Rank we th' Arcadian's Death.-The Premium lies
In our own Breasts, and Plunder is our Prize.
No more, each at his Cohort's Van, appear
The fev'n fam'd Crefts, or glitter in the Rear.
Then fear ye Capaneus, whose Valour's Rage,
My Brother's Youth, and th' Argive Monarch's Age?
Hafte, Warriors, hafte, and while intrench'd they lie,
Surround with Flames, nor give them time to fly. 50
Within our Reach the glorious Conquest stands,
And the rich Prey lies ready to our Hands.
The Thebans thus he fires with promis'd Spoils,
And urges to renew their profp'rous Toils.
They turn'd just as they were, nor wash'd away
The Sweat and Blood of the preceding Day :
Their dearest Friends from their Embrace they shook,
No Pause they make, and no Enquiries brook.
The Troops in fev'ral Parties then divide,
And gird the Front, the Back, and either Side
Of the Greek Trench with Flames.-At Depth of Night
Thus rav'ning Wolves in hideous Throngs unite,
v.61. At Depth of Night] Virgil has an equally fine Simile in his ninth Book, derived from the fame Animal.
Ac veluti pleno Lupus infidiatus ovili,
Cum fremit ad caulas, ventos perpeffus, & imbres,
Nocte fuper mediâ: tuti fub matribus agni
Balatum exercent: ille afper, & improbus irâ,
Sævit in abfentes: collecta fatigat edendi
Ex longo rabies, & ficcæ fanguine fauces.
Tafo has tranfcribed the firft Part of this Comparison in the nineteenth Canto of his Jerufalem;
Qual lupo predatore al' aer bruno
Le chiufe mandre, infidiando, aggira,
Secco l' avide fauci, e nel digiuno
Da nativo odio ftimolato, e d'ira.
And, urg'd with Luft of long-untafted Food,
Defert their Haunts, and seek the fleecy Brood.
Vain Hope torments their Maws, as in the Gale
They snuff their Breath, and lift'ning at the Pale,
Catch their hoarfe Bleatings. Stiff at length with Cold,
In Impotence of Anger, at the Fold
They dart their Claws, and while the Foam runs o'er,
Gnash their sharpTeeth, and threat th' obftructing Door.
Meanwhile at Argos an affembled Train
Of fuppliant Dames proceed to Juno's Fane:
There, proftrate at her Altars, they implore
Her Aid divine, and urge her to restore
v. 71. Meanwhile at Argos an affembled Train] This Proceffion of the Grecian Matrons to the Temple of Juno, with their Offerings, and the Ceremonies is copied from the fixth Book of the Iliad, where the Trojan Women make the fame Proceffion to Minerva's Temple.
Αἱ δ ̓ ὅτε νηὸν ἱκανον ̓Αθήνης εν πόλει άκρη,
Τῆσι θύρας ώιξε Θεανώ καλλιπάρηθ,
Αἱ δ ̓ ὀλολυγῆ πᾶσαι ̓Αθήνη χεῖρας ἀνέχον
Ηδ ̓ ἄρα πέπλον ἑλᾶσα θεανώ καλλιπάρησε
Θῆκεν ̓Αθεναίης ἐπὶ γενάσιν ἠυκόμοιο.
Virgil has alfo introduced it among the Figures in the Picture at Carthage. Æneid. i. v. 483.
Interea ad templum non æquæ Palladis ibant
Crinibus Iliades paffis, peplumque ferebant
Suppliciter triftes; & tunfis pectora palmis.
He has copied it again in the eleventh Book;
Necnon ad templum fummafque ad Palladis arces
Subvenitur magnà matrum regina catervâ,
Succedunt matres, & templum thure vaporant,
Et mæftas alto fundunt de Limine voces.
But I think, our Author's is more conformable to the Christian Syftem; the Worship whereof is grounded more on Love than Fear, and feems directed rather to implore the Affiftance and Protection of a benevolent Being, than avert the Malice and Anger of a wrathful and mischievous Dæmon.
Their abfent Friends. On the cold Stones they fail, 75
They prefs their Faces to the Doors and Wall,
And teach their little Sons Religion's Care.
Now fets the Day, consum❜d in Vows and Pray'r,
And Night fucceeds, when heap'd with watchful Fires,
Their Altars blaze: the Smoke afcends in Spires. 80
A coftly Veil too, as a Gift, they brought,
No barren Hand the shining Veft had wrought;
Rich was it's Texture, and it's every Part
Was labour'd o'er with more than vulgar Art.
The Ground was purple, glorious to behold,
With Foliage interwove, and Flow'rs of Gold.
There Juno's felf with Eyes caft downward ftands,
Betroth'd, not fetter'd yet in nuptial Bands;
Afham'd to fink the Sifter in the Spouse,
Her rofy Cheek with graceful Blushes glows,
And, yet a Stranger to his furtive Love,
She prints sweet Kiffes on her youthful Jove.
With this the facred Iv'ry they invest,
And weeping, thus their humble Suit addreft,
O Queen of Heav'n, and all th' etherial Pow'rs!
Behold the Tyrian Harlot's impious Tow'rs!
Burst all her Gates, hurl all her Rampires down,
And with new Light'nings blaft the guilty Town.
How can fhe act? She knows the Will of Fate,
And fears with Jove to enter in Debate;
Yet forrows, left the Gifts of mighty Coft,
Their ardent Pray'rs, and Sacrifice be loft.
While thus fhe mus'd, aufpicious Chance bestows
A Time to aid, and grant their pious Vows.
From her bright Throne she fees the Portals clos'd
And wakeful Guards around the Trench difpos'd. 106
Wrath and Revenge her fpleenful Bofom ftrook,
And as fhe mov'd, her Crown terrific fhook.
Such was her Rage, when from her starry Plain
She view'd Alcmene's Son with stern Disdain,
And griev'd, that Thebes fhou'd bring *two Baftard-Boys
To Light, the Fruits of Jove's adult'rous Joys.
She dooms the Thebans then to Death, who keep
The mighty Watch, when lock'd in fudden Sleep:
In Iris now fhe vests the whole Command,
And lodges all the weighty Charge in Hand,
Who bends her Progress to the World below,
Sufpending high in Air her various Bow.
Far on the Confines of the western Main,
Where Ethiopia bounds her wide Domain,
* Hercules and Bacchus, the former being the Son of Alcmene, and the latter of Semele.
v. 119. Far on the Confines] The Poets have differed in their Accounts of the Situation of this Court of Morpheus: Homer places it at Lemnos, Ovid with the Cimmerians, a People of Scythia, and ours above Ethiopia. The Verfes marked are some that are not in all the Editions, but which I have rendered on the Authority of Gronovius. This Defcription is preferable to that of the Temple of Mars in the feventh Book, but rivalled by that of the Palace of this Deity in the 11th Book of the Metamorphofes.
Eft prope Cimmerios longo Spelunca receffu,
Mons cavus, ignavi domus, et penetralia Somni;
Quo nunquam radiis oriens, mediufve, cadenfve
Phoebus adire poteft. Nebulæ caligine mistæ
Exhalantur humo: dubiæque crepufcula lucis.
Non vigil ales ibi criftati cantibus oris
Evocat Auroram: nec voce filentia rumpunt
Sollicitive canes, canibusve sagacior anfer.
Non fera, non pecudes, non moti flumine rami,
Humanææve fonum reddunt convicia linguæ
Muta quies habitat. Saxo tamen exit ab imo
Rivus aquæ Lethes: per quem olim murmure labens
Invitat fomnos crepitantibus unda lapiilis.
Ante fores antri fæcunda papavera florent,
Innumeræque herbæ, quarum de lacte foporem
There ftands a Grove, that cafts a Shade afar, ́
Impenetrable to the brightest Star,
Beneath whofe hollow Rocks a Cave defcends
Of depth immenfe, and in the Mountain ends.
Here all-difpofing Nature fix'd th' Abode
Of Somnus, and fecur'd the drowzy God.
Sloth, who scarce knows an Interval from Sleep,
Reft motion-less, and dark Oblivion keep
Eternal Sentry at the gloomy Gate:
There listless Ease, and awful Silence fate
With close-contracted Wings, and, still as Death,
Repell the Winds, and hush each Murmur's Breath
No rustling Foliage here is heard to move,
No feather'd Songfters warble thro' the Grove;
No Lightnings glare, no crashing Thunders roar, 135
No foamy Waves, rebounding from the Shore.
The neighb'ring Stream along the Valley glides,
And rolls between the Rocks his noiseless Tides.
The fable Herds and Flocks from Food abstain,
Or only graze, recumbent on the Plain :
Nox legit, et fpargit per opacas humida terras.
Janua, quæ verfo ftridorem cardine reddat,
Nulla domo toto eft; cuftos in limine nullus.
At medio torus eft, ebeno fublimis in atra,
Plumeus, unicolor, pullo velamine tectus :
Quo cubat ipfe Deus, membris languore folutis.
Hunc circa paffim varias imitantia formas
Somnia vana jacent totidem, quot meffis ariftas,
Silva gerit frondes, ejectas littus arenas.
think the Ovidian Circumstance of its having no Gates, which might make a Noife by the Turning of their Hinges, is proper enough but our Author's Account of the greatest Provocatives to Sleep is very juft, and a great Improvement on the preceding Defcription.
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