Classic Poem

When now the King had lost his darling child,
He call'd his son, in raving frenzy wild,
And bid him to his arms restore the fair,
Or never more dare breathe Phaenician air,
But live an exile in a clime unknown;
Thus, was the father, cruel to his son.
The royal C ADMUS trac'd the world around,
But how can J OVE in his intrigues be found?
Now tir'd at length, his searches he with-held,
From country banish'd and from friend's expell'd.
He straight a suppliant goes to Delphi's shrine,
To see what fate might hence for him assign;
The Delphic god returns him this reply,
To stay his wand'rings, and his wants supply: —
Behold! amidst the fields, a milk-white cow,
Unworn with yokes, unbroken to the plow!
Mark well, where first she lies her on the earth,
And to a new found city, there give birth;
So from thy guide, Boeaetia call the land,
Where, here secure thy distant walls shall stand.
Scarce had he left the dark and gloomy cell,
Whilst in his breast the glad presages swell,
Than in the fields the fatal cow he spy'd,
Grazing at large, unknown without a guide;
He at a distance keeps her in his view,
Whilst to the god his prayers he doth renew,
Her way thro' flow'ry Panupe she took,
And now Cephisus, stems thy silver brook,
Where raising to the east her silver head,
She bellow'd loud, then back began to tread,
When gazing on her fellow herds behind,
She on the tender grass herself reclin'd.
C ADMUS salutes the soil, and gladly hails,
The new-found mountains, and the nameless vales;
Then sends his servants to the neighbouring grove,
For waters clear to sacrifice to J OVE .
Wide o'er the mountain's brow, in order stood,
A lonely, spreading, solitary wood,
And in the midst there stood a cave unknown,
Perplex'd with brambles, and with shrubs o'er grown;
Here in the dreary cavern stood obscure,
A vault with rugged stones arch'd o'er secure,
Deep in the dark recess and hid from day,
Sacred to Mars , a dreadful dragon lay,
Around his neck a golden collar plac'd,
Whilst a huge crest his lofty forehead grac'd,
With poison fraught, of a stupendous size,
Like livid light'nings glanc'd his fiery eyes;
Three tongues he brandish'd when he charg'd his foes,
His teeth stood jagging in three dreadful rows.
The Tyrians now attain the fatal place,
Led to their doom by a too speedy pace.
With empty urns they search the vault around,
From side to side, their empty urns rebound;
The slumb'ring dragon roused with the noise,
His venom'd armour now began to poise,
Exasperated from his den he flies,
And with tremenduous hissings fills the skies.
The Tyrians struck with terror at the sight,
Drop their void urns, and seek in vain for flight.
Wreath above wreath, aloft in air he rears,
And o'er the wood in dreadful form appears;
He now unwreaths, 'tis dreadful to behold,
Then springs upon them in a horrid fold:
In vain the Tyrians on their arms rely,
In vain attempt to fight, in vain to fly;
Some by his venom'd teeth receive their death,
Others are stifled by his pois'nous breath.
But now the sun in his meridian height,
Shot round the world his scorching beams of light,
When royal C ADMUS wond'ring at the stay,
Of his departed friends, who long delay,
Uneasy grown, with anxious discontent,
He seeks the way his dear companions went.
A lion's skin he round his shoulders wore,
The well pois'd jav'lin to the field he bore,
The trusty lance unus'd to rapines foul,
But yet, still best of all, a noble soul!
Soon as the Prince approach'd the fatal wood,
He saw his servants welt'ring in their blood;
The scaly fiend, amidst their corpse he sees,
Licking their tender wounds, and stretch'd at ease;
My trusty friends the godlike hero cry'd,
What pity 'tis, that you so basely dy'd!
But I'll revenge thus your unhappy fate,
On your curs'd foe, but ha, my friends, too late;
He said, and from the ground a millstone drew,
Which like a whirlwind at the fiend he threw!
A tower assaulted by so rude a stroke,
With all its lofty battlements had shook!
With no effect the massive weight is found,
On his close scales, impervious to a wound;
The pointed jav'lin, more successful flew,
Which like a lightning the vex'd hero threw,
Amidst his scales the sharpen'd steel he sent,
Which in his pervious guts it's fury spent;
The monster raging with the piercing pain,
Wreaths to and fro, and bites the shaft in vain,
His rage and pains now equally advance,
Whilst from his eyes the livid lightnings glance;
Churn'd in his teeth, he holds the venom'd gore,
Whilst from his nostrils pois'nous vapours pour,
Such as ne'er the stygian waters found,
The tender shrubs are tainted all around.
Now in a maze of curls he lies enroll'd,
Now all unravel'd, and without a fold,
Now poising forward like a rapid flood,
Bear down in his rude course, the tow'ring wood.
C ADMUS , upon the lion's skin doth meet
His heavy charge, then makes him to retreat,
The royal hero with his spear doth ward,
The raging foe as little doth regard;
The spear he bites, the pointed sword he chews,
Till from his throat the bloody poison flows,
But yet for all his vigour scarce is worse,
For when the victor with redoubl'd force
Strikes home the dart, his yet still vig'rous foe,
Shrinks from the stroke, and disappoints the blow;
The dauntless hero yet the stroke repeats,
Then backward to a spreading oak retreats,
The foe he here retards in his career,
And plunges in his throat the fatal spear,
Which in his gaping throat a way receives,
The yielding bone an ample passage gives;
Fix'd to the sturdy oak, whilst with his tail,
The knotty boughs with force he doth assail;
When tir'd at length, and wearied with his toils,
He gapes for death, then wreaths in various coils,
C ADMUS beholds the foe with raptur'd eyes,
Whilst lashing in his pois'nous gore he lies;
When suddenly from high a voice was heard,
(The sound distinct, and yet no form appear'd),
" Why dost thou thus, with secret joy behold,
" A state, which shall, ere long thyself enfold? "
Seiz'd with a trembling at the awful sound,
He stands aghast, and gazes all around;
When lo, M INERVA , from the clouds descends,
The goddess who the wise and bold defends,
Then bids him round the teaming mountain plow,
The serpents teeth in the new furrows sow:
Then tells the youth, before his wond'ring eyes,
A warlike harvest, from the earth shall rise!
At her command the serpent's teeth he sows,
And from his hand the future people throws,
The animated clods to life advance,
And now appears the spear and glitt'ring lance,
Now nodding plumes, and crests begins to rear,
And now the shoulders and the breasts appear,
O'er all the field, a living harvest swarms,
A warlike crop of men and glitt'ring arms.
So thro' the parting stage a figure rears
It's body up, and limb by limb appears,
By slow degrees, at length the man ascends,
Upon the stage, and all his length extends.
The Prince astonish'd at the hostile shew,
Prepares for war, and stands to meet the foe,
When one cry'd out, " Forbear, fond man, to fight,
" Nor in a blind, promiseuous war unite: " —
So said, he strikes his brother to the heart,
Himself expiring by another dart;
Nor did the third long ward the stroke of death,
Dying, ere scarce he drew his infant breath.
The sad example spreads o'er all the plain,
Till heaps of brothers are by brothers slain,
The fuirows swam in blood, and only five
The direful conflict of the wars survive;
A CHION one, urg'd by M INERVA 's call,
The guiltless weapon from his hand let fall,
And with the rest a peaceful treaty makes,
Whom C ADMUS as his friends and partners takes,
So founds a city on the promis'd soil,
And builds Boeaetia to conclude his toil.