THE VESTAL.

  FROM OVID DE FASTIS, LIB.  III.  EL. 1.

  Blanda quies victis furtim subrepit ocellis, &c.

  As the fair vestal to the fountain came,
  (Let none be startled at a vestal’s name)
  Tired with the walk, she laid her down to rest,
  And to the winds exposed her glowing breast,
  To take the freshness of the morning-air,
  And gather’d in a knot her flowing hair;
  While thus she rested, on her arm reclined,
  The hoary willows waving with the wind,
  And feather’d choirs that warbled in the shade,
  And purling streams that through the meadow stray’d,
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  In drowsy murmurs lull’d the gentle maid. 
  The god of war beheld the virgin lie,
  The god beheld her with a lover’s eye;
  And by so tempting an occasion press’d,
  The beauteous maid, whom he beheld, possess’d: 
  Conceiving as she slept, her fruitful womb
  Swell’d with the founder of immortal Rome.

  OVID’S METAMORPHOSES.

BOOK II.

  THE STORY OF PHAETON.

  The sun’s bright palace, on high columns raised,
  With burnished gold and flaming jewels blazed;
  The folding gates diffused a silver light,
  And with a milder gleam refreshed the sight;
  Of polished ivory was the covering wrought: 
  The matter vied not with the sculptor’s thought,
  For in the portal was displayed on high
  (The work of Vulcan) a fictitious sky;
  A waving sea the inferior earth embraced,
  And gods and goddesses the waters graced.
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  AEgeon here a mighty whale bestrode;
  Triton, and Proteus, (the deceiving god,)
  With Doris here were carved, and all her train,
  Some loosely swimming in the figured main,
  While some on rocks their dropping hair divide,
  And some on fishes through the waters glide: 
  Though various features did the sisters grace,
  A sister’s likeness was in every face. 
  On earth a different landscape courts the eyes,
  Men, towns, and beasts, in distant prospects rise,
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  And nymphs, and streams, and woods, and rural deities. 
  O’er all, the heaven’s refulgent image shines;
  On either gate were six engraven signs. 
     Here Phaeton, still gaining on the ascent,
  To his suspected father’s palace went,
  Till, pressing forward through the bright ahode,
  He saw at distance the illustrious god: 
  He saw at distance, or the dazzling light
  Had flashed too strongly on his aching sight. 
     The god sits high, exalted on a throne
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  Of blazing gems, with purple garments on: 
  The Hours, in order ranged on either hand,
  And days, and months, and years, and ages, stand. 
  Here Spring appears with flowery chaplets bound;
  Here Summer in her wheaten garland crowned;
  Here Autumn the rich trodden grapes besmear;