THE

THEBAID OF STATIUS.

BOOK THE EIGHT H.

OON as the Prophet reach'd the dreary Coasts

SOON

Of Styx, the Manfion of pale-vifag'd Ghosts,

Explor❜d the Secrets of the World below,
And pierc❜d the Regions of eternal Woe;
His Garb terrific, and loud-braying Arms
Fill Pluto's wide Dominion with Alarms.
The Shades with Horror gaze upon his Car,
His Weapons, Steeds diftinguifh'd in the War,
And his new Body: for he neither came

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Black from the Urn, nor season'd with the Flame; 10
But with the Sweat of Mars was cover'd o'er,

And his hack'd Target ftain'd with dewy Gore.
Nor had Erinnys yet with impious Hand
O'er his cold Members wav'd her flaming Brand,

There is fomething very awful and folemn in the Poet's Defcription of the Terror and Confufion which the Prefence of Amphiaraus occafioned in the infernal Regions. But what we should principally regard it for, is the great Light it throws on many Parts of the heathen Mythology, which would otherwise seem dark and myfterious. In fhort, it is altogether as fine a Representation of Hell, as any we meet with in the ancient Poets.

Or Proferpine, admitting him a Ghost,

Infcrib'd his Name upon the murky Post.
Nor to the Tafk the Sifters' Hands fuffic'd;
The Work as yet unfinish'd he furpriz❜d:
Then, nor till then, they cut the fatal Thread,
And freed the Seer, irregularly dead.
The Manes of Elifium gaz'd around,
(Their Pleasures interrupted at the Sound)
And those, who station'd in the Gulph beneath,
An Air less pure, and less enliv'ning breathe.

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Then groan the Lakes that parch'd with Sulphur glow;
And fluggish Waters, fcarcely seen to flow;
While Charon, wont to plough the loaded Stream,
Mourns his loft Fare, a melancholy Theme;

And grieves, that Shades had gain'd the Stygian Shore,
By Chasms in Earth, and Means unknown before. 30
In the mid Part of his unhappy State
The King of Erebus in Judgment fate:

The Shades he queftion'd on their former Crimes,
Difpleas'd with all that fill his dreary Climes,

There Death in various Shapes and Orders ftands, 35
The Sifter Fiends with Vengeance in their Hands,
And Punishment, diftinguifh'd in the Throng
By Chains harsh clanking, as she strides along.'
With the fame Thumb the Fates condemn and fave.
Mean while fresh Numbers iffue from the Grave.

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v. 39. With the fame Thumb] The Thumb was a Token of Favour and Displeasure among the Antients. When a Man preffed his Thumb, it was a Sign ef his Regard, as Pliny informs us, Lib. 28. Cap. 11. Pollices, cum favemus, premere etiam proverbio jubemur. When the Thumb was turned, his Difpleafure was fignified, which was fo great a Mark of Malevolence, that by this alone the People

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There Minos with his Colleague hears each Cause,
Restrains the King, and mitigates the Laws.
Nor was Cocytos abfent Stream of Woes,
And Phlegethon, that kindles as it flows.
Or Styx, whom e'en th' attefting Gods revere.
Then trembling Pluto firft experienc'd Fear;
And spoke in Wrath, as fick'ning he survey'd
The starry Splendors, through the Cleft difplay'd.
What Pow'r has forc'd Earth's Barrier thus away,
And join'd the upper and the nether Day?
Who pierc'd our Gloom? fay, whence thefe Threats
arife,

From the ftern Lord of Ocean or the Skies?

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of Rome ordered the Gladiators to be flain, as we learn from Juvenul, Sat. 3.

Munera nunc edunt, et verfo pollice vulgi

Quemlibet occidunt populariter,

v. 43. Nor was Cocytos] Milton has given us a fine Picture of the Rivers of Hell in the 2d Book of Par. Loft, Verse 577.

Abhorred Styx, the Flood of deadly Hate,

Sad Acheron of Sorrow, black and deep:
Cocytos, nam'd of Lamentation loud

Heard on the rueful Stream; fierce Phlegethon

Whose Waves of Torrent Fire inflame with Rage.
Far off from those a flow and filent Stream,
Lethe, the River of Oblivion rolls
Her watry Labyrinth, whereof who drinks
Forthwith his former State and Being forgets,
Forgets both Joy and Grief, Pleasure and Pain.

v. 45. Or Styx] Though I have spoken of this River elsewhere, I cannot deny myself the Pleasure of tranfcribing Hefiod's humorous Account of the Punishment of those Gods who had swore falfly by it. For one whole Year (fays he) they must abstain from Nectar and Ambrofia, and lie on the Ground dumb and lethargic. After a Year, greater Punishments await them: for they are banished for nine Years, and debarred the Society of the Gods. At the End of the tenth Year however, they resume their priftine State and Dignity.

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Boaster,

Boaster, ftand forth on thy own Terms of Fight;
Hence let Form fink to Chaos, Day to Night.

To whom more dear?-I guard the guilty World, 55
Hither from Heav'n by adverse Fortune hurld.
Nor e'en is this my own: I rule in vain,
When Jove encroaches thus upon my Reign.
When on my Throne the Rays of Titan beat,

And Light abhorr'd pervades my gloomy Seat.

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Wants he, the King of Heav'n, my Strength to prove? The fetter'd Giants will each Doubt remove,

The restless Titans (who did erst aspire

Earth to revifit) and his wretched Sire.

Why wills he, that my Toils fhould never cease,
Why must the Light I lost disturb my Peace?
But fhould it please, each Kingdom I'll display,
And veil in Stygian Mifts the Blaze of Day.
Hence the twin Sons of Tyndar I'll detain,
Nor render back th' Arcadian Youth again.

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For why does he thus journey to and fro,
And waft around the Meffages of Woe?
Why should Ixion, with fresh Labours worn,
And thirsting Tantalus my Anger mourn?
How long fhall living Ghosts, unpunish'd roam
From Bank to Bank, and violate my Dome?

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v. 49. What Pow'r] Of all the Orations in the Thebaid there is none that can give lefs Pleasure to the Reader, and confequently lefs Credit to the Tranflator than this before us. Not that Pluto fpeaks without Spirit, but his Speech has many Allufions to dark Circumftances in heathen Mythology; fo that I very much queftion, if, after all the Pains I have taken, it is intelligible to the greatest Part of my Readers. It is not of a Natnre to thine in Po etry and all I could do to make it tolerable, was to give it as fmooth Numbers as poffible, and curtail that Length which makes it ftill more difgufting.

With me Pirithous durft once contend,

And Thefeus fworn to his audacious Friend:
Then of Alcides too (my Guard remov'd)

The furious Arm and Strength robuft I prov'd.
Now Hell, because fome idle Feuds arife
Between two petty Princes, open lies.

I faw, when Orpheus the fad Strain purfu'd,

The Fiends in Tears, the Sifters' Tasks renew'd.
The sweet Musician o'er my Wrath prevail'd,
Yet, heedlefs of the ftern Condition, fail'd.
Once, and but once I fought the World above,
And snatch'd in Sicily the Joys of Love:
The bold Excurfion ftung th' etherial Prince,
As the hard Laws that quick enfu'd, evince.
At each fix Moons her Mother at my Hands
My Confort for an equal Term demands.
But why these Plaints ?-Go, Minister of Ill,
Revenge the Infult, and our Wrath fulfill.
If ought yet unconceiv'd, and unexprefs'd
Thy ready Wit, and fertile Brain fuggeft,
On which thy Sifters may with Envy gaze,

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And I with Wonder.-Go, and win our Praife.
But, as an Omen of our future Hate,
And as a Prelude to the ftern Debate,

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Let the two Brothers meet without the Wall,
And, fir'd by mutual Rage, in Combat fall.
Let one with more than brutal Fury feed
On his Foe's Head, expiring in the Deed,
Another the laft fun'ral Flames deny,
And taint with Carcafes his native Sky.
Such Acts may Jupiter with Pleasure view.
Nor let thy Wrath our Realms alone pursue.

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