The STORY of TALUS, from the Fourth Book of Apollonius Rhodius. V. 1629.
μα δ' έλιθ μενέδυ, ἀνὰ δ' ήλυθεν αςήρ AUNG, &c.
HE evening ftar now lifts, as day-ligit fades,
His golden circlet in the deepening shades, Stretch'd at his eafe, the weary labourer shares A fweet forgetfulness of human cares ; At once in filence link the fleeping gales, The maft* they drop, and furl the flagging fails, All night, all day, they ply the bending oars, Tow'rd Carpathus, and reach the rocky shorts; Thence Crete they view, emerging from the main, The queen of ifles, but Crete they view in vain, There Talus, whirling with refiftlefs sway, Rocks fheer uprent, repels them from the bay : A giant, fprung from giant-race, who took Their births from entrails of the ftubborn oak; Fierce guard of Crete! by Jove affistant given To † legiflators, styl'd the fons of heaven : To mercy deaf, he thrice each year explores The trembling ifle, and strides from fhores to flores : A form of living brafs! one part beneath Alone he bears, a path to let in death, Where o'er the ankle fwells the turgid vein, Soft to the ftroke, and sensible of pain.
↑ Minos and Rhadamanthus.
And now her magic fpells * Medea tries,
Bids the red fiends, the dogs of Orcus rise,
That, ftarting dreadful from th' infernal shade,
Ride heaven in storms, and all that breathes, invade
Thrice the applies the power of magic prayer,
Thrice, hellward bending, mutters charms in air;
"Then, turning tow'rd the foe, bids mischief fly,
And looks deftruction, as the points her eye;
Then spectres, rifing from Tartarean bowers,
Howl round in air, or grin along the shores;
While, tearing up whole hills, the giant throws
Outrageous, rocks on rocks, to crufh the foes:
But, frantic as he ftrides, a fudden wound
Burfts the life-vein, and blood o'erfpreads the ground,
As from the furnace, in a burning flood,
Pours molten lead, fo pours in ftreams his blood;
And now he staggers, as the fpirit flies,
He faints, he finks, he tumbles, and he dies.
As fome huge cedar on a mountain's brow,
Pierc'd by the fteel, expects the final blow,
A while it totters with alternate fway,
Till freshening breezes through the branches play;
Then, tumbling downward with a thundering found,
Falls headlong, and o'erfpreads a breadth of ground:
So as the giant falls, the ocean roars,
Out-ftretch'd he lies, and covers half the fhores.
Autora from Tithonus tea
Rose in the onent, to soclaim the day
Ta Gods in men: down to the Grecian tente
Saturmaz ove tends dilcord, ret with blood;
War in her hand the grafos, entigns of war;
On brave Toties fhin the took her itand,
The centre of the hott: that ail might hear
Her dreadful voice: her dreadful voice the rais d
Juring song he rattling thores it ran
To the fleet's wide extremes; Aconies heard,
And Aix eard the found; with marnai fires
Now every bofom burns, arms, glorious arms,
Fierce they demand; the noble-Ortman long
Swells every heart, no coward thoughts of night
Rife in their fonts, but blood they breathe and with
Now by the trench profound, the charioteers
Range their proud feeds, now car by car diiplaye
A direful front; now o'er the trembling held
Rushes th' embattled foot; noile rends the thiess
Noite unextinguith'd: ere the beamy day
Flam'd in th' aërial vault, stretch'd in the van
Stood the bold infantry: The ruling cars
Form'd the deep rear in battailous atrayı
Now from his heavens Jove hurls his burning bolts,
Hoarfe muttering thunders grumble in the sky,
While from the clouds, inftead of morning-dews,
Huge drops of blood distain the crimson ground;
Fatal prefage that in that dreadful day
The great fhould bleed, imperial heads lie low!
Mean time the bands of Troy in proud array
Stand to their arms, and from a rising ground
Breathe furious war: Here gathering hosts attend
The towering Hector: there refulgent bands
Surround Polydamas, Æneas there
Marshals his dauntless files; nor unemploy'd
Stand Polybus, Agenor great in arms,
And Acamas, whofe frame the Gods endow'd
With more than mortal charms: fierce in the van
Stern Hector fhines, and thakes his blazing field,
As the fierce dog-star with malignant fires
Flames in the front of heaven, then, loft in clouds,
Veils his pernicious beams; from rank to rank
So Hector ftrode; now dreadful in the van
Advanc'd his fun-broad fhield, now to the rear
Swift rufhing disappear'd: His radiant arms
Blaz'd on his limbs, and bright as Jove's dire bolte
Flash'd o'er the field, and lighten'd to the skies.
As toiling reapers in fome fpacious field,
Rang'd in two bands, move adverse, rank on rank
Where o'er the tilth the grain in ears of gold
Waves nodding to the breeze; at once they bend,
At once the copious harvest swells the ground:
So rush to battle o'er the dreadful field
Host against hoft; they meet, they close, and ranks
Tumble on ranks; no thoughts appear of flight,
None of difmay: dubious in even scales
The battle hangs; not fiercer, ravenous wolves
Difpute the prey; the deathful scene with joy
Difcord, dire parent of tremendous woes,
Surveys exultant: of th' immortal train
Difcord alone defcends, affifts alone
The horrors of the field; in peace the Gods
High in Olympian bowers on radiant thrones
Lament the woes of man; but loud complaints
From every God arofe; Jove favour'd Troy,
At partial Jove they murmur'd: he unmov'd
All heaven in murmurs heard, apart he fate
Enthron'd in glory: down to earth he turn'd
His ftedfast eye, and from his throne survey'd
The rifing towers of Troy, the tented shores,
The blaze of arms, the flayer and the flain.
While, with his morning wheels, the God of day
Climb'd up the fteep of heaven, with equal rage
In murderous ftorms the fhafts from hoft to hoft
Flew adverfe, and in equal numbers fell
Promifcuous Greek and Trojan, till the hour
When the tir'd woodman in the shady vale
Spreads his penurious meal, when high the fun
Flames in the zenith, and his finewy arms
Scarce wield the ponderous ax, while hunger keen
Admonishes, and nature spent with toil
Craves due repaft-Then Greece the ranks of Troy
With horrid inroad goar'd; fierce from the van
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