For their Defence, or by Tydides thrown,

That brusht Æneas' Creft, and ftruck him down,

5 Of weight wou'd make two Men ftrain hard to raise,
Such Men as liv'd in honeft & Homer's Days:
Whom Giants yet to us we must allow,
Dwindled into a Race of Pigmies now;
The Mirth and Scorn of Gods that fee us fight,
Such little Wafps, and yet fo full of Spight:
For Bulk meer Infects, yet in Mischief strong,
And, spent fo ill, our fhort Life's much too long!
Fresh Forces now of Tentyrites, from Town,
With Swords and Darts, to aid their Friends, come down.
Who with fleet Arrows levell'd from afar,

Ere they themselves approach'd, fecure the War.
Hard fet before, what cou'd the Ombites do?
They fly; their preffing Foes as faft pursue.
An Ombite Wretch (by headlong hafte betray'd,
And falling down i'th Rout) is Pris'ner made:
Whofe Flesh torn off by Lumps, the rav'nous Foe
In Morfels cut, to make it farther go;

His Bones clean pick'd, his very Bones they gnaw;
No Stomach's baulkt, because the Corps is raw.
'T had been loft time to drefs him-keen Defire
Supplies the want of Kettle, Spit, and Fire.
(Prometheus'Ghoft is fure o'er-joy'd to fee
His Heav'n-ftol'n Fire from fuch Difafter free :
Nor feems the sparkling Element lefs pleas'd than he.)
The Guests are found too num'rous for the Treat,
But all, it seems, who had the luck to eat,
Swear they ne'er tafted more delicious Meat.
They swear, and fuch good Palates you fhou'd truft;
Who doubts the Relifh of the first free Guft?

Alluding to that of Homer in the Iliad. “O &' dúo y`ävdpa φέροιεν, οἷοι νῦν βροτοί εισι.

Since one who had i'th' Rear excluded been,

And cou'd not for a Tafte o'th' Flesh come in,
Licks the foil'd Earth, which he thinks full as good,
While reeking with a mangled Ombit's Blood.

The 9 Vafcons once with Man's Flesh (as 'tis faid) Kept Life and Soul together Grant they did, Their Cafe was diff'rent; with long Siege diftrefs'd, And all Extremities of War oppress'd.

(For Miferable to the last Degree,

Th' Excufe of fuch a Practice ought to be.)

With Creatures, Vermin, Herbs, or Weeds sustain'd, While Creatures, Vermin, Herbs, or Weeds remain'd; "Till to fuch meagre Spectacles reduc'd,

As ev'n Compaffion in the Foe produc'd:
Acquitted by the Manes of the Dead,

And Ghofts of Carcaffes on which they fed.
By To Zeno's Doctrine we are taught, 'tis true,
For Life's fupport no harmless thing to do.
But Zena never to the Vafcons read;

('Tis fince their Days that Civil Arts have spread:
'Twas lately British Lawyers, from the Gaul,
Learnt to Harangue, and Eloquently. Bawl.
Thulè hopes next t'improve her Northern Style,
And Plant (where yet no Spring did ever smile)
With Flow'rs of Rhetorick her frozen Ifle.)
That brave the Vafcons were, we must confefs,
Who Fortitude preferv'd in fuch Diftrefs,

Yet not the Brighteft their Example shines,
Eclips'd by the more Noble

Saguntines;

In the Town Caligulis, be- ving fuffer'd all Extremities, fieg'd by Metellus.

at laft erected one great Pile,

10 The Principal of the in which they burnt themselves Stoicks. with their Dead, as also all their Goods, to leave the Encmy no Plunder..

1 TheConfederates of Rome, who being befieg'd by Hannibal for eight Months, and ha

Who

Who both the Foe, and Famine to beguile,

For Dead and Living rais'd one common Pile.

Maotis firft did Impious Rites devife,

Of treating Gods with Human Sacrifice:
But falvage Egypt's Cruelty exceeds

The Scythian Shrine, where, tho' the Captive bleeds,
Secure of Burial when his Life is filed,

The murd'ring Knife's thrown by, when once the Victim's dead.

Did Famine to this monstrous Fac&t compel,
Or did the Mifcreants try this Conj'ring Spell,
In time of Drought to make the Nile to swell?
Amongst the rugged Cimbrians, or the Race
Of Gauls or fiercer Tartars, can you trace
An Outrage of Revenge like this, purfu'd
By an effeminate Scoundrel Multitude?
Whose utmost Daring is to cross the Nile
In painted Boats, to fright the Crocodile.
Can Men, or more refenting Gods, invent,
Or Hell inflict proportion'd Punishment
On Varlets, who cou'd treat Revenge and Spight
With fuch a Feaft, as Famine's felf wou'd fright?
Compaffion proper to Mankind appears,
Which Nature witnefs'd when the lent us Tears:
Of tender Sentiments we only give

Thofe Proofs: To weep is our Prerogative;
To fhew, by pitying Looks, and melting Eyes,
How with a fuffring Friend we fympathize!
Nay, Tears will ev'n from a wrong'd Orphan flide,
When his falfe Guardian at the Bar is try'd:
So tender, fo unwilling to accufe,

So oft the Rofes on his Cheek bedews,

12 The Temple of Diana Taurica, where they Sacrific'd Strangers.

So foft his Treffes, fill'd with trickling Pearl,
You'd doubt his Sex, and take him for a Girl.
B'Impulfe of Nature (though to us unknown
The Party be) we make the Lofs our own;
And Tears fteal from our Eyes, when in the Street
With fome betrothed Virgin's Herse we meet;
Or Infant's Fun'ral, from the cheated Womb
Convey'd to Earth, and cradled in a Tomb.
Who can all Sense of others Ills escape,
Is but a Brute at best in human Shape.
This natʼral Piety did first refine

Our Wit, and rais'd our Thoughts to things Divine:
This proves our Spirit of the Gods Defcent,

While that of Beasts is prone and downward bent.
To them but Earth-born Life they did dispense;
To us, for mutual Aid, Cœleftial Sense.

From ftraggling Mountaineers, for publick Good
To rank in Tribes, and quit the salvage Wood,
Houses to build, and them contiguous make,
For cheerful Neighbourhood and Safety's fake.
In War, a Common Standard to erect,
A wounded Friend in Battel to protect;
The Summons take of the fame Trumpet's Call
To fally from one Port, or Man one publick Wall.
But Serpents now more Amity maintain!

From Sported Skins the Leopard does refrain:
No weaker Lion's by a stronger flain :

Nor, fom his Larger Tusks, the Forest Boar
Commiffion takes his Brother-Swine to gore:
Tyger with Tyger, Bear with Bear you'll find
In Leagues Offenfive and Defenfive join'd.
But lawless Man the Anvil dares profane,
And forg'd that Steel by which a Man is flain!
Which Earth, at firft, for Plow-fhares did afford,
Nor yet the Smith had learnt to form a Sword.

}

An

An impious Crew we have beheld, whose Rage
Their En'mies very Life cou'd not affwage,
Unless they Banquet on the Wretch they flew,
Devour the Corps, and lick the Blood they drew!
What think you wou'd Pythagoras have said
Of fuch a Feast, or to what Desart fled,
Who Flesh of Animals refus'd to eat,
Nor held all forts of Pulfe for lawful Meat?