Attach'd to kindred, and alive to fame,
To share his nephew's glorious toils he came. 70
Affection's band the god of marriage tied,
And made his beauteous sister son's bride.
From Pheræ, rich in many a snowy flock,
Where beaconlike the Chalcodonian rock,
With head sublime, o'erlooks the subject plain,
Its chief, Admetus, joins the' adventurous train.
The sons of Hermes, skill'd in many a wile,
In warfare nurtured, and enrich'd by spoil,
From Alopé, at golden hope's command,
Echion joins, with Eurytus, the band.
Them the fair daughter of Menœtius bore;
Their brother shares their journey to the shore,
Ethalides, whom a Thessalian dame,
The beauteous offspring of a stealthy flame,
Bore to the winged messenger of Jove;
Amphrysus' banks were witness of their love.
From wealthy Gyrton, with the band enroll'd,
Coronus came, in martial prowess bold.
Yet scarce he reach'd his father's warlike name,
Undaunted Ceneus, darling child of fame.
When Centaur hosts that matchless chief assail'd,
O'er crowding foes his single might prevail'd;
Dire was the conflict, horrible their ire,
Unmoved, intrepid, scorning to retire,
With mind unbroken, and unwearied hands,
Hurling defiance the fierce warrior stands;
The baffled foes resort to missive war,
And fill the groaning air with weights from far,
8 This, says the scholiast, is a proper name, though it bears the form of a patronymic.
9 A city of Thessaly or Percebia.
The darted pine, and oak's enormous trunk;
Crush'd into earth, yet unsubdued, he sunk. 100
Next Mopsus came, of Titaresian line,
Supremely skill'd to read the will divine
In voice and flight of tribes that wing the sky,
For Phoebus gave the powers of augury.
Polydamas attractive glory leads,
Where Xenias wide his stagnant mirror spreads,
The son of Ctimenus renown'd of yore;
The father's name his native city bore.
Then Actor sends his young Menœtius forth,
From noble chiefs to learn heroic worth.
With him were join'd, companions brave and
Eurytion bold and Eribotes strong.
His birth to Teleon Eribotes owed.
Old Actor's blood, a generous current, flow'd
To warm Eurytion's breast, with dawning fire,
For, sprung from Actor, Irus was his sire.
Oïleus came, intrepid in the field,
Swift in pursuit, when flying squadrons yield.
And hapless Canthus from Eubœa came,
His sire Canethus fann'd the' adventurous flame,
In evil hour; for, to return no more,
He roam'd with Jason from his native shore,
Ordain'd to perish on a distant land,
With Mopsus wandering o'er the Libyan strand.
O wretched man, how transient is thy breath,
Inevitably doom'd to pain and death!
On Libya's burning sands their tombs remain
A scene,
far distant from the Colchian plain,
As the gay seats of Phoebus' dawning light,
From the pale precincts of approaching night. 130
Clytius and Iphitus the call obey,
And leave Echalia their paternal sway,
The seat of Eurytus, whom Phœbus taught
To bend the bow, with aim unerring fraught.
Relentless man, with impious rage he burn'd,
And gifts divine against the donor turn'd.
The sons of Eacus augment the band;
Not jointly they, nor from a common land;
By conscious terrors from Ægina driven,
They fled the vengeful wrath of earth and heaven.
Through fell mischance, in flower of youthful pride,
Beneath their hands their brother Phocus died.
The' Athenian isle bold Telamon possess'd,
In Thié Peleus found a place of rest.
The valiant Butes from Cecropia" came,
Brave Teleon's offspring. With congenial flame
Phalerus join'd him, skilful at the spear,
Child of his age, to hoary Alcon dear.
No selfish thoughts the father's mind engage,
The sole support of his declining age
He sends, the pride of weary life's decline,
With noble chiefs, in hardy deeds to shine.
But Theseus, who in glorious acts excell❜d
Erectheus' sons, no more the light beheld.
Victim of friendship, in the Stygian gloom
He mourn'd in chains his loved companion's doom.
Lamented chance, for Jason's daring host
A mighty succour by his absence lost!
The son of Agnias, from the Thespian plain,
No mean assistant, Tiphys join'd the train, 160
Supremely skill'd, with prescient eye to mark
The perils that await the labouring bark,
10 Salamis.- -So Homer:
Ajax from Salamis twelve vessels brought,
And ranged his troops where the Athenians fought.
When howling tempests shall the billows sweep,
And watery mountains rise amid the deep,
The solar path, and the presaging star.
Minerva led him to the band from far;
The band receive him with a shout of joy,
And soon their toils his wondrous gifts employ;
Alector's son inspired by Pallas wrought,
And framed the vessel, as the goddess taught. 170
Divinely form'd, that first of ships surpass'd
All vessels that have plough'd the briny waste.
Possess'd of all that mortals can desire,
Cheer'd with the love of his Lenæan sire 13,
From Aræthyrea wealthy Phlias came,
For glory touch'd him with her sacred flame.
He left his mansion, where Asopus flows,
To share in perils, and encounter woes.
Two Argive youths-increase the gallant throng,
The daring Talaus, and Areius strong,
With stout Laodocus, whom Pero bore,
Daughter of Neleus, and the cause of yore
That brave Melampus mix'd in deeds of spoil,
Source of his danger, object of his toil.
Nor mighty Hercules the call declined,
While glory's charms inflamed the daring mind.
Soon as he heard (for the report was loud)
The purposed voyage, and the' assembled crowd,
When late he left Arcadia's wild domain,
And pass'd to Argos, seat of Lynceus' reign, 190
He bore the savage from the tangled brakes,
Lampeeia's 14 woods, and Erymanthian lakes.
12 In some copies it is Arestorides, but the true reading is Alectorides; Argus, son of Arestor, was prior to the Argonauts. 113 Bacchus.
14 Lampeeia, a mountain of Arcadia, from whence the river Erymanthus flows.
Mycænæ's forests trembled at the view,
When to the ground the captive boar he threw.
Spontaneous he augments the glorious band,
Nor seeks a license from Eurystheus' hand.
With him went Hylas in the bloom of youth,
Who felt with ardour, and repaid with truth,
(Guard of his quiver, bearer of his bow)
All the fond cares his master 15 could bestow. 200
Then Nauplius came, of ancient Danaus' line,
A mortal mother, and a sire divine. [earth,
From him 1, whose trident shakes the solid
And Amymoné, Nauplius 7 took his birth.
From him we find the' heroic race extend,
And Prætus, Lernus, Nauplius descend.
The last on Clytonæus life bestow'd,
To him his being younger Nauplius owed.
A gallant spirit, dauntless Idmon, came,
Of Argives last, but not the least in fame; 210
For, skill'd in augury, he read his doom,
And sought, with heart resolved, the' untimely
Reputed son of Abas, but his sire
The god of day bestow'd prophetic fire,
What burning entrails teach he bade him read,
What signs from voice and flight of birds proceed.
From Sparta next, the bold attempt to share,
Ætolian Leda sends the' illustrious pair,
Pollux, in combats of the cestus crown'd,
And Castor, for the managed steed renown'd, 220
Dear as the pledges of declining age,
Darlings and toys, that closing life engage,
A double birth from Tyndarus and Jove,
Produce of mortal and immortal love.
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