But Heav'n is pleas'd, nor ought we to complain,
That we, th' Examples of Mankind, remain.
He faid: the careful Couple join their Tears,
And then invoke the Gods, with pious Prayers.
Thus in Devotion having eas'd their Grief,
From facred Oracles they feek Relief:
And to Cephifus' Brook their way pursue:
The Stream was troubled, but the Ford they knew.
With living Waters, in the Fountain bred,
They fprinkle first their Garments, and their Head,
Then took the way, which to the Temple led.
The Roofs were all defil'd with Mofs and Mire,
The defert Altars void of folemn Fire.
Before the Gradual proftrate they ador'd,
The Pavement kifs'd; and thus the Saint implor'd.
O Righteous Themis, if the Pow'rs above
By Pray'rs are bent to pity, and to love ;
If human Miseries can move their Mind;
If yet they can forgive, and yet be kind;
Tell how we may restore, by second birth,
Mankind, and people defolated Earth.
Then thus the gracious Goddess, nodding, faid;
Depart, and with your Vestments veil your head:
And stooping lowly down, with loofen'd Zones,
Throw each behind your backs your mighty Mother's
Bones.
Amaz'd the Pair, and mute with wonder, ftand,
'Till Pyrrha firft refus'd the dire Command.
Forbid it Heav'n, faid fhe, that I fhou'd tear
Thofe Holy Relicks from the Sepulchre.
They ponder'd the myfterious words again,
For fome new fenfe; and long they fought in vain :
At length Deucalion clear'd his cloudy brow,
And faid: the dark Ænigma will allow
A Meaning; which, if well I understand,
From Sacrilege will free the God's Command:
This Earth our mighty Mother is, the Stones
In her capacious Body are her Bones :
These we must caft behind. With hope, and fear,
The Woman did the new Solution hear:
The Man diffides in his own Augury,
And doubts the Gods; yet both resolve to try.
Defcending from the Mount, they first unbind
Their Vests, and veil'd they caft the Stones behind:
The Stones (a Miracle to Mortal View,
But long Tradition makes it pass for true )
Did first the Rigour of their Kind expel,
And fuppled into foftness as they fell;
Then fwell'd, and fwelling by degrees grew warm;
And took the Rudiments of human Form;
Imperfect Shapes in Marble íuch are seen,
When the rude Chizzel does the Man begin ;
While yet the roughness of the Stone remains,
Without the rifing Muscles and the Veins.
The fappy parts, and next resembling juice,
Were turn'd to moisture, for the Body's use:
Supplying humours, blood and nourishment;
The reft, too folid to receive a bent,
Converts to Bones; and what was once a Vein,
Its former Name and Nature did retain.
By help of Pow'r Divine, in little space,
What the Man threw affum'd a Manly Face;
And what the Wife, renew'd the Female Race.
Hence we derive our Nature; born to bear
Laborious Life, and harden'd into Care.
The rest of Animals, from teeming Earth
Produc'd, in various forms receiv'd their birth.
The native moisture, in its clofe retreat,
Digefted by the Sun's Etherial Heat,
As in a kindly Womb, began to breed :
Then fwell'd, and quicken'd by the vital Seed.
And fome in lefs, and fome in longer space,
Were ripen'd into form, and took a fev'ral face.
Thus when the Nile from Pharian Fields is fled,
And feeks, with Ebbing Tides, his Ancient Bed,
The fat Manure with Heav'nly Fire is warm'd;
And crufted Creatures, as in Wombs, are form'd:
Thefe, when they turn the Glebe, the Pealants find;
Some rude, and yet unfinish'd in their kind:
Short of their Limbs, a lame imperfect Birth;
One half alive, and one of lifeless Earth.
For heat and moisture when in Bodies join'd,
The temper that refults from either Kind
Conception makes; and fighting 'till they mix,
Their mingled Atoms in each other fix.
Thus Nature's hand the Genial Bed prepares
With friendly Discord, and with fruitful Wars.
From hence the furface of the Ground with Mud
And Slime befmear'd (the fæces of the Flood)
Receiv'd the Rays of Heav'n; and fucking in
The Seeds of Heat, new Creaturės did begin:
Some were of fev'ral forts produc'd before ;
But of new Monsters Earth created more.
Unwillingly, but yet fhe brought to light
Thee, Python, too, the wond'ring World to fright,
And the new Nations, with fo dire a fight:
So monftrous was his bulk, fo large a space
Did his vaft Body and long Train embrace :
Whom Phabus basking on a Bank espy'd.
Ere now the God his Arrows had not try'd,
But on the trembling Deer, or Mountain Goat ;
At this new Quarry he prepares to shoot.
Though every Shaft took place, he spent the Store
Of his full Quiver; and 'twas long before
Th' expiring Serpent wallow'd in his Gore.
Then, to preserve the Fame of fuch a deed,
For Python flain he Pythian Games decreed.
Where Noble Youths for Mastership shou'd strive,
To Quoit, to Run, and Steeds and Chariots drive.
The Prize was Fame: In witness of Renown,
An Oaken Garland did the Victor crown.
The Laurel was not yet for Triumphs born;
But every Green alike by Phabur worn rocks adom.}
Did, with promiscuous Grace, his flowing Locks adorn.
The Transformation of DAPHNE into a Laurel.
The first and fairest of his Loves was fhe,
Whom not blind Fortune, but the dire Decree
Of angry Cupid forc'd him to defire:
Daphne her Name, and Peneus was her Sire.
Swell'd with the Pride, that new Succefs attends,
He fees the Stripling, while his Bow he bends,
And thus infults him: Thou lascivious Boy,
Are Arms like these for Children to employ ?
Know, fuch Atchievements are my proper claim;
Due to my vigour and unerring aim:
Refiftlefs are my Shafts, and Python late,
In such a feather'd Death, has found his fate.
Take up thy Torch, and lay my Weapons by ;
With that the feeble Souls of Lovers fry..
To whom the Son of Venus thus reply'd :
Phabus, thy Shafts are fure on all befide;
VOL. II.
But mine on Phabus: mine the Fame fhall be
Of all thy Conquefts, when I conquer thee.
He faid, and foaring fwiftly wing'd his flight;
Nor ftop'd but on Parnassus' airy height.
Two diff'rent Shafts he from his Quiver draws;
One to repel Defire, and one to cause.
One Shaft is pointed with refulgent Gold,
To bribe the Love, and make the Lover bold:
One blunt, and tipt with Lead, whose base Allay
Provokes Disdain, and drives Defire away.
The blunted Bolt against the Nymph he dreft:
But with the sharp transfix'd Apollo's Breaft.
Th' enamour'd Deity purfues the Chace;
The fcornful Damfel fhuns his loath'd Embrace :
In hunting Beafits of Prey her Youth employs;
And Phabe rivals in her rural Joys.
With naked Neck the goes, and Shoulders bare;
And with a Fillet binds her flowing Hair.
By many Suitors fought, fhe mocks their pains,
And still her vow'd Virginity maintains.
Impatient of a Yoke, the name of Bride
She fhuns, and hates the Joys, the never try'd.
On Wilds and Woods fhe fixes her Defire;
Nor knows what Youth, and kindly Love, infpire.
Her Father chides her oft: Thou ow'it, says he,
A Hufband to thy felf, a Son to me.
She, like a Crime, abhors the Nuptial Bed :
She glows with Blushes, and fhe hangs her Head.
Then, cafting round his Neck her tender Arms,
Sooths him with Blandishments, and filial Charms:
Give me, my Lord, the faid, to live, and die,
A fpotlefs Maid, without the Marriage-Tie.
"Tis but a small Request; I beg no more
Than what Diana's Father gave before.
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