Herfelf a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis IDYLLIUM IV. This poem contains a dialogue between Megara, the wife of Hercules, and Alcmena his mother, wherein they recapitulate their mutual misfortunes. This famous hero gave great umbrage to Euryftheus, king of Mycena; who, fearing he would in time difpoffels him of his crown, tried all methods to deftroy him. Hercules, fenfible of his dangerous fituation, confulted the Oracle and being aufwered that it was the will of the gods that he fhould ferve Euryftheus twelve years, was thrown into fo deep a melancholy, that it turned at length into a furious frenzy; during which he put away his wife Megara, and mur. dered all the children he had by her, which are fuppofed to have been twelve, because the king impofed on him the fame number of labours, as in expiation for their murder, after he had recovered his fenfes. Hercules is fuppofed to have been abfent on one of thefe expeditions when this dialogue commences. Ver. 21. Virgil has happily imitated this beau- Which is as happily translated by Dryden. By ftealth, convey'd the feather'd innocence. Ver. 33 Megara was the daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, a city of Baotia. It may not be improper to remark, that Mofchus, contrary to the common opinion, fuppofes the parents of Mega ra to have been living when Hercules flew his children; whereas Euripides and Seneca affure us, that Lycus, a l'heban exile, murdered Creon and his fous, to obtain the crown; and that Hercules did not kill his children, till he had punished LyLongepierre. cus. Ver. 42. A city of Peloponnefus near Argos, where Hercules dwelt; and from thence was ftyled the Tirynthian hero.' Ver. 59. Iphiclus was the fon of Amphitryon and Alcmena, and the twin-brother of Hercules. Ver. 71. Thus St. Matthew, chap vi. ver. 34. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Ver. 86 For the ftory of Niobe, fee Ovid's Metam. book 6. See alfo the notes on the twentieth Ode of Anacreon. Ver. 88. That is, ten lunar months, St. Auguftine explains it thus: "Quod dicunter decem "menfes pregnantis, novem funt pleni; fed ini "tium decimi pro toto accipitur." Ver 90. The birth of Hercules was attended with the most excruciating pains to Alcmena, owing to the jealoufy and hatred of Juno; from which he was delivered by the addrefs of Galanthus. See Ovid's Metam book 9. Ver. 105. Thefe were probably intended to be emblems of those flames in which this hero was afterwards confumed on Mount Eta. Sec Ovid': Metam. book 9. Ver. 108. This circumftance of the flames purfuing Hercules is very fimilar to a paffage in the Iliad, book 21. where the rivers Simois and Sca mander unite, purfue, and attack Achilles with all their waves: Now here, now there, he turns on every side, The following modern ballad is clofely copied from this Idyllium, CROSS PURPOSES. But Mary fhe loves Harry; And finds his love miscarry. While Thomas flights her paffion : Of human inclination! As much as Mary Thomas grieves, And all the flouts that Bell receives From Tom, fhe vents on Harry. But hates the kind purfuer If one of all the four had frown'd Then, lovers, hence this leffon learn, And ftill through life this rule pursue, She, driven still by an unlucky fate, The ftory of Alpheus and Arethufa, is related at large by Ovid, in his Metamorp. Book 5. Vir Flies thofe that love, and follows thofe that hate.gil alfo mentions it in his Æneid, Book 3. And Horace, Book 1. Ode 33. Infignem tenui fronte Lycorida. Cyri torret amor: Cyrus in afperam Declinat Pholoen For Cyrus, fee! Lycoris, grac'd With flender forehead burns; For Pholoe, he Creech. Duncombe. This Idyllium has given occafion to the following ode to Cynthia, by a lady of Huntingdon; which must be allowed to have furpaffed the original. Sifter of Phœbus, gentle queen, Sicanio prætenta finu jacet infula contra An ifle, once call'd Ortygia, fronts the fides Pist. |