510 



Epigrams f Fragments, ^c.Jrom the Greek. [Jan. 1. 



counfelloi-s and aflTociates, neglefted the 

 affairs of ftate, relinquifhed even his fa- 

 vourite pleafures of the chace and of the 

 table. He no longer accuilomed himfelf 

 daily to the ufe of arms ; he left the 

 officers of his army to infpeft his troops ; 

 and gave himfelf up to the love of Iblitude 

 and retirement. 



" After ht had gone on for fome time 

 in this unuiual mode of life, he grew as 

 reitlefs and impatient as he had been be- 

 fore indolent and inaifive. He was con- 

 tinually breaking up his camp, and mov- 

 ing to all parts of his dominiona, exer- 

 cifing himfelf an.l his men in long arid 

 toilfume marches, inftrnliblc to labour and 

 fatigue, to the noon-tide heats, or to the 

 damps of midnight. 



" It was love that had taken poflTellion 

 of the (bul of Zariadics, and hid made 

 him fo altered a man. It was hopelef« 

 love ; for it was fixed on nothing that had 

 reality, on the phantom of his imagina- 

 tion, on a vifion of the night. 



" This vifion, the appearance of the 

 lovelicft form in which female excellence 

 ever dwelt on earth, had firft pafled before 

 his eyes in his tent, when he had laid him- 

 felf down to repole after the fatigues of a 

 Jong and perilous chace. From that mo- 

 ment a fatal paffion feized upon hSs fenfes, 

 and mixed with the vital current cf hi* 

 Veins. The viiionary fair- one renewed 

 her vifit the next night, and the next ; and 

 from that time he neuer llept but his flum- 

 bers uiere bleft with the appearance of that 

 celeftial form which had captivated his 

 foul 



'* At length, whether admoniflied by a 

 dream, or aftuated by fome divine or Ipi- 

 ritua! impulfe, he removed his camp to the 

 banks of the Tanii's ; and he had not re- 

 mainc there long before (following the 

 lame celeHial admonition) he fent amhnf- 

 fadors to the Court of the King Oniartis 

 to demand his daughter in marriage.— 

 Omartis leigned over all thofe countries 

 whiLh extend thenilelves along the further 

 borders of the Tanais. His only misfor- 

 tune was, ttiar he had no male cfF.spring 

 to fucceed him in his grsat polTeflions ; 

 happy in evtry oilier rffpeft, in a pr-fpe- 

 tons and peaceful empire, in dutiful and 

 affeflionate fubjcifts, and in a daughter 

 the fail ert and moif amiable of hei fcx. 



" Odatis was as r- cellmt a model of 

 female lovel nt- s as Zari.idrcs of manly 

 beauty. Her charm- ar.d her high (lirth 

 and inheriiance nid made her long the ob- 

 jcftot emulation among all the princes of 

 the Ealt. 2ariadre» oaly had not yet 



fought her; and yet it wat /he whofe 

 image unconfcioufly pofTefled his (bul, who 

 was the conlfant objeft of his diily 

 thoughts and of his nightly vifions ; for 

 fo it was ordered by the celeftial powers 

 who make man their care. 



" Omartis, having no male heir, had 

 long determined to rtjeft the fuiis of all 

 the princes who claimed the hand of Oda- 

 tis, and, for the good of his fubjcifts and 

 his O'vn happisefs, to beftow her at a fit 

 time (in fome one of his own nobles whofe 

 rank and virtue (lie might approve. Oda- 

 tis knew, and did not oppof'e, his inten- 

 tion ; for not one of the noble youths 

 whom (lie was accuftomed to behold had 

 made any imprelhon en her heart. But 

 at the time that Zariadres fent his embaffy 

 to the Court of Omartis, the (ame poweis 

 who watched over the happir.efs of the 

 Mtdian Prince, placed his fuiai in a vifion 

 of the night before (he eyes of the royal 

 viigin, and inlpiieil her bofoni wiih a mu- 

 tual flame; and thus, by (upernatural in- 

 terference, were two lovers attached to 

 each other by the Ifrongelt palFion that 

 was ever felt, without either of them 

 knowing for whom they experienced a len- 

 fation fo new and po ^erlul. 



*' But the fame fynipathy which had 

 caufed Zanadres to fend hi.s meflengers 

 to her father's Court, informed OJati* 

 that the prince who demanded her was the 

 real olijtfl of htrr pafTion ; and, for the 

 firft time in her life, flie felt afeciet pang 

 when the offers of her fuitor were rejcfiled, 

 and the ambafladors fent back with a po. 

 fitive refufal. However, virgin-modelty, 

 and the (h^me ihatmuft have attended the 

 conftllion of fo ({rai^ge and wonderful an 

 attachment, prevented her from laying a 

 word ngainlf the fentence of her father.— 

 From that moment a deep melancholy 

 took pofTefTion of her, and (lie pined away 

 inicnfibly. 



" In the mean while the time arrived 

 which Omartis had fixed in his own mind 

 for the nuptials of the princefs. It was a 

 very geneial cu!-om throughout the Eaft', 

 that, when a prince or powerful nobleman 

 was bent upon the marriage of liii daugh- 

 ter, he gave a Cumptu-us tcafl, and invit- 

 ed tn it all thofe who were her fuitors, or 

 fuch of the great men of his Court as he 

 thought uiortby of htr, and that, when all 

 the guefts were all afTcmbled, the virgin 

 bcftowed a goblet of wine on liim of all 

 the company wh^ m (he preferred, and who 

 was immediately declaic.l her hufband. — 

 When Odatis was informed of her father's 

 determination, thcugh (he had long expell- 

 ed 



