Ovid

“ And to the bright Embassadress replies:⸻
⁠O Goddess, yet to mortal Eyes unknown,
But sure thy various Charms confess thee one:
O quick to Romulus thy Votress bear,
With Looks of Love he'll smile away my Care;
In what-e'er Orb he shines, my Heav'n is there;
⁠Then hastes with Iris to the holy Grove,
And up the mount Quirinal as they move,
A lambent Flame glides downward thro' the Air,
And brightens with a Blaze Hersilia's Hair.
Together on the bounding Ray they rise,
And shoot a Gleam of Light along the Skies. ”

“ The Hours, you take from Life, restore to Fame.
⁠Then o'er the Posts, once hung with Wreaths, he throws
The ready Cord, and fits the fatal Noose;
For Death prepares; and bounding from above,
At once the Wretch concludes his Life, and Love.
⁠E'er long the People gather, and the Dead
Is to his mourning Mother's Arms convey'd.
First, like some ghastly Statue, she appears;
Then baths the breathless Coarse in Seas of Tears,
And gives it to the Pile ”

“ Besides, he puts on ev'ry Shape at Ease;
But those the most, that best Pomona please.
Still to oblige her is her Lover's Aim;
Their Likings and Aversions are the same.
Nor the fair Fruit your burthen'd Branches bear;
Nor all the youthful Product of the Year,
Could bribe his Choice; your self alone can prove
A fit Reward for so refin'd a Love.
Relent, fair Nymph, and with a kind Regret,
Think 'tis Vertumnus weeping at your Feet.
A Tale attend, thro' Cyprus known, to prove
How Venus once reveng'd neglected Love. ”

“ Vertumnus scarce Vertumnus better knows.
True to his Choice, all looser Flames he flies;
Nor for new Faces fashionably dies.
The Charms of Youth, and ev'ry smiling Grace
Bloom in his Features, and the God confess. ”

“ To the chaste Goddess of the Silver Bow.
⁠In vain each Nymph her brightest Charms put on,
His Heart no Sov'reign would obey but one.
She whom Venilia, on Mount Palatine,
To Janus bore, the fairest of her Line.
Nor did her Face alone her Charms confess,
Her Voice was ravishing, and pleas'd no less.
When-e'er she sung, so melting were her Strains,
The Flocks unfed seem'd list'ning on the Plains;
The Rivers would stand still, the Cedars bend;
And Birds neglect their Pinions, to attend;
The Savage Kind in Forest-Wilds grow tame ”

“ Cajeta left, and catch'd at ev'ry Gale.
⁠He steer'd at Distance from the faithless Shore
Where the false Goddess reigns with fatal Pow'r;
And sought those grateful Groves, that shade the Plain,⁠
Where Tyber rouls majestick to the Main,
And fattens, as he runs, the fair Campain.
⁠His Kindred Gods the Hero's Wishes crown⁠
With fair Lavinia, and Latinus' Throne:
But not without a War the Prize he won.
Drawn up in bright Array the Battle stands:
Turnus with Arms his promised Wife demands.
Hetrurians, Latians equal Fortune share;
And doubtful long appears the Face of War. ”

“ My just Revenge, dull Fool e'er long shall show⁠
What Ills we Women, if refus'd, can do:
Think me a Woman, and a Lover too.
From dear successful Spight we hope for Ease,
Nor fail to Punish, where we fail to Please,
⁠Now twice to East she turns, as oft to West;
Thrice waves her Wand, as oft a Charm exprest.
On the lost Youth her magick Pow'r she tries;
Aloft he springs, and wonders how he flies. ”

“ Unfix'd to ask, unable to forbear.
But Love, who flatters still his own Disease,
Hopes all things will succeed, he knows will please.
Where-e'er the fair one haunts, he hovers there;
And seeks her Confident with Sighs, and Pray'r.
Or Letters he conveys, that seldom prove
Successless Messengers in Suits of Love.
⁠Now shiv'ring at her Gates the Wretch appears,⁠
And Myrtle Garlands on the Columns rears,
Wet with a Deluge of unbidden Tears.
The Nymph more hard than Rocks, more deaf than Seas,
Derides his Pray'rs; insults his Agonies ”

“ The Trees are toss'd from Forests where they stood;
Blue Serpents o'er the tainted Herbage slide,
Pale glaring Spectres on the Æther ride;
Dogs howl, Earth yawns, rent Rocks forsake their Beds,
And from their Quarries heave their stubborn Heads.
The sad Spectators, stiffen'd with their Fears⁠
She sees, and sudden ev'ry Limb she smears;
Then each of savage Beasts the Figure bears. ”

“ The Goatherd God frequents the silent Place,
As once the Wood-Nymphs of the Sylvan Race,
Till Appulus with a dishonest Air,
And gross Behaviour, banish'd thence the Fair.
The bold Buffoon, when-e'er they tread the Green,
Their Motion mimicks, but with Jests obscene.
Loose Language oft he utters; but e're long
A Bark in filmy Net-work binds his Tongue.
Thus chang'd, a base wild Olive he remains;
The Shrub the Coarseness of the Clown retains.
The Trojan Ships transform'd to Sea-Nymphs.
⁠Mean while the Latians all their Pow'r prepare,
'Gainst Fortune, and the Foe to push the War. ”

“ Each Dose the Goddess weighs with watchful Eye;
So nice her Art in impious Pharmacy!
Entring she greets us with a gracious Look,
And Airs, that future Amity bespoke.
Her ready Nymphs serve up a rich Repast;
The Bowl she dashes first, then gives to taste.
Quick, to our own undoing, we comply;
Her Pow'r we prove, and shew the Sorcery.
⁠Soon, in a Length of Face, our Head extends;
Our Chine stiff Bristles bears, and forward bends:
A Breadth of Brawn new burnishes our Neck;
Anon we grunt, as we begin to speak. ”

“ Shelter'd from Seas, and shaded from the Skies:
This Station Scylla chose; a soft Retreat
From chilling Winds, and raging Cancer's Heat.
The Vengeful Sorc'rcess visits this Recess;
Her Charm infuses, and infects the Place.
Soon as the Nymph wades in; Her nether Parts,
Turn into Dogs; then at her self she starts. ”

“ Declar'd the Fiat, and dismiss'd the God.
⁠Soon as the Pow'r Armipotent survey'd,
The flashing Skies, the Signal he obey'd;
And leaning on his Lance, he mounts his Car,
His fiery Coursers lashing thro' the Air.
Mount Palatine he gains, and finds his Son
Good Laws enacting on a peaceful Throne;
The Scales of heav'nly Justice holding high,
With steady Hand, and a discerning Eye.
Then vaults upon his Carr, and to the Spheres,
Swift, as a flying Shaft, Rome's Founder bears.
The Parts, more pure, in rising are refin'd,
The gross, and perishible lag behind. ”

“ None can my Passion with my Canens share.
She first my ev'ry tender Wish possest,
And found the soft Approaches to my Breast.
In Nuptials blest, each loose Desire we shun,
Nor Time can end, what Innocence begun. ”

“ Yet all were punish'd for the brutal Deed.
⁠A Storm begins, the raging Waves run high,
The Clouds look heavy, and benight the Sky;
Red Sheets of Lightn'ning o'er the Seas are spread,
Our Tackling yields, and Wrecks at last succeed. ”

“ The Winds with widen'd Throats the Signal give;
The Cables break, the smoaking Vessels drive.
Now, wondrous, as they beat the foaming Flood,
The Timber softens into Flesh, and Blood;
The Yards, and Oars new Arms, and Legs design;
A Trunk the Hull, the slender Keel a Spine;
The Prow a female Face; and by Degrees
The Gallies rise green Daughters of the Seas,
Sometimes on coral Beds they sit in State,
Or wanton on the Waves they fear'd of late.
The Barks, that beat the Seas are still their Care,
Themselves remembring what of late they were ”