Me Claros, Delphos, Tenedos obey;
Thefe hands the Patareian fceptre sway.
The king of Gods begot me : what shall be,
Or is, or ever was, in fate, I fee.

Mine is th' invention of the charming lyre;
Sweet notes and heavenly numbers I inspire.
Sure is my bow, unerring is my dart;

But ah! more deadly his, who pierc'd my heart.
Medicine is mine, what herbs and fimples grow
In fields and forefts, all their powers I know ;
And am the great physician call'd below.
Alas, that fields and forests can afford
No remedies to heal their love-fick lord!
To cure the pains of love, no plant avails;
And his own phyfic the physician fails.

She heard not half, fo furiously the flies,
And on her ear th' imperfect accent lies.
Fear gave her wings; and as the fled, the wind
Increasing spread her flowing hair behind;
And left her legs and thighs expcs'd to view;
Which made the God more eager to pursue.
The God was young, and was too hotly bent
To lose his time in empty compliment :
But, led by love, and fir'd by such a fight,
Impetuously pursued his near delight.

As when th' impatient greyhound, flipt from far,
Bounds o'er the glebe, to course the fearful hare,
She in her speed does all her safety lay;

And he with double speed pursues the prey ;

VOL. III.

Y

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O'er

O'er-runs her at the fitting turn, and licks
His chaps in vain, and blows upon the flix :
She fcapes, and for the neighbouring covert ftrives,
And, gaining shelter, doubts if yet she lives :
If little things with great we may compare,
Such was the God, and fuch the flying fair:
She, urg'd by fear, her feet did fwiftly move;
But he more swiftly, who was urg'd by love.
He gathers ground upon her in the chace :
Now breathes upon her hair, with nearer pace;
And just is fastening on the wifh'd embrace.
The nymph grew pale, and in a mortal fright,
Spent with the labour of fo long a flight;
And now despairing caft a mournful look,
Upon the streams of her paternal brook :
Oh, help, fhe cry'd, in this extremeft need,
If Water-Gods are Deities indeed :

Gape, earth, and this unhappy wretch intomb:
Or change my form whence all iny forrow's come.
Scarce had the finish'd, when her feet fhe found
Benumb'd with cold, and fasten'd to the ground:
A filmy rind about her body grows,

Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs:
The nymph is all into a laurel gone,

The fmoothness of her skin remains alone.

Yet Phoebus loves her ftill, and, cafting round
Her bole, his arms, fome little warmth he found.
The tree ftill panted in th' unfinifh'd part,

Not wholly vegétive, and heav'd her heart.

He fix'd his lips upon the trembling rind;
It fwerv'd afide, "and his embrace declin'd.
To whom the God: Because thou canst not be
My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree :
Be thou the prize of honour and renown;
The deathless poet, and the poem, crown.
Thou shalt the Roman feftivals adorn,
And, after poets, be by victors worn.
Thou shalt returning Cæfar's triumph grace ;
When pomps fhall in a long proceffion pafs :
Wreath'd on the poft before his palace wait;
And be the facred guardian of the gate :
Secure from thunder, and unharm'd by Jove,
Unfading as th' immortal powers above:
And as the locks of Phoebus are unfhorn,
So fhall perpetual green thy boughs adorn.

The grateful tree was pleas'd with what he faid,
And shook the shady honours of her head.

1

The TRANSFORMATION of IO into an HEIFER..

An ancient forest in Theffalia grows;
Which Tempe's pleasant valley does inclofe;
Through 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,
Y 2

Deep,

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 resort,

To pay their homage, and to make their court,
All doubtful, whether to congratulate

e;

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 numerous throng
Condole his lofs, and bring their urns along.
Not one was wanting of the watery 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 through the world, but fought in vain ;
And, no where finding, rather fear'd her flain.
Her just returning from her father's brook,

Jove had beheld with a defiring look ;

And, oh, fair daughter of the flood, he said,
Worthy alone of Jove's imperial bed,
Happy whoever shall those charms poffefs!
The king of Gods (nor is thy lover lefs)
Invites thee to yon cooler shades, to fhun
The fcorching rays of the meridian fun.

Nor

Nor fhalt thou tempt the dangers of the grove
Alone without a guide; thy guide is Jove.
No puny power, but he, whose high command
Is unconfin'd, who rules the feas and land,
And tempers thunder in his awful hand.
Oh, fly rct (for fhe fled from his embrace
O'er Lerna's pastures): he pursued 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 mist fhould over-run
The face of day-light, and obfcure the fun."
No natural cause she found, from brooks or bogs,
Or marshy lowlands to produce the fogs:
Then round the fkies the fought for Jupiter,
Her faithlefs husband; but no Jove was there.
Sufpecting now the worst, Or I, she said,
Am much mistaken, or am much betray'd.
With fury fhe 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, foreseeing her descent,
Transforms his miftrefs in a trice: and now
In Io's place appears a lovely cow.

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