The TRANSFORMATION of IO into a HEIFER.
An ancient forest in Theffalia grows;
Which Tempe's pleafant valley does inclofe:
Thro' this the rapid Peneus takes his course;
From Pindus rolling with impetuous force:
Mifts from the river's mighty fall arise;
And deadly damps inclofe the cloudy skies:
Perpetual fogs are hanging o'er the wood;
And founds of waters deaf the neighbourhood.
Deep, in a rocky cave, he makes abode :
A manfion proper for a mourning God.
Here he gives audience; iffuing out decrees
To rivers, his dependent Deities.
On this occafion hither they refort,
Το
pay their homage, and to make their court.
All doubtful, whether to congratulate
His daughter's honour, or lament her fate.
Sperchæus, crown'd with poplar, first appears:
Then old Apidanus came crown'd with years:
Enipeus turbulent, Amphryfos tame;
And as laft with lagging waters came.
Then of his kindred brooks a num'rous throng
Condole his lofs, and bring their urns along.
Not one was wanting of the watry train,
That fill'd his flood, or mingled with the main,
But Inachus, who, in his cave alone,
Wept not another's loffes, but his own;
For his dear Io, whether ftray'd, or dead,
To him uncertain, doubtful tears he shed.
He fought her thro' the world, but fought in vain ;
And, no where finding, rather fear'd her flain.
Her juft returning from her father's brook, Jove had beheld her, with a defiring look;
And, oh, fair daughter of the flood, he said,
Worthy alone of Jove's imperial bed,
Happy whoever fhall thofe charms poffefs;
The king of Gods (nor is thy lover lefs)
Invites thee to yon cooler fhades, to fhun
The fcorching rays of the meridian fun.
Nor fhalt thou tempt the dangers of the grove
Alone without a guide; thy guide is Jove.
No puny pow'r, but he, whofe high command
Is unconfin'd, who rules the feas and land,
And tempers
thunder in his awful hand.
Oh fly not; for fhe fled from his embrace
O'er Lerna's paftures: he purfu'd the chace
Along the fhades of the Lyrcæan plain;
At length the God who never asks in vain,
Involv'd with vapours, imitating night,
Both air and earth; and then fupprefs'd her flight,
And, mingling force with love, enjoy'd the full delight.
Mean-time the jealous Juno, from on high
Survey'd the fruitful fields of Arcady;
And wonder'd that the mift should over-run
The face of day-light and obfcure the fun.
No nat❜ral caufe fhe found, from brooks or bogs,
Or marfhy lowlands to produce the fogs:
Then round the fkies the fought for Jupiter,
Her faithlefs husband; but no Jove was there.
Sufpecting now the worft, or I, fhe faid,
Am much mistaken, or am much betray'd.
With fury the precipitates her flight;
Difpels the shadows of diffembled night,
And to the day reftores his native light.
Th' almighty leacher careful to prevent
The confequence, forefeeing her defcent,
Transforms his miftrefs in a trice and now
In Io's place appears a lovely cow.
So fleek her fkin, 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 fhe fprung from earth. She took the word,
And begg'd the beauteous heifer of her lord.
What fhou'd he do? 'twas equal shame to Jove
Or to relinquish, or betray his love:
Yet to refuse so 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 stronger 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 Goddess of her gift poffeft,
Yet harbour'd anxious thoughts within her breast;
As fhe 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 fkies)
Was compafs'd round, and wore an hundred eyes.
But two by turns their lids in flumber steep;
The reft on duty ftill their ftation keep;
Nor could the total conftellation fleep.
Thus, ever prefent, to his eyes, and mind,
His charge was ftill 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 hardly lodg'd: and to digeft her food,
She drank from troubled streams, 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 fpeak; fhe spoke not, but she low'd,
Affrighted with the noife, fhe 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 visage, 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 she
Were still a partner of the company:
They ftroke her neck; the gentle heifer stands,
And her neck offers to their ftroking 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 fhe spoke.
She wou'd have told her name, and ask'd relief,
But, wanting words, in tears she tells her grief.
Which with her foot fhe makes him understand;
And prints the name of Io in the sand.
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 fhe, whom I have fought around
The world, and have at length fo fadly found?
So found, is worse than loft: with mutual words
Thou answer'st not, no voice thy tongue affords;
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But fighs are deeply drawn from out thy breaft;
And speech deny'd by lowing is express'd.
Unknowing, I prepar'd thy bridal bed ;
With empty hopes of happy iffue fed.
But now the husband 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 ftarry guardian drove his charge away,
To fome fresh pafture on a hilly height
He fat himself, and kept her ftill 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 his 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 sped;
His flying hat was fasten'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 feem to fight a fhepherd's hook,
With this he did a herd of goats controul;
Which by the way he met, and flily ftole.
Clad like a country fwain, he pip'd, and fung;
And playing drove his jolly troop along.
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