His mother sternly view'd him where he stood,
And kindled into madness as she view'd:
Her leafy jav❜lin at her son she cast,

And cries, "the boar that lays our country waste!
"The boar, my sisters! aim the fatal dart,
"And strike the brindled monster to the heart."
Pentheus astonish'd heard the dismal sound,
And sees the yelling matrons gath'ring round;
He sees, and weeps at his approaching fate,
And begs for mercy, and repents too late.

'Help, help! my aunt Autonöe," he cried; "Remember how your own Acteon died," Deaf to his cries, the frantic matron crops One stretch'd-out arm, the other Ino lops. In vain does Pentheus to his mother sue, And the raw bleeding stumps presents to view: His mother howl'd; and heedless of his pray'r, Her trembling hand she twisted in his hair, "And this," she cried, "shall be Agavè's share.” When from the neck his struggling head she tore, And in her hands the ghastly visage bore, With pleasure all the hideous trunk survey; Then pull'd and tore the mangled limbs away, As starting in the pangs of death it lay. Soon as the wood its leafy honours casts, Blown off and scatter'd by autumnal blasts, With such a sudden death lay Pentheus slain, And in a thousand pieces strow'd the plain. By so distinguishing a judgment aw'd, The Thebans tremble, and confess the god.

OVID'S

METAMORPHOSES.

BOOK IV.

THE STORY OF SALMACIS, AND HERMA-
PHRODITUSa.

HOW Salmacis, with weak enfeebling streams
Softens the body, and unnerves the limbs,

And what the secret cause, shall here be shown;
The cause is secret, but th' effect is known.

The Naiads nurs'd an infant heretofore,

That Cytherea once to Hermes bore;
From both th' illustrious authors of his race
The child was nam'd; nor was it hard to trace
Both the bright parents through the infant's face.

a Mr. Addison was very young when he made these translations. Still, one a little wonders how his virgin muse, " nescia quid sit amor" (as Ovid says of Hermaphroditus), could be drawn in to attempt this subject:-but the charms of the poetry prevailed. He very properly omits, or softens, the most obnoxious passages of his original; and, after all, seems half ashamed of what he had done, as we may conclude from his writing no notes on this story, which, being told in Ovid's best manner, must have suggested to him many fine ones.

VOL. I.

P

When fifteen years, in Ida's cool retreat,
The boy had told, he left his native seat,
And sought fresh fountains in a foreign soil :
The pleasure lessen'd the attending toil.
With eager steps the Lycian fields he crost,
And fields that border on the Lycian coast;
A river here he view'd so lovely bright,
It show'd the bottom in a fairer light,
Nor kept a sand conceal'd from human sight.
The stream produc'd nor slimy ooze, nor weeds,
Nor miry rushes, nor the spiky reeds;
But dealt enriching moisture all around,
The fruitful banks with cheerful verdure crown'd,
And kept the spring eternal on the ground.
A nymph presides, nor practis❜d in the chace,
Nor skilful at the bow, nor at the race;
Of all the blue-ey'd daughters of the main,
The only stranger to Diana's train :
Her sisters often, as 'tis said, would cry,
“Fie, Salmacis, what always idle! fie,
"Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows seize,
"And mix the toils of hunting with thy ease."
Nor quiver she nor arrows e'er would seize,
Nor mix the toils of hunting with her ease.
But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide,
Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide;
Now in the limpid streams she view'd her face,
And dress'd her image in the floating glass:
On beds of leaves she now repos'd her limbs,
Now gather'd flowers that grew about her streams;
And then by chance was gathering, as she stood
To view the boy, and long'd for what she view'd.

Fain would she meet the youth with hasty feet,
She fain would meet him, but refus❜d to meet
Before her looks were set with nicest care,
And well deserv'd to be reputed fair.

"Bright youth," she cries," whom all thy features prove "A god, and, if a god, the god of love;

"But if a mortal, blest thy nurse's breast,

"Blest are thy parents, and thy sisters blest:

"But, oh! how blest! how more than blest thy bride, "Allied in bliss, if any yet allied.

"If so, let mine the stol'n enjoyments be:

"If not, behold a willing bride in me."

The boy knew nought of love, and touch'd with shame,
He strove, and blush'd, but still the blush became;
In rising blushes still fresh beauties rose;

The sunny side of fruit such blushes shows,
And such the moon, when all her silver white
Turns in eclipses to a ruddy light.

The nymph still begs, if not a nobler bliss,
A cold salute at least, a sister's kiss:
And now prepares to take the lovely boy
Between her arms. He, innocently coy,
Replies, "or leave me to myself alone,
"You rude uncivil nymph, or I'll be gone."
"Fair stranger then," says she, "it shall be so;"
And, for she fear'd his threats, she feign'd to go;
But hid within a covert's neighbouring green,
She kept him still in sight, herself unseen.
The boy now fancies all the danger o'er,
And innocently sports about the shore,
Playful and wanton to the stream he trips,
And dips his foot, and shivers as he dips.

The coolness pleas'd him, and with eager haste
His airy garments on the banks he cast;
His godlike features, and his heavenly hue,
And all his beauties were expos'd to view.
His naked limbs the nymph with rapture spies,
While hotter passions in her bosom rise,
Flush in her cheeks, and sparkle in her eyes.
She longs, she burns to clasp him in her arms,
And looks, and sighs, and kindles at his charms.

Now all undress'd upon the banks he stood,
And clapp'd his sides, and leap'd into the flood:
His lovely limbs the silver waves divide,
His limbs appear more lovely through the tide ;
As lilies shut within a crystal case,

Receive a glossy lustre from the glass.

"He's mine, he's all my own," the Naiad cries,
And flings off all, and after him she flies.
And now she fastens on him as he swims,
And holds him close, and wraps about his limbs.
The more the boy resisted, and was coy,
The more she clipt, and kiss'd the struggling boy.
So when the wriggling snake is snatch'd on high
In eagle's claws, and hisses in the sky,

Around the foe his twirling tail he flings,

And twists her legs, and writhes about her wings.

The restless boy still obstinately strove

To free himself, and still refus'd her love.

Amidst his limbs she kept her limbs entwin'd,

"And why, coy youth," she cries, "why thus unkind! "Oh may the gods thus keep us ever join'd!

"Oh may we never, never part again!"

So pray'd the nymph, nor did she pray in vain :