Hurl flily midft their ranks a rough hard stone, "And they, like dogs contending for a bone, 1131 "Will flay each other thou with speed renew "The glowing fight, and conqueft will enfue. "Thus fhalt thou bear from Ea's realms to "Greece,

"If fuch thy fix'd refolve, the golden fleece."

This faid, her eyes were fix'd upon the ground, And her fair cheeks with freaming forrows drown'd;

Defponding anguish feiz'd her gentle mind,
Left he should leave her comfortless behind.
Embolden'd thus, him by the hand the prefs'd,
And in the language of her foul addrefs'd: 1141
If fafely hence thou fail'ft, O, think of me!
"As I for ever fhall remember thee!

"And freely tell me, to relieve my pain, "Where lies thy home beyond the boundless "main?

"Say, is Orchomenos thy native foil?

"Or dwell'st thou nearer on th' ξan ifle? "Let me that far-fam'd virgin's name inquire, "Who boasts the fame high lineage with my "fire."

She faid; her tears his foft compaffion won, 1150 And thus the chief, by love infpir'd, begun : • While on my fancy bright ideas play,

Thy image never from my soul shall firay, If fafe I fail, preferv'd by thee, to Greece, Nor heavier labours interrupt my peace. But if the distant country where I dwell Thy will demands, my ready tongue shall tell. A land there is which lofty hills surround, For fertile paftures and rich herds renown'd, Where from Prometheus good Deucalion came, His royal heir, Hæmonia is the name. 1161 Deucalion here the firft foundations laid Of towns, built fanes, and men by empire fway'd; There my lolcos ftands, and man; more 'Fair ample cities, that adorn the shore. What time, as rumour'd by the voice of fame, Eolian Minyas to that country came, 'He built, close bordering on the Theban ground, 'Orchomenos, a city far renown'd. 1169

But why your wonder fhould I vainly raise ? 'My birth-place tell, and Ariadne's praise? For this the virgin's name you now inquire, 'A lovely maid, and Minos is her fire.

Oh! may, like her's, your fire propitious prove, 'Who honour'd Thefeus with his daughter's love!" Complacent thus he footh'd her sorrowing foul; Yet anxious cares within her bofom roll. "Perchance in Greece" (the pensive maid rejoin'd)

"Oaths are rever'd, and folemn compacts bind. "But Minos greatly differs from my fire,

"Nor I to Ariadne's charms afpire.

"Then mention hofpitality no more;

"But, fafe conducted to thy native shore,

"Grant this, 'tis all I ask, Oh! think of me, "As I for ever fhall remember thee,

1180

"In my great fire, the Colchian king's despite : "But if thy pride my ardent paffion flight, "Fame, or fome bird the hateful news will bring; "Then will I chase thee on the tempeft's wing,

"Brand thy falfe heart, thy curs'd familiar "be,

1190 "And prove thou ow'ft thy life, thy all to me." Medea thus, and tears abundant fhed; And mildly thus the fon of Æfon faid: [foar

In vain, dear nymph, thy miffive bird fhall Through air fublime, in vain the tempeft roar. But if towards Greece thou deign'ft thy course 'to bear,

Immortal honours fhall attend thee there;
There hufbands, brothers, fons, fo long deplor'd,
Safe to their native land by thee reftor'd,
Shall as a goddefs reverence thy name,
And pay thee rites which only gods can claim.
But would't thou grace my bed with bridal
ftate,

Our love can only be diffolv'd by fate.'

1200

And both unwilling from the temple went;
He to his comrades bordering on the main, 1220
The fair Medea to her virgin train.
Her train approach'd, but stood unnotic'd by :
Her foul fublime expatiates in the fky.
Her rapid car fhe mounts; this hand sustains
The polish'd thong, and that the flowing reins.
Fleet o'er the plain the nimble mules convey'd
To Æa's walls the love-tranfported maid.
Meanwhile Chalciope aftonish'd stands,
And instant tidings of her fons demands;
In vain: fad cares had clos'd Medea's cars, 1230
No answers gives fhe, and no qucations hears;
But on a footstool low, befide her bed,

All bath'd in tears fhe fits; her hand fuftains her head.

There fits fhe pondering, in a pensive state,
What dire diftreffes on her counfels wait.
But Jafon, eager to return, withdrew
With his two friends, and join'd his focial crew,
Who throng'd impatient round, while he display'd
The fecret counfels of the Colchian maid,
And fhow'd the potent herbs: Idas apart
Conceal'd the choler rankling in his heart.
Meanwhile the reft, when glimmering day-light

clos'd,

Wrapp'd in the mantle of the night repos'd.
Next morn they fent Æthalides the fon
Of Mercury, and valiant Telamon,
(For thus in council had the Greeks decreed)
Of fierce eta to demand the feed,

1240

The ferpent's teeth, whofe ever-wakeful fight Watch'd o'er the fountain of the god of fight. This baneful monster was by Cadmus flain, 1250 Seeking Europa o'er the Theban plain; An heifer to his feat of regal fway, So will'd prophetic Phœbus, led the way. Thefe teeth Minerva from the monster rent, And part to Cadmus and Æeta fent : Sow'd on Baotia's ample plains, from those A hardy race of earth-born giants rofe. To Jafon these he gave, a precious fpoil; Nor, though his matchlefs arm the bulls might foil, 1259 Deem'd he, that victory would crown his toil. The fun now finking with a feeble ray To distant Ethiopians flop'd his way; Night yok'd her steeds; the Grecian heroes fpread Around the halfers and the fails their bed. The northern Bear was funk beneath the hills, And all the air a folemn filence fills: Jafon to lonely haunts purfu'd his way; (All rites adjusted the preceding day): 'Twas Argus' care a lambkin to provide, And milk, the reft the ready fhip fupply'd. A fweet fequefter'd spot the hero found, Where filence reigns, and fwelling ftreams abound;

t

1270

And here, obfervant of due rites, he laves,
His limbs immerging in the cleaning waves:
Then o'er his shoulders, pledge of favours past,
The gift of fair Hypfipyla he caft,
A fable robe: a deep round fofs he made,
And on the kindling wood the victim laid:
'The mix'd libation pouring o'er the flame,
Loud he invok'd infernal Brimo's name;
Then back retires: his call her ears invades,
And up the rifes from the land of fhades:
Snakes, wreath'd in oaken boughs, curl'd round
her hair,

1280

And gleaming torches caft a dismal glare.
To guard their queen the hideous dogs of hell
Rend the dark welken with inceffant yell;
The heaving ground beneath her footsteps fhakes;
Loud fhriek the Naiads of the neighbouring lakes,
And all the fountain-nymphs aftonish'd flood
Where Amaranthinė Phafis rolls his flood. 1290
Fear feiz'd the chief, yet backward he withdrew,
Nor till he join'd his comrades, turn'd his view.
And now on Caucafus with fnow o'erfpread,
The rifing morn her filver radiance fhed,
When proud eta, earlier than the rest,
The fencing corflet buckled to his breast,
The fpoils of Mimas of gigantic race,

Fierce to the field he haftes in regal flate, And crowds of Colchians round their monarch wait. 1310

As ocean's god, when drawn by rapid feeds, To Ifthmian games, or Calaureia speeds, To Tænarus, or rocky Petra roves, Or where Geræftus boasts her oaken groves, Oncheftus' woods, or Lerna's limpid fpring; So to the combat drives the Colchian king.

Meanwhile, inftructed by the magic maid, The chief his fhield, his fpear and trenchant blade With unguents fmear'd: the Greeks approaching nigh

1320

In vain their efforts on his armour try;
Bur chief the spear fuch magic charms attend,
No force can break it, and no onfet bend.
Idas enrag'd deals many a furious wound,
But, as hard hammers from an anvil bound,
So from the fpear his fword recoiling Sprung:
The distant vales with loud applauses rung.
Next, with the potent charm the chief anoints
His well-turn'd limbs, and supples all his joints.
And, lo! new powers invigorate his hands,
And arm'd with ftrength intrepidly he stands. 1330
As the proud steed, exulting in his might,
Erects his ears, impatient for the fight,
And pawing fnuffs the battle from afar ;
So pants the hero for the promis'd war.
Firmly he moves, incapable of fear;
One hand his fhield fuftains, and one the fpear.
Thus, when black clouds obfcure the darken-
ing day,

And rains defcend, the living lightnings play.

And now the fight draws near; the Grecian

train

1340

Thrace:

His golden helmet to his head he bound,
With four fair crefts of glittering plumage crown'd,
Bright as the fun new rifing from the main; 1301
His nervous arm a mighty fpear fuftain:
From his broad shoulder beams his fevenfold fhield,
Which not a chief of all the Greeks could wield,
Since great Alcides, of his friend bereft,
Was (fad mifchance! on Myfa's borders left.
His fon hard by with ready chariot fhands;
The king afcends; the reins adorn his hands;

Collected firm he wards each threatening blow.
As at the forge where melting metals glow, 1370
While now the bellows heave, now fink by turns,
The flame fubfides, or with fresh fury burns;
Stirr'd to the bottom roars the raging fire:
So roar the bulls and living flame refpire,
That fierce as lightning round the hero play'd,
In vain, now shelter'd by the magic maid.
One bull he feiz'd, that aim'd a deadly stroke,
Seiz'd by the horns, and dragg'd him to the yoke;
Then hurl'd the roaring monster on the ground;
An equal fate his fellow-captive found. 1380
Loos'd from his arm he flung his fhield afide,
And the two monfters manfully he ply'd,
Dragg'd on their knees his fiery foes o'ercame,
And thifting artfully efcap'd the flame.
Beta view'd him with aftonish'd eyes;
When lo! the fons of Tyndarus arife,
As erft it was decreed, and from the land
Heav'd the frong yokes and gave them to his
hand:

Thefe o'er the bulls' low-bended necks he flung;
The brazen beams by rings fufpended hung. 1391
The youths retreating from the burning field,
The chief refum'd his loaded helm, his shield
Behind him thrown; then grasp'd his massy spear,
(Thus arm'd the hinds of Theffaly appear,
With long sharp goads to prick their bullocks'
fides)

And the firm plough of adamant he guides.
The reftiff bulls with indignation fir'd,
From their broad noftrils living flames expir'd,
Loud as the blafts when wint'ry winds prevail,
And trembling failors furl the folding fail. 1400
Urg'd by his fpear the bulls their task fulfil,
Prove their own prowess, and the ploughman's

skill.

As the fharp coulter cleft the clodded ground,
The roughen'd ridges fent a rattling found.
Firm o'er the field undaunted Jafon treads,
And feattering wide the ferpent's teeth he spread:
Yet oft looks back, fufpecting he fhould find
A legion rifing up in arms behind:
Unwearied ftill the bulls their toil pursue;
Their brazen hoofs the stubborn foil fubdue. 1410
When now three portions of the day were spent,
And weary hinds at evening homeward went,
The chief had till'd four acres of the foil;
He then releas'd the monsters from their toil,
Away they fcamper'd wildly o'er the plain;
Himfelf rejoin'd his delegated train,

Till on the field his earth-born foes appear:
The Greeks their animated hero cheer.
He in his helm, replenish'd at the springs,

To flake his burning thirst fresh water brings. 1420
His limbs renew'd with forceful vigour play,
His heart beats boldly and demands the fray.

Thus the fell boar difdains the hunter-bands,
Foams, whets his tuiks, and in defiance stands.
Now rofe th' embattled fquadron in the field,
In glittering helms array'd, with fpear and shield,
Bright o'er the martial train the fplendors rife,
And dart in ftreams of radiance to the skies.
Thus, when thick fnow the face of nature shrouds,
And nightly winds difpel the wint'ry clouds, 1430
The stars again their splendid beams display;
So fhone the warriors in the face of day.
But Jason, mindful of the maid's command,
Seiz'd a vast rock, and rais'd it from the land:
Not four flout youths, for ftrength of limbs re-
nown'd,

Could lift a weight so ponderous from the ground:
This 'midft his foes, embattled on the field,
He hurl'd, and fafe retir'd behind his fhield.
The Colchians fhout, as when the raging main
Roars round tremendous rocks, but roars in vain.
In filence fix'd, Heta ftands aghaft
To fee the fragment with fuch fury caft.
The hoft, like dogs contending o'er their prey,
With curs'd ferocity their comrades flay,
Then leave on earth their mangled trunks be-
hind,

1441

Like pines of oaks uprooted by the wind.
As fhoots ftar from heaven's ethereal brow,
Portending vengeance to the world below,
Who through dark clouds defcry its radiant light:
Thus Jafon rufh'd, in glittering armour bright.
His brandifh'd falchion fell'd the rifing foes:
Succinct in arms, fome half their lengths difclose,
Some scarce their fhoulders; others feebly ftand,
While others, treading firm, the fight demand.

As on the bounds which feparates hoftile
Eternal fource of battle and debates, [ftates,
The cautious hind the cruel spoiler fears,
And reaps his wheat with yet unripen'd ears;
Ere yet the spikes their wonted growth attain,
Ere yet the fun-beams have matur'd the grain :
So Jafon's arms the rifing fquadrons now'd; 1461
Their blood profufely in the furrows flow'd.
Some fidelong fall on earth, and fome fupine,
Some prone lie grovelling and their lives refign,
Like whales incumbent on the buoyant main;
Some wounded perifh ere they tread the plain;
As late in air they held their heads on high,
So lowly humbled in the duft they lie.
Thus tender plants, by copious torrents drown'd.
Strew their fresh leaves uprooted from the
ground;
1470

The tiller views with heart-corroding pain
His foftering care, and all his labours vain.
Heta thus with wild vexation burn'd,
And with his Colchians to the town return'd,
Some weightier task revolving in his mind:
Thus clos'd the combat, and the day declin'd.

Ver. 413. The table was looked upon by the ancients as a facred thing; and a violation of the Jaws of hofpitality was efteemed the highest profanation imaginable.

Ver. 562. Virgil's defcription of the Maffylian priellefs is taken from this paffage :

Hæc fe carminibus promittit---
Siftere aquam fluviis, et vertere fidere retro!
Noctercolque ciet manes: mugire videbis
Sub pedibus terram, et defcendere montibus oros.
En. L. iv. 487.

Ver. 705. The chief power of difpofing of their daughters in marriage, even among the heathens, was in their parents, without whofe confent it was not held lawful. This Hermione in Euripices

Νεμφωμάτων δὲ τῶν ἱμῶν πατὴρ ἐμὲς
Μερικής ἴζει κ' ἐκ ἐμεν κρινεῖν τάδι.

Ver. 797. Here Dr. Broome's tranflation begins, and continues to ver. 1c87; but not without confiderable omiflions which are fupplied. Virgil has copied this exquifite defcription from our author. Both the poets defcribe minutely the profound calm and ftillnefs of the night, in order to render the agonies of the restlefs heroines more affecting by fuch a contraft. It is impofiible to give as a more lively idea of their reflefs fituation, than by reprefenting it in oppofition to that general tranquillity which prevails through the whole creation. The filence of the night, which difpefes others to reft, ferves to increase but their anguish, and to fwell the tumult of their paffion. Twas right; and weary with the toils of day, n loft repofe the whole creation lay, The murmurs of the groves and furges die, The ftars roll folemn, through the glowing sky; Wide o'er the fields a brooding filence reigns, The flocks lie ftretch'd along the flowery plains: The furious favages that haunt the woods, The painted birds, the fishes of the floods; All, all, beneath the general darkness fhare n fleep a fweet forgetfulness of care; All but the hapless queen.

Pitt.

Ver 935. We meet with this fimile in the fixth book of Homer's Odyfley, who applies it to Nauficaa fporting with her fair attendants in the meads. Virgil applies the fame fimile to Dido, walking in the midft of the city, with the Tyrian princes. See Pope's note on Od. 6. ver. 117. Some of the critics have thought that no paffage has been more unhappily copied by Virgil from Homer, than this comparifon. But, it should feem from fome circumflances in his fimile, that the Roman poet rather imitated this paffage of Appollonius, than that of Homer.

Ver. 936. Or rather Amnifian, according to Callimachus:

Ver. 1005. No poet has fucceeded better in any defcription than Apollonius has in the following. The anxiety with which Medea expects the arrival of Jafon, expreffed by her inattention and averfion to every other object, by her directing her eyes every way in fearch of him, and by her trembling at every breeze, are admirable ftrokes of nature. The appearance of Jafon, flushed with all the bloom of youth, advancing haftily towards her, like the ftar, to which he is compared, rifing from the ocean; the embarraffment which his prefence occafions, the filent admiration in which they ftand gazing at each other, like two tall trees in a calm, are particulars which none but the imagination of a real poet could have put together, and can never be fufficiently admired.

Ver. 1899. We have here a curious account of the ceremonies made ufe of in their facrifices to the infernal deities. Hecate the fame with the moon or Diana, was fo called, either from her being appeafed by hecatombs, or from the power the poffeffed of obliging thofe who were unburied to wander an hundred years. Virgil applies to her the epithet of ter geminam, and Horace that of triformis. She was called in heaven Luna, or the Moon, on earth Diana, and in hell Proferpina. Hecate, and Brimo, from her terrifying appearance.

It seems extraordinary that Diana, who is the goddess of chastity, fhould be reprefented as difpenfing her favourable influence in illicit amours. But the mythologifts inform us, that Diana and Venus are but one and the fame divinity. The Scholiaft on Theocritus, Id. ii. fays, that it was customary, among the ancients, for the men to