Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/148

Inur'd to Blood; the far-destroying Dart;
And, the best Weapon, an undaunted Heart.
Soon as the Youth approach'd the fatal Place,
He saw his Servants breathless on the Grass;
The scaly Foe amid their Corps he view'd,
Basking at Ease, and feasting in their Blood.
"Such Friends, he cries, deserv'd a longer Date;
"But Cadmus will revenge, or share their Fate.
Then heav'd a Stone, and rising to the Throw,
He sent it in a Whirlwind at the Foe:
A Tow'r, assaulted by so rude a Stroke,
With all its lofty Battlements had shook;
But nothing here th' unweildy Rock avails,
Rebounding harmless from the plaited Scales,
That, firmly join'd, preserv'd him from a Wound,
With native Armour crusted all around.
With more success, the Dart unerring flew,
Which at his Back the raging Warriour threw;
Amid the plaited Scales it took its Course,
And in the spinal Marrow spent its Force.
The Monster hiss'd aloud, and rag'd in vain,
And writh'd his Body to and fro with Pain;
He bit the Dart, and wrenched the Wood away;
The Point still buried in the Marrow lay.
And now his Rage, increasing with his Pain,
Reddens his Eyes, and beats in ev'ry Vein;
Churn'd in his Teeth the foamy Venom rose,
Whilst from his Mouth a Blast of Vapours flows,
Such as th' Infernal Stygian Waters cast.
The Plants around him wither in the Blast.
Now in a Maze of Rings he lies enrowl'd,
Now all unravel'd, and without a Fold;
Now, like a Torrent, with a mighty Force
Bears down the Forest in his boist'rous Course.
Cadmus gave back, and on the Lion's Spoil
Sustain'd the Shock, then forc'd him to recoil;

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