Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/306

222 Strange Transport seiz'd me as I pass'd along, To meet so many Troops, and all so young, As if your Army did of Twins consist; Yet amongst them my late Acquaintance miss'd: Ev'n all that to your Palace did resort, When first you entertain'd me at your Court; And cannot guess the Cause from whence cou'd spring So vast a ChangeThen thus the sighing King: Illustrious Guest, to my strange Tale attend, Of sad Beginning, but a joyful End: The whole to a vast History wou'd swell, I shall but half, and that confus'dly, tell. That Race whom so deserv'dly you admir'd, Are all into their silent Tombs retir'd: They fell; and falling, how they shook my State, Thought may conceive, but Words can ne'er relate.

A dreadful Plague from angry Juno came, To scourge the Land, that bore her Rival's Name; Before her fatal Anger was reveal'd; And teeming Malice lay as yet conceal'd, All Remedies we try, all Med'cines use, Which Nature cou'd supply, or Art produce; Th' unconquer'd Foe derides the vain Design, And Art, and Nature foil'd, declare the Cause Divine. At first we only felt th' oppressive Weight Of gloomy Clouds, then teeming with our Fate, And lab'ring to discharge unactive Heat: But e'er four Moons alternate Changes knew, With deadly Blasts the fatal South-wind blew, Infected all the Air, and poison'd as it flew. Our