And with a graceful terror tremble ftill.
The following little poem of Claudian was written on the interefting figures to which I have alluded
De piis Fratribus et eorum Statuis quæ
Adfpice fudantes venerando pondere fratres,
Divino meritos femper honore coli.
Jufta quibus rapida ceffit reverentia flammæ,
Et mirata vagas repulit Etna faces.
Complexi manibus fultos cervice parentes,
Adtollunt vultus, adcelerantque gradus.
Grandævi gemina fublimes prole feruntur,
Et cara natos implicuere mora.
Nonne vides, ut fæva fenex incendia monftret?
Ut trepido genitrix invocet ore Deos?
Erexit formido comam, perque omne metallum
Fufus in adtonito palluit acre tremor.
In juvenum membris animofus cernitur horror,
Atque oneri metuens, impavidufque fui.
Rejectæ vento chlamydes: dextram exerit ille,
Contentus læva fuftinuiffe patrem.
Aft illi duplices in nodum colligit ulnas,
Cautior in fexu debiliore labor.
Hoc quoque præteriens oculis ne forte relinquas,
Artificis tacitæ quod meruere manus.
On the Statues at Catina.
Behold, with hallow'd weight these Brothers bend!
Eternal honour on their toil attend!
Etna's fierce torrents paufe as they retire,
And back with rev'rence turns the wand'ring fire.
Clafping their Parents on their shoulders plac'd,
They raise their eyes, and through the ruin haste
Aloft the elders, in their offspring's guard,
With dear incumbrance their quick steps retard.
See, the fire points where conflagration falls,
While on the Gods the trembling mother calls!
Their hair starts up in terror! Through the brass
An universal shudder seems to pass.
A bolder horror in the youths is fhewn,
More firm, and fearing for their charge alone.
Their vests blown back, his right hand one extends,
Confiding that the left his fire defends:
His load with twisted arms the other holds ;
So fonder care the weaker fex infolds.
Nor unrewarded by difcernment's praise
Be this nice merit, that mute art displays;
Nam confanguineos eadem cum forma figuret,
Hic propior matri fit tamen, ille patri.
Diffimiles animos folertia temperat artis,
Alter in alterius redditur ore parens.
Et nova germanis paribus difcrimina præbens,
Divifit vultus cum pietate faber.
O bene naturæ memores, documenta fupernæ
Juftitiæ, juvenum numina, vota fenum,
Qui fpretis opibus medios properaftis in ignes
Nil præter fanctam tollere Canitiem.
Haud equidem immerito tanta virtute repressas
Enceladi fauces obriguiffe reor.
Ipfe redundantem frænavit Mulciber Ætnam,
Læderet exempli ne monumenta pii.
Senferunt elementa fidem: pater adfuit Ether,
Teraque maternum fedula juvit onus.
Quod fi notus amor provexit in aftra Laconas,
Eneam Phrygio raptus ab igne pater ;
Si vetus Argolicos illuftrat gloria fratres,
Qui fua materno colla dedere jugo.
Cur non Amphinomo, cur non tibi, fortis Anapi,
Æternum Siculus templa dicavit honos?
Plura licet fummæ dederit Trinacria laudi,
Noverit hoc majus fe genuiffe nihil.
Nec doleat damnis, quæ devius intulit ardor :
Nec gemat exuftas igne furente domos.
Non potuit pietas flamma ceffante probari,
Emtum eft ingenti clade perenne decus.
Fraternal likeness in the youths admire,
Tho' one reflects his mother, one his fire.
Thus fkilful art makes different minds
And either Parent in each Child you
Each Youth with pious love the sculptor warms,
With new distinctions in resembling forms.
O ye (to nature true, and heaven your guide,
Light to the young, the elders' with or pride,)
Who rush'd thro' fire, and not from lucre's rage,
But keen to fave the fanctity of age!
Enceladus, thy flame-diffufing jaws
Such virtue filenc'd to a folemn pause:
His flowing Etna Mulciber repreft,
Left piety should lofe fo dear a test:
The elements rever'd their faith-air, earth,
Gave a parental aid to filial worth.
If Spartan fons by love to heaven aspire;
If Troy's Æneas by his rescued fire ;
If youths of Argos fhine a double star,
The youths who fondly drew their mother's Car!
Say why, Amphinomus, Anapius, why
Does no just shrine forbid your fame to die?
Tho' Sicily has many claims to praise,
A nobler claim than yours the ne'er could raise.
Let her not grieve, to conflagration doom'd,
Nor mourn the fabrics in these flames confum'd ;
Virtue, without fuch proof, had loft her crown;
Wide ruin was the price of infinite renown.
Worthy to live in monumental ftone.
This memorable incident is recorded by Plutarch, in his Life of Timoleon.
The dupe of vanity's delirious fire.
Ovid and Rousseau have immortalized the delirium of Pygmalion, with the charms of playful imagination, and fascinating fenfibility.
Condemn'd to bellow in his brazen beaft.
Quam bene difpofitum terris, ut dignus iniqui
Fructus confilii primis auctoribus inftet!
Sic opifex tauri tormentorumque repertor,
Qui funefta novo fabricaverat æra dolori
Primus inexpertum, Siculo cogente tyranno,
Senfit opus, docuitque fuum mugire juvencum.
This celebrated brazen bull, in which Phalaris, the tyrant of Agri
gentum, is said to have tortured its cruel artificer, was feized by the Car
|