All are alike involv'd in ill, and all
Muft by the fame relentless Fury fall.
Thus ended he; the greater Gods affent,
By Clamours urging his fevere intent;
The lefs fill up the Cry for Punishment.
Yet ftill with pity they remember Man;
And mourn as much as heav'nly Spirits can.
They ask, when those were loft of human Birth,
What he wou'd do with all his wafte of Earth?
If his difpeopl'd World he would resign
To Beafts, a mute, and more ignoble Line?
Neglected Altars muft no longer fmoke,
If none were left to worship, and invoke.
To whom the Father of the Gods reply'd ;
Lay that unneceffary fear afide :
Mine be the care, new People to provide.
I will from wondrous Principles ordain
A Race unlike the first, and try my Skill again.
Already had he tofs'd the flaming Brand;
And roll'd the Thunder in his fpacious Hand;
Preparing to discharge on Seas and Land:
But ftop'd, for fear, thus violently driv❜n,
The Sparks fhould catch his Axle-tree of Heav'n.
Remembring, in the Fates, a time, when Fire
Shou'd to the Battlements of Heav'n afpire,
And all his blazing Worlds above shou'd burn,
And all th' inferior Globe to Cinders turn.
His dire Artill'ry thus difmifs'd, he bent
His thoughts to fome securer Punishment:
Concludes to pour a Watry Deluge down ;
And, what he durft not burn, resolves to drown.
The Northern Breath, that freezes Floods, he binds;
With all the Race of Cloud-difpelling Winds:
The South he loos'd, who Night and Horror brings;
And Fogs are shaken from his flaggy Wings.
From his divided Beard two Streams he pours ;
His Head and rheumy Eyes diftil in Show'rs.
With Rain his Robe and heavy Mantle flow:
And lazy Mifts are lowring on his Brow.
Still as he swept along, with his clench'd Fift
He squeez'd the Clouds; th' imprifon'd Clouds refift:
The Skies, from Pole to Pole, with peals refound;
And Show'rs inlarg'd come pouring on the Ground.
Then, clad in Colours of a various Dye,
Junonian Iris breeds a new supply,
To feed the Clouds: Impetuous Rain descends;
The bearded Corn beneath the Burthen bends:
Defrauded Clowns deplore their perish'd Grain;
And the long Labours of the Year are vain.
Nor from his Patrimonial Heav'n alone
Is Jove content to pour his Vengeance down;
Aid from his Brother of the Seas he craves,
To help him with Auxiliary Waves.
The watry Tyrant calls his Brooks and Floods,
Who rowl from moffy Caves, their moist abodes;
And with perpetual Urns his Palace fill:
To whom, in brief, he thus imparts his Will
Small Exhortation needs; your Pow'rs employ:
And this bad World (fo Jove requires) destroy.
Let loofe the Reins to all your watry Store:
Bear down the Dams, and open ev'ry door.
The Floods, by Nature Enemies to Land,
And proudly fwelling with their new Command,
Remove the living Stones, that ftop'd their way,
And, gufhing from their Source, augment the Sea.
Then, with his Mace, their Monarch ftruck theGround:
With inward trembling Earth receiv'd the Wound;
And rifing Streams a ready paffage found.
Th' expanded Waters gather on the Plain :
They float the Fields, and over-top the Grain;
Then rushing onwards, with a sweepy sway,
Bear Flocks, and Folds, and lab'ring Hinds away.
Nor fafe their Dwellings were; for, fap'd by Floods,
Their Houses fell upon their Houthold Gods.
The folid Piles, too strongly built to fall,
High o'er their Heads behold a watry Wall.
Now Seas and Earth were in confufion loft ;
A World of Waters, and without a Coaft.
One climbs a Cliff; one in his Boat is born,
And ploughs above, where late he fow'd his Corn.
Others o'er Chimney tops and Turrets row,
And drop their Anchors on the Meads below :
Or downward driv'n, they bruise the tender Vine,
Or, tofs'd aloft, are knock'd against a Pine.
And where of late the Kids had crop'd the Grafs,
The Monsters of the deep now take their place.
Infulting Nereids on the Cities ride,
And wond'ring Dolphins o'er the Palace glide.
On Leaves, and Masts of mighty Oaks, they brouze;
And their broad Fins entangle in the Boughs.
The frighted Wolf now ́fwims amongst the Sheep;
The yellow Lion wanders in the deep :
His rapid force no longer helps the Boar:
The Stag swims fafter than he ran before.
The Fowls, long beating on their Wings in vain,
Despair of Land, and drop into the Main.
Now Hills and Vales no more diftinction know;
And levell'd Nature lies opprefs'd below.
The most of Mortals perish in the Flood:
The fmall remainder dies for want of Food.
A Mountain of ftupendous height there ftands
Betwixt th' Athenian and Baotian Lands,
The bound of fruitful Fields, while Fields they were,
But then a Field of Waters did appear:
Parnaffus is its name; whofe forky rife
Mounts thro' the Clouds, and mates the lofty Skies.
High on the Summit of this dubious Cliff,
Deucalion wafting moor'd his little Skiff.
He with his Wife were only left behind
Of perish'd Man; they two were human Kind.
The Mountain Nymphs and Themis they adore,
And from her Oracles relief implore.
The most upright of Mortal Men was he;
The moft fincere, and holy Woman, she.
When Jupiter, furveying Earth from high,
Beheld it in a Lake of Water lie,
That, where fo many Millions lately liv'd,
But two, the best of either Sex, furviv'd;
He loos'd the Northern Wind: fierce Boreas flies
To puff away the Clouds, and purge the Skies:
Serenely, while he blows, the Vapours driv'n
Discover Heav'n to Earth, and Earth to Heav'n.
The Billows fall, while Neptune lays his Mace
On the rough Sea, and fmooths its furrow'd Face.
Already Triton, at his call, appears
Above the Waves; a Tyrian Robe he wears;
And in his hand a crooked Trumpet bears.
The Sovereign bids him peaceful founds infpire,
And give the Waves the fignal to retire.
His writhen Shell he takes, whofe narrow vent
Grows by degrees into a large extent;
Then gives it breath; the Blaft, with doubling found,
Runs the wide Circuit of the World around.
The Sun first heard it, in his early East,
And met the rattling Echo's in the Weft.
The Waters, liftning to the Trumpet's roar,
Obey the Summons, and forfake the Shore.
A thin Circumference of Land appears;
And Earth, but not at once, her Vifage rears,
And peeps upon the Seas from upper Grounds:
The Streams, but just contain'd within their bounds,
By flow degrees into their Channels crawl;
And Earth increafes as the Waters fall.
In longer time the tops
Which Mud on their dishonour'd Branches bear.
At length the World was all refior'd to view,
But defolate, and of a fickly hue:
Nature beheld her felf, and flood aghaft,
A difmal Defart, and a filent Waste.
Which when Deucalion, with a piteous look,
Beheld, he wept, and thus to Pyrrha fpoke:
Oh Wife, oh Sifter, oh of all thy Kind
The beft, and only Creature left behind,
By Kindred, Love, and now by Dangers join'd;
Of Multitudes, who breath'd the common Air,
We two remain; a Species in a Pair:
The reft the Seas have fwallow'd; nor have we
E'en of this wretched Life a certainty.
The Clouds are fill above; and, while I speak,
A fecond Deluge o'er our Heads may break.
Shou'd I be fnatch'd from hence, and thou remain,
Without relief, or Partner of thy pain,
How cou'dft thou fuch a wretched Life fuftain ?
Shou'd I be left, and thou be loft, the Sea,
That bury'd her I lov'd, fhou'd bury me.
Oh cou'd our Father his old Arts infpire,
And make me Heir of his informing Fire,
That fo I might abolish'd Man retrieve,
And perish'd People in new Souls might live!
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