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But stranger Virtues yet in Streams we find,

Some change not only Bodies, but the Mind: 480

Who has not heard of Salmacis obscene.
Whose Waters into Women soften Men ?
Of Ethyopian Lakes, which turn the Brain
To Madness, or in heavy Sleep constrain ?
Clytorian Streams the Love of Wine expel,
(Such is the Virtue of th' abstemious Well;)
Whether the colder Nymph that rules the
Flood

Extinguishes, and balks the drunken God; Or that Melampus (so have some assur'd) When the mad Pratides with Charms he cur'd, 490 And pow'rful Herbs, both Charms and Simples cast

Into the sober Spring, where still their Virtues last.

Unlike Effects Lyncestis will produce; Who drinks his Waters, tho' with moderate

use,

Reels as with Wine, and sees with double Sight:

His Heels too heavy, and his Head too light. Ladon, once Pheneos, an Arcadian Stream, (Ambiguous in th' Effects, as in the Name) By Day is wholesom Bev'rage; but is thought

By Night infected, and a deadly Draught. Thus running Rivers, and the standing Lake 501 Now of these virtues, now of those partake: Time was (and all Things Time and Fate obey)

When fast Orlygia floated on the Sea; Such were Cyanean Isles, when Tiphys steer'd

Betwixt their Streights, and their Collision fear'd;

They swam where now they sit; and firmly join'd

Secure of rooting up, resist the Wind.
Nor Etna vomiting sulphureous Fire
Will ever belch; for Sulphur will expire, 510
(The Veins exhausted of. the liquid Store ;)
Time was she cast no Flames; in time will

cast no more.

For whether Earth's an Animal, and Air Imbibes, her Lungs with Coolness to repair, And what she sucks remits; she still requires Inlets for Air, and Outlets for her Fires;

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The Seeds of Fire, thus toss'd in Air, collide, Kindling the Sulphur, till the Fewel spent The Cave is cool'd, and the fierce Winds relent.

Or whether Sulphur, catching Fire, feeds on Its unctuous Parts, till all the Matter gone, The Flames no more ascend; for Earth supplies

The Fat that feeds them; and when Earth denies

That Food, by length of Time consum'd, the Fire

Famish'd for want of Fewel must expire. A Race of Men there are, as Fame has told,

531

Who shiv'ring suffer Hyperborean Cold,
Till nine times bathing in Minerva's Lake,
Soft Feathers, to defend their naked Sides,
they take.

'Tis said, the Scythian Wives (believe who will)

Transform themselves to Birds by Magick Skill;

Smear'd over with an Oil of wond' rous Might,

That adds new Pinions to their airy Flight. But this by sure Experiment we know, That living Creatures from Corruption grow:

540

Hide in a hollow Pit a slaughter'd Steer, Bees from his putrid Bowels will appear; Who like their Parents haunt the Fields, and bring

Their Hony-Harvest home, and hope another Spring.

The Warlike-Steed is multiply'd we find, To Wasps and Hornets of the Warrior Kind. Cut from a Crab his crooked Claws, and hide The rest in Earth, a Scorpion thence will glide

And shoot his Sting, his Tail in Circles toss'd Refers the Limbs his backward Father lost.

541 hollow] hallow 1700.

And Worms, that Stretch on Leaves their filmy Loom, 551 Crawl from their Bags, and Butterflies become

Ev'n Slime begets the Frog's loquacious Race:

Short of their Feet at first, in little Space With Arms and Legs endu'd, long leaps they take,

Rais'd on their hinder part, and swim the Lake,

And waves repel: For Nature gives their Kind,

wear.

To that intent, a length of Legs behind. The Cubs of Bears a living lump appear, When whelp'd, and no determin'd Figure 560 Their Mother licks 'em into Shape, and gives As much of Form, as she her self receives. The Grubs from their sexangular abode Crawl out unfinish'd, like the Maggot's Brood:

Trunks without Limbs; till time at Leisure brings

The Thighs they wanted, and their tardy Wings.

The Bird who draws the Carr of Juno, vain

Of her crown'd Head, and of her Starry
Train ;

And he that bears th' Artillery of Jove,
The strong-pounc'd Eagle; and the billing
Dove;

570

And all the feather'd Kind, who cou'd)

suppose

(But that from sight the surest Sense he knows)

They from th' included Yolk, not ambient White arose.

There are who think the Marrow of a Man, Which in the Spine, while he was living,

ran;

When dead, the Pith corrupted will become A Snake, and hiss within the hollow Tomb. All these receive their Birth from other Things;

But from himself the Phoenix only springs: Self-born, begotten by the Parent Flame 580 In which he burn'd, another and the same: Who not by Corn or Herbs his Life sustains, But the sweet Essence of Amomum drains

553 Frog's] The editors give Frogs'

And watches the rich Gums Arabia bears,
While yet in tender Dew they drop their
Tears.

He, (his five Centuries of life fulfill'd)
His Nest on Oaken Boughs begins to build,
Or trembling tops of Palm: and first he
draws

The Plan with his broad Bill, and crooked
Claws,

590

Nature's Artificers; on this the Pile
Is form'd, and rises round, then with the
Spoil

Of Casia, Cynamon, and Stems of Nard,
(For Softness strew'd beneath,) his Fun'ral
Bed is rear'd:

Fun'ral and Bridal both; and all around The Borders with corruptless Myrrh are crown'd:

On this incumbent; till ætherial Flame First catches, then consumes the costly Frame;

Consumes him too, as on the Pile he lies; He liv'd on Odours, and in Odours dies.

An Infant-Phoenix from the former springs, His Father's Heir, and from his tender Wings

601

Shakes off his Parent Dust; his Method he

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So Coral soft and white in Oceans Bed, Comes harden'd up in Air, and glows with Red.

All changing Species should my Song recite ;

Before I ceas'd, wou'd change the Day to Night.

Nations and Empires flourish and decay, By turns command, and in their turns obey;

Time softens hardy People, Time again Hardens to War a soft, unwarlike Train. Thus Troy, for ten long Years, her Foes withstood, 630

And daily bleeding bore th' expence of Blood:

Now for thick Streets it shows an empty) Space,

Or only fill'd with Tombs of her own perish'd

Race,

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'Tis time my hard-mouth'd Coursers to controul,

Apt to run Riot, and transgress the Goal:
And therefore I conclude, whatever lies 670
In Earth, or flits in Air, or fills the Skies,
All suffer change, and we, that are of Soul
And Body mix'd, are Members of the whole.
Then, when our Sires, or Grandsires shall
forsake

The Forms of Men, and brutal Figures take,
Thus hous'd, securely let their Spirits rest,
Nor violate thy Father in the Beast,
Thy Friend, thy Brother, any of thy Kin ;
If none of these, yet there's a Man within:
O spare to make a Thyestaan Meal,
T' inclose his Body, and his Soul expel.
Ill Customs by degrees to Habits rise,
Ill Habits soon become exalted Vice :

680

When the round World shall be contain'd What more Advance can Mortals make in Sin

in Rome.

For thus old Saws fortel, and Helenus Anchises drooping Son enliven'd thus, When Ilium now was in a sinking State, And he was doubtful of his future Fate: O Goddess-born, with thy hard Fortune strive,

Troy never can be lost, and thou alive. 650 Thy Passage thou shalt free through Fire and Sword,

And Troy in Foreign Lands shall be restor❜d. In happier Fields a rising Town I see, Greater than what e'er was, or is, or e'er shall be:

And Heav'n yet owes the World a Race deriv'd from Thee.

So near Perfection, who with Blood begin? Deaf to the Calf that lies beneath the Knife, Looks up, and from her Butcher begs her Life:

Deaf to the harmless Kid, that, e'er he dies, All Methods to procure thy Mercy tries, And imitates in vain thy Children's Cries.) Where will he stop, who feeds with Household Bread, 691

Then eats the Poultry which before he fed ? Let plough thy Steers; that when they lose their Breath,

To Nature, not to thee, they may impute their Death.

658 Iulus] Julus 1700. Birth] Breath 1700.

Let Goats for Food their loaded Udders lend, And Sheep from Winter-cold thy Sides defend ;

But neither Sprindges, Nets, nor Snares employ,

And be no more Ingenious to destroy. Free as in Air, let Birds on Earth remain, Not let insidious Glue their Wings constrain; Nor opening Hounds the trembling Stag affright, 701

Nor purple Feathers intercept his Flight; Nor Hooks conceal'd in Baits for Fish prepare,

Nor Lines to heave 'em twinkling up in Air. Take not away the Life you cannot give: For all Things have an equal right to live.

Kill noxious Creatures, where 'tis Sin to save;
This only just Prerogative we have:
But nourish Life with vegetable Food,
And shun the sacrilegious tast of Blood. 710
These Precepts by the Samian Sage were
taught,

Which Godlike Numa to the Sabines brought,
And thence transferr'd to Rome, by Gift his

own:

A willing People, and an offer'd Throne.
O happy Monarch, sent by Heav'n to bless
A Salvage Nation with soft Arts of Peace,
To teach Religion, Rapine to restrain,
Give Laws to Lust, and Sacrifice ordain :
Himself a Saint, a Goddess was his Bride,
And all the Muses o'er his Acts preside. 720

TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S EPISTLES.

PREFACE CONCERNING OVID'S EPISTLES.

The Life of Ovid being already written in our language before the Translation of his Metamorphoses, I will not presume so far upon myself, to think I can add any thing to Mr. Sandys his undertaking. The English reader may there be satisfied, that he flourish'd in the reign of Augustus Cæsar; that he was Extracted from an Ancient Family of Roman Knights; that he was born to the Inheritance of a Splendid Fortune; that he was design'd to the Study of the Law, and had made considerable progress in it, before he quitted that Profession, for this of Poetry, to which he was more naturally form'd. The Cause of his Banishment is 10 unknown; because he was himself unwilling further to provoke the Emperour, by ascribing it to any other reason, than what was pretended by Augustus, which was, the Lasciviousness of his Elegies, and his Art of Love. 'Tis true, they are not to be Excus'd in the severity of Manners, as being able to corrupt a larger Empire, if there were any, than that of Rome: yet this may be said in behalf of Ovid, that no man has ever treated the Passion of Love with so much Delicacy of thought, and of Expression, or search'd into the nature of it more Philosophically than he. And the Emperour, who condemn'd him, had as little reason as another Man to punish that fault with so much severity, if at least he were the Author of a certain Epigram, which is ascrib'd to him, relating to the cause of the first Civil War betwixt himself and Mark Anthony the triumvir, which is more fulsome than any passage I have met with 20 in our Poet. To pass by the naked familiarity of his Expressions to Horace, which are cited in that Author's Life, I need only mention one notorious Act of his, in taking Livia to his Bed, when she was not only Married, but with Child by her Husband, then living. But Deeds, it seems, may be Justified by Arbitrary Pow'r, when words are question'd in a Poet. There is another ghess of the Grammarians, as far from truth as the first from Reason; they will have him Banish'd for some favours, which, they say, he receiv'd from Julia, the Daughter of Augustus, whom they think he Celebrates under the Name of Corinna in his Elegies. But he, who will observe the Verses which are made to that Mistress, may gather from the whole contexture of them, that Corinna was not a Woman of the highest Quality. If Julia were then Married to Agrippa, why should our Poet make his Petition to Isis, for her safe delivery, 30 and afterwards Condole her Miscarriage; which, for ought he knew, might be by her own Husband? Or indeed how durst he be so bold to make the least discovery of such a Crime, which was no less than Capital, especially Committed against a Person of Agrippa's Rank? Or, if it were before her Marriage, he would surely have been more discreet, than to have published an Accident which must have been fatal to them both. But what most Confirms me against this Opinion is, that Ovid himself complains, that the true Person of Corinna was found out by the Fame of his Verses to her : which if it had been Julia, he durst not have own'd; and, besides, an immediate punishment must have follow'd. He seems himself more truly to have touch'd at the Cause of his Exile in those obscure verses,

Cur aliquid vidi, cur noxia Lumina feci? &c.

40 Namely, that he had either seen, or was Conscious to somewhat, which had procur'd him his disgrace. But neither am I satisfied, that this was the Incest of the Emperour with his own Daughter for Augustus was of a nature too vindicative, to have contented himself with so small a Revenge, or so unsafe to himself, as that of simple Banishment, and would certainly have secur'd his Crimes from publick notice, by the death of him who was witness to them. Neither have Histories given us any sight into such an Action of this Emperour: nor would he (the greatest Politician of his time,) in all probability, have manag'd his Crimes with so

PREFACE CONCERNING Ovid's EPISTLES. Text of 1683. Some passages are omitted in several editions.

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