Appears beneath famed Cnossus and her towers, 440 Like the fair handmaid of a stately queen, I check'd my prow, and thence with eager steps The city of Minos enter'd. O ye gods, Who taught the leaders of the simpler time By written words to curb the untoward will Of mortals, how within that generous isle Have ye the triumphs of your power display'd Munificent! Those splendid merchants, lords Of traffic and the sea, with what delight I saw them, at their public meal, like sons 450 Of the same household, join the plainer sort Whose wealth was only freedom! whence to these Vile envy, and to those fantastic pride, Alike was strange; but noble concord still Cherish'd the strength untamed, the rustic faith, Of their first fathers. Then the growing race, How pleasing to behold them in their schools, Their sports, their labours, ever placed within, O shade of Minos! thy controlling eye. Here was a docile band in tuneful tones 460 Thy laws pronouncing, or with lofty hymns Praising the bounteous gods, or, to preserve Their country's heroes from oblivious night, Resounding what the Muse inspired of old; There, on the verge of manhood, others met, In heavy armour through the heats of noon To march, the rugged mountain's height to climb With measured swiftness, from the hard-bent bow To send resistless arrows to their mark, Or for the fame of prowess to contend, 470 Now wrestling, now with fists and staves opposed, Now with the biting falchion, and the fence Of brazen shields; while still the warbling flute Presided o'er the combat, breathing strains Grave, solemn, soft; and changing headlong spite To thoughtful resolution cool and clear. Such I beheld those islanders renown'd, So tutor'd from their birth to meet in war Each bold invader, and in peace to guard That living flame of reverence for their laws, 480 Which nor the storms of fortune, nor the flood Of foreign wealth diffused o'er all the land, Could quench or slacken. First of human names In every Cretan's heart was Minos still; And holiest far, of what the sun surveys Through his whole course, were those primeval seats Which with religious footsteps he had taught Their sires to approach; the wild Dictaean cave Where Jove was born: the ever verdant meads Of Ida, and the spacious grotto, where 490 His active youth he pass'd, and where his throne Yet stands mysterious; whither Minos came Each ninth returning year, the king of gods And mortals there in secret to consult On justice, and the tables of his law To inscribe anew. Oft also with like zeal Great Rhea's mansion from the Cnossian gates Men visit; nor less oft the antique fane Built on that sacred spot, along the banks Of shady Theron, where benignant Jove 500