More by his prayer, whom she so dearly loved, Or more with fury fired, to find her name Traduced, and made the sport of common fame. She stretched her arms to heaven, and fixed her eyes On that fair planet that adorns the skies; Now by those beams, said she, whose holy fires Consume my breast, and kindle my desires; By him who sees us both, and cheers our sight, By him, the public minister of light, I swear that Sun begot thee; if I lie, Let him his cheerful influence deny; Let him no more this perjured creature see, And shine on all the world but only me. If still you doubt your mother's innocence, His eastern mansion is not far from hence; With little pains you to his levee go, And from himself your parentage may know.-- With joy the ambitious youth his mother heard, And, eager for the journey, soon prepared. He longs the world beneath him to survey, To guide the chariot, and to give the day. From Meroe's burning sands he bends his course, Nor less in India feels his father's force; His travel urging, till he came in sight, And saw the palace by the purple light. FOOTNOTES: [21] In all our earlier poets, the word _sea_ is occasionally made to rheme, according to the pronunciation of Hibernia, as if spelled _say_. [22] Ovid is not answerable for the speed of the stag's exertions in the water; he barely says, _Crura nec ablato prosunt velocia cervo._ [23] See the same image in the "Annus Mirabilis:" "With his loll'd tongue he faintly licks his prey, His warm breath blows her flix up as she lies." Vol. IX. p. 128. MELEAGER AND ATALANTA, OUT OF THE EIGHTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES. CONNECTION TO THE FORMER STORY. _Ovid, having told how Theseus had freed Athens from the tribute of children, which was imposed on them by Minos king of Crete, by killing the Minotaur, here makes a digression to the story of Meleager and Atalanta, which is one of the most inartificial connections in all the Metamorphoses; for he only says, that Theseus obtained such honour from that combat, that all Greece had recourse to him in their necessities; and, amongst others, Calydon, though the hero of that country, prince Meleager, was then living._