O'er hill and dale she springs with active grace,
Bare to the knee and buskin'd for the chase,
Cheers the swift pack, and o'er the scented lawn
The doubling hare and lightly bounding fawn
With wary speed pursues; but dreads the roar
Of the chaf'd lion, and the bristly boar:
For oft her fears-ill omen of thy doom,
Ah! luckless youth-forestall'd her woes to come.
Oh had her boding cries, and piteous tears
Inspir'd thy breast, Adonis, with her fears-
As thus she spoke ! "Too venturous youth, beware,
Nor brave the peril that portends my care;
Lest the short triumphs which thy valour gains
To me be sources of eternal pains.
Bold though thou art-'tis madness to engage
With brutes in strength superior, as in rage;
O'er harmless game indulge in boundless sport.
These Nature arms with fury to retort:
For, ah! not e'en thy form or blooming age,
The wrath of wolves and tygers can assuage;
Those charms that won thy Cytherea's soul,
Can they the boar's insatiate tusk controul?
Methinks I view the ruthless monster nigh,
Death in his jaws, and murder in his eye,
Swift as the bolt he points the side-long wound,
And roots thy trampled beauties to the ground.
Nor less from feats of daring force refrain,
Where'er the tawny lion prowls amain:
Sport of my scorn, that execrated brood
Records an ancient legendary feud;
Which would'st thou learn-thy Venus shall relate
The cause and wond'rous issue of her hate.
But first awhile my spirits to restore,
Worn for thy sake with toils unknown before,
Here let us rest-beneath yon aspin's shade,
A waving canopy for lovers made.
Lo! where around the mossy turf bestows,
A verdant couch inviting to repose."
She said—and sinking on the flowery bed,
Beside the youth reclin'd her languid head:
Then thus-while ev'ry graceful turn confess'd
Her bright divinity, the tale address'd—
Yet pausing oft, reluctant to pursue
With mix'd endearments interrupts the clue,
IF Fame hath e'er reported to thine ear
A nymph for swiftness own'd without a peer,
Whose skill in rival feats could e'en subdue
The stronger sex-ne'er deem the tale untrue.
Fair Atalanta, matchless in the race,
No less excell'd for loveliness of face,
Her form and speed, competitors for fame,
Each unsurpass'd, preferr'd an equal claim,
Nor could the judgment of impartial eyes
To either grant the litigated prize-
How blest, proud dame, had been that envied state,
Had no stern counterpoise of adverse fate
Outweigh'd the good! but fast impending woes
In dark prophetic warnings interpose :
For thus Apollo from the Delphic shrine
Was heard in threat'ning accents to divine:
"Fly, while thou may'st-sad Atalanta, fly
The porch of Hymen, and the nuptial tie—
Yet know thou can'st not-doom'd while yet alive,
To lose thyself, and thou the loss survive."
Warn'd by these oracles, the royal maid,
In some deep forest's unfrequented shade,
Veils her ill-fated charms: but ah! what care
Can from love's piercing search protect the fair?
Her secret haunts betray'd, a busy train,
Their amorous suit, unwearied by disdain,
Ceaseless intrude.-She to evade their love
Bids them these hard conditions first approve,
"Nor think," she said, "unpurchas❜d to obtain
The palm which Victory alone must gain:
Vanquish'd I'll yield-with me contend in speed,
And Atalanta be the victor's meed.
Who fails presumptuous, shall by death atone
His daring claim-be these the terms alone."
Though harsh the law, 'twas Beauty that decreed,
And crowds of rash pretenders daily bleed.
With them, spectator of th' eventful game,
Hippomenes from far Boeotia came,
But not by love inspir'd-he scorn'd the yoke,
And thus indignant, as he sate, he spoke :
"If 'tis so perilous a wish to wed,
Ye Gods, I envy not the marriage-bed."
Vain was this rash defiance-for erelong
His heart revers'd the sentence of his tongue :
For when her form the virgin unarray'd
As fair and faultless as my own display'd,
Or such as thine, Adonis, to behold,
Had Nature fram'd thee in a female mould,
Wild with surprise, with hands uplifted high,
"Not you, ye bold adventurers, but I
Have falsely judg'd, forgive the wretch" he cries,
"Who spurn'd the contest ere he weigh'd the prize."
Warm'd with the praises, which himself bestows,
He dreads his rivals, and with envy glows;
Restless he sits, with eager eyes intent,
Surveys the course, and trembles for th' event:
|