Yet have we foes which direful dangers cause, Grim owls with talons arm'd, and cats with claws; And that false trap, the den of silent fate,
Where death his ambush plants around the bait :
All dreaded these, and dreadful o'er the rest 71
The potent warriors of the tabby vest;
If to the dark we fly, the dark they trace,
And rend our heroes of the nibbling race.
But me, nor stalks, nor watʼrish herbs delight, 75
Nor can the crimson raddish charm my sight;
The lake-resounding frogs' selected fare,
Which not a mouse of any taste can bear.
As thus the downy prince his mind express'd,
His answer thus the croaking king address'd: 80
Thy words luxuriant on thy dainties rove,
And, stranger, we can boast of bounteous Jove:
We sport in water, or we dance on land,
And born amphibious, food from both command.
But trust thyself where wonders ask thy view, 85
And safely tempt those seas, I'll bear thee through:
Ascend my shoulders, firmly keep thy seat,
And reach my marshy court, and feast in state.
He said, and lean'd his back; with nimble bound Leaps the light mouse, and clasps his arms around,
Then wond'ring floats, and sees with glad survey
The winding banks resembling ports at sea.
But when aloft the curling water rides,
And wets with azure wave his downy sides,
His thoughts grow conscious of approaching woe,
His idle tears with vain repentance flow;
His locks he rends, his trembling feet he rears,
Thick beats his heart with unaccustom'd fears;
He sighs, and chill'd with danger, longs for shore:
His tail extended forms a fruitless oar:
Half drench'd in liquid death his pray'rs he spake,
And thus bemoan'd him from the dreadful lake:
So pass'd Europa through the rapid sea, Trembling and fainting all the vent'rous way; With oary feet the bull triumphant row'd, And safe in Crete depos'd his lovely load. Ah safe at last! may thus the frog support My trembling limbs to reach his ample court. As thus he sorrows, death ambiguous grows, Lo! from the deep a water-hydra rose; He rolls his sanguin'd eyes, his bosom heaves; And darts with active rage along the waves. Confus'd, the monarch sees his hissing foe, And dives to shun the sable fates below.
Forgetful frog! the friend thy shoulders bore, 115 Unskill'd in swimming, floats remote from shore. He grasps with fruitless hands to find relief, Supinely falls, and grinds his teeth with grief; Plunging he sinks, and struggling mounts again, And sinks, and strives, but strives with fate in vain. The weighty moisture clogs his hairy vest, 121 And thus the prince his dying rage exprest:
Nor thou, that fling'st me flound'ring from thy
As from hard rocks rebounds the shatt'ring wrack,
Nor thou shalt 'scape thy due, perfidious king!
Pursu'd by vengeance on the swiftest wing: 126
At land thy strength could never equal mine,
At sea to conquer, and by craft, was thine.
But heav'n has gods, and gods have searching eyes:
Ye mice, ye mice, my great avengers, rise! 130
This said, he sighing gasp'd, and gasping died;
His death the young Lycopinax espied,
As on the flow'ry brink he pass'd the day,
Bask'd in the beam, and loiter'd life away:
Loud shrieks the mouse, his shrieks the shores re
The nibbling nation learn their hero's fate:
Grief, dismal grief ensues; deep murmurs sound,
And shriller fury fills the deafen'd ground:
From lodge to lodge the sacred heralds run,
To fix their council with the rising sun;
Where great Troxartes crown'd in glory reigns,
And winds his length'ning court beneath the plains:
Psycarpax' father, father now no more!
For poor Psycarpax lies remote from shore:
Supine he lies! the silent waters stand,
And no kind billow wafts the dead to land!
WHEN rosy-finger'd morn had ting'd the clouds, Around their monarch-mouse the nation crowds; Slow rose the monarch, heav'd his anxious breast, And thus, the council fill'd with rage, addrest:
For lost Psycarpax much my soul endures, 5 'Tis mine the private grief, the public, yours; Three warlike sons adorn'd my nuptial bed, Three sons, alas, before their father dead! Our eldest perish'd by the rav'ning cat, As near my court the prince unheedful sat.
Our next, an engine fraught with danger drew,
The portal gap'd, the bait was hung in view,
Dire arts assist the trap, the fates decoy,
And men unpitying kill'd my gallant boy.
The last, his country's hope, his parents' pride, 15
Plung'd in the lake by Physignathus, died.
Rouse all the war, my friends! avenge the deed,
And bleed that monarch, and his nation bleed.
His words in ev'ry breast inspir'd alarms, 19
And careful Mars supplied their host with arms.
In verdant hulls despoil'd of all their beans,
The buskin'd warriors stalk'd along the plains:
Quills aptly bound, their bracing cors❜let made,
Fac'd with the plunder of a cat they flay'd;
The lamp's round boss affords their ample shield,
Large shells of nuts their cov'ring helmet yield;
And o'er the region, with reflected rays,
Tall groves of needles for their lances blaze.
Dreadful in arms the marching mice appear:
The wond'ring frogs perceive the tumult near, 30
Forsake the waters, thick'ning form a ring,
And ask, and hearken, whence the noises spring;
When near the crowd, disclos'd to public view,
The valiant chief Embasichytros drew:
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