late was Duff, now rapid Torrents play,
Rush thro' the Mounds, and bear the Damis away:
Old Limbs of Trees from crackling Forefts torn,
Are whirl'd in Air, and on the Winds are born;
The Storm the dark Lycean Groves difplay'd,
And first to Light expos'd the Venerable Shade.
The Prince with Wonder did the Waste behold,
While from tornRocks the maffy Fragments roll'd;
And heard aftonish'd from the Hills afar

The Floods descending and the watry War,

[blocks in formation]
« ПредишнаНапред »