Then let the friendly townsmen tell,
Nor e'en the candid foe conceal
What his strong arm hath wrought so well,
Laborious for the common weal. 175
The words of ocean's hoary sage
Submissive reverence should engage.
"Crown e'en an enemy's fair deed
With approbation's honest meed."
Thee too at Pallas' stated feasts 180
Full often have my eyes survey'd
Triumphant o'er th' assembled guests,
While many a silent gazing maid
Her husband or her offspring thee
Has wish'd, oh Telesicrates, to be! 176 185
To him in bright Olympia's day,
And in deep-bosom'd Rhea's fray,
And heroes on his native field
The palm in every contest yield.
From me, then, who the debt would pay, 190
Slaking my thirst of song, they claim
Once more to build the lyric lay,
And hymn thy great forefathers' fame:
As to Irasa's walls the suitors came,
To seek the Libyan nymph, Antæus' fair-hair'd dame. [1] 187 195
Kinsmen with many a stranger vied,
Illustrious throng! to call her bride—
Eager to crop of form sublime
The flow'ret in its golden prime:
But her ambitious sire, whose ear 200
From Argive Danaus joy'd to hear
That he had bound in wedlock's tie
- ↑ Named by the scholiast Barce, or Alceis. Irasa was a city in the Tritonian lake. The Antæus here mentioned is not to be confounded with the gigantic antagonist of Hercules.
