First tracking Hercules' career,
Then ranged beneath th' Atridæ's spear.45
Now urge thy chariot o'er the plain,
And say by whom was Cycnus slain;
By whom great Hector? tell whose blade
In death the fearless Memnon laid,
Chief of the Æthiopian ranks,50
Who by his spear's impetuous force
Arrested Telephus' bold course,
And smote him near Caïcus' banks?
To them Ægina's beauteous isle
Report assigns the native soil. 5655
That tower was built in ancient time,
To which their virtues soar sublime:
Sounding their praise, my fluent tongue
Can hurl full many a dart of song.
And now shall Ajax' city prove60
A witness in the dire affray;
Fair Salamis, whose seamen strove
In the destructive shower of Jove
The deadly hail of countless hosts to stay. 64
But let forgetful Silence veil65
In her cold dews the boasting tale;
For Jove, the lord of all, at will
Directs alike the good and ill.
These honours, gain'd by each triumphant deed,
Delight to win the poet's honey'd meed.70
Let him who labours to this end
Like Cleonicus' race contend:
Never in dark oblivion's shade
The heroes' lengthen'd toils shall fade;
Nor care distract the mind that views75
What cost the wish'd-for palm pursues. 74
Now Pytheas' praise demands the strain,
