At his approach they rais'd a rueful cry,
And beat their breasts, and held their hands on high,
Creeping and crying, till they feiz'd at laft

His courfer's bridle, and his feet embrac'd.

Tell me, faid Thefeus, what and whence you are,
And why this funeral pageant you prepare?
Is this the welcome of my worthy deeds,
To meet my triumph in ill-omen'd weeds ?
Or envy you my praife, and would deftroy
With grief my pleafures, and pollute my joy
Or are you injur'd, and demand relief?
Name your request, and I will ease your grief.

The most in years of all the mourning train
Began; (but fwooned first away for pain)
Then fcarce recover'd spoke: nor envy we
Thy great renown, nor grudge thy victory;
'Tis thine, O king, th' afflicted to redress,
And fame has fill'd the world with thy fuccefs:
We wretched women fue for that alone,
Which of thy goodness is refus'd to none;
Let fall fome drops of pity on our grief,
If what we beg be juft, and we deserve relief:
For none of us, who now thy grace implore,
But held the rank of fovereign queen before;
Till thanks to giddy chance, which never bears,
That mortal blifs fhould laft for length of years,
She caft us headlong from our high estate,
And here in hope of thy return we wait :
And long have waited in the temple nigh,
Built to the gracious goddefs Clemency.

But rev'rence thou the pow'r whose name it bears,
Relieve th' opprefs'd, and wipe the widow's tears.
I, wretched I, have other fortune seen,

The wife of Capaneus, and once a queen :
At Thebes he fell; curft be the fatal day!
And all the reft thou feeft in this array,

To

To make their moan, their lords in battle loft
Before that town befieg'd by our confed'rate hoft:
But Creon, old and impious, who commands
The Theban city, and ufurps the lands,
Denies the rites of fun'ral fires to thofe
Whose breathless bodies yet he calls his foes.
Unburn'd, unbury'd, on a heap they lie;
Such is their fate, and fuch his tyranny;
No friend has leave to bear away the dead,
But with their lifelefs limbs his hounds are fed :
At this the fhriek'd aloud; the mournful train
Echo'd her grief, and grov'ling on the plain,
With groans, and hands upheld, to move his mind,
Befought his pity to their helpless kind!

The prince was touch'd, his tears began to flow,
And, as his tender heart would break in two,
He figh'd; and could not but their fate deplore,
So wretched now, fo fortunate before.

Then lightly from his lofty steed he flew,
And raifing one by one the fuppliant crew,
To comfort each, full folemnly he swore,

That by the faith which knights to knighthood bore,
And what e'er else to chivalry belongs,

He would not cease, till he reveng'd their wrongs:
That Greece should fee perform'd what he declar'd;
And cruel Creon find his juft reward.
He faid no more, but, fhunning all delay,
Rode on; nor enter'd Athens on his way:
But left his fifter and his queen behind,
And wav'd his royal banner in the wind:
Where in an argent field the god of war
Was drawn triumphant on his iron car;

Red was his fword, and fhield, and whole attire,
And all the godhead feem'd to glow with fire;
Ev'n the ground glitter'd where the ftandard flew,
And the green grafs was dy'd to fanguine hue.

High

High on his pointed lance his pennon bore
His Cretan fight, the conquer'd Minotaure :
The foldiers shout around with gen'rous rage,
And in that victory their own prefage.
He prais❜d their ardor: inly pleas'd to fee
His hoft the flow'r of Grecian chivalry.
All day he march'd; and all th' enfuing night;
And faw the city with returning light.
The process of the war I need not tell,

How Thefeus conquer'd, and how Creon fell:
Or after, how by ftorm the walls were won,
Or how the victor fack'd and burn'd the town:
How to the ladies he restor'd again

The bodies of their lords in battle flain:
And with what ancient rites they were interr'd;
All these to fitter times fhall be deferr'd:
I spare the widows tears, their woful cries,
And howling at their husband's obfcquies;
How Thefeus at these fun'rals did assist,

And with what gifts the mourning dames difmifs'd.
Thus when the victor chief had Creon flain,
And conquer'd Thebes, he pitched upon the plain
His mighty camp, and, when the day return'd,
The country wafted, and the hamlets burn'd,
And left the pillagers, to rapine bred,
Without controul to strip and spoil the dead.

There, in a heap of flain among the reft

Two youthful knights they found beneath a load opprefs'd
Of flaughter'd foes, whom firft to death they fent
The trophies of their strength, a bloody monument,
Both fair, and both of royal blood they feem'd,
Whom kinsmen to the crown the heralds deem'd;
That day in equal arms they fought for fame;
Their fwords, their fhields, their furcoats were the fame.
Close by each other laid they prefs'd the ground,
Their manly bofoms pierc'd with many a griefly wound;

Nor

Nor well alive, nor wholly dead they were,
But fome faint figns of feeble life appear:
The wandring breath was on the wing to part,
Weak was the pulfe, and hardly heav'd the heart.
Thefe two were fifter's fons; and Arcite one,
Much fam'd in fields, with valiant Palamon.
From these their coftly arms the spoilers rent,
And foftly both convey'd to Thefeus' tent:
Whom known of Creon's line, and cur'd with care,
He to his city fent as pris'ners of the war,
Hopeless of ransom, and condemn'd to lie

In durance, doom'd a lingring death to die.

This done, he march'd away with warlike found,
And to his Athens turn'd with laurels crown'd,

Where happy long he liv'd, much lov'd, and more renown'd.

But in a tow'r, and never to be loos'd,
The woeful captive kinsmen are inclos'd;

Thus year by year they pafs, and day by day,
Till once, 'twas on the morn of chearful May,
The young Emilia fairer to be seen

Than the fair lily on the flowry green,
More fresh than May herself in bloffoms new,
For with the rofy color ftrove her hue,
Wak'd, as her cuftom was, before the day,
To do th' obfervance due to fprightly May:
For fprightly May commands our youth to keep
The vigils of her night, and breaks their fluggard fleep;
Each gentle breaft with kindly warmth she moves ;
Infpires new flames, revives extinguish'd loves.
In this remembrance Emily ere day

Arofe, and drefs'd herself in rich array;
Fresh as the month, and as the morning fair:
Adown her shoulders fell her length of hair:
A ribband did the braided tresses bind,
The reft was loofe, and wanton'd in the wind:

Aurora

Aurora had but newly chas'd the night,
And purpled o'er the sky with blushing light,
When to the garden walk fhe took her way,
To fport and trip along in cool of day,
And offer maiden vows in honor of the May.
At ev'ry turn, fhe made a little stand,
And thruft among the thorns her lily hand
To draw the rofe, and ev'ry rose the drew
She shook the stalk, and brúsh'd away the dew:
Then party-color'd flow'rs of white and red
She wove, to make a garland for her head:
This done, the fung and caroll'd out fo clear,
That men and angels might rejoice to hear:
Ev'n wond'ring Philomel forgot to fing;
And learn'd from her to welcome in the fpring.
The tow'r, of which before was mention made,
Within whofe keep the captive knights were laid,
Built of a large extent, and ftrong withal,
Was one partition of the palace wall:
The garden was inclos'd within the fquare,
Where young Emilia took the morning-air.

It happen'd Palamon the pris'ner knight,
Restless for woe, arose before the light,
And with his jailor's leave defir'd to breathe
An air more wholsome than the damps beneath.
This granted, to the tower he took his way,
Chear'd with the promife of a glorious day:
Then caft a languishing regard around,

And saw with hateful eyes the temples crown'd
With golden fpires, and all the hostile ground.
He figh'd, and turn'd his eyes, because he knew
'Twas but a larger jail he had in view:
Then look'd below, and from the caftle's height
Beheld a nearer and more pleasing fight:
The garden, which before he had not seen,
In fpring's new livery clad of white and green,

Fresh flow'rs in wide parterres, and fhady walks between.

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