Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/230

Amaz'd, within my secret Self I sought,
What God, what Herb the Miracle had wrought:
But sure no Herbs have Pow'r like this, I cry'd;
And strait I pluck'd some neighb'ring Herbs, and try'd.
Scarce had I bit, and prov'd the wond'rous Taste,
When strong Convulsions shook my troubled Breast;
I felt my Heart grow fond of something strange,
And my whole Nature lab'ring with a Change.
Restless I grew, and ev'ry Place forsook,
And still upon the Seas I bent my Look.
Farewel for ever! Farewel, Land! I said;
And plung'd amidst the Waves my sinking Head.
The gentle Pow'rs, who that low Empire keep,
Receiv'd me as a Brother of the Deep;
To Tethys, and to Ocean old, they pray
To purge my mortal Earthy Parts away.
The watry Parents to their Suit agreed,
And thrice nine times a secret Charm they read.
Then with Lustrations purify my Limbs,
And bid me bath beneath a hundred Streams:
A hundred Streams from various Fountains run,
And on my Head at once come rushing down.
Thus far each Passage I remember well,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
And faithfully thus far the Tale I tell;
But then Oblivion dark, on all my Senses fell.
Again at length my Thought reviving came,
When I no longer found my self the same;
Then first this Sea-green Beard I felt to grow,
And these large Honours on my spreading Brow;
My long descending Locks the Billows sweep,
And my broad Shoulders cleave the yielding Deep;
My Fishy Tail, my Arms of Azure Hue,
And ey'ry Part divinely chang'd, I view.

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