The dreadful penalty. This act of fate,
Divinest woman! may not be recall'd.
So spun the Destinies his mortal thread,

When thou didst bear him. Son of Everus ! Take then thy portion. But, what hecatombs Shall Aristæus and Autonoë,

Hereafter, on the smoking altars lay,

So that the youth Actæon, their sad son,
Might be but blind, like thee! for know that

youth

Shall join the great Diana in the chase;

Yet, not the chase, nor darts in common thrown,
Shall save him; when his undesigning glance
Discerns the goddess in her loveliness
Amidst the bath. His own unconscious dogs
Shall tear their master, and his mother cull
His scatter'd bones, wild-wandering through the
woods.

That mother, nymph! shall call thee blest, who

now

Receivest from the mount thy sightless son.
Oh weep no more, companion! for thy sake
I yet have ample recompense in store

For this thy son. Behold! I bid him rise
A prophet: far o'er every seer renown'd
To future ages. He shall read the flights
Of birds, and know whatever on the wing
Hovers auspicious, or ill-omen'd flies,

Or void of auspice. Many oracles

To the Boeotians shall his tongue reveal;
To Cadmus, and the great Labdacian tribe.
I will endow him with a mighty staff,
To guide his steps aright; and I will give
A lengthen'd boundary to his mortal life;
And, when he dies, he only, midst the dead,
Shall dwell inspired, and honour'd by that king
Who rules the shadowy people of the grave."

She spoke, and gave the nod; what Pallas wills
Is sure: in her, of all his daughters, Jove
Bade all the glories of her father shine.
Maids of the bath! no mother brought her forth;
Sprung from the head of Jove. Whate'er the head
Of Jove, inclining, ratifies, the same

Stands firm; and thus his daughter's nod is fate.

She comes! in very truth, Minerva comes! Receive the Goddess, damsels! ye, whose hearts,

With tender ties, your native Argos binds,
Receive the Goddess! with exulting hails,

With vows, and shouts. Hail, goddess! oh

protect

Inachian Argos! hail! and, when thou turn'st Thy coursers hence, or hitherward again Guidest thy chariot-wheels, oh! still preserve The fortunes of the race from Danaus sprung!

Apollonius Rhodius.

APOLLONIUS RHODIUS

Bef. Ch. 246.

THE ARGONAUTICS.

English Translators:

EKINS, FAWKES, PRESTON.

APOLLONIUS was a native of Naucratis in Egypt, and resided at Alexandria: but migrated to Rhodes; where he opened a school of rhetoric, and where he recited in public his poem on the Argonauts; which was rewarded by the Rhodians with the freedom of their city. Hence he acquired the surname of Rhodius. He was recalled by Ptolemy Euergetes, and succeeded Callima-