And raised the plants, and gave the spring its birth,
  By chance a fair Arcadian nymph he viewed,
  And felt the lovely charmer in his blood. 
  The nymph nor spun, nor dressed with artful pride;
  Her vest was gathered up, her hair was tied;
  Now in her hand a slender spear she bore,
  Now a light quiver on her shoulders wore;
  To chaste Diana from her youth inclined,
  The sprightly warriors of the wood she joined.
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  Diana too the gentle huntress loved,
  Nor was there one of all the nymphs that roved
  O’er Maenalus, amid the maiden throng,
  More favoured once; but favour lasts not long. 
     The sun now shone in all its strength, and drove
  The heated virgin panting to a grove;
  The grove around a grateful shadow cast: 
  She dropped her arrows, and her bow unbraced;
  She flung herself on the cool, grassy bed;
  And on the painted quiver raised her head.
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  Jove saw the charming huntress unprepared,
  Stretched on the verdant turf, without a guard. 
  ‘Here I am safe,’ he cries, ’from Juno’s eye;
  Or should my jealous queen the theft descry,
  Yet would I venture on a theft like this,
  And stand her rage for such, for such a bliss!’
  Diana’s shape and habit straight he took,
  Softened his brows, and smoothed his awful look,
  And mildly in a female accent spoke. 
  ‘How fares my girl?  How went the morning chase?’
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  To whom the virgin, starting from the grass,
  ’All hail, bright deity, whom I prefer
  To Jove himself, though Jove himself were here.’ 
  The god was nearer than she thought, and heard,
  Well-pleased, himself before himself preferr’d. 
     He then salutes her with a warm embrace,
  And, ere she half had told the morning chase,
  With love inflamed, and eager on his bliss,
  Smothered her words, and stopped her with a kiss;
  His kisses with unwonted ardour glow’d,
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  Nor could Diana’s shape conceal the god. 
  The virgin did whate’er a virgin could;
  (Sure Juno must have pardoned, had she view’d;)
  With all her might against his force she strove;
  But how can mortal maids contend with Jove! 
     Possessed at length of what his heart desired,
  Back to his heavens the exulting god retired. 
  The lovely huntress, rising from the grass,
  With downcast eyes, and with a blushing face
  By shame confounded, and by fear dismay’d,
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  Flew from the covert of the guilty shade,
  And almost, in the tumult of her mind,
  Left her forgotten bow and shafts behind. 
     But now Diana, with a sprightly train
  Of quivered virgins, bounding over the plain,
  Called to the nymph; the nymph began to fear
  A second fraud, a Jove disguised in her;
  But, when she saw the sister nymphs, suppress’d
  Her rising fears, and mingled with the rest. 
     How in the look does