Both urge their oars, and fortune both supplies,

And both perhaps had shar'd an equal prize;
When to the seas Cloanthus holds his hands,

And succor from the wat'ry pow'rs demands:
"Gods of the liquid realms, on which I row!

If, giv'n by you, the laurel bind my brow,
Assist to make me guilty of my vow!

A snow-white bull shall on your shore be slain;
His offer'd entrails cast into the main,

And ruddy wine, from golden goblets thrown,
Your grateful gift and my return shall own."

The choir of nymphs, and Phorcus, from below,
With virgin Panopea, heard his vow;

And old Portunus, with his breadth of hand,
Push'd on, and sped the galley to the land.

Swift as a shaft, or winged wind, she flies,
And, darting to the port, obtains the prize.

The herald summons all, and then proclaims
Cloanthus conqu'ror of the naval games.

The prince with laurel crowns the victor's head,
And three fat steers are to his vessel led,

The ship's reward; with gen'rous wine beside,
And sums of silver, which the crew divide.

The leaders are distinguish'd from the rest;
The victor honor'd with a nobler vest,

Where gold and purplestrive in equal rows,
And needlework its happy cost bestows.

There Ganymede is wrought with living art,
Chasing thro' Ida's groves the trembling hart:

Breathless he seems, yet eager to pursue;
When from aloft descends, in open view,

The bird of Jove, and, sousing on his prey,
With crooked talons bears the boy away.

In vain, with lifted hands and gazing eyes,
His guards behold him soaring thro' the skies,

And dogs pursue his flight with imitated cries.
Mnestheus the second victor was declar'd;

And, summon'd there, the second prize he shard.
A coat of mail, brave Demoleus bore,

More brave Aeneas from his shoulders tore,
In single combat on the Trojan shore:

This was ordain'd for Mnestheus to possess;
In war for his defense, for ornament in peace.

Rich was the gift, and glorious to behold,
But yet so pond'rous with its plates of gold,

That scarce two servants could the weight sustain;
Yet, loaded thus, Demoleus o'er the plain

Pursued and lightly seiz'd the Trojan train.
The third, succeeding to the last reward,

Two goodly bowls of massy silver shar'd,
With figures prominent, and richlywrought,

And two brass caldrons from Dodona brought.
Thus all, rewarded by the hero's hands,

Their conqu'ring temples bound with purple bands;
And now Sergesthus, clearing from the rock,

Brought back his galley shatter'd with the shock.
Forlorn she look'd, without an aiding oar,

And, houted by the vulgar, made to shore.
As when a snake, surpris'd upon the road,

Is crush'd athwart her body by the load
Of heavy wheels; or with a mortal wound

Her belly bruis'd, and trodden to the ground:
In vain, with loosen'd curls, she crawls along;

Yet, fierce above, she brandishes her tongue;
Glares with her eyes, and bristles with her scales;

But, groveling in the dust, her parts unsound she trails:
So slowly to the port the Centaur tends,

But, what she wants in oars, with sails amends.
Yet, for his galley sav'd, the gratefulprince

Is pleas'd th' unhappy chief to recompense.
Pholoe, the Cretan slave, rewards his care,

Beauteous herself, with lovely twins as fair.
From thence his way the Trojan hero bent

Into the neighb'ring plain, with mountains pent,
Whose sides were shaded with surrounding wood.

Full in the midst of this fair valley stood
A native theater, which, rising slow

By just degrees, o'erlook'd the ground below.
High on a sylvan throne the leader sate;

A num'rous train attend in solemn state.
Here those that in the rapid course delight,

Desire of honor and the prize invite.
The rival runners without order stand;

The Trojans mix'd with the Sicilian band.
First Nisus, with Euryalus, appears;

Euryalus a boy of blooming years,
With sprightly grace and equal beauty crown'd;

Nisus, for friendship to the youth renown'd.
Diores next, of Priam's royal race,

Then Salius joined with Patron, took their place;
(But Patron in Arcadia had his birth,

And Salius his from Arcananian earth;)
Then two Sicilian youths- the names of these,

Swift Helymus, and lovely Panopes:
Both jolly huntsmen, both in forest bred,

And owning old Acestes for their head;
With sev'ral others of ignobler name,

Whom time has not deliver'd o'er to fame.
To these the hero thus his thoughts explain'd,

In words which gen'ral approbation gain'd:
"One common largess is for all design'd,

(The vanquish'd and the victor shall be join'd,)
Two darts of polish'd steel and Gnosian wood,

A silver-studded ax, alike bestow'd.
The foremost three have olive wreaths decreed:

The first of these obtains a stately steed,
Adorn'd with trappings; and the next in fame,

The quiver of an Amazonian dame,
With feather'd Thracian arrows well supplied:

A golden belt shall gird his manly side,
Which with a sparkling diamond shall be tied.

The third this Grecian helmet shall content."
He said. To their appointed base they went;

With beating hearts th' expected sign receive,
And, starting all at once, the barrier leave.

Spread out, as on the winged winds, they flew,
And seiz'd the distant goal with greedy view.

Shot from the crowd, swift Nisus all o'erpass'd;
Nor storms, nor thunder, equal half his haste.

The next, but tho' the next, yet far disjoin'd,
Came Salius, and Euryalus behind;

Then Helymus, whom young Diores plied,
Step after step, and almost side by side,

His shoulders pressing; and, in longer space,
Had won, or left at least a dubious race.

Now, spent, the goal they almost reach at last,