THE FIRST BOOK

OF

STATIUS'S THEBAIS.

Fraternal rage, the guilty Thebes' alarms, Th' alternate reign destroyed by impious arms, Demand our song; a sacred fury fires My ravished breast, and all the muse inspires.

O G.o.ddess, say, shall I deduce my rhymes 5 From the dire[1] nation in its early times, Europa's rape, Agenor's stern decree, And Cadmus searching round the s.p.a.cious sea?

How with the serpent's teeth he sowed the soil, And reaped an iron harvest of his toil?[2] 10 Or how from joining stones the city sprung, While to his harp divine Amphion sung?[3]

Or shall I Juno's hate to Thebes resound, Whose fatal rage th' unhappy monarch found?[4]

The sire against the son his arrows drew, 15 O'er the wide fields the furious mother flew, And while her arms a second hope contain, Sprung from the rocks and plunged into the main.

But waive whate'er to Cadmus may belong, And fix, O muse! the barrier of thy song 20 At Oedipus: from his disasters trace The long confusions of his guilty race: Nor yet attempt to stretch thy bolder wing, And mighty Caesar's[5] conqu'ring eagles sing; How twice he tamed proud Ister's rapid flood, 25 While Dacian mountains streamed with barb'rous blood; Twice taught the Rhine beneath his laws to roll, And stretched his empire to the frozen pole; Or long before, with early valour, strove, In youthful arms, t' a.s.sert the cause of Jove.[6] 30 And thou, great heir of all thy father's fame, Increase of glory to the Latian name, Oh! bless thy Rome with an eternal reign, Nor let desiring worlds entreat in vain.

What though the stars contract their heav'nly s.p.a.ce, 35 And crowd their shining ranks to yield thee place; Though all the skies, ambitious of thy sway, Conspire to court thee from our world away; Though Phoebus longs to mix his rays with thine, And in thy glories more serenely shine; 40 Though Jove himself no less content would be To part his throne and share his heaven with thee; Yet stay, great Caesar! and vouchsafe to reign O'er the wide earth, and o'er the wat'ry main; Resign to Jove his empire of the skies, 45 And people heav'n with Roman deities.[7]

The time will come, when a diviner flame[8]

Shall warm my breast to sing of Caesar's fame: Meanwhile permit, that my preluding muse In Theban wars an humbler theme may chuse: 50 Of furious hate surviving death, she sings, A fatal throne to two contending kings, And fun'ral flames that, parting wide in air, Express the discord of the souls they bear:[9]

Of towns dispeopled, and the wand'ring ghosts 55 Of kings unburied in the wasted coasts; When Dirce's fountain blushed with Grecian blood,[10]

And Thetis, near Ismenos'[11] swelling flood, With dread beheld the rolling surges sweep, In heaps, his slaughtered sons into the deep.[12] 60 What hero, Clio! wilt thou first relate?[13]

The rage of Tydeus,[14] or the prophet's fate?[15]

Or how, with hills of slain on ev'ry side, Hippomedon repelled the hostile tide?[16]

Or how the youth[17] with ev'ry grace adorned 65 Untimely fell, to be for ever mourned?

Then to fierce Capaneus thy verse extend, And sing with horror his prodigious end.[18]

Now wretched Oedipus, deprived of sight, Led a long death in everlasting night; 70 But while he dwells where not a cheerful ray Can pierce the darkness, and abhors the day, The clear reflecting mind presents his sin In frightful views, and makes it day within; Returning thoughts in endless circles roll, 75 And thousand furies haunt his guilty soul: The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies Those empty orbs from whence he tore his eyes, Whose wounds, yet fresh, with b.l.o.o.d.y hands he strook,[19]

While from his breast these dreadful accents broke. 80 "Ye G.o.ds! that o'er the gloomy regions reign, Where guilty spirits feel eternal pain; Thou, sable Styx! whose livid streams are rolled Through dreary coasts, which I though blind behold: Tisiphone,[20] that oft hast heard my pray'r, 85 a.s.sist, if Oedipus deserve thy care!

If you received me from Jocasta's womb,[21]

And nursed the hope of mischiefs yet to come: If leaving Polybus, I took my way,[22]

To Cirrha's temple[23] on that fatal day, 90 When by the son the trembling father died, Where the three roads the Phocian fields divide: If I the Sphinx's riddles durst explain, Taught by thyself to win the promised reign:[24]

If wretched I, by baleful furies led, 95 With monstrous mixture stained my mother's bed, For h.e.l.l and thee begot an impious brood, And with full l.u.s.t those horrid joys renewed; Then self-condemned to shades of endless night, Forced from these orbs the bleeding b.a.l.l.s of sight: 100 Oh hear! and aid the vengeance I require, If worthy thee, and what thou mightst inspire.

My sons their old, unhappy sire despise, Spoiled of his kingdom, and deprived of eyes; Guideless I wander, unregarded mourn, 105 Whilst these exalt their sceptres o'er my urn; These sons, ye G.o.ds! who with flagitious pride Insult my darkness, and my groans deride.

Art thou a father, unregarding Jove![25]

And sleeps thy thunder in the realms above? 110 Thou fury, then some lasting curse entail, Which o'er their children's children shall prevail:[26]

Place on their heads that crown distained with gore, Which these dire hands from my slain father tore;[27]

Go! and a parent's heavy curses bear; } 115 Break all the bonds of nature, and prepare[28] } Their kindred souls to mutual hate and war. } Give them to dare, what I might wish to see Blind as I am, some glorious villainy!

Soon shalt thou find, if thou but arm their hands, 120 Their ready guilt preventing[29] thy commands: Couldst thou some great, proportioned mischief frame, They'd prove the father from whose loins they came."

The fury heard, while on Cocytus'[30] brink Her snakes untied, sulphureous waters drink; 125 But at the summons rolled her eyes around, And s.n.a.t.c.hed the starting serpents from the ground.

Not half so swiftly shoots along in air The gliding lightning, or descending star.

Through crowds of airy shades she winged her flight, 130 And dark dominions of the silent night; Swift as she pa.s.sed the flitting ghosts withdrew,[31]

And the pale spectres trembled at her view: To th' iron gates of Taenarus[32] she flies, There spreads her dusky pinions to the skies. 135 The day beheld, and sick'ning at the sight, Veiled her fair glories in the shades of night.

Affrighted Atlas, on the distant sh.o.r.e, Trembled, and shook the heav'ns and G.o.ds he bore.[33]

Now from beneath Malea's[34] airy height 140 Aloft she sprung, and steered to Thebes her flight; With eager speed the well-known journey[35] took, Nor here regrets the h.e.l.l she late forsook.

A hundred snakes her gloomy visage shade, A hundred serpents guard her horrid head, 145 In her sunk eye-b.a.l.l.s dreadful meteors glow:[36]

Such rays from Phoebe's b.l.o.o.d.y circle flow, When lab'ring with strong charms, she shoots from high A fiery gleam, and reddens all the sky.

Blood stained her cheeks, and from her mouth there came 150 Blue steaming poisons, and a length of flame: From ev'ry blast of her contagious breath Famine and drought proceed, and plagues, and death.

A robe obscene was o'er her shoulders thrown, A dress by fates and furies worn alone. 155 She tossed her meagre arms; her better hand[37]

In waving circles whirled a fun'ral brand: A serpent from her left was seen to rear His flaming crest, and lash the yielding air.[38]

But when the fury took her stand on high, 160 Where vast Cithaeron's top salutes the sky, A hiss from all the snaky tire went round: } The dreadful signal all the rocks rebound, } And through th' Achaian cities send the sound. } Oete, with high Parna.s.sus, heard the voice; 165 Eurotas' banks remurmured to the noise; Again Leucothea shook at these alarms, And pressed Palaemon closer in her arms.[39]

Headlong from thence the glowing fury springs, And o'er the Theban palace spreads her wings,[40] 170 Once more invades the guilty dome, and shrouds Its bright pavilions in a veil of clouds.

Straight with the rage of all their race possessed, } Stung to the soul, the brothers start from rest, } And all their furies wake within their breast. } 175 Their tortured minds repining envy tears, And hate, engendered by suspicious fears; And sacred thirst of sway; and all the ties Of nature broke;[41] and royal perjuries; And impotent desire to reign alone, 180 That scorns the dull reversion of a throne;[42]

Each would the sweets of sov'reign rule devour, While discord waits upon divided power.

As stubborn steers by brawny plowmen broke, And joined reluctant to the galling yoke, 185 Alike disdain with servile necks to bear Th' unwonted weight, or drag the crooked share, But rend the reins, and bound[43] a diff'rent way, And all the furrows in confusion lay: Such was the discord of the royal pair, 190 Whom fury drove precipitate to war.

In vain the chiefs contrived a specious way, To govern Thebes by their alternate sway: Unjust decree! while this enjoys the state, That mourns in exile his unequal fate, 195 And the short monarch of a hasty year Foresees with anguish his returning heir.

Thus did the league their impious arms restrain, But scarce subsisted to the second reign.

Yet then, no proud aspiring piles were raised, 200 No fretted roofs with polished metals blazed; No laboured columns in long order placed, No Grecian stone the pompous arches graced; No nightly bands in glitt'ring armour wait[44]

Before the sleepless tyrant's guarded gate; 205 No chargers[45] then were wrought in burnished gold, Nor silver vases took the forming mold; Nor gems on bowls embossed were seen to shine, Blaze on the brims, and sparkle in the wine.[46]

Say, wretched rivals! what provokes your rage? 210 Say, to what end your impious arms engage?

Not all bright Phoebus views in early morn, Or when his ev'ning beams the west adorn, When the south glows with his meridian ray, And the cold north receives a fainter day; 215 For crimes like these, not all those realms suffice,[47]

Were all those realms the guilty victor's prize!

But fortune now (the lots of empire thrown) Decrees to proud Eteocles the crown: What joys, oh tyrant! swelled thy soul that day, 220 When all were slaves thou couldst around survey,[48]

Pleased to behold unbounded power thy own, And singly fill a feared and envied throne!

But the vile vulgar, ever discontent,[49]

Their growing fears in secret murmurs vent; 225 Still p.r.o.ne to change, though still the slaves of state, And sure the monarch whom they have, to hate; New lords they madly make, then tamely bear, And softly curse the tyrants whom they fear.[50]

And one of those who groan beneath the sway 230 Of kings imposed, and grudgingly obey, (Whom envy to the great, and vulgar spite With scandal armed, th' ign.o.ble mind's delight,) Exclaimed--"O Thebes! for thee what fates remain, What woes attend this inauspicious reign? 235 Must we, alas! our doubtful necks prepare, } Each haughty master's yoke by turns to bear, } And still to change whom changed we still must fear? } These now control a wretched people's fate, These can divide, and these reverse the state: 240 Ev'n fortune rules no more!--O servile land, Where exiled[51] tyrants still by turns command.

Thou sire of G.o.ds and men, imperial Jove!

Is this th' eternal doom decreed above?

On thy own offspring hast thou fixed this fate, 245 From the first birth of our unhappy state; When banished Cadmus, wand'ring o'er the main, For lost Europa searched the world in vain, And fated in Boeotian fields to found A rising empire on a foreign ground, 250 First raised our walls on that ill-omened plain, Where earth-born brothers were by brothers slain?[52]

What lofty looks th' unrivalled[53] monarch bears!

How all the tyrant in his face appears!

What sullen fury clouds his scornful brow! 255 G.o.ds! how his eyes with threat'ning ardour glow!

Can this imperious lord forget to reign, Quit all his state, descend, and serve again?

Yet, who, before, more popularly bowed?

Who more propitious to the suppliant crowd? 260 Patient of right, familiar in the throne?

What wonder then? he was not then alone.

O wretched we, a vile, submissive train, Fortune's tame fools, and slaves in ev'ry reign!

As when two winds with rival force contend, 265 This way and that, the wav'ring sails they bend, While freezing Boreas, and black Euros blow, Now here, now there, the reeling vessel throw: Thus on each side, alas! our tott'ring state Feels all the fury of resistless fate, 270 And doubtful still, and still distracted stands, While that prince threatens, and while this commands."

And now th' almighty father of the G.o.ds Convenes a council in the blest abodes: Far in the bright recesses of the skies, 275 High o'er the rolling heav'ns, a mansion lies, Whence, far below, the G.o.ds at once survey } The realms of rising and declining day, } And all th' extended s.p.a.ce of earth, and air, and sea. } Full in the midst, and on a starry throne, 280 The majesty of heav'n superior shone; Serene he looked, and gave an awful nod,[54]

And all the trembling spheres confessed the G.o.d.

At Jove's a.s.sent the deities around In solemn state the consistory crowned.[55] 285 Next a long order of inferior pow'rs Ascend from hills, and plains, and shady bow'rs; Those from whose urns the rolling rivers flow; And those that give the wand'ring winds to blow: Here all their rage, and ev'n their murmurs cease,[56] 290 And sacred silence reigns, and universal peace.

A shining synod of majestic G.o.ds Gilds with new l.u.s.tre the divine abodes; Heav'n seems improved with a superior ray, And the bright arch reflects a double day. 295 The monarch then his solemn silence broke, The still creation listened while he spoke, Each sacred accent bears eternal weight, And each irrevocable word is fate.

"How long shall man the wrath of heav'n defy, 300 And force unwilling vengeance from the sky!

Oh race confed'rate into crimes, that prove Triumphant o'er th' eluded rage of Jove![57]

This wearied arm can scarce the bolt sustain, And unregarded thunder rolls in vain: 305 Th' o'erlaboured Cyclops from his task retires, Th' aeolian forge exhausted of its fires.[58]

For this, I suffered Phoebus' steeds to stray, And the mad ruler to misguide the day; When the wide earth to heaps of ashes turned, 310 And heaven itself the wand'ring chariot burned.

For this, my brother of the wat'ry reign } Released th' impetuous sluices of the main: } But flames consumed, and billows raged in vain. } Two races now, allied to Jove, offend; 315 To punish these, see Jove himself descend.

The Theban kings their line from Cadmus trace, From G.o.dlike Perseus those of Argive race.

Unhappy Cadmus' fate who does not know, And the long series of succeeding woe? 320 How oft the furies, from the deeps of night, Arose, and mixed with men in mortal fight: Th' exulting mother, stained with filial blood;[59]

The savage hunter and the haunted wood; The direful banquet why should I proclaim,[60] 325 And crimes that grieve the trembling G.o.ds to name?

Ere I recount the sins of these profane, } The sun would sink into the western main, } And rising, gild the radiant east again. } Have we not seen (the blood of Laius shed) 330 The murd'ring son ascend his parent's bed, Through violated nature force his way, And stain the sacred womb where once he lay?

Yet now in darkness and despair he groans, And for the crimes of guilty fate atones. 335 His sons with scorn their eyeless father view, Insult his wounds, and make them bleed anew.

Thy curse, oh Oedipus, just heav'n alarms, And sets th' avenging thunderer in arms.

I from the root thy guilty race will tear, 340 And give the nations to the waste of war.

Adrastus[61] soon, with G.o.ds averse, shall join In dire alliance with the Theban line; Hence strife shall rise, and mortal war succeed; The guilty realms of Tantalus shall bleed; 345 Fixed is their doom; this all-rememb'ring breast Yet harbours vengeance for the tyrant's feast."[62]

He said; and thus the queen of heav'n returned; (With sudden grief her lab'ring bosom burned) "Must I, whose cares Phoroneus'[63] tow'rs defend, 350 Must I, oh Jove, in b.l.o.o.d.y wars contend?

Thou know'st those regions my protection claim, Glorious in arms, in riches, and in fame: Though there the fair Egyptian heifer fed, And there deluded Argus slept, and bled;[64] 355 Though there the brazen tower was stormed of old,[65]

When Jove[66] descended in almighty gold: Yet I can pardon those obscurer rapes, Those bashful crimes disguised in borrowed shapes; But Thebes, where shining in celestial charms 360 Thou cam'st triumphant to a mortal's arms, When all my glories o'er her limbs were spread, And blazing light'nings danced around her bed;[67]

Cursed Thebes the vengeance it deserves, may prove: Ah why should Argos feel the rage of Jove? 365 Yet since thou wilt thy sister-queen control, Since still the l.u.s.t of discord fires thy soul, Go, raze my Samos, let Mycene fall, And level with the dust the Spartan wall;[68]

No more let mortals Juno's pow'r invoke, } 370 Her fanes no more with eastern incense smoke, } Nor victims sink beneath the sacred stroke; } But to your Isis all my rites transfer, Let altars blaze and temples smoke for her; For her, through Egypt's fruitful clime renowned 375 Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel sound.

But if thou must reform the stubborn times, Avenging on the sons the father's crimes, And from the long records of distant age Derive incitements to renew thy rage; 380 Say, from what period then has Jove designed To date his vengeance; to what bounds confined?

Begin from thence, where first Alpheus hides } His wand'ring stream, and through the briny tides } Unmixed to his Sicilian river glides.[69] } 385 Thy own Arcadians there the thunder claim, Whose impious rites disgrace thy mighty name;[70]