For him Antæa burn'd with lawless flame,
And ftrove to tempt him from the paths of fame :
In vain she tempted the relentless youth,
Endued with wisdom, facred fear, and truth.
Fir'd at his fcorn the queen to Prætus fled,
And begg'd revenge for her infulted bed:
Incens'd he heard, refolving on his fate;
But hofpitable laws reftrain'd his hate:
To Lycia the devoted youth he fent,
'With tablets feal'd, that told his dire intent.
Now, bleft by every power who guards the good,
The chief arriv'd at Xanthus' filver flood:
'There Lycia's monarch paid him honours due,
Nine days he feasted, and nine bulls he flew.
But when the tenth bright morning orient glow'd, 215
The faithful youth his monarch's mandate show'd:
The fatal tablets, till that inftant feal'd,
The deathful fecret to the king reveal'd,
Firft, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd:
A mingled monfter, of no mortal kind;
Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread;
A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;
Her pitchy noftrils flaky flames expire;
Her gaping throat emits infernal fire.
This peft he flaughter'd (for he read the skies, 225 And trufted Heaven's informing prodigies)
Then met in arms the Solymæan crew,
(Fierceft of men) and those the warriour slew. Next the bold Amazon's whole force defy'd ; And conquer'd ftill, for Heaven was on his fide.
Nor ended here his toils: his Lycian foes
At his return, a treacherous ambush rofe,
With level'd spears along the winding shore;
There fell they breathlefs, and return'd no more.
At length the monarch with repentant grief
Confefs'd the Gods, and God-defcended chief;
His daughter gave, the ftranger to detain,
With half the honours of his ample reign :
The Lycians grant a chofen space of ground,
With woods, with vineyards, and with harvests crown'd.
There long the chief his happy lot poffefs'd.
With two brave fons and one fair daughter blefs'd; (Fair ev'n in heavenly eyes; her fruitful love
Crown'd with Sarpedon's birth th' embrace of Jove)
But when at last, distracted in his mind,
Forfook by heaven, forfaking human kind,
Wide o'er th' Aleian field he chose to stray,›
A long, forlorn, uncomfortable way!
Woes heap'd on woes confum'd his wasted heart;
His beauteous daughter fell by Phoebe's dart;
His eldeft-born by raging Mars was flain,
In combat on the Solymœan plain.
Hippolochus furviv'd; from him I came,
The honour'd author of my birth and name;
By his decree I fought the Trojan town,
By his inftructions learn to win renown,
To ftand the first in worth as in command,
To add new honours to my native land,
Before my eyes my mighty fires to place,
And emulate the glories of our race.
He spoke, and transport fill'd Tydides' heart ;
In earth the generous warriour fix'd his dart,
Then friendly, thus, the Lycian prince addrest :
Welcome, my brave hereditary guest !
Thus ever let us meet, with kind embrace,
Nor ftain the facred friendship of our race.
Know, chief, our grandfires have been guests of old;
Oeneus the strong, Bellerophon the bold :
Our ancient seat his honour'd presence grac'd,
Where twenty days in genial rites he pass'd.
The parting heroes mutual prefents left;
A golden goblet was thy grandfire's gift;
Oeneus a belt of matchlefs work bestow'd,
That rich with Tyrian dye refulgent glow'd.
(This from his pledge I learn'd, which safely stor'd
Among my treasures, still adorns my board :
For Tydeus left me young, when Thebe's wail
Beheld the fons of Greece untimely fall.)
Mindful of this, in friendship let us join ;
If Heaven our steps to foreign lands incline,
My gueft in Argos thou, and I in Lycia thine.
Enough of Trojans to this lance shall yield,
In the full harvest of yon ample field;
Enough of Greeks fhall dye thy fpear with gore;
But thou and Diomed be foes no more.
Now change we arms, and prove to either hoft
We guard the friendship of the line we boast.
Thus having faid, the gallant chiefs alight, Their hands they join, their mutual faith they plight; Brave Glaucus then each narrow thought refign'd, Jove warm'd his bofom and enlarg'd his mind;
For Diomed's brafs arms, of mean device,
For which nine oxen paid, (a vulgar price ;)
He gave his own, of gold divinely wrought,
A hundred beeves the fhining purchase bought.
Meantime the guardian of the Trojan state,
Great Hector, enter'd at the Scæan gate.
Beneath the beech-tree's confecrated shades,
The Trojan matrons and the Trojan maids
Around him flock'd, all prefs'd with pious care
For husbands, brothers, fons, engag'd in war.
He bids the train in long proceffion go,
And feek the Gods t'avert th' impending woe.
And now to Priam's ftately courts he came,
Rais'd on arch'd columns of ftupendous frame;
O'er these a range of marble structure runs,
The rich pavilions of his fifty sons,
In fifty chambers lodg'd: and rooms of state
Oppos'd to those, where Priam's daughters fate :
Twelve domes for them and their lov'd spouses fhone,
Of equal beauty, and of polish'd stone.
Hither great Hector pass'd, nor pass'd unseen
Of royal Hecuba, his mother queen
(With her Laodicè, whofe beauteous face
Surpafs'd the nymphs of Troy's illustrious race): 315
Long in a ftrict embrace the held her fon,
And prefs'd his hand, and tender thus begun :
O Hector! fay, what great occasion calls
My fon from fight, when Greece furrounds our walls?
Com'st thou to fupplicate th' Almighty Power,
With lifted hands from Ilion's lofty tower?
Stay, till I bring the cup with Bacchus crown'd,
In Jove's high name, to sprinkle on the ground,
And pay due vows to all the Gods around.
Then with a plenteous draught refresh thy foul,
And draw new fpirits from the generous bowl;..
Spent as thou art with long laborious fight,
The brave defender of thy country's right.
Far hence be Bacchus' gifts (the chief rejoin'd :)
Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind,
Unnerves the limbs, and dulls the noble mind.
Let chiefs abstain, and spare the facred juice
To sprinkle to the Gods, its better ufe.
By me that holy office were profan'd;
Ill fits it me, with human gore distain'd,
To the pure fkies these horrid hands to raise,
Or offer Heaven's great Sire polluted praise.
You with your matrons, go! a spotless train,
And burn rich odours in Minerva's fane.
The largest mantle your full wardrobes hold,
Most priz'd for art, and·labour'd o'er with gold,
Before the Goddess' honour'd knees be spread,
And twelve young heifers to her altar led.
So may the Power, aton'd by fervent prayer,
Our wives, our infants, and our city spare,
And far avert Tydides' wasteful ires
Who mows whole troops, and makes all Troy retire.
e this, O mother, your religious care;
go to rouze foft Paris to the war;
If yet, not loft to all the sense of shame,
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