And varied at his Will his Voice and Look.
Now the Pifean Mode of Drefs he wears;
And then a Suit of Pylian Armour bears:
Or in the Spartan Phrafe, t'augment their Fear,
Swears by the Gods, the Theban Hoft is near.
All paffes with the Crowd for genuine Truth,
And gains Belief from hoary Age and Youth.
But, when on Whirlwinds borne, the direful Tale 195
He wafts around, and brooding o'er the Vale
Thrice fhakes his founding Shield, thrice fmites his
Steeds,
And lifts the Lance that flames o'er all the Meads,
Arms, Arms they fhout, and no, Decorum known,
Take up another's Weapons for their own.
In borrow'd Coats of Mail, and Casques they shine,
And to their Comrades' Car their Courfers join.
In ev'ry Breast Impatience to engage,
Such is the Tumult, when indulgent Gales
Blow from the Strand, and fill the spreading Sails,
Before the Blaft the gaudy Veffel flies,
The Port rolls back, and leffens to their Eyes.
Now on the Surface of the Deep their Oars,
And Anchors float: while the deferted Shores,
And Comrades left behind their Eyes purfue,
Till all is loft, and vanifh'd from their View.
When vine-crown'd Bacchus ey'd the Grecian Throng,
As, flush'd with martial Heat, they post along,
He turn'd his Eyes on Thebes, and inly groan'd,
For much his native City he bemoan'd.
A Look, expreffive of his Grief he wore ;
The purple Chaplets grac'd his Hair no more.
Th' untafted Clusters from his Horns he fhook,
And the wreath'd Spear his better Hand forfook.
Divested of his Robes, before the Throne
Of Jove, who prefs'd by chance the Pole alone,
In all the Negligence of Woe he stands,
And, fuppliant, thus befpeaks with lifted Hands
v. 215 When vine-crown'd Bacchus] If Venus in Virgil pleads for the
Trojans, Bacchus here intercedes for his native City, Thebes, and Statius
has given Jupiter the fame tender Regard for him, as in the Æneid
he discovers for Venus. From Jupiter's Answer to Bacchus on this
Occafion, compared to what he fays elsewhere, it appears, that
Jupiter himself was fubject to the Laws of Fate: but, in Reality,
thefe are found to be no other than the fixed and immutable De-
terminations of his own Will. Here he tells that God, he does not
act in Compliance to Juno's Caprice, but conformable to the unal-
terable Order of Destiny. But in the Beginning of the Thebaid,
we find him pofitively declaring to the Gods in Council, his Refo-
lution of destroying the royal Families of Thebes and Argos, as a
Punishment for their Crimes: and, perhaps, the Fate of the Stoics
themselves was no other than this in Reality.
Lew. Cructus.
His gracious Sire, who well the Caufes knew,
Nor ftarts aftonish'd at th' unwonted View.
Say, Father of the Gods, wilt thou destroy
Thy Thebes? can none but vengeful Schemes employ
Thy Confort's Thoughts? and does no Pity move
In our Behalf the tender Breaft of fove?
We grant, that erft it griev'd thee to the Soul
To dart thy Light'nings from the cloudy Pole :
Yet why doft thou renew thy bitter Ire,
And threat thy late-lov'd Town with Sword and Fire ?
No Promises, nor Oaths thy Faith engage.
Alas! where wilt thou bound thy causeless Rage?
Is this a Proof of thy parental Love?
Yet gentler far to the Parrbafian Grove,
Argos and Leda's Dome thou didst repair,
For then a Virgin's Conqueft was thy Care.
Is Bacchus then of all thy num'rous Line
The last, who merits thy Regard divine?
Bacchus, whom in far happier Days of Yore
(A pleasing Load) the Cloud-compeller bore,
v. 340 To the Parrhafian Grove] Calyfto was ravished by Jupiter
in this Grove. Argos was the Place, where that God impofed upon
Danae in the Form of a Shower of Gold. Leda was debauched by
the fame God in the Similitude of a Swan.
v. 243, Is Bacchus then] Lactantius informs us, that Bacchus com-
plains of his being fo often neglected by Mortals, as by Lycurgus
and Pentheus. To corroborate this Affertion, he has cited a long
Paffage from Ovid's Metamorphofes, where Pentheus is introduced re-
viling Bacchus. But this is a wrong Conftruction; and the Senfe of
Scilicet è cunctis ego neglectiffima natis
Progenies.
is, Ithen am to be the most flighted of all your Sons, i. e. by you.
v. 246. (A pleafing Load) the Cloud-compeller] When Semele was
blafted by the Lightning of her Lover, Bacchus, with whom she was
And fondly prov'd a Mother's keenest Throes,
To ufher into Life, and future Woes.
Yet more The Thebans are unfkill'd in Arms,
Rude and unexercis'd in War's Alarms;
My martial Discipline alone they know :
To weave the leafy Garland for the Brow,
And frame their Motions to the Pipe.-Can they
Who dread the wreathed Lance, and female Fray,
Sustain the Trumpet's Sound?-See furious Mars! 255
What Feats he meditates, what wasteful Wars!
How would'st thou rage, fhould he to Combat lead
And force the Cretans to th' embattel'd Mead?
A Tool was wanting, 'till entic'd by thee,
Argos muft execute thy ftern Decree.
Tis this Reflexion that augments our Woes,
We fall but to enrich our Argive Foes.
I yield but whither fhall we now translate
The Rites mysterious of our ruin'd State?
And what the pregnant Mother left behind,
More happy, had she been lefs fair and kind?
Shall I fue proftrate at the Thracian's Feet,
Or feek in conquer'd Ind a safe Retreat ?
O grant thy wand'ring Son a peaceful Dome.
At the Request of Sol no longer roam
then pregnant, was taken from her Womb, and fewed up in Ju-
piter's Thigh.
Eripitur, patrioque tener (fi credere dignum eft)
Infuitur femori, maternaque tempora complet.
v. 267 At the Thracian's Feet.] Lycurgus, King of Thrace, caufed
most of the Vines of his Country to be rooted up: hence the Poets
have feigned, that he fought with, and perfecuted Bacchus.
v. 270. At the Request of Sol] Venus upbraids Jupiter of his Par-
tiality in like Manner,
The Delian Rocks, but girt with Waves, unite,
Nor envy I the happier God of Light.
Minerva from her Citadel belov'd
Th' Invasions of the Surge with Eafe remov'd.
Great Epaphus, (as oft thefe Eyes have view'd)
Gives Laws to Egypt by his Arm subdu’d.
Nor Cretan Ida, nor Cyllene care,
What hoftile Deeds the neighb'ring States prepare.
Alas! in what then can our Rites offend?
Here (fince in vain Refiftance we pretend)
Here didft thou revel in Alcmena's Arms,
Here fair Antiope refign'd her Charms
With eager Guft, and here Europa play'd
The Wanton, by thy fpecious Form betray'd.
Desert not then the guiltless Race, that springs
From thee, the Father of the Theban Kings.
At this invidious Speech th' Almighty fmil'd,
And, gently raifing from the Ground his Child,
As on his Knees he fu'd with lifted Hands,
Embrac'd, and kindly answers his Demands.
Think not, O Bacchus, that the War's defign'd
To glut with Slaughter Juno's vengeful Mind.
Antenor potuit, mediis elapfus Achivis,
Illyricos penetrare finus, atque intima tutus
Regna Liburnorum, & fontem fuperare Timavi;
Unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis, &c.
v. 287. At this invidious Speech] Jupiter's Behaviour to Venus after her addreffing him may be compared with this to Bacchus.
Olli fubridens hominum fator atque Deorum,
Vultu, quo cœlum tempeftatefque ferenat,
Ofcula libavit natæ: dehinc talia fatur;
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