Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/331

Geor. III. For when her pouting Vent declares her pain, She tears the Harness, and she rends the Rein; For this; (when Venus gave them rage and pow'r) Their Masters mangl'd Members they devour; Of Love defrauded in their longing Hour. For Love they force thro' Thickets of the Wood, They climb the steepy Hills, and stem the Flood. When at the Spring's approach their Marrow burns, (For with the Spring their genial Warmth returns) The Mares to Cliffs of rugged Rocks repair, And with wide Nostrils snuff the Western Air: When (wondrous to relate) the Parent Wind, Without the Stallion, propagates the Kind. Then fir'd with amorous rage, they take their Flight Through Plains, and mount the Hills unequal height; Nor to the North, nor to the Rising Sun, Nor Southward to the Rainy Regions run, But boring to the West, and hov'ring there, With gaping Mouths, they draw prolifick air: With which impregnate, from their Groins they shed A slimy Juice, by false Conception bred. The Shepherd knows it well; and calls by Name Hippomanes, to note the Mother's Flame. This, gather'd in the Planetary Hour, With noxious Weeds, and spell'd with Words of pow'r, Dire Stepdames in the Magick Bowl infuse; And mix, for deadly Draughts, the pois'nous Juice.