Hæc dat pœna diu viventibus, ut renovata

Semper clade domus, multis in luctibus, inque

Perpetuo moerore, & nigra vefte fenefcant.

Rex Pylius (magno fi quicquam credis Homero)
Exemplum vitæ fuit a cornice fecundæ :

Felix nimirum, qui tot per fecula mortem

Diftulit, atque fuos jam dextra computat annos,

Quique novum toties mustum bibit. Oro, parumper

Attendas, quantum de legibus ipfe queratur

Fatorum, & nimio de stamine, cum videt acris

Antilochi barbam ardentem: nam quærit ab omni

Quifquis adeft focio, cur hæc in tempora duret?

Quod facinus dignum tam longo admiferit ævo?

Hæc eadem Peleus, raptum cum luget Achillem:
Atque alius, cui fas Ithacum lugere natantem.

345

Loft all his kindred! scarce the vault contains
Of brethren, fifters, fire, the fhrunk remains.
These are the penalties of years on years;
Woe's fable garb unchang'd, and ever-streaming tears!
The Raven only, truth if Homer fing,
Rounds the wide circuit of the Pylian king.*
Three generations now the sage had seen;
His wisdom mellow'd, and his vigour green.
O! mortal, blefs'd beyond a mortal's fate,
Thus Death to baffle, and prolong his date!
How Spring on Spring reviv'd his drooping foul!

350

355

What numerous Autumns fparkled in his bowl!
But ftop, and hear, this happy king complain

Of life's unfever'd thread, and Fates implor'd in vain: Curfe his harsh fortune, while his fon expires; †

A fair flower fhrivelling on the funeral fires!

360

To each fond friend, that meets his faded eye,

He moans the fad indulgence of the sky.

"What heinous crimes," the wretch entreats to know,

"Provoke this vengeance, and suspend the blow?"

Nor lefs thy fire, Achilles! wail'd thy doom, Dispatch'd untimely to the Stygian gloom. Nor lefs, for loft Ulyffes, fighs and tears Exhauft Laërtes in the vale of years.

365

* Neftor.

+ Antilochus.---Or thus:

Curfe cruel Fortune, while the funeral blaze
On his dear fon's full-blooming honours preys.

D

Incolumi Troja Priamus veniffet ad umbras,

Affaraci magnis folennibus: Hectore funus

Portante, ac reliquis fratrum cervicibus, inter

Iliadum lachrymas, ut primos edere planctus

Caffandra inciperet, fciffaque Polyxena palla:

Si foret extinctus diverfo tempore, quo non

Coperat audaces Paris ædificare carinas.

Longa dies igitur quid contulit? omnia vidit Everfa, & flammis Afiam ferroque cadentem. Tunc miles tremulus pofita tulit arma tiara,

Et ruit ante aram fummi Jovis, ut vetulus bos,

Qui domini cultris tenue & miferabile collum

Præbet, ab ingrato jam faftiditus aratro.

Exitus ille utcunque hominis: fed torva canino

His Troy fecure, the pomp of funeral woe
Had convoy'd Priam to the realms below;
Hector, lov'd youth! had wail'd his father dead,
And tribes of fons the long proceffion led;
His daughters tun'd* the forrows of the crowd,
With robes all rent, and lamentations loud,
Whilst the fair Trojans with responsive moan

370

375

Caught the fhrill fhriek, and eccho'd groan for groan;

If, e'er th' adulterous veflel brav'd the main,

Kind Death had snatch'd him to his tranquil reign.

Hear then what comforts gild his close of day?

Proud Afia's fields to ruthless foes a prey;

380

His realm in blood and desolation lies,
And one vaft blaze fends Ilium to the skies.

See, for the gorgeous robe and crown of gold,
Unwieldy arms his tottering limbs infold:
See, at Jove's fhrine the victim-monarch stand,
And helpless wait the facrificer's hand:
As fome poor ox, abandon'd and forlorn,
A meagre phantom, by long labour worn,
Ufelefs and old, ebbs out the dregs of life,

385

That tinge, and only tinge, his lord's remorfelefs knife.390
Still blefs'd, with all his forrows, that he died:
Fate twin'd new woes for his furviving bride;

*It was the practice for one to begin the dirge with a musical melancholy ftrain, and the reft to follow in a general chorus: fee the note in my ementary on St. Matthew, chap. xi. verf. 16.

Latravit rictu, quæ poft hunc vixerat, uxor.

Feftino ad noftros; & regem tranfeo Ponti,

Et Cræfum, quem vox jufti facunda Solonis
Refpicere ad longæ juffit spatia ultima vitæ.

Exilium, & carcer, Minturnarumque paludes,

Et mendicatus victa Carthagine panis,

Hinc caufas habuere, quid illo cive tuliffet

Natura in terris. Quid Roma beatius unquam,

Si circumducto captivorum agmine, & omni

Bellorum pompa, animam exhalaffet opimam,

Cum de Teutonico vellet defcendere curru?

Provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres

Optandas; fed multæ urbes, & publica vota

!