The Canterbury tales and Faerie queene &c., &c., &c., ed. for popular perusal with current illustrations and explanatory notes, by D. Laing Purves.

CANTO XI.] THE FAERIE QUEEN. 475
These marched far before the other crew: Only whatmneedeth shall be here fulfill'd,
And all the way before them, as they went, T' express some part, of that great equipage
Triton his trumpet shrill before them blew, Which from great Neptune do derive their parFor goodly triumph'and great jolliment,l entage.
That made the rocks to roar as they were rent. ex came the aged Oceanan his Dame
And after ~Ne came the aged Ocean and hissue came
And after them the royal issue came, Old Tethys, th' oldest two of all the rest;
Which of them sprung by lineal descent:,
F h ghich to thems.les For all the rest of those two parents came,
First the sea-gods, which to themselves do claim Which afterward both sea and land possest;
The pow'r to rule the billows, and the waves to Of all which Nereus, th' eldest and the best
tame: Did first proceed; than which none more upright
Phorcys, the father of that fatal brood Nor more sincere in word and deed profest;
By whom those old heroes won such fame; 2 Most void of guile, most free from foul despite,
And Glaucus, that wise soothsays understood; Doing himself and teaching others to do right:
And tragic Ino's son, the which became Thereto he was expert in prophecies,
3Thereto he was exper6 m prophecies,
A god of seas through his mad mother's blame, could the leden f the gods unfold;
-Now hight Palsemon, and is sailors' friend;
Now hight Palmon, and is sailors friend Through which, when Paris brought his famous
Great Brontes; and Astrseus, that did shame prize
Himself with incest of his kin unkenn'd; 4 The fair Tyndarid lass,7 he him foretold
And huge Orion, that doth tempests still por- That her all Greece with many champion bold'tend; Should fetch again, and finally destroy
The rich Cteatus; and Eurytus long; Proud Priam's town: so wise is Nereus old,
Neleus and Pelias, lovely brethren both; And so well skill'd: nathless he takes great joy
"Mighty Chrysaor; and Caicus strong; Ofttimes amongst the wanton nymphs to sport
Eurypylus, that calms the waters wroth; and toy.
And fair Euphcemus, that upon them go'th nd after him the famous Rivers came,
As on the ground, without dismay or dread; Which do e earth enrich and beaify:
Fierce Eryx; and Alebius, that know'th The fertile Nile;which creatures newdoth frame;
The waters' depth, and doth their bottom tread; Long hodanus, whose source springs from the
And sad Asopus, comely with his hoary head. sky;
There also some most famous founders were Fair Ister,9 flowing from the mountains high;
Of puissant nations, which the world possest, Divine Scamander, purpled yet with blood
Yet sons of Neptune, now assembled here: Of Greeks and Trojans which therein did die
Ancient Ogyges, ev'n the ancientest: Pact6lus glist'ring with his golden flood;
And Inachus renown'd above the rest; And Tigris fierce, whose streams of none may be
Phoenix; and Aon; and Pelasgus old; withstood;
Great Belus; Phoeax; and Agenor best; Great Ganges; and immortal Efphrates;
And mighty Albion, father of the bold Deep Indus; and Meander intricate;
And warlike people which the Britain Islands Slow Peneus; and tempestuous Phasides; 10
hold: Swift Rhine; and Alpheus still immaculate;
For Albion the son of Neptune was; Araxes, feared for great Cyrus' fate;
Who, for the proof of his great piissance, Tibris,l2 renowned for the Romans' fame;
Out of his Albion did on dry-foot pass Rich Orinoco, though but knowen late;
Into old Gaul, that now is called France, And that huge river, which doth bear his name
To fight with Hercules, that did advance Of 13 warlike Amazons who do possess the same.
To vanquish all the world with matchless might; Joy on those warlike women, which so long
And there his mortal part by great mischance Can from all men so rich a kingdom hold!
Was slain; but that which is th' immortal sprite And shame on you, O men, which boast your
Lives still, and to this Feast with Neptune's strong
seed was dight.5 And valiant hearts, in thoughts less hard and
But what do I their names seek to rehearse, bold,
Which all the world have with their issue fill'd? Yet quail in conquest of that land of gold! 14
How can they all in this so narrow verse But this to you, O Britons, most pertains,
Contained be, and in small compass held? To whom the right hereof itself hath sold;
Let them record them that are' better skill'd, The which, for sparing little cost or pains,
And know the monuments of passed age: Lose so immortal glory, and so endless gains.
1 Pleasure. 9 The Danube; one of whose sources, in the castle2 He was fabled to be the father of the Grsese, the yard of Donaueschingen, in Baden, is about 3000 feet
Gorgons, the Hesperian dragon, the Hesperian maids, above sea level.
and Scylla. 10 The Phasis, a river in Colchis.
3 Driven mad by Hera, to punish her love for Atha- 11 After its junction with the Eurotas, the Alpheus
mas, Ino threw herself into the sea with her son; and flowed on side by side with its muddier companion
both became marine deities. without mingling its waters.
4 Unknown. 5 Prepared. 12 Tiber. 13 From.
6 Language. See note 28, page 119. 14 The contestwith Spain in the New World, the "land
7 Helen, daughter of Tyndarus, king of Sparta. of gold," was the great task of the Elizabethan heroes
8 The Rhone, springing from its lofty glacier, at the and navigators, whom the poet here urges on to new
foot of Mount Furca, 5470 feet above the sea. efforts.