The Story of Erisichthon



8:1126 In various shapes thus to deceive the eyes,
8:1127 Without a settled stint of her disguise,
8:1128 Rash Erisichthon's daughter had the pow'r,
8:1129 And brought it to Autolicus in dow'r.
8:1130 Her atheist sire the slighted Gods defy'd,
8:1131 And ritual honours to their shrines deny'd.
8:1132 As fame reports, his hand an ax sustain'd,
8:1133 Which Ceres' consecrated grove prophan'd;
8:1134 Which durst the venerable gloom invade,
8:1135 And violate with light the awful shade.
8:1136 An ancient oak in the dark center stood,
8:1137 The covert's glory, and itself a wood:
8:1138 Garlands embrac'd its shaft, and from the boughs
8:1139 Hung tablets, monuments of prosp'rous vows.
8:1140 In the cool dusk its unpierc'd verdure spread,
8:1141 The Dryads oft their hallow'd dances led;
8:1142 And oft, when round their gaging arms they cast,
8:1143 Full fifteen ells it measu'rd in the waste:
8:1144 Its height all under standards did surpass,
8:1145 As they aspir'd above the humbler grass.

8:1146 These motives, which would gentler minds restrain,
8:1147 Could not make Triope's bold son abstain;
8:1148 He sternly charg'd his slaves with strict decree,
8:1149 To fell with gashing steel the sacred tree.
8:1150 But whilst they, lingring, his commands delay'd,
8:1151 He snatch'd an Ax, and thus blaspheming said:
8:1152 Was this no oak, nor Ceres' favourite care,
8:1153 But Ceres' self, this arm, unaw'd, shou'd dare
8:1154 Its leafy honours in the dust to spread,
8:1155 And level with the earth its airy head.
8:1156 He spoke, and as he poiz'd a slanting stroak,
8:1157 Sighs heav'd, and tremblings shook the frighted oak;
8:1158 Its leaves look'd sickly, pale its acorns grew,
8:1159 And its long branches sweat a chilly dew.
8:1160 But when his impious hand a wound bestow'd,
8:1161 Blood from the mangled bark in currents flow'd.
8:1162 When a devoted bull of mighty size,
8:1163 A sinning nation's grand atonement, dies;
8:1164 With such a plenty from the spouting veins,
8:1165 A crimson stream the turfy altars stains.

8:1166 The wonder all amaz'd; yet one more bold,
8:1167 The fact dissuading, strove his ax to hold.
8:1168 But the Thessalian, obstinately bent,
8:1169 Too proud to change, too harden'd to repent,
8:1170 On his kind monitor, his eyes, which burn'd
8:1171 With rage, and with his eyes his weapon turn'd;
8:1172 Take the reward, says he, of pious dread:
8:1173 Then with a blow lopp'd off his parted head.
8:1174 No longer check'd, the wretch his crime pursu'd,
8:1175 Doubled his strokes, and sacrilege renew'd;
8:1176 When from the groaning trunk a voice was heard,
8:1177 A Dryad I, by Ceres' love preferr'd,
8:1178 Within the circle of this clasping rind
8:1179 Coeval grew, and now in ruin join'd;
8:1180 But instant vengeance shall thy sin pursue,
8:1181 And death is chear'd with this prophetick view.

8:1182 At last the oak with cords enforc'd to bow,
8:1183 Strain'd from the top, and sap'd with wounds below,
8:1184 The humbler wood, partaker of its fate,
8:1185 Crush'd with its fall, and shiver'd with its weight.

8:1186 The grove destroy'd, the sister Dryads moan,
8:1187 Griev'd at its loss, and frighted at their own.
8:1188 Strait, suppliants for revenge to Ceres go,
8:1189 In sable weeds, expressive of their woe.

8:1190 The beauteous Goddess with a graceful air
8:1191 Bow'd in consent, and nodded to their pray'r.
8:1192 The awful motion shook the fruitful ground,
8:1193 And wav'd the fields with golden harvests crown'd.
8:1194 Soon she contriv'd in her projecting mind
8:1195 A plague severe, and piteous in its kind
8:1196 (If plagues for crimes of such presumptuous height
8:1197 Could pity in the softest breast create).
8:1198 With pinching want, and hunger's keenest smart,
8:1199 To tear his vitals, and corrode his heart.
8:1200 But since her near approach by Fate's deny'd
8:1201 To famine, and broad climes their pow'rs divide,
8:1202 A nymph, the mountain's ranger, she address'd,
8:1203 And thus resolv'd, her high commands express'd.