Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

133-152] SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIB. II.
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Impiger, inque suas se contulit ocyus aedes.
Decessu at vario trepidatur in urbe tumultu.
Pars stupet ingentes bellorum instare procellas,
Ingruere et tragicos per civica praelia motus.
Presbyter elapsum fremit indignantior hostem,
Et recidiva iterum procumbere foedera moeret.
Ergo omnis belli studiis excita juventus
Arma fremit, proceresque insano Martis amore
Ardebant; quorum sequitur pars maxima dirum
Principis imperium, et Batavi fera signa Tyranni.
Rari autem fuerunt adversae partis alumni,
Caesaris afflictis ausi succurrere rebus;
Hi quibus incoctum est generoso pectus honesto,
Queis amor aut studium recti, patriaeque tuendae
Cura fuit, Regis soli pro partibus instant.
Ipse ego militiam, Gramumque in castra secutus
Regia. Sic medio bellorum in turbine fortem
Scipiadem ipse pater stipaverat Ennius olim.
Nec cecinisse Ducis mihi contigit acta minoris,
Cui Macedum magnus cedat Rex pectore et armis,
and quickly reached his own house.1 On his departure from
Edinburgh the city was disturbed. Some dreaded the outburst of
civil war; the Presbyterians were wild with indignation at the
escape of their enemy, and mourned that the reviving Covenant
still lay in the dust. The whole youth of the country is stirred to
war, and nobles burn with mad eagerness for the field. The
greater part follow the command and fierce standard of the Dutch
tyrant. A few there were who dared to stand for the King in his
misfortunes—those whose hearts rang true to honour, who loved
the right and their country’s good. 12 myself followed the Graham
on the Royal side. Thus did Father Ennius, amid the storms of
war, follow the heroic Scipio. Nor has it fallen to my lot to sing
the deeds of a General less exalted. To him the great king of
Macedon gives place in courage and conduct of war; and Manlius
1 ‘Dudhope,’ then near Dundee, now within the town. Claverhouse acquired
it, and became Constable of Dundee, after long waiting, in 1684. On his way
to Dudhope he had tarried long enough at Linlithgow (though it was only for
one night) to alarm the Convention, for on the 19th they issued an order to dis¬
lodge him. Next day they hear of him at Stirling, and order his arrest. At
Dunblane he wrote to Hamilton, and, what was perhaps of greater moment,
there met Lochiel’s son-in-law, Alexander Drummond of Balhaldy, and had
much talk with him.
2 First mention of the Author by himself. See Preface.