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1781

Thus speech alternate wing'd away the hour; The banquet done, they yield to slumber's pow'r. The morn, with rising gales, disperst their sleep. And gentle murmurs call'd them to the deep. They rais'd their sails, the canvas caught the wind, And soon they left that isle of Mars behind. The night succeeding, with propitious blast, Along the shores of Philyra they past. There, Chronus, eldest progeny of Heav'n, To thine embrace fair Philyra was giv'n; When from Olympus thou the Titans sway'd, And Jove was in the Cretan cavern laid! There, the Curetes, fill'd with pious fears, Nurst the young sov'reign of the starry spheres. -Tho' studious to withdraw from Rhea's eye, What arts the glance of jealousy may fly? Th' offended wife surpris'd their guilty loves, Chang'd to a horse, the conscious husband roves. Through shame, the nymph, fair daughter of the main, Forsook she favorite seat, the native plain;

The lofty mountains of Pelasgia sought;

1790

And there to birth a monstrous offspring brought.--In origin, part bestial, part divine,

He bore resemblance of the mingled line.

The region of Macrones they survey;

And plains immense, where the Bechiri sway.

1900

These, in their voyage, past, the shores they trace.
Where the Sapirians dwell, a lawless race.
Still onward borne, by the propitious blast,
They plough'd the deep, and the Byzeres past.
Its ample bay the Colchian shore reveals;
And Caucasus his head in Heav'n conceals.
There, 'mid the rocky crags, that rise around,
With brazen shackles was Prometheus bound.
His vitals are the famish'd eagle's food,
Still, still devour'd, and evermore renew'd.

1910

Still the dire feast the bird of carnage brings,
To dip the beak in gore, and flap the wings.-
That eve they saw him, by the twilight pale:
At first, beneath the clouds, he seem'd to sail.
They heard him scream, terrific as he past,
With levell'd pinions o'er the lofty mast.
Their canvas flutter'd, as his plumage moves.
No bird he seems, that field aerial roves;
But, like some vessel, borne by sail and oars,
Ample and dark, with steady flight he soars.
Oh, soon they hear most lamentable sounds;
With shrieks of torture all the air resounds.-

1920

Canst thou, O wretch, withdraw th' accustom'd feast?
What hope? what means to shun the direful guest?
Till from the cliffs returning, gorg'd with food,
Slowly he sails, distilling drops of blood.

1930

While night prevail'd, by Argus taught, they found The mouths of Phasis, and the Colchian bound; The sails and yards within their places stor❜d; And laid th' inclining mast along the board. With oars the mighty current they ascend, That gurgles hoarse, and to the stroke they bend. The rocks of Caucasus, that meet the sky, And Scythian Ea, on the left hand lie: The plains of Mars were on the right display'd, And consecrated groves, with horrid shade. The guardian serpent, there, that never slept, The fleece, suspended 'mid the foliage, keptIn Jason's hand the golden goblet flam'd; With awful rev'rence many a pow'r he nam'd. Libations pure were on the stream bestow'd; And next for Earth the racy vintage flow'd; Then, to the deities that haunt the soil; And shades of heroes freed from mortal toil. "Hail native pow'rs! propitious be the strand. "In safety guard us, as ye guard the land.”.

--

1940

1950

Ancaus then.-" Behold the Colchian plains, "And Phasis reach'd: what counsel now remains? "Think, with Eetes, how we may prevail; "How soothe with art, or with success assail." He ceas'd-as Argus bids, th' heroic race In the 'mid stream their ship at anchor place. The trees above wave gloomy o'er their heads; Below, the stream its stagnant water spreads. They court the gifts of slumber, thro' the night; And hail with gladness the returning light.

THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

BOOK THE THIRD.

ARGUMENT.

Juno and Minerva, having consulted together how they may best aid the Argonauts in their enterprize, resolve to apply to Venus.-They persuade her, to send Cupid to inspire Medea with love for Jason.That hero, with the sons of Phryxus, presenting himself before Eetes, demands of him the golden fleece. The monarch, enraged at this bold application, propounds tremendous, and, as he thought, impracticable tasks, as the means of obtaining the fleece. These were, to yoke the bulls breathing fire. To sow the dragon's teeth; and reap the harvest of armed men.—In the meantime, Venus finds Cupid playing at dice with Ganymede.-She bribes her son, with a couple of golden balls, to co-operate in the design of inflaming Medea with love.-The passion and mental conflicts of that princess are described. She resigns herself wholly to the dominion of love; and, under the influence of that emotion, determines to assist Jason in his enterprize.She has an interview with the young hero, at the temple of Hecate. She furnishes him with a certain medicament, composed of enchanted herbs and drugs; by which he should be enabled to endure the fiery breath of the bulls. And instructs him, how he is to conduct himself, so as to avoid the fury of the earthborn brothers, who were to spring up from the dragon's teeth. The fatal day arrives.-Jason, duly instructed and prepared, enters on his task, with alacrity.Description of his yoking the bulls, compelling them to work, and sowing the dragon's teeth.

-The harvest of armed men springs up.-Jason, as he had been previously instructed, throws a stone among them. They begin to fight, and destroy each other.-Jason exterminates, the survivors.--Æetes beholds the scene with rage and despair.

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COME Erato, sweet parent of the song,

That tells the feelings of th' enamour'd throng.
Relate, how Jason, from that Colchian shore,
The fleecy treasure to Thessalia bore.
While artful love to Palias lent his aid,
And gentle phrensy fir'd the royal maid.
The tender wars of Venus are thy care;
Thy melting numbers soothe the virgin fair.
Oh soft historian of the lover's flame,

Hence are thy songs, and hence th' endearing name.
Yet undetermin'd on their future way,
The Grecian band conceal'd in sedges lay.
Meantime, the daughter and the wife of Jove
Consult, sequester'd from the pow'rs above.
When to their fragant chamber they repair'd,
Not Jove himself their sacred counsels shar'd.
The converse first from royal Juno, mov'd,
Anxious to learn, what wisdom's pow'r approv'd.
"Daughter of Jove, what purpose fills thy mind?
"Say, what expedient can thy wisdom find?
"What soothing speech from stern Eetes gains
"The fleece of gold?-what stratagem obtains?—
"Fierce as he is, much labour it will ask.
"But shall immortals shun an arduous task?"

II

20

She ceas'd-and Pallas thus-" Revolving thought "Already with the favourite theme is fraught.

*The muse, who presided over love and poetry, so called from the Greek word, erao.

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