"The god we now behold with open eyes ;"A herd of spotted panthers round him lies "In glaring forms; the grapy clusters spread "On his fair brows, and dangle on his head. “And whilst he frowns, and brandishes his fpear, "My mates, furpriz'd with madness or with fear, "Leap'd over-board; first perjur'd Madon found "Rough fcales and fins his ftiffening fides furround': “Ah what, cries one, has thus transform'd thy look ? Straight his own mouth grew wider as he spoke : And now himself he views with like furprize. "Still at his car th' induftrious Libys plies;

But, as he plies, each busy arm shrinks in,
"And by degrees is fafhion'd to a fin.
"Another, as he catches at a cord,
"Miffes his arms, and, tumbling over-board,
"With his broad fins and forky tail he laves
"The rifing furge, and flounces in the waves.
"Thus all my crew transform'd, around the ship,
"Or dive below, or on the furface leap,

“And spout the waves, and wanton in the deep.
"Full nineteen failors did the fhip convey,
"A fhole of nineteen dolphins round her play.
"I only in my proper shape appear,

Speechlefs with wonder, and half dead with fear,
"Till Bacchus kindly bid me fear no more.
"With him I landed on the Chian fhore,
"And him shall ever gratefully adore."

"This forging flave, fays Pentheus, would prevail "O'er our just fury by a far-fetch'd tale ;

"Go, let him feel the whips, the fwords, the fire, "And in the tortures of the rack expire." Th' officious fervants hurry him away,

And the poor captive in a dungeon lay,

But, whilft the whips and tortures are prepar'd,
The gates fly open, of themselves unbarr'd;
At liberty th' unfetter'd captive stands,

And flings the loosen'd shackles from his hands.

THE DEATH OF PENTHEUS.

But Pentheus, grown more furious than before,
Refolv'd to fend his meffengers no more,
But went himself to the distracted throng,
Where high Citharon echo'd with their fong.
And as the fiery war-horse paws the ground,
And fnorts and trembles at the trumpet's found;
Transported thus he heard the frantic rout,
And rav'd and madden'd at the distant shout.

A fpacious circuit on the hill there stood,
Level and wide, and skirted round with wood;
Here the rash Pentheus, with unhallow'd eyes,
The howling dames and myftic orgies spies.
His mother sternly view'd him where he stood,
And kindled into madness as fhe view'd:

Her leafy javelin at her fon fhe caft;

And cries, "The boar that lays our country waste! "The boar, my fifters! aim the fatal dart, "And ftrike the brindled monster to the heart." Pentheus aftonish d heard the dismal found, And fees the yelling matrons gathering round;

He

He fees, and weeps at his approaching fate,
And begs for mercy, and repents too late.
"Help, help! my aunt Autonöe, he cry'd;
"Remember how your own Acteon dy'd.”
Deaf to his cries, the frantic matron crops
One ftretch'd-out arm, the other Ino lops.
In vain does Pentheus to his mother fue,
And the raw bleeding stumps presents to view:
His mother howl'd; and, heedlefs of his prayer,
Her trembling hand she twisted in his hair,
"And this, the cry'd, shall be Agave's share."
When from the neck his ftruggling head fhe tore,
And in her hands the ghaftly visage bore,
With pleasure all the hideous trunk survey ;
Then puil'd and tore the mangled limbs away,
As starting in the pangs of death it lay.
Soon as the wood its leafy honours casts,
Blown off and scatter'd by autumnal blasts,
With fuch a fudden death lay Pentheus flain,
And in a thousand pieces ftrow'd the plain.
By fo diftinguishing a judgment aw'd,
The Thebans tremble, and confess the god,

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THE

THE STORY OF SALMACIS AND HERMAPHRODITUS.

FROM THE FOURTH BOOK OF OVID'S

METAMORPHOSES.

HOW Salmacis, with weak enfeebling streams,

Softens the body, and unnerves the limbs,

And what the fecret caufe, fhall here be fhown;
The caufe is fecret, but th' effect is known.
The Naïads nurit an infant heretofore,
That Cytherea once to Hermes bore :

From both th' illuftrious authors of his race
The child was nam'd; nor was it hard to trace
Both the bright parents through the infant's face.
When fifteen years, in Ida's cool retreat,
The boy had told, he left his native feat,
And fought fresh fountains in a foreign foil :
The pleasure leffen'd the attending toil.
With eager steps the Lycian fields he croft,
And fields that border on the Lycian coaft;
A river here he view'd so lovely bright,
It fhew'd the bottom in a fairer light,

Nor kept a fand conceal'd from human fight :
The ftream produc'd nor flimy ooze, nor weeds,

}

But dealt enriching moisture all around,

Nor miry rushes, nor the spiky reeds;

The fruitful banks with chearful verdure crown'd,
And kept the fpring eternal on the ground.

}

A nymph prefides, nor practis'd in the chace,
Nor skilful at the bow, nor at the race;
Of all the blue-ey'd daughters of the main,
The only ftranger to Diana's train :
Her fifters often, as 'tis faid, wou'd cry,
"Fy, Salmacis, what always idle! fy,
"Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows seize,
"And mix the toils of hunting with thy ease.”
Nor quiver she nor arrows e'er would seize,
Nor mix the toils of hunting with her eafe.
But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide,
Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide;
Now in the limpid ftreams fhe view'd her face,
And drest her image in the floating glass :
On beds of leaves fhe now repos'd her limbs,
Now gather'd flowers that grew about her ftreams;
And then by chance was gathering, as the stood
To view the boy, and long for what she view'd.
Fain would the meet the youth with hafty feet,
She fain would meet him, but refus'd to meet
Before her looks were fet with niceft care,
And well deferv'd to be reputed fair.

Bright youth, fhe cries, whom all thy features prove "A god, and, if a god, the god of love ;

But if a mortal, bleft thy nurse's breast :

"Bleft are thy parents, and thy sisters bleft; "But oh how bleft how more than bleft thy bride, Ally'd in blifs, if any yet ally'd.

"If so, let mine the stol'n enjoyments be;

If not, behold a willing bride in me,”

The