(Whose Beauty tempted Jove to steal the Boy)
And Priam, hapless Prince! who fell with Troy.
Himself was Hector's Brother, and (had Fate
But giv'n his hopeful Youth a longer Date)
Perhaps had rival'd warlike Hector's Worth,
Tho' on the Mother's Side of meaner Birth;
Fair Alyxothoe, a Country Maid,
Bare Æsacus stealth in Ida's Shade.
He fled the noisy Town, and pompous Court,
Lov'd the lone Hills, and simple rural Sport,
And seldom to the City would resort.
Yet he no rustick Clownishness profest,
Nor was soft Love a Stranger to his Breast:
The Youth had long the Nymph Hesperie woo'd,
Oft thro' the Thicket, or the Mead pursu'd:
Her haply on her Father's Bank he spy'd,
While fearless she her silver Tresses dry'd;
Away she fled: Not Stags with half such Speed,
Before the prowling Wolf, scud o'er the Mead;
Not Ducks, when they the safer Flood forsake,
Pursu'd by Hawks, so swift regain the Lake.
As fast he follow'd in the hot Career;
Desire the Lover wing'd, the Virgin Fear.
A Snake unseen now pierc'd her heedless Foot;
Quick thro' the Veins the venom'd Juices shoot:
She fell, and 'scap'd by Death his fierce Pursuit;
Her lifeless Body, frighted, he embrac'd,
And cry'd, not this I dreaded, but thy Haste:
O had my Love been less, or less thy Fear!
The Victory, thus bought, is far too dear.
Accursed Snake! yet I more curs'd than he!
He gave the Wound; the Cause was given by me.
Yet none shall say, that unreveng'd you dy'd.
He spoke; then climb'd a Cliff's o'er-hanging Side,
And, resolute, leap'd on the foaming Tide.
Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/157
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Book 11.
Ovid's Metamorphoses.
143
Tethys
