Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/181

Now, what avail our Nerves? th' united Force,
Of two the strongest Creatures, Man and Horse;
Nor Goddess-born; nor of Ixion's Seed
We seem; (a Lover built for Juno's Bed;)
Master'd by this half Man. Whole Mountains throw
With Woods at once, and bury him below.
This only way remains. Nor need we doubt
To choak the Soul within; though not to force it out:
Heap Weights, instead of Wounds. He chanc'd to see
Where Southern Storms had rooted up a Tree;
This, rais'd from Earth, against the Foe he threw;
Th' Example shewn, his Fellow-brutes pursue.
With Forest-loads Warrior they invade;$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
Othrys, and Pelion soon were void of Shade;
And spreading Groves were naked Mountains made.
Press'd with the Burden, Cæneus pants for Breath;
And on his Shoulders bears the Wooden Death.
To heave th' intolerable Weight he tries;
At length it rose above his Mouth and Eyes:
Yet still he heaves; and, strugling with Despair,
Shakes all aside, and gains a gulp of Air:
A short Relief, which but prolongs his Pain;
He faints by Fits; and then respires again:
At last, the Burden only nods above,
As when an Earthquake stirs th' Idæan Grove.
Doubtful his Death: He suffocated seem'd,
To most; but otherwise our Mopsus deem'd.
Who said he saw a yellow Bird arise
From out the Piles, and cleave the liquid Skies:
I saw it too, with golden Feathers bright;
Nor e'er before beheld so strange a Sight.
Whom Mopsus viewing, as it soar'd around
Our Troop, and heard the Pinions rattling Sound,
All hail, he cry'd, thy Country's Grace and Love?
Once first of Men below, now first of Birds above.

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