Page:Boswell - Life of Johnson.djvu/95

Rh Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores
 * Do the chain'd waters always freeze;

Not always furious Boreas roars,
 * Or bends with violent force the trees.

But you are ever drown'd in tears,
 * For Mystes dead you ever mourn;

No setting Sol can ease your care,
 * But finds you sad at his return.

The wise experienc'd Grecian sage
 * Mourn'd not Antilochus so long;

Nor did King Priam's hoary age
 * So much lament his slaughter'd son.

Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs,
 * Augustus' numerous trophies sing;

Repeat that prince's victories,
 * To whom all nations tribute bring.

Niphates rolls an humbler wave.
 * At length the undaunted Scythian yields,

Content to live the Roman's slave,
 * And scarce forsakes his native fields.

ceas'd: then godlike Hector answer'd kind, (His various plumage sporting in the wind) That post, and all the rest, shall be my care; But shall I, then, forsake the unfinished war? How would the Trojans brand great Hector's name! And one base action sully all my fame, Acquired by wounds and battles bravely fought! Oh! how my soul abhors so mean a thought. Long since 1 learn'd to slight this fleeting breath, And view with cheerful eyes approaching death. The inexorable sisters have decreed That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed: The day will come, in which proud Troy shall yield, And spread its smoking ruins o'er the field. Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age. Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage, Nor