Plagues prefently forfake
The wilderness which they themselves do make.
Away the deadly breaths their journey take,
Driven by a mighty wind,
They a new booty and fresh forage find?
The loaded wind went swiftly on,
And as it pafs'd was heard to figh and groan.
On Egypt next it feiz'd,
Nor could but by a general ruin be appeas'd,
Egypt in rage, back on the fouth did look,
And wondred thence fhould come th' unhappy ftroké,
From whence before her fruitfulness fhe took.
Egypt did now curfe and revile
Thofe very lands from whence the has her Nile
Egypt now fear'd another Hebrew God,
Another angel's hand, a fecond Aaron's rod.
Then on it goes, and through the facred land
Its angry forces did command;
But God did place an angel there,
Its violence to withstand,
And turn into another road the putrid air.
To Tyre it came, and there did all devour
Though that by feas might think itself fecurè.
Nor ftaid, as the great conqueror did,
"Till it had fill'd and ftopp'd the tide,
Which did it from the fhore divide,
But pafs'd the waters, and did all possess,
And quickly all was, wilderness..
Thence it did Perfia over-run,
And all that facrifice unto the fun :
In every limb a dreadful pain they felt,
Tortur'd with fecret coals they melt;
The Perfians call'd their fun in vain,
Their God increas'd the pain.
They look'd up to their God no more,
But curfe the beams they worshipped before,
And hate the very fire which once they did adore.
Glutted with ruin of the east,
She took her wings and down to Athens paft;
Juft plague! which doft no parties take,
But Greece as well as Perfia fack,
While in unnatural quarrels they
(Like frogs and mice) each other slay ;
Thou in thy ravenous claws took'ft both away,
Thither it came, and did deftroy the town,
Whilft all its fhips and foldiers looked on;
And now the Afian plague did more
Than all the Afian force cou'd do before.
Without the wall the Spartan army fate,
The Spartan army came too late :
For now there was no farther work for fate,
They faw the city open lay,
An easy and a bootless prey;
They faw the rampiers empty ftand,
The fleets, the walls, the forts unmann'd.
No need of cruelty or flaughters now,
The plague had finifh'd what they came to do;
They might now unrefifted enter there,
Did they not the very air
More than the Athenians fear.
The air itself to them was wall, and bulwarks too.
VII.
Unhappy Athens! it is true thou wert
The proudest work of nature and of art:
Learning and strength did thee compose,
As foul and body us:
yet thou only thence art made A nobler prey for fates t'invade;
Those mighty numbers that within thee breathe, Do only ferve to make a fatter feast for death. Death in the moft frequented places lives; Moft tribute from the crowd receives; And though it bears a scythe, and feems to own A ruftic life alone,
It loves no wilderness,
No fcatter'd villages,
But mighty populous palaces,
The throng, the tumult, and the town.
What ftrange unheard of conqueror is this,
Which by the forces that refift it doth increase!
When other conquerors are
Oblig'd to make a flower war,
Nay fometimes for themselves may fear
And muft proceed with watchful care,
When thicker croops of enemies appear;
This ftronger ftill, and more successful grows,
Down fooner all before it throws,
If greater multitudes of men do it oppose.
Thy tyrant firft the haven did fubdue;
Lately th' Athenians (it knew)
Themselves by wooden walls did fave,
And therefore first to them th' infection gave.
Left they new fuccour thence receive.
Cruel Pyræus! now thou haft undone
The honour thou before hadft won;
Not all thy merchandize,
Thy wealth, thy treasuries,
Which from all coafts thy fleet fupplies,
Can to atone this crime fuffice.
Next o'er the upper town it spread,
With mad and undiscerned speed;
In every corner, every ftreet,
Without a guide did set its feet,
And too familiar every house did greet.
Unhappy Greece of Greece! great Thefeus now
Did thee a mortal injury do,
When firft in walls he did thee close,
When first he did thy citizens reduce,
Houses and government, and laws to use.
It had been better if thy people still
Difperfed in fome field or hill,
Though favage and undifciplin'd, did dwell,
Though barbarous, untame and rude,
Than by their numbers thus to be subdu’d,
To be by their own fwarms annoy'd,
And to be civiliz'd only to be deftroy'd.
Minerva started when she heard the noise,
And dying mens confused voice.
From heaven in hafte fhe came, to fee
What was the mighty prodigy.
Upon the castle pinnacles fhe fat,
And dar'd not nearer fly,
Nor midft fo many deaths to truft her very deity.
With pitying look she saw at every gate
Death and deftruction wait;
She wrung her hands, and call'd on Jove,
And all th' immortal powers above;
But though a goddess now did pray.
The heav'ns refus'd, and turn'd their ear away,
She brought her olive and her fhield,
Neither of these, alas! affistance yield.
She lookt upon Medusa's face,
Was angry that she was
Herfelf of an immortal race,
Was angry that her Gorgon's head
Could not ftrike her as well as others dead:
She fat and wept awhile, and then away she fled.
Now death began her sword to whet,
Not all the Cyclops fweat,
Nor Vulcan's mighty anvils could prepare
Weapons enough for her.
No weapons large enough, but all the age
Men felt the heat within 'em rage,
And hop'd the air would it affwage,
Call'd for its help, but th' air did them deceive,
And aggravate the ills it should relieve,
The air no more was vital now,
But did a mortal poifon grow;
The lungs which us'd to fan the heart,
Only now ferv'd to fire each part;
What should refresh, increas'd the smart :
And now their breath,
The chiefeft fign of life, was turn'd the caufe of death. XI.
Upon the head firft the difeafe,
As a bold conqueror, doth feize,
Begins with man's metropolis,
Secur'd the capitol, and then it knew
It cou'd at pleasure weaker parts fubdue.
Blood started through each eye;
The redness of that sky
Foretold a tempeft nigh.
The tongue did flow all o'er
With clotted filth and gore ;
As doth a lion's when fome innocent prey
He hath devour'd and brought away:
Hoarfness and fores the throat did fill,
And ftopt the paffages of fpeech and life ;
|