On then, my Friends, to conquer or to die, And on the Justice of your Cause rely.
The Monarch spoke, and hurl'd a founding Lance, Prelude to fight, and signal to advance.
As when the cloudy Son of Saturn forms
The Winter's Reign, and vexes with his Storms The northern Pole, the Face of Heav'n's o'ercast, 965 And all Aeolia fhakes beneath the Blast,
Whilft Boreas, fcorning his inactive Ease,
Acquires fresh Strength, and whistles o'er the Seas: Then groan the Waves and Hills, the Lightnings
The Thunders roar, the Clouds in Conflict join. 970 Thus with repeated Strokes the Plains refound, And Wheels and Hoofs indent the fmoaking Ground. Troop follows Troop: beneath their Feet arise Black Clouds of Duft, and intercept the Skies, Yet thro' the thick'ning Gloom by Fits is seen The tranfient Light of Arms, that gleams between. Their Javelins glare with intermingled Rays, And ftrike each other with reflected Blaze. Now thro' the Shades of Night they seek their Foes: Meanwhile a Contest emulous arofe, Who first could reach the Town, and in the Wall Infix his Dart. Confpicuous o'er them all,
961. And burl'd a founding Lance] The Poet has here (as it fometimes happens with the most accurate Writers) confounded the Cuftoms of other Countries with those of his own, in repre- fenting Thefeus giving the Signal of War by darting a Javelin into the Frontiers of his Enemy's Country, which Ceremony was pe- culiar to the Romans only, and perform'd by their Feciales or He- ralds at Arms, as we learn from Livy, Book 1.
Neptune's great Offspring ftalks along the Field With haughty Strides, and waves his ample Shield, The sculptur'd Surface of whofe Bofs difplays Crete's hundred Towns, the first Effay of Praise. Himself is there pourtray'd, às rafhly brave Within the horrid Windings of the Cave, He twifts the Monster's Neck, and to his Hands, And brawny Arms applies the ftrait'ning Bands, 990 Or from his threat'ning. Horns withdraws away His Face, and fhuns with Art th' unequal Fray. Fear feiz'd the Theban Hoft, as they furvey'd
The Warrior's Image on the Targe pourtray'd; Such was th' Engraver's Skill, they feem'd to view 995 A double Thefeus, wet with gory Dew..
The Hero at the Sight recalls to Mind
His ancient Deeds, his Friends of noble Kind, The late-fear'd Threshold, and the Gnoffian Fair, Pursuing the loft Clue with bufy Care.
v. 989. The Monster's Neck] The Minotaur was half Man, half Beast, and kept in the Labyrinth made by Dædalus, where he de- voured yearly seven of the nobleft Athenian Youths, till the third Year Thefeus flew him, and escaped by the Help of Ariadne.
v. 995. They feem'd to view] Taffo feems to have imitated this Fiction in the laft Canto of his Jerufalem delivered, where he tells us, that Rinaldo's Motions were fo fudden and rapid, that every time he brandished his Sword, his Enemies thought he brandifhed three.
Qual tre lingue vibrar sembra il Serpente, Che la preftezza d'una il perfuade; Tal credea lui la sbigottita gente Con la rapida man girar tre spade L'occhio al moto delufo il falfo crede. E'l terrore a que' monftri accrefce fede,
Meantime the Dames, for speedy Death design'd By Creon's Law, their Hands faft-bound behind, Are from the loathfome Prison-house convey'd Beneath a double Guard. Both undismay'd, Triumphant would refign their vital Breath, Smile at the Dagger drawn, and rush on Death, And dying disappoint the Tyrant's Aim; When to the Court th' Athenian Legate came. An Olive's peaceful Branch indeed he bears But War in high insulting Tone declares; And mindful of his Lord's fupreme Command, Informs the Theban King, that near at hand, His Master's Troops are station'd, and but wait His Answer, to commence the ftern Debate. The Tyrant, floating in a Sea of Care, Now doubts to persevere in Wrath, or spare, At length with an affum'd, embitter'd Smile Confirm'd he thus replies in haughty Style. Since then no Samples of our Ire fuffice To make a rash, and doating People wife, Let Self-Experience. See! the Foe again
Infults our Walls. We'll meet them on the Plain. Let them prepare to share their Neighbour's Fate; Repent they may, but they repent too late. This is our Law, and on thefe Terms we take 1025 The Field. While thus in angry Mood he spake,
v. 1001. Meantime the Dames] There is a great Similitude be- tween this Book and the 2d of Taffo's Jerufalem. The Magnani- mity of Olindo and Sophronia resembles that of Antigone and Argia. The former are delivered from Punishment by the Mediation of Clorinda, and the latter by the Interpofition of the Athenian Am- baffador. Nor is the haughty Deportment of Phegeus unlike that of Argante.
A Cloud of Duft, ascending in his Sight.
Obfcures the Day, and hides the Mountains Height. Impaffion'd as he was, he warns his Bands To arm, and Armour for himself demands. Sudden he fees (an Omen of his Fall) The Furies feated in the middle Hall, Menaceus weeping his devoted Sire,
And the glad Argives flaming on the Pyre. How fatal to the Thebans was the Day,
When Peace, by Blood obtain'd, was chac'd away?
Their Weapons, scarce hung up, they now refume, Hack'd Shields, unable to prevent their Doom, Helms of their Crests bereft in Days of Yore, And Javelins yet diftain'd with clotted Gore: None is distinguish'd on th' embattel'd Mead For his neat Quiver, Sword, and well-rein'd Steed. No longer in the Trenches they confide: The City-Walls gape wide on every Side,
No Gates, nor Bulwarks guard the Guilty Town, 1045 By Capaneus dismantled, and o'erthrown.
Nor now the heartless Youth, before they quit Their Wives and Children, in Embraces knit
V. 1027. A Cloud of Duft, afcending in his Sight] Occafioned by the March of the Athenian Army.
V. 1031. And fudden fees] To make this Fiction tolerable, we muft not take the Words of the Original in a literal Senfe, but suppose, that Creon, opprefs'd with Cares and Anxiety, fell asleep, and faw these Images in a Dream; as Richard the third in Shake- Spear the Night before the Battel of Bofaworth faw the Ghosts of those he had murthered, and was by them threatened with his ap- proaching Death.
1047. Before they quit] The farewell Kifs was fo much infifted on by the Ancients at parting from, or feeing one another again after a long Abfence, that Suetonius informs us, Nero was cenfur'd, and look'd upon as an uncourteous brute for the Omiffion of it.
Their spreading Arms, nor the last Kiss bestow; E'en the craz'd Parents part without a Vow, But when th' Athenian faw the folar Beam From bursting Clouds upon his Armour gleam, With headlong Fury on the Field he leaps, Where many an Argive Chief unburied sleeps : And, as he views the Blood-polluted Streams, And breaths an Air condens'd by vap❜ry Steams Beneath his dufty Helmet, at the Sight Enflam'd, he groans, and rushes to the Fight. Some Reverence at least the Theban fhows, Some Honour on the Grecians he bestows,
As for the Fight another Plain he chofe, Nor mingled with the Dead his living Foes. But, to fill up the Measure of his Guilt, And fave the Blood, devoted to be spilt,
A Field untill'd, and never furrow'd o'er He fingles out, to drink the hoftile Gore, And now Bellona fets in adverfe Arms Both Hofts, and fhakes the Plain with War's Alarms. With Shouts the Theban Bands the Strife commence : But martial Trumps th' Athenian Troops incenfe. 1070 With down-caft Looks the Sons of Cadmus ftand, And feebly grafp the Weapons in their Hand; Their Arms yet unemploy'd, they yield their Ground, And fhew old Scars, and many a ftreaming Wound.
Quod neque adveniens, neque proficifcens, quenquam ofculo im- 'pertivit.' Life of Nero, Cap 37.
v. 1070. But martial Trumps] Euripides tells us, that Thefeus be- fore the Battel declar'd to either Army by an Herald, that he had no other View in this Expedition, but to have Juftice done to the Argives, by having them buried in a decent proper Manner; and that Creon made no Answer to this Declaration. Barthius.
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