Or fhall I Juno's hate to Thebes refound,
Whose fatal rage th' unhappy monarch found?
The fire against the fon his arrows drew;
O'er the wide fields the furious mother flew,
And while her arms a fecond hope contain,
Sprung from the rocks, and plung'd into the main.
But wave whate'er to Cadmus may belong,
And fix, O Mufe! the barrier of thy fong
At Oedipus-from his disasters trace
The long confufions of his guilty race:
Nor yet attempt to stretch thy bolder wing,

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And mighty Cæfar's conq'ring Eagles fing;

How twice he tam'd proud Ifter's rapid flood,

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While Dacian mountains ftream'd with barb'rous blood;

Twice taught the Rhine beneath his laws to roll,
And stretch'd his empire to the frozen pole;
Or, long before, with early valour strove
In youthful arms t' affert the cause of Jove.
And thou, great heir of all thy father's fame,
Increase of glory to the Latian name!
Oh! blefs thy Rome with an eternal reign,
-Nor let defiring worlds entreat in vain.

cognata

in moenia Baccho

Unde graves iræ
Quod fævæ Junonis opus; cui fumpferit arcum
Infelix Athamas, cur non expaverit ingens
Ionium, focio cafura Palæmone mater.

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Atque adeo jam nunc gemitus, et prospera Cadmi
Præteriiffe finam: limes mihi carminis efto
Oedipodæ confufa domus: quando Itala nondum
Signa, nec arctoos aufim fperare triumphos,
Bifque jugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Iftrum, 25
Et conjurato dejectos vertice Dacos:

Aut defenfa prius vix pubefcentibus annis

Bella Jovis. Tuque, O Latiæ, decus addite famæ, Quem nova maturi fubeuntem exoría parentis Æternum fibi Roma cupit: licet arctior omnes Limes agat ftellas, et te plaga lucida cœli

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What tho' the stars contract their heav'nly space, 35
And crowd their fhining ranks to yield thee place;
Tho' all the fkies, ambitions of thy fway,
Confpire to court thee from our world away;
Tho' Phoebus longs to mix his rays with thine,
And in thy glories more ferenely thine;
Tho' Jove himfelf no lefs content would be
To part his throne and share his heav'n with thee;
Yet ftay, great Cæfar! and vouchsafe to reign
O'er the wide earth, and o'er the wat'ry main;
Refign to Jove his empire of the skies,
And people heav'n with Roman deities.

The time will come when a diviner flame
Shall warm my breast to fing of Cæsar's fame!
Mean-while permit that my preluding Muse
In Theban wars an humbler theme may chufe:
Of furious hate furviving death fhe fings,
A fatal throne to two contending kings,
And fun'ral flames that, parting wide in air,
Exprefs the difcord of the fouls they bear:
Of towns difpeopled, and the wand'ring ghofts
Of kings unbury'd in the wafted coafts
When Dirce's fountain blufh'd with Grecian blood,
And Thetis, near Ifmenos' fwelling flood,

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Pleïadum, Boreæque, et hulci fulminis expers
Sollicitet; licet ignipedum frenator equorum
Ipfe tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum

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Imprimat, aut magni cedat tibi Jupiter æqua.
Parte poli; maneas hominum contentus habenis,
Undarum terræque potens, et fidera dones.
Tempus erit, cum pierio tua fortior œstro

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Facta canam: nunc tendo chelyn. fatis arma referre
Aonia, et geminis fceptrum exitiale tyrannis,
Nec furiis poft fata modum, flammasque rebelles
Seditione rogi, tumulifque carentia regum
Funera, et egeftas alternis mortibus urbes;
Cærula cum rubuit Lernæo fanguine Dirce,
Et Thetis arentes affuetum ftringere ripas,

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With dread beheld the rolling furges sweep
In heaps his flaughter'd fons into the deep.

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What hero, Clio! wilt thou first relate? The rage of Tydeus, or the Prophet's fate? Or how, with hills of flain on ev'ry side, Hippomedom repell'd the hoftile tide? Or how the youth, with ev'ry grace adorn'd, Untimely fell, to be for ever mourn'd? Then to fierce Capaneus thy verfe extend, And fing with horror his prodigious end. Now wretched Oedipus, depriv'd of fight, Led a long death in everlafting night; But while he dwells where not a cheerful ray Can pierce the darkness, and abhors the day, The clear reflecting mind prefents his fin In frightful views, and makes it day within; Returning thoughts in endless circles roll, And thousand furies haunt his guilty foul: The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies Those empty orbs from whence he tore his eyes, Whose wounds, yet fresh, with bloody hands he strook, While from his breast these dreadful accents broke: 80

Horruit ingenti venientem Ifmenon acervo.

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Quem prius heroum Clio dabis? immodicum iræ Tydea? laurigeri fubitos an vatis hiatus? Urget et hoftilem propellens cædibus amnem Turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi Arcados, atqui alio Capaneus horrore canendus. Impia jam merita fcrutatus lumina dextra Merferat æterna damnatum nocte pudorem Oedipodes, longaque animam fub morte tenebat. Illum indulgentem tenebris, imæque receffu Sedis, inafpectos coelo, radiifque penates Servantem, tamen affiduis circumvolat alis Sæva dies animi, fcelerumque in pectore diræ. Tunc vacuos orbes, crudum ac miferabile vitæ Supplicium, oftentat cœlo, manibufque cruentis Pullat inane folum, fævaque ita voce precatur:

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"Ye Gods! that o'er the gloomy regions reign, Where guilty fpirits feel eternal pain;

Thou, fable Styx! whofe livid ftreams are roll'd
Thro' dreary coafts, which I, tho' blind, behold;
Tifiphone! that oft' haft heard my pray’r,
Affilt, if Oedipus deferve thy care.

If you receiv'd me from Jocasta's womb,
And nurs'd the hope of mifchiefs yet to come;
If, leaving Polybus, I took my way

To Cyrrha's temple, on that fatal day,
When by the fon the trembling father dy'd,
Where the three roads the Phocian fields divide;
If I the Sphynx's riddles durft explain,
Taught by thyfelf to win the promis'd reign;
If wretched 1, by baleful Furies led,
With monstrous mixture ftain'd my mother's bed,
For hell and thee begot an impious brood,
And with full luft those horrid joys renew'd;
When, felf-condemn'd, to fhades of endless right,
Forc'd from these orbs the bleeding balls of sight;
Oh, hear! and aid the vengeance I require,
If worthy thee, and what thou might’st inspire.

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ΙΟΙ

Dî fontes animas, anguftaque Tartara pœnis
Qui regitis, tuque umbrifero Styx livida fundo,
Quam video, multumque mihi confueta vocari
Annue Tifiphone, perverfaque vota fecunda,
Si bene quid merui, fi me de matre cadentem
Fovifti gremio, et trajectum vulnere plantas
Firmâfti; fi ftagna petî Cyrrhæa bicorni
Interfufa jugo, poffem cum degere falfo
Contentus Polybo, trifidæque in Phocidos arce
Longævum implicui regem, fecuique trementis
Ora fenis, dum quæro patrem: fi Sphingos iniquæ
Callidus ambages, te præmonftrante, refolvi;
Si dulces Furias, et lamentabile matris
Connubium gavifus inî; noctemque nefandam
Sæpe tuli, natofque tibi (fcis ipfa) paravi;
Mox avidus poenæ digitis cedentibus ultro
Incubui, miferaque oculos in matre reliqui:

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My fons their old unhappy fire defpife,
Spoil'd of his kingdom, and depriv'd of eyes;
Guideless I wander, unregarded mourn,
While these exalt their fceptres o'er my urn;
These sons, ye Gods! who, with flagitious pride,
Infult my darkness and my groans deride.
Art thou a father, unregarding Jove!
And fleeps thy thunder in the realms above?
Thou Fury! then some lafting curse entail,
Which o'er their childrens' children fhall prevail;
Place on their heads that crown, diftain'd with gore,
Which thefe dire hands from my flain father tore;
Go, and a parent's heavy curses bear,

Break all the bonds of Nature, and prepare
Their kindred fouls to mutual hate and war.
Give them to dare, what I might wish to fee,
Blind as I am, fome glorious villainy!

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Soon fhalt thou find, if thou but arm their hands, 120 Their ready guilt preventing thy commands:

Couldst thou fome great proportion'd mischief frame, They'd prove the father from whofe loins they came."

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Exaudi, fi digna precor, quæque ipfa furenti
Subjiceres: orbum vifu regnifque parentem
Non regere, aut dictis moerentem Яlectere adorti
Quos genui, quocunque toro: quin ecce fuperbi 105
(Proh dolor!) et noftro jamdudum funere reges,
Infultant tenebris, gemitufque odere paternos.
Hifne etiam funeftus ego? et videt ifta deorum
Ignavus genitor? tu faltem debita vindex
Huc ades, et totos in pœnam ordire nepotes.
Indue quod madidum tabo diadema cruentis
Unguibus arripui, votisque instincta paternis
I media in fratres, generis confortia ferro
Diffiliant: da Tartarei regina barathri
Quod cupiam vidiffe nefas, nec tarda fequetur.
Mens juvenum; modo digna veni, meap ignora nofces.
Talia jactanti crudelis diva feveros

Advertit vultus; inamonum forte fedebat

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