Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/150

Now nodding Plumes appear, and shining Crests,
Now the broad Shoulders and the rising Breasts;
O'er all the Field the breathing Harvest swarms,
A growing Host, a Crop of Men and Arms.
So through the parting Stage a Figure rears
Its Body up, and Limb by Limb appears
By just Degrees; 'till all the Man arise,
And in his full Proportion strikes the Eyes.
Cadmus surpriz'd, and startled at the Sight
Of his new Foes, prepar'd himself for Fight:
When one cry'd out, "Forbear, fond Man, forbear
"To mingle in a blind promiscuous War.
This said, he struck his Brother to the Ground,
Himself expiring by another's Wound;
Nor did the Third his Conquest long survive,
Dying e'er scarce he had begun to live.
The dire Example ran through all the Field,
'Till Heaps of Brothers were by Brothers kill'd
The Furrows swam in Blood: and only five
Of all the vast Increase were left alive.
Echion One, at Pallas's Command,
Let fall the guiltless Weapon from his Hand,
And with the rest a peaceful Treaty makes,
Whom Cadmus as his Friends and Partners takes:
So founds a City on the promised Earth,
And gives his new Bæotian Empire Birth.
Here Cadmus reign'd; and now one would have guess't
The Royal Founder in his Exile blest:
Long did he live within his new Abodes,
Ally'd by Marriage to the deathless Gods;
And, in a fruitful Wife's Embraces old,
A long Increase of Children's Children told:
But no frail Man, however great or high
Can be concluded blest before he die.
Actæon was the first of all his Race,
Who griev'd his Grandsire in his borrow'd Face;

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