"And yet no aid afford! And storm'st thou thus?

"She to another now her safety owes; "And would'st thou s.n.a.t.c.h the prize? So high if seems "To thee her precious value, thy bold arm "Should on the rock where chain'd she lay, have sought "And have deserv'd her. Now permit that he "Who sought her there; through whom my failing age "Is not now childless, grant that he enjoy "Peaceful, what through his merits he no less, "Than our firm compact claims: not him to thee, "But him to certain loss I preference gave."

Nought Phineus answer'd, but his furious eyes Now Perseus, now the king alternate view; Doubtful or this to pierce, or that: his pause Was short; his powerful arm, by fury nerv'd, At Perseus hurl'd the quivering spear,--in vain!

Fixt in the couch it stood. Quick bounded up Th' indignant youth, and deep in Phineus' breast, Had plung'd the point returning, but he shrunk Behind an altar; which, O shame! preserv'd The impious villain. Yet not harmless sped The weapon;--full in Rhaetus' front it stuck; Who lifeless dropp'd; broke in the bone the steel; He spurn'd, and sprinkled all the feast with gore.

Then rag'd with ire ungovern'd all the crowd, And hurl'd in showers their weapons; some fierce cry'd, Cepheus, no less than Perseus, death deserv'd.

But Cepheus left the hall, adjuring loud, The hospitable G.o.ds; justice; and faith; That he was guiltless of the sanguine fray.

Minerva comes; her sheltering aegis shields Her brother's body; in his breast she breathes Redoubled valor. Atys, Indian bred, Whom fair Limnate, Ganges' daughter, bore, 'Tis told, amid the waters' crystal caves, Scarce sixteen years had seen. His beauteous form, In gorgeous dress more beauteous still appear'd.

A purple garment fring'd around with gold, Enwrapp'd him; round his neck were golden beads; And pins and combs of gold his lovely locks, With myrrh sweet-smelling, held. Well skill'd the youth To hurl the javelin to its distant mark; But more to bend the bow. Him Perseus smote, The flexile bow just bending, with a brand s.n.a.t.c.h'd flaming from the altar; crush'd, his face A horrid ma.s.s of fractur'd bones appears.

His beauteous features Lycabas beheld In blood convuls'd: his dearest comrade he, And one who proud his ardent love display'd.

Griev'd to behold the last expiring breath, Of Atys parting from the furious wound, He seiz'd the bow the youth had bent, and cry'd;-- "The battle try with me!--not long thy boast "Of conquest o'er a boy; a conquest more "By hate than fame attended." Railing thus, The piercing weapon darted from the string.

Now Phineus, fearful hand to hand to meet The foe, his javelin hurl'd, the point ill-aim'd On Idas glanc'd, who vainly kept aloof With neutral weapon. Phineus, stern he view'd, "With threatening frown, exclaiming;--"though no share "In this mad broil I took, now, Phineus, feel "The power of him whom thou hast forc'd a foe; "And take reciprocally wound for wound."

Then from his side the weapon tore to hurl; But fast the life-stream gush'd, he instant fell.

Here, by the sword of Clymenus was slain, Odites, n.o.blest lord in Cepheus' court; Protenor fell by Hypseus; Hypseus sunk Beneath Lyncides' arm. Amid the throng Was old Emathion too, friend to the just, And fearer of the G.o.ds; though ancient years Forbade his wielding arms, what aid his words Could give, he spar'd not: curs'd the impious war, In loud upbraidings. As with trembling arms, He grasp'd the altar, Chromis' gory sword His neck divided; on the altar dropp'd The head; and there the trembling, dying tongue, Faint imprecations utter'd; 'midst the flames He breath'd his spirit forth. By Phineus' hand, Broteas and Ammon fell: the brother-twins Unconquer'd in the fight, the caestus shower'd; Could but the caestus make the falchion yield: But Perseus felt it not,--its point hung fixt Amidst his garments' folds. On him he turn'd, The falchion, glutted with Medusa's gore, And plung'd it in his breast. Dying, he looks Around, with eyes rolling in endless night, For Atys, and upon him drops: then pleas'd, Thus join'd in death, he seeks the shades below.

Methion's son, Syenian Phorbas, now And fierce Amphimedon, in Lybia born, Rush in the fight to mingle; both fall p.r.o.ne, The slippery earth wide spread with smoking blood.

The sword attacks them rising; in his throat Phorbas receives it, and the other's side.

But Erythis, of Actor born, whd rear'd An axe tremendous, not the waving sword Of Perseus meets: a cup of ma.s.sive bulk, With both his hands high-heaving, fierce he hurls Full on his foe: he vomits gory floods; Falls back, and strikes with dying head the earth.

Then Polydaemon falls, sprung from the blood Of queen Semiramis; Lycetes brave, The son of Spercheus; Abaris, who dwelt On frozen Caucasus; and Helicen With unshorn tresses; Phlegias; c.l.i.tus too; Those with the rest beneath his weapon fall; And on the rising heaps of dead he stands.

And fell Ampycus; Ceres' sacred priest, His temples with a snow-white fillet bound.

Thou, O, j.a.petides! whose string to sound Such discord knew not; but whose harp still tun'd, The works of peace, in concord with thy voice; Wast bidden here to celebrate the feast: And cheer the nuptial banquet with thy song!

Him, when at distance Pettalus beheld, Handling his peaceful instrument, he cry'd In mocking laughter;--"go, and end thy song, "Amid the Stygian ghosts,"--and instant plung'd Through his left temple, his too deadly sword.

Sinking, his dying fingers caught the strings, And, chance-directed, gave a mournful sound.

Not long the fierce Lycormas saw his fall Without revenge: a ma.s.sy bar of oak From the right gate he tore, and on the bones Behind the neck, the furious blow was aim'd: p.r.o.ne on the earth, like a crush'd ox he fell.

Pelates of Cinypheus, strove to rend A like strong fastening from th' opposing door; The dart of Corythus his tugging hand Transfix'd, and nail'd him to the wood confin'd: Here Abas, with his spear, deep pierc'd his side: Nor dying fell he;--by the hand retain'd, Firm to the post he hung. Melaneus fell.

The arms of Perseus aiding; Dorilas, The wealthiest lord in Nasamonia's land, Fell too beside him: rich was he in fields; In wide extent no lands with his could vie; Nor equal his in h.o.a.rded heaps of grain.

Obliquely in his groin, the missive spear Stuck deep,--a mortal spot: his Bactrian foe His rolling eyes beheld, and dying breath In sobs convulsive flitting, and exclaim'd;-- "This spot thou pressest, now of all thy lands, "Possess,"--and turning left the lifeless corse.

Avenging Perseus hurls at him the spear, Torn from the smoking wound; the point, receiv'd Full in the nostrils, pierces through the neck: Before, behind, expos'd the weapon stands.

Now fortune aids his blows, the brother pair, Clanis, and Clytius fall, by different wounds.

Hurl'd by his nervous arm, the ashen spear Transfix'd the thighs of Clytius: Clanis dy'd Biting the steel that pierc'd his mouth. Now fell Mendesian Celadon; and Astreus borne By Hebrew mother, to a doubtful sire.

Now dy'd Ethion, once deep skill'd to see The future fates; now by his skill deceiv'd.

Thoactes, who the monarch's armor bore; And base Agyrtes, murderer of his sire.

Crowds though he conquers, thickening crowds remain; For all united wage on him the war.

In every quarter fight the press, conspir'd To aid a cause to worth and faith oppos'd.

The sire, with useless piety,--the queen, And new-made bride, the hero's party take; And fill the hall with screams. The clang of arms, And groans of dying men their screamings drown.

The houshold deities, polluted once, The fierce Bellona bathes with gore again; With double fury lighting up the war.

Now Phineus, followed by a furious throng Surrounds him single; thicker fly their darts Than wintry hail, on every side; his sight They cloud, and deafening, whiz his ears around.

By crowds opprest, retreating, Perseus leans His shoulders 'gainst a ma.s.sive pillar's height; And, safe behind, dares all the furious fight.

Chaonian Molpeus rushes on his left; Ethemon, Nabathaean, on his right: Thus a fierce tiger, urg'd by famine, hears Combin'd the lowings of two different herds, Far distant in the vale; in doubt he stands, On this, or that to rush; and furious burns On both at once to thunder. Perseus so, To left and right inclin'd at once to bear, Plerc'd first the thigh of Molpeus,--straight he fled Unfollow'd; for Ethemon fiercely press'd.

He, furious aiming at the hero's neck, With ill-directed strength, his weapon broke Against a column;--back the shiver'd point Sprung, and his throat transfix'd: slight was the wound; To doom to death unable. Perseus plung'd His mortal falchion, as the trembling wretch His helpless arms extended, in his breast.

But now his valor Perseus found oppress'd By crowds unequal, and aloud exclaim'd;-- "Since thus you force me, from my very foe "More aid I'll ask;--my friends avert your eyes!"

Then shew'd the Gorgon's head. "Go, elsewhere seek,"

Said Thescelus,--"for those such sights may move:"-- The deadly javelin poising in his hand, In act to throw, a marble form he stands, In the same posture. Near him Ampyx rear'd, Against the brave Lyncides' breast his sword; His uprais'd hand was harden'd; here, or there, To wave unable. Nileus now display'd Seven argent streams upon a shield of gold; False boasting offspring from the seven-mouth'd Nile; And cry'd;--"Lo! Perseus, whence my race deriv'd; "Down to the silent shades this solace bear "By such a hand to die." The final words Were lost; his sounding voice abrupt was stay'd; His open'd mouth still seem'd the words to form, Incapable to utter. Eryx storm'd At these, exclaiming;---"not the Gorgon's hairs "Freeze ye, but your own trembling, dastard souls: "Rush forth with me, and on the earth lay low, "The youth who battles thus with magic arms."

Fierce had he rush'd, but firmly fixt his feet Held him to earth, a rigid, fasten'd stone; A statue arm'd. These well their fate deserv'd, But one, Aconteus, while in aid he fought Of Perseus, sudden stood to stone congeal'd; As star'd the Gorgon luckless in his face.

Him saw Astyages, but thought he liv'd; And fierce attack'd him with a mighty sword.

Shrill tinkling sounds the blow: astonish'd stands Astyages;--astonish'd seems the stone; For while he stares, he too to marble turns.

Long were the tale, of each plebean death To tell; two hundred still unhurt remain; By Gorgon's head two hundred stiffen'd stand: When Phineus seems the strife unjust to mourn.

But what to act remains? Around him crowd, The forms of numerous friends: his friends he knows, Their aid intreats, and calls on each by name: Still doubting, seizes those his grasp can reach And finds them stone! Averse he turns his eyes; Raises his conscious arms and hands oblique, And suppliant begs;--"go Perseus,--conqueror, go!

"Remove that dreadful monster,--bear away "That stone-creating visage, Gorgon's head!

"Whate'er it be, I pray thee bear it hence.

"Nor hate, nor l.u.s.t of empire, rais'd our arms "Against thee;--for my wife alone we warr'd.

"Thy cause, by merit best; mine, but by time.

"Bravest of men, me much it grieves I e'er, "Thy claim oppos'd: existence only give, "All else be thine." To him, as thus he begg'd, Fearing his eyes, to whom he suppliant spoke To turn;--"thou dastard, Phineus!" Perseus cry'd,-- "What I can grant, I will; and what I grant "To souls like thine a mighty boon must seem.

"Dispel thy terror; rest from steel secure.

"Yet must a during monument remain, "Still in the dwelling of my spouse's sire, "Conspicuous. So my bride may daily see "Her imag'd husband." Speaking thus, he held The Gorgon's head, where pallid, Phineus turn'd; So turning stiffen'd stood the neck; so turn'd Appear'd th' inverted eyes; the humid b.a.l.l.s To stone concreted. Still the timid look, And suppliant face, and tame-pet.i.tioning arms, And guilty awe-struck look, in stone remain'd.

Now victor, Abantiades re-seeks His soil paternal, with his well-earn'd bride: And in his undeserving grandsire's aid, Avenging war on Prtus he declares.

Prtus then all Acrisius' cities held; From each possession forc'd, his brother fled.

But arms, and battled towns, like ill-possess'd, The head snake-curl'd, oblig'd at once to stoop.

Yet not the youth's bold valor, amply prov'd, By all his brave atchievements; nor his toils Thee, Polydectes, mov'd; who rul'd the isle, The paltry isle, Seriphus; stubborn still, Inexorable hatred thou maintain'st: Endless against him burns thy rage unjust.

Nay, from his true deserts, thou would'st detract; And swear'st Medusa's death a fiction form'd.

Then Perseus;--"thus if true I speak, or no, "Experience. Close, my friends, your eyes!"--as forth, He held the Gorgon;--bloodless stood the face Of Polydectes, turn'd a marble form.

Thus far, Minerva aided side by side, Her brother golden-born; then swiftly flew, Wrapt in a cloud opaque; and distant left Seriphus. On she flies, to right she leaves Cythnos, and Gyaros; and cross the main The shortest route she hastens; speeds to Thebes, And seeks the Heliconian nymphs, whose mount Alighting feels her first: the learned nine, Thus she bespeaks;--"fame tells, a new-made spring, "Burst from a blow the swift-wing'd horse's hoof "Inflicted; lo! the cause I hither come.

"That steed I saw spring from his mother's blood: "Fain would I this new prodigy behold."

Urania gave reply. "O, maid divine!

"What cause soe'er has with thy presence grac'd.

"Our dwelling, proves to us a grateful boon.

"Fame speaks not false. Our fountain surely sprung "Sole from Pegasus." Speaking thus, she leads The virgin G.o.ddess to the sacred streams: Who long the spring admir'd;--the spring produc'd From the hoof's blow:--around surveying views The groves of ancient trees, the grots, the plants Of ever-vary'd tint; and happy calls The learned nymphs, who such a spot possess'd.

Then thus a sister;--"O, divinest maid!

"Our choir to join most worthy, did not aims "Of loftier import tempt thy warlike soul, "Right hast thou spoke; our habitation well, "And well our arts thy highest praises claim.

"Blest were our lot, if still from danger free: "But nought a villain's daring power restrains, "And terror soon our virgin minds appals.

"Ev'n now the dread Pyreneus to my eyes "Stands present: to its wonted calm not yet "Restor'd my mind. With furious Thracian bands "Daulis he conquer'd, and the Phocian fields; "And held the sway unjust. Parna.s.sus' fane "We sought; th' usurper there beheld us pa.s.s, "And feigning reverence for our power divine "Worshipp'd, and then address'd us, whom he knew.

"Here, O! ye Muses, rest, nor dubious stand "But straight beneath my sheltering roof avoid "The cloudy heaven, and rain (for fast it shower'd) "Oft mighty deities have enter'd roofs "Less pompous.--By his invitation urg'd, "And by the tempest, we accede and step "Within the hall. The pelting showers now ceas'd, "Auster by Boreas vanquish'd; fled the clouds "Black lowering, and the face of heaven left clear: "Anxious we wish to go: Pyreneus fast "His dwelling closes, and rough force prepares: "Wings we a.s.sume, and from his force escape.

"He, standing on the loftiest turret's top, "Like us his flight about to wing, exclaims-- "A path you lead, that path will I pursue.

"Then madly from the tower's most lofty wall, "Dash'd on his face he fell, and dying strew'd "His shatter'd bones upon the blood-stain'd ground."

As spoke the muse thus, loud and strong was heard, Of fluttering pinions in the air the sound; And hailing voices from high branches came.

Jove's daughter then around enquiring look'd (The sounds she hears, so like the human voice, From human voice she deems them) birds the sound Emitted: magpies were they;--magpies nine: Their doom lamenting, on the boughs they sate, Aping in voice their neighbours all around.

Then to the wondering G.o.ddess, thus the muse Explain'd: "These vanquish'd in the arduous strife "Of song, to us submitting, swell the crowd "Of feather'd fliers. In Pellenian lands "Most rich was Pierus their sire; to him "Evippe of Paeonia bore the nymphs; "Nine times invoking great Lucina's aid.

"Vain of their number, proud the sister-crew, "In folly journey'd through Thessalia's towns, "And through the towns of Greece; when here arriv'd "Thus to the test of power their words provoke:-- "At length desist to cheat the senseless crowd "With harmony pretended, Thespian maids!

"With us contend, if faith your talents give "For such a trial. Ye in voice and skill "Surpa.s.s us not,--our numbers are the same.

"If vanquish'd, yield the Medusaean fount, "And Hyantean Aganippe,--we "If conquer'd, all Emanthaea's regions cede, "Far as Paeonia's snows. The nymphs around "The contest shall decide. Deep shame we felt "Thus to contend, but deeper shame appear'd "To yield without contention to their boast.

"The nymphs elected to adjudge the prize "Swear by the floods; and on the living rock "Seated, await to hear the rival songs.

"Then one, impatient who should first commence, "Or we, or they, arises;--sings the war "Of G.o.ds and giants; to the rebels gives "False praises; and the high celestials' power "Much under-rating, tells how Typhon, rais'd.

"From earth's most deep recesses, struck with fear "All heaven: each G.o.d betook him straight to flight "Far distant, till th' Egyptian land receiv'd "Each weary'd foot, where Nile's dissever'd stream "Pours in seven mouths. How earth-born Typhon here, "They tell, pursu'd them; and each G.o.d, conceal'd "In feign'd resemblance, cheated there his power.

"Jove, (so she sung) a leading ram became; "(Whence still the Lybians form their Ammon horn'd) "The crow Apollo hid: a goat the son "Of Semele became: Diana skulk'd "In shape a cat: a snow-white cow conceal'd "The form of Juno: Venus seem'd a fish: "And 'neath an Ibis Hermes safely crouch'd.

"Thus far she mov'd her vocal lips; thus far "Her lyre her voice attended: then they call "For our Aonian song. But that to hear, "Perchance your leisure suits not; pressing deeds "Unlike our songs must more your time demand."

Pallas replies;--"be hesitation far, "And all your song from first commence relate."

So saying, in the forest's pleasing shade She rested; while the Muse proceeding, spoke.

"To one the sole contending task we give, "Calliope;--she rises, neatly bound, "Her flowing tresses with an ivy wreath.

"With dexterous thumb the trembling strings she tries, "Then to their quivering sounds this song subjoins.

"Ceres at first with crooked plough upturn'd "The glebe; she first mild fruits and milder corn "Gave to the earth; and rules to tend them gave: "All gifts from her proceed. To her the song "I raise. Would that my best exerted power, "A song to suit thy least deserts could form, "O, G.o.ddess! worthy of our loftiest praise.