To pity this complaint our former rage
Converts, we now enquire his parentage,
What of their counfels or affairs he knew:
Then fearless he replies, great king, to you
All truth I fhall relate: nor first can I
Myfelf to be of Grecian birth deny;

And though my outward ftate misfortune hath
Depreft thus low, it cannot reach my faith.
You may by chance have heard the famous name
Of Palamede, who from old Belus came,
Whom, but for voting peace, the Greeks purfue,
Accus'd unjustly, then unjustly flew,

Yet mourn'd his death. My father was his friend,
And me to his commands did recommend,
While laws and councils did his throne fupport,
I but a youth, yet some esteem and port
We then did bear, till by Ulyffes' craft
(Things known I fpeak) he was of life bereft :
Since in dark forrow I my days did fpend,
Till now disdaining his unworthy end,

I could not filence my complaints, but vow'd
Revenge, if ever fate or chance allow'd
My wifh'd return to Greece; from hence his hate,
From thence my crimes, and all my ills bear date:
Old guilt fresh malice gives; the peoples ears
He fills with rumours, and their hearts with fears,
And then the prophet to his
But why do I these thankless truths pursue ;
Or why defer your rage?. on me, for all
The Greeks, let your revenging fury fall.

C 4

party

drew.

Ulyffes

1

Ulyffes this, th' Atridæ this defire

At any rate. We ftrait are set on fire
(Unpractis'd in fuch myfteries) to enquire
The manner and the cause, which thus he told,
With geftures humble, as his tale was bold.
Oft have the Greeks (the fiege detefting) tir'd
With tedious war, a ftolen retreat defir'd,
And would to heaven they'd gone: but ftill difmay'd
By feas or fkies, unwillingly they stay'd.

Chiefly when this ftupendous pile was rais'd,
Strange noifes fill'd the air; we, all amaz'd,
Difpatch Eurypylus t' enquire our fates,
Who thus the sentence of the gods relates;
A virgin's flaughter did the storm appease,
When first towards Troy the Grecians took the feas
Their fafe retreat another Grecian's blood
Must purchase. All at this confounded stood :
Each thinks himself the man, the fear on all

Of what, the mischief but on one can fall.
Then Calchas (by Ulyffes firft infpir'd)

Was urg'd to name whom th' angry gods requir'd;
Yet was I warn'd (for many were as well

Inspir'd as he, and did my fate foretel)

Ten days the prophet in fufpence remain'd,

Would no man's fate pronounce; at last constrain'd By Ithacus, he folemnly defign'd

Me for the facrifice; the people join'd

In glad confent, and all their common fear
Determine in my fate; the day drew near,

The

1

The facred rites prepar'd, my temples crown'd
With holy wreaths; then I confess I found
The means to my escape, my bones I brake,
Fled from my guards, and in a muddy lake
Amongst the fedges all the night lay hid,
Till they their fails had hoift (i fo they did).
And now alas no hope remains for me
My home, my father, and my fons to fee,
Whom they, enrag'd, will kill for my offence,
And punish, for my guilt, their innocence.
Those gods who know the truths I now relate,
That faith which yet remains inviolate
By mortal men; by thefe I beg, redrefs
My caufelefs wrongs, and pity such distress.
And now true pity in exchange he finds

For his false tears, his tongue his hands unbinds.
Then spake the king, Be ours, whoe'er thou art;
Forget the Greeks. But first the truth impart,
Why did they raise, or to what use intend
This pile? to a war-like, or religious end?
Skilful in fraud (his native art), his hands
Toward heaven he rais'd, deliver'd now from bands.
Ye pure æthereal flames, ye powers ador'd
By mortal men, ye altars, and the fword
I fcap'd; ye facred fillets that involv'd
My deftin'd head, grant I may stand absolv'd
From all their laws and rights, renounce all name
Of faith or love, their fecret thoughts proclaim;
Only, O Troy, preferve thy faith to me,

If what I fhall relate preferveth thee.

From

From Pallas' favour, all our hopes, and all
Counfels and actions took original,

Till Diomed (for fuch attempts made fit
By dire conjunction with Ulyffes' wit)
Affails the facred tower, the guards they flay,
Defile with bloody hands, and thence convey
The fatal image; ftraight with our fuccefs
Our hopes fell back, whilft prodigies exprefs
Her just disdain, her flaming eyes did throw
Flashes of lightning, from each part did flow
A briny fweat, thrice brandishing her spear,
Her ftatue from the ground itself did rear;
Then, that we should our facrilege restore,
And reconvey their gods from Argos' fhore,
Calchas perfuades, till then we urge in vain
The fate of Troy. To measure back the main
They all confent, but to return again,
When reinforc'd with aids of gods and men.
Thus Calchas; then, instead of that, this pile
To Pallas was defign'd; to reconcile
Th' offended power, and expiate our guilt;
To this vaft height and monftrous ftature built,
Left, through your gates receiv'd, it might renew
Your vows to her, and her defence to you.
But if this facred gift you dif-esteem,

Then cruel plagues (which heaven divert on them!)
Shall fall on Priam's ftate: but if the horse
Your walls afcend, affifted by your force,
A league 'gainft Greece all Afia fhall contract:
Our fons then suffering what their fires would act.

Thus

Thus by his fraud and our own faith o'ercome,
A feigned tear destroys us, again whom
Tydides nor Achilles could prevail,

Nor ten years conflict, nor a thousand fail.
This feconded by a most fad portent,
Which credit to the firft impofture lent;
Laocoon, Neptune's priest, upon the day
Devoted to that god, a bull did slay.

When two prodigious serpents were descry'd,
Whofe circling ftrokes the fea's fmooth face divide;
Above the deep they raise their scaly crefts,
And stem the flood with their erected breasts,
Their winding tails advance and steer their course,
And 'gainst the shore the breaking billows force.
Now landing, from their brandifh'd tongues there came
A dreadful hifs, and from their eyes a flame.
Amaz'd we fly; directly in a line

Laocoon they pursue, and first entwine

(Each preying upon one) his tender fons;
Then him, who armed to their rescue runs,
They feiz'd, and with entangling folds embrac'd,
His neck twice compaffing, and twice his waste :
Their poisonous knots he strives to break and tear,
While flime and blood his facred wreaths befmear;
Then loudly roars, as when th' enraged bull
From th' altar flies, and from his wounded skull
Shakes the huge ax; the conquering ferpents fly
To cruel Pallas' altar, and there lie

Under her feet, within her shield's extent.
We, in our fears, conclude this fate was fent

Juftly