He seem'd for fair Olympia still to prove
A tender truth that answer'd all her love!
Or if, perchance by sudden impulse sway'd,
Unguarded he caress'd the Frizeland maid,
None censur'd what they saw, but each inclin'd
T' ascribe it to a good and pious mind.
To every generous deed our praise we owe
To raise the wretch whom fortune whirls below;
To sooth the anguish of a heart distress'd;
Much more an orphan with her woes oppress'd.
O! gracious Heaven! how oft do clouds abuse Weak mortals' eyes, and bound their partial views! Bireno's foul and impious deeds appear
The pious tokens of a soul sincere.
Now seize the ready mariners their oars,
And, launching in the waves, forsake the shores;
With joyful strokes they cleave the briny main
To bear along Bireno and his train.
Behind they leave low Holland's marshy coast,
Which quickly to the flying sight is lost :
To shun the Frizeland realm aside they steer,
While nearer Scotland to the left they veer.
At length o'ertaken by a devious blast,
Three days uncertain, o'er the billows cast,
The third they saw, as near the evening drew,
A wild and desart isle arise to view.
Soon as the vessel to a creek they bore,
Bireno with Olympia went on shore:
Beneath a tent the slaves their cates prepar'd
The unsuspecting dame the banquet shar'd,
Then to the couch, for gentle slumber drest,
Contented, with her lord retir'd to rest;
While to their bark the weary crew retreat,
And, sunk in sleep, their former toils forget.
In sweet oblivion lost, Olympia lay,
Tir'd with the labours of the watery way:
In her calm breast no irksome fears arose;
Such fears as once had banish'd her repose.
Herself she view'd in safety on the shore,
'Midst the deep silence of the midnight hour,
Her lover at her side: but slumber fled
His eyes, whose waking thoughts deep treason bred.
Soon as he sees her wrapt in sleep, he takes
With speed his vesture, and the bed forsakes;
Then, as if borne along the wings of wind,
Flies to the ship, and leaves the tent behind:
Silent he wakes his mates, and gives command
To launch into the deep and quit the land.
Unblest Olympia on the shore remain'd,
Whom long the pleasing bands of sleep restrain'd,
Till from her golden wheels Aurora threw,
On verdant meads, the drops of sparkling dew;
And on the margin of the wavy flood,
Alcyone her ancient plaints renew'd:
Ver. 120. Soon as he sees her wrapt in sleep,---] The reader will see that this whole passage, where Bireno forsakes Olympia, is copied from the story of Thesens and Ariadne.
See Ovid's Epistles, Ariadne to Theseus.
Ver. 128. Till from her golden 'wheels-] Thus Ovid:
Tempus erat, vitrea quo primum terra pruina
Spargitur, et tecta fronde queruntur aves.
Now earth first glitters with the morning dew,
And birds, in bowery shades, their plaints renew.
When now, nor scarce asleep, nor yet awake,
She thought Bireno in her arms to take:
Her touch deceiv'd; again she backward drew;
Then fondly stretch'd her longing arms anew.
At length, dispell'd by fear, her slumber fled;
She looks, and looking sees the abandon'd bed.
Her griefs increasing as her fears augment,
She quits the couch and issues from the tent.
While to the sea she runs with headlong pace,
And finds, alas! too certain her disgrace.
She beats her breast and face, her hair she rends,
While on the shore her frighted look she bends.
The favouring moon her trembling beam supplies,
Yet nought but sea and desert land she spies;
She calls Bireno's name; the caves around
With pity to Bireno's name resound!
A rock beside the ocean's limits stood,
That, worn by surges, belly'd o'er the flood:
To the high summit swift Olympia flew,
Such added vigour from despair she drew:
Thence from afar beheld the parting sails
Of false Bireno drive before the gales:
She saw, or seem'd to see: for yet the light
Could scarce dispel the sullen shades of night.
Trembling she falls: a chilly sweat invades
Her alter'd visage, and her colour fades.
Ver. 132. When now, nor scarce asleep,--] Ovid exactly:
Incertum vigilans, a somno languida, movi,
Thesea prensuras semisupina manus.
Nullus erat: referoque manus, iterumque retento,
Perque torum moveo brachia: nullus erat.
But, when recover'd, with her fruitless cries
She calls the vessel, while the vessel flies;
And where her lips refuse their accents weak,
Her clasping hands and frantic gestures speak.
O whither fly'st thou! treacherous and unkind!
Thy bark has left her dearest freight behind!
Return--return--and since thou bear'st away
My better part; O! take this lifeless clay.
While thus she spoke, her garments in her hand
She wav'd, to lure the vessel back to land.
But the same winds that through the billows bear
His swelling sails, disperse her plaints in air.
Thrice, cruel to herself, she thought to throw
Her wretched body in the seas below:
At length she ceas'd to view the shores in vain,
And sought, with feeble steps, the tent again.
Her face reclining on the conscious bed,
She pour'd a show'r of plenteous tears, and said:
Last night in thee, alas! two lovers lay;
Why did not two together rise to-day!
Forsworn Bireno! fatal was the birth,
That gave accurst Olympia to the earth!
Where shall I turn!-no human forms appear,
No marks of human industry are here!
Froni pining hunger must I find my doom,
Where none shall lay me in the silent tomb;
But savage wolves, that howl in every cave,
Shall in their wombs afford a dreadful grave!
Now, now, methinks, so swift is fear, I view
Yon dreary shades send forth their murderous crew:
Bears, lions, tigers, beasts that nature arms
With sharpen'd teeth and claws for human harms.
But ah! what death so dire can these bestow,
As thou, ungrateful author of my woe!
These will but once my wretched carcase tear,
By thee, alas! a thousand deaths I bear.
What if some pilot, wandering o'er the deep,
Should take me hence in safety to his ship;
That thus the lions, bears, and wolves I 'scape,
Or want, and death in every horrid shape;
Shall I to Holland fly, where thy command
Defends the harbour, and forbids to land?.
Ilow shall I seek again my natal shore,
When thou, by fraud, hast made it mine no more?
How ready did thy troops their post maintain,
To take possession of their new-found reign!
Shall I to Flanders turn? for thee, the rest
I sold, the little that I there possess'd:
All was employ'd, ingrate! to set thee free---
What clime will now receive unhappy me!
Shall I the realm of Friza seek to gain,、
Where once for thee I scorn'd a queen to reign,
And hence my brethren and my sire were slain? 210.
But wherefore should I seek my deeds to tell,
Or paint the affection thou hast known so well!
Then claims a love like mine no more regard,
Is this, unjust Bireno, my reward!
Perhaps some pirate, that infests the wave,
May seize and snatch me hence a helpless slave:
Ah! rather, come each roaring savage here!
Let dreadful lions, tigers, wolves appear;
With rending claws this panting body tear,
And to their den my limbs dismember'd bear!
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