Thofe, only those, shall in my fate partake,

Who love the daring for the danger's fake;
Those who can fuffer all the worft can come,
And think it what they owe themselves and Rome.
If any yet shall doubt, or yet shall fear;
If life be, more than liberty, his care;
Here, ere we journey farther, let him stay,
Inglorious let him, like a slave, obey,
And feek a master in fome fafer way.
Foremoft, behold, I lead you to the toil,
My feet shall foremost print the dusty foil:
Strike me the first, thou flaming God of Day,
First let me feel thy fierce, thy fcorching ray;
Ye living poifons all, ye fnaky train,
Meet me the first upon the fatal plain.
In every pain, which you my warriors fear,
Let me be first, and teach you how to bear.
Who fees me pant for drought, or fainting first,
Let him upbraid me, and complain of thirst.
If e'er for shelter to the fhades I fly,
Me let him curfe, me, for the fultry fky.
If while the weary foldier marches on,
Your leader by distinguish'd ease be known,
Forfake my caufe, and leave me there alone.
The fands, the ferpents, thirst, and burning heat,
Are dear to patience, and to virtue sweet ;
Virtue, that fcorns on cowards terms to please,
Or cheaply to be bought, or won with ease;
But then the joys, then fmiles upon her state,
Then fairest to herfelf, then most complete,
When glorious danger makes her truly great.

660

670

675

}

685

So

So Libya's plains alone fhall wipe away
The foul difhonours of Pharfalia's day;
So fhall your courage now tranfcend that fear :
You fled with glory there, to conquer here.
He faid; and hardy love of toil infpir'd;
And every breaft with godlike ardour fir'd.
Straight, careless of return, without delay
Through the wide wafte he took his pathlefs way.
Libya, ordain'd to be his laft retreat,

Receives the hero, fearless of his fate;

Here the good gods his last of labours doom,
Here fhall his bones and facred duft find room,
And his great head be hid, within an humble tomb.

If this large globe be portion'd right by fame,
Then one third part shall fandy Libya claim :
But if we count, as funs defcend and rife,
If we divide by eaft and west the skies,
Then, with fair Europe, Libya fhall combine,
And both to make the western half shall join.
Whilft wide-extended Afia fills the reft,
Of all from Tanais to Nile pofleft,

690

1695

And reigns fole emprefs of the dawning eaft.
Of all the Libyan foil, the kindlieft found
Far to the western feas extends its bound;
Where cooling gales, where gentle Zephyrs fly,
And fetting funs adorn the gaudy sky:
And yet ev'n here no liquid fountain's vein
Wells through the foil, and gurgles o'er the plain;
But from our northern clime, our gentler heaven,
Refreshing dews and fruitful rains are driven;

705

715

All

725

All bleak, the god, cold Boreas, spreads his wing, 720x
And with our winter gives the Libyan spring.
No wicked wealth infects the fimple soil,
Nor golden ores difclose their shining spoil:
Pure is the glebe, 'tis earth, and earth alone,
To guilty pride and avarice unknown:
There citron groves, the native riches, grow,
There cool retreats and fragant shades bestow,
And hofpitably screen their guests below.
Safe by their leafy office, long they stood.
A facred, old, unviolated wood,.
Till Roman luxury to Afric paft,.

:

And foreign axes laid their honours wafte..
Thus utmost lands are ranfack'd, to afford
The far-fetch'd dainties, and the costly board.
But rude and wasteful all thofe regions lie
That border on the Syrts, and feel too nigh
Their fultry fummer fun, and parching sky.
No harveft, there, the fcatter'd grain repays,
But withering dies, and ere it shoots decays
There never loves to fpring the mantling vine,
Nor wanton ringlets round her elm to twine :
The thirsty duft prevents the fwelling fruit,
Drinks up the generous juice, and kills the root;
Through fecret veins no tempering moistures pafs,
To bind with viscous force the mouldering mafs;
But genial Jove, averfe, difdains to fimile,
Forgets, and curfes the neglected foil.
Thence lazy Nature droops her idle head,
As every vegetable fenfe were dead;

730

}

740

745

Thence

Thence the wide dreary plains one visage wear,
Alike in fummer, winter, fpring appear,
Nor feel the turns of the revolving year..
Thin herbage here (for some ev'n here is found)
The Nafamonian hinds collect around;

A naked race, and barbarous of mind,

That live

upon the loffes of mankind:

}

755

The Syrts fupply their wants and barren foil,
And ftrow th' unhofpitable shores with spoil.
Trade they have none, but ready still they stand,
Rapacious, to invade the wealthy strand,
And hold a commerce, thus, with every distant land.
Through this dire country Cato's journey lay,
Here he pursued, while Virtue led the way.
Here the bold youth, led by his high command,
Fearless of storms and raging winds, by land
Repeat the dangers of the fwelling main,
And ftrive with ftorms and raging winds again.
Here all at large, where nought reftrains his force,
Impetuous Aufter runs his rapid course;

Nor mountains here, nor ftedfaft rocks refift,
But free he fweeps along the fpacious lift.
No ftable groves of ancient oaks arise,
To tire his rage, and catch him as he flies;
But wide, around, the naked plains appear,
Here fierce he drives unbounded through the air,
Roars and exerts his dreadful empire here.
The whirling dust, like waves in eddies wrought,
Rifing aloft, to the mid heaven is caught;
There hangs a fullen cloud; nor falls again,
Nor breaks, like gentle vapours, into rain.

765

770

MA

-80

Gazing, the

poor

inhabitant defcries,

}

790

Where high above his land and cottage flies
Bereft, he fees his loft poffeffions there,
From earth transported, and now fix'd in air.
Not rifing flames attempt a bolder flight;
Like fmoke by rifing flames uplifted, light
The fands afcend, and ftain the heavens with night.
But now, his utmost power and rage to boast,
The ftormy god invades the Roman host;
The foldier yields, unequal to the shock,
And ftaggers at the wind's ftupendous ftroke.
Amaz'd he fees that earth, which lowly lay,
Forc'd from beneath his feet, and torn away.
Oh Libya! were thy pliant surface bound,
And form'd a folid, clofe-compacted ground;
Or hadft thou rocks, whofe hollows deep below
Would draw thofe ranging winds that loosely blow;
Their fury, by thy firmer mafs oppos'd,
Or in those dark infernal caves inclos'd,
Thy certain ruin would at once complete,
Shake thy foundations, and unfix thy seat :
But well thy flitting plains have learn’d to yield ;
Thus, not contending, thou thy place haft held,
Unfix'd art fix'd, and flying keep'ft the field.
Helms, fpears and thields, fnatch'd from the warlike host,
Through heaven's wide regions far away were toft;
While diftant nations, with religious fear,
Beheld them, as fome prodigy in air,

And thought the gods by them denounc'd a war.
Such haply was the chance, which firft did raise
The pious tale, in priefly Numa's days;

795

800

810

Such