Page:Metamorphoses (Ovid, 1567).djvu/408

He rucketh downe uppon the same, and in the spyces dyes.
Soone after, of the fathers corce men say there dooth aryse
Another little Phoenix which as many yeeres must live
As did his father. He (assoone as age dooth strength him give
To beare the burthen) from the tree the weyghty nest dooth lift,
And godlyly his cradle thence and fathers herce dooth shift.
And flying through the suttle aire he gettes to Phebus towne,
And there before the temple doore dooth lay his burthen downe.
But if that any noveltye woorth woondring bee in theis,
Much rather may we woonder at the Hyen if we please.
To see how interchaungeably it one whyle dooth remayne
A female, and another whyle becommeth male againe.
The creature also which dooth live by only aire and wynd,
All colours that it leaneth to dooth counterfet by kynd.
The Grapegod Bacchus, when he had subdewd the land of Inde,
Did fynd a spotted beast cald Lynx, whoose urine (by report)
By towching of the open aire congealeth in such sort,
As that it dooth becomme a stone. So Corall (which as long
As water hydes it is a shrub and soft) becommeth strong
And hard assoone as it dooth towch the ayre. The day would end,
And Phebus panting steedes should in the Ocean deepe descend,
Before all alterations I in woordes could comprehend.
So see wee all things chaungeable. One nation gathereth strength:
Another wexeth weake: and bothe doo make exchaunge at length.
So Troy which once was great and strong as well in welth as men,
And able tenne yeeres space to spare such store of blood as then,
Now beeing bace hath nothing left of all her welth to showe,
Save ruines of the auncient woorkes which grasse dooth overgrowe,
And tumbes wherin theyr auncetours lye buryed on a rowe.
Once Sparta was a famous towne: Great Mycene florisht trim:
Bothe Athens and Amphions towres in honor once did swim.
A pelting plot is Sparta now: great Mycene lyes on ground.
Of Theab the towne of Oedipus what have we more than sound?
Of Athens, king Pandions towne, what resteth more than name?
Now also of the race of Troy is rysing (so sayth fame)
The Citie Rome, which at the bank of Tyber that dooth ronne
Downe from the hill of Appennyne) already hath begonne