and the characters graphically diſtinguiſhed. It contains likewiſe many beautiful ſtrokes of poetry.
When Narbal, a lord of the queen’s party, gives an account to Flaminius the Roman general, of the queen’s parting with her ſon; he ſays,
A while ſhe ſtood,
Transform’d by grief to marble, and appear’d
Her own pale monument;
Flaminius conſiſtent with his character as a ſoldier, anſwers,
Give me, ye gods! the harmony of war,
The trumpet’s clangor, and the claſh of arms,
That concert animates the glowing breaſt,
To ruſh on death; but when our ear is pierc’d
With the ſad notes which mournful beauty yields;
Our manhood melts in ſymphathiſing tears.
The character of Sameas the king’s cup-bearer, is one of the moſt villainous ever ſhewn upon a ſtage; and the poet makes Sohemus, in order to give the audience a true idea of him, and to prepare them for thoſe barbarities he is to execute, relate the following inſtance of his cruelty.
Along the ſhore
He walk’d one evening, when the clam’rous rage
Of tempeſts wreck’d a ſhip: The crew were ſunk,
The maſter only reach’d the neighb’ring ſtand,
Born by a floating fragment; but ſo weak
With combating the ſtorm, his tongue had loſt
The faculty of ſpeech, and yet for aid
He faintly wav’d his hand, on which he wore
A fatal jewel. Sameas, quickly charm’d
Both by its ſize, and luſtre, with a look
Of pity ſtoop’d, to take him by the hand;
