XIV.

Tlepolemus of great Alcides came,
The fruits of fair Aftydameïa's love,
Jove-born Amyntor got the Argive dame :
So either lineage is deriv'd from Jove.

XV.

But wrapt in error is the human mind,
And human blifs is ever infecure :

Know we what fortune yet remains behind?
Know we how long the present shall endure?

XVI.

For lo! the founder of the Rhodian ftate,
Who from Saturnian Jove his being drew,
While his fell bofom fwell'd with vengeful hate,
The baftard-brother of Alcmena flew.

XVII.

With his rude mace, in fair Tiryntha's walls,
Tlepolemus inflicts the horrid wound :
Ev'n at his mother's door Licymnius falls,

Yet warm from her embrace, and bites the ground.

XVIII.

Paffion may oft the wifeft heart furprize :

Confcious and trembling for the murderous deed,

To Delphi's Oracle the hero flies,

Solicitous to learn what Heaven decreed.

* Tlepolemus.

XIX, Him

XIX.

Him bright-hair'd Phœbus, from his odorous fane,
Bade fet his flying fails from Lerna's shore,
And, in the bofom of the Eaftern Main,
That fea-girt region haften to explore;
XX.

That blissful island, where a wonderous cloud
Once rain'd, at Jove's command, a golden shower;
What time, affifted by the Lemnian God,

The King of Heaven brought forth the Virgin Power.
XXI.

By Vulcan's art the father's teeming head

Was open'd wide, and forth impetuous fprung,
And shouted fierce and loud, the Warrior Maid:
Old Mother Earth and Heaven affrighted rung.
XXII.

Then Hyperion's fon, pure fount of day,
Did to his children the strange tale reveal :
He warn'd them ftrait the facrifice to flay,
And worship the young Power with earliest zeal.
XXIII.

So would they footh the mighty father's mind,
Pleas'd with the honours to his daughter paid;
And fo propitious ever would they find
Minerva, warlike, formidable maid.

XXIV.

On ftaid precaution, vigilant and wife,
True virtue and true happiness depend;
But oft Oblivion's darkening clouds arise,
And from the deftin'd scope our purpose bend.

XXV. The

XXV.

The Rhodians, mindful of their fire's beheft,
Strait in the citadel an altar rear'd ;

But with imperfect rites the power addrefs'd,
And without fire their facrifice prepar'd.
XXVI.

Yet Jove approving o'er th' affembly spread

A yellow cloud, that dropp'd with golden dews; While in their opening hearts the blue-ey'd maid Deign'd her celeftial fcience to infufe.

XXVII.

Thence in all arts the fons of Rhodes excel,
Though beft their forming hands the chiffel guide;
This in each ftreet the breathing marbles tell,
The ftranger's wonder, and the city's pride.
XXVIII.

Great praise the works of Rhodian artists find,
Yet to their heavenly miftrefs much they owe;
Since art and learning cultivate the mind,

And make the feeds of genius quicker grow.
XXIX.

Some fay, that when by lot th' immortal gods
With Jove thefe earthly regions did divide,
All undifcover'd lay Phoebean Rhodes,

Whelm'd deep beneath the falt Carpathian tide;
XXX.

That, absent on his course, the God of Day
By all the heavenly fynod was forgot,
Who, his inceffant labours to repay,
Nor land nor fea to Phoebus did allot;

XXXI. That

VIII.

But here each inftrument of fong divine,
The vocal reed and lyre's enchanting string,
She tunes; and bids their harmony combine
Thee, and thy Rhodes, Diagoras, to fing;

IX.

Thee and thy country, native of the flood,
Which from bright Rhodos draws her honour'd name,
Fair nymph, whofe charms fubdued the Delphic God,
Fair blooming daughter of the Cyprian dame :

X.

To fing thy triumphs in th' Olympick fand,
Where Alpheus faw thy giant-temples crown'd;
Fam'd Pythia too proclaim'd thy conquering hand,
Where sweet Castalia's mystic currents found. -
XI.

Nor Damagetus will I pafs unfung,

Thy fire, the friend of Justice and of Truth;
From noble ancestors whofe lineage fprung,

The chiefs who led to Rhodes the Argive youth.`
XII.

There near to Afia's wide-extended strand,
Where jutting Embolus the waves divides,
In three divifions they they poffefs'd the land,
Enthron'd amid the hoarfe-refounding tides.
XIII.

To their defcendants will I tune my lyre,
The offspring of Alcides bold and strong;
And from Tlepolemus, their common fire,
Deduce the national hiftorick fong.

XIV. Tiepole

XIV.

Tlepolemus of great Alcides came,

The fruits of fair Aftydameïa's love, Jove-born Amyntor got the Argive dame : So either lineage is deriv'd from Jove.

XV.

But wrapt in error is the human mind,
And human blifs is ever infecure :

Know we what fortune yet remains behind ?
Know we how long the present shall endure ?

*

XVI.

For lo! the founder of the Rhodian ftate,

Who from Saturnian Jove his being drew, While his fell bofom fwell'd with vengeful hate, The baftard-brother of Alcmena flew.

XVII.

With his rude mace, in fair Tiryntha's walls,
Tlepolemus inflicts the horrid wound :
Ev'n at his mother's door Licymnius falls,

Yet warm from her embrace, and bites the ground.

XVIII.

Paffion may oft the wifeft heart furprize:

Confcious and trembling for the murderous deed,

To Delphi's Oracle the hero flies,

Solicitous to learn what Heaven decreed.

* Tlepolemus.

XIX. Him