Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/223

Contending made me guilty, I confess,
But Penitence shou'd make that Guilt the less:
'Twas thine to conquer by Minerva's Pow'r;
Favour'd of Heav'n, thy Mercy I implore;
For Life I sue; the rest to thee I yield;
In Pity, from my Sight remove the Shield.
He suing said; nor durst revert his Eyes
On the grim Head: And Perseus thus replies;
Coward, what is in me to grant, I will,
Nor Blood, unworthy of my Valour, spill;
Fear not to perish by my vengeful Sword,
From that secure; 'tis all the Fates afford.
Where I now see thee, thou shalt still be seen,
A lasting Monument to please our Queen;
There still shall thy Betroth'd behold her Spouse,
And find his Image in her Father's House.
This said; where Phineus turn'd to shun the Shield,
Full in his Face the staring Head he held;
As here, and there he strove to turn aside,
The Wonder wrought, the Man was petrify'd:
All Marble was his Frame, his humid Eyes
Drop'd Tears, which hung upon the Stone like Ice.
In suppliant Posture, with uplifted Hands,
And fearful Look, the guilty Statue stands.
Hence Perseus to his native City hies,
Victorious, and rewarded with his Prize.
Conquest, o'er Prætus the Usurper, won,
He reinstates his Grandsire in the Throne.
Prætus, his Brother dispossess'd by Might,
His Realm enjoy'd, and still detain'd his Right:
But Perseus pull'd the haughty Tyrant down,
And to the rightful King restor'd the Throne.
Weak was th' Usurper, as his Cause was wrong;
Where Gorgon's Head appears, what Arms are strong?
When Perseus to his Host the Monster held,
They soon were Statues, and their King expell'd.

Thence,