358 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK IV. We have spoken of the great Xerxes, that, passing conqueror tlirough 

 Achaia, he would not suffer his army to violate so mucli as a tree of his 

 adversaries ; and have sufficiently observed from the ancients, that the 

 gods did never permit them to escape unpunished who were injurious to 

 groves. What became of Agamemnon's host after his spoil of the woods 

 at Aulis ? histories tell us Cleomenes died mad : the Temcesian Genius 

 became proverbial ; and the destructive fact that the enraged Cfesar per- 

 petrated on the Massilian trees, went not long unrevenged, thus related 

 by the poet, and an illustrious record of all we have hitherto produced, 

 to assert their veneration. 



Lucum ^s- 

 culapio dica- 

 tum succiderat 

 TuruUius; ma- 

 nifestis Numi- 

 nis illius viri- 

 bus, eum in 

 lucum quein 

 violaverat, ille 

 attractus est, 

 effecitqueDeus, 

 ut ibi potissi- 

 mum occidere- 

 tur. Vide Va- 

 ler. Max. lib. i» 

 cap. i. n. 1 9. 



Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo, &c. 



Not far away for ages past had stood 



An old inviolated sacred wood ; 



Whose gloomy boughs, thick interwoven, made 



A chilly, cheerless, everlasting shade : 



There, nor the rustic gods, nor satyrs sport. 



Nor fawns and sylvans with the nymphs resort : 



But barb'rous priests some dreadful pow'r adore. 



And liistrate ev'ry tree with human gore. 



If mysteries in times of old receiv'd. 



And pious ancientry be yet believ'd. 



There nor the feather'd songster builds her nest. 



Nor lonely dens conceal the savage beast : 



There no tempestuous winds presume to fly, 



Ev'n lightnings glance aloof, and shoot obliquely by. 



No wanton breezes toss the dancing leaves. 



But shiv'ring horror in the branches heaves. 



Black springs with pitchy streams divide the ground. 



And bubbling tumble with a sullen sound.. 



Old images of forms mis-sJiapen stand. 



Rude and unknowing of the artist's hand ; 



With hoary filth begrim'd, each ghastly head 



Strikes the astonish'd gazer's soul with dread. 



No gods, who long in common shapes appear'd. 



Were e'er with such religious awe rever'd : 



But zealous crowds in ignorance adore. 



And still the less they know, they fear the more» 



Oft (as Fame tells) the earth in sounds of wo 



Is heard to groan from hollow depths below : 



The baleful Yew, tho' dead, has oft been seen 



To rise from earth, and spring with dusky green : 



With sparkling flames the trees unburning shine. 



And round their boles prodigious serpents twine. 



LucAN, lib. iii. 



