Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/287

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Book 15.
Ovid's Metamorphoses.
263

Forlorn, I sought Pitthëan Trœzen's Land,
And drove my Chariot o'er Corinthus' Strand;
When from the Surface of the level Main
A Billow rising, heav'd above the Plain;
Rolling, and gath'ring, 'till so high it swell'd,
A Mountain's Height th' enormous Mass excell'd;
Then bellowing, burst; when from the Summit cleav'd,
A horned Bull his ample Chest upheav'd.
His Mouth, and Nostrils, Storms of briny Rain,
Expiring, blew, Dread Horror seiz'd my Train,
I stood unmov'd. My Father's cruel Doom
Claim'd all my Soul, nor Fear could find a Room.
Amaz'd, awhile my trembling Coursers stood
With prick'd up-Ears, contemplating the Flood;
Then starting sudden, from the dreadful View,
At once, like Lightning, from the Seas they flew,
And o'er the craggy Rocks the rattling Chariot drew.
In vain to stop the hot-mouth'd Steeds I try'd,
And bending backward all my Strength apply'd;
The froathy Foam in driving Flakes distains
The Bits, and Bridles, and bedews the Reins.
But tho', as yet untam'd they run, at length
Their heady Rage had tir'd beneath my Strength,
When in the Spokes, a Stump intangling, tore
The shatter'd Wheel, and from its Axle bore,
The Shock impetuous tost me from the Seat,
Caught in the Reins beneath my Horse's Feet.
My reeking Guts drag'd out alive, around
The jagged Stump, my trembling Nerves were wound,
Then stretch'd the well-knit Limbs, in Pieces hal'd,
Part stuck behind, and part the Chariot trail'd;
Till, midst my cracking Joints, and breaking Bones,
I breath'd away my weary'd Soul in Groans.
No Part distinguish'd fom the rest was found,
But all my Parts an universal Wound.

Now