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Rh

First tracking Hercules' career,

Then ranged beneath th' Atridæ's spear.

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,

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.

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 prove

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.

But let forgetful Silence veil

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.

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 views

What cost the wish'd-for palm pursues.

Now Pytheas' praise demands the strain,

Who foremost in th' athletic train