And brings, defcending through the filent air,
A fweet forgetfulness of human care.
Yet no red clouds, with golden borders gay,
Promise the skies the bright return of day;
No faint reflections of the diftant light
Streak with long gleams the fcattering fhades of night;
From the damp earth impervious vapours rise,
Encrease the darkness, and involve the skies.
At once the rushing winds with roaring found
Burft from th' Æolian caves, and rend the ground,
With equal rage their airy quarrel try,
And win by turns the kingdom of the sky;
But with a thicker night black Aufter throuds
The heavens, and drives on heaps the rolling clouds, From whofe dark womb a rattling tempeft pours, Which the cold North congeals to haily fhowers. 495
Inferpit curis, pronusque per aëra nutat,
Grata laboratae referrens oblivia vitae.
Sed nec puniceo rediturum nubila coelo
Promifere jubar, nec rarefcentibus umbris
Longa repercuffo nituere crepufcula Phoebo.
Denfior a terris, et nulli pervia flammae
Subtexit nox atra polos, jam clauftra rigentis
Aeoliae percuffa fonant, venturaque rauco
Ore minatur hiems; venti tranfverfa frementes
Confligunt, axemque emoto cardine vellunt,
-Dum coelum fibi quifque rapit. fed plurimus Aufter
Inglomerat noctem, et tenebrofa volumina torquet,
Defunditque imbres, ficco quos afper hiatu
Perfolidat Boreas. nec non abrupta tremiscunt
From pole to pole the thunder roar's aloud
And broken lightnings flash from every cloud.
Now fmoaks with showers the misty mountain ground,
And floated fields lie undistinguish'd round.
Th' Inachian ftreams with headlong fury run,
And Erafinus rolls a deluge on:
The foaming Lerna swells above its bounds,
And fpreads its ancient poisons o'er the grounds
Where late was duft, now rapid torrents play,
Ruth through the mounds, and bear the dams away:
Old limbs of trees from crackling forests torn,
Are whirl'd in air, and on the winds are borne:
The storm the dark Lycæan groves difplay'd,
And first to light expos'd the facred shade.
Th' intrepid Theban hears the bursting sky,
Sces yawning rocks in maffy fragments fly,
Fulgura, et attritus fubita face rumpitur aether.
Jam Nemea, jam Taenareis contermina lucis
Arcadiae capita alta madent: ruit agmine facto
Inachus, et gelidas furgens Erafinus ad Arctos.
Pulverulenta prius, calcandaque flumina nullae
Aggeribus tenuere morae, ftagnoque refufa eft
Funditus, et veteri fpumavit Lerna veneno.
Frangitur omne nemus; rapiunt antiqua procellae
Brachia fylvarum, nullifque afpecta per aevum
Solibus umbrofi patuere aestiva Lycaei.
Ille tamen modo faxa jugis fugientia ruptis
Miratur, modo nubigenas e montibus amnes
Aure pavens, paffimque infano turbine raptas
And views astonish'd from the hills afar,
The floods defcending, and the watery war,
That, driven by storms and pouring o'er the plain,
Swept herds, and hinds, and houses to the main.
Through the brown horrors of the night he fled,
Nor knows, amaz'd, what doubtful path to tread;
His brother's image to his mind appears,
Inflames his heart with rage, and wings his feet with
So fares a failor on the stormy main,
When clouds conceal Bootes' golden wain,
When not a ftar its friendly luftre keeps,
Nor trembling Cynthia glimmers on the deeps;
He dreads the rocks, and fhoals, and feas, and skies,
While thunder roars, and lightning round him flies.
Thus ftrove the chief, on every side distress'd,
Thus ftill his courage with his toils encreas'd;
Paftorum pecorumque domos. non fegnius amens,
Incertufque viae, per nigra filentia, vastum
Haurit iter: pulfat metus undique, et undique frater.
Ac velut hiberno deprenfus navita ponto,
Cui neque temo piger, neque amico fidere monstrat
Luna vias, medio coeli pelagique tumultu
Stat rationis inops : jam jamque aut faxa malignis
Expectat fubmerfa vadis, aut vertice acuto
Spumantes fcopulos erectae incurrere prorae :
Talis opaca legens nemorum Cadmeïus heros
Accelerat, vafto metuenda umbone ferarum
Excutiens ftabula, et prono virgulta refringit
With his broad fhield oppos'd, he forc'd his way
Through thickest woods, and rous'd the beafts of prey.
Till he beheld, where from Lariffa's height
The shelving walls reflect a glancing light:
Thither with hafte the Theban Hero flies. ;
On this fide Lerna's poisonous water lies,
On that Prosymna's grove and temple rise :
He pass'd the gates which then unguarded lay,
And to the regal palace bent his way;
On the cold marble, spent with toil, he lies,
And waits till pleasing flumbers feal his eyes.
Adraftus here his happy people sways,
Bleft with calm peace in his declining days.
By both his parents of descent divine,
Lariffaeus apex. illo fpe concitus omni
Evolat. hinc celfae Junonia templa Profymnae
Laevus habet, hinc Herculeo fignata vapore
Lernaei stagna atra vadi, tandemque reclufis
Infertur portis. actutum regia cernit
Vestibula, hic artus imbri, ventoque regentes
Projicit, ignotaeque acclinis poftibus aulae
Invitat tenues ad dura cubilia fomnos.
Rex ibi tranquillae medio de limite vitae
In fenium vergens populos Adraftus habebat,
Dives avis, et utroque Jovem de fanguine ducens.
Heaven had not crown'd his wishes with a fon,
But two fair daughters heir'd his state and throne.
To him Apollo (wondrous to relate!
But who can pierce into the depths of fate?)
Had fung-" Expect thy fons on Argos' fhore,
"A yellow lion and a bristly boar."
This, long revolv'd in his paternal breast,
Sate heavy on his heart, and broke his reft;
This, great Amphiaraus, lay hid from thee,
Though skill'd in fate, and dark futurity.
The father's care and prophet's art were vain,
For thus did the predicting God ordain.
Lo hapless Tydeus, whofe ill-fated hand
Had flain his brother, leaves his native land,
And feiz'd with horror in the fhades of night,
Through the thick defarts headlong urg'd his flight:
Hic fexûs melioris inops, fed prole virebat
Foeminea, gemino natarum pignore fultus.
Cui Phoebus generos (monftrum exitiabile dictu!
Mox adaperta fides) aevo ducente canebat
Setigerumque fuem, et fulvum adventare leonem.
Haec volvens, non, ipfe pater, non, docte futuri 550
Amphiaraë, vides; etenim vetat autor Apollo.
Tantum in corde fedens aegrefcit cura parentis.
Ecce autem antiquam fato Calydona relinquens 555 Olenius Tydeus (fraterni fanguinis illum
Confcius horror agit) eadem fub nocte fopora
Luftra terit, fimilefque Notos dequeftus et imbres,
Infufam tergo glaciem, et liquentia nimbis
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