Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/386

206 Nor, at her Heels perceiv'd the deadly Snake, That kept the Bank, in Covert of the Brake. But all her fellow Nymphs the Mountains tear With loud Laments, and break the yielding Air: The Realms of Mars remurmur'd all around, And Echoes to th' Athenian Shoars rebound. Th' unhappy Husband, Husband now no more, Did on his tuneful Harp his Loss deplore, And sought, his mournful Mind with Musick to restore. On thee, dear Wife, in Desarts all alone, He call'd, sigh'd, sung, his Griefs with Day begun, Nor were they finish'd with the setting Sun. Ev'n to the dark Dominions of the Night, He took his way, thro' Forrests void of Light: And dar'd amidst the trembling Ghosts to sing, And stood before th' inexorable King. Th' Infernal Troops like passing Shadows glide, And, list'ning, crowd the sweet Musician's side. Not flocks of Birds when driv'n by Storms, or Night, Stretch to the Forest with so thick a flight. Men, Matrons, Children, and th' unmarry'd Maid, The mighty Heroes more Majestic shade; And Youths on Fun'ral Piles before their Parents laid. All these Cocytus bounds with squalid Reeds, With Muddy Ditches, and with deadly Weeds: And baleful Styx encompasses around, With Nine slow circling Streams, th' unhappy ground.