May tigers there, and all the favage kind, Sad folitary haunts and filent deserts find; In gloomy vaults, and nooks of palaces, May th' unmolested lionefs

Her brinded whelps fecurely lay,

Or, coucht, in dreadful flumbers waste the day.
While Troy in heaps of ruins lies,
Rome and the Roman capitol fhall rise;

Th' illuftrious exiles unconfin'd

Shall triumph far and near, and rule mankind.
In vain the fea's intruding tide
Europe from Afric shall divide,
And part the fever'd world in two:

Through Afric's fands their triumphs they fhall fpread, And the long train of victories purfue

To Nile's yet undiscover'd head.

Riches the hardy foldiers fhall defpife, And look on gold with un-defiring eyes, Nor the disbowel'd earth explore

In fearch of the forbidden ore;

Thofe glittering ills, conceal'd within the mine,
Shall lie untouch'd, and innocently shine.
To the laft bounds that nature fets,

The piercing colds and fultry heats,
The godlike race fhall spread their arms,
Now fill the polar circle with alarms,

Till ftorms and tempefts their pursuits confine;
Now sweat for conquest underneath the line.

This only law the victor fhall restrain,
On thefe conditions fhall he reign;

If none his guilty hand employ

To build again a fecond Troy,

If none the rash design pursue,

Nor tempt the vengeance of the gods anew.

A curfe there cleaves to the devoted place,
That fhall the new foundations rafe ;
Greece fhall in mutual leagues confpire
To ftorm the rifing town with fire,
And at their armies head myself will show
What Juno, urg'd to all her rage, can do.
Thrice fhould Apollo's felf the city raise
And line it round with walls of brafs,
Thrice fhould my
favourite Greeks his works confound,
And hew the shining fabric to the ground:

Thrice fhould her captive dames to Greece return,
And their dead fons and flaughter'd husbands mourn.
But hold, my Mufe, forbear thy towering flight,
Nor bring the fecrets of the gods to light:
In vain would thy prefumptuous verse
Th' immortal rhetoric rehearse;

The mighty strains, in lyric numbers bound,
Forget their majefty, and lose their found,

THE

THE VESTA L

FROM

OVID DE FASTIS, LIB. III. EL. 1.

"Blanda quies victis furtim fubrepit ocellis, &e."

S the fair Vestal to the fountain came,

(Let none be startled at a Veftal's name :) Tir'd with the walk, fhe laid her down to rest, And to the winds expos'd her glowing breast, To take the freshness of the morning-air, And gather'd in a knot her flowing hair; While thus the rested, on her arm reclin'd, The hoary willows waving with the wind, And feather'd choirs that warbled in the fhade, And purling ftreams that through the meadow stray'd, In drowsy murmurs lull'd the gentle maid. The God of War beheld the virgin lie, The God beheld her with a lover's eye; And, by fo tempting an occafion press'd, The beauteous maid, whom he beheld, poffefs'd: Conceiving as the flept, her fruitful womb Swell'd with the Founder of immortal Rome.

}

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

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II.

T

THE STORY OF PHAETON.

HE fun's bright palace, on high columns rais'd, With burnish'd gold and flaming jewels blaz'd; The folding gates diffus'd a silver light,

And with a milder gleam refresh'd the fight;
Of polish'd ivory was the covering wrought:
The matter vied not with the fculptor's thought,
For in the portal was difplay'd on high
(The work of Vulcan) a fictitious sky;
A waving fea th' inferior earth embrac'd,
And Gods and Goddeffes the waters grac'd.
geon here a mighty whale beftrode ;
Triton, and Proteus (the deceiving God),
With Doris here were carv'd, and all her train,
Some loosely fwimming in the figur'd main,
While fome on rocks their drooping hair divide,
And fome on fishes through the waters glide:
Though various features did the fifters grace,
A fifter's likeness was in every face.

On earth a different landskip courts the eyes,
Men, towns, and beafts, in diftant prospects rise,
And nymphs, and streams, and woods,and rural deities.
O'er all, the heaven's refulgent image fhines;
On either gate were fix engraven figns.

Here

Here Phaeton, ftill gaining on th' ascent, To his fufpected father's palace went,

Till preffing forward through the bright abode,
He faw at distance the illuftrious God:
He faw at diftance, or the dazzling light
Had flash'd too strongly on his aking fight.
The God fits high, exalted on a throne
Of blazing gems, with purple garments on;
The hours in order rang'd on either hand,
And days, and months, and years, and ages, ftand
Here spring appears with flowery chaplets bound;
Here fummer in her wheaten garland crown'd;
Here autumn the rich troden grapes befmear ;
And hoary winter fhivers in the rear.

Phœbus beheld the youth from off his throne;
That eye, which looks on all, was fix'd on one.
He saw the boy's confusion in his face,

Surpriz'd at all the wonders of the place;

And cries aloud, "What wants my fon? For know "My son thou art, and I must call thee so.” "Light of the world," the trembling youth replies "Illuftrious parent! fince you don't despise "The parent's name, fome certain token give, "That I may Clymenè's proud boast believe, "Nor longer under falfe reproaches grieve."

The tender Sire was touch'd with what he faid, And flung the blaze of glories from his head, And bid the youth advance: " My fon (faid he) "Come to thy father's arms! for Clymenè "Has told thee true; a parent's name I own,

And deem thee worthy to be call'd my fon.