. Surpassing Babel's or the Persian fame
Proud Grecia's boast, or Rome's illustrious name.
Oft from these brilliant seats have you beheld
The sons of Lusus on the dusty field,

Though few, triumphant o'er the num'rous Moors,
Till, from the beauteous lawns on Tagus' shores
They drove the cruel foe. And oft has heav'n
Before their troops the proud Castilians driv'n;
While Victory her eagle-wings display'd
Where'er their warriors wav'd the shining blade,
Nor rests unknown how Lusus' heroes stood
When Rome's ambition dyed the world with blood;
What glorious laurels Viriatus1 gain'd,

How oft his sword with Roman gore was stain'd;

1 This brave Lusitanian, who was first a shepherd and a famous hunter, and afterwards a captain of banditti, exasperated at the tyranny of the Romans, encouraged his countrymen to revolt and shake off the yoke. Being appointed general, he defeated Vetilius the prætor, who commanded in Lusitania, or farther Spain. After this he defeated, in three pitched battles, the prætors, C. Plautius Hypsæus and Claudius Unimanus, though they led against him very numerous armies. For six years he continued victorious, putting the Romans to flight wherever he met them, and laying waste the countries of their allies. Having obtained such advantages over the proconsul, Servilianus, that the only choice which was left to the Roman army was death or slavery, the brave Viriatus, instead of putting them all to the sword, as he could easily have done, sent a deputation to the general, offering to conclude a peace with him on this single condition, That he should continue master of the country now in his power, and that the Romans should remain possessed of the rest of Spain.

The proconsul, who expected nothing but death or slavery, thought these very favourable and moderate terms, and without hesitation concluded a peace, which was soon after ratified by the Roman senate and people. Viriatus, by this treaty, completed the glorious design he had always in view, which was to erect a kingdom in the vast country he had conquered from the republic. And, had it not been for the treachery of the Romans, he would have become, as Florus calls him, the Romulus of Spain.

The senate, desirous to revenge their late defeat, soon after this peace, ordered Q. Servilius Cæpio to exasperate Viriatus, and force him, by repeated affronts, to commit the first acts of hostility. But this mean artifice did not succeed: Viriatus would not be provoked to a breach of the peace. On this the Conscript Fathers, to the eternal disgrace of their republic, ordered Cæpio to declare war, and to proclaim Viriatus, who had given no provocation, an enemy to

And what fair palms their martial ardour crown'd,
When led to battle by the chief renown'd,
Who1 feign'd a dæmon, in a deer conceal'd,
To him the counsels of the gods reveal'd.
And now, ambitious to extend their sway
Beyond their conquests on the southmost bay
Of Afric's swarthy coast, on floating wood
They brave the terrors of the dreary flood,
Where only black-wing'd mists have hover'd o'er,
Or driving clouds have sail'd the wave before;
Beneath new skies they hold their dreadful way
To reach the cradle of the new-born day :
And Fate, whose mandates unrevok'd remain,
Has will'd that long shall Lusus' offspring reign
The lords of that wide sea, whose waves behold
The sun come forth enthron'd in burning gold.
But now, the tedious length of winter past,
Distress'd and weak, the heroes faint at last.

What gulfs they dar'd, you saw, what storms they brav’d,
Beneath what various heav'ns their banners wav'd!

Now Mercy pleads, and soon the rising land
To their glad eyes shall o'er the waves expand;
As welcome friends the natives shall receive,
With bounty feast them, and with joy relieve.
And, when refreshment shall their strength renew,
Thence shall they turn, and their bold route pursue.'

So spoke high Jove: the gods in silence heard,
Then rising, each by turns his thoughts preferr'd:
But chief was Bacchus of the adverse train;
Fearful he was, nor fear'd his pride in vain,
Should Lusus' race arrive on India's shore,
His ancient honours would be known no more;

Rome. To this baseness Cæpio added one still greater; he corrupted the ambassadors whom Viriatus had sent to negotiate with him, who, at the instigation of the Roman, treacherously murdered their protector and general while he slept.-UNIV. HISTORY.

1 Sertorius, who was invited by the Lusitanians to defend them against the Romans. He had a tame white hind, which he had accustomed to follow him, and from which he pretended to receive the instructions of Diana. By this artifice he imposed upon the superstition of that people.

No more in Nysa1 should the native tell
What kings, what mighty hosts before him fell.
The fertile vales beneath the rising sun

He view'd as his, by right of victory won,
And deem'd that ever in immortal song
The Conqueror's title should to him belong.

Yet Fate, he knew, had will'd, that loos'd from Spain
Boldly advent'rous thro' the polar main,

A warlike race should come, renown'd in arms,
And shake the eastern world with war's alarms,
Whose glorious conquests and eternal fame
In black Oblivion's waves should whelm his name.

Urania-Venus, queen of sacred love,

3

Arose and fixed her asking eyes on Jove;
Her eyes, well pleas'd, in Lusus' sons could trace
A kindred likeness to the Roman race,
For whom of old such kind regard she bore;
The same their triumphs on Barbaria's shore,
The same the ardour of their warlike flame,
The manly music of their tongue the same:
Affection thus the lovely goddess sway'd,
Nor less what Fate's unblotted page'display'd,

1 No more in Nysa.-An ancient city in India sacred to Bacchus.
2 Urania-Venus.-An Italian poet has given the following descrip-
tion of the celestial Venus-

Questa è vaga di Dio Venere bella

Vicina al Sole, e sopra ogni altra estella
Questa è quella beata, a cui s'inchina,
A cui si volge desiando amore,

Chiamata cui del Ciel rara e divina
Beltà che vien tra noi per nostro honore,

Per far le menti desiando al Cielo

Obliare l' altrui col proprio velo.-MARTEL.

3 See the note in the Second Book on the following passage-
As when in Ida's bower she stood of yore, etc.

The manly music of their tongue the same.-Camoëns says:
E na lingoa, na qual quando imagina,

Com pouca corrupçao cré que he Latina.

Qualifications are never elegant in poetry. Fanshaw's translation and the original both prove this:

their tongue

Which she thinks Latin, with small dross among.

Where'er this people should their empire raise,
She knew her altars would unnumber'd blaze,
And barb'rous nations at her holy shrine
Be humaniz'd and taught her lore divine.
Her spreading honours thus the one inspir'd,
And one the dread to lose his worship fir'd.
Their struggling factions shook th' Olympian state
With all the clam'rous tempest of debate.
Thus, when the storm with sudden gust invades
The ancient forest's deep and lofty shades,
The bursting whirlwinds tear their rapid course,
The shatter'd oaks crash, and with echoes hoarse
The mountains groan, while whirling on the blast
The thick'ning leaves a gloomy darkness cast;
Such was the tumult in the blest abodes,
When Mars, high tow'ring o'er the rival gods,
Stepp'd forth: stern sparkles from his eye-balls glanc'd,
And now, before the throne of Jove advanc'd,
O'er his left shoulder his broad shield he throws,
And lifts his helm1 above his dreadful brows:
Bold and enrag'd he stands, and, frowning round,
Strikes his tall spear-staff on the sounding ground;
Heav'n trembled, and the light turn'd pale-such dread
His fierce demeanour o'er Olympus spread-

When thus the warrior: "O Eternal Sire,
Thine is the sceptre, thine the thunder's fire,
Supreme dominion thine; then, Father, hear,

Shall that bold race which once to thee was dear,
Who, now fulfilling thy decrees of old,

Through these wild waves their fearless journey hold,
Shall that bold ace no more thy care engage,

But sink the victims of unhallow'd rage!
Did Bacchus yield to Reason's voice divine,
Bacchus the cause of Lusus' sons would join,
Lusus, the lov'd companion of his cares,
His earthly toils, his dangers, and his wars:

1 i.e. helmet.

2

and the light turn'd pale.-The thought in the original has something in it wildly great, though it is not expressed in the happiest manner of Camoëns

O ceo tremeo, e Apollo detorvado

Hum pauco a luz perdeo, como infiado.

But envy still a foe to worth will prove,

To worth, though guarded by the arm of Jove.

"Then thou, dread Lord of Fate, unmov'd remain,
Nor let weak change thine awful counsels stain,
For Lusus' race thy promis'd favour show:
Swift as the arrow from Apollo's bow

Let Maia's1 son explore the wat'ry way,

Where, spent with toil, with weary hopes, they stray;
And safe to harbour, through the deep untried,
Let him, empower'd, their wand'ring vessels guide ;
There let them hear of India's wish'd-for shore,
And balmy rest their fainting strength restore."

He spoke high Jove assenting bow'd the head,
And floating clouds of nectar'd fragrance shed:
Then, lowly bending to th' Eternal Sire,

Each in his duteous rank, the gods retire.

Whilst thus in heaven's bright palace fate was weigh'd Right onward still the brave Armada strayed:

Right on they steer by Ethiopia's strand

And pastoral Madagascar's 2 verdant land.
Before the balmy gales of cheerful spring,

With heav'n their friend, they spread the canvas wing,
The sky cerulean, and the breathing air,

The lasting promise of a calm declare.

Behind them now the Cape of Praso3 bends,

Another ocean to their view extends,

Where black-topp'd islands, to their longing eyes,
Lav'd by the gentle waves,* in prospect rise.

1 Mercury, the messenger of the gods.-Ed.

2 And pastoral Madagascar.-Called by the ancient geographers, Menuthia and Cerna Ethiopica; by the natives, the Island of the Moon; and by the Portuguese, the Isle of St. Laurence, on whose festival they discovered it.

3 Praso.-Name of a promontory near the Red Sea.-Ed.

Lav'd by the gentle waves.-The original says, the sea showed them new islands, which it encircled and laved. Thus rendered by Fanshaw

Neptune disclos'd new isles which he did play
About, and with his billows danc't the hay.