Metamorphoses: Book The Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFFDDGHIIJJKK LMNNNOOPPQQRSTTUUVVW WJJEEXXYYZZA2B2B2C2D 2EEYYE2YF2F2WWWWYYYU UJJG2G2UUH2YYCCWWYYW WWWI2I2J2PYYWWK2K2YY JJXXJJYYWWWWYYFFL2L2 M2M2WWM2WHEN now Agenor had his daughter lost | A |
He sent his son to search on ev'ry coast | B |
And sternly bid him to his arms restore | C |
The darling maid or see his face no more | C |
But live an exile in a foreign clime | D |
Thus was the father pious to a crime | D |
The Story of The restless youth search'd all the world around | E |
of Cadmus But how can Jove in his amours be found | E |
When tir'd at length with unsuccessful toil | F |
To shun his angry sire and native soil | F |
He goes a suppliant to the Delphick dome | D |
There asks the God what new appointed home | D |
Should end his wand'rings and his toils relieve | G |
The Delphick oracles this answer give | H |
Behold among the fields a lonely cow | I |
Unworn with yokes unbroken to the plow | I |
Mark well the place where first she lays her down | J |
There measure out thy walls and build thy town | J |
And from thy guide Boeotia call the land | K |
In which the destin'd walls and town shall stand | K |
No sooner had he left the dark abode | L |
Big with the promise of the Delphick God | M |
When in the fields the fatal cow he view'd | N |
Nor gall'd with yokes nor worn with servitude | N |
Her gently at a distance he pursu'd | N |
And as he walk'd aloof in silence pray'd | O |
To the great Pow'r whose counsels he obey'd | O |
Her way thro' flow'ry Panope she took | P |
And now Cephisus cross'd thy silver brook | P |
When to the Heav'ns her spacious front she rais'd | Q |
And bellow'd thrice then backward turning gaz'd | Q |
On those behind 'till on the destin'd place | R |
She stoop'd and couch'd amid the rising grass | S |
Cadmus salutes the soil and gladly hails | T |
The new found mountains and the nameless vales | T |
And thanks the Gods and turns about his eye | U |
To see his new dominions round him lye | U |
Then sends his servants to a neighb'ring grove | V |
For living streams a sacrifice to Jove | V |
O'er the wide plain there rose a shady wood | W |
Of aged trees in its dark bosom stood | W |
A bushy thicket pathless and unworn | J |
O'er run with brambles and perplex'd with thorn | J |
Amidst the brake a hollow den was found | E |
With rocks and shelving arches vaulted round | E |
Deep in the dreary den conceal'd from day | X |
Sacred to Mars a mighty dragon lay | X |
Bloated with poison to a monstrous size | Y |
Fire broke in flashes when he glanc'd his eyes | Y |
His tow'ring crest was glorious to behold | Z |
His shoulders and his sides were scal'd with gold | Z |
Three tongues he brandish'd when he charg'd his | A2 |
foes | B2 |
His teeth stood jaggy in three dreadful rowes | B2 |
The Tyrians in the den for water sought | C2 |
And with their urns explor'd the hollow vault | D2 |
From side to side their empty urns rebound | E |
And rowse the sleeping serpent with the sound | E |
Strait he bestirs him and is seen to rise | Y |
And now with dreadful hissings fills the skies | Y |
And darts his forky tongues and rowles his glaring | E2 |
eyes | Y |
The Tyrians drop their vessels in the fright | F2 |
All pale and trembling at the hideous sight | F2 |
Spire above spire uprear'd in air he stood | W |
And gazing round him over look'd the wood | W |
Then floating on the ground in circles rowl'd | W |
Then leap'd upon them in a mighty fold | W |
Of such a bulk and such a monstrous size | Y |
The serpent in the polar circle lyes | Y |
That stretches over half the northern skies | Y |
In vain the Tyrians on their arms rely | U |
In vain attempt to fight in vain to fly | U |
All their endeavours and their hopes are vain | J |
Some die entangled in the winding train | J |
Some are devour'd or feel a loathsom death | G2 |
Swoln up with blasts of pestilential breath | G2 |
And now the scorching sun was mounted high | U |
In all its lustre to the noon day sky | U |
When anxious for his friends and fill'd with | H2 |
cares | Y |
To search the woods th' impatient chief prepares | Y |
A lion's hide around his loins he wore | C |
The well poiz'd javelin to the field he bore | C |
Inur'd to blood the far destroying dart | W |
And the best weapon an undaunted heart | W |
Soon as the youth approach'd the fatal place | Y |
He saw his servants breathless on the grass | Y |
The scaly foe amid their corps he view'd | W |
Basking at ease and feasting in their blood | W |
Such friends he cries deserv'd a longer date | W |
But Cadmus will revenge or share their fate | W |
Then heav'd a stone and rising to the throw | I2 |
He sent it in a whirlwind at the foe | I2 |
A tow'r assaulted by so rude a stroke | J2 |
With all its lofty battlements had shook | P |
But nothing here th' unwieldy rock avails | Y |
Rebounding harmless from the plaited scales | Y |
That firmly join'd preserv'd him from a wound | W |
With native armour crusted all around | W |
With more success the dart unerring flew | K2 |
Which at his back the raging warriour threw | K2 |
Amid the plaited scales it took its course | Y |
And in the spinal marrow spent its force | Y |
The monster hiss'd aloud and rag'd in vain | J |
And writh'd his body to and fro with pain | J |
He bit the dart and wrench'd the wood away | X |
The point still buried in the marrow lay | X |
And now his rage increasing with his pain | J |
Reddens his eyes and beats in ev'ry vein | J |
Churn'd in his teeth the foamy venom rose | Y |
Whilst from his mouth a blast of vapours flows | Y |
Such as th' infernal Stygian waters cast | W |
The plants around him wither in the blast | W |
Now in a maze of rings he lies enrowl'd | W |
Now all unravel'd and without a fold | W |
Now like a torrent with a mighty force | Y |
Bears down the forest in his boist'rous course | Y |
Cadmus gave back and on the lion's spoil | F |
Sustain'd the shock then forc'd him to recoil | F |
The pointed jav'lin warded off his rage | L2 |
Mad with his pains and furious to engage | L2 |
The serpent champs the steel and bites the spear | M2 |
'Till blood and venom all the point besmear | M2 |
But still the hurt he yet receiv'd was slight | W |
For whilst the champion with redoubled might | W |
Strikes home the jav'lin his r | M2 |
Ovid
(1)
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