Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/125

Diana's Shape and Habit strait he took,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
Soften'd his Brows, and smooth'd his awful Look,
And mildly in a Female Accent spoke.
"How fares my Girl? How went the Morning Chase?
To whom the Virgin, starting from the Grass,
"All-hail, bright Deity, whom I prefer
"To Jove himself, tho' Jove himself were here.
The God was nearer than she thought, and heard
Well-pleas'd Himself before Himself prefer'd.
He then salutes her with a warm Embrace;
And, e're she half had told the Morning Chase,
With Love enflam'd, and eager on his Bliss,
Smother'd her Words, and stop'd her with a Kiss,
His Kisses with unwonted Ardour glow'd,
Nor cou'd Diana's Shape conceal the God.
The Virgin did whate'er a Virgin cou'd;
(Sure Juno must have pardon'd, had she view'd)
With all her Might against his Force she strove;
But how can mortal Maids contend with Jove?
Possess'd at length of what his Heart desir'd,
Back to his Heav'ns th' exulting God retir'd.
The lovely Huntress, rising from the Grass,
With down-cast Eyes, and with a blushing Face,
By Shame confounded, and by Fear dismay'd,
Flew from the Covert of the guilty Shade,
And almost, in the Tumult of her Mind,
Left her forgotten Bow and Shafts behind.
But now Diana, with a sprightly Train
Of quiver'd Virgins, bounding o'er the Plain,
Call'd to the Nymph; the Nymph began to fear
A second Fraud, a Jove disguis'd in her;
But when she saw the Sister Nymphs, suppress'd
Her rising Fears, and mingled with the rest.
How in the Look does conscious Guilt appear!
Slowly the mov'd, and loiter'd in the Rear;