VIII.

"The hawk and cat my bosom overawe,
And the grim trap with deadly wilesreplete ;
But most I dread the cat, whose potent paw
Can drag me trembling from my dark retreat;
Such is my mode of life, I scorn to eat
Parsley, or gourd, or radishes, or kale;
I cannot swallow down your verdant beet,
On which you people in the lakes regale."
He ceased, the frog replied, gay smiling at his tale:
IX.

"Stranger, thy paunch supplies thee with a theme
Whereon to boast vain-glorious: yet we have
Many strange things to shew in land and stream;
For Jove to frogs a life amphibious gave,

On earth to gambol, and in lake to lave.

4

These wouldst thou wish to view, thy course is plainAscend my back, I'll bear thee through the wave; But clasp me close, that o'er the fluid plain, In safety and in joy, we may my palace gain."

X.

He spoke and crouched; the mouse, devoid of fear,
Sprung on the proffered back, with active bound,
And while he saw his native harbours near,
Much joy the swimmer in his voyage found;
But when the dark blue waters rose around,
Then terror seized his heart, and sorrow sore;
With copious tear and groan of dolorous sound,
Did he then vainly his rash act deplore,

And oh! how much he wish'd he ne'er had left the shore.

XI.

In agony of woe his paunch he smote

With frequent foot, and rooted up his hair;
His tail he spread along the deep to float,
A feeble oar! while many an earnest prayer
He sent to heaven in transport of despair.
"O thus," quoth he, "Europa, lovely load,
Did the famed bull from Crete through ocean bear,
As this frog bears me to his dark abode,
Raising my body pale above the watery road."

XII

Sudden appear'd a water-snake, dread sight!-
Above the wave his neck rose, stiff and high-
Down duck'd the frog, forgetting in his fright
That he had left his luckless friend to die;
Down to the utmost depth he sunk, thereby
'Scaping black death, while his forsaken friend
Forced on the fatal wave supine to lie,

Wringing his hands, bemoaned his life's sad end,
While screams of hopeless grief he vainly forth did send.

XIII.

Often he sank, and raised himself as oft

With vigorous kick, but he was doomed by fate;

He perished, by his hairy mantle soft

Borne down with weight of waters saturate;

He perished in the waves, in words of hate

The frog denouncing ere he breathed his last;

"You shall not 'scape Heaven's vengeance; soon or late

This deed perfidious towards your friend will blast,

Whom shipwreck'd from your back, as from a rock, you cast.

XIV.

"Coward! on land, my power you could not beat?
In boxing, wrestling, racing; but when here,
Here to this lake you drew me by deceit,
By fraud you laid me on this watery bier.
God hath a vengeful eye! the day is near
When all the host of mice in arms allied,

Shall claim, nor shall you shun it, vengeance drear."
Thus died the mouse. Lichepinan espied

The deed, as he reclined upon the bank's soft side.

XV.

Loudly he scream'd, and ran the mice to tell
How he had seen their prince's hapless fall;
When heard, each bosom heaved with angry swell,
And all in haste, they bade their herald call,
By morning dawn, a council in the hall
Of old Troxartas, sire of him who lay
Dead, floating on mid lake in sight of all,
From the bank's friendly shelter far away,
Toss'd on the fatal waves above the billowy spray.

XVI.

At daybreak hastening, they arrived, and first
Troxartas rose in mourning for his son;
"Friends, though on me alone this woe has burst,
Yet general wrong to all our tribe is done.
Wretch that I am, my three brave sons are gone;
My eldest offspring by the cat's curst claws,
Outside his hole surprised, to death was done;
My next was sent to Oren's dismal jaws,

Snared in a trap, devised by men our griefs to cause.
XVII.

"My last, my loved, his mother's joy and mine,
The frog has smother'd in the deep-sunk lake:
Haste then, ye brave; in arms of warlike shine
Sheath'd, let us 'gainst this foe our onset make."
Desire of contest seized them as he spake.

By Mars himself were they in arms bedight;

First, for their greaves, the bean-stalk green they brake,
Which they had gnaw'd down featly in the night;
And on their taper legs now fitted trim and light.
XVIII.

Corslets of skin, soon from a cat they flay'd,
Bedeck'd them, fring'd and fasten'd all with reeds;
A sconce's middle boss their breastplates made;
Their spears were needles form'd for martial deeds;
Then helm'd in nut-shells, all the host proceeds
Arm❜d for the fight-nor were the frogs afar:
Forth from the lake they issued to the meads,
And held a council, how to meet the war,

Much pond'ring in their minds how rose this hostile jar.
XIX.

While thus intent, a sacred herald came,
Embasichytius, son of that famed chief,

. Who, from cheese-scooping, won his well-earn'd name;
And thus he spoke all Mouseland's ire and grief:-
"Frogs! from the mire I come,

to say

That we defy you to the battle plain;

in brief,

We've seen Psicharpax drown'd, whom, past relief,
Your king, Physignathus, has foully slain;

We to the combat dare the bravest of your train."

XX.

He spoke and vanish'd; but his challenge claim'd
Anxious attention from the frogs at large.

Strait rose the prince, while all his action blam'd:-
"I slew him not, nor saw him die, the charge
Is false, my friends; he left his native marge
Of this our lake and tried to sport like us,
Sporting he died: but let us now discharge
This slanderous stigma hurled against me thus,
All blameless as I am, and points of war discuss.
XXI.

"How shall we face in fight the treacherous mice?
I shall declare what plan I think the best:
Let all our force, such is your king's advice,
Rank'd for the fight, in martial armour drest,
On the high lands, which bound the water's breast,
Stand there where most the rugged bank is steep.
Then let each frog, fast by the helmet crest,
Seize on a mouse, and, with a vigorous sweep,
Down plunge him, with his arms, into the fatal deep.
XXII.

"There let them smother-and the battle won,

We'll raise a trophy o'er our slaughter'd foes."
They heard the speech, and straight their arms they don.
Marsh-mallow leaves their nimble legs enclose;

The broad green beets their corslets stout compose;
The cabbage leaf supplies their well-form'd shields;
Each head a snail-shell for a helmet shows,

And, for a lance, each hand a bulrush wields;

Thus were they harnessed all, for deeds in battle fields.

XXIII.

On the high bank they stood with quivering lance,

And full of fury was each warrior's soul.

They did not 'scape great Jove's all-seeing glance;
The gods he summon'd to the starry pole,

And show'd the hosts as on to fight they roll.

He show'd their spear-arm'd ranks, their crowds, their size Awful as centaurs, or the impious shoal

Of earth-born giants famed for bold emprize;

Then, with a smile, out spake the monarch of the skies.

XXIV.

Fair wisdom's queen he asked, in jocund strain,
"Say, daughter, wilt thou now thy aid prepare
To give the mice, who gambol round thy fane,
Pleased with the scent of sacrificial fare."
"Never," quoth she, "shall they my favour share,
E'en though they seek it in extremest need;
Because my garlands they presume to tear,
And on my consecrated oil to feed ;

And still more wrath I feel at a more daring deed:

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My robe, on which my hands such toil had spent,
Spinning and weaving, thread and web, the mice
Nibbled and tore, and filled with many a rent,
Which to repair, a tailor's finger nice
Required; who charged me most usurious price.
The sum it cost was borrow'd, nor, as yet,
Back to repay it do my funds suffice.

Have not the mice then given me cause to fret?
But neither shall I aid the host against them set.
XXVI.

"Rash tribe, who, when I seek the aid of sleep,
Returning home by deeds of arms o'er-worn,
Make such a constant clamour, that they keep
Me sleepless till the cock proclaims the morn;
While my poor head with racking pain is torn,
And not a wink is granted to my eyes.
Now in this contest let no part be borne

By any god. The natives of the skies

Might smart beneath the spear of these stern enemies.
XXVII.

"Their warlike souls fear not opposing gods:

Here rather let us, seated, be content

To view the combat from our blest abodes:"
She spoke, and all Olympus gave assent;
Meanwhile the foes, on mutual slaughter bent,
Met in the field. Two sacred heralds gave
Signal of fight: the clanging trumpet sent
(Blown by loud gnats) its music for the brave,

And Jove announced the war, thund'ring from heav'n's concave.