Oh cou'd our father his old arts inspire,
And make me heir of his informing fire,
That fo I might abolish'd man retrieve,
And perifh'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 said: 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 feek 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 sprinkle 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 second 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 mother's
bones.

Amaz'd the pair, and mute with wonder, ftand,

Till Pyrrha first refus'd the dire command.

Forbid it heav'n, faid fhe, that I fhould tear

Those holy relics from the fepulchre.

They ponder'd the myfterious words again,

For fome new fenfe; and long they fought in vain.

At

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
In 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 pafs for true)
Did first the rigour of their kind expel,
And fuppled into foftnefs as they fell;

Then fwell'd, and fwelling by degrees grew warm ;
And took the rudiments of human form;
Imperfect shapes, 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 ufe:
Supplying humours, 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.

The rest of animals, from teeming earth
Produc'd, in various forms receiv'd their birth.
The native moisture, in its close retreat,
Digested by the fun's ætherial heat,

}

As in a kindly womb, began to breed:
Then fwell'd, and quicken'd by the vital feed.
And fome in lefs, and fome in longer space,
Were ripen'd into form, and took a fev'ral face.
Thus when the Nile from Pharian fields is fled,
And feeks with ebbing tides, his ancient bed,
The fat manure with heav'nly fire is warm'd ;
And crufted creatures, as in wombs, are form'd :
Thefe, when they turn the glebe, the peasants find:
Some rude, and yet unfinish'd in their kind:
Short of their limbs, a lame imperfect birth;
One half alive, and one of lifeless earth.

For heat and moisture when in bodies join'd,
The temper that refults from either kind
Conception makes; and fighting, till they mix,
Their mingled atoms in each other fix.
Thus nature's hand the genial bed prepares
With friendly discord, and with fruitful wars.
From hence the furface of the ground with mud
And flime befmear'd (the fæces of the flood)
Receiv'd the rays of heav'n; and fucking in
The feeds of heat new creatures did begin :
Some were of fev'ral forts produc'd before;
But of new monfters earth created more.
Unwillingly, but yet fhe brought to light
Thee, Python too, the wond'ring world to fright,
And the new nations with fo dire a fight.
So monftrous was his bulk, fo large a space
Did his vaft body and long train embrace:
Whom Phoebus basking on a bank espy'd,
Ere now the God his arrows had not try'd,
But on the trembling deer, or mountain-goat;
At this new quarry he prepares to fhoot.
Tho' ev'ry fhaft took place, he spent the ftore
Of his full quiver; and 'twas long before
Th' expiring ferpent wallow'd in his gore.

}

}

Then

Then to preferve the fame of fuch a deed,
For Python flain, he Pythian games decreed,
Where noble youths for maftership should strive,
To quoit, to run, and fteeds and chariots drive.
The prize was fame, in witness of renown,
An oaken garland did the victor crown.
The laurel was not yet for triumphs born;
But ev'ry green alike by Phœbus worn

Did, with promiscuous grace, his flowing locks adorn.

The TRANSFORMATION of DAPHNE into a LAUREL

The first and faireft of his loves was fhe
Whom not blind fortune but the dire decree
Of angry Cupid forc'd him to defire:
Daphne her name, and Peneus was her fire.
Swell'd with the pride that new fuccefs attends,
He fees the ftripling, while his bow he bends,
And thus infults him: thou lafcivious boy,
Are arms like thefe for children to employ ?
.Know, fuch atchievements are my proper claim;
Due to my vigour and unerring aim:

Refiftless are my fhafts, and Python late,
In fuch a feather'd death, has found his fate.
Take up thy torch, and lay my weapons by;
With that the feeble fouls of lovers fry.
To whom the fon of Venus thus reply'd:
Phoebus thy fhafts are fure on all befide;
But mine on Phoebus: mine the fame fhall be
Of all thy conquefts, when I conquer thee.

He faid, and foaring fwiftly wing'd his flight;
Nor ftop'd but on Parnaffus' airy height.
Two diff'rent shafts he from his quiver draws;
One to repel defire, and one to cause.

One

One fhaft is pointed with refulgent gold,
To bribe the love, and make the lover bold:
One blunt, and tipt with lead, whofe base allay
Provokes difdain, and drives defire away.
The blunted bolt against the nymph he dreft :
But with the sharp transfix'd Apollo's breaft.
Th' enamour'd Deity purfues the chace;
The fcornful damfel fhuns his loath'd embrace :
In hunting beafts of prey her youth employs;
And Phœbe rivals in her rural joys.

With naked neck fhe goes, and thoulders bare,
And with a fillet binds her flowing hair.
By many fuitors fought, fhe mocks their pains,
And ftill her vow'd virginity maintains.
Impatient of a yoke, the name of bride
She fhuns, and hates the joys the never try’d.
On wilds and wood fhe fixes her defire:

Nor knows what youth and kindly love infpire.
Her father chides her oft: Thou ow'ft, fays he,
A husband to thyself, a son to me.

She, like a crime, abhors the nuptial bed:
She glows with blushes, and fhe hangs her head.
Then, cafting round his neck her tender arms,
Soothes him with blandifhments, and filial charms :
Give me, my lord, she said, to live, and die,
A fpotlefs maid, without the marriage tie.
"Tis but a small request; I beg no more
Than what Diana's father gave before.
The good old fire was foften'd to confent;
But faid her with would prove her punishment:
For fo much youth, and fo much beauty join'd,
Oppos'd the ftate, which her defires defign'd.
The God of light afpiring to her bed,
Hopes what he feeks, with flatt'ring fancies fed;
And is by his own oracles misled.
And as in empty fields the ftubble burns,

Or nightly travellers, when day returns,

}