Poems on several occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

Now sounds the Vault of Heav'n with loud alarms,
And Gods by Gods embattling rush to Arms;
Here stalk the Titans of portentous size,
Burst from their Dungeons, and assault the Skies;

244

And there, unchain'd from Erebus and Night,
Auxiliar Giants aid the Gods in Fight:
An hundred Arms each tow'r-like Warrior rears,
And stares from fifty Heads amid the Stars;
The dreadful Brotherhood stern-frowning stands,
And hurls an hundred Rocks from hundred Hands:
The Titans rush'd with Fury uncontroul'd,
Gods sunk on Gods, o'er Giant Giant roul'd;
Then roar'd the Ocean with a dreadful Sound,
Heaven shook with all its Thrones, and groan'd the Ground,
Trembled th'eternal Poles at ev'ry stroke,
And frighted Hell from its Foundations shook;
Noise, horrid Noise th'aereal Region fills,
Rocks dash on Rocks, and Hills encounter Hills;
Thro' Earth, Air, Heav'n, tumultuous Clamours rise,
And Shouts of Battle thunder in the Skies:

245

Then Jove Omnipotent display'd the God,
And all Olympus trembled as he trod:
He grasps ten thousand Thunders in his Hand,
Bares his red Arm, and wields the forky Brand;
Then aims the Bolts, and bids his Lightnings play,
They flash, and rend thro' Heav'n their flaming way:
Redoubling Blow on Blow, in Wrath he moves,
The sing'd Earth groans, and burns with all her Groves;
The Floods, the Billows boiling hiss with Fires,
And bick'ring Flame, and smouldring Smoke aspires:
A Night of Clouds blots out the golden Day;
Full in their Eyes the writhen Lightnings play,
Ev'n Chaos burns: again Earth groans, Heav'n roars,
As tumbling downward with its shining Tow'rs;
Or burst this Earth, torn from her central Place,
With dire disruption from her deepest Base:
Nor slept the Wind: the Wind new Horrour forms,
Clouds dash on Clouds before th'outrageous Storms;

246

While tearing up the Sands, in drifts they rise,
And half the Desarts mount th'encumber'd Skies:
At once the Tempest bellows, Lightnings fly,
The Thunders roar, and Clouds involve the Sky;
Stupendous were the Deeds of heav'nly might;
What less, when Gods conflicting cope in Fight?
Now Heav'n its Foes with horrid inroad gores,
And slow and sow'r recede the Giant Pow'rs;
Here stalks Ægeon, here fierce Gyges moves,
There Cottus rends up Hills with all their Groves;
These hurl'd at once against the Titan Bands
Three hundred Mountains from three hundred Hands;
And overshadowing, overwhelming bound
With Chains infrangible beneath the Ground;
Below this Earth, far as Earth's Confines lie
Thro' Space unmeasur'd, from the starry Sky;
Nine Days an Anvil of enormous weight,
Down rushing headlong from th'aereal height,

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Scarce reaches Earth: Thence tost in giddy rounds
Scarce reaches in nine Days th'infernal Bounds;
A Wall of Iron of stupendous height
Guards the dire Dungeons black with threefold night;
High o'er the Horrours of th'eternal Shade
The stedfast Base of Earth, and Seas is laid,
There in coercive durance Jove detains
The groaning Titans in afflictive Chains.
A Seat of Woe! remote from chearful Day,
Thro' Gulphs impassable, a boundless Way.

Above these Realms, a brazen Structure stands
With brazen Portals fram'd by Neptune's Hands;
Thro' Chaos to the Ocean's Base it swells,
There stern Ægeon with his Giants dwells;
Fierce Guards of Jove! from hence the Fountains rise
That wash the Earth, or wander through the Skies,

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That groaning murmur thro' the Realm of Woes,
Or feed the Channels where the Ocean flows;
Collected Horrours throng the dire Abodes,
Horrid and fell! detested ev'n by Gods!
Enormous Gulph! immense the Bounds appear,
Wasteful and void, the Journey of a Year:
Where beating Storms, as in wild Whirls they fight,
Toss the pale Wand'rer, and retoss thro' Night:
The Pow'rs immortal with affright survey
The hideous Chasm, and seal it up from Day.

Hence thro' the Vault of Heaven huge Atlas rears
His giant Limbs, and props the golden Spheres:
Here sable Night, and here the beamy Day
Lodge and dislodge, alternate in their Sway.
A brazen Port the varying Pow'rs divides,
When Day forth issues, here the Night resides;

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And when Night veils the Skies, obsequious Day,
Re-entring, plunges from the starry way.
She from her Lamp, with beaming Radiance bright,
Pours o'er th'expanded Earth a flood of Light:
But Night, by Sleep attended, rides in Shades,
Brother of Death, and all that breathes invades:
From her foul Womb they sprung, resistless Pow'rs,
Nurs'd in the Horrours of Tartarean Bow'rs,
Remote from Day, when with her flaming Wheels
She mounts the Skies, or paints the Western Hills:
With downy footsteps Sleep in silence glides
O'er the wide Earth, and o'er the spacious Tides;
The Friend of Life! Death unrelenting bears
An iron Heart, and laughs at human Cares;
She makes the mouldring Race of Man her Prey,
And ev'n th'immortal Pow'rs detest her sway.

250

Thus fell the Titans from the Realms above,
Beneath the Thunders of Almighty Jove;
Then Earth impregnate, felt maternal Woes,
And shook thro' all her frame with teeming Throes:
Hence rose Typhoeus, a gigantic Birth,
O Monster sprung from Tartarus and Earth,
A Match for Gods in might! on high he spreads
From his huge Trunk an hundred Dragons Heads,
And from an hundred Mouths in vengeance flings
Envenom'd Foam, and darts an hundred Stings;
Horrour, Terrific Frowns from every Brow,
And like a Furnace his red Eye-balls glow;
Fires dart from every Crest, and as he turns
Keen Splendours flash, and all the Giant burns:
Whene'er he speaks, in echoing Thunders rise
An hundred Voices, and affright the Skies,

251

Unutterably fierce! the bright Abodes
Frequent they shake, and terrify the Gods:
Now bellowing like a Savage Bull, they roar,
Or angry Lions in the midnight hour;
Now yell like furious Whelps, or hiss like Snakes,
The Rocks rebound, and every Mountain shakes;
He hurl'd defiance 'gainst th'immortal Pow'rs,
And Heav'n had seiz'd with all its shining Tow'rs,
But at the Voice of Jove, from Pole to Pole
Red Lightnings flash, and raging Thunders roul,
Rattling o'er all th'Expansion of the Skies,
Bolt after Bolt o'er Earth and Ocean flies.
Stern frowns the God amidst the Lightnings Blaze,
Olympus shakes from his eternal Base;
Trembles the Earth: fierce Flame involves the Poles,
Devours the Ground, and o'er the Billows rouls,
Fires from Typhoeus flash: with dreadful sound
Storms rattle, Thunder rouls, and groans the Ground;

252

Above, below, the Conflagration roars,
Ev'n the Seas kindled burn thro' all their Shores,
Deluge of Fire! Earth rocks her tottering Coasts,
And gloomy Pluto shakes with all his Ghosts;
Ev'n the pale Titans, chain'd on burning Flores,
Start at the Din that rends th'infernal Shores;
Then in full Wrath, Jove all the God applies,
And all his Thunders burst at once the Skies,
And rushing gloomy from th'Olympian Brow,
He blasts the Giant with th'Almighty Blow;
The Giant tumbling sinks beneath the Wound,
And with enormous ruin rocks the Ground:
Nor yet the Lightnings of th'Almighty stay,
Thro' the sing'd Earth they burst their burning way;
Earth kindling inward, melts in all her Caves,
And hissing floats with fierce Metallic Waves;
As Iron fusile from the Furnace flows,
Or molten Ore with keen effulgence glows,

253

When the dire Bolts of Jove stern Vulcan frames,
In burning Channels roul the liquid Flames;
Thus melted Earth, and Jove from Realms on high,
Plung'd the huge Gaint to the nether Sky.

Then from Typhoeus sprung the Winds that bear
Storms on their Wings, and Thunder in the Air;
But from the Gods descend of milder kind,
The East, the West, the South and Boreal Wind;
These in soft Whispers breathe a friendly Breeze,
Play thro' the Groves, or sport upon the Seas:
They fan the sultry Air with cooling Gales,
And waft from Realm to Realm the flying Sails;
The rest in Storms of sounding Whirlwinds fly,
Toss the wild Waves, and battle in the Sky;
Fatal to Man! at once all Ocean roars,
And scatter'd Navies bulge on distant Shores.

254

Then thundring o'er the Earth they rend their way,
Grass, Herb, and Flow'r, beneath their Rage decay;
While Tow'rs, and Domes, vain Boasts of human Trust!
Torn from their inmost Base, are whelm'd in Dust.

Ægeon, Cottus, Gyges.

Of Night.

820.

Thus Heav'n asserted its eternal Reign,
O'er the proud Giants, and Titanic Train;
And now in Peace the Gods their Jove obey,
And all the Thrones of Heav'n adore his Sway.

256

THE LOVE OF JASON and MEDEA.

From the Third Book, Verse 743, of Apollonius Rhodius.

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The Translator has taken the Liberty in the following Version from the Argonautics of Apollonius, as well as in the Story of Talus, to omit whatever has not an immediate relation to the Subject; yet hopes that a due Connection is not wanting; and that the Reader will not be displeas'd with these short Sketches from a Poet, who is affirm'd to be every where sublime, by no less a Critic than Longinus; and from whom many Verses are borrow'd by so great a Poet as Virgil.

Νυξ μεν επειτ' επι γαιαν αγεν κνεφας, &c.

Now rising Shades a solemn Gloom display,
O'er the wide Earth, and o'er th'ethereal Way;
All Night the Sailor marks the Northern Team,
And Golden Circlet of Orion's Beam:

257

A deep Repose the weary Wand'rer shares,
And the faint Watchman sleeps away his Cares;
Ev'n the fond Mother, while all breathless lies
Her Child of Love, in Slumber seals her Eyes;
No Sound of Village-Dog, no Noise invades
The death-like Silence of the midnight Shades;
Alone Medea wakes: To Love a Prey,
Restless she rouls, and groans the Night away:
Now the fire-breathing Bulls command her Cares,
She thinks on Jason, and for Jason fears:
In sad Review, on Horrours Horrours rise,
Quick beats her Heart, from Thought to Thought she flies:
As from replenish'd Urns with dubious Ray,
The Sun-beams dancing from the Surface play,
Now here, now there the trembling Radiance falls
Alternate flashing round th'illumin'd Walls;

258

Thus flutt'ring bounds the trembling Virgin's Blood,
And from her shining Eyes descends a Flood:
Now raving with resistless Flames she glows,
Now sick with Love the melts with softer Woes:
The Tyrant God, of every Thought possest,
Beats in each Pulse, and stings and racks her Breast:
Now she resolves the Magic to betray
To tame the Bulls, now yield him up a Prey:
Again the Drugs disdaining to supply,
She loaths the Light, and meditates to die:
Anon, repelling with a brave Disdain
The coward Thought, she nourishes the Pain:
Thus tost, retost with furious Storms of Cares,
On the cold Ground she rouls, and thus with Tears:

Ah me! where'er I turn, before my Eyes
A dreadful View, on Sorrows Sorrows rise!

259

Tost in a giddy Whirl of strong Desire,
I glow, I burn, yet bless the pleasing Fire;
O had this Spirit from its Prison fled,
By Dian sent to wander with the Dead,
E'er the proud Grecians view'd the Cholcian Skies,
E'er Jason, lovely Jason met these Eyes!
Hell gave the shining Mischief to our Coast,
Medea saw him, and Medea's lost—
But why these Sorrows? if the Pow'rs on high
His Death decree, die, wretched Jason die!
Shall I elude my Sire? my Art betray?
Ah! me, what Words shall purge the Guilt away!
But could I yield—O whither must I run
To find the Man—whom Virtue bids me shun?
Shall I, all lost to Shame, to Jason fly?
And yet I must—If Jason bleeds, I die!
Then Shame farewell! Adieu for ever Fame!
Hail black Disgrace! be fam'd for Guilt my Name!

260

Live! Jason, live! enjoy the vital Air!
Live thro' my aid! and fly where Winds can bear!—
But when he flies, ye Poisons lend your Pow'rs,
That Day, Medea treads th'infernal Shores!
Then, wretched Maid, thy Lot is endless Shame,
Then the proud Dames of Cholchos blast thy Name:
I hear them cry—‘The false Medea's dead,
‘Thro' guilty Passion for a Stranger's Bed;
‘Medea careless of her Virgin Fame,
‘Prefer'd a Stranger to a Father's Name!
O may I rather yield this vital Breath,
Than bear that base Dishonour, worse than Death!

Thus wail'd the Fair, and seiz'd with horrid joy
Drugs foes to Life, and potent to destroy,
A Magazine of Death! again she pours
From her swoln Eye-balls Tears in shining show'rs;

261

With Grief insatiate, and with trembling Hands,
All comfortless the Cask of Death expands:
A sudden Fear her labouring Soul invades,
Struck with the horrours of th'infernal Shades:
She stands deep-musing with a faded Brow,
Absorpt in Thought, a Monument of Woe!
While all the Comforts that on Life attend,
The chearful Converse, and the faithful Friend,
By Thought deep-imag'd in her Bosom play,
Endearing Life, and charm Despair away:
Th'all-chearing Suns with sweeter Light arise,
And every Object brightens to her Eyes:
Then from her Hand the baneful Drugs she throws,
Consents to live, recover'd from her Woes;
Resolv'd the magic Virtue to betray,
She waits the Dawn, and calls the lazy Day:
Time seems to stand, or backward drive his Wheels;
The Hours she chides, and eyes the Eastern Hills.

262

At length the Dawn with orient Beams appears,
The Shades disperse, and Man awakes to Cares.
Studious to please, her graceful length of Hair
With Art she binds, that wanton'd with the Air;
From her soft Cheek she wipes the Tear away,
And bids keen Lightnings from her Eyes to play;
From Limb to Limb refreshing Unguents pours,
Unguents, that breathe of Heav'n, in copious Show'rs;
Her Robe she next assumes; bright Clasps of Gold
Close to the less'ning Waist the Robe infold;
Down from her swelling Loins, the rest unbound
Floats in rich Waves redundant o'er the Ground:
Last, with a shining Veil her Cheeks she shades,
Then swimming smooth along magnificently treads.

Thus forward moves the fairest of her Kind,
Blind to the future, to the present blind;

263

Twelve Maids, Attendants on her Virgin Bow'r,
Alike unconscious of the bridal Hour,
Join to the Car the Mules; dire Rites to pay,
To Hecate's black Fane she bends her way;
A Juice she bears, whose magic Virtue tames
(Thro' fell Persephonè) the Rage of Flames;
It gives the Hero, strong in matchless Might,
To stand secure of Harms in mortal Fight;
It mocks the Sword; the Sword without a Wound,
Leaps as from Marble shiver'd to the Ground:
She mounts the Car , nor rode the Nymph alone,
On either side two lovely Damsels shone:
Her Hand with Skill th'embroider'd Rein controuls,
Back fly the Streets, as swift the Chariot rouls.
Along the Wheel-worn Road they hold their way,
The Domes retreat, the sinking Tow'rs decay:

264

Bare to the Knee succinct a Damsel Train
Behind attends, and glitters tow'rd the Plain.
As when her Limbs Divine, Diana laves
In fair Parthenius, or th'Amnesian Waves,
Sublime in Royal State the bounding Roes
Whirl her bright Car along the Mountain Brows;
Swift to her Fane in Pomp the Goddess moves,
The Nymphs attend that haunt the shady Groves,
Th'Amnesian Fount, or silver-streaming Rills;
Nymphs of the Vales, or Oreads of the Hills!
The fawning Beasts before the Goddess play,
Or trembling, savage Adoration pay.
Thus on her Car sublime the Nymph appears,
The Croud falls back, and as she moves, reveres:
Swift to the Fane aloft her Course she bends;
The Fane she reaches, and to Earth descends:
Then to her Train—Ah me! I fear we stray,
Misled by Folly to this lonely Way!

265

Alas! should Jason with his Greeks appear,
Where should we fly? I fear, alas, I fear!
No more the Cholchian Youths, and Virgin Train,
Haunt the cool Shade, or tread in Dance the Plain:
But since alone;—with Sports beguile the Hours,
Come chaunt the Song, or pluck the blooming Flow'rs,
Pluck every Sweet, to deck your Virgin Bow'rs!
Then warbling soft , she lifts her heav'nly Voice,
But sick with mighty Love, the Song is Noise;
She hears from every Note a Discord rise,
Till pausing, on her Tongue the Music dies;
She hates each Object, every Face offends,
In every Wish, her Soul to Jason sends;
With sharpen'd Eyes the distant Lawn explores,
To find the Object whom her Soul adores;

266

At every Whisper of the passing Air,
She starts, she turns, and hopes her Jason there;
Again she fondly looks, nor looks in vain,
He comes, her Jason shines along the Plain:
As when emerging from the watry Way,
Refulgent Sirius lifts his golden Ray,
He shines terrific! for his burning Breath
Taints the red Air with Fevers, Plagues, and Death;
Such to the Nymph approaching Jason shows,
Bright Author of unutterable Woes;
Before her Eyes a swimming Darkness spread,
Her flush'd Cheek glow'd, her very Heart was dead;
No more her Knees their wonted Office knew,
Fix'd, without Motion, as to Earth she grew;
Her Train recedes: the meeting Lovers gaze
In silent Wonder, and in still Amaze.
As two fair Cedars on the Mountain's Brow,
Pride of the Groves! with Roots adjoining grow;

267

Erect and motionless the stately Trees
Awhile remain, while sleeps each fanning Breeze,
Till from th'Æolian Caves a Blast unbound
Bends their proud Tops, and bids their Boughs resound;
Thus gazing they: till by the Breath of Love
Strongly at length inspir'd, they speak, they move:
With Smiles the Love-sick Virgin he survey'd,
And fondly thus addrest the blooming Maid.

Dismiss, my Fair, my Love, thy Virgin Fear;
'Tis Jason speaks, no Enemy is here!
Man, haughty Man, is of obdurate kind,
But Jason bears no proud, inhuman Mind,
By gentlest Manners, softest Arts refin'd.
Whom woud'st thou fly? Stay, lovely Virgin, stay!
Speak every Thought! far hence be Fears away!
Speak! and be Truth in every Accent found!
Dread to deceive! we tread on hallow'd Ground.

268

By the stern Pow'r who guards this sacred Place,
By the illustrious Authors of thy Race;
By Jove, to whom the Stranger's Cause belongs,
To whom the Suppliant, and who feels their Wrongs;
O guard me, save me, in the needful Hour!
Without thy Aid, thy Jason is no more;
To thee a Suppliant, in distress I bend,
To thee a Stranger, and who wants a Friend!
Then, when between us Seas and Mountains rise,
Medea's Name shall sound in distant Skies;
All Greece to thee shall owe her Heroes Fates,
And bless Medea thro' her hundred States.
The Mother and the Wife, who now in vain
Roul their sad Eyes fast-streaming o'er the Main,
Shall stay their Tears: The Mother, and the Wife,
Shall bless thee for a Son's or Husband's Life!
Fair Ariadne, sprung from Minos' Bed,
Sav'd the brave Theseus, and with Theseus fled,

269

Forsook her Father, and her native Plain,
And stem'd the Tumults of the surging Main;
Yet the stern Sire relented, and forgave
The Maid, whose only Crime it was to save:
Ev'n the just Gods forgave: and now on high
A star she shines, and beautifies the Sky:
What Blessings then shall righteous Heav'n decree
For all our Heroes sav'd, and sav'd by Thee?
Heav'n gave thee not to kill, so soft an Air,
And Cruelty sure never look'd so fair!

He ceas'd, but left so charming on her Ear
His Voice, that listn'ing still she seem'd to hear;
Her Eye to Earth she bends with modest Grace,
And Heav'n in Smiles is open'd in her Face.
A Glance she steals; but rosy Blushes spread
O'er her fair Cheek, and then she drops her Head;

270

A thousand Words at once to speak she tries;
In vain—but speaks a thousand with her Eyes;
Trembling the shining Casket she expands,
Then gives the Magic Virtue to his Hands;
And had the Pow'r been granted to convey
Her Heart—had giv'n her very Heart away.

869.

947.

Temple of Hecate.

276

FINIS.