Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/180

And veils her Face, and marching thro' the Gloom
Swiftly arrives at th' Assignation-Tomb,
For still the fearful Sex can fearless prove;
Boldly they act, if spirited by Love.
When lo! a Lioness rush'd o'er the Plain,
Grimly besmear'd with Blood of Oxen slain:
And what to the dire Sight new Horrors brought,
To slake her Thirst the neighb'ring Spring she sought.
Which, by the Moon, when trembling Thisbe spies,
Wing'd with her Fear, swift, as the Wind, she flies;
And in a Cave recovers from her Fright,
But drop'd her Veil, confounded in her Flight.
When fated with repeated Draughts, again
The Queen of Beasts scour'd back along the Plain,
She found the Veil, and mouthing it all o'er,
With bloody Jaws the lifeless Prey she tore.
The Youth, who could not cheat his Guards so soon,
Late came, and noted by the glimm'ring Moon
Some savage Feet, new printed on the Ground,
His Cheeks turn'd pale, his Limbs no Vigour found:
But, when advancing on, the Veil he spied
Distain'd with Blood, and ghastly torn, he cried,
One Night shall Death to two young Lovers give,
But she deserv'd unnumber'd Years to live!
Tis I am guilty, I have thee betray'd,
'Who came not early, as my charming Maid.
Whatever slew thee, I the Cause remain,
I nam'd, and fix'd the Place, where thou was slain.
Ye Lions from your neighb'ring Dens repair,
Pity the Wretch, this impious Body tear!
But Cowards thus for Death can idly crie;
The Brave still have it in their Pow'r to die.
Then to th' appointed Tree he hastes away,
The Veil first gather'd, tho' all rent it lay:
The Veil all rent, yet still it self endears,
He kist, and kissing, wash'd it with his Tears.

Tho'