Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/163

Book 12. Must first be reconcil'd: The common Cause Prevail'd; and Pity yielding to the Laws, Fair Iphigenia the devoted Maid Was, by the weeping Priests, in Linnen-Robes array'd; All mourn her Fate; but no Relief appear'd: The Royal Victim bound, the Knife already rear'd: When that offended Pow'r, who caus'd their Woe, Relenting ceas'd her Wrath; and stop'd the coming Blow. A Mist before the Ministers she cast, And, in the Virgin's room, a Hind she plac'd. Th' Oblation slain, and Phœbe reconcil'd, The Storm was hush'd, and dimpled Ocean smil'd: A favourable Gale arose from Shore, Which to the Port desir'd, the Grecian Gallies bore.

Full in the midst of this created Space, Betwixt Heav'n, Earth, and Skies, there stands a Place, Confining on all three, with triple Bound; Whence all Things, tho' remote, are view'd around; And thither bring their undulating Sound. The Palace of loud Fame, her Seat of Pow'r, Plac'd on the Summet of a lofty Tow'r; A thousand winding Entries long and wide, Receive of fresh Reports a flowing Tide. A thousand Crannies in the Walls are made; Nor Gate, nor Bars exclude the busie Trade. 'Tis built of Brass, the better to diffuse The spreading Sounds, and multiply the News: Where Eccho's in repeated Eccho's play: A Mart for ever full and open Night and Day. Nor Silence is within, nor Voice express, But a deaf Noise of Sounds, that never cease. Confus'd, and chiding, like the hollow Roar Of Tides, receding from th' insulted Shore. Or