The time is come for Iphigene to find

The miracle the wrought upon my mind:

Her charms have made me man, her ravish'd love
In rank shall place me with the blefs'd above.
For mine by love, by force the shall be mine,
Or death, if force fhould fail, fhall finish my defign.
Refolv'd he faid; and rigg'd with speedy care
A vessel strong, and well equipp'd for war.
The secret ship with chofen friends he stor’d;
And, bent to die or conquer, went aboard.
Ambush'd he lay behind the Cyprian fhore,
Waiting the fail that all his wishes bore;
Nor long expected, for the following tide
Sent out the hoftile fhip and beauteous bride.
To Rhodes the rival bark directly fteer'd,
When Cymon fudden at her back appear'd,
And topp'd her flight: then, ftanding on
In haughty terms he thus defy'd the foe;
Or ftrike your fails at fummons, or prepare
To prove the last extremities of war.

his

prow,

Thus warn'd, the Rhodians for the fight provide;
Already were the veffels fide by side,

Thefe obftinate to fave, and those to seize the bride.

But Cymon foon his crooked grapples cast,

Which with tenacious hold his foes embrac'd,

And, arm'd with fword and fhield, amid the prefs

he pafs'd.

Fierce was the fight, but, haftening to his prey,
By force the furious lover freed his way:

Himfelf

Himself alone difpers'd the Rhodian crew,
The weak difdain'd, the valiant overthrew ;
Cheap conqueft for his following friends remain'd,
He reap'd the field, and they but only glean'd.
His victory confefs'd, the foes retreat,
And caft the weapons at the victor's feet.
"Whom thus he chear'd: O Rhodian youth, I fought
For love alone, nor other booty fought :
Your lives are fafe; your veffel I refign;
Yours be your own, restoring what is mine:
In Iphigene I claim my rightful due,
Robb'd by my rival, and detain'd by you:
Your Pafimond a lawless bargain drove,
The parent could not fell the daughter's love;
Or, if he could, my love difdains the laws,
And like a king by conqueft gains his cause :
Where arms take place, all other pleas are vain,
Love taught me force, and force fhall love maintain,
You, what by ftrength you could not keep, release,
And at an easy ransom buy your peace.

Fear on the conquer'd fide foon fign'd th' accord,
And Iphigene to Cymon was reftor'd :

While to his arms the blushing bride he took;
To feeming sadness the compos'd her look;
As if by force fubjected to his will,

Though pleas'd, diffembling, and a woman ftill.
And, for the wept, he wip'd her falling tears,
And pray'd her to difmifs her empty fears
For yours I am, he faid, and have deferv'd
Your love much better whom fo long I ferv'd,

Than

Than he to whom your formal father ty'd
Your vows, and fold a flave, not sent a bride.
Thus while he spoke, he seiz'd the willing prey,
As Paris bore the Spartan spouse away.

Faintly the fcream'd, and ev'n her eyes
confefs'd
She rather would be thought, than was diftrefs'd.

Who now exults but Cymon in his mind?
Vain hopes and empty joys of human kind,
Proud of the present, to the future blind!
Secure of fate, while Cymon plows the fea,
And fteers to Candy with his conquer'd prey,
Scarce the third glass of measur'd hours was run,
When like a fiery meteor funk the fun;

The promife of a ftorm; the fhifting gales
Forfake by fits, and fill the flagging fails;
Hoarfe murmurs of the main from far were heard,
And night came on, not by degrees prepar'd,
But all at once; at once the winds arife,
The thunders roll, the forky lightning flies.
In vain the master issues out commands,
In vain the trembling failors ply their hands:
The tempeft unforeseen prevents their care,
And from the first they labour in despair.
The giddy fhip betwixt the winds and tides,
Forc'd back, and forwards, in a circle rides,
Stunn'd with the different blows; then fhoots amain,
Till, counterbuff'd, she stops, and fleeps again.
Not more aghaft the proud archangel fell,
P.ung'd from the height of heaven to deepest hell,

}

Than

Than ftood the lover of his love poffefs'd,

Now curs'd the more, the more he had been bless'd;
More anxious for her danger than his own,

Death he defies; but would be loft alone.

Sad Iphigene to womanifh complaints
Adds pious prayers, and wearies all the faints
Ev'n if the could, her love fhe would repent,
But, fince the cannot, dreads the punishment :
Her forfeit faith, and Pafimond betray'd,
Are ever prefent, and her crime upbraid.
She blames herself, nor blames her lover lefs,
Augments her anger, as her fears increase:
From her own back the burden would remove,
And lays the load on his ungovern'd love,
Which interpofing durft, in heaven's despite,
Invade, and violate another's right:

The powers incens'd a while deferr'd his pain,
And made him mafter of his vows in vain :
But foon they punifh'd his prefumptuous pride;
That for his daring enterprize fhe dy’d;
Who rather not refifted, than comply'd.

Then, impotent of mind, with alter'd fenfe,
She hugg'd th' offender, and forgave th' offence,
Sex to the laft: mean time with fails declin'd
The wandering veffel drove before the wind:
Tofs'd and retofs'd, aloft, and then below,
Nor port they feek, nor certain courfe they know,
But every moment wait the coming blow.
Thus blindly driven, by breaking day they view'd
The land before them, and their fears renew'd;

}

}

The

The land was welcome, but the tempest bore
The threaten'd ship against a rocky thore.

A winding bay was near; to this they bent, And just escap'd; their force already spent : Secure from storms, and panting from the sea, The land unknown at leifure they furvey; And faw (but foon their fickly fight withdrew) The rifing towers of Rhodes at distant view ; And curs'd the hoftile fhore of Pafimond, Sav'd from the feas, and fhipwreck'd on the ground. The frighted failors try'd their strength in vain To turn the ftern, and tempt the ftormy main; But the stiff wind with ftood the labouring oar, And forc'd them forward on the fatal fhore! The crooked keel now bites the Rhodian ftrand, And the fhip moor'd constrains the crew to land: Yet ftill they might be fafe, because unknown, But, as ill fortune feldom comes alone, The vefiel they difmifs'd was driven before, Already fhelter'd on their native shore;

Known each, they know; but each with change of chear;

The vanquifh'd fide exults; the victors fear;
Not them but theirs, made prifoners ere they fight,
Defpairing conqueft, and depriv'd of flight.

The country rings around with loud alarms,
And raw in fields the ru le militia fwarms;
Mouths without hands; maintain'd at vaft expence,
In peace a charge, in war a weak defence :
Stout once a month they march, a bluftering band,
And ever, but in times of need, at hand;