Nor fhalt thou tempt the dangers of the grove
Alone without a guide; thy guide is Jove.
No puny power, but he, whofe high command
Is unconfin'd, who rules the feas and land,
And tempers thunder in his awful hand.
Oh, fly nct (for the fled from his embrace
O'er Lerna's pastures): he pursued the chace
Along the fhades of the Lyrcæan plain ;
At length the God who never asks in vain,
Involv'd with vapours, imitating night,
Both air and earth; and then fupprefs'd her flight,
And, mingling force with love, enjoy'd the full delight.
Mean-time the jealous Juno, from on high

Survey'd the fruitful fields of Arcady;
And wonder'd that the mift fhould over-run
The face of day-light, and obfcure the fun.
No natural caufe fhe found, from brooks or bogs,
Or marshy lowlands to produce the fogs:
Then round the fkies fhe fought for Jupiter,
Her faithlefs husband; but no Jove was there.
Sufpecting now the worst, Or I, she said,
Am much mistaken, or am much betray'd.
With fury fhe precipitates her flight;
Difpels the fhadows of diffembled night,
And to the day restores his native light.
Th' almighty leacher, careful to prevent
The confequence, forefeeing her defcent,
Transforms his mistress in a trice: and now
In Io's place appears a lovely cow.

}

So fleek her fkin, fo faultlefs was her make,
Ev'n Juno did unwilling pleasure take

To fee fo fair a rival of her love;

And what she was, and whence, enquir'd of Jove:

Of what fair herd, and from what pedigree?
The God half-caught was forc'd upon a lię;

And faid, the fprung from earth. She took the word,
And begg'd the beauteous heifer of her lord.
What should he do? 'twas equal fhame to Jove,

Or to relinquish, or betray his love:

Yet to refufe fo flight a gift, would be
But more t' increase his confort's jealousy :
Thus fear, and love, by turns his heart affail'd;
And stronger love had fure at length prevail'd;
But fome faint hope remain'd, his jealous queen
Had not the mistress through the heifer seen.
The cautious Goddefs of her gift poffeft,
Yet harbour'd anxious thoughts within her breast
As the who knew the falfehood of her Jove,
And justly fear'd fome new relapse of love.
Which to prevent, and to fecure her care,
To trufty Argus fhe commits the fair.

The head of Argus (as with stars the skies)
Was compafs'd round, and wore an hundred eyes.
But two by turns their lids in flumber steep;
The rest on duty ftill their station keep;
Nor could the total conftellation fleep.
Thus, ever prefent, to his eyes and mind,
His charge was still before him, though behind,

}

In fields he fuffer'd her to feed by day;
But, when the fetting fun to night gave way,
The captive cow he fummon'd with a call,
And drove her back, and ty'd her to the stall.
On leaves of trees and bitter herbs the fed,
Heaven was her canopy, bare earth her bed;
So hardly lodg'd: and to digeft her food,
She drank from troubled ftreams defil'd with mud.
Her woful story fain she would have told,
With hands upheld, but had no hands to hold.
Her head to her ungentle keeper bow'd,

She ftrove to speak; she spoke not, but she low'd.
Affrighted with the noife, fhe look'd around,
And seem'd t'inquire the author of the found.

Once on the banks where often fhe had play'd
(Her father's banks) she came, and there survey'd
Her alter'd vifage, and her branching head;
And starting from herself she would have fled.
Her fellow-nymphs, familiar to her eyes,
Beheld, but knew her not in this difguife.
Ev'n Inachus himself was ignorant;
And in his daughter did his daughter want.
She follow'd where her fellows went, as the
Were ftill a partner of the company :
They stroke her neck; the gentle heifer stands,
And her neck offers to their stroking hands:
Her father gave her grafs; the grass she took;
And lick'd his palins, and caft a piteous look;
And in the language of her eyes she spoke.
Y 4

}

She

She would have told her name, and afk'd relief,
But, wanting words, in tears he tells her grief.
Which with her foot fhe makes him understand;
And prints the naine of Io in the sand,
Ah wretched me! her mournful father cry'd;
She with a figh to zuretched me reply'd :
About her milk-white neck his arms he threw;
And wept, and then these tender words enfue:
And art thou fhe, whom I have fought around
The world, and have at length so sadly found?
So found, is worfe than loft: with mutual words
Thou answer'ft not, no voice thy tongue affords :
But fighs are deeply drawn from out thy breast;
And speech deny'd by lowing is express'd.
Unknowing, I prepar'd thy bridal bed;
With empty hopes of happy iffue fed.
But now the hufband of a herd must be
Thy mate, and bellowing fons thy progeny.
Oh, were I mortal, death might bring relief!
But now my God-head but extends my grief;
Prolongs my woes, of which no end I fee,
And makes me curfe my immortality.
More had he said, but, fearful of her stay,
The starry guardian drove his charge away
To fome fresh pafture; on a hilly height
He fate himself, and kept her ftill in fight.

The

The EYES of ARGUS transformed into a

PEACOCK'S TRAIN.

Now Jove no longer could her fufferings bear: But call'd in hafte his airy meffenger,

The fon of Maia, with fevere decree

To kill the keeper, and to fet her free.
With all his harnefs foon the God was fped;
His flying hat was fasten'd on his head;
Wings on his heels were hung, and in his hand
He holds the virtue of the fnaky wand.
The liquid air his moving pinions wound,
And, in the moment, fhoot him on the ground.
Before he came in fight, the crafty God
His wings difmifs'd, but ftill retain'd his rod :
That fleep-procuring wand wife Hermes took,
But made it seem to fight a fhepherd's hook.
With this he did a herd of goats control;
Which by the way he met, and flily fole.
Clad like a country fwain, he pip'd, and fung;
And playing drove his jolly troop along.

With pleasure Argus the musician heeds;
But wonders much at thofe new vocal reeds.
And whofo'er thou art, my friend, faid he,
Up hither drive thy goats, and play by me:

This hill has brouze for them, and faade for thec.
The God, who was with eafe induc'd to climb,
Began difcourfe to pafs away the time;
And ftill betwixt his tuneful pipe he plies:

And watch'd his hour, to close the keeper's eyes.

}