Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/361
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STATIUS his THEBAIS.
325
Haste then, Cyllenius, thro' the liquid air;
Go mount the winds, and to the shades repair;
Bid hell's black monarch my commands obey,
And give up Laius to the realms of day,
Whose ghost, yet shiv'ring on Cocytus' sand,
Expects its passage to the farther strand:
Let the pale fire revisit Thebes, and bear
These pleasing orders to the Tyrant's ear;
That, from his exil'd brother, swell'd with pride
Of foreign forces, and his Argive bride,
Almighty Jove commands him to detain
The promis'd empire, and alternate reign:
Be this the cause of more than mortal hate;
The rest, succeeding times shall ripen into fate,
The God obeys, and to his feet applies
Those golden wings that cut the yielding skies;
His ample hat his beamy locks o'erspread,
And veil'd the starry glories of his head:
He seiz'd his wand that causes sleep to fly,
Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye;
Go mount the winds, and to the shades repair;
Bid hell's black monarch my commands obey,
And give up Laius to the realms of day,
Whose ghost, yet shiv'ring on Cocytus' sand,
Expects its passage to the farther strand:
Let the pale fire revisit Thebes, and bear
These pleasing orders to the Tyrant's ear;
That, from his exil'd brother, swell'd with pride
Of foreign forces, and his Argive bride,
Almighty Jove commands him to detain
The promis'd empire, and alternate reign:
Be this the cause of more than mortal hate;
The rest, succeeding times shall ripen into fate,
The God obeys, and to his feet applies
Those golden wings that cut the yielding skies;
His ample hat his beamy locks o'erspread,
And veil'd the starry glories of his head:
He seiz'd his wand that causes sleep to fly,
Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye;
That