unhappy as to live one whole day without some act of violence, he
beheld, in a pleasant valley at a distance, a little rivulet
winding its gentle course through rows of willows mixed with
flowery shrubs. Hither the giant hasted; and being arrived, he
gazed about to see if in this sweet retirement any were so unhappy
as to fall within his power; but finding none, the disappointment
set him in a flame of rage, which, burning like an inward furnace,
parched his throat. And now he laid him down on the bank, to try
if in the cool stream, that murmured as it flowed, he could
assuage or slack the fiery thirst that burnt within him.

He bent him down to drink; and at the same time casting his
baleful eyes towards the opposite side, he discovered within a
little natural arbour formed by the branches of a spreading tree,
within the meadow's flowery lawn, the shepherd Fidus and his loved
Amata.

The gloomy tyrant no sooner perceived this happy pair, than his
heart exulted with joy; and, suddenly leaping up on the ground, he
forgot his thirst, and left the stream untasted. He stood for a
short space to view them in their sweet retirement; and was soon
convinced that, in the innocent enjoyment of reciprocal affection,
their happiness was complete. His eyes, inflamed with envy to
behold such bliss, darted a fearful glare; and his breast swelling
with malice and envenomed rage, he with gigantic pace approached
their peaceful seat.

The happy Fidus was at that time busy in entertaining his loved
Amata with a song which he had that very morning composed in
praise of constancy; and the giant was now within one stride of