Thus warn'd, the Rhodians for the fight provide;

Already were the veffels fide by fide,

Thefe obftinate to fave, and thofe to feize the bride.
But Cymon foon his crooked grapples caft,

}

Which with tenacious hold his foes embrac'd;

}

And, arm'd with fword and fhield, amid the prefs he pass'd.
Fierce was the fight, but haftening to his prey,
By force the furious lover freed his way:
Himself alone difpers'd the Rhodian crew,
The weak difdain'd, the valiant overthrew ;
Cheap conqueft for his following friends remain'd,
He reap'd the field, and they but only glean'd.
His victory confefs'd, the foes retreat,

And caft their weapons at the victor's feet.

Whom thus he chear'd: Q Rhodian youth! I fought
For love alone, nor other booty fought;
Your lives are fafe, your veffel I refign,
Yours be your own, restoring what is mine.
In Iphigene I claim my rightful due,

• Robb'd by my rival, and detain'd by you:
Your Pafimond a lawless bargain drove,
The parent could not fell the daughter's love;
Or if he could, my love difdains the laws,
And, like a king, by conqueft gains his cause.
• Where arms take place, all other pleas are vain,
Love taught me force, and force fhall love maintain;

• You what by ftrength you could not keep release,

And at an eafy ranfom buy your peace.'

Fear, on the conquer'd fide, foon fign'd th' accord,

And Iphigene to Cymon was reftor'd;

While to his arms the blufhing bride he took,
To feeming fadnefs the compos'd her look;
As if by force fubjected to his will,

Though pleas'd, diffembling, and a woman ftill.
And, for the wept, he wip'd her falling tears,
And pray'd her to difmifs her empty fears:

For yours I am,' he said, and have deferv'd • Your love much better, whom so long I ferv'd, ⚫ Than he to whom your formal father ty'd

Your vows, and fold a slave, not fent a bride.'
Thus while he spoke, he feiz'd the willing prey,
As Paris bore the Spartan spouse away.

Faintly she scream'd, and e'en her eyes confefs'd,
She rather would be thought, than was distress'd.

Who now exults but Cymon in his mind?
Vain hopes and empty joys of human kind,
Proud of the prefent, to the future blind!
Secure of Fate, while Cymon ploughs the fea,
And fteers tow'rd Candy with his conquer'd prey,
Scarce the third glass of measur'd hours was run,
When like a fiery meteor funk the fun;

The promise of a storm: the shifting gales
Forfake by fits, and fill the flagging fails;
Hoarfe murmurs of the main from far were heard,
And night came on, not by degrees prepar'd,
But all at once; at once the winds arise,
The thunders roll, the forked lightning flies.
In vain the mafter iffues out commands,
In vain the trembling failors ply their hands:
The tempeft unforeseen prevents their care,
And from the firft they labour in defpair..
The giddy ship, between the winds and tides,
Forc'd back, and forwards, in a circle rides,
Stunn'd with the diffrent blows; then shoots amain,
Till counterbuff'd, fhe ftops, and fleeps again.
Not more aghaft the proud archangel fell,

Plung'd from the height of heav'n to deepest hell,

Than ftood the lover of his love poffefs'd,

Now curs'd the more, the more he had been bless'd;
More anxious for her danger than his own,

Death he defies, but would be loft alone,

}

Sad

Sad Iphigene, to womanish complaints
Adds pious pray'rs, and wearies all the faints;
E'en, if fhe could, her love fhe would repent,
But fince she cannot, dreads the punishment:
Her forfeit faith, and Pafimond betray'd,
Are ever prefent, and her crime upbraid.
She blames herself, nor blames her lover lefs,
Augments her anger, as her fears increase ;
From her own back the burden would remove,
And lays the load on his ungovern'd love,
Which, interpofing, durft, in Heav'n's defpite,
Invade, and violate another's right:

The pow'rs incens'd, awhile deferr'd his pain,
And made him mafter of his vows in vain;
But foon they punish'd his presumptuous pride,
That for his daring enterprize she dy'd,
Who rather not refifted, than comply'd.

Then, impotent of mind, with alter'd fenfe,
She hugg'd th' offender, and forgave th' offence;
Sex to the laft. Meantime, with fails declin'd,
The wand'ring veffel drove before the wind.
Tofs'd and retofs'd, aloft, and then alow,

Nor port they feek, nor certain course they know;
But ev'ry moment wait the coming blow.
Thus blindly driv'n, by breaking day they view'd
The land before them, and their fears renew'd;
The land was welcome, but the tempeft bore
The threaten'd fhip against a rocky fhore.

A winding bay was near; to this they bent,
And just escap'd, their force already spent:
Secure from storms, and panting from the fea,
The land unknown at leisure they furvey;
And faw (but foon their fickly fight withdrew)
The rifing tow'rs of Rhodes, at diftant view;
And curs'd the hoftile fhore of Pafimond,
Sav'd from the feas, and fhipwreck'd on the ground.

}

}

The

The frighted failors try'd their ftrength in vain
To turn the ftern, and tempt the ftormy main;
But the ftiff wind withstood the lab'ring oar,
And forc'd them forward on the fatal fhore!
The crooked keel now bites the Rhodian strand,
And the ship moor'd conftrains the crew to land:
Yet ftill they might be fafe, because unknown;
But, as ill fortune feldom comes alone,

The vessel they dismiss'd was driv'n before,
Already fhelter'd on their native shore.

Known each, they know; but each with change of chear,

The vanquish'd fide exults, the victors fear;

Not them but theirs, made pris'ners ere they fight.
Defpairing conquest, and depriv'd of flight.

The country rings around with loud alarms,
And raw in fields the rude militia swarms;
Mouths without hands, maintain'd at vast expence,
In peace a charge, in war a weak defence:
Stout once a month they march, a bluft'ring band,
And ever, but in times of need, at hand.
This was the morn when iffuing on the guard,
Drawn up in rank and file, they food prepar'd,
Of feeming arms to make a fhort effay,

Then haften to be drunk, the business of the day.
The cowards would have fled, but that they knew
Themselves fo many, and their foes fo few:
But crouding on, the laft the firft impel;

Till, overborne with weight, the Cyprians fell.
Cymon enflav'd, who firft the war begun,
And Iphigene once more is loft and won.
Deep in a dungeon was the captive cast,
Depriv'd of day, and held in fetters faft;
His life was only spar'd at their request,
Whom, taken, he so nobly had releas'd:

But

But Iphigenia was the ladies care,

Each in their turn addrefs'd to treat the fair,
While Pafimond and his the nuptial feast prepare.

Her fecret foul to Cymon was inclin'd,
But the muft fuffer what her fates affign'd;
So paffive is the church of womankind.

What worse to Cymon could his fortune deal,
Roll'd to the lowest spoke of all her wheel?
It refted to difmifs the downward weight,
Or raise him upward to his former height:
The latter pleas'd; and love (concern'd the most)
Prepar'd th' amends, for what by love he loft.

The fire of Pafimond had left a son,

Tho' younger, yet for courage early known;
Ormifda call'd, to whom by promise ty'd,
A Rhodian beauty was the deftin'd bride,
Caffandra was her name, above the reft
Renown'd for birth, with fortune amply blefs'd.
Lyfimachus, who rul'd the Rhodian ftate,

Was then, by choice, their annual magistrate;
He lov'd Caffandra too with equal fire,

But Fortune had not favour'd his defire:
Crofs'd by her friends, by her not disapprov'd,
Nor yet preferr'd, or like Ormifda lov'd.
So ftood th' affair; fome little hope remain'd,
That should his rival chance to lofe, he gain'd.
Meantime, young Pafimond his marriage prefs'd,
Ordain'd the nuptial day, prepar'd the feast;
And frugally refolv'd (the charge to fhun,
Which would be double should he wed alone)
To join his brother's bridal with his own,
Lyfimachus, opprefs'd with mortal grief,
Receiv'd the news, and ftudy'd quick relief.
The fatal day approach'd; if force were us'd,
The magiftrate his publick trust abus'd;

}

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