136
COWLEY'S POEMS.
Laugh, and point downwards to his prey,
Where, in death's pangs and their own gore, they folding lay.
When wise Tiresias this beginning knew,
He told with ease the things t' ensue;
From what monsters he should free
The earth, the air, and sea;
What mighty tyrants he should slay,
Greater monsters far than they;
How much at Phlægra's field the distrest Gods should owe
To their great offspring here below;
And how his club should there outdo
Apollo's silver bow, and his own father's thunder too.
Where, in death's pangs and their own gore, they folding lay.
When wise Tiresias this beginning knew,
He told with ease the things t' ensue;
From what monsters he should free
The earth, the air, and sea;
What mighty tyrants he should slay,
Greater monsters far than they;
How much at Phlægra's field the distrest Gods should owe
To their great offspring here below;
And how his club should there outdo
Apollo's silver bow, and his own father's thunder too.
And that the grateful Gods, at last,
The race of his laborious virtue past,
Heaven, which he sav'd, should, to him give;
Where, marry'd to eternal youth, he should for ever live;
Drink nectar with the Gods, and all his senses please
In their harmonious, golden palaces;
Walk with ineffable delight
Through the thick groves of never-withering light,
And, as he walks, affright
The lion and the bear,
Bull, centaur, scorpion, all the radiant monsters there.
The race of his laborious virtue past,
Heaven, which he sav'd, should, to him give;
Where, marry'd to eternal youth, he should for ever live;
Drink nectar with the Gods, and all his senses please
In their harmonious, golden palaces;
Walk with ineffable delight
Through the thick groves of never-withering light,
And, as he walks, affright
The lion and the bear,
Bull, centaur, scorpion, all the radiant monsters there.
