Else wherefore should the king's commands appear
To me too hard?—But so indeed they are.
Why should I for a stranger fear, lest he
Should perish, whom I did but lately see?
His death or safety, what are they to me?
Wretch! from thy virgin breast this flame expel,
And soon- could I, all would then be well!
But love, resistless love, my soul invades ;
Discretion this, affection that, persuades.
I see the right, and I approve it too,
Condemn the wrong-and yet the wrong pursue.
Why, royal maid, shouldst thou desire to wed
A wanderer, and court a foreign bed?

Thy native land, thongh barb'rous, can present
A bridegroom worth a royal bride's consent:
And whether this adventurer lives, or dies,
In fate and fortune's fickle pleasure lies.
Yet may he live! for to the powers above,
A virgin, led by no impulse of love,

So just a suit may, for the guiltless, move.
Whom would not Jason's valour, youth, and blood
Invite? or could these merits be withstood,

At least his charming person must incline

The hardest heart-I'm sure 'tis so with mine!
Yet, if I help him not, the flaming breath

Of bulls and earth-born foes must be his death.
Or, should he through these dangers force his way,
At last he must be made the dragon's prey.
If no remorse for such distress I feel,
I am a tigress, and my breast is steel.
Why do I scruple then to see him slain,
And with the tragic scene my eyes profane?
My magic's art employ, not to assuage
The savages, but to inflame their rage?

His earth-born foes to fiercer fury move,
And accessary to his murder prove?

The gods forbid-but prayers are idle breath,
When action only can prevent his death.
Shall I betray my father, and the state,
To intercept a rambling hero's fate;
Who may sail off next hour, and, sav'd from harms
By my assistance, bless another's armis?
Whilst I, not only of my hopes bereft,
But to unpitied punishment am left.
If he is false, let the ingrateful bleed!
But no such symptom in his looks I read.
Nature would ne'er have lavish'd so much grace
Upon his person if his soul were base.

Besides, he first shall plight his faith, and swear
By all the gods!-What therefore canst thou fear?
Medea, haste! from danger set him free,
Jason shall thy eternal debtor be.

And thou, his queen, with sovereign state install'd,
By Grecian dames the Kind Preserver' call'd.
Hence idle dreams, by lovesick fancy bred!
Wilt thou, Medea, by vain wishes led,
To sister, brother, father, bid adieu,
Forsake thy country's gods and country too?
My father's harsh, my brother but a child,
My sister rivals me, my country's wild;
And for its gods, the greatest of 'em all
Inspires my breast, and I obey his call.
That great endearments I forsake is true,
But greater far the hopes that I pursue:
The pride of having sav'd the youths of Greece,
(Each life more precious than our golden fleece ;)*
A nobler soil by me shall be possess'd,

I shall see towns with arts and manners bless'd;

And, what I prize above the world beside,
Enjoy my Jason--and when once his bride,
Be more than mortal, and to gods allied.
They talk of hazards I must first sustain,
Of floating islands justling in the main;
Our tender bark expos'd to dreadful shocks
Qf fierce Charybdis' gulf and Scylla's, rocks,
Where breaking waves in whirling eddies roll,
And ravenous dogs that in deep caverns howl!
Amidst these terrors, while I lie possess'd
Of him I love, and lean on Jason's breast,
In tempests unconcern'd I will appear,
Or only for my husband's safety fear.

Didst thou say husband? canst thou so deceive
Thyself, fond maid, and thy own cheat believe?
In vain thou striv'st to varnish o'er thy shame,
And grace thy guilt with wedlock's sacred name.
Pull off the cozening mask, and oh! in time
Discover and avoid the fatal crime.'

She ceas'd-the Graces now, with kind surprise,
And Virtue's lovely train, before her eyes
Present themselves, and vanquish’d Cupid flies.
She then retires to Hecate's shrine, that stood
Far in the covert of a shady wood:

She finds the fury of her flames assuag'd,
But, seeing Jason there, again they rag'd.
Blushes and paleness did by turns invade
Her tender cheeks, and secret grief betray'd.
As fire, that sleeping under ashes lies,
Fresh blown and rous'd, does up in blazes rise,
So flam'd the virgin's breast-

New kindled by her lover's sparkling eyes.
For chance, that day, had with uncommon grace
Adorn'd the lovely youth, and through his face

Display'd an air so pleasing as might charm
A goddess, and a vestal's bosom warm.
Her ravish'd eyes survey him o'er and o'er,
As some gay wonder never seen before;
Transported to the skies she seems to be,
And thinks she gazes on a deity.

But when he spoke, and press'd her trembling hand,
And did with tender words her aid demand,

With vows and oaths to make her soon his bride,
She wept a flood of tears, and thus reply'd:
'I see my error, yet to ruin move,

Nor owe my fate to ignorance, but love:
Your life I'll guard, and only crave of you
To swear once more-and to your oath be true.'
He swears by Hecate he would all fulfil,
And by her grandfather's prophetic skill,
By every thing that doubting love could press,
His present danger and desir'd success.
She credits him, and kindly does produce
Enchanted herbs, and teaches him their use:
Their mystic names and virtues he admires,
And with his booty joyfully retires.

THE DRAGON'S TEETH TRANSFORMED TO MEN.

Impatient for the wonders of the day, Aurora drives the loitering stars away. Now Mars's mount the pressing people fill, The crowd below, the nobles crown the hill; The king himself high-thron'd above the rest, With ivory sceptre, and in purple dress'd. Forthwith the brass-hoof'd bulls are set at large, Whose furious notrils sulphurous flame discharge : The blasted herbage by their breath expires; As forges rumble with excessive fires,

And furnaces with fiercer fury glow,
When water on the panting mass ye throw!
With such a noise from their convulsive breast,
Through bellowing throats, the struggling vapour
press'd.

Yet Jason marches up without concern,

While on the' adventurous youth the monsters turn Their glaring eyes, and, eager to engage,

Brandish their steel-tipt horns in threatening rage:
With brazen hoofs they beat the ground, and choke
The ambient air with clouds of dust and smoke.
Each gazing Grecian for his champion shakes,
While bold advances he securely makes

Through singeing blasts :—such wonders magic art
Can work, when love conspires, and plays his part.
The passive savages like statues stand,
While he their dewlaps strokes with soothing hand;
To unknown yokes their brawny necks they yield,
And like tame oxen plough the wondering field.
The Colchians stare; the Grecians shout, and raise
Their champion's courage with inspiring praise.

Embolden'd now on fresh attempts he goes,
With serpent's teeth the fertile furrows sows;
The glebe, fermenting with enchanted juice,
Makes the snake's teeth a human crop produce.
For as an infant, prisoner to the womb,
Contented sleeps till to perfection come;
Then does the cell's obscure confinement scorn,
He tosses, throbs, and presses to be born;
So from the labouring earth no single birth,
But a whole troop of lusty youths rush forth;
And what's more strange, with martial fury warm'd,
And for encounter all completely arm'd ;