So fleek her skin, fo faultlefs was her make,
E'en Juno did unwilling pleasure take
To fee fo fair a rival of her love;

And what he was, and whence, enquir'd of Jove;
Of what fair herd, and from what pedigree?
The God half-caught was forc'd upon a lie;
And faid the fprung from earth. She took the word,
And begg'd the beauteous heifer of her lord.
What fhou'd he do? 'twas equal fhame to Jove
Or to relinquish, or betray his love:

Yet to refuse fo flight a gift, wou'd be

But more t' increase his confort's jealousy :
Thus fear, and love, by turns his heart affail'd;
And ftronger love, had fure at length prevail'd:
But fome faint hope remain'd, his jealous queen

Had not the miftrefs thro' the heifer feen.
The cautious Goddefs of her gift poffeft,
Yet harbour'd anxious thoughts within her breaft;
As the who knew the falfhood of her Jove,
And justly fear'd fome new relapse of love.
Which to prevent, and to fecure her care,
To trufty Argus fhe commits the fair.

The head of Argus (as with ftars the skies)
Was compafs'd round, and wore an hundred eyes.
But two by turns their lids in flumber steep;
The reft on duty still their station keep;
Nor could the total conftellation fleep.
Thus, ever prefent, to his eyes, and mind,
His charge was still before him, tho' behind,
In fields he fuffer'd her to feed by day;
But, when the fetting fun to night gave way,
The captive cow he fummon'd with a call,
And drove her back, and ty'd her to the stall.
On leaves of trees, and bitter herbs fhe fed,
Heav'n was her canopy, bare earth her bed;

So

So hardly lodg'd: and to digeft her food,

She drank from troubled ftreams, defil'd with mud.
Her woful story fain she wou'd have told,
With hands upheld, but had no hands to hold.
Her head to her ungentle keeper bow'd,
She ftrove to speak; she spoke not, but the low'd.
Affrighted with the noife, the look'd around,
And feem'd t' inquire the author of the found.

Once on the banks where often she had play'd,
(Her father's banks) fhe came, and there furvey'd
Her alter'd vifage, and her branching head;
And starting from herself she wou'd have fled.
Her fellow-nymphs, familiar to her eyes,
Beheld, but knew her not in this difguife.
Ev'n Inachus himself was ignorant;

And in his daughter did his daughter want.
She follow'd where her fellows went, as fhe
Were still a partner of the company:
They ftroke her neck; the gentle heifer ftands,
And her neck offers to their stroking hands.
Her father gave her grafs; the grass she took;
And lick'd his palms, and caft a piteous look;
And in the language of her eyes she spoke.
She wou'd have told her name, and afk'd relief,
But, wanting words, in tears the tells her grief.
Which with her foot she makes him understand;
And prints the name of Io in the fand.

Ah wretched me! her mournful father cry'd;
She, with a figh, to wretched me reply'd:
About her milk-white neck his arms he threw ;
And wept, and then these tender words enfue.
And art thou she, whom I have fought around
The world, and have at length so sadly found?
So found, is worfe than loft: with mutual words
Thou answer'st not, no voice thy tongue affords:
X 3

}

But

But fighs are deeply drawn from out thy breaft;
And fpeech deny'd by lowing is exprefs'd.
Unknowing, I prepar'd thy bridal bed;
With empty hopes of happy iffue fed.
But now the hufband of a herd must be
Thy mate, and bell'wing fons thy progeny.
Oh, were I mortal, death might bring relief!
But now my God-head but extends my grief;
Prolongs my woes, of which no end I fee,
And makes me curfe my immortality.
More had he faid, but fearful of her stay,
The starry guardian drove his charge away,
To fome fresh pasture on a hilly height
He fat himself, and kept her fill in fight.

The EYES of ARGUS transformed into a PEACOCK'S TRAIN.

Now Jove no longer cou'd her fuff'rings bear:
But call'd in hafte bis airy meffenger,
The fon of Maïa, with fevere decree

To kill the keeper, and to fet her free.
With all his harness foon the God was fped;
His flying hat was faften'd on his head;
Wings on his heels were hung, and in his hand
He holds the virtue of the fnaky wand.
The liquid air his moving pinions wound,
And, in the moment, fhoot him on the ground.
Before he came in fight, the crafty God
His wings difmifs'd, but ftill retain'd his rod :
That fleep-procuring wand wife Hermes took,
But made it seem to fight a fhepherd's hook.
With this he did a herd of goats controul;
Which by the way he met, and slily stole.
Clad like a country fwain, he pip'd, and fung;
And playing drove his jolly troop along.

With pleasure Argus the mufician heeds;
But wonders much at those new vocal reeds.
And whofoe'er thou art, my friend, said he,
Up hither drive thy goats, and play by me:
This hill has brouze for them, and fhade for thee.
The God, who was with eafe induc'd to climb,
Began difcourfe to pass away the time;
And still betwixt his tuneful pipe he plies;
And watch'd his hour, to clofe the keeper's eyes.
With much ado, he partly kept awake;
Not fuff'ring all his eyes repofe to take :
And afk'd the ftranger, who did reeds invent,
And whence began so rare an inftrument.

The TRANSFORMATION of SYRINX into REED S.

Then Hermes thus; a nymph of late there was,
Whofe heav'nly form her fellows did surpass.
The pride and joy of fair Arcadia's plains ;
Belov'd by Deities, ador'd by fwains :
Syrinx her name, by Sylvans oft purfu'd,
As oft fhe did the luftful Gods delude:
The rural and the wood-land pow'rs difdain'd;
With Cynthia hunted, and her rites maintain'd;
Like Phoebe clad, e’en Phœbe's self she seems,
So tall, fo ftraight, fuch well-proportion'd limbs :
The niceft eye did no distinction know,
But that the Goddess bore a golden bow:
Diftinguish'd thus, the fight fhe cheated too.
Defcending from Lycæus, Pan admires

The matchless nymph, and burns with new defires.
A crown of pine upon his head he wore;
And thus began her pity to implore.
But ere he thus began, fhe took her flight
So fwift, fhe was already out of fight.
X 4

}

}

Nor

Nor ftay'd to hear the courtship of the God;
But bent her courfe to Ladon's gentle flood:
There by the river flopt, and tir'd before,
Relief from water-nymphs her pray'rs implore.
Now while the luftful God, with speedy pace,
Just thought to strain her in a strict embrace,
He fills his arms with reeds, new rifing on the place.
And while he fighs his ill fuccefs to find,
The tender canes were fhaken by the wind;
And breath'd a mournful air, unheard before;
That much furprifing Pan, yet pleas'd him more.
Admiring this new mufic, thou, he faid,
Who canft not be the partner of my bed,
At least fhalt be the confort of my mind;
And often, often, to my lips be join'd.
He form'd the reeds, proportion'd as they are:
Unequal in their length, and wax'd with care,
They still retain the name of his ungrateful fair.
While Hermes pip'd, and fung, and told his tale,
The keeper's winking eyes began to fail,
And drowsy flumber on the lids to creep;
Till all the watchman was at length asleep.
Then foon the God his voice and fong fuppreft;
And with his pow'rful rod confirm'd his reft:
Without delay his crocked falchion drew,
And at one fatal ftroke the keeper flew.
Down from the rock fell the diffever'd head,
Opening its eyes in death, and falling bled;
And mark'd the paffage with a crimson trail:
Thus Argus lies in pieces, cold and pale;
And all his hundred eyes, with all their light,
Are clos'd at once, in one perpetual night.
Thefe Juno takes, that they no more may fail,
And spreads them in her peacock's gaudy tail,
Impatient to revenge her injur'd bed,
She wreaks her anger on her rival's head;

}