リ And aim'd a pointed arrow at her breast; And would have flain his mother in the beast ; When Juno saw the rival in her height, Spangled with stars, and circled round with light, She fought old Ocean in his deep abodes, And Tethys; both rever'd among the gods. They ask what brings her there. "Ne'er afk," fays fhe, "What brings me here; heaven is no place for me. "You'll fee, when night has cover'd all things o'er, Jove's ftarry baftard and triumphant whore "Ufurp the heavens; you'll fee them proudly roll "In their new orbs, and brighten all the pole. "And who fhall now on Juno's altar wait, "When those she hates grow greater by her hate ? I on the nymph a brutal form imprefs'd, Jove to a goddess has transform'd the beast: "This, this was all my weak revenge could do: "Restore th' adulterefs to her former shape; 4 The goddess ended, and her wish was given. THE STORY OF CORONIS, AND BIRTH THE raven once in fnowy plumes was dreft, His tongue, his prating tongue, had chang'd him quite The ftory of his change fhall here be told; "Stay, filly bird, th' ill-natur'd task refuse, "Nor be the bearer of unwelcome news. "Be warn'd by my example: you discern "What now I am, and what I was fhall learn. My foolish honefty was all my crime; "Then hear my ftory. Once upon a time, "The two-fhap'd Ericthonius had his birth. " (Without a mother) from the teeming earth; "Minerva nurs'd him, and the infant laid "Within a cheft, of twining ofiers made. "The daughters of king Cecrops undertook "To guard the cheft, commanded not to look "On what was hid within. I ftood to fee "The charge obey'd, perch'd on a neighbouring tree. "The fifters Pandrofos and Hersè keep "The ftrict command; Aglauros needs would "And faw the monstrous infant in a fright, "And call'd her fifters to the hideous fight : "A boy's foft shape did to the waist prevail, But the boy ended in a dragon's tail. "I told the stern Minerva all that pass'd, "But, for my pains, discarded and disgrac'd, "The frowning goddess drove me from her fight, "And for her favourite chose the bird of night. "Be then no tell-tale; for I think my wrong Enough to teach a bird to hold her tongue. "But you, perhaps, may think I was remov'd, "As never by the heavenly maid belov'd; "But I was lov'd; ask Pallas if I lie ; Though Pallas hate me now, fhe won't deny; peep, "For I, whom in a feather'd shape you view, Neptune, as on his shores I went to rove, "Obferv'd me in my walks, and fell in love. "He made his courtship, he confefs'd his pain, "And offer'd force when all his arts were vain; "Swift he pursued: I ran along the ftrand, "Till, spent and weary'd on the finking fand, "I fhriek'd aloud, with cries I fill'd the air "To gods and men; nor god nor man was there: "A virgin goddess heard a virgin's prayer. "For, as my arms I lifted to the skies, “I saw black feathers from my fingers rife ; "I ftrove to fling my garment on the ground; 66 } My garment turn'd to plumes, and girt me round. My hands to beat my naked bofom try; "Nor naked bofom now nor hands had I. "Lightly I tript, nor weary as before "Sunk in the fand, but skimm'd along the shore; "Till, rifing on my wings, I was prefer'd "To be the chafte Minerva's virgin bird : "Prefer'd in vain! I now am in disgrace: "Nyctimene the owl enjoys my place. "On her incestuous life I need not dwell " (In Lefbos ftill the horrid tale they tell); "And of her dire amours you must have heard, "For which she now does penance in a bird, “ That, conscious of her shame, avoids the light, Grew paffionate, it seems, and took offence, And found him out, and told the fatal truth The god was wroth; the colour left his look, Down fell the wounded nymph, and fadly groan'd, The god diffolves in pity at her death; He hates the bird that made her falfehood known, The pile made ready, and the kindling fire, } |