20

"(While to their mother, with inceffant cries, "Their helpless mother, they exclaim'd in vain) By their own fire I faw the children flain. "But as a bird bewails her callow brood, "While in the brake a ferpent drains their "blood,

"And all too weak the wifh'd relief to bring, Twittering her fhrill complaints, on feeble wing "At diftance hovers, nor will venture near "The fell deftroyer, chill'd with conscious fear; "So I, all frantic, the wide manfion o'er, "Unhappy mother, my loft fons deplore. "O bleft Diana, goddess of the chase,

29

Tyrant confefs'd o'er woman's helpless race, "With my dear fons, had thy envenom'd dart "Kindly transfix'd their mother's bleeding heart, Then my fad parents might with friendly care, Have feen one pile our breathlefs bodies bear, "At once with many a tear, to every shade *The decent rites of fepulture have paid, And in one golden urn that facred earth Our afhes have receiv'd, which gave us birth.

But Thebes they now inhabit fam'd for steeds,

Or toilfome till Aönia's fruitful meads:

"While to my forrows no relief is given,
"At Tiryns, facred to the queen of heaven,
In tears unnumber'd wafting life away,
"To joy a stranger, to defpair a prey.
"But foon my lord will blifs my eyes again,
"For various labours he must yet fuftain

40

50

Thou only now canft cheer my anxious mind :

"Far from this manfion, though in blood ally'd,

Beyond the pine-clad ifthmus they refide.

Not one remains who can confole my grief,

"Or to a wretched woman give relief, Except my fifter Pyrrha; all the day

she too bewails her husband fnatch'd away, "Thy Iphiclus wretched all thy line, "Whether their fire be mortal or divine!"

:

Why, hapless parent, should thine eyes o'er"flow?

Why should remembrance thus renew thy woe? "Why thus afflict us both? or why once more "Repeat the lofs we oft have wept before? 70 "Sure each fad day fufficient forrow bears; "And none but wretches would recount our cares! "Be cheer'd, my daughter, and, these ills forgot, "Think that the gods a happier doom allot. "And though on grief thy thoughts are all em"ploy'd,

I no excufe require, with pleasure cloy'd. Much I lament, that thou fo vaft a weight "Of woe fhould fhare in our difaftrous fate. "For, O bieft Prof rpine and Ceres, know,

(Powers jufly dreaded by the perjur'd foe) 80 "That I not more could love thee, if my womb "With thee had teem`d, or had thy virgin-bloom "Alone remain'd a parent's hope to crown: "A truth, Megasa, not to thee unknown! "Then think I view thee with no careless eye; "No, though in grief with Niobe I vie : "Grief for a fon indulgence fure may gain, "To me endear'd by ten long months of pain; And, ere I brought him to the realms of day, My life by pangs was nearly fnatch'd away, "Sent on new toils he to a diftant hore "Now roams, and I may ne'er behold him more. Befides, I lately faw, with wild affright, "A direful vifion in the dead of night: "Some great impending ill, if right I deem, "Awaits my fons, from this mysterious dream. "In fleep, methought, my Hercules i fpy'd, "His garments like a labourer, thrown afide, "And, fpade in hand, employ'd, with arduous toil, "To delve a ditch in fome well cultur'd foil, 100 "But when his task the wifh'd fuccefs had crown'd, "And his wide fence had girt the vineyard round, "He left his fpade fix'd deeply in the plain, "And trait prepar'd to clothe his limbs again; "When, quick as thought, above the trench, "behold

"Deftructive flames, which round the hero roll'd! "From these refiftlefs foes alarni'd he flew, "With footsteps fwift, as fwiftly they pursue: While, like a fhield, the fpade now ferves to ⚫ guard

109 "His half-fcorch'd body, and the fire to ward. "At length Iphiclus, running to his aid, "(Such was my vifion) by his feet betray'd, "Before he reach'd him, fell with headlong force, "And there unable to refume his courfe, "Lay ftiff and proftrate, like a feeble fage, "Who falling to the ground through helpless age, "There fix'd remains, till by fome ftrainger rear'd, Pitying his hoary hairs, and filver beard: "So on the plain was brave Iphiclus thrown. "To fee my fons unaided and alone, "Faft flow'd my tears, till morn with rofcate ray Difpell'd my flumbers, and reftor'd the day. "Such were the v.fious of this night of dread! "Far from our houfe, on curs'à Eurvitheus' head "Thefe omens turn! Be my prefages true, "And him, O fate, with vengeance juk pursue !”

ILYLLIUM V.

THE CHOICE.

WHEN Zephyrs gently curl the azure main,
On land, impatient, I can scarce fuftain
At eafe to dwell; a calm yields more delight:
But when old ocean to a mountain's height
Rolls, with tremendous roar, his foaming floods,
I lothe the fea, and figh for fields and woods.
Safe is the land; then piny forefts please, [trees:
Though hoarfe winds whittle through the bending
Haplefs the fisher's life! the fea his toil,
His houfe a bark, and faithless fish his fpoil.
But O to me how sweet are flumbers, laid
Beneath a lofty plane's embowering fhade;
And thence the tinkling of a rill to hear,
Whofe found gives pleasure unallay'd by fear! D.

IDYLLIUM VI.

CAPRICIOUS LOVE.

FAN fighs for Echo o'er the lawn:
Sweet Echo loves the dancing Faun;
The dancing Faun fair Lyda charms;
As Echo Pan's foft bofom warms,
So for the Faun fweet Echo burns;
Thus all, inconftant in their turns,
Both fondly woo, are fondly woo'd,
Purfue, and are themselves purfu'd.
As much as all flight thofe that woo,
So thofe that flight are flighted too :
Thus rages by capricious fate,
Alternate love, alternate hate.
Ye fcornful nymphs and fwains, I tell
This truth to you, pray, mark it well:
"If to your lovers kind you prove,
"You'll gain the hearts of thofe you love."

IDYLLIUM VII.

TO THE EVENING STAR.

HAIL, golden ftar! of ray ferene
Thou fav'rite of the Cyprian queen,
O Helper glory of the night,
Diffufing through the gloom delight;
Whofe beans all other stars outshine,
As much as filver Cynthia thine;
O guide me, fpeeding o'er the plain,
To him I love, my fhepherd fwain;
He keeps the mirthful feast, and foon
Dark fhades will cloud the fplendid moon.
Of lambs I never robb'd the fold,

Nor the lone traveller of gold:

Love is my crime: O lend thy ray
To guide a lover on her way!
May the bright ftar of Venus prove
The gentle harbinger of love!

IDYLLIUM VIIL

ALPHEUS. FROM Pila where the fea his flood receives, Alpheus, olive-crown'd, the gift of leaves,

1Ο

She fleer'd and the flouted, and took it amifs; "Be gone, you great booby, the cry'd with a

frown, [clown! "Do you think that I long for your kisses, you "The fparks of the city my favours esteem"You never fhall kifs me; no, not in a dream. "How pleasing you look! and how gently you

66 play! [you fay! "How foft is your voice! and what fine things "So neat is your beard, and fo comely your hair! "And your lips, to be fure, are a delicate pair. 10 "But on your dear perfon I never fhall doat; "So pray keep your diftance-you smell like a "goat."

Thus fpoke the proud hussey, and view'd me all

round, (ground; With an eye of disdain, and thrice fpit on the Then mimick'd my voice with fatirical facer, And fent me away with a fica in my ear. My blood quickly boil'd, in a violent pique, And, red as a rofe, paffion glow' on my cheek; For it vex'd me, that, thus in derifion the jear'd My looks, and my voice, and my hair, and my

beard.

20

But, am I not handsome, ye fhepherds, fay true?
Or has any god alter'd my perfon anew?
For lately, on oaks like the ivy, with grace
My hair and my beard added charms to my face;
My brows were coal-black, and my forehead milk-
white,

And my eyes like Minerva's were azure and

bright;

[flow My lips fweet as cream, and from them would Words fweeter than honey, and fofter than fnow. My fongs are enchanting: nor aught can exceed The tunes of my pipe, or the notes of my reed. The girls of the country, if they had their wills, 31 Would kiss me, and prefs me to lay on the hills For they fay that I'm fair, but this minx of the

town Refus'd my sweet kiffes, and call'd me a clown. Alas! fhe forgot, or perhaps did not know, That Bacchus fed herds in the valley below; That beauty's fair queen fell in love with a fwait And help'd him his cattle to tend on the plain; Adonis, while living, in groves the ador'd, And when dead, the in groves and on mountains deplor'd.

40

If right my conjecture, Endymion, I ween, Like me, too, once tended his fteers on the green Yet the moon in this herdsman took fuch a delight That she met him at Laimos, and kifs'd him all night.

En Crbele mourn'd for a herdsman; and Jove
Saatch'd a boy from his flock to be waiter above.
But Eunica difdains me, nor lifts to my vow;
Is the better than Cynthia or Venus, I trow?
May he never find lovers in city or plain,
But lie always alone, yet ftill wifhing in vain! 50

CUPID TURN'D PLOUGHMAN.
AN EPIGRAM.

Ducos'd like a ploughman, Love ftole from the
fky,
[by;

His torch, and his bow, and his quiver, thrown

And with pouch at his fhoulder, and goad in his hand,

Began with yok'd oxen to furrow the land: Ani, "O Jove, be propitious, he cry'd, or I vow, "That I'll yoke thee, Europa's fam'd bull, to my "plough."

This jufly-admired epigram makes us regret that Mofcbus bas left us no more. Tibellus, as Brockbuftus obferves, probably alludes to this epigram in the beginning of bis Elegy 3. Book 2. particularly in this verfe. Verbaque aratoris ruftica difcit amor.

Now Cupid joys to learn the ploughman's phrafe, And, clad a pealant, o'er the fallow itrays. Grainger.

IDYLLIUM I.

This beautiful Idyllium is imitated by Spenser, in his Faery Queen, B. 3. c. 6. ft. II. It fortuned, fair Venus having loft Her little fon, the winged god of love, Who for fome light difpleasure, which him croft, Was from her fled, as flit as airy dove, And left her blifsful bower of joy above; (So from her often he had fled away, When the for aught him sharply did reprove, And wander'd in the world in ftrange array, guis'd in thousand shapes, that none might him hewray.)

Him for to feek, fhe left her heavenly houfe, And fearched every way through which his wings

Had borne him, or his tract fhe mote detect: She promifs'd kiffes fweet, and sweeter things, the man that of him tidings to her brings. Meleager also has copied this fine original of chas, and given us a picture of Cupid much the fame manner. See Anthologia, B. 7. Epig.

Κορασσω τον Έρωτα, κ. τ. λ.

I fearch of a Cupid that late went aftray, sc fole from my bed with the dawn of the day. aipe is bold, his tongue never lies ftill,

yet he can whine, and has tears at his will. tuman misfortunes he laughs and he fneers; his shoulders a quiver and pinions he wears:

ver 3. "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honey comb, and her mouth is smoother than "oil."

Ver. 41. There is an epigram of Criragoras, Anthol B. 4. chap. 12 which may illuftrate this paffige: It is on an image of Cupid bound.

Και κλαις και σεναζε, κ. τ. λ.
Perfidious wretch, you now may cry,
And wring your hands, and fob, and figh:
Who now your advocate will be?
Who now from chains will fet you free?
You oft, by caufelefs doubts and fears,
From other eyes have forc'd the tears,
And, by your bitter biting darts,
Inftill'd love's poifon into hearts.
O love, who laugh'd at human bail,
Now all your arts elufive fail,
And juftice will at last prevail.

Ver. 46. Thus Virgil, Æneid, Book 1. ver. 687.
Cum dabit amplexus, atque ofcula dulcia figet,
Occultum ipfpires ignem, falaíque veneno.
And when the queen fhall frain thee in her arms,
The gentle paflion by degrees infpire
Through all her breaft, then fan the rifing fire,
And kindle all her foul-
Pitt.

IDYLLIUM II.

known from what fire he deduces his birth; at from the air, nor the fea, nor the earth; -he's hated by all-but, good people, beware; aps for a heart he's now laying a foareha, cunning Cupid, I fee where you lie, your bow ready bent:-In Zenophila's Ver. 13, 14. Thus the royal Pfalmift, Pfalm "The words of his mouth are softer han butter, having war in his heart; his words tre fmoother than oil, and yet be they very d." And Solomon, Proverbs, chap. v.

wer. 22.

Ver 51. The fable of lö is told at large by Ovid in the first book of the Metamorphofes, and finely tranflated by Mr. Dryden; to whom I refer the curious reader, the ftory being too long to infert here.

Ver. 81. Ovid has told the ftory of the Rape of Europa, in the fecond book of the Metamorphofes which, to prevent the trouble of referring to the particular fimilar paffages, I fhall give all together under this note, in the language of Mr. Addison. The English reader will ice at one view, even through the medium of tranflation, how clofely the Roman has copied the Sicilian bard.

The dignity of empire laid afide,

The ruler of the skies, the thundering god,
Who fhakes the world's foundations with a nod,
Among a herd of lowing heifers ran,
Trifk'd in a bull, and bellow'd o'er the plain.
Large rolls of fat about his fhoulder clung,
And from his neck the double dewlap hung.
His fkin was whiter than the fnow that lies
Unfullied by the breath of fouthern skies;
Small fhining horns on his curl'd forehead ftand,
As turn'd and polifh'd by the work an's hand;
His eye balls roll'd, not formidably bright,
But gaz d, and languifh'd with a gentle light,
His every lock was peaceful, and expret
The foftnefs of the lover in the beat.

Agenor's royal daughter, as the play'd Among the fields, the milk-white bull furvey'd, And view&is fpotlefs body with delight, And at a diftance kept him in her fight: At length fhe pluck'd the rifing flowers, and fed The gentle beaft, and fondly firok'd his head He food well pleas'd to touch the charming fair, But hardly could confine his pleasure there. And now he wantons on the neighb'ring ftrand, Now rolls his body on the yellow fand; And now, perceiving all her fears decay'd, Comes tolling forward to the royal maid; Gives her his breaft to fircke, and downward turns His grilly brow, and gently floops his horns. In flowery wreaths the royal virgin dreft Hi bending horns, and kindly clapp'd his breast. Will now grown wanton, and devoid of fear, Not knowing that the prefs'd the thunderer, She plac'd herself upon his back, and rode O er fields and meadows, feated on the god. He gently march'd along, and by degrees Let the dry meadow, and approach'd the leas;

Where he now dips his hoofs, and wets his thighs,
Now plunges in, and carries off the prize.
The frighted nymph looks backward on the fhore,
And bears the tumbling billows round her roar;
But ftill fhe holds him faft: One hand is borne
Upon his back, the other grafps a horn;
Her train of ruffling garments flies behind,
Swells in the air, and hovers in the wind.
Through ftorms and tempefts he the virgin bore,
And lands her jafe on the Dictaan fhore;
Where now, in his divineft form array'd,
In his true shape he captivates the maid.
Ver. 93. Horace imitates this paffage, and de-
fcribes a young bullock in the fame manner :

Fronte curvatos imitatos ignes
Tertium lunæ referentis ortum,
Q: à notam duxit, niveus videri;
Cætera fulvus.

-

B. 4. Ode 2.

on whofe brows, Full in the front a star its luftre Thows; A glofs of fallow hue adorns

His fkin; the crefcent of his horns,

So fharply turn'd, falutes the fight, Like Cynthia's fires, the third revolving night. J. Duncombe.

Ver. 129. See a fimilar defcription in Virgi's Eneid, B. 5. near the end.

A thousand forms attend the glorious god,"
Enormous whales, and monfters of the flood;
Here the long train of hoary Glaucus rides;
Here the fwift Tritons fhoot along the tides;
There rode Palamon o'er the wat'ry plain,
With aged Phorcus, and his azure train;
And beauteous Thetis led the daughters of the