Chac'd from my country, I once more repeat
All fufferings feas could give, or war compleat;
For Venus, mindful of her wound, decreed
Still new calamities fhould paft fucceed.
Agmon, impatient through fucceffive ills,
With fury, Love's bright Goddess thus reviles:
Thefe plagues in fpite to Diomede are fent;
The crime is his, but ours the punishment.
Let each, my friends, her puny fpleen defpife,
And dare that haughty harlot of the skies.
The rest of Agmon's infolence complain,
And of irreverence the wretch arraign.
About to anfwer, his blafpheming throat
Contracts, and fhrieks in fome difdainful note.
To his new skin a fleece of feather clings,
Hides his late arms, and lengthens into wings.
The lower features of his face extend,
Warp into horn, and in a beak descend.
Some more experience Agmon's destiny;
And, wheeling in the air, like fwans they fly.
These thin remains to Daunus' realms I bring,
And here I reign, a poor precarious king.
TRANSFORMATION OF APPULUS.
Thus Diomedes. Venulus withdraws; Unfped the fervice of the common cause. Puteoli he paffes, and furvey'd
A cave long honour'd for its awful fhade.
Here trembling reeds exclude the piercing ray,
Here streams in gentle falls through windings stray,
And with a paffing breath cool Zephyrs play.
The goat-herd God frequents the filent place,
As once the wood-nymphs of the fylvan race,
Till Appulus, with a dishonest air,
And grofs behaviour, banish'd thence the fair.
The bold buffoon, whene'er they tread the green,
Their motion mimicks, but with gest obscene.
Loofe language oft' he utters; but ere long
A bark in filmy net-work binds his tongue.
Thus chang'd, a base wild olive he remains;
The fhrub the coarseness of the clown retains.
THE TROJAN SHIPS TRANSFORMED TO SEA-NYMPHS.
Meanwhile the Latians all their power prepare,
'Gainst fortune and the foe to push the war.
With Phrygian blood the floating fields they ftain;
But, fhort of fuccours, ftill contend in vain.
Turnus remarks the Trojan fleet ill-mann'd,
Unguarded, and at anchor near the ftrand ;
He thought; and ftraight a lighted brand he bore,
And fire invades what 'scap'd the waves before.
The billows from the kindling prow retire;
Pitch, rofin, fearwood, on red wings aspire,
And Vulcan on the feas exerts his attribute of fire.
This when the mother of the Gods beheld,
Her towery crown she shook, and flood reveal'd;
Her brindled lions rein'd, unveil'd her head,
And, hovering o'er her favour'd fleet, fhe faid;
Ceafe Turnus, and the heavenly powers respect,
Nor dare to violate what I protect.
These gallies, once fair trees, on Ida stood,
And gave their fhade to each descending God;
Nor fhall confume; irrevocable Fate
Allots their being no determin'd date.
Straight peals of thunder Heaven's high arches rend,
The hail-stones leap, the showers in spouts descend.
The winds with widen'd throats the fignal give;
The cables break, the fmoaking vessels drive.
Now, wondrous, as they beat the foaming flood,
The timber foftens into flesh and blood;
The yards and oars new arms and legs defign;
A trunk the hull; the flender keel, a spine;
The prow a female face; and by degrees
The gallies rife green daughters of the feas.
Sometimes on coral beds they fit in state,
Or wanton on the waves they fear'd of late.
The barks, that beat the feas, are ftill their care,
Themselves remembering what of late they were ;
To fave a Trojan fail, in throngs they prefs,
But fmile to fee Alcinous in diftrefs.
Unable were those wonders to deter
The Latians from their unfuccefsful war.
Both fides for doubtful victory contend;
And on their courage, and their Gods, depend.
Nor bright Lavinia, nor Latinus' crown,
Warm their great foul to war, like fair renown.
Venus at last beholds her godlike fon
Triumphant, and the field of battle won;
Brave Turnus flain; ftrong Ardea but a name,
And buried in fierce deluges of flame;
Her towers, that boafted once a fovereign fway,
The fate of fancy'd grandeur now betray.
A famifh'd heron from the afhes fprings,
And beats the ruin with difaftrous wings;
Calamities of towns diftreft the feigns,
And oft', with woeful fhrieks, of war complains.
DEIFICATION OF ENEAS,
Now had Æneas, as ordain'd by Fate,
Surviv'd the period of Saturnia's hate :
And, by a fure irrevocable doom,
Fix'd the immortal majefty of Rome.
Fit for the ftation of his kindred stars,
His mother Goddess thus her fuit prefers :
Almighty arbiter, whofe powerful nod
Shakes diftant earth, and bows our own abode;
To thy great progeny indulgent be,
And rank the Goddess-born a deity.
Already has he view'd, with mortal eyes,
Thy brother's kingdoms of the nether skies.
Forthwith a conclave of the Godhead meets,
Where Juno in the shining fenate fits.
Remorfe for paft revenge the Goddess feels;
Then thundering Jove th' almighty mandate seals;
Allots the prince of his celeftial line
An apotheofis, and rights divine.
The crystal manfions echo with applause,
And, with her graces, Love's bright queen withdraws;
Shoots in a blaze of light along the skies,
And, borne by turtle, to Laurentum flies;
Alights where through the reeds Numicius ftrays,
And to the feas his watery tribute pays.
The God fhe fupplicates, to wash away
The parts more gross, and subject to decay,
And cleanse the Goddess-born from feminal allay.
The horned flood with glad attention stands,
Then bids his ftreams obey their fire's commands.
His better parts by luftral waves refin'd,
More pure, and nearer to æthereal mind,
With gums of fragrant scent the Goddess strews,
And on his features breathes ambrofial dews.
Thus deify'd, new honours Rome decrees,
Shrines, festivals; and ftiles him Indiges.
THE LINE OF THE LATIAN KINGS.
Afcanius now the Latian fceptre fways;
The Alban nation Sylvius next obeys.
Then young Latinus: Next an Alba came,
The grace and guardian of the Alban name.
Then Epitus; then gentle Capys reign'd;
Then Capetis the regal power sustain❜d.
Next he who perifh'd on the Tuscan flood,
And honour'd with his name the River God.
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