Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 1) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/51

Rh of this all the Mythologists agree; Exhalations and Mists being the constant Effects of Inundations, are here dissipated by the Rays of the Sun.

Of the second Kind, are Acteon torn to Pieces by his own Pack of Dogs, and Erisicthon starv'd by the Disease of Hunger. These two Allegories seem to signify, that Extravagance and Luxury end in Want.

Of the third, is the Story of the Rape of Europa. History says, she was Daughter to Agenor, and carry'd by the Candians in a Gally, bearing a Bull in the Stern, in order to be marry'd to one of their Kings nam'd Jupiter.

This Explanation gives an Occasion for a Digression which is not altogether foreign to the present Purpose, because it will be of Use to justify Ovid on some other Occasions, where he is censured for being too free with the Characters of the Gods. I was once representing the Metamorphoses, as an excellent System of Morality; but an illustrious Lady, whose least Advantage above her Sex, is that of being one of the greatest Princesses in Europe, objected, that the loose and immodest Sallys of Jupiter did by no means confirm my Assertion.

One must consider, that what appear'd an Absurdity in Ovid, is not so much his own Fault, as that of the Times before him. The Characters of the Gods of the old Heroick Age represented them unjust in their Actions; mutable in their Designs, partial, in their Favours; ignorant