"There find a herd of heifers wand'ring o'er
“The neighbouring hill, and drive 'em to the shore.”
Thus fpoke the God, concealing his intent.
The trufty Hermes on his meffage went,
And found the herd of heifers wand'ring o'er
A neighb'ring hill, and drove 'em to the shore;
Where the King's daughter with a lovely train
Of fellow-nymphs, was sporting on the plain.
The dignity of empire laid aside,

(For love but ill agrees with kingly pride)
The ruler of the skies, the thund'ring God,
Who thakes the world's foundation with a nod,
Among a herd of lowing heifers ran,

Frisk'd in a bull, and bellow'd o'er the plain.
Large rolls of fat about his fhoulders clung,
And from his neck the double dewlap hung.
His fkin was whiter than the fnow that lies
Unfully'd by the breath of fouthern skies
Sinall fhining horns on his curl'd forehead ftand,
As turn'd and polifh'd by the workman's hand;
His eye-balls roll'd, not formidably bright,
But gaz'd and languish'd with a gentle light.
His every look was peaceful, and expreft
The foftness of the lover in the beaft.

Agenor's royal daughter, as fhe play'd

Among the fields, the milk-white bull furvey'd,

And

And view'd his fpotlefs body with delight,

And at a dittance kept him in her fight.

At length fhe pluck'd the rifing flow'rs, and fed
The gentle beaft, and fondly ftrok'd his head.
He stood well-pleas'd to touch the charming fair,
But hardly could confine his plea fure there.

And now he wantons o'er the neigh'bring ftrand,
Now rells his body on the yellow fand;

And now, perceiving all her fears decay'd,

Comes toffing forward to the royal maid;

Gives her his breast to stroke, and downward turns
His grifly brow, and gently ftoops his horns.
In flow'ry wreaths the royal virgin drest
His bending horns, and kindly clapt his breast.
"Till now grown wanton, and devoid of fear,
Not knowing that the preft the thunderer,
She plac'd herfelf upon his back, and rode
O'er fields and meadows, feated on the God.

He gently march'd along, and by degrees
Left the dry meadows, and approach'd the seas;
Where now he dips his hoofs, and wets his thighs,
Now plunges in, and carries off the prize.
The frighted nymph looks backward on the fhore,
And hears the tumbling billows round her roar;
But ftill fhe holds him faft: one hand is borne

Upon his back: the other grafps a horn:

Her

Her train of ruffling garments flies behind,
Swells in the air, and hovers in the wind.

Through ftorms and tempefts he the virgin bore,
And lands her fafe on the Dicean shore;
Where now, in his divinest form array'd,
In his true shape he captivates the maid:
Who gazes on him, and with wond'ring eyes
Beholds the new majeftic figure rife,

His glowing features, and celeftial light,
And all the God difcover'd to her fight..

OVID's

O VID's

METAMORPHOSES.

воок III.

The Story of CADMUS.

WHEN now Agenor had his daughter loft,

He fent his fon to fearch on every coaft;

And sternly bid him to his arms reftore

The darling maid, or fee his face no more,

But live an exile in a foreign clime;

Thus was the father pious to a crime.

The reftless youth fearch'd all the world around;

But how can Jove in his amours be found?
When tir'd at length with unfuccefsful toil,
To fhun his angry fire and native foil,
He goes a fuppliant to the Delphic dome;
There asks the God what new-appointed home
Should end his wand'rings, and his toils relieve.
The Delphic oracles this anfwer give.

"Behold

"Behold among the fields a lonely cow,

"Unworn with yokes, unbroken to the plow;

"Mark well the place where first fhe lays her down, "There measure out thy walls, and build thy town, "And from thy guide Baotia call the land,

"In which the deftin'd walls and town hall stand."
No fooner had he left the dark abode,
Big with the promife of the Delphic God,

When in the fields the fatal cow he view'd,

Nor gall'd with yokes, nor worn with fervitude;
Her gently at a diftance he purfu'd;

And, as he walk'd aloof, in filence pray'd
To the great pow'r whofe counfels he obey'd.
Her way through flow'ry Panopè she took,
And now, Cephifus, cross'd thy filver brook;
When to the heav'ns her fpacious, front she rais'd,
And bellow'd thrice, then backward turning gaz'd
On those behind, 'till on the deftin'd place
She stoop'd, and couch'd amid the rifing grass.
Cadmus falutes the foil, and gladly hails

The new-found mountains, and the nameless vales,
And thanks the Gods, and turns about his eye
To fee his new dominions round him lie:

Then fends his fervants to a neighb'ring grove

For living streams, a facrifice to Jove.

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