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When one cry'd out, “ Forbear, fond man! forbear
To mingle in a blind promifcuous war."
This faid, he ftruck his brother to the ground,
Himself expiring by another's wound;

Nor did the third his conqueft long furvive,
Dying ère scarce he had begun to live.

The dire example ran thro' all the field,
Till heaps of brothers were by brothers kill'd;
The furrows fwam in blood; and only five

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Of all the vast increase were left alive.
Echion one, at Pallas's command,

Let fall the guiltless weapon from his hand,
And with the reft a peaceful treaty makes,

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Whom Cadmus as his friends and partners takes; So founds a city on the promis'd earth,

Ally'd by marriage to the deathless gods,
And, in a fruitful wife's embraces old,
A long increase of children's children told:
But no frail man, however great or high,
Can be concluded blefs'd before he die.

Acteon was the first of all his race,

Who griev'd his grandfire in his borrow'd face;
Condemn'd by ftern Diana to bemoan

The branching horns, and visage not his own;

P

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To fhun his once-lov'd dogs, to bound away,
And from their huntsman to become their prey.
And yet confider why the change was wrought,
You'll find it his misfortune, not his fault;
Or if a fault, it was the fault of chance;
For how can guilt proceed from ignorance?

The transformation of Aaon into a Stag.

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In a fair chafe a fhady mountain stood,
Well-ftor'dwith game,and mark'dwith trails of blood:
Here did the huntfmen, till the heat of day,
Purfue the stag, and load themselves with prey;
When thus Acteon calling to the rest:

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"My friends," fays he, "our fport is at the best: "The fun is high advanc'd, and downward sheds "His burning beams directly on our heads; "Then by confent abstain from further spoils, "Call off the dogs, and gather up the toils, "And ere to-morrow's fun begins his race, "Take the cool morning to renew the chase." They all confent, and in a cheerful train The jolly huntfmen, loaden with the slain, Return in triumph from the fultry plain.

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Down in a vale, with pine and cypress clad, Refresh'd with gentle winds and brown with fhade, The chafte Diana's private haunt, there ftood 215 Full in the centre of the dark fome wood, A fpacious grotto, all around o'ergrown

With hoary mofs, and arch'd with pumice-stone;

220

*From out its rocky clefts the waters flow,
And, trickling, fwell into a lake below.
Nature had ev'ry where fo play'd her part,
That ev'ry where the feem'd to vie with Art:
Here the bright goddefs, toil'd and chaf'd with heat,
Was wont to bathe her in the cool retreat.

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Here did he now with all her train resort, Panting with heat, and breathless from the sport; Her armour-bearer laid her bow afide, Some loos'd her fandals, fome her veil unty'd; Each bufy nymph her proper part undress'd, While Crocalè, more handy than the rest, Gather'd her flowing hair, and in a noofe Bound it together, whilst her own hung loofe: Five of the more ignoble fort by turns

Fetch up the water, and unlade their urns.

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Now all undrefs'd the shining goddess stood, 235 When young Actæon, wilder'd in the wood, To the cool grot by his hard fate betray'd, The fountains fill'd with naked nymphs survey'd. The frighted virgins shriek'd at the surprise, (The forest echo'd with their piercing cries) Then in a huddle round their goddess prefs'd;

She, proudly eminent above the rest,

With blushes glow'd, fuch blushes as adorn
The ruddy welkin or the purple morn;

240

And tho' the crowding nymphs her body hide, 245 Half backward fhrunk, and view'd him from aside.

Surpris'd, at first she would have fnatch'd her bow, But fees the circling waters round her flow;

These in the hollow of her hand she took,

And dafh'd'em in his face, while thus fhe fpoke: 250 "Tell, if thou canft, the wondrous fight difclos'd, "A goddess naked to thy view expos'd."

This faid, the man begun to difappear

By flow degrees, and ended in a deer.

A rifing horn on either brow he wears,

And ftretches out his neck, and pricks his ears;
Rough is his skin, with sudden hairs o'ergrown,
His bofom pants with fears before unknown.
Transform'd at length, he flies away in haste,
And wonders why he flies away fo fast:
But as by chance, within a neighb'ring brook,
He faw his branching horns and alter'd look,
Wretched Acteon! in a doleful tone
He try'd to speak, but only gave a groan;
And as he wept, within the wat❜ry glass
He faw the big round drops, with filent pace,

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Run trickling down a favage hairy face.
What should he do? or feek his old abodes,
Or herd among the deer, and fculk in woods?
Here fhame diffuades him, there his fear prevails,
And each by turns his akeing heart affails.

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As he thus ponders, he behind him fpies His opening hounds, and now he hears their cries; A gen'rous pack, or to maintain the chase, Or fnuff the vapour from the fcented grafs.

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He bounded off with fear, and swiftly ran O'er craggy mountains and the flow'ry plain;

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Thro' brakes and thickets fore'd his way, and flew
Thro' many a ring, where once he did pursue.
In vain he oft' endeavour'd to proclaim
His new misfortune, and to tell his name;
Nor voice nor words the brutal tongue fupplies;
From shouting men, and horns, and dogs, he flies,
Deafen'd and stuinn'd with their promifcuous cries.
When now the fleetest of the pack, that prefs'd 285.
Close at his heels, and fprung before the rest,
Had fasten'd on him, straight another pair
Hung on his wounded haunch, and held him there,
Till all the pack came up, and ev'ry hound 289
Tore the fad huntfman grov'lling on the ground,
Who now appear'd but one continu'd wound.
With dropping tears his bitter fate he moans,
And fills the mountain with his dying groans.
His fervants with a piteous look he spies,
And turns about his fupplicating eyes.
His fervants, ignorant of what had chane'd,
With eager hafte and joyful shouts advanc'd,
And call'd their lord Acteon to the game;
He shook his head in answer to the name:

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He heard, but with'd he had indeed been gone, 3co
Or only to have flood a looker-on :

But, to his grief, he finds himself too near,
And feels his rav'nous dogs with fury tear
Their wretched master panting in a deer.

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