Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/76

While frowning Auster seeks the Southern Sphere;
And rots, with endless Rain, th' unwholsom Year.
High o'er the Clouds, and empty Realms of Wind,
The God a clearer space for Heav'n design'd;
Where Fields of Light, and liquid Æther flow;
Purg'd from the pondrous Dregs of Earth below.
Scarce had the Pow'r distinguish'd these, when streight
The Stars, no longer overlaid with Weight,
Exert their Heads, from underneath the Mass;$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
And upward shoot, and kindle as they pass,
And with diffusive Light adorn their heav'nly Place.
Then, every Void of Nature to supply,
With Forms of Gods he fills the vacant Sky:
New Herds of Beasts he sends, the Plains to share: $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
New Colonies of Birds, to people Air:
And to their Oozy Beds, the finny Fish repair.
A Creature of a more exalted Kind
Was wanting yet, and then was Man design'd:
Conscious of Thought, of more capacious Breast,
For Empire form'd, and fit to rule the rest:
Whether with Particles of heav'nly Fire
The God of Nature did his Soul inspire,
Or Earth, but new divided from the Sky,
And, pliant, still, retain'd th' Ætherial Energy:
Which wise Prometheus temper'd into Paste,
And mixt with living Streams the Godlike Image cast.
Thus, while the mute Creation downward bend
Their Sight, and to their earthly Mother tend,
Man looks aloft; and with erected Eyes
Beholds his own hereditary Skies.
From such rude Principles our Form began;
And Earth was metamorphos'd into Man.

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