Palamon and Arcite by John Dryden
page 84 of 150 (56%)
page 84 of 150 (56%)
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Above his head, a warrior and a maid,
One when direct, and one when retrograde. Tired with deformities of death, I haste To the third temple of Diana chaste. A sylvan scene with various greens was drawn, Shades on the sides, and on the midst a lawn; The silver Cynthia, with her nymphs around, Pursued the flying deer, the woods with horns resound: Calisto there stood manifest of shame, And, turned a bear, the northern star became: Her son was next, and, by peculiar grace, In the cold circle held the second place; The stag Actson in the stream had spied The naked huntress, and for seeing died; His hounds, unknowing of his change, pursue The chase, and their mistaken master slew. Peneian Daphne too, was there to see, Apollo's love before, and now his tree. The adjoining fane the assembled Greeks expressed, And hunting of the Calydonian beast. OEnides' valour, and his envied prize; The fatal power of Atalanta's eyes; Diana's vengeance on the victor shown, The murderess mother, and consuming son; The Volscian queen extended on the plain, The treason punished, and the traitor slain. The rest were various huntings, well designed, And savage beasts destroyed, of every kind. The graceful goddess was arrayed in green; |
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