Page:Poetical Works of the Right Hon. Geo. Granville.djvu/70

Charms to which Mars and Hercules would bow,
Minos and Rhadamanthus^[1] diſavow:
Juſtice, by nothing biaſs’d or inclin’d,
Deaf to perſuaſion, to temptation blind,110
Determines without favour, and the laws
O’erlook the parties to decide the cauſe.
What then avails it that a beardleſs boy
Took a raſh fancy for a female toy?
Th’ inſulted Argives, with a num’rous hoſt,115
Purſue revenge, and seek the Dardan coaſt.
Tho’ the gods built, and tho’ the gods defend,
Thoſe lofty towers, the hoſtile Greeks aſcend,
Nor leave they till the town in aſhes lies,
And all the race of royal Priam dies.120
The queen of Paphos,^[2] mixing in the fray,
Rallies the troops, and urges on the day;
In perſon in the foremoſt ranks ſhe ſtands,
Provokes the charge, directs, aſſiſts, commands:
Stern Diomed, advancing high in air125
His lofty jav’lin, ſtrikes the heav’nly fair;
The vaulted ſkies with her loud ſhrieks reſound,
And high Olympus trembles at the wound.
In cauſes juſt would all the gods oppoſe,
’Twere honeſt to diſpute; ſo Cato choſe.130

1. Minos and Rhadamanthus, famous legiſlators, who, for their ſtrict adminiſtration of juſtice, were, after their deaths, made chief judges in the infernal regions.
2. Venus.