Thebais - Book One - Part Iv Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBAACCDDAAEEFFGGHH GGIIJJCCGGHHHHGGIIKK CCLLCCCCCCCCCCCFFHHH HHHCCAACCAACCCCHHCCI IHHHHCCCCLMHHCCNNCCI IAAFFCCHHFNHHHHCCCCC CHHHCCHHHHOOLKCCAACC PCFFCCCCQQHHCCHHHHHH CCCCHHH

For by the black infernal Styx I swearA
That dreadful oath which binds the thundererA
Tis fixed th irrevocable doom of JoveB
No force can bend me no persuasion moveB
haste then Cyllenius through the liquid airA
Go mount the winds and to the shades repairA
Bid hell s black monarch my commands obeyC
And give up Laius to the realms of dayC
Whose ghost yet shiv ring on Cocytus sandD
Expects its passage to thc further strandD
Let the pale sire revisit Thebes and bearA
These pleasing orders to the tyrant s earA
That from his exiled brother swelled with prideE
Of foreign forces and his Argive brideE
Almighty Jove commands him to detainF
The promised empire and alternate reignF
Be this the cause of more than mortal hateG
The rest succeeding times shall ripen into fateG
The god obeys and to his feet appliesH
Those golden wings that cut the yielding skiesH
His ample hat his beamy locks o erspreadG
And veiled the starry glories of his headG
He seized the wand that causes sleep to flyI
Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eyeI
That drives the dead to dark Tartarcan coastsJ
Or back to life compels the wand ring ghostsJ
Thus through the parting clouds the son of MayC
Wings on the whistling winds his rapid wayC
Now smoothly steers through air his equal flightG
Now springs aloft and tow rs th ethereal heightG
Then wheeling down the steep of heav n he fliesH
And draws a radiant circle o er the skiesH
Meantime the banished Polynices rovesH
his Thebes abandoned through th Aonian grovesH
While future realms his wand ring thoughts delightG
His daily vision and his dream by nightG
Forbidden Thebes appears before his eyeI
From whence he sees his absent brother flyI
With transport views the airy rule his ownK
And swells on an imaginary throneK
Fain would he cast a tedious age awayC
And live out all in one triumphant dayC
He chides the lazy progress of the sunL
And bids the year with swifter motion runL
With anxious hopes his craving mind is tostC
And all his joys in length of wishes lostC
The hero then resolves his course to bendC
Where ancient Danaus fruitful fields extendC
And famed Mycene s lofty towers ascendC
Where late the sun did Atreus crimes detestC
And disappeared in horror of the feastC
And now by chance by fate or furies ledC
From Bacehus consecrated caves he fledC
Where the shrill cries of frantic matrons soundC
And Pentheus blood enriched the rising groundC
Then sees Cithaeron tow ring o er the plainF
And thence declining gently to the mainF
Next to the bounds of Nisus realm repairsH
Where treach rous Scylla cut the purple hairsH
The hanging cliffs of Sciron s rock exploresH
And hears the murmurs of the diff rent shoresH
Passes the strait that parts the foaming seasH
And stately Corinth s pleasing site surveysH
Twas now the time when Ph bus yields to nightC
And rising Cynthia sheds her silver lightC
Wide o er the world in solemn pomp she drewA
Her airy chariot hung with pearly dewA
All birds and beasts lie hushed sleep steals awayC
The wild desires of men and toils of dayC
And brings descending through the silent airA
A sweet forgetfulness of human careA
Yet no red clouds with golden borders gayC
Promise the skies the bright return of dayC
No faint reflections of the distant lightC
Streak with long gleams the scatt ring shades of nightC
From the damp earth impervious vapours riseH
Encrease the darkness and involve the skiesH
At once the rushing winds with roaring soundC
Burst from th olian caves and rend the groundC
With equal rage their airy quarrel tryI
And win by turns the kingdom of the skyI
But with a thicker night black Auster shroudsH
The heav ns and drives on heaps the rolling cloudsH
From whose dark womb a rattling tempest poursH
Which the cold north congeals to haily show rsH
From pole to pole the thunder roars aloudC
And broken lightnings flash from ev ry cloudC
Now smoaks with show rs the misty mountain groundC
And floated fields lie undistinguished roundC
Th Inachian streams with headlong fury runL
And Erasmus rolls a deluge onM
The foaming Lerna swells above its boundsH
And spreads its ancient poisons o er the groundsH
Where late was dust now rapid torrents playC
Rush through the mounds and bear the dams awayC
Old limbs of trees from crackling forests tornN
Are whirled in air and on the winds are borneN
The storm the dark Lyc an groves displayedC
And first to light exposed the sacred shadeC
Th intrepid Theban hears the bursting skyI
Sees yawning rocks in massy fragments flyI
And views astonished from the hills afarA
The floods descending and the wat ry warA
That driv n by storms and pouring o er the plainF
Swept herds and hinds and houses to the mainF
Through the brown horrors of the night he fledC
Nor knows amazed what doubtful path to treadC
His brother s image to his mind appearsH
Inflames his heart with rage and wings his feet with fearsH
So fares a sailor on the stormy mainF
When clouds conceal Bo tes golden warnN
When not a star its friendly lustre keepsH
Nor trembling Cynthia glimmers on the deepsH
He dreads the rocks and shoals and seas and skiesH
While thunder roars and lightning round him fliesH
Thus strove the chief on every side distressedC
Thus still his courage with his toils increasedC
With his broad shield opposed he forced his wayC
Through thickest woods and roused the beasts of preyC
Till he beheld where from Larissa s heightC
The shelving walls reflect a glancing lightC
Thither with haste the Theban hero fliesH
On this side Lerna s pois nous water liesH
On that Prosymna s grove and temple riseH
lie passed the gates which then unguarded layC
And to the regal palace bent his wayC
On the cold marble spent with toil he liesH
And waits till pleasing slumbers seal his eyesH
Adrastus here his happy people swaysH
Blest with calm peace in his declining daysH
By both his parents of descent divineO
Great Jove and Ph bus graced his noble lineO
Heaven had not crowned his wishes with a sonL
But two fair daughters heired his state and throneK
To him Apollo wondrous to relateC
But who can pierce into the depths of fateC
Had sung Expect thy sons on Argos shoreA
A yellow lion and a bristly boarA
This long revolved in his paternal breastC
Sate heavy on his heart and broke his restC
This great Amphiaraus lay hid from theeP
Though skilled in fate and dark futurityC
The father s care and prophet s art were vainF
For thus did the predicting god ordainF
Lo hapless Tydeus whose ill fated handC
Had slain his brother leaves his native landC
And seized with horror in the shades of nightC
Through the thick deserts headlong urged his flightC
Now by the fury of the tempest driv nQ
He seeks a shelter from th inclement heav nQ
Till led by fate the Theban s steps he treadsH
And to fair Argos open court succeedsH
When thus the chiefs from diff rent lands resortC
T Adrastus realms and hospitable courtC
The king surveys his guests with curious eyesH
And views their arms and habit with surpriseH
A lion s yellow skin the Theban wearsH
horrid his mane and rough with curling hairsH
Such once employed Alcides youthful toilsH
Ere yet adorned with Nemea s dreadful spoilsH
A boar s stiff hide of Calydonian breedC
nides manly shoulders overspreadC
Oblique his tusks erect his bristles stoodC
Alive the pride and terror of the woodC
Struck with the sight and fixed in deep amazeH
The King th accomplished oracle surveysH
ReveresH

Pablius Papinius Statius



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