-The son of Eson prudent thus replied.

"Harsh were thy words, but rage those words supplied. "-A cruel charge!-desert the man I lov'd!"But be resentment from my soul remov'd."Tho' feeling suffer'd, I can prize thy worth."'Twas jealous friendship call'd reproaches forth. "Not thine the motives of plebeian strife, "The sordid incidents of vulgar life,

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"A flock of sheep, or other selfish claim, "That wakes in little minds contention's flame; "And were I wrong'd, thy just and noblest heart "Would prompt for me, the same ingenuous part." He said and love succeeds to stern debate, With spirits harmoniz'd the heroes sate.-The friends, meantime, their destinies attend; One fated to behold his walls ascend;

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And one to meet, upon his native plains,
The dreadful tasks Eurystheus' ire ordains.
The son of Jove his ravish'd Hylas sought,
With furious action, and distemper'd thought;
-He calls on Hylas.-Unavailing call!
His direful threats the Mysian swains appal.
-" Restore him living, or produce him slain;
"Or carnage smokes along your ravag'd plain."
The rulers, to preserve their menac'd land,
With hostages avert his fatal hand,
The Mysian race those solemn pledges bind,
To search incessant till the youth they find.
Ev'n now, where Cius flows, the Mysian throng 2060
For Hylas lost the public search prolong;.

And, from those hostages deriv'd of old,
The men of Trachin still the custom hold.

The wind, propitious to the vessel's flight,
Breath'd all the day, and all the cool of night.
But when Aurora broke the bands of sleep
No breeze was stirring o'er the glassy deep.

A rising shore the mariners survey,

A spacious strand outspread within a bay.

Thither, as dawn appear'd, their oars they ply, 2070 Then morn arose, rejoicing ev'ry eye.

THE END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

BOOK THE SECOND.

ARGUMENT.

The Argonauts having arrived at the country of the Bebrycians, Amycus, king of that people, challenges them to produce a person able to contend with him in boxing.-Pollux accepts the challenge, and kills his antagonist.-A battle ensues, between the Argonauts and Bebrycians.-The former kill many of their opponents, and compel the rest to save themselves by flight. The Argonauts find Phineus deprived of sight, who implores their aid against the harpies, who used to carry away his food, before he could taste it.-Phineus, it seems, knew, by prophetic inspiration, long before the arrival of the adventurers, that they were fated, to drive away the monsters, that persecuted him.-In compliance with his prayers, the sons of Borcas undertake the task; and chace the harpies to the islands called the Strophades.-Phineus, meantime, explains to the Argonauts the course of their navigation to Colchos.-The sons of Boreas return, and give an account of their pursuit of the harpies, and how they were prevented from destroying them, by the interposition of Iris.Cause of the blindness of Phineus.-Of Cyrene, daughter of Hypseus, and Aristaus, her son by Apollo.-Fables respecting the Etesian winds.—Argonauts pass the Symplegades. Reach a desert island on the coast of Bithynia.-Phebus appears to them there. They erect an altar, and worship him, by the name of Phebus Eous. They reach the country of the Mariandyni. -Lycus, king of the district, receives them in the most friendly manner; on account of their having

punished his enemy, Amycus.-Here, Idmon, the prophet, dies, being wounded by a wild boar; and also Tiphys the pilot.-Anceus offers his services to preside at the helm; and they are accepted. The Argonauts pass various places.-Customs and manners of the Chalybes, Mosynaci, and Tibareni.-Fabulous birds in the isle of Mars, expelled by the Argonauts. The sons of Phryxus, by Chalciope, the daughter of Æetes, who had been shipwrecked on the island, in their passage to Orchomenus, are found there by the Argonauts.-They recognise each other, and proceed to Colchos.

WHERE haughty Amycus possest the land,
His spacious stables and his palace stand.
This tyrant a Bithynian nymph, of yore,
Fair Melia, to the god of ocean bore.
Proudest of mortals, his ferocious mind
Establish'd customs hostile to mankind.
In fights of cestus, 'twas his cruel boast,
To foil unhappy men, that reach'd the coast.
And many died;-for none might thence depart,
Without a trial of his strength and art.

As at the ship he question'd their descent,
Their place of birth, and whither they were bent,
With insolent contempt he mark'd the train,
While boastive words his brutal thoughts explain.-
"Wand'rers of ocean, wretched outcasts, hear
"What much imports you, with attentive ear.—
"Know, by my sov'reign pleasure 'tis decreed,
"When strangers to Bebrycia's coast proceed,
"The bold intruders shall not thence remove,
"Ere they my prowess at the cestus prove.
"The bravest, therefore, of your number send,
"And, at the cestus, let him here contend.

"For, should you dare this ordinance to scorn, "The bitter fruits in common must be borne."

His vauntive words the Greeks with anger fir'd And Pollux chief with generous rage inspir'd.

The champion of the social band he stood"Whoe'er thou art, forbear this taunting mood. "Thy threats are needless-we the rule obey"Accept the combat, then resume our way. "I freely promise, to sustain the fight.

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Approach; and let me prove thine utmost might." Thus he undaunted.-At the youth so bold, The tyrant glar'd-his eyes in fury roll'd.— Pierc'd by the javelin with a madding wound, The lion thus, whom men and dogs surround, Compacted circle, rolls his blood-stain'd eyes; Nor heeds the crowd, but on the hunter flies, Whose aim, unerring yet imperfect, sped

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The wound, that fail'd to mix him with the dead. 40 The son of Tyndarus* then laid aside

His mantle soft in brightest tincture dy'd.

From looms of Lemnos the smooth texture came,
The fond memorial of a gentle dame.—
Loos'd from the clasps aside the monarch threw
His thick and double cloak of sable hue.
With it his sheephook on the ground he laid,
Knotty and tough, of mountain olive made.—
Amid their followers,t on the tawny sand,
Unlike in size and form, the champions stand.
Round the selected space their eyes they throw.
Their train are seated in a two-fold row.
Tow'ring in horrid strength the monarch stood,
Like fell Typhaus, or that monstrous brood,
Which earth, enrag'd against the pow'rs above,
Produc'd, to wage presumptuous war with Jove.

* Pollux.

The Argonauts and Bebrycians.

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