Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/266

To cultivate his Mind; to learn the Laws
Of Nature, and explore their hidden Cause.
Urg'd by this Care, his Country he forsook,
And to Crotona thence his Journey took.
Arriv'd, he first enquir'd the Founder's Name
Of this new Colony; and whence he came.
Then thus a Senior of the Place replies,
(Well read, and curious of Antiquities)
'Tis said, Alcides hither took his way
From Spain, and drove along his conquer'd Prey;
Then, leaving in the Fields his grazing Cows,
He sought himself some hospitable House:
Good Croton entertain'd his Godlike Guest;
While he repair'd his weary Limbs with Rest.
The Hero, thence departing, bless'd the Place;
And here, he said, in Time's revolving Race,
A rising Town shall take his Name from thee.
Revolving Time fulfill'd the Prophecy:
For Myscelos, the justest Man on Earth,
Alemon's Son, at Argos had his Birth:
Him Hercules, arm'd with his Club of Oak,
O'ershadow'd in a Dream, and thus bespoke;
Go, leave thy Native Soil, and make Abode,
Where Æsaris rowls down his rapid Flood:
He said; and Sleep forsook him, and the God.
Trembling he wak'd, and rose with anxious Heart;
His Country Laws forbad him to depart:
What shou'd he do? 'Twas Death to go away,
And the God menac'd, if he dar'd to stay.
All Day he doubted, and when Night came on,
Sleep, and the same forewarning Dream, begun:
Once more the God stood threatning o'er his Head;
With added Curses if he disobey'd.
Twice warn'd, he study'd Flight; but wou'd convey,
At once, his Person, and his Wealth away:

Thus