Whom Mycalifos shades with lofty Pines,
Where, as a Mirror clear, Gargaphye fhines,
Thy Streams, O Melus, lov'd of Pallas, rife,
And Heliartos views with envying Eyes
The Fruit of Ceres, and, as it afcends,
With the young Blades his noxious Herbage blends. 410
Their Shields are Bark. Huge Trunks fupply the Place
Of Spears. A Lion's Hide o'erspreads their Face.
These, as they want a Monarch of their own,
Amphion (by the Damfel not unknown)
Conducts to War. The Badges of the Realm,
A Bull and Lyre are wrought upon his Helm.
Proceed, brave Youth, to dare the thickeft Foes,
And for our Walls thy naked Breast expose.
You too, ye Warriors, favour'd of the Nine!
To yield us Aid forfake the Mount divine.
And thou, O Olmius, and Permessus bleft
With Streams, whofe gentle Murmurs lull to rest
The weary Shepherd, roufe to Feats of Arms
Your flothful Sons, averfe to War's Alarms.
414. By the Damfel not unknown.] I think it is not improper to take Notice, that this Parenthefis is not to be understood as spoken by Phorbas to Antigone, but by the Author to the Reader. He hints to him, that Phorbas is defcribing a Perfon to Antigone, whom she very well knew; fo that we may fairly conclude, there was fome Love-Match in the Cafe, to which the Poet alludes in this flight
v. 415. The Badges of the Realm, a Bull and Lyre] The Lyre was engraved on the Arms of the Thebans, becaufe Amphion is faid to have built their Town by his Skill in handling that Inftrument; and the Bull was added in Honour of Cadmus, who, when he fought his Sifter Europa, who was ravished by Jupiter in the Shape of that Animal, was conducted by an Heifer to the Spot, where he afterwards founded the City of Thebes.
In Strains adapted to their Country's Rite
They now exult, and harmonize the Fight.
Thus, when in Spring Sol fheds a warmer Ray,
On Strymon's Banks the Swans renew their Lay.
Pursue with Chearfulness this Track to Fame,
Secure, the Muses shall embalm your Name
In never-dying Numbers, and convey
To latest Times the Honours of the Fray.
The Princess here broke in, and thus replies.
O Father, hither turn thy aged Eyes,
For fure this Parity of Choice declares
That those are Brothers.-Mark, how either wears
The self-fame Armour! equal are their Crests:
But fay, what Motive thus cements their Breasts.
Were ours as thefe unanimous and kind!
She ceas'd. The Sage foft fmiling, thus rejoin'd. 440
Nor thou, O Queen, haft err'd in this alone:
Many (the real History unknown)
That these are Brethren, have alike believ'd,
By all the Signs of equal Age deceiv'd.
Yet are they Sire and Son, tho' each appears
A Brother both in Stature, Form and Years.
Fair Dircetis, enamour'd with the Charms
Of Lapithaon, fnatch'd him to her Arms;
v. 441. Nor thou, O Queen] It has been observed of Statius, that in his Catalogues he has happily imitated Homer and Virgil, by keeping up the Dignity of his Stile, and Harmony of his Numbers, and diverfifying the Detail with proper Epithets, fhort Defcriptions, and agreeable Narrations from Paffages of History and Fable, with which he diverts and refreshes the Reader at due Intervals. Of his Art in this last Article the following Anecdote is a fhining Inftance; and though it borders upon the marvellous, does not tranfgrefs the Licence of Poetry.
And, forcing Nature, taught the Boy to prove
Th' untimely Joys of undigested Love.
Nor was it long, before from their Embrace
Alatbreus fprung unmatch'd in Shape and Face.
He deigning not to wait the nat❜ral Time,
O'ertakes his Father in his, youthful Prime,
Adopts each Feature, blends their Years in one:
And now they change the Name of Sire and Son
For that of Brothers, and unknowing Strife,
Tread Hand in Hand, the chequer'd Path of Life.
With each three hundred Horse to Fight repair,
Who breathe fam'd Coronia's temp'rate Air,
And Gliffas', facred to the Pow'rs divine,
One for her Corn renown'd, and one for Wine.
Mark Hypfeus, whose enormous Shield display'd
O'er four tall Steeds extends its ample Shade!
Huge is its Orb, with fev'n Bull-Hides o'ercaft: 465
The Cuirass, for its Strength by few surpass'd,
Three Plates of Iron form. His gen'rous Breast
Alone it guards: he fears not for the rest.
His Spear the Glory of the fylvan Reign,
Ne'er baulks its Master's Hopes, nor flies in vain: 470
Thro' obvious Arms and Hearts it takes its Way,
Untaught to brook Resistance and Delay.
Afopus was his Sire (to credit Fame)
A Father then, and worthy of the Name,
When thro' the broken Bridge and ruin'd Mound 475
He roars, and deluges the Plains around,
v. 468. He fears not for the reft] Phorbas here pays a genteel and artful Compliment to the Valour of Hypfeus. He tells Antigone, that he had no Occafion for any Armour on his Back, because he never turned it to his Enemies.
Or when, to brave the Ruler of the Skies,
In Days of old he bade his Waves arife.
For they report, that whilft his Daughter stray'd
On the green, Bank he forc'd the beauteous Maid. 480
Refenting this (for at that better Time
The Rape of Virgins was no licens❜d Crime)
With Jove he durft in hardy Fight engage,
And dash'd against the Stars his foamy Rage:
At length, unequal to the triple Fire,
He flunk from Combat, and refign'd his Ire.
Yet fome fmall Sparks of Courage still remain ;
For oft in angry Mood upon the Plain
He pours Etnean Vapours, Badge of Shame,
And Ashes, gather'd from the Light'ning's Flame. 490
The Deeds of Hypfeus we shall foon approve,
If his fair Sifter can but influence Jove.
Him as their Chief, Ithone's Troops attend
Ithone, blefs'd with Pallas for a Friend.
From Arne, Graa, Mide and the Coast
Of Aulis, next he leads a banded Hoft,
With those who exercise their rural Toil
On green Platea, Peteon's furrowy Soil,
Euripus, ebbing in his Course again,
And thee, Anthedon, Verge of our Domain,
v. 496. Aulis] A City and Haven of Baotia, where the Grecians were detained a long Time by contrary Winds in their Expedition against Troy.
v. 499. Euripus.] A narrow Sea between Baotia and Eubea, where, according to Gregory Nazianzen and Juftin Martyr, Ariftotle drowned himself, because he could not discover the Caufe of its ebbing and flowing, which was feven Times a Day.
v. 500. Anthedon] A Town fituated between Eubœa and Bæotia. Glaucus was a Fisherman, who laying the Fifh which he caught, upon the Bank, obferved, that by tasting a certain Herb they revived, and
Where Glaucus, leaping from the graffy Shore,
Plung'd headlong in the Deeps, a Man no more,
And view'd with fudden Terror, as he sprung,
The Fishes, that around his Middle clung.
With Balearic Slings they cleave the Wind:
Their Javelins leave the swifteft Shaft behind.
Nor had Narciffus fhun'd the Strife of Arms:
But fmittten with his own reflected Charms
In Thespian Fields he grows. Cephiffus laves
The much-lov'd Flow'ret with his childless Waves. 510
Who can recount the Phocians fam'd of old,
The Phocians, in Apollo's Hoft inroll'd?
Who Panope and Cypariffos plow,
Or Lebodea's Vales, and Daulis fow?
Hyampolis, on pointed Rocks reclin❜d,
And high Parnaffus, at the Top disjoin'd?
Who thro' the Plains of Anemoria rove,
Thro' Cyrrha, and the dark Corycian Grove;
And from Lilæa's fea-beat Walls, difpread
With oozy Banks, behold the Fountain-Head
Of hoar Cephiffus, where the Pythian Snake
In the fresh Stream was wont his Thirft to flake.
leaped into the Sea again, which he imitated, and became a God of the Sea.
v. 509. Cephiffus] At prefent, Ceffo is a River of Greece that dif embogues itself into the Gulph of Negropont. It rifes in the Mountains of Phocis, and is stiled facred by Lucan, from the Nearness of its Springs to the Oracle of Delphos. This River was feigned to be the Father of Narciffus, whofe Story is in every School-boy's Mouth, and therefore needs not to be told here.
v. 513. Who Panope, &c.] Thefe Lines are almost a Tranfcript of thofe fubjoined from Homer's Catalogue. II. B. 2. οἳ Κυπάρισσον ἔχον, Πυθωνά τε πετρήεσαν, Κρίισαν το ζαθέην, καὶ Δαυλίδα και Πανοπλα, Οι τ' Ανεμώρειαν, καὶ Ὕαμπολιν αμφενέμοντο.
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