Heaven and the fates' supreme behest
Impell'd them to the victim feast. [1]
Apollo, taking hence the hoard 105
Which thy Carnean rites afford,
We raise the strain of fair renown
To hymn Cyrene's well-built town.
Where Trojans of Antenor's race,
All sheathed in brass, have fix'd their place. 110
For they with Helen came, when they survey'd
Their native soil by war in smoky ruin laid. 113
Approaching then th' equestrian band,
The courteous natives of the land
Receive with hospitable care, 115
And sacrifice with presents bear.
These Battus led, when the deep wave
To his swift ships a passage gave. [2]
He to th' inhabitants divine
Rear'd the tall grove and ample shrine, 120
Making for steeds a smooth and stony way,
That the great god whose potent art
From mortals wards disease's dart,
Might all his festal pomp display;
Where at the forum's utmost bound 125
Now dead he lies apart in holy ground. 126
While among men, his life was bless'd;
- ↑ This is the epithet of Apollo mentioned by Callimachus, and which he prefers to that derived from Claros: (in Apol. 70.) See also v. 88, where he describes the festivities celebrated near the fountain of Cyre, where the men danced in solemn measure with the yellow-haired Libyan damsels.
- ↑ It appears that Aristotle, surnamed Battus, constructed a paved way, (σκυρωταν ὁδον,) by which the sacred pomps were brought to the temple of Apollo. On this passage the scholiast remarks: λεγεται δε σκυρωτη αντι του λιθοστρωτος; the word used
scare the savage beast, and to restore to him the use of his voice, according to the prediction of Apollo.
