776

What anxious Thoughts must these my Breafts engage,
These Breasts, the Solace of his tender Age?
From Thracian Kings fuch Usage I might bear,
But not from those, who breathe the Grecian Air.
Then grant my Wifh, and fecond my Defire,
Or in my Son's Embraces I expire.

These pow'rful Words the wrathful Cohorts move,
And all the Mother's virtuous Suit approve :
Whilft on their glitt'ring Shields and Armour flow
The pious Streams of fympathetic Woe.

780

As when the brindled Monarch of the Wood
Beholds the Hunter proftrate and subdu'd,

785

To meet his loving Mother's kind Embrace,
And tries to yield Antigone Relief,
And chace with Kiffes fair Ifmene's Grief:

While, various Tempests raging in his Mind,
Ambition for a Time the Reins refign'd.
He wills to go. Adraftus not denies ;
When, mindful of paft Inj'ries, Tydeus cries,
Rather let me address the gen'rous Foe,

795

Who his experienc'd Faith and Honour know,
Though not a Brother.-In this wounded Breast
I bear his Peace and Covenants imprefs'd.

800

V. 801. Though not a Brother] Nothing could be more aptly contrived to render Eteocles odious to his Brother, and confequently to diffuade him from trusting himself in his Hands, than this Reflection.

-He obferves to Polynices, that, though he was fo mal-treated by Eteocles, he was not his Brother; which is equivalent to saying, that he, who was his Brother, would be ufed with a much greater Degree of Rigour and Cruelty.

Why

Why did'st thou not, O gentle Mother-Queen!
As Judge and Mediatress stand between,

805

When the fee'd Guards in nightly Ambush lay?
Such is the League by which thou wou'dft betray
Thy Son.-But lead him to yon reeking Mead,
That still bears Witness to the bloody Deed.
Yet wilt thou follow ?-Do not thus neglect
Our friendly Counfels through a false Respect.
Say, when the hoftile Weapons round thee glare,
Will fhe, lamenting, make thy Life her Care,
And turn each Dagger's menac'd Point away;
Or will the Tyrant King forego his Prey,

810

815

And fend thee to our Camp unhurt again?
First Inachus fhall cease to seek the Main,
And Achelous run back, while in my View
This Lance its verdant Honours fhall renew.
Beneath this friendly Converse lurks a Sword:
Know, that our Gates too will Accefs afford:
In us, unperjur'd yet, he may confide;
Yet, fhould he me fufpect, I step aside.

Then let him come, while privy to the Scene,
His Mother and his Sifters ftand between.
But, fhou'd he the contested Crown restore,
Wilt thou refign, thy Term of ruling o'er?

820

825

This heard, their first Resolves the Warriors change, And for the Fight again themselves arrange.

v. 817. While in my View] The Hint of this Paffage is taken from Valerius Flaccus, Argonautics, Book 3.

Hanc ego magnanimi fpolium Didymaonis haftam,

Ut femel eft avulfa jugis, a matre peremptâ,

Quæ neque jam frondes virides neque proferet umbras,
Fida minifteria, et duras obit horrida pugnas,
Teftor.

Thus

830

Thus the fierce South by fudden Whirlwinds gains
The wide-stretch'd Empire of the liquid Plains
From Boreas.-Peace and Leagues they feek no more,
But give a Loose to Rage, and thirst for Gore,
Erinnys takes Advantage of th' Alarms,

And fows the Seeds of War and future Harms.

Two Tigers mild and innocent of Blood,

835

Purfu'd their Way to Dirce's facred Flood.
By Bacchus for the Chariot they were broke,

And, with their Country, bow'd beneath the Yoke;
Now old and useless in his Service grown,

They graze the Fields befide the Theban Town,
Gentle as Lambs, and smelling as they pass,
Of Indian Herbage, and Sabaan Grass.
The Bacchanalian Crowd, and elder Priest,
At each Renewal of their Patron's Feast,

840

v. 835. Two Tigers mild and innocent of Blood] Lewis Crucius, in his Account of our Author, obferves, that, it being more artful to let the War break out from a trivial Occafion, Statius has in this Paffage imitated Virgil, who informs us, the War between Æneas and Turnus was caufed by the killing of a favourite Stag.-I readily grant with this ingenious Gentleman, that this is an Imitation of Virgil, but cannot think the Death of the two Tigers a trifling Occafion of the War. There is certainly a wide Difference between the killing a Deer, the Property of a Country Girl, and two Tigers confecrated to Bacchus, the tutelary God and Patron of the Thebans: and whoever confiders what fuperftitious Bigots they were, at that Time of Day, will eafily imagine, that there could not be a greater Reason for the Thebans going to War, than fuch an Infult on their Gods, and such an Affront to their Religion.In defcribing the Careffes and Ornaments which were bestowed on them, he has taken fome of the Circumstances from Virgil.

Affuetum imperiis foror omni Sylvia curâ
Mollibus intexens ornabat cornua fertis,
Pectebatque ferum, puroque in fonte lavabat
Ille manum patiens, affuetus menfæque herili,
Errabat fylvis; rurfufque ad limina nota
Ipfe domum ferâ quamvis fe nocte ferebat.

Y

V. 486.

Their

845

Their fable Spots with purple Fillets blend,
While various Clusters from their Necks depend.
By Flocks and Herds they were alike belov'd,
Secure with them the lowing Heifers rov'd.

On nought they prey, but from each friendly Hand
Their daily Food in placid Guife demand,

And to the Ground their horrid Mouths incline,
To lap the purple Produce of the Vine.

Around the Country all the Day they roam,

850

But when at Noon they seek their wonted Home,
With facred Fires the Domes and Temples fhine, 855
As if to grace the prefent God of Wine.

But when her founding Lafh the Fury shakes,
Her founding Lafh, compos'd of twisted Snakes,
Their former Rage returning, from the Town
They break forth, by the Grecian Troops unknown. 860
As from a diff'rent Quarter of the Sky

Two Thunder-bolts, with Ruin pregnant, fly,
And thro' the Clouds a Length of Light extend;

Thus thro' the Fields their Courfe the Tigers bend,

And, fiercely growling, as they rush along,

865

Till brave Aconteus, kindled at the Sight
Aconteus, expert in the fylvan Chace,

(In fair Arcadia was his native Place)

To the Purfuit well-arm'd with Weapons fped,
As turning to their much-lov'd Thebes, they fled,

875

And

And, eager his long-studied Art to prove,

Thro' their pierc'd Back, and gufhing Bowels drove
The levell❜d Jav'lin.To the Town again
They fly, and flying, draw upon the Plain

880

A bloody Line, while o'er their upper Skin
The Darts appear, the Points deep-lodg'd within.
They imitate with Groans the human Cry,`
And to the Walls their wounded Breafts apply.
This seen, fuch Shrieks and mournful Clamors rise, 885
As if (the City made a hostile Prize)

The Tyrian Fanes and facred Mansions fhone

With Argive Fires, and Splendors not their own.

Lefs would they grieve, fhould Cadmus' regal Hall,
Or fair Harmonia's bridal Chamber fall.

890

But Phegeus, to revenge his injur❜d God,

With haughty Mien towards Aconteus strode ;

And as difarm'd, he triumph'd o'er the flain,

895

Aim'd a destructive Blow, nor aim'd in vain.
The youthful Bands of Tegea fly too late,
To fave the Warrior, and avert his Fate.
Thrown o'er the flaughter'd Animals, he lies,
And to th' offended Pow'r a Victim dies.
The Council broke and Congress held in vain
O'er all the Camp loud Tumults rife again.
Back thro' the hostile Troops Jocasta flies,
Nor longer on her Pray'rs or Tears relies.

goo

v. 879. To the Town again] Thefe Lines are taken from the fol lowing of Virgil, who fpeaking of the wounded Stag, fays.

Saucius at quadrupes nota intra tecta refugit,
Succeffitque gemens ftabulis, queftuque cruentus,
Atque imploranti fimilis, tectum omne replevit.

Y 2

v. 500.

Herfelf