Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/301

Book 7.

From hence to Athens she directs her Flight, Where Phineus, so renown'd for doing Right; Where Periphas, and Polyphemon's Neece, Soaring with sudden Plumes, amaz'd the Towns of Greece. Here Ægeus so engaging she addrest, That first he treats her like a Royal Guest; Then takes the Sorc'ress for his wedded Wife; The only Blemish of his prudent Life. Mean while his Son, from Actions of Renown, Arrives at Court, but to his Sire unknown. Medea, to dispatch a dang'rous Heir, (She knew him) did a pois'nous Draught prepare; Drawn from a Drug, was long reserv'd in store For desp'rate Uses, from the Scythian Shore; That from the Echydnæan Monster's Jaws Deriv'd it's Origin, and this the Cause. Thro' a dark Cave a craggy Passage lies, To ours, ascending from the nether Skies; Thro' which, by Strength of Hand, Alcides drew Chain'd Cerberus, who lagg'd, and restive grew, With his blear'd Eyes our brighter Day to view. Thrice he repeated his enormous Yell, With which he scares the Ghosts, and startles Hell; At last outragious (tho' compell'd to yield) He sheds his Foam in Fury on the Field; Which, with its own, and Rankness of the Ground, Produc'd a Weed, by Sorcerers renown'd, The strongest Constitution to confound; Call'd Aconite, because it can unlock All Bars, and force its Passage thro' a Rock. The pious Father, by her Wheedles won, Presents this deadly Potion to his Son; . I.