Gave proofs of noble prowess, and great strength,

Worthy of Gods. The tumult reach'd to heaven,
And high Olympus trembled as they strove.

Sea too was mov'd; and Earth astonish'd heard
The noise and shouts of deities engag'd,
High vaunts, loud outcries, and the din of war.
Now Jove no longer could withhold' his ire;
But rose with tenfold vengeance: down he
huri'd

His lightning, dreadful implement of wrath,
Which flash'd incessant: and before him mov'd
His awful thunder, with tremendous peal
Appalling, and astounding, as it roll'd.

For from a mighty hand it shap'd its course, Loud echoing through the vaulted realms of day. Meantime storms rag'd; and dusky whirlwinds

rose.

Still blaz'd the lightning with continual glare, Till nature languish'd and th' expanded deep, And every stream, that lav'd the glowing earth, Boil'd with redounding heat. A ruddy flame Shot upwards to the fiery cope of heav'n,

Shedding a baleful influence; and the gleam Smote dreadful on the Titan bands, whose eyes Were blasted, as they gaz'd; nor could they stand

The fervour, but exhausted sunk to ground.

The Gods, victorious, seiz'd the rebel crew,

And sent them, bound in adamantine chains,
To earth's deep caverns, and the shades of night.
Here dwell th' apostate brotherhood, consign'd
To everlasting durance: here they sit
Age after age in melancholy state,

Still pining in eternal gloom, and lost

To

every comfort. Round them wide extend The dreary bounds of earth, and sea, and air, Of heaven above, and Tartarus below.

Such was the first great commotion among men. It was described by the poets as the war of the Giants; who raised mountains upon mountains in order that they might scale heaven. The sons of Chus were the aggressors in these acts of rebellion. They have been represented under the character both of Giants and Titanians: and are said to have been dissipated into different parts of the world. One place of their retreat is mentioned to have been in that part of Scythia, which bordered upon the Palus Mæotis. It was called "Keira; and described as a vast cavern, which they fortified. The Romans under Crassus are said to have viewed it. But Keir, and Keirah, signified of old a city or fortress: and it was the

Το σπηλαίον την Κείρην καλαμενην. Dion. Cassius. 1. 51. P. 313.

22

appellative name of the place, to which this people retired. They were to be found in various parts, as I shall shew: but the most prevailing notion about the Titanians was, that after their war against heaven, they were banished to Tartarus, at the extremities of the earth. The antient Grecians knew very little of the western parts of the world. They therefore represent the Titans, as in a state of darkness; and Tartarus as an infernal region.

23 Και τες μεν ύπο χθονος ευρυοδείης

: Πεμψαν, και δεσμοισιν ὑπ' αργαλεοισιν έδησαν, Τόσσον ενερθ' ύπο γης, όσον Ουρανος ες απο γαίης.

They plac'd the rebels, fast in fetters bound,
Deep in a gloomy gulf; as far remov'd
From earth's fair regions, as the earth from
heaven.

They are the words of Hesiod; who says, that an anvil of iron being dropped down would but just reach the abyss in ten days. Here the Titans were doomed to reside.

24 Ενθα θεοι Τίτηνες ὑπο ζοφῳ περοεντι

2

23 Hesiod. Theog. v.717.

24 Ibid. v. 729.

Κεκρυφαται, βέλησι Διος νεφεληγερέτας,

Χωρίς εν ευρωεντι, πελώρης εσχατα γαίης.

Ενθα Γύγης, Κοστος τε, και ὁ Βριάρεις μεγάθυμος
Ναιεσιν,

There the Titanian Gods by Jove's high will
In mansions dark and dreary lie conceal'd,
Beyond the verge of nature. Cottus here,
And Gyges dwell, and Briareus the bold.

These were part of the Titanian brood, though the author seems not to allow it. This will appear from some of the Orphic fragments, where we have the names of the Titans, and a similar account of their being condemned to darkness.

* Κοιον τε, Κρειον τε μεγαν, Φορκυν τε κραταιον, Και Κρόνον, Ωκεανονθ', Ὑπερειονατ', Ιαπετον τε.

The

poet

here specifies seven in number; Caus, Crius, Phoreys, Cronus, Oceanus, Hyperion, and Iapetus, and he adds,

Soon as high Jove their cruel purpose saw,
And lawless disposition

He sent them down to Tartarus consign'd.

If we look into the grounds of these fictions, we shall find that they took their rise from this true history. A large body of Titanians, after the dispersion settled in Mauritania, which is the region styled Tartarus. Diodorus Siculus mentions the coming of Cronus into these parts; and gives us the names of the brotherhood, those sons of Titæa, who came with them. The principal of these, exclusive of Cronus, were 26 Oceanus, Cous, Iapetus, Crius, and Hyperion: who were supposed first to have settled in Crete. Atlas was another of them, from whom they had the name of " Atlantians; and they were looked upon as the offspring of heaven. The above historian describes the country, which they possessed, as lying upon the great ocean: and however it may be represented by the poets, he speaks of it as

25 Diodor. Sic. 1. 5. p. 334. According to Apollodorus, their names were Ouranus, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, Iapetus, and the youngest of all, Cronus. 1. 1. p. 2.

27 Diodor. 1.3. p. 189.