STATIUS his THEBAIS.
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Then to fierce Capaneus thy verse extend,
And sing, with horror, his prodigious end.
Now wretched Oedipus, depriv'd of sight,
Led a long death in everlasting night;
But while he dwells where not a chearful ray
Can pierce the darkness, and abhors the day;
The clear, reflecting mind, presents his sin
In frightful views, and makes it day within;
Returning thoughts in endless circles roll,
And thousand furies haunt his guilty soul.
The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies
Those empty orbs, from whence he tore his eyes,
Whose wounds yet fresh, with bloody hands he strook,
While from his breast these dreadful accents broke.
Ye Gods that o'er the gloomy regions reign
Where guilty spirits feel eternal pain;
Thou, fable Styx! whose livid streams are roll'd
Thro' dreary coasts which I, tho' blind, behold:
Tisiphone, that oft' hast heard my pray'r,
Assist, if Oedipus deserve thy care!
And sing, with horror, his prodigious end.
Now wretched Oedipus, depriv'd of sight,
Led a long death in everlasting night;
But while he dwells where not a chearful ray
Can pierce the darkness, and abhors the day;
The clear, reflecting mind, presents his sin
In frightful views, and makes it day within;
Returning thoughts in endless circles roll,
And thousand furies haunt his guilty soul.
The wretch then lifted to th' unpitying skies
Those empty orbs, from whence he tore his eyes,
Whose wounds yet fresh, with bloody hands he strook,
While from his breast these dreadful accents broke.
Ye Gods that o'er the gloomy regions reign
Where guilty spirits feel eternal pain;
Thou, fable Styx! whose livid streams are roll'd
Thro' dreary coasts which I, tho' blind, behold:
Tisiphone, that oft' hast heard my pray'r,
Assist, if Oedipus deserve thy care!
If
