'He bade me teach thee all the ways of war; 570 'To shine in councils, and in camps to dare. 'Never, ah never let me leave thy side!

'No time shall part us, and no fate divide. 'Not tho' the god, that breath'd my life, restore 'The bloom I boasted, and the port I bore, 575 'When Greece of old beheld my youthful flames, '(Delightful Greece! the land of lovely dames!) 'My father, faithless to my mother's arms, 'Old as he was, ador'd a stranger's charms. 'I try'd what youth could do (at her desire) 580 "To win the damsel, and prevent my sire. 'My sire with curses loads my hated head, "And cries, "Ye furies! barren be his bed." 'Infernal Jove, the vengeful fiends below, 'And ruthless Proserpine, confirm'd his vow. 585 'Despair and grief distract my lab'ring mind; 'Gods! what a crime my impious heart design'd! 'I thought (but some kind god that thought supprest)

'To plunge the poniard in my father's breast:

Then meditate my flight; my friends in vain 590 'With pray'rs entreat me, and with force detain; 'On fat of rams, black bulls, and brawny swine, "They daily feast, with draughts of fragrant wine; 'Strong guards they plac'd, and watch'd nine nights entire,

The roofs and porches flam'd with constant fire. "The tenth, I forc'd the gates, unseen of all; 596 And favour'd by the night, o'erleap'd the wall.

600

'My travels thence thro' spacious Greece extend; "In Phthia's court at last my labours end. 'Your sire receiv'd me, as his son caress'd, 'With gifts enrich'd, and with possessions bless'd. The strong Dolopians thenceforth own'd my reign, 'And all the coast that runs along the main. By love to thee his bounties I repaid, And early wisdom to thy soul convey'd: 'Great as thou art, my lessons made thce brave, A child I took thee, but a hero gave.

605

609

"Thy infant breast a like affection show'd; 'Still in my arms (an ever-pleasing load) 'Or at my knee, by Phoenix would'st thou stand; 'No food was grateful but from Phoenix' hand. I pass my watchings o'er thy helpless years, "The tender labours, the compliant cares; The gods (I thought) revers'd their hard decree, "And Phoenix felt a father's joys in thee; 615 "Thy growing virtues justified my cares, 'And promis'd comfort to my silver hairs. Now be thy rage, thy fatal rage, resign'd; 'A cruel heart ill suits a manly mind:

"The gods (the only great, and only wise) 620 Are mov'd by off'rings, vows, and sacrifice;

Offending man their high compassion wins, 'And daily pray'rs atone for daily sins.

'Pray'rs rs are Jove's daughters, of celestial race, 'Lame are their feet, and wrinkled is their face; With humble mien, and with dejected eyes, 625 'Constant they follow, where injustice flies:

'Injustice swift, erect, and unconfin'd,

'Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples o'er man

kind, [behind. 'While pray'rs, to heal her wrongs, move slow 'Who hears these daughters of almighty Jove, 631 For him they mediate to the throne above: "When man rejects the humble suit they make, 'The sire revenges for the daughters' sake; 'From Jove commission'd, fierce Injustice then 'Descends, to punish unrelenting men. 'Oh! let not headlong passion bear the sway: 'These reconciling goddesses obey:

Due honors to the seed of Jove belong;

639

Due honors calm the fierce and bend the strong. Were these not paid thee by the terms we bring, Were rage still harbour'd in the haughty king, Nor Greece, nor all her fortunes should engage Thy friend to plead against so just a rage.

But since what honor asks, the gen❜ral sends, 645 And sends by those whom most thy heart commends,

The best and noblest of the Grecian train;
Permit not these to sue, and sue in vain!
Let me (my son,) an ancient fact unfold,
A great example drawn from times of old: 650
Hear what our fathers were, and what their praise,
Who conquer'd their revenge in former days:
Where Calydon on rocky mountain stands,
Once fought the Etolian and Curetian bands;

To guard it those, to conquer these advance; 655
And mutual deaths were dealt with mutual chance.
The silver Cynthia bade Contention rise,
'In vengeance of neglected sacrifice;

'On Eneus' fields she sent a monstrous boar,
'That levell'd harvests, and whole forests tore: 660
This beast (when many a chief his tusks had
slain)

'Great Meleager stretch'd along the plain.
Then, for his spoils, a new debate arose,
The neighbour nations thence commencing foes.
'Strong as they were, the bold Curetès fail'd, 665
'While Meleager's thund'ring arm prevail'd;
'Till rage at length inflames his lofty breast,

(For rage invades the wisest and the best.)

Curs'd by Althea, to his wrath he yields, 'And in his wife's embrace forgets the fields. 670 (She from Marpessa sprung, divinely fair,

And matchless Idas, more than man in war;

'The god of day ador❜d the mother's charms;

Against the god the father bent his arms:

'Th' afflicted pair, their sorrows to proclaim, 675
From Cleopatra chang'd this daughter's name,
And call'd Alcyonè; a name to show
The father's grief, the mourning mother's woe.")
To her the chief retir'd from stern debate,
But found no peace from fierce Althæa's hate;
Althea's hate th' unhappy warrior drew,
"Whose luckless hand his royal uncle slew;

681

She beat the ground, and call'd the pow'rs be

683

neath 'On her own son to wreak her brother's death: "Hell heard her curses from the realms profound, And the red fiends that walk the nightly round. In vain Ætolia her deliv'rer waits,

"War shakes her walls, and thunders at her gates. 'She sent ambassadors, a chosen band,

Priests of the gods, and elders of the land; 690 'Besought the chief to save the sinking state : Their pray'rs were urgent, and their proffers (Full fifty acres of the richest ground,

"

[great: Half pasture green, and half with vineyard crown'd,)

695

"His suppliant father, aged Eneus, came; 6 His sisters follow'd; ev'n the vengeful dame, Althea, sues; his friends before him fall: "He stands relentless, and rejects them all: 'Meanwhile the victors' shouts ascend the skies; The walls are scal'd; the rolling flames arise; 700 'At length his wife (a form divine) appears,

704

With piercing cries and supplicating tears; 'She paints the horrors of a conquer'd town, 'The heroes slain, the palaces o'erthrown, 'The matrons ravish'd, the whole race enslav'd: 'The warrior heard, he vanquish'd, and he sav'd. The Etolians, long disdain'd, now took their turn, And left the chief their broken faith to mourn. Learn hence, betimes, to curb pernicious ire, Nor stay, till yonder fleets ascend in fire:

710