Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/303

Book 7. By thee th' infested Epidaurian Coast Was clear'd, and now can a free Commerce boast. The Traveller his Journey can pursue, With Pleasure the late dreaded Valley view, And cry, here Theseus the grand Robber slew. Cephysus' Flood cries to his rescu'd Shore, The merciless Procrustes is no more. In Peace, Eleusis, Ceres' Rites renew, Since Theseus' Sword the fierce Cercyon slew. By him the Tort'rer Sinis was destroy'd, Of Strength (but Strength to barb'rous use employ'd) That Tops of tallest Pines to Earth could bend, And thus in Pieces wretched Captives rend. Inhuman Scyron now has breath'd his last, And now Alcatho's Road's securely past; By Theseus slain, and thrown into the Deep, But Earth nor Sea his scatter'd Bones wou'd keep, Which, after floating long, a Rock became, Still infamous with Scyron's hated Name. When Fame to court thy Acts and Years proceeds, Thy Years appear but Cyphers to thy Deeds. For thee, brave Youth, as for our Common-wealth, We pray; and drink, in yours, the Publick Health. Your Praise the Senate, and Plebeians sing, With your lov'd Name the Court, and Cottage ring. You make our Shepherds, and our Sailors glad, And not a House in this vast City's sad. But mortal Bliss will never come sincere, Pleasure may lead, but Grief brings up the Rear; While for his Son's Arrival, rev'ling Joy Ægeus, and all his Subjects does employ; While they for only costly Feasts prepare, His neighb'ring Monarch, Minos, threatens War: Weak in Land-Forces, nor by Sea more strong, But pow'rful in a deep resented Wrong Rh