1060

But if a kindred Voice pervade his Ears,
Reflecting on himself, his Limbs he rears,
And wishing much his Youth restor❜d again,
With Envy hears the Monarchs of the Plain.
At length Compaffion touch'd the Tyrant's Breaft;
Yet he but grants a Part of her Request,

And cries. Not distant from his native Coasts, 1065
Of whofe Delights so much he vainly boasts,

Shall he be banish'd, fo he cease to roam,
And leave inviolate each holy Dome.

Let him poffefs his own Citharon's Brow,

The Wood contiguous, and the Fields below, 1070
O'er which the Shades of Heroes, flain in Fight,
Are seen to flit, and fhun the loathfome Light,
This faid, his Course th' Ufurper homeward bent,
Nor durft the Croud withhold their feign'd Affent,
Meanwhile the routed Greeks by Stealth retire, 1075
And leave their Camp expos'd to hoftile Fire.
To none their Enfigns, and their Chiefs remain;
But filent, and difpers'd they quit the Plain:
And to a glorious Death, and martial Fame
Prefer a fafe Return, and living Shame.
Night favours their Design, Affistance yields,
And in a Cloud the flying Warriors shields.

1080

THE

THEBAID OF STATIUS.

OOK THE TWELFTH.

THE ARGUMENT.

THE

HE Thebans, after fome Doubts concerning the Reality of the Enemy's Flight, repair to the Field of Battle, and bury their Dead. Creon difcharges his Son's Obfequies with great Solemnity, and laments over him in a very pathetic Manner: he then forbids his Subjects to burn the Greeks. In the mean time the Wives of the fix Captains fiain in the Siege march in Proceffion to Thefeus, King of Athens to follicit his Affiftance in procuring the dead Bodies. Argia leaves them, goes to Thebes, accompanied only by Menætes, and burns the Body of Polynices on Eteocles's Pile. She there meets with Antigone, who affifts ber. They are taken, and brought before Creon, who sentences them both to Death. By the Interpofition of Pallas the Argive Ladies meet with a favourable Reception from Thefeus, who fends a Herald to Creon, and orders him to procure funeral Rites for the Greeks, or declare War against him. Upon the Tyrant's obftinate Refufal the Athenians march to Thebes, which upon the Death of Creon furrenders to Thefeus, and entertains him in a hofpitable Manner. The Princesses, having obtain'd the Bodies, difcharge their funeral Rités in a very fumptuous Manner, a particular Defcription of which the Poet waves, and concludes the work with an Address to bis Poem.

THE

THEBAID OF STATIUS.

BOOK THE TWELFTH.

WAS now the Time, that on the Vault ferene
Of Heav'n a smaller Groupe of Stars was feen,

And Phebe glimmer'd with diminish'd Horn;
When fair Aurora, Harbinger of Morn,
Difpels afar the trembling Shades of Night,
And refalutes the World with orient Light.
Now thro' the defart Town the Thebans ftray,
And mourn the tardy progrefs of the Day,
Tho', fince the Conflict with their Argive Foes,
Now first they taste the Sweets of soft Repose:

5

IQ

The Propriety of adding this last Book depends entirely on the Kind of Poem, which the Critics determine this to be. If they fettle it to be an Heroic or Hiftorical Poem only, they grant of Confequence the Neceffity of adding it in order to render the Poem compleat: but if it is an Epic Poem, it fhould have ended at the Death of the two Brothers, according to the Ariftotelian and and Bouvian Syftem. But after all I cannot fee any great Impro priety in fuperadding to the grand Catastrophe, if the Excrefcence grows naturally out of the Subject, and is equally well executed with the former, as I think no one will deny of this before us. I fhall conclude this Note with obferving, that Virgil is the only Writer, who has strictly adher'd to this Form,

Nor,