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Two kings like Saul, much taller than the reft,
Their equal armies draw into the field;
Till one take th' other prifoner they conteft;
Courage and fortune must to conduct yield.
This game the Perfian Magi did invent,

The force of Eaftern wildom to exprefs;
From thence to bufy Europeans fent,

And styl'd by modern Lombards pensive Chefs. Yet fome that fled from Troy to Rome report, Penthefilea Priam did oblige;

Her Amazons, his Trojans taught this fport,

To pafs the tedious hours of ten years fiege. There the prefents herfelf, whilft kings and peers Look gravely on whilft fierce Bellona fights; Yet maiden modefty her motions fteers,

Nor rudely fkips o'er bishops heads like knights.

THE

PASSION OF DIDO FOR ANEAS.

AVING at large declar'd Jove's embaffy,

H Cyllenius from Eneas straight doth fly,

He loth to disobey the God's command,
Nor willing to forfake this pleasant land,
Afham'd the kind Eliza to deceive,
But more afraid to take a folemn leave;
He many ways his labouring thoughts revolves,
But fear o'ercoming fhame, at last refolves
(Inftructed by the God of Thieves) to fteal
Himself away, and his efcape conceal.
He calls his captains, bids them rig the fleet,
That at the port they privately fhould meet;
And fome diflembled colour to projec,
That Dido fhould not their defign fufpect:
But all in vain he did his plot difquife;
No art a watchful lover can furprize.
She the first motion finds; Love though moft fure,
Yet always to itself feems unfecure.

Thap wicked fame which their first love proclaim'd,

Foretels the end: the queen with rage inflam'd, Thus greets him: Thou diffembler, would'st thou fly

Out of my arms by ftealth perfidiously?
Could not the hand I plighted, nor the love,
Nor thee the fate of dying Dio move?
And in the depth of winter in the night,
Dark as thy black defigns to take thy fight,
To plow the raging feas to coafts unknown,
The kingdom thou pretend'st to, not thy own!
Were Troy reftor'd, thou should'st miftruít a wind
Falfe as thy vows, and as thy heart unkind.
Fly'st thou from me? By thefe dear drops

brine

I thee adjure, by that right hand of thine,
By our efpoufals, by our marriage-bed,
If all my kindness aught have merited;
If ever I ftood fair in thy esteem,
From ruin me and my lost house redeem.

* Mercury.

of

Cannot my prayers a free acceptance find?
Nor my tears foften an obdurate mind?
My fame of chastity, by which the skies
I reacht before, by thee extinguifh'd dies.
Into my borders now larbas falls,
And my revengeful brother feales my walls;
The wild Numidians will advantage take,
For thee both Tyre and Carthage me forlake.
Hadft thou before thy flight but left with me
A young Eneas, who, refembling thee,
Might in my fight have fported, I had then
Not wholly loft, nor quite deferted been;
By thee, no more my husband, but my gueft,
Betray'd to mischiefs, of which death's the leaft.

With fixed looks he ftands, and in his breat By Jove's command, his ftruggling care up

preft.

Great queen, your favours and defert fo great,
Though numberlefs, I never fhall forget;
No time, until myself I have forgot,
Out of my heart Eliza's name fhall blot:
But my unwilling flight the Gods inforce,
And that must justify our fad divorce.
Since I muft you forfake, would Fate permit,
To my defires I might my fortune fit;
Troy to her ancient fplendour I would raife,
And where I first began, would end my days.
But fince the Lycian Lots, and Delphic God
Have deftin'd Italy for our bode;

Since you proud Carthage (fied from Tyre) erj y.
Why should not Latium us receive from Troy?
As for my fon, my father's angry ghoft
Tells me his hopes by my delays are croft,
And mighty Jove's ambaffador appear'd
With the fame mefloge, whom I faw and head;
We both are griev'd when you or I complain,
But much the mor when all complaints are velj
I call to witness all the Gods, and thy
Beloved head, the reaft of Ipily
Against my will I ek.

Whilft thus he speaks, the relis Fier park'

eyes,

Surveys him round, and thus incens'd replies;
Thy mother was to Goddefs, nor thy flock
From Dardanus, but in fome horrid rock,
Perfidious wretch, rough Caucasus thee bred,
And with their milk Hyrcanian tigers fed.
Diffimulation I shall now forget,

And my referves of rage in order fet.
Could all my prayers and folt entreaties force
Sighs from his breaft, or from his look remorie?
Where fhall I first complain? can mighty jove
Or Juno fuch impieties approve?
The juft Aftræa fure is filed to hell;
Nor more in earth, nor heaven itfelf will dwell.
Oh Faith! him on my coafts by tempest eat,
Receiving madly, on my throne I plac'd;
His men from famine, and his fleet from fire
I refcued: Now the Lycian Lots confpire
With Phoebus; now Jove's envoy through the air
Brings difmal tidings; as if fuch low care
Could reach their thoughts, or their repose disturb!
Thou art a falfe impoftor, and a fourbe;
Go, go, pursue thy kingdom through the main,
1 hope, if Heaven her juftice ftill retain,

Thou fhalt be wreck'd, or call upon fome rock,
Where thou the name of Dido fhalt invoke:
I'll follow thee in funeral flames, when dead
My ghoft fhall thee attend at board and bed,
And when the Gods on thee their vengeance fhow,
That welcome news fhall comfort me below.

This faying, from his hated fight the fled,
Conducted by her damfels to her bed;
Yet reftlefs fhe arofe, and looking out,
Beholds the fleet, and hears the feamen fhout:
When great Eneas pafs'd before the guard,
To make a view how all things were prepar'd.
Ah cruel Love! to what doft thou inforce
Poor mortal breasts! Again the hath recourfe
To tears and prayers, again fhe feels the smart
Of a frath wound from his tyrannic dart.

That the no ways nor means may leave untry'd,
Thus to her fifter fhe herfelf apply'd:
Dear filter, my refentment had not been
So moving, if this fate I had forefcen;
Therefore to me this laft kind office do,
Thou haft fome intereft in our scornful foe,
He trufts to thee the counfels of his mind,
Thou his foft hours, and free accefs canft find:
Tell him I fent not to the Ilian coaft

My fleet to aid the Greeks; his father's ghoft
I never did disturb: afk him to lend
To this, the laft request that I fhall fend,
A gentle car; I wish that he may find
A happy paffage, and a profperous wind,
The contract I don't plead, which he betray'd,
Nor that his promis'd conquest be delay'd;
All that I afk is but a fhort reprieve,
Till I forget to love, and learn to gricve;
Some paufe and refpite only I require,

Till with my tears I fhall have quench'd my fire.
fthy addrefs can but obtain one day
Or two, my death that fervice fhall repay.
Thus the intreats; fuch meffages with tears
Condoling Anne to him, and from him bears:
But him no prayers, no arguments can move;
The Fates refift, his ears are flopt by Jove.
As when fierce northern blafts from th' Alps
defcend,

From his firm roots with ftruggling gufts to rend
An aged fturdy oak, the rattling found
Grows loud, with leaves and fcatter'd arms the
ground

Is over-laid; yet he stands fixt, as high
As his proud head is rais'd towards th⚫ sky,
So low towards hell his roots defcend.

prayers

With

And tears the Hero thus affail'd, great cares
He fmothers in his breaft, yet keeps his poft,
All their addreffes and their labour loft.
Then the deceives her fifter with a smile:
Anne, in the inner court erect a pile;
Thereon his arms and once-lov'd portrait lay,
Thither our fatal marriage-bed convey;
All curfed monuments of him with fire
We must abolish (fo the Gods require.)
She gives her credit for no worfe effect
Than from Sichæus' death she did fufpect,
And her commands obeys.

Aurora now had left Tithonus' bed,

And o'er the world her blushing rays did spread;

The Queen beheld, as foon as day appear'd,
The navy under fail, the haven clear'd;
Thrice with her hand her naked breaft fhe krocks,
And from her forehead tears her golden lecks.
O Jove, the cry'd, and fhall he thus delude
Me and my realm! why is he not pursued?
Arm, arm, she cry'd, and let our Tyrians board
With ours his fleet and carry fire and fword;
Leave nothing unattempted to deflroy
That perjur'd race, then let us die with joy.
What if th' event of war uncertain ere?
Nor death, nor danger, can the defperate fear.
But oh too late! this thing I fhould have done,
When first I plac'd the traitor on my throne.
Behold the faith of him who fav'd from fire
His honour'd household Gods, his aged fire
His pious fhoulders from Troy's flames did
bear;

Why did I not his carcafe piece-meal tear,
And caft it in the fea? why not defroy
All his companions, and beloved boy
Afcanius? and his tender limbs have dreft,
And made the father on the fon to feaft?
Thou Sun, whofe luftre all things here below
Surveys; and Juno, confcious of my woe;
Revengeful Furies, and Queen Hecate,
Receive and grant my prayer? If he the fea
Muft needs efcape, and reach th' Aufonian land,
If Jove decree it, Jove's decree must stand;
When landed, may he be with arms oppreft
By his rebelling people, be diftreft

By exile from his country, be divorc'd
From young Afcanius' fight, and be enforc'd
To implere foreign aids, and lofe his friends.
By violent and underved ends!
When to conditions of unequal peace
He fhall fubmit, then may he not poffefs
Kingdom nor life, and find his funeral
I' th' fands, when he before his day fhall fall!
And ye, oh Tyrians, with immortal hate
Pursue this race, this fervice dedicate
To my deplored afhes, let there be
"Twixt us and them no league nor amity.
May from my bones a new Achilles rife,
That shall infeft the Trojan Colonies
With firend fword, and famine, when at length
Time to our great attempts contributes firength;
Our feas, our fhores, our armies theirs oppofe,
And may our children be for ever foes!
A ghaftly palenefs death's approach portends,
Then trembling the the fatal pile afcends;
Viewing the Trojan reliques, the unfheath'd
Eneas' fword, not for that ufe bequeath'd:
Then on the guilty bed the gently lays
Herself, and foftly thus lamenting prays;
Dear reliques, whilft that Gods and Fates give
leave,

Free me from care, and my glad foul receive.
That date which Fortune gave, I now must end,
And to the fhades a noble ghost defcend.
Sichæus' blood, by his falfe brother spilt,
I have reveng'd, and a proud city built;
Happy, alas; too happy I had liv'd,
Had not the Trojan on my coaft arriv'd.
But fhall I die without revenge? yet die
Thus, thus with joy to thy Sichæus fly.

My confcious foe my funeral fire fhall view
From fea, and may that omen him purfue!
Her fainting hand let fall the fword befmear'd
With blood, and then the mortal wound appear'd;
Through all the court the fright and clamours rife,
Which the whole city fills with fears and cries,
As loud as if her Carthage, or old Tyre
The foe had entered, and had fet on fire.
Amazed Anne with speed afcends the stairs,
And in her arms her dying fifter rears:
Did you for this, yourself and me beguile?
For fuch an end did I erect this pile?
Did you fo much defpife me, in this fate
Myfelf with you not to affociate?
Yourfelf and me, alast this fatal wound
The fenate, and the people, doth confound.
I'll wash her wound with tears, and at her death
My lips from hers fhall draw her parting breath.

Then with her veft the wound the wipes and dries;

Thrice with her arm the Queen attempts to
rife,

But her ftrength failing, falls into a swound,
Life's lalt efforts yet ftriving with her wound;
Thrice on her bed fhe turns, with wandering fight
Seeking, fhe groans when the behol is the light.
Then Juno, pitying her difaftrous fate,
Sends Iris down, her pangs to mitigate.
(Since, if we fall before th' appointed day,
Nature and Death continue long their fray.)
Iris defcends; this fatal lock (fays the)
To Pluto 1 bequeath, ad fet thee free;
Then clips her hair: Cold numbness ftraight be

reaves

Her corpfe of fenfe, and th' air her foul receives.

OF PRUDENCE.

GOING this lafl fummer to vifit the Wells, I took an occafion (by the way) to wait upon an ancient and honourable friend of mine, whom I found diverting his (the folitary) retirement with the Latin original of this tranflation, which (being out print) I had never feen before: when I looked upon it, I faw that it had formerly paffed through two learned hands, not without approbation; which were Ben Jonfor and Sir Kenelm Digby; but I found it (where I fhall never find nyfelf) in the fer vice of a better mailer, the Earl of Bristol, of whom I fhall fay no more; for I lov not to improve the honour of the living, by impairing that of the dead; and my own profeffion hath taught me not to ere& new fuperftructures upon an old ruin. He wa pleafed to recommend it to me for my companion at the Wells, where I liked th Entertainment it gave me fo well, that I undertook to redeem it from an obfolet English difguife, wherein an old Monk had cloathed it, and to make as becoming new veft for it as I could.

The author was a perfon of quality in Italy, his name Mancini, which family matche fince with the fifter of Cardinal Mazarine; he was contemporary to Petrarch, and Mantuan, and not long before Torquato Taffo; which fhews that the age they lived in was not fo unlearned as that which preceded, or that which followed. The author wrote upon the four Cardinal Virtues; but I have tranflated only the two first, not to turn the kindness I intended to him into an injury; for the two laft art little more than repetitions and recitals of the firft; and (to make a just excuse fa him) they could not well be otherwife, fince the two laft virtues are but defcendant from the firft; Prudence being the true mother of Temperance, and true Fortitude the child of Juftice.

W what's decent or indecent, falfe or true.

ISDOM's firft progrefs is, to take a view

He's truly prudent, who can feparate
Honeft from vile, and ftill adhere to that;
Their difference to measure, and to reach,
Reafon well rectify'd must nature teach.
And thefe high ferutinies are fubjects fit
For man's all-fearching and enquiring wit;
That fearch of knowledge did from Adani flow;
Who wants it, yet abhors his wants to how.

Wisdom of what herfelf approves, makes choice,
Nor is led captive by the common voice.
Clear-fighted Reason Wisdom's judgment leads,
And Senfe, her vaffal, in her footsteps treads.
That thou to Truth the perfect way may'st know,
To thee all her specific forms I'll fhow;
He that the way to honefty will learn.
Firft what's to be avoided muft difcern.
Thyfelf from flattering self-conceit defend,
Nor what thou dost not know, to know pretend.

Some fettets deep in abftrufe darkness lie;
To fearch them thou wilt need a piercing eye.
Nor rafhly therefore to fuch things affent,
Which undeceiv'd, thou after may'it repent;
Study and time in thefe must thee inftruct,
And others old experience may conduct.
Wisdom herself her ear doth often lend
To countel offer'd by a faithful friend.
In equal feales two doubtful matters lay,

What need we gaze upon the fpangled fky?
Or into matter's hidden caufes pry?
To defcribe every city, itream, or hill

l' th' world, our fancy with vain arts to fill? What is 't to hear a fophifter, that pleads, Who by the cars the deceiv'd audience leads? If we were wife, thefe things we fhould not mind,

But more delight in eafy matters find.

Thou may't chufe fafely that which most doth Learn to live well, that thou may'ft die fo too;

weigh;

Tis not fecure, this place or that to guard,

If any other entrance ftand unbarr'd;

He that elcapes the ferpent's teeth may fail,
If he himself fecures not from his tail.

Who faith, who could fuch ill events expect?
With fhame on his own counfels doth reflect.
Mut in the world doth felf-conceit deceive,
Who juft and good, whate'er they act, believe;
To their wills wedded, to their errors flares,
No man (like them) they think himself behaves.

To live and die is all we have to do:
The way (if no digreffion's made) is even,
And free accefs, if we but afk, is given.
Then feek to know thofe things which make us
bleft,

And having found them, lock them in thy breaft;
Enquiring then the way, go on, nor flack,
But mend thy pace, nor think of going back.
Some their whole age in thefe enquiries wafte,
And die like fools before one itep they've past;
'Tis ftrange to know the way, and not t'advance,

This hifi-neck'd pride nor art nor force can bend,That knowledge is far worse than ignorance.

Nr high-flown hopes to Reafon's lure defcend.
Fathers fometimes their children's faults regard
With pleasure, and their crimes with gifts reward.
printers, when they draw, and poets write,
Vagl and Titian (felf-admiring) flight;
In all they do, like gold and pearl appears,
And other actions are but dirt to theirs.
They that fo highly think themselves above
All other men, themfelves can only love;
Retion and virtue, all that man can boast
O'er other creatures, in thofe brutes are loft.
terve (if thee this fatal error touch,
The to thyfelf contributing too much)

e who are generous, humble, juft, and wife, That their gold, nor themfelves idolize; To form thyself by their example learn

many eyes can more than one difcern); acyt beware of counfels when too full, Mumber makes long disputes and graveness dull; gh their advice be good, their counfel wife, 1ngth ftill lofes opportunities: Date deftroys difpatch; as fruits we fee Re, when they hang too leng upon the tree; in that husbandman his feed doth fow, b. his crop not in due season mow. Ameral fets his army in array bran, unless he fight, and win the day.

T virtuous action that muft praife bring forth, *thout which flow advice is little worth. they who give good counfel, praise deserve, in the active part they cannot ferve: ation, learned counfellors their age, Prion, or difeafe, forbids t' engage. to philofophers is praise deny'd We wife inftructions after-ages guide; vanly most their age in study spend; Nad of writing books, and to no end: ag their brains for ftrange and hidden things, e knowledge, nor delight nor profit brings; felves with doubt both day and night perplex, gentle reader pleafe, or teach, but vex. should to one of thefe four ends conduce * it wildom, piety, delight, or use.

The learned teach, but what they teach, not do;
And standing fill themfelves, make others go.
In vain en ftudy time away we throw,
When we forbear to act the things we know.
The foldier that philofopher well blam'd,
Who long and loudly in the schools declaim'd;
fell (faid the foldier) venerable fir,
Why all these words, this clamour, and this stir?
Why do difputes in wrangling spend the day?
Whilst one fays only yea, and t' other nay.
Oh, faid the doctor, we for wifdom toil'd,
For which none toils too much: the foldier fmil'd:
You're grey and old, and to fome pious ufe
This mats of treasure you should now reduce:
But you your store have hoarded in some bank,
For which the infernal fpirits fhall you thank.
Let what thou learneft be by practice shown,
'Ti faid that wifdom's children make her known.
What's good doth open to th' enquirer stand,
And itfelf offers to th' accepting hand;
All things by order and true measures done,
Wisdom will end, as well as the begun.
Let early care thy main concerns fecure,
Things of lefs moment may delays endure:
Men do not for their fervants first prepare,
And of their wives and children quit the care;
Yet when we're fick, the doctor's fetcht in hafte,
Leaving our great concernment to the laft.
When we are well, our hearts are only fet
(Which way we care not) to be rich or great:
What fhall become of all that we have got?
We only know that us it follows not;
And what a trifle is a moment's breath,
Laid in the fcale with everlafting death!
What's time, when on eternity we think?
A thousand ages in that fea must fink;
Time's nothing but a word, a million
Is full as far from infinite as one.

To whom thou much doft owc, thou much must pay,

Think on the debt against th' accompting-day; God, who to thee reafon and knowledge lent, Will afk how these two talents have been spent.

Let not low pleafures thy high reafon blind, He's mad, that fecks what no man e'er could find. Why should we fondly please our fenfe, wherein Beafts us exce:d, nor feel the ftings of fin? What thoughts man's reafon better can become, Than th' expectation of his welcome home? Lords of the world have but for life their leafe, And that too (if the leffor pleafe) niult ceafe. Death cancels nature's bonds, but for our deeds (That debt first paid) a frict account fucceeds; If here not clear'd, no faretyfhip can bail Condemned debtors from th' eternal gaol. Chrift's blood's our balfam; if that cure us here, Him, when our judge, we fhall not find fevere; His yoke is cafy when by us embrac'd, But loads and galls, it on our necks 'tis caft. Be juft in all thy actions; and if join'd With thofe that are not, never change thy mind: If aught baru&t thy courfe, yet ftand not ftill, But wind about, till you have topp'd the hill; To the fame end men feveral pathis may tread, As many doors into one temple lead; And the fame hand into a fit may clofe, Which inftantly a palm expanded thows: Juftice and faith never forfake the wife, Yet may occafion putlim in difquifer Not turning like the wind, but if the state' Of things muft change, he is not obftinate; Things paft, and fature, with the prefent weighs, Nor credulous of what vain rumour fays. lew things by wifelom are at first believ'd, An cafy car deceiv ts, and is deceiv'd: For many truths have often paft for lies, And lies as often put on truch's difguife: As flattery too oft like friendship fhows,

Yet be not always on affairs intent,
But let thy thoughts be cafy and unbent:
When our minds eyes are difengag'd and free,
They clearer, farther, and diftinctly fee;
They quicken floth, perplexities untie,
Make roughness smooth, and hardness mollify;
And though our hands from labour are releas'd,'
Yet our minds find (ev'n when we fleep) no reft.
Search not to find how other men offend,
But by that glafs thy own offences mend;
Still feek to learn, yet care not much from whom,
(So it be learning) or from whence it come.
Of thy own actions others judgments learn;
Often by fmall, great matters we difcern:
Youth, what man's age is like to be, doth fhow;
We may our ends by our beginnings know.
Let none direct thee what to do or fay,
Till thee thy judgment of the matter sway;
Let not the pleafing many thec delight;
Firt judge, if thofe whor thou doit pleafe, judge
Search not to find what lies too deeply hid,
Nor to know things, whefe knowledge is forbid;
Nor climb on pyramids, which thy head tura
round

Standing, and whence no fafe descent is found:
In vain his nerves and faculties he ftrains
To rife, whofe raifing unfecure remains:
They whom defert and f.vour forwards thruft,
Are wife, when they their meafures can adjuft.
When well at cafe, and happy, live content,
And then confider why that life was lent;
When wealthy, show thy wifdom not to be
To wealth a fervant, but make wealth ferve the
Though all alone, yet nothing think or do,

So them who speak plain truth we think our foes. Which nor a witnefs nor a judge might know.

No quick reply to dubious queftions make,
Suspence and caution till prevent miflake.
When any great dei gn thou doft intend,
Think on the micans, the manner, and the end :
All great concernments must delays endure;
Rafhnefs and hafte mike all things unfecure;
And if uncertain thy pretenfions be,
Stay till fit time wear out uncertainty;
But if to unjuft things thou doft pretend,
Ere they begin let thy pretentions end.

Let thy difcourfe be fuch, that thou may'ft give
Profit to others, or from them receive:
Infruct the ignorant; to thole that live
Under thy carf, good rules and patterns give;
Nor is 't the left of virtues, to relieve
Thofe whom afkictions or opprefitons grieve,
Commend but paringly whom thou do? love:
But lets condemn whom thou doit not approve;
Thy friend, like flattery, too much praife doth

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paft,

The higheft hill is the moft flippery place,
And Fortune mocks us with a Imiling face.
And her unfteady hand hath often plac'd
Men in high power, but feldom holds them faft;
Against her then her forces Prudence joins,
And to the golden mean herfelf confines.
More in profperity is reafon toft

Than fhips in ftorms, their helms and anchors loft:
Before fair gales not all our fails we bear,
But with fide winds into fafe harbours fteer;
More fhips in calms on a deceitful coaft,
Or unfeen rocks, than in high ftorms are loft.
Who cafts out threats and frowns, no man deceives,
me for refiftance and defence he gives;
But Battery itill in fugar'd words betrays,
And peiton in high-tafted meats conveys;
So Fortune's fmiles unguarded man furprize,
But when the frowns, he arms, and her defies.

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Juft or unjuft, this law for ever stands, Thy life will be with praife and prudence grac'd: All things are good by law which the commands; What lofs or gain may follow, thou may'ft guefs,The firft ftep, man towards Christ must justly live, Who t' us himfelf, and all we have, did give:

Thou then wilt be fecure of the fuccefs;

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