Page:Metamorphoses (Ovid, 1567).djvu/419

Uppon the name of Mythridate) to force by swoord and speare
To yeeld them subjects unto Rome, or by his just desert
To merit many triumphes, and of sum to have his part,
Than such an heyre to leave beehynd, in whom the Goddes doo showe
Exceeding favour unto men for that they doo bestowe
So great a prince uppon the world? Now to th'entent that hee
Should not bee borne of mortall seede, the other was too bee
Canonyzde for a God. Which thing when golden Venus see,
(Shee also sawe how dreadfull death was for the bisshop then
Prepaard, and how conspiracye was wrought by wicked men)
Shee looked pale. And as the Goddes came any in her way,
Shee sayd unto them one by one: Behold and see, I pray,
With how exceeding eagernesse they seeke mee to betray,
And with what woondrous craft they stryve to take my lyfe away,
I meene the thing that only now remayneth unto mee
Of Jule the Trojans race. Must I then only ever bee
Thus vext with undeserved cares? How seemeth now the payne
Of Diomeds speare of Calydon to wound my hand ageyne?
How seemes it mee that Troy ageine is lost through ill defence?
How seemes my sonne Aenaeas like a bannisht man, from thence
To wander farre ageine, and on the sea to tossed bee,
And warre with Turnus for to make? or rather (truth to say)
With Juno? What meene I about harmes passed many a day
Ageinst myne ofspring, thus to stand? This present feare and wo
Permit mee not to think on things now past so long ago.
Yee see how wicked swoordes ageinst my head are whetted. I
Beseeche yee keepe them from my throte, and set the traytors by
Theyr purpose. Neyther suffer you dame Vestas fyre to dye
By murthering of her bisshop. Thus went Venus wofully
Complayning over all the heaven, and moovde the Goddes therby.
And for they could not breake the strong decrees of destinye,
They shewed signes most manifest of sorrowe to ensew.
For battells feyghting in the clowdes with crasshing armour flew.
And dreadfull trumpets sownded in the aire, and homes eeke blew,
As warning men before hand of the mischeef that did brew.
And Phebus also looking dim did cast a drowzy lyght
Uppon the earth, which seemd lykewyse to bee in sorrve plyght.