Elyfian Landscapes fhine, expos'd to Day,

And yawning Chasms the nether Shades display.
Each Grove and fable Stream our Eyes command, 745
Where Acheron excites the troubled Sand,

Where Phlegethon his fiery Torrent rolls,
And Styx the Paffage of the Shades controuls.
I fee their King, enthron'd in regal State :
Around the Minifters of Torment wait;
I fee the Confort of infernal Jove,

And conscious Bed of interdicted Love.

Death from an Eminence furveys the Throng

Of Ghofts, and counts them as they pafs along:
Yet ftill the greater Part, untold, remains,

750

755

And o'er increasing Numbers Pluto reigns.
With Urn in Hand the Cretan Judge appears,

And Lives and Crimes with his Affeffors hears :

The conscious Wretch must all his Acts reveal,
Loth to confefs, unable to conceal.

760

Let this fuffice, (replies the Theban Sage)

O Guide, and Prop of my declining Age!

Little alas! it here avails to dwell

On these fad Scenes, and paint the Woes of Hell.
How the fierce Centaur ftill his Rage retains,

765

And Giants howl in Adamantine Chains.

To whom is the fallacious Stream unknown,
To whom the Toil of the returning Stone;

V. 759. The Cretan Judge] So Virgil:

Quæfitor Minos urnam movet: ille filentum
Conciliumque vocat, vitafque et crimina difcit.

v. 767. The fallacious Stream] The Crime of Tantalus is very well known, and for his Punishment he was placed up to his Chin in a pleasant Stream, without being able to flake his Thirst in it.

v. 768. The Toil of the returning Stone] Sifyphus was a noted Robber, flain by Thefeus. In Hell he is reprefented rolling a huge Stone

up

The Pain that Tityon's mangled Vitals feel,

And fad Ixion's revoluble Wheel?

Once, under Hecate's aufpicious Care,

770

Myfelf explor'd thofe Regions of Despair,

When in each Vein my Blood impetuous boil'd,

Nor Heav'n these darkfome Orbs of Light had fpoil'd.
But rather strive a clofe Accefs to gain

To our own Theban, and th' Argolic Train.
Of Milk four small Libations will remove,
And force the reft to quit the dreary Grove.
But mark attentive, as they pafs along,
The Features, Afpect, Mien of either Throng.
Thy Eyes must here fupply the Want of mine,
And teach me what the Fates and Heav'n defign.
Swift as the Word, the fpotlefs Nymph obeys,
And thrice repeats aloud her mystic Lays;

775

780

Aw'd by the Sound, the Shades requir'd, appear, 785.
While others fled, impell'd by fudden Fear.
As Circe once, and fair Medea fhone,
Now Mantho fhines, furpass'd in Guilt alone.
Again her lift'ning Sire the thus bespake:
Agenor's Son firft quits the bloody Lake;
With him appears the Partner of his Bed,
Two crefted Serpents hifs on either's Head.

790

up a Hill, which rolling down again, affords him perpetual Trouble and Vexation.

v. 769. The Pain] Tityon made an Attempt to ravish Latona, and fell by the Arrows of Apollo. He is defcribed by the Poets with a Vulture perpetually gnawing his Liver.

v. 770. Ixion's Wheel] Ixion, boafting that he had lain with June, was ftruck down to Hell with a Thunderbolt, and chained to a Wheel, whafe perpetual Ro.ation was a perpetual Source of Anguifh and Torment.

A Troop

A Troop of Earth-born Youths, in Arms renown'd,
The wretched Pair with hideous Din furround.

The fame Day's Sun, that, rifing, gave them Birth 795
Setting, reftor'd them to their Mother Earth. I
Fiercely they menace, fiercer yet engage,
And breathe Revenge, and unavailing Rage;
No more they feek Admittance to the Flood,

But wish to flake their Thirst in mutual Blood.
The next in Order, as they pafs along,
Vary in Sex and Age, a mingled Throng.
Autonoe the firft, is bath'd in Tears,
And Semele the Bolt, fhe merits, fears.
With Eyes inverted, Ino fhuns the Foe,

800

805

And preffes to her Breaft the Source of Woe.
Here fad Agave, as her Senfe returns,

In penitential Weeds her Pentheus mourns;

She breaks her Thyrfus, bares her bloody Breaft,
And flies to give his wand'ring Spirit Reft.
Through Styx and ev'ry Lake above he flies,
And where th' impervious Cliffs of Lethe rife;
His milder Sire, Echion there he found,

810

To fhare his Griefs, and ease each rankling Wound.. A mournful Aspect wretched Lycus wears,

And Athamas his flaughter'd Infant bears.

815

V.799. No more they] The Flood he means here, was the Stream they contended about, and which, according to the Poet, was the fole Caufe of their Difpute: though the Hints he has given are not fufficient to entitle me to mention it in my Verfion.

v. 803. Autonee] Was the Mother of A&tæon.

v. 804. And Semele] See Note on the 365th Verse of the First Book.

v. 815. A mournful Afpect] Lycus, according to the Commentator Lactantius, gave his Daughter Megara in Marriage to Hercules. This fo incenfed Juro, that she made him a Lunatic; in one of his Fits he flew two of his Sons, for which Reafon he is represented here dejected and forrowful.

Others

Acteon ftill the Form impos'd retains,

And leads the Chace along the dreary Plains,

Fleet are his Limbs, o'er Hill and Dale he bounds,
And with his Horns repells the rushing Hounds. 820
Next Niobe majestic stalks along,

And shines confpicuous in the Female Throng.
With Raptures she recounts her former Woes,
Surveys th' exhausted Malice of her Foes;
And, pleas'd to find herself secure in Death,
In loud Reproaches waftes her impious Breath.
While thus the Priestess spoke, the lift'ning Sage
Uprears his hoary Head, deprefs'd with Age;
The Fillets tremble on his awful Brow,

825

And his flush'd Cheeks with youthful Ardor glow: 830.
No more the Staff his bending Frame fuftains,
Tall and erect, he stalks along the Plains,

And thus replies-O! wafte thy Breath no more,
The pitying Gods my ravish'd Sight restore:

Others fay, he was a Theban Exile, and made an Attempt to ravish Megara in the Abfence of her Husband, who returned Time enough to prevent and punish his Designs with Death.

v. 834. The pitying Gods.] This Fiction of the Poet is founded upon an important Truth of Religion, not unknown to the Pagans, that God only can open the Eyes of Men, and enable them to fee what they cannot difcover by their own Capacity. Thus Homer introduces Minerva, as enlightening the Eyes of Diomede.

Α' χλὺν δ ̓ αὖ τοι απ' ὀφθαλμῶν ὅλον, ἢ πρὶν ἐπῆιν,
Οφρ' εὖ γινώσκης ἡμὲν Θεον, ἠδὲ καὶ ἄνδρα.

Iliad, Lib. 5. Ver. 127.

And Milton makes Michael open Adam's Eyes to fee the Revolutions of the World, and Fortunes of his Pofterity.

He purg'd with Euphrafy and Rue
The visual Nerve, for he had much to fee,
And from the Well of Life three Drops diftill'd.
Parad. Loft. B. 11.

The

The Mifts and Films that lately did involve
These clouded Orbs, in fubtle Air diffolve.
I feel the gradual Entrance of the Light,
And ev'ry Object fhines reveal'd to Sight.
With Eyes dejected, and diffolv'd in Tears,
Each Phantom of Argolic Race appears.
Stern Abas here, there guilty Prætus stands,
And mild Phoroneus lifts his aged Hands.

835

840

See Pelops, maim'd to glut the Tyrant's Luft,
And ftern Oenomaus, begrim'd with Duft.

845

In the pale Aspect of each Patriot Shade
I fee the Fall of Argive Pride pourtray'd.

But who are they, whofe Wounds and gleaming Arms
Befpeak them not difus'd to War's Alarms?

An hoftile Frown and threat'ning Looks they wear,
And to our View their wounded Bofoms bare.
Alas! too well I know the focial Band

850

For those who fell beneath th' Etolian's Hand.
Chromis and Phegeus, fkill'd to whirl the Lance,
And Chthonius with impetuous Strides advance :
Brave Meon next his well known Face displays,
Maon, diftinguish'd with Phabean Bays.

855

From whence this Rage? you tread no hoftile Ground, The Gods, not Tydeus, gave the fatal Wound:

Thus did the cruel Deftinies ordain,

And human Strength and Art oppos'd in vain. 860

. 845. In the pale Afpect] This beautiful Circumftance is taken from Lucan; where the Shade which Ericho raises to fatisfy Pompey's Son about the Fortune of the War; fays,

Triftis fælicibus umbris

Vultus erat, vide Decios, natumque patremque
Luftrales bellis animas, flentemque Camillum
Et Curios, Syllam de te Fortuna querentem.

B. 6. Mars