Fortunam transire jubent, ut sceptra tenentem 200 205 Et nondum crasso laquearia fulva metallo, Montibus aut alte Graiis effulta nitebant Atria, congestos satis explicitura clientes. Non impacatis regum ad vigilantia somnis Pila, nec alterna ferri statione gementes Excubiæ, nec cura mero committere gemmas, Atque aurum violare cibis ; sed nuda potestas Armavit fratres: pugna est de paupere regno. Dumque uter angustæ squalentia jugera Dirces Verteret, aut Tyrii solio non altus ovaret Exulis, ambigitur; periit jus, fasque, bonumque, Et vitæ mortisque pudor. Quo tenditis iras, 210 Ah miseri? quid si peteretur crimine tanto Limes uterque poli, quem Sol emissus Eöo Cardine, quem porta vergens prospectat Ibera? Quasque procul terras obliquo sidere tangit Avius, aut Borea gelidas, madidive tepentes Igne Noti? quid si Tyriæ Phrygiæve sub unum Convectentur opes? loca dira, arcesque nefandæ Suffecere odio, furtisque immanibus emptum est Edipodæ sedisse loco. Jam sorte carebat 215 NOTES. Ver. 201. Montibus] Instead of this violent word, Montibus, Pope judiciously says, Columns only. Unjust decree! while this enjoys the state, Foresees with anguish his returning heir. 195 205 Yet then, no proud aspiring piles were rais'd, 200 No fretted roofs with polish'd metals blaz’d; No labour'd columns in long order plac'd, No Grecian stone the pompous arches grac'd; No nightly bands in glitt'ring armour wait Before the sleepless Tyrant's guarded gate; No chargers then were wrought in burnish'd gold, Nor silver vases took the forming mould; Nor gems on bowls emboss'd were seen to shine, Blaze on the brims, and sparkle in the wineSay, wretched rivals! what provokes your rage? Say to what end your impious arms engage? Not all bright Phoebus views in early morn, Or when his ev'ning beams the west adorn, When the south glows with his meridian ray, And the cold north receives a fainter day; For crimes like these, not all those realms suffice, Were all those realms the guilty victor's prize! But fortune now (the lots of empire thrown) Decrees to proud Eteocles the crown: NOTES. 211 215 219 Ver. 219. proud Eteocles] He has not borrowed so much from the Phonissæ of Euripides as might have been hoped and expected, and which would so much have improved his poem. Racine was early struck with this story. Les Freres Ennemis was his first tragedy: and he was a reader of Euripides, being an excellent Greek scholar. Dilatus Polynicis honos, quis tum tibi, sæve, 220 Ex 236 What joys, oh Tyrant! swell'd thy soul that day, When all were slaves thou could'st around survey, Pleas'd to behold unbounded pow'r thy own, And singly fill a fear'd and envy'd throne! 225 But the vile vulgar, ever discontent, Their growing fears in secret murmurs vent; Still prone to change, tho' still the slaves of state, And sure the monarch whom they have, to hate; New lords they madly make, then tamely bear, And softly curse the Tyrants whom they fear. And one of those who groan beneath the sway 230 Of Kings impos'd, and grudgingly obey (Whom envy to the great, and vulgar spite 235 With scandal arm'd, th' ignoble mind's delight), These now control a wretched people's fate, These can divide, and these reverse the state: 240 On thy own offspring hast thou fix'd this fate, 245 When banish'd Cadmus, wand'ring o'er the main, For lost Europa search'd the world in vain, NOTES. Ver. 224. discontent,] It should be "discontented." 250 260 Exul Hyanteos invenit regna per agros; Interiore polo: spatiis hinc omnia juxta, |