And Heav'n itself the wand'ring chariot burn'd;

For this my brother of the wat'ry reign
Releas'd th' impetuous sluices of the main;
But flames consumed, and billows raged
in vain.

Two races now, allied to Jove, offend ;
To punish these, see Jove himself descend.
The Theban kings their line from Cadmus
trace,

From godlike Perseus those of Argive race.
Unhappy Cadmus' fate who does not know,
And the long series of succeeding woe ? 320
How oft the Furies from the deeps of night
Arose, and mix'd with men in mortal fight;
Th' exulting mother stain'd with filial

blood,

The savage hunter and the haunted wood? The direful banquet why should I proclaim,

And crimes that grieve the trembling Gods to name?

Ere I recount the sins of these profane, The sun would sink into the western main, And, rising, gild the radiant east again.

Must I, O Jove! in bloody wars contend? Thou know'st those regions my protection

claim,

Haste then, Cyllenius, thro' the liquid air; Go, mount the winds, and to the shades repair;

Bid Hell's black monarch my commands obey,

417

And give up Laius to the realms of day, Whose ghost yet shiv'ring on Cocytus' sand Expects its passage to the further strand : Let the pale sire revisit Thebes, and bear These pleasing orders to the tyrant's ear; That from his exiled brother, swell'd with pride

Of foreign forces and his Argive bride, Almighty Jove commands him to detain The promis'd empire, and alternate reign: Be this the cause of more than mortal hate; The rest succeeding times shall ripen into Fate.'

The God obeys, and to his feet applies Those golden wings that cut the yielding skies;

430

Then wheeling down the steep of heav'n

he flies,

And draws a radiant circle o'er the skies. Meantime the banish'd Polynices roves (His Thebes abandon'd) thro' th' Aonian groves,

While future realms his wand'ring thoughts delight,

His daily vision, and his dream by night.
Forbidden Thebes appears before his eye,
From whence he sees his absent brother fly,
With transport views the airy rule his own,
And swells on an imaginary throne.
Fain would he cast a tedious age away,
And live out all in one triumphant day:
He chides the lazy progress of the sun,
And bids the year with swifter motion

run:

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481

The wild desires of men, and toils of day,
And brings, descending thro' the silent air,
A sweet forgetfulness of human care.
Yet no red clouds, with golden borders gay,
Promise the skies the bright return of day;
No faint reflections of the distant light
Streak with long gleams the scatt'ring
shades of night;

From the damp earth impervious vapours rise,

Increase the darkness, and involve the skies. At once the rushing winds with roaring sound

Burst from th' Eolian caves, and rend the ground;

With equal rage their airy quarrel try, 490 And win by turns the kingdom of the sky. But with a thicker night black Auster shrouds

The heav'ns, and drives on heaps the rolling clouds

From whose dark womb a rattling tempest

Such was Diana's, such Minerva's face,
Nor shine their beauties with superior grace,
But that in these a milder charm endears,
And less of terror in their looks appears.
As on the heroes first they cast their eyes,
O'er their fair cheeks the glowing blushes
rise;
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Their downcast looks a decent shame confest,

Then on their father's rev'rend features rest.

The banquet done, the Monarch gives the sign

To fill the goblet high with sparkling wine, Which Danaus used in sacred rites of old, With sculpture graced, and rough with rising gold.

Here to the clouds victorious Perseus flies, Medusa seems to move her languid eyes, And ev'n in gold, turns paler as she dies: There from the chase Jove's towering eagle bears,

640

On golden wings, the Phrygian to the stars;

Still as he rises in th' ethereal height,
His native mountains lessen to his sight,
While all his sad companions upward gaze,
Fix'd on the glorious scene in wild amaze,
And the swift hounds, affrighted as he
flies,

Run to the shade, and bark against the skies.

This golden bowl with gen'rous juice was crown'd,

The first libation sprinkled on the ground; By turns on each celestial Power they call; With Phoebus' name resounds the vaulted