Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/146

He goes a Suppliant to the Delphick Dome;
There asks the God what new-appointed Home
Should end his Wandrings, and his Toils relieve,
The Delphick Oracles this Answer give.
⁠"Behold among the Fields a lonely Cow,
"Unworn with Yokes, unbroken to the Plow;
"Mark well the Place where first she lays her down,
"There measure out thy Walls, and build thy Town,
"And from thy Guide Bæotia call the Land,
"In which the destin'd Walls and Town shall stand.
⁠No sooner had he left the dark Abode,
Big with the Promise of the Delphick God,
When in the Fields the fatal Cow he view'd,⁠$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
Nor gall'd with Yokes, nor worn with Servitude:
Her gently at a Distance he pursu'd;
And, as he walk'd aloof, in Silence pray'd
To the great Pow'r whose Counsels he obey'd.
Her Way through flow'ry Canopè she took,
And now Cephisus, cross'd thy Silver Brook;
When to the Heav'ns her spacious Front she rais'd,
And bellow'd thrice, then backward turning gaz'd
On those behind, till on the destin'd Place
She stoop'd, and couch'd amid the rising Grass.
⁠Cadmus salutes the Soil, and gladly hails
The new-found Mountains, and the nameless Vales,
And thanks the Gods, and turns about his Eye
To see his new Dominions round him lye;
Then sends his Servants to a neighb'ring Grove
For living Streams, a Sacrifice to Jove.
O'er the wide Plain there rose a shady Wood
Of aged Trees; in its dark Bosom stood
A bushy Thicket, pathless and unworn,
O'er-run with Brambles, and perplex'd with Thorn:
Amidst the Brake a hollow Den was found,
With Rocks and shelving Arches vaulted round.

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