From his wide mouth a bellowing cry he caft;
I fee, I fee, but this fhall be your last.
A roar fo loud made Ætna to rebound;
And all the Cyclops labour'd in the found.
Affrighted with his monftrous voice, I fled,
And in the neighbouring ocean plung'd my head.
Poor Acis turn'd his back, and, Help, he cry'd,
Help, Galatea, help, my parent Gods,
And take me dying to your deep abodes.
The Cyclops follow'd; but he fent before
A rib, which from the living rock he tore :
Though but an angle reach'd him of the stone,
The mighty fragment was enough alone,
To crush all Acis; 'twas too late to fave,
But what the fates allow'd to give, I gave :
That Acis to his lineage fhould return ;
And roll, among the river Gods, his urn.
Straight iffued from the ftone a ftream of blood;
Which loft the purple, mingling with the flood.
Then like a troubled torrent it appear'd :

The torrent too, in little space, was clear’d.
The stone was cleft, and through the yawning chink
New reeds arofe, on the new river's brink.

The rock, from out its hollow womb, difclos'd
A found like water in its course oppos'd :
When (wondrous to behold) full in the flood,
Up ftarts a youth, and navel-high he stood.
Horns from his temples rife; and either horn
Thick wreaths of reeds (his native growth) adorn.

}

Were not his ftature taller than before,
His bulk augmented, and his beauty more,
His colour blue, for Acis he might pass :
And Acis chang'd into a stream he was.
But, mine no more, he rolls along the plains
With rapid motion, and his name retains.

OF

OF THE

PYTHAGOREAN PHILOSOPHY.

From the FIFTEENTH BOOK of

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

The fourteenth book concludes with the death and deification of Romulus: the fifteenth begins with the election of Numa to the crown of Rome. On this occafion, Ovid, following the opinion of fome authors, makes Numa the scholar of Pythagoras; and to have begun bis acquaintance with that philofopher at Crotona, a town in Italy; from thence he makes a digression to the moral and natural philofophy of Pythagoras: on both which our author enlarges; and which are the most learned and beautiful parts of the Metamorphofes.

A King is fought, to guide the growing state,

One able to fupport the public weight,

And fill the throne where Romulus had fate.
Renown, which oft bespeaks the public voice,
Had recommended Numa to their choice:
A peaceful, pious prince; who, not content
To know the Sabine rites, his ftudy bent
To cultivate his mind: to learn the laws
Of nature, and explore their hidden caufe :
Urg'd by this care, his country he forfook,
And to Crotona thence his journey took.

Arriv'd, he firft enquir'd the founder's name
Of this new colony: and whence he came.
Then thus a fenior of the place replies,
(Well read, and curious of antiquities)
"Tis faid, Alcides hither took his way
From Spain, and drove along his conquer'd prey;
Then, leaving in the fields his grazing cows;
He fought himself fame hofpitable house:
Good Croton entertain'd his godlike gueft;
While he repair'd his weary limbs with rest.
The hero, thence departing, blefs'd the place;
And here, he faid, in Time's revolving race,
A rifing town fhall take its name from thee;
Revolving Time fulfill'd the prophecy:
For Myfcelos, the jufteft man on earth,
Alemon's fon, at Argos had his birth:
Him Hercules, arm'd with his club of oak,
O'erfhadow'd in a dream, and thus bespoke ;
Go, leave thy native foil, and make abcde
Where Æfaris rolls down his rapid flood;
He faid; and fleep forfook him, and the God.
Trembling he wak'd, and rofe with anxious heart;
His country laws forbad him to depart :
What fhould he do? 'Twas death to go away;

And the God menac'd if he dar'd to stay :

All day he doubted; and when night came on, Sleep, and the fame forewarning dream, begun : Once more the God stood threatening o'er his head; With added curfes if he difobey'd.

Twice warn'd, he study'd flight; but would convey,
At once, his perfon and his wealth away :
Thus white he linger'd, his defign was heard;
A fpeedy procefs form'd, and death declar'd.
Witnefs there needed none of his offence,
Against himself the wretch was evidence:
Condemn'd, and deftitute of human aid,
To him, for whom he fuffer'd, thus he pray'd:
O Power, who hast deserv'd in heaven a throne
Not given, but by thy labours made thy own,
Pity thy fuppliant, and protect his caufe,
Whom thou haft made obnoxious to the laws.
A cuftom was of old, and still remains,
Which life or death by fuffrages ordains;
White ftones and black within an urn are caft,
The firft abfolve, but fate is in the laft:
The judges to the common urn bequeath

Their votes, and drop the fable figns of death;
The box receives all black; but pour'd from thence
The ftones came candid forth, the hue of innocence.
Thus Alimonides his fafety won,

Preferv'd from death by Alcumena's fon :
Then to his kinfman God his vows he pays,
And cuts with profperous gales th' Ionian feas:
He leaves Tarentum, favour'd by the wind,
And Thurine bays, and Temifes, behind;
Soft Sibaris, and all the capes that stand
Along the fhore, he makes in fight of land;
Still doubling, and still coafting, till he found
The mouth of Æfaris, and premis`d ground: