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Clymène, ocean-born, with beauteous feet,
And Japhet, in the bands of wedlock meet;
From whofe embrace a glorious offspring came,
Atlas magnanimous, and great in fame,
Menatius, thou with lasting honours crown'd,
Prometheus for his artifice renown'd,
And Epimetheus of unftedfaft mind,
Lur'd to falfe joys, and to the future blind,
Who, rafhly weak by soft temptations mov'd,
The bane of arts and their inventors prov'd,
Who took the work of Jove, the virgin fair,
Nor faw beneath her charms the latent fnare. 780
Blafted by lightning from the hands of Jove,
Menatius fell in Erebus to rove;

His dauntlefs mind that could not brook command,
And prone to ill, provok'd th' almighty hand.
Atlas, fo hard neceffity ordains,
Erect the pond'rous vault of stars fustains;
Not far from the Hefperides he stands,
Nor from the load retracts his head or hands:
Here was he fix'd by ove in counsel wife,
Who all difpofes, and who rules the skies?
To the fame god Prometheus ow'd his pains,
Fat bound with hard inexecrable chains
To a large column, in the midmost part,
Who bore his fuff'rings with a dauntless heart;
From Jove an eagle flew, with wings wide fpread,
And on his never-dying liver fed;

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What with his rav'nous beak by day he tore
The night fupply'd, and furnish'd him with more :
Great Hercules to his affiftance came,
Born of Alcmena, lovely-footed dame;
And first he made the bird voracious bleed,
And from his chains the fon of Japhet freed;
To this the god confents, th' Olympian fire,
Who, for his fon's renown, fupprefs'd his ire,
The wrath he bore against the wretch who ftrove
In counsel with himself, the pow'rful Jove;
Such was the mighty thund'rer's will, to raise
To greatest height the Theban hero's praise.
When at Mecosa a contention rofe,
Men and immortals to each other foes,
The ftrife Prometheus offer'd to compofe;
In the division of the facrifice,
Intending to deceive great Jove the wife,
He ftof d the flesh in the large ox's fkin,
And bound the entrails with the fat within,
Next the white bones with artful care difpos'd,
And in the candid fat from fight enclos'd:
The fire of gods and men, who faw the cheat,
Thus fpoke expreffive of the dark deceit.

810

In this civifion how unjuft the parts, O Japhet's fon, of kings the first in arts! Reproachful fpoke the god in council wife; To whom Prometheus full of guile replies:

O Jose, the greatest of the powers divine, View the divifion, and the choice be thine.

820

Wily he spoke from a deceitful mind; Jove faw his thoughts, nor to his heart was blind; And then the god, in wrath of foul, began To plot misfortunes to his fubject man : The lots furvey'd, he with his hands embrac'd 830 The parts which were in the white fat incas'd; He faw the bones, and anger fat confefs'd Upon his brow, for anger feiz'd his breast:

480

Hence to the gods the od'rous flames afpire
From the white bones which feed the facred fire.
The cloud compelling Jove, by Japhet's fon
Enrag'd, to him in words like these begun :
O! who in mal-contrivance all transcend,
Thine arts thou wilt not yet, obdurate, end.
So fpoke th' eternal wifdom, full of ire,
And from that hour deny'd the ufe of fire
To wretched men, who pafs on earth their time,
Mindful, Prometheus, of thy artful crime:
But Jove in vain conceal'd the fplendid flame;
The fon of Japhet, of immortal fame,
Brought the bright fparks clandeftine from above
Clos'd in a hollow cane; the thund'ring Jove
Soon from the bitterness of foul, began
To plot deftruction to the peace of man.

851

Vulcan, a god renown'd, by Jove's command, Form'd a fair virgin with a matter hand, Earth her first principle, her native air As modeft seeming as her face was fair.

860

The nymph, by Pallas, blue-ey'd goddess, drefs'd, Bright fhin'd improv'd beneath the candid veft: The rich wrought veil behind, wond'rous to fee,' Fruitful with art, bespoke the deity; Her brows to compafs did Minerva bring A garland breathing all the sweets of spring: | And next the goddess, glorious to behold, Plac'd on her head a glitt'ring crown of gold, The work of Vulcan by his master-hand, The labour of the god by Jove's command; There feem'd to fcud along the finny breed; And there the beafts of land appear'd to feed; Nature and art were there fo much at ftrife, The miracle might well be took for life. Vulcan the lovely bane, the finish'd maid, To the immortal gods and men convey'd; Graceful by Pallas drefs'd the virgin trod, And feem'd a bleffing or for man or god: Soon as they fee th' inevitable fnare, They praise the artist, and admire the fair; From her, the fatal guile, a fex derives To men pernicious, and contracts their lives, The fofter kind, a falfe alluring.train, Tempting to joys which ever end with pain, Never beheld with the penurious race, But ever seen where lux'ry fhows her face. As drones oppreflive habitants of hives, Owe to the labour of the bees their lives, Whofe work is always with the day begun, And never ends but with the setting fun, From flow'r to flow'r they rove, and loaded

home

Return to build the white, the waxen comb,

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While lazy the luxurious race remain
Within, and of their toils enjoy the gain,
So woman, by the thund'rer's hard decree,
And wretched man, are like the drone and bee:
If man the galling chain of wedlock fhuns, 890
He from one evil to another runs;

He, when his hairs are winter'd o'er with gray,
Will want a helpmate in th' athicting day;

| And if poffeflions large have blefs'd his life,
He dies, and proves perhaps the fource of rife;
A diftant kindred, far allay'd in blood,
Contend to make their doubtful titles good :

Or should he, these calamities to fly,
His honour plight and join the mutual tie,
And fhould the partner of his bofom prove 900
A chafte and prudent matron worthy love;
Yet he would find this chafte, this prudent wife
The hapless author of a checquer'd life:
But should he, wretched man, a nymph embrace,
A ftubborn confort, of a stubborn race,
Poor hamper'd flave,how muft he drag the chain!
His mind, his breast, his heart, o'ercharg'd with
pain!

910

What congregated woes muft he endure !
What ills on ills which will admit no cure!
Th' omnipotence of Jove in all we fee,
Whom none eludes, and what he wills muft be;
Not thou, to none injurious, Japhet's fon,
With all thy wisdom, could his anger hun;
His rage you fuffer'd, and confefs'd his pow'r,
Chain'd in hard durance in the penal hour.

The brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,
With Gyges, bound in chains, remov'd from day,
By their hard-hearted fire, who with furprise
View'd their vaft strength, their form, and mon-
ftrous fize:

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And from their dungeons burst to light again.
Earth told them all from a prophetic light,
How gods encount'ring gods fhould meet in fight,
To them foretold, who stood devoid of fear,
Their hour of vic'ry and renown was near;
The Titans, and the bold Saturnian race,
Should wage a dreadful war, ten years the space.
The Titans brave on lofty Othyrs ftand,
And glorioufly dare the thund'rer's hand :
The gods from Saturn fprung, ally their pow'r;
(Gods Rhea bore him in a fatal hour):
From high Olympus they like gods engage,
And dauntlefs face, like gods, Titanian rage,
In the dire conflict neither party gains,
In equal balance long the war remains;
At laft by truce each foul immortal rests,
Each God on nectar and ambrofia feasts;
Their fpirits nectar and ambrofia raife,
And fire their generous breasts to acts of praife;
To whom, the banquet o'er, in council join'd,
The fire of gods, and men exprefs'd his mind:
Gods, who from earth and heav'n, great rife,
defcend,

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To what my heart commands to speak attend:
For vict'ry long, and empire, have we ftrove,
Long have ye battel'd in defence of Jove;
To war again, invincible your might,
And dare the Titans to the dreadful fight;
Of friendship ftrict obferve the facred charms,
Be that the cement of the gods in arms;
Grateful remember, when in chains ye lay,
From darkness Jove redeem'd ye to the day.
He fpoke, and Cottus to the god replies:
O venerable fire! in council wife,
Who freed immortals from a fate of woe,
Of what you utter well the truth we know:

965

Refcu'd from chains and darkness here we ftand,
O fon of Saturn! by thy pow'rful hand;
Nor will we, king, the rage of war decline,
ill pow'r, indifputable pow'r, is thine;
The right of conquest shall confirm thy sway,
And teach the Titans whom they must obey.

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He ends, the reft affent to what he says; And the gods thank him with the voice of praise; He more than ever feels himself inspir'd, And his mind burns with love of glory fir'd. All rush to battle with impetuous might, And gods and goddeffes provoke the fight. The race that Rhea to her lord conceiv'd, And the Titanic gods by Jove reliev'd From Erybus, who there in bondage lay, Ally their arms in this immortal day. Each brother fearlefs the dire conflict ftands, Each rears his fifty heads, and hundred hands; They mighty rocks from their foundations tore, And fiercely brave against the Titans bore. Furious and fwift the Titan phalanx drove, 980 And both with mighty force for empire ftrove : The ocean roar'd from ev'ry part profound, And the earth bellow'd from her inmoft ground: Heav'n groans, and, to the gods, conflicting bends, And the loud tumult high Olympus rends.

So ftrong the darts from god to god were hurl'd,
The clamour reach'd the fubterranean world;
And where, with haughty ftrides, each warrior
trod,

Hell felt the weight, and funk beneath the god;
All Tartarus could hear the blows from far: 990
Such was the big, the horrid, voice of war!
And now the murmur of incitement flies,
All rang'd in martial order, through the skies;
Here Jove above the reft confpicuous fhin'd,
In valour equal to his ftrength his mind;
Erect and dauntless fee the thund'rer ftand,
The bolts red hiffing from his vengeful hand;
He walks majestic round the ftarry frame;
And now the lightnings from Olympus flame;
The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, 1000
Nor the flash fpares the verdure of the grove.
Fierce glows the air, the boiling ocean roars,
And the feas wash with burning waves their shores;
The dazzling vapours round the Titans glare,
A light too pow'rful for their eyes to bear!
One conflagration feems to feize on all,
And threatens Chaos with the gen'ral fall.
From what their eyes behold, and what they hear,
The univerfal wreck of worlds is near:
Should the large vault of stars, the heav'ns, defcend,
And with the earth in loud confufion blend, I0II
Like this would feem the great tumultuous jar:
The gods engag'd, fuch the big voice of war!
And now the batt'ling winds their havoc make,
Thick whirls the duft, carth, thy foundations shake;
The arms of Jove thick and terrific fly,
And blaze and bellow through the trembling sky;
Winds, thunder, lightning, through both armies

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Foremost the labours of the day increase,
Nor let the horrors of the battle ceafe: [throw,
From their ftrong hands three hundred rocks they
And, oft repeated, overwhelm the foe;
They forc'd the Titans deep beneath the ground,
Caft from their pride, and in fad durance bound;
Far from the furface of the earth they lie, 1030
In chains, as earth is diftant from the sky;
From earth the distance to the flarry frame,
From earth to gloomy Tartarus, the same.
From the high heav'n a brazen anvil cast,
Nine nights and days in rapid whirls would last,
And reach the earth the tenth, whence ftrongly
hurl'd,

The fame the paffage to th' infernal world,
To Tart'rus; which, a brazen closure bounds,
And whofe black entrance threefold night fur-
rounds,

With earth thy vaft foundations cover'd o'er; 1040
And there the ocean's endless fountains roar :
By cloud-compelling Jove the Titans fell,
And there in thick, in horrid darkness dwell:
They lie confin'd, unable thence to pass,
The wall and gates by Neptune made of brass;
Jove's trufty guards, Gyges and Cottus, ftand
There, and with Briareus the pass command.
The entrance there, and the laft limits, lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
And Tart'rus, there of all the fountains rife, 1050
A fight detefted by immortal eyes:

A mighty chaẩm, horror and darkness here;
And from the gates the journey of a year;
Here ftorms in hoarfe, in frightful murmurs play,
The feat of Night, where mifts exclude the day."
Before the gate the fon of Japhet stands,
Nor from the skies retracts his head or hands;
Where night and day their course alternate lead;
Where both their entrance make and both recede,
Both wait the season to direct their way, 106
And spread, succeffive, o'er the earth their fway:
This cheers the eyes of mortals with her light;
The harbinger of Sleep pernicious Night:
And here the fons of Night their mansion keep,
Sad deities, Death and his brother Sleep;
Whom, from the dawn to the decline of day,
The fun beholds not with his piercing ray:
One o'er the land extends, and o'er the feas,
And lails the weary'd mind of man to ease;
That iron-hearted, and of cruel foul,
Brazen his breast, nor can he brook controul,
To whom, and ne'er return, all mortals go,
And even to immortal gods a foe.
Foremost th' infernal palaces are feen
Of Pluto, and Perfephone his queen;
A horrid dog, and grim, couch'd on the floor,
Guards, with malicious art, the founding door;
On each, who in the entrance first appears,
He fawning wags his tail, and cocks his ears:
If any ftrive to measure back the way, 1080
Their fteps he watches, and devours his prey.
Here Styx, a goddess, whom immortals hate,
The firft-born fair of Ocean, keeps her state;
From gods remote her filver columns rife,
Roof'd with large rocks her dome that fronts the
kies:

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Here, cross the main, swift-footed Iris brings
A meffage feldom from the king of kings;
But when among the gods contention spreads,
And in debate divides immortal heads,
From Jove the goddess wings her rapid flight 1090
To the fam'd river, and the feat of Night,
Thence in a golden vafe the water bears,
By whofe cool ftreams each pow'r immortal swears.
Styx from a facred fount her courfe derives,
And far beneath the earth her paffage drives;
From a ftupendous rock defcend her waves,
And the black realms of Night her current laves:
Could any her capacious channels drain,
They'd prove a tenth of all the fpacious main;
Nine parts in mazes clear as filver glide
Along the earth, or join the ocean's tide;
The other from the rock in billows rolls,
Source of misfortune to immortal fouls.
Who with falfe oaths difgrace th' Olympian bow'rs,
Incur the punishment of heav'nly pow'rs:
The perjur'd god, as in the arms of death,
Lethargic lies, nor feems to draw his breath;
Nor him the nectar and ambrofia cheer,
While the fun goes his journey of a year;
Nor with the lethargy concludes his pain,
But complicated woes behind remain :
Nine tedious years he muft an exile rove,
Nor join the council, nor the feafts of Jove;
The banish'd god back in the tenth they call
To heav'nly banquets and th' Olympian hall:
The honours fuch the gods on Styx beitow,
Whofe living streams through rugged channels
flow,

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Where the beginning, and last limits lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
And Tart'rus; where of all the fountains rife; 1120
A fight detefted by immortal eyes.
Th' inhabitants through brazen portals pass,
Over a threshold of e'erlafting brass,
The growth spontaneous, and foundations deep ;
And here th' allies of Jove their captives keep,
The Titans, who to utter darkness fell,
And in the fartheft parts of Chaos dwell.
Jove grateful gave to his auxiliar train,
Cottus and Gyges, mansions in the main ;
To Briareus, for his fuperior might
Exerted fiercely in the dreadful fight,
Neptune who shakes the earth, his daughter gave,
Cymopolia, to reward the brave.

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When the great victor god, almighty Jove, The Titans from celeftial régions drove, Wide Earth Typhoeus bore, with l'art'rus join'd, Her youngest born, and bluft'ring as the wind; Fit for most arduous works his brawny hands, On feet as durable as gods he stands; From heads of ferpents hifs and hundred tongues, And lick his horrid jaws, untir'd his lungs; From his dire hundred heads his eye-balls stare, And fire-like, dreadful to beholders glare; Terrific from his hundred mouths to hear, Voices of ev'ry kind torment the ear; His utt'rance founds like gods in council full; And now he bellows like the lordly bull: And now he roars like the stern beast that reigns King of the woods, and terror of the plains;

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And now, surprising to be heard, he yelps, 1150
Like, from his ev'ry voice, the lion's whelps;
And now, fo loud a noise the monster makes,
The loftieft mountain from its bafis fhakes:
And now Typhoeus had perplex'd the day,
And over men and gods ufurp'd the sway,
Had not the pow'rful monarch of the skies,
Of men and gods the fire, great Jove the wife,
Against the foe his hottest vengeance hurl'd,
Which blaz'd and thunder'd through th' ethereal
world;
1159
Through land and main the bolts red hifling fell,
And through old Ocean reach'd the gates of Hell.
Th' almighty rifing made Olympus nod,
And the earth groan'd beneath the vengeful god.
Hoarfe through the cerule main the thunder
roll'd,

Through which the light'ning flew, both uncontroul'd;

Fire caught the winds which on their wings they' bore, [roar,

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Fierce flame the earth and heav'n, the feas loud
And beat with burning waves the burning fhore;.
The tumult of the gods was heard afar:
How hard to lay this hurricane of war!
The god who o'er the dead infernal reigns,
E'en Pluto, trembled in his dark domains:
Dire horror feiz'd the rebel Titan band,
In Tartarus who round their Saturn stand:
But Jove at laft collected all his might,
With light'ning arm'd, and thunder for the fight.
With ftrides majestic from Olympus frode;
What pow'r is able now to face the god!
The flash obedient executes his ire;
The giant blazes with vindictive fire;
From ev'ry head a diff'rent flame afcends;
The monfter bellows, and Olympus bends :
The god repeats his blows, beneath each wound
All maim'd the giant falls, and groans the ground,
Fierce flash the lightnings from the hands of Jove,
The mountains burn, and crackles ev'ry grove.
The melted earth floats from her inmoft caves,
As from the furnace run metallic waves:
Under the caverns of the facred ground,
Where Vulcan works, and reflets anvils found,
Beneath the hand divine the iron grows
Ductile, and liquid from the furnace flows;
So the earth melted: and the giant fell,
Plung'd by the arms of mighty Jove to hell.

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Typhoeus bore the rapid winds which fly With tempefts wing'd, and darken all the sky; But from the bounteous gods derive their birth The gales which breathe frugiferous to earth, The fouth, the north, and the fwift weftern wind Which ever blow to profit human kind: Thofe from Typhoeus fprung, an useless train, To men pernicious, bluiter o'er the main; With thick and fable clouds they veil the deep, And now deftructive cross the ocean sweep; The mariner with dread beholds from far The gathering storms, and elemental war; His bark the furious blaft and billows rend; The furges rife, and cataracts Lefcend; Above, beneath, he hears the tempeft roar; Now finks the veffel, and he fears no more: 1210

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And remedy to this they none can find,
Who are refolved to trade by fea and wind.
On land in whirlwinds, or unkindly fhow'rs,
They blaft the lovely fruits and blooming flow're;
O'er fea and land the bluft ring tyrants reign,
And make of earth-born men the labours vain.

And now the gods, who fought for endless fame,
The god of gods almighty Jove proclaim,
As Earth advis'd: nor reigns Olympian Jove
Ingrate to them who with the Titans strove; 1220
On those who war'd beneath his wide command.
He honours heaps with an impartial hand.

And now the king of gods, Jove, Metis led,
The wifeft fair one, to the genial bed;
Who with the blue-ey'd virgin fruitful proves,
Minerva, pledge of their celeftial loves;
The fire, from what kind earth and heav'n re-
veal'd,

Artful the matron in himself conceal'd;
From her it was decreed a race fhould rife
That would ufurp the kingdom of the fkies: 1230
And first the virgin with her azure eyes,
Equal in ftrength, and as her father wife,
Is born, the offspring of th' almighty's brain :
And Metis by the god conceiv'd again,
A fon decreed to reign o'er heav'n and earth,
Had not the fire deftroy'd the mighty birth:
He made the goddess in himself refide,
To be in ev'ry act th' eternal guide.

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The Hours to Jove did lovely Themis bear, Eunomie, Dice, and Irene fair; O'er human labours they the pow'r. poffefs, With feafons kind the fruits of earth to blefs: She by the thund'ring god conceiv'd again, And fuffer'd for the fates the rending pain, Clotho and Lachefis to whom we owe, With Atropos, our fhares of joy or woe; This honour they receiv'd from Jove the wife, The mighty fire, the ruler of the fkies.

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Eurynome, from ocean fprung, to Jove The beauteous graces bore infpiring love, Aglaia, and Euphrofyne the fair, And thou Thalia of a graceful air; From the bright eyes of thefe fuch charms proceed As make the hearts of all beholders bleed. He Ceres next, a bounteous goddess led To tafte the pleatures of the genial bed; To him fair-arm'd Perfephone the bore, Whom Pluto ravish'd from her native fhore: The mournful dame he of her child bereft, But the wife fire affented to the theft. Mnemofyne his breaft with love inspires, The fair-trefs'd object of the god's defires; Of whom the mufes, tuneful nine, are born, Whole brows rich diadems of gold adorn; To them uninterrupted joys belong, Them the gay feaft delights, and facred fong.

126

Latona bore, the fruits of Jove's embrace, The lovelieft offsprings of th' ethereal race; She for Apollo felt the child-bed throw ;And Artemis for thee who twang the bow. 1270

Laft Juno fills th' almighty monarch's arms, A blooming confort, and replete with charms; From her Lucina, Mars, and Hebe, fpring; Their fire of gods the god, of kings the king.

Minerva, goddefs of the martial train, [brain; Whom wars delight, fprung from th' almighty's The rev'rend dame, unconquerable maid, The battle roules, of no power afraid.

Juno, proud goddefs, with her confort ftrove." And foon conceiv'd without the joys of love: Thee the produc'd without the aid of Jove, 1281 Vulcan, who far in ev'ry art excel

The gods who in celestial mansions dwell.

1300

To Neptune beauteous Amphitrite bore Triton, dread god, who makes the furges roar; Who dwells in feats of gold beneath the main, Where Neptune and fair Amphitrite reign. To Mars, who pierces with his spear the shield, Terror and fear did Cytherea yield; Dire brothers, who in war diforder fpread, 1290 Break the thick phalanx, and increase the dead; They wait in ev'ry act their father's call, By whole ftrong hand the proudeft cities fall: Harmonia, fprung from that immortal bed, Was to the fcene of love by Cadmus led. Maia, of Atlas born, and mighty Jove, Join in the facred bands of mutual love : From whom behold the glorious Hermes rise, A god renown'd, the herald of the skies. Cadmean Simile, a mortal dame, Gave to th' almighty's love a child of fame, Bacchus, from whom our cheerful fpirits flow, Mother and fon alike immortal now. The mighty Hercules Alcmena bore To the great god who makes the thunder roar. Lame Vulcan made Aglaia fair his bride, The youngest grace, and in her blooming pride. Bacchus, confpicuous with his golden hair, Thee Ariadne weds, a beauteous fair, From Minos fprung, whom mighty Jove the fage Allows to charm her lord exempt from age. 1311 Great Hercules, who with misfortunes ftrove Long, is rewarded with a virtuous love, Hebe, the daughter of the thund'ring god, By his fair confort Juno golden fhod: Thrice happy he fafe from his toils to rife, And ever young a god to grace the skies!

1320

From the bright fon, and thee, Perfeis, fpring
Fam'd offsprings, Circe, and Æetes king.
Actes thee, beauteous Idya, led,
Daughter of Ocean, to the genial bed; [crown'd;
And with th' applaufe of heav'n your loves were
From whom Medea fprung, a fair renown'd.

All hail Olympian maids, harmonious nine,
Daughters of Egis-bearing Jove divine,
Forfake the land, forfake the briny main,
The god and goddeffes, celeftial train;
Ye Mules, each immortal fair record
Who deign'd to revel with a mortal lord,
In whofe illuftrious offsprings all might trace
The glorious likeness of a godlike race.
Jafon, an hero through the world renown'd,
Was with the joyous love of Ceres crown'd;
Their joys they acted in a fertile foil

1331

[toil;

Of Crete, which thrice had bore the ploughman's
Of them was Plutus born, who fpreads his hand,
Difperfing wealth o'er all the fea and land;
Happy the man who in his favour lives,
Riches to him, and all their joys he gives. 1339
TRANS. H.

Cadmus Harmonia lov'd the fair and young, A fruitful dame from golden Venus fprung; Ino and Simile, Agave fair,

And thee, Autonoë, thy lover's care,
(Young Ariftæus with his cómely hair),
She bore; and Polydore completes the race,
Born in the walls of Thebes a stately place.

The brave Chryfaor thee, Calliroe led
Daughter of Ocean to the genial bed;
Whence Geryon fprung fierce with his triple
head;

1351

Whom Hercules laid breathlefs on the ground,
In Erythia which the waves furround;
By his ftrong arm the mighty giant flain,
The hero drove his oxen crofs the main.

Two royal fons were to Tithonus born,
Of thee, Aurora, goddess of the morn;
Hemathion from whom and Memnon spring,
Known by his brazen helm was Ethiop's king,

Pregnant by Cephalus the goddes proves, A fon of high renown rewards their loves; In form like the poffeffors of the skies, Great Phaethon, whom with defiring eyes Fair Aphrodite views: in blooming days She to her facred fane the youth conveys; Inhabitant divine he there remain'd, His task nocturnal by the fair ordain'd.

1630

1370

When Peleis, haughty prince of wide command, Of much th' atchiever with an impious hand, Succefs attending his injurious mind, Gave the fwell'd fails to fly before the wind, Afonides, fuch gods were thy decrees, The daughter of Eetes crofs the seas Rap'd from her fire; the hero much endur'd Ere in his veffel he the fair fecur'd; Her to lolcus in her youthful pride He bore, and there poffefs'd the charming bride; To Jafon, her efpous'd, the lovely dame Medeus yields, pledge of the monarch's flame; Whom Chiron artful by his precepts sway'd: Thus was the will of mighty Jove obey'd. The Nereid Pfamathe did Phocus bear To Eacus, herself excelling fair.

To Peleus Thetis, filver-footed dame,
Achilles bore in war a mighty name.

Fair Cytherea, ever flush'd with charms,
Refign'd them to a mortal hero's arms:
To thee, Anchifes, the celeftial bride
Eneas bore high in the fhades of Ide.

Circe, the daughter of the fun, inclin'd

1380

1398

To thee, Ulyffes, of a patient mind;
Hence Agrius fprung, and Hence Latinus came,
A valiant hero, and a spotless name.
The facred ifles were by the brothers fway'd;
And them the Tyrrhenes, men renown'd, obey'd.
Calypfo with the fage indulg'd her flame;
From them Naufithous and Naufinous came.
Thus each immortal fair the nine record
Who deign'd to revel with a mortal lord;
In whose illuftrious offsprings all might trace
The glorious likeness of a godlike race:
And now, Olympian maids, harmonious nine,
Daughters of Egis-bearing Jove divine,
In lafting fong the mortal dames rehearse;
Let the bright belles of earth adorn the verse.
D

1401

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