Tell me, my lord, fhe faid, what fault unknown.
Thy once belov'd Alcyone has done?
Whither, ah whither is thy kindness gone!
Can Ceyx then fuftain to leave his wife,
And unconcern'd forfake the fweets of life?,
What can thy mind to this long journey move,
Or need'ft thou abfence to renew thy love?
Yet, if thou goeft by land, tho' grief poffefs
My foul even then, my fears will be the Jefs.
But ah! be warn'd to fhun the watry way,
The face is frightful of the ftormy fea.
For late I faw a-drift disjointed planks,
And empty tombs erected on the banks.
Nor let falfe hopes to truft betray thy mind,
Because my fire in caves constrains the wind,
Can with a breath a clam'rous rage appeale,
They fear his whiftle, and forfake the feas;
Not fo, for once, indulg'd, they fweep the main:
Deaf to the call, or hearing hear in vain;
But bent on mifchief bear the waves before,
And not content with feas infult the shore;
When ocean, air, and earth, at once engage,
And rooted forefts fly before their rage:
At once the clashing clouds to battle move,
And lightnings run across the fields above:
I know them well, and mark'd their rude comport,
While yet a child, within my father's court:
In times of tempeft they command alone,
And he but fits precarious on the throne:
The more I know, the more my fears augment,
And fears are oft prophetic of th' event.
But if not fears, or reafons will prevail,
If fate has fix'd thee obftinate to fail,
Go not without thy wife, but let me bear,
My part of danger with an equal fhare,
And prefent fuffer what I only fear:
Then o'er the bounding billows fhall we fly,
Secure to live together, or to die.
Thefe reafons mov'd her ftarlike husband's heart,
But ftill he held his purpofe to depart :
For as he lov'd her equal to his life,
He wou'd not to the feas expofe his wife;
Nor could be wrought his voyage to refrain,
But fought by arguments to footh her pain;
Nor these avail'd; at length he lights on one,
With which fo difficult a caufe he won:
My love, fo fhort an absence cease to fear,
For by my father's holy flame, I fwear,
Before two moons their orb with light adorn,
If heav'n allow me life, I will return.
This promise of so short a stay prevails;
He foon equips the fhip, fupplies the fails,
And gives the word to lanch; fhe trembling views
This pomp of death, and parting tears renews :
Laft, with a kiss, she took a long farewel,
Sigh'd, with a fad prefage, and fwooning fell;
While Ceyx feeks delays, the lufty crew,
Rais'd on their banks, their oars in order drew
To their broad breafts, the fhip with fury flew.
The queen recover'd rears her humid eyes,
And first her husband on the poop espies
Shaking his hand at distance on the main;
She took the fign; and shook her hand again.
Still as the ground recedes, retracts her view
With fharpen'd fight, till the no longer knew
The much lov'd face; that comfort loft fupplies
With lefs, and with the galley feeds her eyes;
The galley born from view by rifing gales,
She follow'd with her fight the flying fails:
When ev'n the flying fails were seen no more,
Forfaken of all fight, fhe left the fhore.
Then on her bridal bed her body throws,
And fought in fleep her weary'd eyes to clofe:
Her husband's pillow, and the widow'd part
Which once he prefs'd, renew'd the former smart.
And now a breeze from fhore began to blow,
The failors fhip their oars, and cease to row;
Then hoift their yards a-trip, and all their fails
Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales :
By this the veffel half her courfe had run,
And as much rested till the rifing fun;
Both fhores were loft to fight, when at the clofe
Of day, a ftiffer gale at eaft arose:
The fea grew white, the rolling waves from far,
Like heralds, firft denounce the watry war.
This feen, the mafter foon began to cry,
Strike, ftrike the top-fail; let the main-fheet fly,
And furl your fails: the winds repel the found,
And in the speaker's mouth the fpeech is drown'd.
Yet of their own accord, as danger taught,
Each in his way, officioufly they wrought;
Some flow their oars, or ftop the leaky fides,
Another bolder yet the yard beftrides,
And folds the fails; a fourth, with labor, laves
Th' intruding feas, and waves ejects on waves.
In this confufion while their work they ply,
The winds augment the winter of the sky,
And wage inteftine wars; the suff'ring feas
Are tofs'd, and mingled as their tyrants please.
The mafter would command, but, in defpair
Of safety, stands amaz'd with ftupid care,
Nor what to bid, or what forbid he knows,
Th' ungovern'd tempeft to fuch fury grows;
Vain is his force, and vainer is his skill;
With fuch a concourfe comes the flood of ill:
The cries of men are mix'd with rattling fhrowds;
Seas dafh on feas, and clouds encounter clouds:
At once from east to west, from pole to pole,
The forky lightnings flash, the roaring thunders roll.
Now waves on waves afcending scale the skies,
And, in the fires above, the water fries:
When yellow fands are fifted from below,
The glitt'ring billows give a golden fhow:
And when the fouler bottom fpews the black,
The Stygian dye the tainted waters take :
Then frothy white appear the flatted feas,
And change their colour, changing their disease.
Like various fits the Trachin veffel finds,
And now fublime fhe rides upon the winds;
As from a lofty fummit looks from high,
And from the clouds beholds the nether sky;
Now from the depth of hell they lift their fight,
And at a distance fee fuperior light:
The lafhing billows make a loud report,
And beat her fides, as batt'ring rams a fort C
Or as a lion, bounding in his way
With force augmented bears against his prey,
Sidelong to feize: or unapal'd with fear
Springs on the toils, and rushes on the spear:
So feas impell'd by winds with added pow'r
Affaults the fides, and o'er the hatches tow'r.
The planks, their pitchy cov'rings wash'd away,
Now yield; and now a yawning breach display:
The roaring waters with a hoftile tide
Rush through the ruins of her gaping fide.
Mean time in fheets of rain the ky defcends,
And ocean fwell'd with waters upwards tends,
One rifing, falling one; the heav'ns and fea
Meet at their confines, in the middle way :
The fails are drunk with fhow'rs, and drop with rain,
Sweet waters mingle with the briny main.
No ftar appears to lend his friendly light:
Darknefs and tempeft make a double night.
But flashing fires disclose the deep by turns,
And while the lightnings blaze, the water burns.
Now all the waves their fcatter'd force unite,
And as a foldier, foremost in the fight,
Makes way for others, and an hoft alone
Still preffes on, and urging gains the town;
So while th' invading billows come a-breast,
The hero tenth, advanc'd before the reft,
Sweeps all before him with impetuous sway,
And from the walls defcends upon the prey;
Part following enter, part remain without,
With envy hear their fellows conqu❜ring fhout,
And mount on others backs, in hope to share
The city, thus become the feat of war.
An univerfal cry refounds aloud,
The failors run in heaps, a helpless crowd;
Art fails, and courage falls, no fuccour near;
As many waves, as many deaths appear.
One weeps, and yet despairs of late relief;
One cannot weep, his fears congeal his grief;
But, ftupid, with dry eyes expects his fate.
One with loud fhrieks laments his loft eftate,
And calls thofe happy whom their fun'rals wait.
This wretch with pray'rs and vows the Gods implores,
And ev'n the fkies he cannot fee, adores.
That other on his friends his thoughts beftows,
His careful father, and his faithful spouse.
The covetous worldling in his anxious mind
Thinks only on the wealth he left behind.
All Ceyx his Alcyone employs,
For her he grieves, yet in her absence joys:
His wife he wishes, and would ftill be near,
Not her with him, but wishes him with her :
Now with laft looks he feeks his native fhore,
Which fate has deftin'd him to fee no more;
|