Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/241

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Book 5.
Ovid's Metamorphoses.
161

Unweary'd I till now o'er Hills, and Plains,
O'er Rocks, and Rivers ran, and felt no Pains:
The Sun behind me, and the God I kept,
But, when I fastest shou'd have run, I stept.
Before my Feet his Shadow now appear'd;
As what I saw, or rather what I fear'd.
Yet there I cou'd not be deceiv'd by Fear,
Who felt his Breath pant on my braided Hair,
And heard his sounding Tread, and knew him to be near.
Tir'd, and despairing, O Celestial Maid,
I'm caught, I cry'd, without thy heav'nly Aid.
Help me Diana, help a Nymph forlorn,
Devoted to the Woods, who long has worn
Thy Livery, and long thy Quiver born.
The Goddess heard; my pious Pray'r prevail'd;
In muffling Clouds my Virgin Head was veil'd.
The am'rous God, deluded of his Hopes,
Searches the Gloom, and thro' the Darkness gropes;
Twice, where Diana did her Servant hide
He came, and twice, O Arethusa! cry'd.
How shaken was my Soul, how sunk my Heart!
The Terror seiz'd on ev'ry trembling Part.
Thus when the Wolf about the Mountain prowls
For Prey, the Lambkin hears the horrid Howls:
The tim'rous Hare, the Pack approaching nigh,
Thus hearkens to the Hounds and trembles at the Cry;
Nor dares she stir, for fear her scented Breath
Direct the Dogs, and guide the threaten'd Death,
Alpheus in the Cloud no Traces found
To mark my Way, yet stays to guard the Ground.
The God so near, a chilly Sweat possest
My fainting Limbs at ev'ry Pore exprest;
My Strength distill'd in Drops, my Hair in Dew,
My Form was chang'd, and all my Substance new.
Each Motion was a Stream, and my whole Frame
Turn'd to a Fount, which still preserves my Name.

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