In tones as wild as maniac throes inspire,
And from despair collecting all his fire,

He cries, "Brought'st thou these instruments of woe?

"And shall the feeble lay the mighty low?”— The servant trembled, paralyzed with fear, Stammering excuses in his lord's deaf ear. Alcides seized him with his potent grasp, E'en as his master's knees he sought to clasp, Suppliant in vain. He whirled him four times round,

And sent him to the Euböic waves profound, Swifter than stones from battering rams re

bound.

He harden'd in the aërial element;

And as they say,

that showers with cold cement Transformed to snow, or as the snow congealed, Its softer essence to crisp hail doth yield; So do the legends of the ancient world Recount, that he, by rapid impulse hurled, Became a statue in his headlong course, Bloodless from fear, exanimate from force.Now in the Euböic gulf the rock remains, And still its human symmetry retains. Still, as if sensitive, the sailors fear To injure its repose, and cruize too near.

For thee, thou venerated son of Jove, Trees were cut down in Eta's loftiest grove; Of these composed a funeral pyre was raised, And, ere the consecrated structure blazed, Thou gav'st to Pæan's son thy shafts and bow, Destined once more to lay proud Ilion low; To Paan's son, whose hands assiduous brought Flames, which no sooner the congeries caught, Than on the summit of the blazing wood, By thee the Nemeæan skin was strewed. Prone on thy club thou laid'st thy awful head, (Thy club last placed on thy funereal bed,) With such complacency as might become Guests crowned with wreaths, who crowd the festive dome.

And now, the flames diffused in every part,
Pervade the limbs, pervade the yielding heart
Of him, who with the elevated pride

Of virtue, their rapaciousness defied.
E'en Gods beheld the agonies with fear,
Of the avenger of this earthly sphere.

Whom thus great Jove with joyful face address'd,
Pleased that compassion stole from breast to

breast:

"Your terror is my triumph! Powers above, "Pleased do I witness with exulting love,

"That I am hailed as Father and as Lord,

66

By tribes that gratefully obey my word! "Nor less rejoice I that my dying son "Hath heaven's accumulated suffrage won. "And, since 'tis freely offered, grateful view "This homage, indispensably his due.

"Lest in your faithful bosoms vain fears rise, "The Etean flames I warn you to despise; "Who conquered all things, he shall conquer

too

"Those fires ye see; Vulcan can nought subdue, "Save his maternal part. What from me came "Is deathless, and obnoxious to no flame. "Him I will welcome to the blest abodes,

66

"And trust my will is praised by all the gods; Yet, if there's one that murmurs e'en in thought,

"And grudges honours, though so dearly bought, "That one shall be constrained my son to meet, "With face that welcomes, and with looks that greet.”

The gods assented. But Olympus' Queen, Although she heard the rest with placid mien, With an indignant face Jove's last words heard; Stung with reproof thus openly incurred.

T

Meanwhile the power of Vulcan purged away
Whate'er remained of perishable clay.
Alcides' renovated form survived,

Of all maternal elements deprived;

That form transfigured could not now be known,
And in its glories Jove's own image shone.
As when a renovated snake appears,
Freed from the accumulated slough of years;
As this luxuriates in its recent pride,

So when the son of Jove had thrown aside
Whate'er was mortal; when from earth unchained,
His better part the due ascendant gained;
August he seemed, and awful like the gods,
A worthy inmate of the blest abodes.

His sire omnipotent the hero shrouds,
In rolling majesty of hollow clouds,
Drawn in a car by steeds as swift as wind:
And 'mid the stars his final home assigned.

CEYX AND ALCYONE.