Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/269

Geor. I. Dire Earthquakes rent the solid Alps below, And from their Summets shook th' Eternal Snow. Pale Specters in the close of Night were seen; And Voices heard of more than Mortal Men. In silent Groves, dumb Sheep and Oxen spoke, And Streams ran backward, and their Beds forsook: The yawning Earth disclos'd th' Abyss of Hell: The weeping Statues did the Wars foretel; And Holy Sweat from Brazen Idols fell. Then rising in his Might, the King of Floods, Rusht thro' the Forests, tore the lofty Woods; And rolling onward, with a sweepy Sway, Bore Houses, Herds, and lab'ring Hinds away. Blood sprang from Wells, Wolfs howl'd in Towns by Night, And boding Victims did the Priests affright. Such Peals of Thunder never pour'd from high, Nor forky Light'nings flash'd from such a sullen a Sky. Red Meteors ran a-cross th' Etherial Space; Stars disappear'd, and Comets took their place. For this, th' Emathian Plains once more were strow'd With Roman Bodies, and just Heav'n thought good To fatten twice those Fields with Roman Blood. Then, after length of Time, the lab'ring Swains, Who turn the Turfs of those unhappy Plains, Shall rusty Piles from the plough'd Furrows take, And over empty Helmets pass the Rake. Amaz'd at Antick Titles on the Stones, And mighty Relicks of Gygantick Bones.