THE

THE BAID

OF

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 amicæ
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 such eager Luft:
But while the common Suffrage crown'd his Cause,
And broke the Benches with their loud Applause;
His Mufe had starv'd, had not a Piece unread,
And by a Player bought, fupply'd her Bread.

OX FOR D,

Dryden.

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON-PRESS.
M DCC LXVII.

Publues F

glish graston

1-2.42 44248 2.

TO THE

MOST NOBLE PRINCE

HENRY

DUKE OF BEAUFORT.

YOUR

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 such claffical Elegance and real Dignity, as juftly entitled Him to the universal Applause of a moft 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.