From Ephyr's walls, and Selle's winding fhore,
Where mighty towns in ruins fpread the plain,
800 And faw their blooming warriors early flain.
The Hero, when to manly years he grew,
́Alcides' uncle, old Licymnius, flew;
For this, constrain'd to quit his native place,

And fhun the vengeance of th' Herculean race, 805 A fleet he built, and with a num'rous train

Of willing exiles, wander'd o'er the main;
Where many feas, and many fuff'rings paft,
On happy Rhodes the chief arriv'd at laft:

There in three tribes divides his native band, 810 And rules them peaceful in a foreign land;

Encreas'd and profper'd in their new abodes,
By mighty Jove, the fire of men and Gods;
With joy they faw the growing empire rife,
And fhow'rs of wealth defcending from the fkies.
81 Three fhips with Nireus fought the Trojan (hore,
Nireus, whom 4gläe to Charopus bore,

Nireus

.815. Three Ships with Nireus.] This leader is no where mention'd but in thefe lines, and is an exception to the obfervation of Macrobins, that all the perfons of the catalogue. make their appearance afterwards in the poem. Homer himfelf gives us the reason, because Nirens had but a small flare

of

Nireus, in faultlefs fhápe, and blooming grace,
The lovelieft youth of all the Grecian race;
Pelides only match'd his early charms;'

B20 But few his troops, and small his ftrength in arms.
Next thirty gallies cleave the liquid plain,

Of thofe, Galydna's fea-girt ifles contain;
With them the youth of Nifyrus repair,

Cafus the ftrong, and Crapathus the fair; 825 Cos, where Eurypylus poffeft the sway,

iw

'Till great Alcides made the realms obey:
Thefe Antiphus and bold Phidippus bring, i
Sprung from the God, by Theffalus the King.

Now, Mufe, recount Pelafgic Argos' pow'rs, 2

830 From Alos, Alope, and Trechin's tow'rss

From Phthia's fpacious vales; and Hella, bleft
With female beauty far beyond the reft.

of worth and valour; his Quality only gave him a privilege to be nam'd among men. The Poet has caused him to be remember'd no less than Achilles or Ulysses, but yet in no better manner than he deferv'd, whofe only qualification was his Beauty: 'Tis by a bare repetition of his name three times, which juft leaves fome impreffion of him on the mind of the reader. Many others of as trivial memory as Nireus, have been preferv'd by Poets from oblivion; but few Poets have ever done this favour to want of merit, with fo much judgment. Demetrius Phalereus rei Egunveias, Sect. 61. takes notice of this beautiful repetition, which in a juft deference to fo delicate a Critick is here preserv'd in the tranflation.

Full

Full fifty fhips beneath.dchilles' care

Th' Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear; 835 Theffalians all, tho' various in their name,

The fame their nation, and their chief the fame. But now inglorious, ftretch'd along the fhore, They hear the brazen voice of war no more; No more the foe they face in dire array: 840 Close in his fleet their angry leader lay; Since fair Brifeis from his arms was torn,

The noblest spoil from fack'd Lyrneffus born, Then, when the chief the Theban walls o'erthrew, And the bold fons of great Ebenus slėw.ni 845 There mourn'd Achilles, plung'd in depth of care, But foon to rife in flaughter, blood, and war.: To these the youth of Phylacè succeed, Itona, famous for her fleecy breed,

And graffy Pteleon deck'd with chearful greens, 850 The bow'rs of Ceres, and the fylvan scenes, Sweet Pyrrahafus, with blooming flourets crown'd, And Antron's watry dens, and cavern'd ground. Thefe own'd as chief Protefilas the brave, Who now lay filent in the gloomy grave:

855 The first who boldly touch'd the Trojan fhore,

And dy'd a Phrygian lance with Grecian gore;

There

There lies,. far diftant from his native plain;
Unfinish'd, his proud palaces remain,.

And his fad confort beats her breast in vain.

860 His troops in forty ships Podarces led,.

Iphiclus' Son, and brother to the dead;

Nor he unworthy to command the hoft;
Yet ftill they mourn'd their ancient leader loft.

The men who Glaphyra's fair foil partake,

865. Where hills encircle Babe's lowly lake,

ર

Where Phere hears the neighb'ring waters fall,"
Or proud Tolcus lifts her airy wall,

H

In ten black hips embark'd for lion's fhore,

With bold Eumelus, whom Alceffè bore; 870 All Pelia's race Alceste far outfhin'd,

875

The grace and glory of the beauteous kind..

The troops Methone, or Thaumacia yields,
Olizon's rocks, or Melibad's fields, C

With Philoctetes fail'd, whofe matchlefs art

From the tough bow directs the feather'd dart.

でる 871. The grace and glory of the beauteous kind.] He gives Alceftis this elogy of the glory of her fex, for her conjugal piety, who dy'd to preferve the life of her husband Admetus. Euripides has a tragedy on this subject, which abounds in the moft masterly ftrokes of tenderness: In particular the first aft, which contains the defcription of her preparation for death, and of her behaviour in it, can never be enough admired,

Sev'n

Sev'n were his fhips; each Veffel fifty row,
Skill'd in his fcience of the dart and bow.
But he lay raging on the Lemnian ground,

A pois'nous Hydra gave the burning wound:
880 There groan'd the chief in agonizing pain,
Whom Greece at length fhall wish, nor wish in vain.
His forces Medon led from Lemnos' shore,

Oileus' fon, whom beauteous Rhena bore.

Th' Echalian race, in thofe high tow'rs contain'd, 885 Where once Eurytus in proud triumph reign'd, Or where her humbler turrets Tricca rears, Or where Ithomè, rough with rocks, appears; In thirty fail the sparkling waves divide, Which Podalirius and Machaon guide.

890 To these his fkill their * Parent-God imparts, *Æf

culapi- Divine profeffors of the healing arts.

The bold Ormenian and Afterian bands

In forty barks Eurypylus commands,

Where Titan hides his hoary head in fnow, 895 And where Hyperia's filver fountains flow. Thy troops, Argissa Polypates leads, And Eleon, fhelter'd by Olympus' fhades, Gyrtone's warriors; and where Orthè lies,

And Olooffon's chalky cliffs arife.

Sprung