Then on the Rock a fcanty Measure place Of Vital Flax, and turn'd the Wheel apace; And turning fung, To this red Brand and thee, O new-born Babe, we give an equal Destiny : So vanish'd out of View. The frighted Dame Sprung hally from herBed,and quench'd the Flame: The Log in fecret lock'd, fhe kept with Care, And that, while thus preferv'd, preferv'd her Heir. This Brand the now produc'd; and first the ftrows The Hearth with Heaps of Chips, and after blows, Thrice heav'd her Hand, and heav'd, fhe thrice The Sister and the Mother long conteft[reprefs'd:
Two doubtful Titles in one tender Breast:
And now her Eyes and Cheeks with Fury glow, Now pale her Cheeks, her Eyes with Pity flow: Now low'ring Looks prefage approaching Storms, And now prevailing Love her Face reforms:
Refolv'd, the doubts again; the Tears the dry'd With burning Rage, are by new Tears fupply'd; And as a Ship, which Winds and Waves affail, Now with theCurrent drives, now with the Gale, Both oppofite, and neither long prevail:
She feels a double Force, by Turns obeys Th'imperious Tempest, and th' impetuous Seas: So fares Althaa's Mind; fhe first relents With Pity, of that Pity then repents: Sister and Mother long the Scales divide, But the Beam nodded on the Sifters fide. Sometimes fhe foftly figh'd, then roar'd aloud; But Sighs were ftifled in the Cries of Blood.
The pious, impious Wretch at length decreed, To please her Brother's Ghoft, her Son should bleed: And when the Fun'ral Flames began to rife, Receive, fhe faid, a Sifter's Sacrifice;
A Mother's Bowels burn: High in her Hand, Thus while fhe spoke, she held the fatal Brand; Then thrice before the kindled Pile fhe bow'd, And the three Furies thrice invok'd aloud: Come, come, revenging Sifters, come and view A Sifter paying her dead Brothers Due: A Crime I punish, and a Crime commit; But Blood for Blood, and Death for Death is fit: Great Crimes must be with greater Crimes repaid, And fecond Funerals on the former laid.
Let the whole Houfhold in one Ruin fall, And may Diana's Curfe o'ertake us all. Shall Fate to happy Oeneus still allow One Son, while Theftius ftands depriv'd of two? Better three loft, than one unpunish'd go. Take then, dear Ghosts, (while yet admitted new In Hell you wait my Duty) take your Due: A coftly Off'ring on your Tomb is laid, When with my Blood the Price of yours is paid. Ah! Whither am I hurry'd? Ah! forgive, Ye Shades, and let your Sifters Iffue live: A Mother cannot give him Death; tho' he Deferves it, he deserves it not from me.
Then fhall th'unpunish'd Wretch infult the Slain, Triumphant live, nor only live, but reign? While you, thin Shades,the Sport of Winds,are toft O'er dreery Plains, or tread the burning Coast.
Where is the Mother fled, her pious Love, And where the Pains with which ten Months I ftrovel
Ah! hadft thou dy'd, my Son, in Infant-years, Thy little Herfe had been bedew'd with Tears.
Thou liv'ft by me; to me thy Breath refign; Mine is the Merit, the Demerit thine. Thy Life by double Title I require;
Once giv'n at Birth, and once preferv'd from Fire: One Murder pay, or add one Murder more, And me to them who fell by thee restore.
I would, but cannot: My Son's Image ftands Before my Sight; and now their angry Hands My Brothers hold, and Vengeance these exact, This pleads Compaffion, and repents the Fact.
He pleads in vain, and I pronounce his Doom: My Brothers, though unjustly, fhall o'ercome. But having paid their injur'd Ghosts their Due, My Son requires my Death, and mine shall his purfue.
At this, for the last time fhe lifts her Hand, a Averts her Eyes, and, half unwilling, drops the Brand.
The Brand, amid the flaming Fewel thrown, Or drew, or feem'd to draw a dying Groan: The Fires themselves but faintly lick'd their Prey, Then loath'd their impious Foods and would have fhrunk away.
Just then the Heroe caft a doleful Cry, And in those abfent Flames began to fry: The blind Contagion rag'd within his Veins; But he with manly Patience bore his Pains: He fear'd not Fate, but only griev'd to die Without an honeft Wound, and by a Death fo dry. Happy Ancæus, thrice aloud he cry'd,
With what becoming Fate in Arms he dy'd! Then call'd his Brothers, Sifters, Sire, around, And her to whom his Nuptial Vows were bound; Perhaps his Mother; a long Sigh he drew, And his Voice failing, took his last Adieu: For as the Flames augment, and as they stay At their full Height, then languifh to decay, They rife, and fink by Fits; at laft they foar In one bright Blaze, and then descend no more: Just so his inward Heats at height, impair, [Air. Till the last burning Breath fhoots out the Soul in
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