THE

THE BAID

O F

STATIUS,

TRANSLATED INTO

ENGLISH VERSE,

WITH

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS;

AND

A DISSERTATION upon the whole by Way of PREFACE.

Curritur ad vocem jucundam, et carmen amica
Thebaidos, lætam fecit cum STATIUS Urbem,
Promifitque diem, tantâ dulcedine captos

Afficit ille animos, tantâque libidine Vulgi

Auditur; fed cum fregit fubfellia verfu,

Efurit, intactam Paridi nifi vendat Agaven. Juvenal, Sat. 7.

All Rome is pleas'd, when STATIUS will rehearse,
And longing Crowds expect the promis'd Verse :
His lofty Numbers with fo great a Guft
They hear, and swallow with fuch eager Luft:
But while the common Suffrage crown'd his Cause,
And broke the Benches with their loud Applause;
His Mufe had ftarv'd, had not a Piece unread,
And. by a Player bought, fupply'd her Bread.

OXFORD,

Dryden.

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON-PRESS. M DCC LXVII.

งง

MOST NOBLE PRINCE

HENRY

DUKE OF BEAUFORT,

YOUR G

GRACE'S Condefcenfion in permitting me to put my juvenile Labours under your Protection does me Great Honour, and claims my warmest Gratitude: It was, I confefs, my highest Ambition to infcribe this Tranflation to one, who had on a moft publick Occafion distinguished Himself by fuch claffical Elegance and real Dignity, as juftly entitled Him to the universal Applause of a most learned as well as fplendid Audience.

Nor can the Tranflation of a Poem, whose Subject is the Actions of Heroes and Princes, be infcribed with Propriety to any one but a Perfon defcended like Your GRACE from fo antient and fo illuftrious a Line of Ancestors.

I fhall

GRACE with a longer Addrefs, as I well know, that amidst all Your GRACE'S Princely Virtues and Amiable Qualities, this is not the leaft confpicuous, that Your Heart is formed to despise every, the leaft, Appearance of Flattery. I have the Honour to be,

My Lord,

Your GRACE's most obliged and

moft devoted bumble Servant,

WILL. LILLINGTON LEWIS.

[v]

A LIST of the SUBSCRIBERS.

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT.