Or Tyrian Cadmus roved afar; ODE III. Twas now the hour, when Night had driven His Arctic charge around the Pole; THE EPISODE OF NISUS AND A PARAPHRASE FROM THE ÆNEID, LIB. 9. Nisus, the guardian of the portal, stood, Eager to gild his arms with hostile blood; Well skill'd in fight, the quivering lance to wield, Or pour his arrows through th' embattled field; From Ida torn, he left his sylvan cave, And sought a foreign home, a distant grave; To watch the movements of the Daunian host, With him, Euryalus sustains the post: No lovelier mien adorn'd the ranks of Troy, And beardless bloom yet graced the gallant boy; Though few the seasons of his youthful life, As yet a novice in the martial strife, 'Twas his, with beauty valour's gift to share, A soul heroic, as his form was fair; These burn with one pure flame of generous love, In peace, in war, united still they move; Friendship and glory form their joint reward, And now combined they hold the nightly guard. “What God!” exclaim'd the first, “instils | Or wealth redeem from foes my captive corse: this fire? Or, if my destiny these last deny, If in the spoiler's power my ashes lie, Or, in itself a God, what great desire? My labouring soul, with anxious thought | Thy pious care may raise a simple tomb, To mark thy love, and signalize my doom. Why should thy doating wretched mother opprest, Abhors this station of inglorious rest: Where drunken slumbers wrap each lazy limb? Where confidence and ease the watch disdain, And drowsy Silence holds her sable reign? Then hear my thought :-In deep and sullen grief, Our troops and leaders mourn their absent chief; Now could the gifts and promised prize be thine (The deed, the danger,and the fame be mine); Were this decreed; - beneath yon rising mound, Methinks,an easy path perchance were found, Which past, I speed my way to Pallas' walls, And lead Æneas from Evander's halls." With equal ardour fired, and warlike joy, His glowing friend address'd the Dardan boy: "These deeds, my Nisus, shalt thou dare alone? Must all the fame, the peril be thine own? And hostile life-drops dim my gory spear; The price of honour is the sleep of death." serve, Thy budding years a lengthened term deserve; When humbled in the dust, let some one be, Whose gentle eyes will shed one tear for me; Whose manly arm may snatch me back by force, weep Her only boy, reclined in endless sleep? Who, for thy sake, the tempest's fury dared, Who,for thy sake, war's deadly peril shared; Who braved what woman never braved before, And left her native for the Latian shore.” "In vain you damp the ardour of my soul," Replied Euryalus, "it scorns control; Hence, let us haste,' their brotherguards arose, Roused by their call, nor court again repose; The pair,buoy'd up on Hope's exulting wing, Their stations leave, and speed to seek the king. Now, o'er the earth a solemn stillness ran, And lull'd alike the cares of brute and man ; Save where the Dardan leaders nightly hold Alternate converse, and their plans unfold; On one great point the council are agreed, An instant message to their prince decreed; Each lean'd upon the lance he well could wield, And poised, with easy arm,his ancient shield; When Nisus and his friend their leave request To offer something to their high behest. With anxious tremors, yet unawed by fear, The faithful pair before the throne appear; Iulus greets them; at his kind command, The elder first address'd the hoary band. "With patience," thus Hyrtacides began, "Attend, nor judge from youth, our humble plan; Where yonder beacons, half-expiring, beam, Our slumbering foes of future conquest dream, Nor heed that we a secret path have traced, Between the ocean and the portal placed: Beneath the covert of the blackening smoke, Whose shade securely our design will cloak. If you, ye Chiefs, and Fortune will allow, We'll bend our course to yonder mountain's brow; Where Pallas' walls, at distance, meet the sight, Seen o'er the glade, when not obscured by night; Then shall Æneas in his pride return, While hostile matrons raise their offsprings' urn, And Latian spoils, and purpled heaps of dead, Shall mark the havoc of our hero's tread; Such is our purpose, not unknown the way, Where yonder torrent's devious waters stray: Oft have we seen, when hunting by the stream, The distant spires above the valleys gleam." Mature in years, for sober wisdom famed, | Without thy aid no glory shall be mine, Moved by the speech, Alethes here exclaim'd: Without thy dear advice no great design; "Ye parent Gods! who rule the fate of Troy, Alike, through life esteem'd, thou god-like Still dwells the Dardan spirit in the boy; When minds like these in striplings thus ye raise, Yours is the god-like act, be yours the praise; In gallant youth my fainting hopes revive, And Ilion's wonted glories still survive." Then, in his warm embrace, the boys he press'd, And, quivering, strain'd them to his aged breast; With tears the burning cheek of each bedew'd. And, sobbing, thus his first discourse renew'd : "What gift, my countrymen, what martial prize Can we bestow, which you may not despise? Doubtless, await such young exalted worth; boy, In war my bulwark, and in peace my joy' To him Euryalus: “No day shall shame The rising glories, which from this I claim. Fortune may favour or the skies may frown, But valour, spite of fate, obtains renowa Yet, ere from hence our eager steps depart, One boon I beg, the nearest to my heart: My mother sprung from Priam's royal line, Like thine ennobled, hardly less divine; Nor Troy, nor King Acestes' realms restrain Her feeble age from dangers of the main; Alone she came, all selfish fears above, A bright example of maternal love. Unknown, the secret enterprize I brave, Lest grief should bend my parent to the grave: From this alone no fond adieus I seek, No fainting mother's lips have press'd my cheek; By gloomy Night, and thy right hand, I vow Her parting-tears would shake my purpose now. Do thou, my prince, her failing age sustain, My sire secured them on that fatal day, Nor left such bowls an Argive robber's prey. Two massy tripods also shall be thine, Two talents polish'd from the glittering mine; An ancient cup which Tyrian Dido gave, While yet our vessels press'd the Punic wave: But, when the hostile chiefs at length bow down, When great Æneas wears Hesperia's crown, The casque, the buckler, and the fiery steed, Which Turnus guides with more than mortal speed, Are thine; no envious lot shall then be cast, I pledge my word, irrevocably pass'd; Nay more, twelve slaves and twice six captive dames, To soothe thy softer hours with amorous flames, And all the realms which now the Latins sway, The labours of to-night shall well repay. But thou, my generous youth, whose tender years Are near my own, whose worth my heart reveres, Henceforth, affection sweetly thus begun, Shall join our bosoms and our souls in one; Nor this alone, but many a gift beside; To cheer thy mother's years shall be my aim, Creusa's style but wanting to the dame; Fortune an adverse wayward course may run, But bless'd thy mother in so dear a son. Now, by my life, my Sire's most sacred oath, To thee I pledge my full, my firmest troth, All the rewards which once to thee were vow'd, If thou shouldst fall, on her shall be bestow'd." Thus spoke the weeping Prince, then forth To aid their cause, implore the gods in vain; Through sleeping foes they wheel their wary flight. When shall the sleep of many a foe be o'er? Alas! some slumber who shall wake no more! Chariots, and bridles, mix'd with arms, are seen, And flowing flasks, and scatter'd troops between; Bacchus and Mars to rule the camp combine, A mingled chaos this of war and wine. "Now," cries the first, "for deeds of blood prepare, Nor less the other's deadly vengeance came, But falls on feeble crowds without a names His wound unconscious Fadus scarce can feel, Yet wakeful Rhesus sees the threatening steel; His coward breast behind a jar he hides, Full in his heart the falchion search'd And, vainly, in the weak defence confides; The reeking weapon bears alternate stains; his veins, Thro' wine and blood, commingling as they flow, Now, where Messapus dwelt they bend The feeble spirit seeks the shades below. Whose fires emit a faint and trembling ray; their way, Unwatch'd, unheeded, on the herbage feed; There unconfined behold each grazing steed, Too flush'd with carnage, and with conBrave Nisns here arrests his comrade's arm, quest warm: With me the conquest and the labour share; is past, I'll carve our passage through the heedless Full foes enough, to-night, have breathed foe, blow." And clear thy, road, with many a deadly His whispering accents then the youth represt, And pierced proud Rhamnes through his panting breast; Stretch'd at his ease, th' incautious king reposed, Debauch,and not fatigue, his eyes had closed; To Turnus dear, a prophet and a prince, His omens more than augur's skill evince, But he, who thus foretold the fate of all, Could not avert his own untimely fall. Next Remus' armour-bearer, hapless, fell, And three unhappy slaves the carnage swell: The charioteer along his courser's sides Expires, the steel his sever'd neck divides; And, last,his Lord is number'd with the dead, Bounding convulsive, flies the gasping head; From the swollen veins the blackening torrents pour, Stain'd is the couch and earth with clotting gore. Young Lamyrus and Lamus next expire, past, their last; Soon will the day those eastern clouds adorn, Now let us speed, nor tempt the rising morn." What silver arms, with various arts emboss'd, What bowls and mantles, in confusion toss'd, They leave regardless! yet, one glittering To seek the vale, where safer paths extend. The knights, impatient, spur along the way: led, To Turnus with their master's promise sped: Now, they approach the trench, and view the walls, When, on the left, a light reflection falls; The plunder'd helmet through the waning night Sheds forth a silver radiance,glancing bright; Volscens, with question loud, the pair alarms That strain'd invention, ever on the wing, write, Whose gilded cymbals, more adorn'd than The cye delighted, but fatigued the ear, Shrink from that fatal word to Genius-But now, worn down, appear in native brass; While all his strain of hovering sylph around, trite; Yet truth sometimes will lend her noblest fires, | Evaporate in similies and sound: And decorate the verse herself inspires: And here let SHEE and Genius find a place, Or pour the easy rhyme's harmonious flow, Blest is the man who dares approach the bower Where dwelt the Muses at their natal hour; Whose steps have press'd, whose eye has mark'd afar The clime that nursed the sons of song and The scenes which glory still must hover o'er, Who rends the veil of ages long gone by, And you, associate Bards! who snatch'd to light Those gems too long withheld from modern sight; Whose mingling taste combined to cull Where Attic flowers Aonian odours breathe, The glorious spirit of the Grecian muse, applause, Yet let them not to vulgar WORDSWORTI stoop, The meanest object of the lowly group, A strain far, far beyond thy humble reach; And thou, too, Scort! resign to minstrels The wilder Slogan of a Border-fend: verse, And brotherCOLERIDGE lull the babe at nurse; And swear that CAMOENS sang such notes Let HAYLEY hobble on, MONTGOMERY rave, Let STOTT, CARLISLE, MATILDA, and the rest Scrawl on, 'till death release us from the strain, Or common-sense assert her rights again; But thou, with powers that mock the aid of praise, Shouldst leave to humbler bards ignoble Thy country's voice,the voice of all the Nine, Let these, or such as these, with just The glorious record of some nobler field, Restore the Muse's violated laws: But not in flimsy Darwin's pompous chime, |