Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/282

All these receive their Birth from other Things;
But from himself the Phœnix only springs:
Self-born, begotten by the Parent Flame
In which he burn'd, Another, and the same;
Who not by Corn, or Herbs his Life sustains,
But the sweet Essence of Amomum drains:
And watches the rich Gums Arabia bears,
While yet in tender Dew they drop their Tears.
He, (his five Centuries of Life fulfill'd)
His Nest on Oaken Boughs begins to build,
Or trembling Tops of Palm, and first he draws
The Plan with his broad Bill, and crooked Claws,
Nature's Artificers; on this the Pile
Is form'd, and rises round, then with the Spoil
Of Casia, Cynamon, and Stems of Nard,
(For Softness strew'd beneath) his Fun'ral Bed is rear'd:
Fun'ral and Bridal both; and all around
The Borders with corruptless Myrrh are crown'd,
On this incumbent; 'till ætherial Flame
First catches, then consumes the costly Frame:
Consumes him too, as on the Pile he lies;
He liv'd on Odours, and in Odours dies.
An Infant-Phœnix from the former springs,
His Father's Heir, and from his tender Wings
Shakes off his Parent Dust, his Method he pursues,
And the same Lease of Life on the same Terms renews.
When grown to Manhood he begins his Reign,
And with stiff Pinions can his Flight sustain,
He lightens of its Load the Tree, that bore
His Father's Royal Sepulcher before,
And his own Cradle: This (with pious Care
Plac'd on his Back) he cuts the buxome Air,
Seeks the Sun's City, and his sacred Church,
And decently lays down his Burthen in the Porch.
A Wonder more amazing wou'd we find?
Th' Hyæna shows it, of a double Kind,

Varying