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Edipodæ confusa domus : quando Itala nondum
Signa, nec Arctoos ausim sperare triumphos;
Bisque jugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Istrum,
Et conjurato dejectos vertice Dacos:

Aut defensa prius vix pubescentibus annis
Bella Jovis. Tuque o Latiæ decus addite famæ,
Quem nova maturi subeuntem exorsa parentis
Æternum sibi Roma cupit: licet arctior omnes
Limes agat stellas, et te plaga lucida cœli
Pleïadum, Boreæque, et hiulci fulminis expers 35
Sollicitet; licet ignipedum frænator equorum
Ipse tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum
Imprimat, aut magni cedat tibi Juppiter æqua
Parte poli; maneas hominum contentus habenis,
Undarum terræque potens, et sidera dones.

Tempus erit, cum Pierio tua fortior œstro

Facta canam nunc tendo chelyn, satis arma referre

NOTES.

ages. His bloated magnificence of description, gigantic images, and pompous diction, suited their taste, and were somewhat of a piece with the romances they so much admired. They neglected the gentler and genuine graces of Virgil, which they could not relish. His pictures were too correctly and chastely drawn to take their fancies; and truth of design, elegance of expression, and the arts of composition, were not their object.

At Edipus-from his disasters trace
The long confusions of his guilty race:
Nor yet attempt to stretch thy bolder wing,
And mighty Cæsar's conqu'ring eagles sing;
How twice he tam'd proud Ister's rapid flood,
While Dacian mountains stream'd with barb'rous
blood:

Twice taught the Rhine beneath his laws to roll,
And stretch'd his empire to the frozen Pole,
Or long before, with early valour strove,
In youthful arms t' assert the cause of Jove.
And thou, great Heir of all thy Father's fame,
Increase of glory to the Latian name,

25

30

Oh! bless thy Rome with an eternal reign,

Nor let desiring worlds entreat in vain.

34

What tho' the stars contract their heav'nly space,

And crowd their shining ranks to yield thee place;
Tho' all the skies, ambitious of thy sway,
Conspire to court thee from our world away;
Tho' Phoebus longs to mix his rays with thine,
And in thy glories more serenely shine;
Tho' Jove himself no less content would be
To part his throne and share his heav'n with thee;
Yet stay, great Cæsar! and vouchsafe to reign

O'er the wide earth, and o'er the wat'ry main :

Resign to Jove his empire of the skies,

And people heav'n with Roman deities.

The time will come, when a diviner flame Shall warm my breast to sing of Cæsar's fame:

NOTES.

40

45

Ver. 47. The time] Justus Lipsius had a bad taste. The Thebaid of Statius, he says, "Eximie pulcra est, et quoties lego,

Aonia, et geminis sceptrum exitiale tyrannis;
Nec furiis post fata modum, flammasque rebelles
Seditione rogi, tumulisque carentia regum
Funera, et egestas alternis mortibus urbes;
Cærula cum rubuit Lernæo sanguine Dirce,
Et Thetis, arentes assuetum stringere ripas,
Horruit ingenti venientem Ismenon acervo.

55

Quem prius heroum Clio dabis? immodicum iræ Tydea? laurigeri subitos an vatis hiatus? Urget ut hostilem propellens cædibus amnem Turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi Arcados, atque alio Capaneus horrore canendus. Impia jam merita scrutatus lumina dextra Merserat æterna damnatum nocte pudorem Edipodes, longaque animam sub morte tenebat. Illum indulgentem tenebris, imæque recessu Sedis inaspectos cœlo radiisque penates Servantem, tamen assiduis circumvolat alis

Sæva dies animi, scelerumque in pectore Diræ. 75 Tunc vacuos orbes, crudum ac miserabile vitæ

NOTES.

veneratio me habet vel potius stupor. Nemo vatum visus mihi tam alte et tam feliciter volasse."

The style of the Silva is far preferable to that of the Thebais.

Mean while permit, that my preluding Muse
In Theban wars an humbler theme may choose: 50
Of furious hate surviving death she sings,

A fatal throne to two contending Kings,
And fun'ral flames that, parting wide in air,
Express the discord of the souls they bear:
Of towns dispeopled, and the wand'ring ghosts 55
Of Kings unbury'd in the wasted coasts:
When Dirce's fountain blush'd with Grecian blood,
And Thetis, near Ismenos' swelling flood,
With dread beheld the rolling surges sweep,

In heaps, his slaughter'd sons into the deep.
What hero, Clio! wilt thou first relate?
The rage of Tydeus, or the Prophet's fate?
Or how, with hills of slain on ev'ry side,
Hippomedon repell'd the hostile tide?
Or how the Youth with ev'ry grace adorn'd!
Untimely fell, to be for ever mourn'd?
Then to fierce Capaneus thy verse extend,
And sing with horror his prodigious end.
Now wretched Edipus, depriv'd of sight,
Led a long death in everlasting night;
But while he dwells where not a cheerful ray
Can pierce the darkness, and abhors the day;
The clear reflecting mind presents his sin
In frightful views, and makes it day within;
Returning thoughts in endless circles roll,
And thousand furies haunt his guilty soul,

60

65

70

75

NOTES.

Ver. 65. Or how the Youth] Parthenopæus. P.

85

90

Supplicium, ostentat cœlo, manibusque cruentis
Pulsat inane solum, sævaque ita voce precatur :
Dî, sontes animas angustaque Tartara pœnis
Qui regitis, tuque, umbrifero Styx livida fundo,
Quam video, multumque mihi consueta vocari
Annue! Tisiphone, perversaque vota secunda,
Si bene quid merui, si me de matre cadentem
Fovisti gremio, et trajectum vulnere plantas
Firmasti; si stagna petî Cyrrhæa bicorni
Interfusa jugo, possem cum degere falso
Contentus Polybo, trifidæque in Phocidos arce
Longævum implicui regem, secuique trementis
Ora senis, dum quæro patrem; si Sphingos iniquæ
Callidus ambages, te præmonstrante, resolvi ;
Si dulces Furias et lamentabile matris
Connubium gavisus inî, noctemque nefandam
Sæpe tuli, natosque tibi (scis ipsa) paravi,
Mox avidus pœnæ digitis cædentibus ultro
Incubui, miseraque oculos in matre reliqui :
Exaudi, si digna precor, quæque ipsa furenti
Subjiceres orbum visu regnisque parentem

NOTES.

95

100

Ver. 87. from Jocasta's womb,] The great difference betwixt raising horror and terror is perceived and felt, from the reserved manner in which Sophocles speaks of the dreadful incest of Edipus, and from the manner in which Statius has enlarged and dwelt upon it; in which he has been very unnaturally and injudiciously imitated by Dryden and Lee, who introduce this most unfortunate prince not only describing, but arguing on the dreadful crime he had committed. So likewise below, at verse 109, he behaves with the fury of a blustering bully, instead of that patient submission and pathetic remorse which are so suited to his condition. For this read his address to the Furies in the Edipus Coloneus, verse 85 down to verse 117. And again,

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