Till full in Atalanta's path it lay,

Check'd in mid flight, and lur'd her to delay;
When, as she stoops to seize the precious toy,
He springs before the many shout for joy.
But soon the maid regain'd the distance lost,
And still had vanquish'd at her lover's cost;
When straight another rolling globe he threw;
Again he triumph'd, to be foil'd anew.

Short distance now remain'd, the doom accurst
Was hard at hand, and Atalanta first :

The Prince pursued afar: "Be thou my guide,
Celestial author of the gift," he cried,

And whirl'd at once, with well-directed force,
The third bright apple, now his last resource.
Obedient to his aim, the missive gold

Athwart the measur'd course obliquely roll'd;
Awhile she paus'd: I mark'd her wav'ring mind,
And to the bias of her wish inclin'd:

Once more the fruit she seiz'd; the massy freight
Impedes her course; my power increas'd the weight.
But, to be brief, and lest the tale appear

To halt like Atalanta in the rear,

worsted:

The Maid was beated with a victor's pride,
Hippomenes exulting claim'd the bride.

And sure, methinks, to my so potent aid
Some gratitude was due: but none was paid;
The wretch unmindful how he won the prize,
Bade at my shrine no pious odours rise.

At this incens'd; "Let all henceforth be warn'd,
Nor with impunity my power be scorn'd."

I said; and kindling into sudden hate,

Ordain'd a dire example in their fate.

It chanc'd, that, journeying near the dread abodes,
To the Great Mother of th' immortal Gods
By old Echion rear'd, th' unconscious Fair

There sought the toils of travel to repair

Beneath th' imbow'ring shades: 'twas then that, fir'd
With fierce intempʼrate heat by me inspir'd,

The luckless Lover burn'd. Hard by there stood,
Hewn in the pumice rock, o'erhung with wood,

A deep recess, in whose religious shade

The mutt'ring priest to wooden idols pray'd:
Here rash Hippomenes in evil hour

With sacrilegious love profan'd the bower.

F

The trembling statues totter'd to their base;
And on her front, that wore an angry look,

Her hundred towers the Goddess-Mother shook.
And first, to expiate the detested deed,

Deep in the Stygian lake her wrath decreed

To plunge them headlong; but that doom had been
Too mild a sentence for so black a sin.

A hideous change ensues: their necks sustain,
No longer smooth, a load of shaggy mane;
Their spreading hands, contracted into paws,
For taper fingers end in crooked claws;

In front a mass of cumb'rous strength they find,
And slowly drag a length of tail behind.

Hoarse roars the throat, where words were wont to flow,

And grim-fac'd Fury settles on their brow.

Couch'd in the woods, eternal war they wage,

By force subsist, and propagate in rage;

Dreaded by all, save Cybele alone,

Long years of toil their sacrilege atone;

Her Lions now, they feel the galling rein,

And draw with stately pace the Berecynthian wain.

TRANSLATION

OF THE

SPEECH OF THERAMENES,

FROM THE

PHÆDRE OF RACINE.

SCARCE issued from the gates, in sad array,
The Prince pursued his melancholy way;
Beside his car with measur'd steps and slow,
March'd his stern guards, the partners of his woe;
Pensive he bends to fam'd Mycene's plains,

And o'er the coursers drops the careless reins :
Those gen'rous coursers of ethereal soul,

Once fiery, fierce, impatient of controul,

Now droop'd the mournful head with mute accord,

And seem'd to share the sorrows of their lord.

Just then from out the deep a hideous roar
Fill'd all the air, and peal'd along the shore,
And from the central earth a hollow cry,
With stifled echoes mutter'd in reply.

Aghast in speechless agony we stood;

Back to each heart recoil'd the freezing blood;
The list'ning steeds with wild distraction gaze,
And trembling start, and bristle with amaze :
Meanwhile high-towering o'er the wat❜ry plain,
A liquid mountain issued from the main;
Th' unwieldy wave advancing to the land,
Burst with loud surges on the sounding strand;
And vomited from forth the spumy flood,
Full in our sight a grisly monster stood :
In circling folds his slimy length he trails,

Horn'd was his front, his limbs o'erspread with scales. the amphibious for

To arm

form with double might,

A

The Dragon fierce, and sturdy Bull unite.

Earth trembles at his roar, the rocks reply,
His breath contagious blots the sickening sky,
And Ocean shrinking from th' infected shore,
Starts back affrighted from the pest he bore.

foe