The mountain-nymphs and Themis they adore,
And from her oracles relief implore.
The most upright of mortal men was he;
The most fincere and holy woman, the.
When Jupiter, furveying earth from high,
Beheld it in a lake of water lie,
That, where so many millions lately liv'd,
But two, the best of either fex, furviv'd,
He loos'd the northern wind; fierce Boreas flies
To puff away the clouds, and purge the skies:
Serenely, while he blows, the vapors driv'n
Discover heav'n to earth, and earth to heav'n.
The billows fall, while Neptune lays his mace
On the rough fea, and smooths its furrow'd face,
Already Triton, at his call, appears
Above the waves; a Tyrian robe he wears;
And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears.
The fov'reign bids him peaceful founds inspire,
And give the waves the fignal to retire.
His writhen fhell he takes, whofe narrow vent
Grows by degrees into a large extent;
Then gives it breath; the blast, with doubling found,
Runs the wide circuit of the world around.
The fun first heard it, in his early East,
And met the rattling echos in the West,
The waters, liftning to the trumpet's roar,
Obey the fummons, and forfake the fhore.
A thin circumference of land appears; And earth, but not at once, her vifage rears, the feas from upper grounds: The streams, but just contain'd within their bounds, By flow degrees into their channels crawl; And earth increases as the waters fall.
In longer time the tops of trees appear,
Which mud on their dishonour'd branches bear.
At length the world was all reftor'd to view,
But defolate, and of a fickly hue:
Nature beheld herself, and ftood aghaft,
A difmal defert, and a filent wafte.
Which when Deucalion, with a piteous look,
Beheld, he wept, and thus to Pyrrha spoke :
Oh wife, oh fister, oh of all thy kind
The best and only creature left behind,
By kindred, love, and now by dangers join'd;
Of multitudes, who breath'd the common air,
We two remain; a species in a pair:
The reft the feas have fwallow'd; nor have we
E'en of this wretched life a certainty.
The clouds are still above; and, while I fpeak,
A fecond deluge o'er our heads may break.
Should I be fnatch'd from hence, and thou remain,
Without relief, or partner of thy pain,
How coud'st thou fuch a wretched life sustain ?
Should I be left, and thou be loft, the fea,
That bury'd her I lov'd, fhou'd bury me..
Oh cou'd our father his old arts infpire,
And make me heir of his informing fire,
That so I might abolish'd man retrieve,
And perish'd people in new fouls might live!
But Heaven is pleas'd, nor ought we to complain,
That we, th' examples of mankind, remain.
He faid: the careful couple join their tears,
And then invoke the Gods, with pious prayers.
Thus in devotion having eas'd their grief,
From facred oracles they seek relief:
And to Cephifus' brook their way pursue :
The stream was troubled, but the ford they
knew.
With living waters in the fountain bred,
They fprinkle firft their garments, and their head,
Then took the way which to the temple led.
The roofs were all defil'd with mofs and mire,
The defert altars void of folemn fire.
Before the gradual proftrate they ador'd,
The pavement kifs'd, and thus the faint implor'd.
O righteous Themis, if the pow'rs above
By pray'rs are bent to pity, and to love;
If human mis'ries can move their mind;
If yet they can forgive, and yet be kind;
Tell how we may restore, by fecond birth,
Mankind, and people defolated earth.
Then thus the gracious Goddefs, nodding, faid;
Depart, and with your vestments veil your head:
And stooping lowly down, with loosen'd zones,
Throw each behind your backs your mighty mo-
Amaz'd the pair, and mute with wonder, ftand,
Till Pyrrha firft refus'd the dire command.
Forbid it heav'n, faid fhe, that I should tear
Thofe holy relics from the fepulchre.
They ponder'd the myfterious words again,
For fome new fenfe; and long they fought in vain.
At length Deucalion clear'd his cloudy brow,
And faid; the dark ænigma will allow
A meaning; which if well I understand,
From facrilege will free the God's command:
This earth our mighty mother is, the ftones
n her capacious body are her bones:
These we must caft behind. With hope, and fear,
The woman did the new folution hear:
The man diffides in his own augury,
And doubts the Gods; yet both refolve to try.
Defcending from the mount, they first unbind
Their vefts, and veil'd they caft the ftones behind:
The ftones (a miracle to mortal view,
But long tradition makes it pass for true)
Did first the rigor of their kind expel,
And fuppled into foftnefs as they fell;
Then swell'd, and fwelling by degrees grew warm;
And took the rudiments of human form;
Imperfect fhapes, in marble fuch are seen,
When the rude chizzel does the man begin;
While yet the roughness of the ftone remains,
Without the rifing muscles, and the veins.
The fappy parts, and next resembling juice,
Were turn'd to moisture, for the body's use:
Supplying humors, blood, and nourishment:
The reft, too folid to receive a bent,
Converts to bones; and what was once a vein,
Its former name and nature did retain.
By help of pow'r divine, in little space,
What the man threw affum'd a manly face;
And what the wife, renew'd the female race.
Hence we derive our nature, born to bear
Laborious life, and harden'd into care.
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