Of either host they swept the roaring sound Of tempest, and the shouting: mingled rose The din of dreadful battle. There stern strength Put forth the proof of prowess, till the fight Declined: but first in opposite array
Full long they stood, and bore the brunt of war. Amid the foremost towering in the van
The war-unsated Gyges, Briareus,
And Cottus bitterest conflict waged: for they Successive thrice a hundred rocks in air Hurl'd from their sinewy grasp: with missile storm The Titan host o'ershadowing, them they drove All haughty as they were, with hands of strength O'ercoming them, beneath the' expanse of earth, And bound with galling chains; so far beneath This earth, as earth is distant from the sky: So deep the space to darksome Tartarus, A brazen anvil rushing through the sky Through thrice three days would toss in airy whirl, Nor touch this earth till the tenth sun arose: Or down earth's chasm precipitate revolve, Nor till the tenth sun rose attain the verge Of Tartarus. A fence of massive brass Is forged around: around the pass is roll'd A night of triple darkness; and above Impend the roots of earth and barren sea. There the Titanic gods in murkiest gloom Lie hidden, such the cloud assembler's will: There in a place of darkness, where vast earth Has end: from thence no egress open lies: Neptune's huge hand with brazen gates the mouth Has closed; a wall environs every side. There Gyges, Cottus, high soul'd Briareus Dwell vigilant, the faithful sentinels
Of ægis-bearer Jove. Successive there The dusky earth and darksome Tartarus, The sterile ocean and the starbright heaven, Arise and end, their source and boundary, A drear and ghastly wilderness, abhorr'd Even by the gods; a vast vacuity:
Might none the space of one slow-circling year Touch the firm soil, that portal enter'd once, But him the whirl of vexing hurricanes Toss to and fro. Even by immortals loathed This prodigy of horror. There of night Obscure the dismal dwellings rise, with mists Of darkness overspread. Full in the front Atlas upholding heaven his forehead rears And indefatigable hands. There night And day, near passing, mutual greeting still Exchange, alternate as they glide athwart The brazen threshold vast. This enters, that Forth issues; nor the two can one abode
At once constrain. This passes forth, and roams The round of earth; that in the mansion waits Till the due season of her travel come. Lo! from the one the far-discerning light Beams upon earthly dwellers; but a cloud Of pitchy blackness veils the other round, Pernicious Night, aye leading in her hand Sleep, Death's half-brother; sons of gloomy Night, There hold they habitation, Death and Sleep, Dread deities; nor them the shining sun E'er with his beam contemplates, when he climbs The cope of heaven, nor when from heaven de- scends.
Of these the one glides o'er the gentle space Of earth and broad expanse of ocean waves,
Placid to men: the other has a heart Of iron; in his breast a brazen soul
Is bosom'd, ruthless: whom of man he grasps Stern he retains, e'en to immortal gods A foe..
THE OVERTHROW OF TYPHŒUS.
FROM THE GREEK OF HESIOD.
Now, when Jove from heaven
Had cast the Titans forth, huge Earth embraced By Tartarus, through love's all golden queen, Her youngest born Typhoeus bore; whose hands Of strength are fitted to stupendous deeds, And indefatigable are the feet
Of the strong god; and from his shoulders rise A hundred snaky heads of dragon growth, Horrible, quivering with their blackening tongues. In each amazing head from eyes that roll'd Within their sockets fire shone sparkling; fire Blazed from each head, the whilst he roll'd his glance
Glaring around him. In those fearful heads Were voices of all sound, miraculous: Now utter'd they distinguishable tones Meet for the ear of gods; now of a bull The cry, loud bellowing and untamable In strength; and now the mighty roaring sound As of a dauntless lion; now the yell
[now Of whelps most strange to hear; and breathed he Shrill hissings, that the lofty mountains rang. Then had a dread event that fatal day
Inevitably fallen, and he had ruled O'er mortals and immortals; but the sire Of gods and men the peril instant knew, Intuitive, and vehement and strong
He thunder'd; instantaneous all around Earth reel'd with horrible crash; the firmament Roar'd of high heaven; the ocean,streams,and seas, And uttermost caverns. While the king in wrath Uprose, beneath his everlasting feet
Trembled Olympus; groan'd the steadfast earth. From either side a burning radiance caught The darkly rolling ocean, from the flash
Of lightnings, and the monster's darted flame, Hot thunderbolts, and blasts of fiery winds. Glow'd earth, air, sea, the billows heaved on high Foam'd round the shores, and dash'd on every side Beneath the rush of gods. Concussion wild And unappeasable uprose: aghast
The gloomy monarch of the' infernal dead Trembled; the subtartarean Titans heard E'en where they stood, and Saturn in the midst; They heard appall'd the unextinguish'd rage Of tumult, and the din of dreadful war. Now when the god, the fulness of his might Gathering at once, had grasp'd his radiant arms, The glowing thunderbolt and bickering flame, He from the summit of the' Olympian mount Leap'd at a bound, and smote him: hiss'd at once The horrible monster's heads enormous, scorch'd In one conflagrant blaze. When thus the god Had quell'd him, thunder-smitten, mangled, prone, He fell; beneath his weight earth groaning shook. Flame from the lightning-stricken prodigy Flash'd, midst the mountain hollows,rugged,dark,
Where he fell smitten. Broad earth glow'd intense From that unbounded vapour, and dissolved:- As fusile tin by art of youths above
The wide-brimm'd vase up bubbling foams with Or iron, hardest of the mine, subdued [heat; By burning flame, amid the mountain dells Melts in the sacred caves beneath the hands Of Vulcan, so earth melted in the glare Of blazing fire. He down hell's wide abyss His victim hurl'd in bitterness of soul.
FROM THE GREEK OF APOLLONIUS RHODIUS.
In form and grace distinguish'd, Jason shone. The' enraptured maiden held her veil askance, And caught, beneath the shade, a sidelong glance. She gazed, and gazed; while grief her soul sub
And thought in vain the lovely guest pursued ; As when we catch at objects in a dream, That still beyond, yet ever near us seem. While, sorrowing, from the palace they retire, Chalciopé, to shun her father's ire,
Her inmost chamber with her children sought; Medea follow'd, with distracted thought. The cares of love within her bosom rise, And absent Jason stands before her eyes,
His looks, his gestures, graved within her breast: 'Such his deportment-thus he wore his vest
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