The ranfack'd city, taken by our toils,
We left, and hither brought the golden fpoils;
Equal we fhar'd them; but before the rest,
The proud Prerogative had feiz'd the best.
Chryfeis was the greedy tyrant's prize,
Chryfeis rofy-cheek'd, with charming eyes.
Her fire, Apollo's prieft, arriv'd to buy,
With proffer'd gifts of price, his daughter's liberty.
Suppliant before the Grecian chiefs he stood,
Awful, and arm'd with enfigns of his God:

Bare was his hoary head, one holy hand

Held forth his laurel-crown, and one, his fceptre of command.

His fuit was common, but above the rest
To both the brother-princes was addrefs'd.
With fhouts of loud acclaim the Greeks agree
To take the gifts, to set the prifoner free.
Not fo the tyrant, who with fcorn the priest
Receiv'd, and with opprobrious words difmifs'd.
The good old man, forlorn of human aid,
For vengeance to his heavenly patron pray'd:
The Godhead gave a favourable ear,

And granted all to him he held fo dear;
In an ill hour his piercing fhafts he sped;

And heaps on heaps of slaughter'd Greeks lay dead,
While round the camp he rang'd at length arofe
A feer who well divin'd; and durft disclose
The fource of all our ills: I took the word;

And urg'd the facred flave to be restor'd,

The

The God appeas'd: the fwelling monarch storm'd :
And then the vengeance vow'd, he fince perform'd a
The Greeks, 'tis true, their ruin to prevent,
Have to the royal prieft his daughter fent;
But from their haughty king his heralds came,
And feiz'd, by his command, my captive dame,
By common fuffrage given; but, thou, be won,
If in thy power, t' avenge thy injur'd fon :
Afcend the fkies; and fupplicating move
Thy juft complains, to cloud-compelling Jove.
If thou by either word or deed haft wrought
A kind remembrance in his grateful thought,
Urge him by that: for often haft thou said
Thy power was once not ufelefs in his aid,
When he, who high above the highest reigns,
Surpriz'd by traitor Gods, was bound in chains.
When Juno, Pallas, with ambition fir'd,
And his blue brother of the feas confpir'd,
Thou freed'ft the fovereign from unworthy bands,
Thou brought'ft Briareus with his hundred hands,
(So call'd in heaven, but mortal men below
By his terrestrial name Ægeon know:
Twice ftronger than his fire, who fate above
Affeffor to the throne of thundering Jove.)
The gods, difmay'd at his approach, withdrew,
Nor durft their unaccomplish'd crime pursue.
That action to his grateful mind recal;
Embrace his knees, and at his footstool fall:
That now, if ever, he will aid our foes;
Let Troy's triumphant troops the camp inclose:
VOL. IV.

S

Ours

Ours beaten to the fhore, the fiege forfake;

And what their king deserves, with him partake.
That the proud tyrant, at his proper cost,
May learn the value of the man he lost.

To whom the Mother-goddess thus reply'd,
Sigh'd ere she spoke, and while she spoke she cry'd:
Ah, wretched me! by Fates averfe, decreed,

To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed!
Did envious heaven not otherwife ordain,

Safe in thy hollow ships thou shouldst remain ;·
Nor ever tempt the fatal field again.

But now thy planet fheds his poisonous rays
And short, and full of forrow are thy days.
For what remains, to heaven I will afcend,
And at the Thunderer's throne thy fuit commend.
Till then, fecure in ships, abstain from fight;
Indulge thy grief in tears, and vent thy spight.
For yesterday the court of heaven with Jove
Remov'd: 'tis dead vacation now above.
Twelve days the Gods their folemn revels keep,
And quaff with blameless Ethiops in the deep.
Return'd from thence, to heaven my flight I take,
Knock at the brazen gates, and Providence awake.
Embrace his knees, and fuppliant to the fire,
Doubt not I will obtain the grant of thy defire.
She faid and parting left him on the place,
Swoln with difdain, refenting his disgrace:
Revengeful thoughts revolving in his mind,
He wept for anger, and for love he pin'd.

:

Mean

Meantime with profperous gales Ulyffes brought
The flave, and ship with facrifices fraught,
To Chryfa's port: where entering with the tide
He dropp'd his anchors, and his oars he ply'd.
Furl'd every fail, and drawing down the mast,
His veffel moor'd; and made with haulfers faft.
Defcending on the plain, afhore they bring
The hecatomb to please the shooter king.
The dame before an altar's holy fire
Ulyffes led; and thus bespoke her fire :

Reverenc'd be thou, and be thy God ador'd :
The king of men thy daughter has restor’d;
And sent by me with presents and with prayer ;
He recommends him to thy pious care.
That Phoebus at thy fuit his wrath may cease,
And give the penitent offenders peace.

He said, and gave her to her father's hands,
Who glad receiv'd her, free from servile bands.
This done, in order they, with fober grace,
Their gifts around the well-built altar place.
Then wash'd, and took the cakes; while Chryfes flood
With hands upheld, and thus invok'd his God :
God of the filver bow, whose eyes furvey

The facred Cilla, thou whose awful sway
Chryfa the blefs'd, and Tenedos obey:
Now hear, as thou before my prayer hast heard,
Against the Grecians and their prince preferr'd :
Once thou haft honour'd, honour once again
Thy priest; nor let his fecond vows be vain.
$ 2

}

But

But from th' afflicted hoft and humbled prince
Avert thy wrath, and cease thy pestilence.
Apollo heard, and, conquering his disdain,
Unbent his bow, and Greece refpir'd again.

Now when the folemn rites of prayer were past,
Their falted cakes on crackling flames they caft.
Then, turning back, the sacrifice they sped :
The fatted oxen flew, and flea'd the dead.
Chopp'd-off their nervous thighs, and next prepar'd
T' involve the lean in cauls, and mend with lard.
Sweet-breads and collops were with skewers prick'd
About the fides; imbibing what they deck'd.
The priest with holy hands was feen to tine
The cloven wood, and pour the ruddy wine.
The youth approach'd the fire, and as it burn'd
On five fharp broachers rank'd, the roaft they turn'd;
These morfels ftay'd their stomachs; then the rest
They cut in legs and fillets for the feaft;

Which drawn and ferv'd, their hunger they appease
With favory meat, and set their minds at ease.
Now when the rage of eating was repell'd,
The boys with generous wine the goblets fill'd,
The firft libations to the Gods they pour :
And then with fongs indulge the genial hour.
Holy debauch! Till day to night they bring.
With hymns and pæans to the bowyer king.
At fun-fet to their fhip they make return,
And fnore fecure on decks, till rofy morn.

The skies with dawning day were purpled o'er;
Awak'd, with labouring oars they leave the fhore: