Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/28

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xii
COWLEY.

Some years afterwards, "business," says Sprat, "passed of course into other hands;" and Cowley,

    Auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum
    Funera, nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquæ
    Tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur:
    Sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus arena.
    Æneid, book IV, line 615. 

    Yet let a race untam'd, and haughty foes,
    His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose,
    Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field,
    His men discourag'd, and himself expell'd:
    Let him for succour sue from place to place,
    Torn from his subjects and his son's embrace.
    First let him see his friends in battle slain,
    And their untimely fate lament in vain:
    And when, at length, the cruel war shall cease,
    On hard conditions may he buy his peace;
    Nor let him then enjoy supreme command,
    But fall untimely by some hostile hand,
    And lie unbury'd on the barren sand.
    Dryden.

    Lord Falkland's:

    Non hæc, O Palla, dederas promissa parenti,
    Cautius ut sævo velles te credere Marti.
    Haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis,
    Et prædulce decus primo certamine posset.
    Primitiæ juvenis miseræ, bellique propinqui
    Dura rudimenta, & nulli exaudita Deorum,
    Æneid, book XI. line 152.Vota precesque meæ!

    O Pallas, thou hast fail'd thy plighted word,
    To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword;
    I warn'd thee, but in vain, for well I knew
    What perils youthful ardour would pursue: