Thus far her courage held, but here forfakes;
Her faint knees knock at every step she makes.
The nearer to her crime, the more within
She feels remorfe, and horror of her fin;
Repents too late her criminal defire,
And wishes, that unknown she could retire.
Her lingering thus, the nurse (who fear'd delay
The fatal fecret might at length betray)
Pull'd forward, to complete the work begun,
And faid to Cinyras, Receive thy own:
Thus faying, the deliver'd kind to kind,
Accurs'd, and their devoted bodies join'd.
The fire unknowing of the crime, admits
His bowels, and profanes the hallow'd sheets;
He found the trembled, but believ'd she strove
With maiden modefty, against her love;
And fought with flattering words vain fancies (

to remove.

Perhaps he said, My daughter, cease thy fears,
(Because the title fuited with her years;
And, Father, fhe might whisper him again,
That names might not be wanting to the fin.
Full of her fire, fhe left th' incestuous bed,
And carried in her womb the crime the bred:
Another, and another night the came;
For frequent fin had left no sense of shame:
Tül Cinyras defir'd to see her face,
Whose body he had held in close embrace.
And brought a taper; the revealer, light,
Expos'd both crime and criminal to fight:
Grief, rage, amazement, could no fpeech afford,
But from the fheath he drew th' avenging fword;
The guilty fled the benefit of night,

That favour'd firft the fin, fecur'd the flight,
Long wandering through the fpacious fields, fhe
bent

Her voyage to th' Arabian continent;
Then pafs'd the regions which Panchæa join'd,
And flying left the balmy plains behind.
Nine times the moon had mew'd her horns; at
length.

With travel weary, unsupply'd with strength,
And with the burden of her womb opprefs'd;
Sabaan fields afford her needful reft;
There, loathing life, and yet of death afraid,
In anguish of her spirit, thus fhe pray'd:
powers, if any fo propitious are

Ye

T' accept my penitence, and hear my prayer;
Your judgments, I confefs, are justly fent;
Great fins deferve as great a punishment:
Yet fince my life the living will profane,
And fince my death the happy dead will ftain,
A middle ftate your mercy may bestow,
Betwixt the realms above, and those below:
Some other form to wretched Myrrha give,
Nor let her wholly die, nor wholly live.
The prayers of penitents are never vain;
At least, fhe did her last request obtain;

For, while fhe spoke, the ground began to rife,
And gather'd round her feet, her legs, and thighs:
Her toes in roots defcend, and, fpreading wide,
A firm foundation for the trunk provide:
Her folid bones convert to folid wood,
To pith her marrow, and to fap her blood:
Her arms are boughs, her fingers change their
kind,

Her tender fkin is harden'd into rind.
And now the rifing tree her womb invests,
Now, fhooting upwards ftill, invades the breafts,
And fhades the neck; and, weary with delay,
She funk her head within, and met it half the
way.

And though with outward shape she lost her sense,
With bitter tears the wept her last offence;
And ftill the weeps, nor sheds her tears in vain :
For ftill the precious drops her name retain.
Meantime the mifbegotten infant grows,
And, ripe for birth, diftends with deadly throes
The fwelling rind, with unavailing ftrife,
To leave the wooden womb, and pushes into life.
The mother-tree, as if opprefs'd with pain,
Writhes here and there, to break the bark, in
vain:

And, like a labouring woman, would have pray'd,
But wants a voice to call Lucina's aid:

The bending bole fends out a hollow found,
And trickling tears fall thicker on the ground.
The mild Lucina came uncall'd, and stood
Befide the struggling boughs, and heard the groan-
ing wood:

Then reach'd her midwife-hand, to fpeed the throes, And spoke the powerful fpells that babes to birth difclofe.

The bark divides, the living load to free,
And fafe delivers the convulfive tree.
The ready nymphs receive the crying child,
And wash him in the tears the parent plant diftill'd.
They fwath'd him with their scarfs; beneath him
Spread

The ground with herbs; with rofes rais'd his head.
The lovely babe was born with every grace:
Ev'n envy must have prais'd so fair a face :
Such was his form, as painters, when they fhew
Their utmost art, on naked Love's bestow:
And that their arms no difference might betray,
Give him a bow, or his from Cupid take away.
Time glides along, with undiscover'd haste,
The future but a length behind the past:
So fwift are years: the babe, whom just before
His grandfire got, and whom his fifter bore;
The drop the thing which late the tree inclos'd,
And late the yawning bark to life expos'd;
A babe, a boy, a beauteous youth appears;
And lovelier than himself at riper years.
Now to the queen of love he gave defires,
And, with her pains, reveng'd his mother's fires.

THESE prodigies affect the pious prince,
But more perplex'd with those that happen'd fince,
He purposes to seek the Clarian God,
Avoiding Delphos, his more fam'd abode;
Since Phlegian robbers made unfafe the road.
Yet could not he, from her he lov'd fo well,
The fatal voyage, he refolv'd, conceal:
But when the faw her lord prepar'd to part,
A deadly cold ran fhivering to her heart:
Her faded cheeks are chang'd to boxen hue,
And in her eyes the tears are ever new:
She thrice effay'd to speak; her accents hung,
And faltering dy'd untinifh'd on her tongue,
Or vanifh'd into fighs: with long delay
Her voice return'd; and found the wonted way.
Tell me, my lord, fhe faid, what fault unknown
Thy once belov'd Alcyone has done?
Whither, ah whither is thy kindness gone?

Can Ceyx then fuftain to leave his wife,
And unconcern'd forfake the fweets of life?
What can thy mind to this long journey move,
Or need'st thou abfence to renew thy love?
Yet, if thou goeft by land, though grief poffefs
My foul ev'n then, my fears will be the lefs.
But ah! be warn'd to fhun the watery way,
The face is frightful of the stormy sea.
For late I faw a-drift disjointed planks,
And empty tombs erected on the banks.
Nor let falfe hopes to truft betray thy mind,
Because my fire in caves conftrains the wind,
Can with a breath in clamorous rage appeale,
They fear his whistle, and forfake the feas;
Not fo, for once, indulg'd, they sweep the main :
Deaf to the call, or hearing hear in vain ;
But beat on mifchief bear the waves before,
And, not content with feas, infult the fhore:

When ocean, air, and earth, at once engage,
And rooted forefts fly before their rage:
At once the clashing clouds to battle 'move,
And lightnings run across the fields above:

I know them well, and mark'd their rude comport,

While yet a child, within my father's court:
In times of tempelt they command alone,
And he but fits precarious on the throne:
The more I know, the more my fears augment,
And fears are oft prophetic of th' event.
But, if not fears or reasons will prevail,
If fate has fix'd thee cbftinate to fail,

Go not without thy wife, but let me bear
My part of danger with an equal fhare,
And prefent fuffer what I only fear;
Then o'er the bounding billows fhall we fly,
Secure to live together, or to die.

}

Thefe reafons mov'd her ftarlike husband's heart,
But ftill he held his purpose to depart :
For, as he lov'd her equal to his life,
He would not to the feas expose his wife ;
Nor could be wrought his voyage to refrain,
But fought by arguments to footh her pain;
Nor these avail'd; at length he lights on one,
With which fo difficult a cause he won:
My love, fo fhort an absence cease to fear,
For, by my father's holy flame, I swear,
Before two moons their orb with light adorn,
If heaven allow me life, I will return.

This promife of fo fhort a ftay prevails;
He foon equips the fhip, fupplies the fails,

And gives the word to launch; the trembling

views

This ретр of death, and parting tears renews:
Laft, with a kifs, fhe took a long farewel,
Sigh'd, with a fad prefage, and fwooning fell;
While Ceyx feeks delays, the lufty crew,
Rais'd on their banks, their oars in order drew
To their broad breafts, the fhip with fury flew.,
The queen recover'd rears her humid eyes,
And first her husband on the poop efpies
Shaking his hand at diftance on the main;
She took the fign; and fhook her hand again.
Still as the ground recedes, retracts her view
With fharpen'd fight, till the no longer knew
The much lov'd face; that comfort loft fupplies
With lefs, and with the galley feeds her eyes;
The galley born from view by rifing gales,
She follow'd with her fight the flying fails:
When ev'n the flying fails were feen no more,
Forlaken of all fight, the left the fhore.

Then on her bridal bed her body throws,
And fought in fleep her weary'd eyes to close :
Her husband's pillow, and the widow'd part
Which once he prefs'd, renew'd the former smart.
And now a breeze from thore began to blow,
The failors fhip their oars, and ceafe to row;
Then hoift their yards a-trip, and all their fails
Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales:
By this the veffel half her courfe had run,
And as much rested till the rifing fun;
Both fhores were loft to fight, when at the clofe
Of day, a stiffer gale at east arofe:

The fea grew white, the rolling waves from far, Like heralds, firft denounce the watery war.

This feen, the mafter foon began to cry, Strike, ftrike the top-fail; let the main-fheet fly, And furl your fails: the winds repel the found, And in the fpeaker's mouth the speech is drown'd. Yet, of their own accord, as danger taught, Each in his way, officioufly they wrought; Some ftow their oars, or stop the leaky fides, Another bolder yet the yard bestrides,

And folds the fails; a fourth, with labour, laves Th' intruding feas, and waves ejects on waves.

In this confufion while their work they ply, The winds augment the winter of the sky, And wage inteftine wars; the suffering feas Are tofs'd, and mingled as their tyrants please. The mafter would command, but, in despair Of fafety, ftands amaz'd with ftupid care, Nor what to bid or what forbid he knows, Th' ungovern'd tempeft to fuch fury grows; Vain is his force, and vainer is his skill; With fuch a concourfe comes the flood of ill: The cries of men are mix'd with rattling throwds; Seas dafh on feas, and clouds encounter clouds: At once from east to west, from pole to pole, The forky lightnings flash, the roaring thunders

roll.

Now waves on waves afcending scale the skies,
And, in the fires above, the water fries:
When yellow fands are fifted from below,
The glittering billows give a golden fhow;
And when the fouler bottom fpews the black,
The Stygian dye the tainted waters take :
Then frothy white appear the flatted feas,
And change their colour, changing their dif
eafe.

Like various fits the Trachin vessel finds,
And now fublime fhe rides upon the winds;
As from a lofty fuminit looks from high,
And from the clouds beholds the nether sky:
Now from the depth of hell they lift their fight,
And at a distance fee fuperior light.
The lafhing billows make a loud report,
And beat her fides, as battering-rams a fort;
Or as a lion, bounding in his way,
With force augmented, bears against his prey,
Sidelong to feize; or, unappail'd with fear,
Springs on the toils, and rushes on the fpear :
So feas impell'd by winds with added power
Affault the fides, and o'er the hatches tower.

The planks, their pitchy coverings wash'd a

way,

Now yield, and now a yawning breach display:
The roaring waters, with a hoftile tide,
Rufh through the ruins of her gaping fide.
Mean time in fheets of rain the fky defcends;
And ocean, fweil'd with waters, upwards tends,
One rifing, falling one: the heavens and fea
Meet at their confines, in the middle way:
The fails are drunk with fhowers, and drop with
rain ;

Sweet waters mingle with the briny main.
No ftar appears, to lend his friendly light:
Darkness and tempeft make a double night:

But Hafhing fires difclofe the deep by turns;
And, while the lightnings blaze, the water burns.
Now all the waves their scatter'd force unite,
And as a foldier, foremost in the fight,
Makes way for others, and an hoft alone
Still preffes on, and urging gains the town;
So while th' invading billows come a-breast,
The hero, tenth advanc'd before the rest,
Sweeps all before him with impetuous fway,
And from the walls defcends upon the prey;
Part, following, enter; part remain without,
With envy hear their fellows' conquering fhout,
And mount on others' backs, in hope to share
The city, thus become the feat of war.

An univerfal cry refounds aloud;
The failors run in heaps; a helpless crowd;
Art fails, and courage falls, no fuccour near;
As many waves, as many deaths appear.
One weeps, and yet defpairs of late relief;
One cannot weep, his fears congeal his grief,
But, ftupid, with dry eyes expects his fate;
One with loud fhricks laments his loft eftate,
And calls thofe happy whom their funerals
wait.

This wretch with prayers and vows the Gods inplores,

And ev'n the skies he cannot fee, adores;
That other on his friends his thoughts beftows,
His careful father, and his faithful spouse:
The covetous worldling, in his anxious mind,
Thinks only on the wealth he left behind.

All Ceyx his Alcyone employs;
For her he grieves, yet in her abfence joys:
His wife he wishes, and would still be near;
Not her with him, but wifhes him with her:
Now with laft looks he feeks his native fhore,
Which fate has deftin'd him to fee no more;
He fought, but, in the dark tempeftuous night,
He knew not whither to direct his fight.
So whirl the feas, fuch darkness blinds the sky,
That the black night receives a deeper dye.

The giddy fhip ran round; the tempeft tore Her maft, and over-board the rudder bore. One billow mounts; and, with a fcornful brow, Proud of her conqueft gain'd, infults the waves below;

Nor lighter falls, than if fome giant tore

Pindus and Athos, with the freight they bore, And tofs'd on feas: press'd with the ponderous blow,

Down finks the fhip within th' abyfs below:
Down with the veffel fink into the main

The many, never more to rife again:
Some few on fcatter'd planks, with fruitlefs care,
Lay hold, and fwim, but, while they fwim, de-
fpair.

Ev'n he who late a fceptre did command,
Now grafps a floating fragment in his hand;
And, while be ftruggles on the formy main,
Invokes his father, and his wife, in vain:
But yet his confort is his greater care;
Alcyone he names amidst his prayer;
Numes, as a charm against the waves and wind;
Moit in his mouth, and ever in his mind:

Tir'd with his toil, all hopes of fafety past,
From prayers to wishes he defcends at laft,
That his dead body, wafted to the fands,
Might have its burial from her friendly hands.
As oft as he can catch a gulp of air,
And peep above the feas, he names the fair;
And, ev'n when plung'd beneath, on her he raves,
Murmuring Alcyone below the waves:
At laft a falling billow ftops his breath,
Breaks o'er his head, and whelms him under-
neath.

Bright Lucifer unlike himself appears

That night; his heavenly form obfcur'd with

tears:

And fince he was forbid to leave the skies,
He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes.

Mean time Alcyone (his fate unknown) Computes how many nights he had been gone; Obferves the waning moon with hourly view, Numbers her age, and wishes for a new; Against the promis'd time provides with care; And haftens in the woof the robes he was to wear;

And for herself employs another loom,
New drefs'd to meet her lord returning home,
Flattering her heart with joys that never were

to come.

She fum'd the temples with an odorous flame,
And oft before the facred altars came,
To pray for him, who was an empty name.
All Powers implor'd; but far above the reft,
To Juno fhe her pious vows address'd,
Her much-lov'd lord from perils to protect,
And fafe o'er feas his voyage to direct;
Then pray'd that she might still poffefs his heart,
And no pretending rival fhare a part:
This last petition heard of all her prayer;
The reft, difpers'd by winds, were lost in air.

But the, the Goddess of the nuptial bed,
Tir'd with her vain devotions for the dead,
Refolv'd the tainted hand should be repell'd,
Which incenfe offer'd, and her altar held.
Then Iris thus befpoke: Thou faithful maid,
By whom the queen's commands are well con-
vey'd,

Hafte to the houfe of fleep, and bid the God
Who rules the night by vifions with a nod,
Prepare a dream, in figure and in form
Refembling him who perifh'd in the ftorm:
This form before Alcyone prefent,
To make her certain of the fad event.

Indu'd with robes of various hues, fhe flies; And, flying, draws an arch (a fegment of the [freep Then leaves her bending bow, and from the Defcends to fearch the filent houfe of fleep.

fkies):

Near the Cimmerians, in his dark abode, Deep in a cavern, dwells the drowsy God; Whofe gloomy manfion, nor the rifing fun, Nor fetting, vifits, nor the lightsome noon; But lazy vapours round the region fly, Perpetual twilight, and a doubtful sky: No crowing cock does there his wings display, Nor with his horny bill provoke the day;

Nor watchful dogs, nor the more wakeful geefe,
Disturb with nightly noife the facred peace;
Nor beaft of nature, nor the tame are nigh,
Nor trees with tempefts rock'd, nor human cry;
But fafe repofe, without an air of breath,
Dwells here, and a dumb quiet, next to death.
An arm of Lethe, with a gentle flow
Arifing upwards from the rock below,
The palace moats, and o'er the pebbles creeps,
And with foft murmurs calls the coming fleeps:
Around its entry nodding poppies grow,
And all cool fimples that sweet rest bestow;
Night from the plants their fleepy virtue drains,
And paffing fheds it on the filent plains:
No door there was th' unguarded houfe to keep,
On creaking hinges turn'd, to break his fleep.

But in the gloomy court was rais'd a bed,
Stuff'd with black plumes, and on an ebon sted:
Black was the covering too, where lay the God,
And flept fupine, his limbs difplay'd abroad:
About his head fantastic visions fly,
Which various images of things fupply,

And mock their forms; the leaves on trees not more, [fhore. Nor bearded ears in fields, nor fands upon the The virgin entering bright indulg'd the day

To the brown cave, and brush'd the dreams away.

The God, disturb'd with his new glare of light
Caft fudden on his face, unfeal'd his fight,
And rais'd his tardy head, which funk again,
And, finking on his bofom, knock'd his chin;
At length fhook off himfelf, and afk'd the dame,
(And asking yawn'd) for what intent she came ?
To whom the Goddefs thus: O facred Reft,
Sweet, pleafing Sleep, of all the powers the best!
O peace of mind, repairer of decay,

Whofe balms renew the limbs to labours of the day;

[way!

Care fhuns thy foft approach, and fullen flies a-, Adorn a dream, expreffing human form, The fhape of him who fuffer'd in the storm; And fend it flitting to the Trachin court, The wreck of wretched Ceyx to report: Before his queen bid the pale spectre stand, Who begs a vain relief at Juno's hand. She faid, and scarce awake her eyes could keep, Unable to fupport the fumes of fleep; But fled, returning by the way fhe went, And fwerv'd along her bow with swift afcent, The God, uneafy till he flept again, Refolv'd at once to rid himself of pain; And, though against his cuftom, call'd aloud, Exciting Morpheus from the fleepy crowd: Morpheus, of all his numerous train, exprefs'd The fhape of man, and imitated beft; The walk, the words, the gefture, could fupply, The habit mimic, and the mien bely; Plays well, but all his action is confin'd, Extending not beyond our human kind. Another birds, and beafts, and dragons, apes, And dreadful images, and monster shapes: This damon, Icelos, in heaven's high hall, The Gods have nam'd, but men Phobeter call.

A third is Phantafus, whofe actions roll
On meaner thoughts, and things devoid of foul;
Earth, fruits, and flowers, he reprefents in dreams,
And folid rocks unmov'd, and running ftreams.
These three to kings and chiefs their scenes dif-
play;

The reft before th' ignoble commons play.
Of these the chofen Morpheus is dispatch'd:
Which done, the lazy monarch, overwatch'd,
Down from his propping elbow drops his head,
Diffolv'd in fleep, and shrinks within his bed.

Darkling the dæmon glides, for flight prepar'd,
So foft, that scarce his fanning wings are heard.
To Trachin, swift as thought, the flitting fhade
Through air his momentary journey made;
Then lays afide the fteerage of his wings,
Forfakes his proper form, affumes the king's,
And pale as death, defpoil'd of his array,
Into the queen's apartment takes his way,
And ftands before the bed at dawn of day:
Unmov'd his eyes, and wet his heard appears,
And shedding vain, but feeming real tears;
The briny water dropping from his hairs:
Then ftaring on her, with a ghaftly look
And hollow voice, he thus the queen befpoke :
Know't thou not me? Not yet, unhappy wife?
Or are my features perifh'd with my life?
Look once again, and for thy husband loft,
Lo all that's left of him, thy husband's ghost!
Thy vows for my return were all in vain ;
The ftormy fouth o'ertook us on the main;

Bear witnefs, heaven, I call'd on thee in death,
And while I call'd, a billow ftopp'd my breath:
Think not that flying fame reports my fate;
I prefent, I appear, and my own wreck relate.
Rife, wretched widow, rife, nor undeplor'd
Permit my ghost to pafs the Stygian ford;
But rife, prepar'd, in black, to mourn thy pe-(
rifh'd lord.

Thus faid the player god; and, adding art
Of voice and gefture, fo perform'd his part,
She thought (fo like her love the fade appears)
That Ceyx fpake the words, and Ceyx thed the

Her clafping arms inclofe but empty air:
At this not yet awake, the cry'd, Oh stay;
One is our fate, and common is our way!
So dreadful was the dream, fo loud fhe spoke,
That, ftarting fudden up, the flumber broke;
Then caft her eyes around, in hope to view
Her vanifh'd lord, and find the vifion true:
For now the maids, who waited her commands,
Ran in with lighted tapers in their hands.
Tir'd with the fearch, not finding what the fecks,
With cruel blows the pounds her blubber'd
cheeks;

Then from her beaten breaf the linen tare,
And cut the golden caul that bound her hair.