Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/268

244 Because he hated Tyrants, nor cou'd bear The Chains, which none but servile Souls will wear: He, tho' from Heav'n remote, to Heav'n cou'd move, With Strength of Mind, and tread th' Abyss above; And penetrate, with his interior Light, Those upper Depths, which Nature hid from Sight: And what he had observ'd, and learnt from thence, Lov'd in familiar Language to dispence. The Crowd with silent Admiration stand, And heard him, as they heard their God's Command; While he discours'd of Heav'n's mysterious Laws, The World's Original, and Nature's Cause; And what was God; and why the fleecy Snows In Silence fell, and rattling Winds arose; What shook the stedfast Earth, and whence begun The Dance of Planets round the radiant Sun; If Thunder was the Voice of angry Jove, Or Clouds, with Nitre pregnant, burst above: Of these, and Things beyond the common Reach, He spoke, and charm'd his Audience with his Speech. He first the Taste of Flesh from Tables drove, And argu'd well, if Arguments cou'd move. O Mortals, from your Fellows Blood abstain, Nor taint your Bodies with a Food profane: While Corn, and Pulse by Nature are bestow'd, And planted Orchards bend their willing Load; While labour'd Gardens wholesom Herbs produce, And teeming Vines afford their gen'rous Juice; Nor tardier Fruits of cruder Kind are lost, But tam'd with Fire, or mellow'd by the Frost; While Kine to Pails distended Udders bring, And Bees their Hony redolent of Spring; While Earth not only can your Needs supply, But, lavish of her Store, provides for Luxury; A guiltless Feast administers with Ease, And without Blood is prodigal to please. Wild