Metamorphoses: Book The Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFFDDGHIIJJKK LMNNNOOPPQQRSTTUUVVW WJJEEXXYYZZA2B2B2C2D 2EEYYE2YF2F2WWWWYYYU UJJG2G2UUH2YYCCWWYYW WWWI2I2J2PYYWWK2K2YY JJXXJJYYWWWWYYFFL2L2 M2M2WWM2

WHEN now Agenor had his daughter lostA
He sent his son to search on ev'ry coastB
And sternly bid him to his arms restoreC
The darling maid or see his face no moreC
But live an exile in a foreign climeD
Thus was the father pious to a crimeD
The Story of The restless youth search'd all the world aroundE
of Cadmus But how can Jove in his amours be foundE
When tir'd at length with unsuccessful toilF
To shun his angry sire and native soilF
He goes a suppliant to the Delphick domeD
There asks the God what new appointed homeD
Should end his wand'rings and his toils relieveG
The Delphick oracles this answer giveH
Behold among the fields a lonely cowI
Unworn with yokes unbroken to the plowI
Mark well the place where first she lays her downJ
There measure out thy walls and build thy townJ
And from thy guide Boeotia call the landK
In which the destin'd walls and town shall standK
No sooner had he left the dark abodeL
Big with the promise of the Delphick GodM
When in the fields the fatal cow he view'dN
Nor gall'd with yokes nor worn with servitudeN
Her gently at a distance he pursu'dN
And as he walk'd aloof in silence pray'dO
To the great Pow'r whose counsels he obey'dO
Her way thro' flow'ry Panope she tookP
And now Cephisus cross'd thy silver brookP
When to the Heav'ns her spacious front she rais'dQ
And bellow'd thrice then backward turning gaz'dQ
On those behind 'till on the destin'd placeR
She stoop'd and couch'd amid the rising grassS
Cadmus salutes the soil and gladly hailsT
The new found mountains and the nameless valesT
And thanks the Gods and turns about his eyeU
To see his new dominions round him lyeU
Then sends his servants to a neighb'ring groveV
For living streams a sacrifice to JoveV
O'er the wide plain there rose a shady woodW
Of aged trees in its dark bosom stoodW
A bushy thicket pathless and unwornJ
O'er run with brambles and perplex'd with thornJ
Amidst the brake a hollow den was foundE
With rocks and shelving arches vaulted roundE
Deep in the dreary den conceal'd from dayX
Sacred to Mars a mighty dragon layX
Bloated with poison to a monstrous sizeY
Fire broke in flashes when he glanc'd his eyesY
His tow'ring crest was glorious to beholdZ
His shoulders and his sides were scal'd with goldZ
Three tongues he brandish'd when he charg'd hisA2
foesB2
His teeth stood jaggy in three dreadful rowesB2
The Tyrians in the den for water soughtC2
And with their urns explor'd the hollow vaultD2
From side to side their empty urns reboundE
And rowse the sleeping serpent with the soundE
Strait he bestirs him and is seen to riseY
And now with dreadful hissings fills the skiesY
And darts his forky tongues and rowles his glaringE2
eyesY
The Tyrians drop their vessels in the frightF2
All pale and trembling at the hideous sightF2
Spire above spire uprear'd in air he stoodW
And gazing round him over look'd the woodW
Then floating on the ground in circles rowl'dW
Then leap'd upon them in a mighty foldW
Of such a bulk and such a monstrous sizeY
The serpent in the polar circle lyesY
That stretches over half the northern skiesY
In vain the Tyrians on their arms relyU
In vain attempt to fight in vain to flyU
All their endeavours and their hopes are vainJ
Some die entangled in the winding trainJ
Some are devour'd or feel a loathsom deathG2
Swoln up with blasts of pestilential breathG2
And now the scorching sun was mounted highU
In all its lustre to the noon day skyU
When anxious for his friends and fill'd withH2
caresY
To search the woods th' impatient chief preparesY
A lion's hide around his loins he woreC
The well poiz'd javelin to the field he boreC
Inur'd to blood the far destroying dartW
And the best weapon an undaunted heartW
Soon as the youth approach'd the fatal placeY
He saw his servants breathless on the grassY
The scaly foe amid their corps he view'dW
Basking at ease and feasting in their bloodW
Such friends he cries deserv'd a longer dateW
But Cadmus will revenge or share their fateW
Then heav'd a stone and rising to the throwI2
He sent it in a whirlwind at the foeI2
A tow'r assaulted by so rude a strokeJ2
With all its lofty battlements had shookP
But nothing here th' unwieldy rock availsY
Rebounding harmless from the plaited scalesY
That firmly join'd preserv'd him from a woundW
With native armour crusted all aroundW
With more success the dart unerring flewK2
Which at his back the raging warriour threwK2
Amid the plaited scales it took its courseY
And in the spinal marrow spent its forceY
The monster hiss'd aloud and rag'd in vainJ
And writh'd his body to and fro with painJ
He bit the dart and wrench'd the wood awayX
The point still buried in the marrow layX
And now his rage increasing with his painJ
Reddens his eyes and beats in ev'ry veinJ
Churn'd in his teeth the foamy venom roseY
Whilst from his mouth a blast of vapours flowsY
Such as th' infernal Stygian waters castW
The plants around him wither in the blastW
Now in a maze of rings he lies enrowl'dW
Now all unravel'd and without a foldW
Now like a torrent with a mighty forceY
Bears down the forest in his boist'rous courseY
Cadmus gave back and on the lion's spoilF
Sustain'd the shock then forc'd him to recoilF
The pointed jav'lin warded off his rageL2
Mad with his pains and furious to engageL2
The serpent champs the steel and bites the spearM2
'Till blood and venom all the point besmearM2
But still the hurt he yet receiv'd was slightW
For whilst the champion with redoubled mightW
Strikes home the jav'lin his rM2

Ovid



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