It found his heart, a way till then unknown, 610 Where never weapon enter'd but his own: No hands could force it thence, fo fixt it ftood, 'Till out it rush'd, expell'd by streams of spouting blood.

The fruitful blood produc'd a flow'r, which

grew

On a green

ftem; and of a purple hue : 615

Like his, whom unaware Apollo flew.

Infcrib'd in both, the letters are the fame,

But those express the grief, and these the name.

THE STORY OF

ACIS, POLYPHEMUS, AND GALATEA,

FROM THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

ACIS, the lovely youth, whofe lofs I mourn,
From Faunus and the nymph Symethis born,
Was both his parents' pleasure; but to me
Was all that love could make a lover be.
The Gods our minds in mutual bands did join: 5
I was his only joy, and he was mine.

Now fixteen fummers the sweet youth had feen;
And doubtful down began to fhade his chin;
When Polyphemus first disturb'd our joy,
And lov'd me fiercely, as I lov'd the boy.
Afk not which paffion in my foul was higher,
My last averfion, or my firft defire:

10

Nor this the greater was, nor that the less;
Both were alike, for both were in excess.
Thee, Venus, thee both heaven and earth

obey;

15

Immenfe thy power, and boundless is thy fway.

The Cyclops, who defy'd th' ætherial throne,
And thought no thunder louder than his own,
The terror of the woods, and wilder far
Than wolves in plains, or bears in forefts are, 20
Th'inhuman hoft, who made his bloody feafts
On mangled members of his butcher'd guefts,
Yet felt the force of love, and fierce defire,
And burnt for me with unrelenting fire :
Forgot his caverns, and his woolly care,
Affum'd the foftnefs of a lover's air;
And comb'd, with teeth of rakes, his rugged
hair.

25

Now with a crooked scythe his beard he fleeks,
And mows the ftubborn ftubble of his cheeks:
Now in the crystal stream he looks, to try
His fimagres, and rolls his glaring eye.

30

His cruelty and thirst of blood are lost,

And ships fecurely fail along the coaft.

The prophet Telemus (arriv'd by chance Where Ætna's fummits to the feas advance, 35 Who mark'd the tracks of ev'ry bird that flew, And fure prefages from their flying drew) Foretold the Cyclops, that Ulyffes' hand In his broad eye should thrust a flaming brand. The giant, with a scornful grin, reply'd, Vain augur, thou haft falfly prophefy'd ; Already Love his flaming brand has tost; Looking on two fair eyes, my fight I loft.

40

Thus, warn'd in vain, with stalking pace he strode, And ftamp'd the margin of the briny flood 45 With heavy steps; and, weary, fought agen The cool retirement of his gloomy den.

50

55

A promontory, fharp'ning by degrees, Ends in a wedge, and overlooks the feas: On either fide, below, the water flows This airy walk the giant-lover chofe ; Here on the midft he fate; his flocks, unled, Their fhepherd follow'd, and fecurely fed. A pine fo burly, and of length fo vast, That failing fhips requir'd it for a mast, He wielded for a ftaff, his fteps to guide: But laid it by, his whistle while he try'd. A hundred reeds, of a prodigious growth, Scarce made a pipe proportion'd to his mouth: Which when he gave it wind, the rocks around, And wat❜ry plains, the dreadful hifs refound. 61 I heard the ruffian fhepherd rudely blow, Where, in a hollow cave, I fat below; On Acis' bofom I my head reclin❜d : And still preferve the poem in my mind. O lovely Galatea, whiter far

65

Than falling fnows, and rifing lilies are;
More flow'ry than the meads, as crystal bright;
Erect as alders, and of equal height:

More wanton than a kid; more fleek thy fkin, 70

Than orient fhells, that on the shores are feen: