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

59
370-385] SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIB. II.
Flumina ad alta Blari tendit munimina castri.
Inde Caledoniam subito provectus ad urbem,
Irruit occiduae patefacta ad limina portae,
Atque hie hostilis ductorem forte manipli,
Regia finitimis qui vectigalia villis
Hauserat, incautum premit, et sine sanguine sternit,
Exque improviso simul aere atque exuit armis.
Mox defessa virum turn corpora curat equorum.
At postquam oceano nitidum caput abdiderat sol,
Noxque polo rutilum stellarum induxit honorexn,1
Rursus anhelantes cogit sub frena caballos,
Et durum molitur iter gressuque citato
Per vada caeca Tai Perthanam tendit ad urbem.
Jam vero ad lapidem progressus ab urbe secundum
Sistit, et ex omni bis denos agmine lectos
Secum ducit equos, portisque illabitur altis,
of Blair,2 with its lofty battlements. Thence, advancing^ to Dun-
keld,3 he dashes at the open door of the western gate, and there,
unexpectedly, came upon the captain of a hostile troop, who had
been gathering the revenues of the district. Without bloodshed,
he prostrates him, depriving him of the money, and his arms.
There he rests to refresh man and horse. But as soon as the sun
had hidden his glowing head in ocean, and night had bespread the
heavens with the radiant glory of the stars, the horses are bridled,
and, by the hidden fords of Tay,4 he makes forced march on
Perth. Having advanced.to the second milestone 5 from the town,
he halts, and, selecting twenty men from his troop, he steals
through the lofty gates of the city, before the lark had sung his
1 Var. led. Period after ‘ honorem ’ in original.
2 Patrick Stewart of Ballechin held the men of Athole loyal to King James,
though the Marquis and his son wavered between both parties. Ballechin pro¬
bably was already holding the Castle of Blair, for the guardianship of which
Dundee afterwards gave him formal appointment, to the exclusion of Lord
Murray. Dundee was at Blair on the 9th May.
3 The descent on Dunkeld was on the 10th; he moved on to Perth that
night. By two o’clock on Saturday morning, the nth, he had entered Perth.
His force was about seventy sabres, though the Provost of Perth in his letter to
the Convention nearly doubles the number.
4 ‘ Caeca vada.’ This may mean that the water was deep, hiding the fords,
or that his course was by private, less-known fords.—Virgil, Aen. i. 536.
5 ‘ Ad lapidem ab urbe secundum.’ Were milestones a feature of the Perth
roads two hundred years ago ?