Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/141

Nought that he meets, his rabid Fury spares,
But the whole herd with mad Disorder tears.
Some of our Men who strove to drive him thence,
Torn by his Teeth, have dy'd in their Defence.
The ecchoing Lakes, the Sea, and Fields, and Shore,
Impurpled blush with Streams of reeking Gore.
Delay is Loss, nor have we time for Thought;
While yet some few remain alive, we ought
To seize our Arms, and with confederate Force
Try if we so can stop his bloody Course.
But Peleus car'd not for his ruin'd Herd;
His Crime he call'd to Mind, and thence inferr'd,
That Psamathè's Revenge this Havock made,
In sacrifice to murther'd Phocus' Shade.
The King commands his Servants to their Arms,
Resolv'd to go; but the loud Noise alarms
His lovely Queen, who from her Chamber flew,
And her half plaited Hair behind her threw:
About his Neck she hung with loving Fears,
And now with Words, and now with pleading Tears,
Intreated that he'd send his Men alone,
And stay himself to save two Lives in one.
Then Peleus: Your just Fears, O Queen, forget;
Too much the Offer leaves me in your Debt.
No Arms against the Monster I shall bear,
But the Sea Nymphs appease with humble Pray'r.
The Citadel's high Turrets pierce the Sky,
Which home-bound Vessels, glad, from far descry;
This they ascend, and thence with Sorrow ken
The mangled Heifers lye, and bleeding Men;
Th' inexorable Ravager they view,
With Blood discolour'd, still the rest pursue:
There Peleus pray'd submissive tow'rds the Sea,
And deprecates the Ire of injur'd Psamathè.
But deaf to all his Pray'rs the Nymph remain'd,
Till Thetis for her Spouse the Boon obtain'd.

Pleas'd