Swear, that th' assistance which our arms shall lend, Shall no immortal angry god offend." [wide He spoke; when straight tow'rd Heaven disclosing His sightless balls, the senior thus replied: "My son, th' injustice of thy tongue restrain, Nor let such thoughts thy pious soul profane : By Phoebus, heavenly augur, who inspires My conscious bosom with prophetic fires; By this my wretched lot of woe and care, These eyes involv'd in darkening clouds, I swear, By the fell demons of the realms below, Whom ever unpropitious may I know, From their resentments not in death secure, If falsely their dread godheads I adjure: That your assisting hands shall never move Wrath or displeasure in the powers above." Then acquiescing in the solemn prayer, To aid the prophet Boreas' sons prepare. The ready youth a banquet spread, the last That those fell harpies were decreed to taste: Nigh stand the brothers, ardent to oppose With glittering falchions their invading foes. But scarce the first sweet morsel Phineus took, When from the clouds with swift prevention broke, Swift as the lightning's glance, or stormy blast Whose rapid fury lays the forest waste, Shrill clamouring for their prey the birds obscene. The watchful heroes shouting rush'd between; But they with speediest rage the cates devour'd, And round intolerable odours pour'd; Then o'er th' Egean far away they flew; Upspringing swift with threatening blades pursue The feather'd chiefs. That day Saturnius steel'd Their vigorous nerves with force untaught to yield; And did not Jove their wearying strength sustain, Their flitting pinions had they spread in vain : For when to Phineus furions they repair, Or quitting Phineus seek the fields of air, The light-wing'd monsters, fleeter than the wind, Leave the impetuous zephyrs far behind. As when the hound experienc'd in the chase, Through some wide forest o'er the scented grass A bounding hind or horned goat pursues, And near his parting prey, and nearer views; Eager he stretches the short space to gain, And, snapping, grinds his gnashing fangs in vain : So ever-near th' insulting chiefs pursued; The harpies so their catching hands elude. But now far off in the Sicilian main, By the wing'd brothers, sons of Boreas, slain, The race of harpies (though Heaven disallow'd) Had stain'd the Plotian isles with sacred blood; Their sore distress had Iris not survey'd, And, darting from the skies, the heroes staid. "O sons of Boreas, the dread laws above Permit ye not to wound the dogs of Jove. And, lo! my oath I pledge, that never more Shall those fell dogs approach Bithynia's shore." This said, adjuring the tremendous floods, Most fear'd, most honour'd, by th' immortal gods: By the slow-dripping urn of Styx she swore, The prophet's peaceful mansions evermore From those rapacious spoilers should be free; Such was the fatal sister's fixt decree. The goddess swore, the brothers straight obey, And back to Argo wing their airy way. The Strophades from thence derive their name, The Plotian islands styl'd by ancient fame. Then part the harpies and Thaumantian maid, In thousand various mingling dyes array'd. These to the grots retir'd and dark retreat Of Dicte's caverns in Minoian Crete : While the gay goddess of the watery bow Gain'd in a moment high Olympus' brow. Meanwhile the princes in the cleansing wave With purifying rites their senior lave. Next from the spoil, which on Bybricia's shore From vanquish'd Amycus stern Pollux tore, A victim they select with pious care; And sooth the gods with sacrifice and prayer. Then in the palace each heroic guest Partakes the pleasure of the sumptuous feast. With them sate Phineus, and refresh'd his soul With savoury viands and the cheering bowl. Unsatiated he feeds, and bathes in streams Of ecstasy beyond the bliss of dreams. THE HYMN OF CLEANTHES'. For nor in earth, nor earth-encircling floods, 1 Cleanthes, the author of this hymn, was a Stoic philosopher, a disciple of Zeno. He wrote many pieces, none of which are come down to us, but this and a few fragments, which are printed by H. Stephens, in a collection of philosophical poems. This hymn was translated at the request. of a very learned and ingenious friend of mine, who was pleased to find such just sentiments of the deity in a heathen, and so much poetry in a philosopher. That common guide ordain'd to point the road car. Some, bent on wealth, pursue with endless pain That, honour'd with a portion of thy light, And hymn thy glorious work with ceaseless praise, THE TRIUMPHS OF THE GOUT. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF LUCIAN. Or wrestling might I not the hurt receive, Tollere nodosam nescit medicina podagram. OVID. When lock'd together were our grappling limbs? O! where is Ocypus, illustrious youth? For lame, I hear, are his victorious feet; WHENCE, without wound, proceeds this horrid pain, And therefore to assist him am I come. Ocypus, the son of Podalirius and Astasia, was eminent for his strength and beauty, a great lover of hunting, and of all gymnastic exercises. This young man having been accustomed to insult and deride whomsoever he saw grievously afflicted with the gout, telling them at the same time that their pains were nothing, brought upon himself the indignation of the goddess who presides over that distemper, and was at last, by the violence of the disease, driven to a recantation. Lucian had composed an entire drama upon this subject; but as only the beginning of this piece remains, I have translated it, and, with very little alteration in either, have made it a part of his other drama, whose subject is the triumph of the gout over physic, But see! where, careless on the couch diffus'd, OCY PUS. Intolerable pain my foot consumes. PHYSICIAN. Whence came? how? what accident?explain. OCY PUS. Or in the straining race, or haply while My gymnic exercises I perform'd, Some hurt from my companions I receiv'd. PHYSICIAN. Then where's the sore and angry inflammation? And why no fomentation on the part? OCYPUS. The woollen bandage I abhor. NURSE. Alas! How baneful is the pride of handsome looks! PHYSICIAN. In hunting after this and that solution, thee." OCY PUS. It? what? Alas! what terrible disease, What therefore must be done? shall I lay open That needs such preface to its horrid name? Thy tumid foot? But, Ocypus, be sure NURSE. The Gout, O wretched Ocypus, whose pangs And gnawing tortures thou didst once deride. OCYPUS. But what, O skilful artist, what say'st thou? PHYSICIAN. Farewell; to serve thee I neglect myself. OCYPUS. What accident or business calls thee hence? PHYSICIAN. Into a cureless evil thou art fall'n. OCYPUS. Must I then, ever lame, tormented ever, Drag on a life of everlasting woe? PHYSICIAN. Fear not thou shalt not be for ever lame. OCYPUS. What worse have I to fear? PHYSICIAN. On either leg Her galling fetters will the goddess bind. OCYPUS. Alas! in t' other sympathising foot And, "Oh!" he cried, "whence came this dire Methinks I feel a new unusual pain. Gout, rueful Gout! of sad Cocytus born! To tender Attis, beardless boy, The howling Phrygian throng On yellow Tmolus' flowery top With clashing arms, in frantic mood, Their holy ritual strain. To Mars, the furious god of war, To battle, blood, and death. In sighs and groans to thee perform When usher'd by the blushing hours When Zephyr on each pregnant tree. When in the grove, at midnight hour, For Itys lost th' Athenian bird Renews her plaintive moan. [Exit Chorus. SCENE, A CHAMBER. Ocypus solus. OCYPUS. Come, O my comfort, my supporter, come, My staff, my third best leg, O! now uphold My tottering footsteps, and direct my way, That lightly on the earth my foot may tread. Wretch, from thy pallet raise thy heavy limbs, And quit the cover'd closeness of the room. Dispel the cloud, that weighs thy eyelids down, In open day, and in the golden Sun, On purer air thy enliven'd spirit feast. For now my willing mind invites me forth; But the weak flesh refuses to comply. Be resolute, my soul; for well thou know'st, The gouty wretch, that would but cannot move, Ought to be number'd with th' inactive dead. Come on. [Exit Ocypus. Scene changes. Enter Ocypus, who discovers the Chorus before a temple offering sacrifices to the Gout, with music and dancing. Dance. OCYPUS. But who are they, whose hands with crutches fill'd, Whose tossing heads with eldern garlands bound, Seem in wild dance some feast to celebrate? Do they to thee, Apollo, Pæans sing? Then would the Delphic laurel shade their brows. Or chant they rather Bacchanalian hymns? Then would their temples be with ivy wreath'd. Whence are ye, strangers? speak: the truth declare. Declare, O friends, what deity ye worship. CHORUS. But who art thou, who mak'st us this demand? Thou too, as from thy crutch may be inferr'd, And hobbling pace, thou art a votary Of the invincible divinity. OCYPUS. I am; nor am unworthy of the name. CHORUS. When Cyprian Venus, queen of love, Our goddess first embrac'd, What time primeval Chaos ceas'd, And Night eternal fled; Bright rose the Morning, and the Sun Then from the womb of Fate sprung forth Heaven with portentous thunders rung, Clotho receiv'd and swath'd the babe, Thence at the streaming breast Of Wealth by fostering Plutus fed, Her awful force increas'd. OCYPUS. Say by what rites mysterious to her altar Doth the dread power her votaries admit ? CHORUS. Nor with the biting steel ourselves we wound 3, Or sprinkle with our blood the hallow'd ground: Nor are our necks with galling collars worn; Or livid backs with sounding scourges torn: Nor at the altar, when the victim dies, Gorge we the raw and bleeding sacrifice: But when the Spring the rising sap impells, And the young elm with genial moisture swells, When in the hedges on the budding spray The blackbird modulates her various lay: Then unperceiv'd she drives her piercing dart, And wounds the inmost sense with secret smart ; The hip, the nervous thigh, the ancles swell, The bending knee, and firm-supporting heel: The strong-knit shoulder and the sinewy arm, And hand mechanic, feel th' intestine harm; Through every joint the thrilling anguish pours, And gnaws, and burns, and tortures, and devours; Till length of suffering the dire power appease, And the fierce torments at her bidding cease. Lives there on Earth to whom I am unknown, High Heav'n's divine physician, can subdue; 3 The Chorus here allude to several religious ceremonies performed by several priests to their gods. The Scripture mentions the priests of Baal cutting and lashing themselves with knives, & c. That shades the downy peach, benumbing henbane, And branching stone-buck 5 bearded like a goat. CHORUS. Hear, stubborn virgin, fierce and strong, Impracticable maid! O listen to our holy song! And grant thy servants aid! Thy power, imperious dame, dismays And thundering Jove with dread, And flannels warm embrace, Thy flames the tumid ancles feel, 4 A kind of red land-toad. 5 A beast with shaggy hair and a beard like a goat, but otherwise like a stag. |