Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/200

With a long Series of new Ills opprest,
He droops, and all the Man forsakes his Breast.
Strange Prodigies confound his frighted Eyes;
From the fair City, which he rais'd, he flies:
As if Misfortune not pursu'd his Race,
But only hung o'er that devoted Place.
Resolv'd by Sea to seek some distant Land,
At last he safely gain'd th' Illyrian Strand,
Chearless himself, his Consort still he chears,
Hoary, and loaden'd both with Woes, and Years.
Then to recount past Sorrows they begin,
And trace them to the gloomy Origin.
That Serpent sure was hallow'd, Cadmus cry'd,
Which once my Spear transfix'd with foolish Pride;
When the big Teeth, a Seed before unknown,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
By me along the wond'ring Glebe were sown,
And sprouting Armies by themselves o'erthrown.
If thence the Wrath of Heav'n on me is bent,
May Heav'n conclude it with one sad Event;
To an extended Serpent change the Man:
And while he spoke, the wish'd-for Change began.
His Skin with Sea-green Spots was vary'd 'round,
And on his Belly prone he prest the Ground.
He glitter'd soon with many a golden Scale,
And his shrunk Legs clos'd in a spiry Tail.
Arms yet remain'd remaining Arms he spread
To his lov'd Wife, and human Tears yet shed.
Come, my Harmonia, come, thy Face recline
Down to my Face; still touch, what still is mine.
O! let these Hands, while Hands, be gently prest,
While yet the Serpent has not all possest.
More he had spoke, but drove to speak in vain,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
The forky Tongue refus'd to tell his Pain,
And learn'd in Hissings only to complain.
⁠Then shriek'd Harmonia, Stay, my Cadmus, stay,
Glide not in such a monstrous Shape away!

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