Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/385

He, not unmindful of his usual Art,635
First in dissembled Fire attempts to part:
Then roaring Beasts, and running Streams he tryes,
And wearies all his Miracles of Lies:
But having shifted ev'ry Form to scape,
Convinc'd of Conquest, he resum'd his shape:640
And thus, at length, in human Accent spoke.
Audacious Youth, what madness cou'd provoke
A Mortal Man t' invade a sleeping God?
What Buis'ness brought thee to my dark abode?
To this, th' audacious Youth; Thou know'st full well
My Name, and Buis'ness, God, nor need I tell:646
No Man can Proteus cheat; but Proteus leave
Thy fraudful Arts, and do not thou deceive.
Foll'wing the Gods Command, I come t'implore
Thy Help, my perish'd People to restore.650
The Seer, who could not yet his Wrath asswage,
Rowl'd his green Eyes, that sparkl'd with his Rage;
And gnash'd his Teeth, and cry'd, No vulgar God
Pursues thy Crimes, nor with a Common Rod.
Thy great Misdeeds have met a due Reward,655
And Orpheus's dying Pray'rs at length are heard.
For Crimes, not his, the Lover lost his Life,
And at thy Hands requires his murther'd Wife:
Nor (if the Fates assist not) canst thou scape
The just Revenge of that intended Rape.660
To shun thy lawless Lust, the dying Bride,
Unwary, took along the River's side: