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Show [ 15'4 ] So flowers iliall rife in purple light array' d, And bloffom' d orchards firetch their !ilver iliade ; Admiring glebes their a1nber ears unfold, And Labour Deep an1id the waving gold. " Thus when young HERCULES with firm difdain Braved the foft ftniles of Pleafure's harlot train; To valiant toils his forceful limbs affign'd, And gave to Virtue all his mighty mind ; Fierce AcHELous rufh' d from mountain-caves, 0' er fad Etolia pour' d his wafieful waves, 0' er lowing vales and bleating pafl:ures roll' d, Swept her red vineyards, and her glebes of gold, Mined all her towns, uptore her rooted woods, And Fan1ine danced upon the ihining floods. 495 soo Fierce .Achelous. 1. 495· The river Achelous del11ged Etolia, by one of its branches or arms, which in the antient languages are called horns, and produced famine throughout a great traCt of country; this was reprefented in hieroglyphic emblems by the wimling courfe of a ferpent, and the roaring of a bull with large horns. Hercules, or the emblem of flrength, firangled the ferpent, and tore off one horn from the bull; that is, he il:opped and turned the courfe of one arm of the river, and rcfl:ored plenty to the country. Whence the antient emblem of the horn of plenty. Diet. par M. Danet . [ 153 ] The youthful Hero feized his curled crefi, And dafh' d with lifted club the watery Pefl:; With waving arm the billowy tumult quell'd And to his courfe the bellowing Fiend repell' d. '' Then .to a Snake the :finny Demon turn'd 505 Fiis lengthen' d form, with fca1es of filver burn' d; Lalli' d with refifilefs, fweep his dragon-train, And !hot meandering o'er the affrighted plain. The Hero-God, with giant fingers clafp' d Firm round his neck, the hiffing monfl:er grafp' d ; 51 o With ftarting eyes, wide throat, and gaping teeth, Curl his redundant folds, and writhe in death. " And now a Bull, amid the flying throng The gri:fly Demon-foam'd, and roar'd along; With filver hoofs the flowery meadows fpurn'd, Roll' d his red eye, his threatening antlers turn' d PART I. X |
