Ovid

“ When with my Blood the Price of yours is paid.
⁠Ah! whither am I hurry'd? Ah! forgive,
Ye Shades, and let your Sister's Issue live:
A Mother cannot give him Death; tho' he
Deserves it, he deserves it not from me.
⁠Then shall th' unpunish'd Wretch insult the Slain,
Triumphant live, nor only live, but reign?
While you, thin Shades, the sport of Winds, are tost
O'er dreary Plains, or tread the burning Coast. ”

“ One Murder pay, to add one Murder more,
And me to them who fell by thee restore.
⁠I would, but cannot: My Son's Image stands
Before my Sight; and now their angry Hands
My Brothers hold, and Vengeance these exact,
This pleads Compassion, and repents the Fact.
⁠He pleads in vain, and I pronounce his Doom:
My Brothers, though unjustly, shall o'ercome.
But having paid their Injur'd Ghosts their Due,
My Son requires my Death, and mine shall his persue.
⁠At this, for the last Time, she lifts her Hand,
Averts her Eyes, and, half unwilling, drops the Brand. ”

“ Wheels, as he wheels; and with his pointed Dart
Explores the nearest Passage to his Heart.
Quick, and more quick he spins in giddy Gires,
Then falls, and in much Foam his Soul expires,
This Act with Shouts Heav'n-high the friendly Band
Applaud, and strain in theirs the Victor's Hand.
Then all approach the Slain with vast Surprize,
Admire on what a Breadth of Earth he lies,
And scarce secure, reach out their Spears afar,
And blood their Points, to prove their Partnership of War. ”

“ Beats down the Trees before him, shakes the Ground,⁠
The Forest echoes to the crackling Sound;
Shout the fierce Youth, and Clamours ring around.
All stood with their protended Spears prepar'd,
With broad Steel Heads the brandish'd Weapons glar'd.
The Beast impetuous with his Tusks aside⁠
Deals glancing Wounds; the fearful Dogs divide:
All spend their Mouths aloof, but none abide. ”

“ And its long Branches sweat a chilly Dew.
But when his impious Hand a Wound bestow'd,
Blood from the mangled Bark in Currents flow'd.
When a devoted Bull of mighty Size,
A sinning Nation's grand Atonement, dies ”

“ And as a Ship, which Winds and Waves assail,⁠
Now with the Current drives, now with the Gale,
Both opposite, and neither long prevail:
She feels a double Force, by Turns obeys
Th' imperious Tempest, and th' impetuous Seas:
So fares Althæa's Mind, she first relents
With Pity, of that Pity then repents:
Sister, and Mother long the Scales divide,
But the Beam nodded on the Sister's Side.
Sometimes she softly sigh'd, then roar'd aloud;
But Sighs were stifled in the Cries of Blood. ”

“ Loose to her Breast, and fasten'd to her Chine.
Her Joints protuberant by Leanness grown,
Consumption sunk the Flesh, and rais'd the Bone.
Her Knees large Orbits bunch'd to monstrous Size,
And Ancles to undue Proportion rise.
⁠This Plague the Nymph, not daring to draw near,
At Distance hail'd, and greeted from afar.
And tho' she told her Charge without Delay,
Tho' her Arrival late, and short her Stay,
She felt keen Famine, or she seem'd to feel,
Invade her Blood, and on her Vitals steal. ”

“ Let her be Judge, and Minos shall excell.
⁠But when the Helm, put off, display'd to Sight,
And set his Features in an open Light;
When, vaulting to his Seat, his Steed he prest,
Caparison'd in Gold, and richly drest;
Himself in Scarlet sumptuously array'd,
New Passions rife, and fire the frantick Maid.
O happy Spear! she cries, that feels his Touch;
Nay, ev'n the Reins he holds are blest too much.
Oh! were it lawful, she cou'd wing her Way
Thro' the stern hostile Troops without Dismay;
Or throw her Body to the distant Ground,
And in the Cretans happy Camp be found. ”

“ With Charge on those devoted Fields to prey.
No larger Bulls th' Ægyptian Pastures feed,
And none so large Sicilian Meadows breed:
His Eye-balls glare with Fire suffus'd with Blood;
His Neck shoots up a thick-set thorny Wood;
His bristled Back a Trench impal'd appears,
And stands erected, like a Field of Spears;
Froth fills his Chaps, he sends a grunting Sound,
And part he churns, and part befoams the Ground.
For Tusks with Indian Elephants he strove,
And Jove's own Thunder from his Mouth he drove.
He burns the Leaves ”

“ Nor Barns at home, nor Rocks are heap'd abroad:
In vain the Hinds the Threshing-Floor prepare,
And exercise their Flails in empty Air.
With Olives ever-green the Ground is strow'd,
And Grapes ungather'd shed their gen'rous Blood.
Amid the Fold he rages, nor the Sheep
Their Shepherds, nor the Grooms their Bulls can keep.
⁠From Fields to Walls the frighted Rabble run,
Nor think themselves secure within the Town:
Till Meleagrus, and his chosen Crew,
Contemn the Danger, and the Praise pursue.
Fair Leda's Twins (in time to Stars decreed)
One fought on Foot, one curb'd the fiery Steed ”

“ Give place, and mark the Diff'rence, if you can,
Between a Woman Warrior, and a Man;
The Boar is doom'd; nor though Diana lend
Her Aid, Diana can her Beast defend.
Thus boasted he; then stretch'd, on Tiptoe stood,
Secure to make his empty Promise good.
But the more wary Beast prevents the Blow,
And upward rips the Groin of his audacious Foe.
Ancæus falls; his Bowels from the Wound
Rush out, and clotted Blood distains the Ground. ”

“ Seems, from the Ground increas'd, in Height and Bulk to grow.
A stately Temple shoots within the Skies,
The Crotchets of their Cot in Columns rise:
The Pavement polish'd Marble they behold,
The Gates with Sculpture grac'd, the Spires and Tiles of Gold.
Then thus the Sire of Gods, with Looks serene,
Speak thy Desire, thou only just of Men;
And thou, O Woman, only worthy found
To be with such a Man in Marriage bound. ”

“ Bore loosely from the Ground, and wasted here and there.
Or with the Wax impertinently play'd,
And with his childish Tricks the great Design delay'd.
⁠The final Master-stroke at last impos'd,
And now, the neat Machine compleatly clos'd;
Fitting his Pinions, on a Flight he tries,
And hung self-ballanc'd in the beaten Skies.
Then thus instructs his Child; My Boy, take Care
To wing your Course along the midde Air;
If low, the Surges wet your flagging Plumes,
If high, the Sun the melting Wax consumes:
Steer between both: Nor to the Northern Skies,
Nor South Orion turn your giddy Eyes ”

“ Nor matchless Swiftness sav'd the racing Steed.
In Cataracts when the dissolving Snow
Falls from the Hills, and floods the Plains below;
Toss'd by the Eddies with a giddy Round,
Strong Youths are in the sucking Whirlpools drown'd. ”

“ Some, when transform'd, fix in the lasting Change;
Some with more Right, thro' various Figures range.
Proteus, thus large thy Privilege was found,
Thou Inmate of the Seas, which Earth surround.
Sometimes a blooming Youth you grac'd the Shore ”

“ No sounding Ax presum'd those Trees to bite;
Coeval with the World, a venerable Sight.
The Heroes there arriv'd, some spread around⁠
The Toils; some search the Footsteps on the Ground:
Some from the Chains the faithful Dogs unbound. ”

“ Its Diamonds twinkle in the distant Skies;
There, in their pristin Form, the gemmy Rays
Between Alcides, and the Dragon blaze.
The Story of Dædalus, and Icarus.
⁠In tedious Exile now too long detain'd,
Dædalus languish'd for his native Land:
The Sea foreclos'd his Flight; yet thus he said;
Tho' Earth and Water in Subjection laid,
O cruel Minos, thy Dominion be,
We'll go thro' Air; for sure the Air is free.
Then to new Arts his cunning Thought applies,
And to improve the Work of Nature tries. ”

“ To Distance drive the Fleet, and lose the less'ning Shores.
Think not, ungrateful Man, the liquid Way
And threat'ning Billows shall inforce my Stay.
I'll follow thee in Spite; My Arms I'll throw
Around thy Oars, or grasp thy crooked Prow,
And drag thro' drenching Seas. Her eager Tongue
Had hardly clos'd the Speech, when forth she sprung
And prov'd the Deep. Cupid with added Force
Recruits each Nerve, and aids her wat'ry Course. ”

“ But for her native Ornament of Hair;
Which in a simple Knot was ty'd above,
Sweet Negligence! unheeded Bait of Love! ”

“ So down he fell, whom, sprawling on the Ground,
His Brother from the wooden Gyves unbound.
⁠Mean time the Virgin-Huntress was not slow
T' expel the Shaft from her contracted Bow:
Beneath his Ear the fastned Arrow stood,
And from the Wound appear'd the trickling Blood.
She blush'd for Joy: But Meleagrus rais'd
His Voice with loud Applause, and the fair Archer prais'd.
He was the first to see, and first to show
His Friends the Marks of the successful Blow.
Nor shall thy Valour want the Praises due,
He said; a virtuous Envy seiz'd the Crew.
They shout ”

“ Back on his Charge he turns his aking Sight;
As Parent Birds, when first their callow Care
Leave the high Nest to tempt the liquid Air.
Then chears him on, and oft, with fatal Art,
Reminds the Stripling to perform his Part.
⁠These, as the Angler at the silent Brook,
Or Mountain-Shepherd leaning on his Crook,
Or gaping Plowman from the Vale descries,
They stare, and view 'em with religious Eyes,
And strait conclude 'em Gods; since none, but they,
Thro' their own azure Skies cou'd find a Way.
⁠Now Delos, Paros on the Left are seen,
And Samos, favour'd by Jove's haughty Queen ”

“ The bold Adventurer succeeds the best. ”

“ Resolves a dark Inclosure to provide,
And, far from Sight, the two-form'd Creature hide.
⁠Great Dædalus of Athens was the Man
That made the Draught, and form'd the wondrous Plan;
Where Rooms within themselves encircled lye,
With various Windings, to deceive the Eye.
As soft Mæander's wanton Current plays,
When thro' the Phrygian Fields it loosely strays ”