Environ'd with so many swords—' From whence
This barbarous usage? what is my offence?
What fatal fury, what infernal charm,
'Gainst a kind father does his daughters arm?'
Hearing his voice, as thunder-struck they stop'd,
Their resolution and their weapons drop'd:
Medea then the mortal blow bestows,
And, that perform'd, the tragic scene to close,
His corps into the boiling cauldron throws.
Then dreading the revenge that must ensue,
High-mounting on her dragon-coach she flew ;
And in her stately progress through the skies,
Beneath her shady Pelion first she spies,
With Othrys, that above the clouds did rise;
With skilful Chiron's cave and neighbouring
ground,
For old Cerambus' strange escape renown'd,
By nymphs deliver'd when the world was drown'd;
Who him with unexpected wings supplied,
When delug'd hills a safe retreat denied,
Eolian Pitanè on her left hand
She saw, and there the statued dragon stand;
With Ida's grove, where Bacchus, to disguise
His son's bold theft, and to secure the prize,
Made the stol'n steer a stag to represent
Cocytus' father's sandy monument;
And fields that held the murder'd sire's remains,
Where howling Mæra frights the startled plains.
Euryphilus' high town, with towers defac'd
By Hercules, and matrons more disgrac'd
With sprouting horns, in signal punishment,
From Juno or resenting Venus sent.
Then Rhodes, which Phoebus did so dearly prize,
And Jove no less severely did chastise,
For he the wizard native's poisoning sight,
That us'd the farmer's hopeful crops to blight,
In rage o'erwhelm'd with everlasting night.
Cartheia's ancient walls come next in view,
Where once the sire almost a statue grew
With wonder, which a strange event did move,
His daughter turn'd into a turtle-dove.
Then Hyrie's lake, and Tempè's field o'erran,
Fam'd for the boy who there became a swan;
For there enamour'd Phillius, like a slave,
Perform'd what tasks his paramour would crave.
For presents he had mountain-vultures caught,
And from the desert a tame lion brought;
Then a wild bull commanded to subdue,
The conquer'd savage by the horns he drew;
But mock'd so oft, the treatment he disdains,
And from the craving boy this prize detains.
Then thus in choler the resenting lad;
'Won't you deliver him?—You'll wish you had :'
No sooner said, but in a peevish mood,
Leap'd from the precipice on which he stood:
The standers-by were struck with fresh surprise,
Instead of falling, to behold him rise
A snowy swan, and soaring to the skies.
But dearly the rash prank his mother cost,
Who ignorantly gave her son for lost;
For his misfortune wept, till she became
A lake, and still renown'd with Hyrie's name.
Thence to Latona's isle, where once were seen,
Transform'd to birds, a monarch and his queen.
Far off she saw how old Cephisus mourn'd
His son into a seal by Phœbus turn'd;
And where, astonish'd at a stranger sight,
Eumelus gaz'd on his wing'd daughter's flight.
Ætolian Pleuron she did next survey,
Where sons a mother's murder did essay,
But sudden plumes the matron bore away.
On her right hand, Cyllenè, a fair soil,
Fair, till Menephron there the beauteous hill
Attempted with foul incest to defile.
Her harness'd dragons now direct she drives
For Corinth, and at Corinth she arrives;
Where, if what old tradition tells be true,
In former ages men from mushrooms grew.
But here Medea finds her bed supplied,
During her absence, by another bride;
And, hopeless to recover her lost game,
She sets both bride and palace in a flame.
Nor could a rival's death her wrath assuage,
Nor stop'd at Creon's family her rage;
She murders her own infants, in despight
To faithless Jason, and in Jason's sight:
Yet ere his sword could reach her, up she springs,
Securely mounted on her dragon's wings.
From hence to Athens she directs her flight, Where Phineus, so renown'd for doing right; Where Periphas, and Polyphemon's niece, Soaring with sudden plumes, amaz'd the towns of Greece.
Here Ægeus so engaging she address'd, That first he treats her like a royal guest; Then takes the sorceress for his wedded wife; The only blemish of his prudent life.
Meanwhile his son, from actions of renown, Arrives at court, but to his sire unknown.
Medea, to dispatch a dangerous heir,
(She knew him) did a poisonous draught prepare ;
Drawn from a drug, was long reserv d in store
For desperate uses from the Scythian shore;
That from the Echydnœan monster's jaws
Deriv'd its origin, and this the cause.
Through a dark cave a craggy passage lies, To ours ascending from the nether skies; Through which, by strength of hand, Alcides drew Chain'd Cerberus, who lag'd, and restive grew, With his blear❜d eyes our brighter day to view. Thrice he repeated his enormous yell,
With which he scares the ghosts, and startles hell;
At last outrageous (though compell'd to yield)
He sheds his foam in fury on the field;
Which, with its own, and rankness of the ground,
Produc'd a weed, by sorcerers renown'd,
The strongest constitution to confound,
Call'd aconite, because it can unlock
All bars, and force its passage through a rock.
The pious father, by her wheedles won,
Presents this deadly potion to his son;
Who with the same assurance takes the cup,
And to the monarch's health had drank it up,
But in the very instant he applied
The goblet to his lips, old Ægeus spied
The ivory-hilted sword that grac'd his side.
That certain signal of his son he knew,
And snatch'd the bowl away; the sword he drew,
Resolv'd, for such a son's endanger'd life,
To sacrifice the most perfidious wife.
Revenge is swift, but her more active charms
A whirlwind rais'd, that snatch'd her from his arms.
While conjur'd clouds their baffled sense surprise,
She vanishes from their deluded eyes,
And through the hurricane triumphant flies.
The generous king, although o'erjoy'd to find
His son was safe, yet bearing still in mind
The mischief by his treacherous queen design'd;
The horror of the deed, and then how near
The danger drew, he stands congeal'd with fear.
But soon that fear into devotion turns,
With grateful incense every altar burns;
Proud victims, and unconscious of their fate,
Stalk to the temple, there to die in state.
In Athens never had a day been found
For mirth, like that grand festival, renown'd,
Promiscuously the peers and people dine,
Promiscuously their thankful voices join,
In songs of wit, sublim'd by sprightly wine.
To listening spheres their joint applause they raise,
And thus resound their matchless Theseus' praise.
Great Theseus! thee the Marathonian plain
Admires, and wears with pride the noble stain
Of the dire monster's blood, by valiant Theseus
slain.
That now Cromyon's swains in safety sow,
And reap their fertile field, to thee they owe.
By thee the' infested Epidaurian coast
Was clear'd, and now can a free commerce boast.
The traveller his journey can pursue,
With pleasure the late dreadful valley view,
And cry, "Here Theseus the grand robber slew."
Cephisus' flood cries to his rescued shore,
The merciless Procrustes is no more.
In peace, Eleusis, Ceres' rites renew,
Since Theseus' sword the fierce Cercyon slew.
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