Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/183

To him, our common Grandsire of the Main,
Had giv'n to change his Form, and chang'd, resume again.
Vary'd at Pleasure, every Shape he try'd;
And in all Beasts, Alcides still defy'd:
Vanquish'd on Earth, at length he soar'd above;
Chang'd to the Bird, that bears the Bolt of Jovè:
The new-dissembled Eagle, now endu'd
With Beak, and Pounces, Hercules pursu'd,
And cuff'd his manly Cheeks, and tore his Face;
Then, safe retir'd, and tour'd in empty space.
Alcides bore not long his flying Foe;
But bending his inevitable Bow,
Reach'd him in Air, suspended as he stood;
And in his Pinion fix'd the feather'd Wood.
Light was the Wound; but in the Sinew hung
The Point; and his disabled Wing unstrung,
He wheel'd in Air, and stretch'd his Vans in vain;
His Vans no longer cou'd his Flight sustain:
For while one gathered Wind, one unsupply'd
Hung drooping down, nor pois'd the other Side.
He fell: The Shaft that slightly was impress'd,
Now from his heavy Fall with weight increas'd,
Drove through his Neck aslant; he spurns the Ground,
And the Soul issues through the Weazon's Wound.
Now, brave Commander of the Rhodian Seas,
What Praise is due from me, to Hercules?
Silence is all the Vengeance I decree
For my slain Brothers; but 'tis Peace with thee.
Thus with a flowing Tongue old Nestor spoke:
Then, to full Bowls each other they provoke:
At length, with Weariness, and Wine oppress'd,
They rise from Table; and withdraw to Rest.

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