Ovid's Metamorphosis / Englished, mythologiz'd, and represented in figures. An essay to the translation of Virgil's Aeneis. By G. S[andys].

Ovid

Date:: [1640]

Credit: Ovid's Metamorphosis / Englished, mythologiz'd, and represented in figures. An essay to the translation of Virgil's Aeneis. By G. S[andys]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$OVIDS jMbTAMOR PHOS IS. T o Phoebus and L-ittm confecrate. Mm) t w.. To both the Tkw» iuchet celebrate Edphta Theban*re/e,»,.eb.„. Th? Delfhtcke third yeares-feaft. This did divide Swoln Seas from Stars-jthe whole World drown'd befidc, To apply the fabk yet more to the hifiory. Both 'i^ozh andlie,\icoMoTi are celebrated for theh lujlice and Religion: Noah waa commanded to build an Arke by God 5 and DcixzgMonadvifed thereunto by Prometheus, which is^ the divine providence: both faved for their verttte, the one on Mount Ararat, and the other on ParnalTus, while thevitiotu are [wallowed by their owne impieties, Now]upitcr difsipateth the clouds y fets the North-winde at Ubertie, and jhewes the Barth unto Heaven: HeptuuQfuppreffeth the Seas with his Trident^ and commands his trumpeter Tricon to found a retreat to the waterswho ts thus deferibedby Virgil: Whom mighty Triton beares, whofe (hells lowd blaft. Blew floods affright, his figure to the waft Prefents a man, the reft a mh • before His monftrous breaft the foaming furges roare ? Hwte vehit mjnanii Tricon ^ cstruU ebk €xteTfeiuft€t*ycui Uterum Unut bi'pida nati Ironr htminem prufert, tnpi/cem depntt stlm * Vt4d, Spumed femiferu (Ufs peSfure murmurdt unda, JEniio. \ Others deferibe him, perhaps more exaclly, to have hake like water^parfely, a body covered withfmall and hardfcalCy gUlcs a little under the eares^ the noftrids of a man y a wide mouthy with Panthers teeth: blew eyes y hands y fingers y and naileSy likethejhe/lofafijhyfinnes under [the hr eafl like a Dolphin, Winy writes how an Embajfador was fent of purpefe from the Olifliponenfi unto Tiberius C^lar to tellhimofaTritoxty (eene and heardin acertaine cavcywindinga [ell y and in fuch a forme asihey are commonly painted, Rut I cannot omit what is written by Alexander ab A- lexandro, who lived in the laft century y how he heaydoneDricori^t'RomfeiCCof^zplcSy afoul- dier of much experiencey report in an honorable affembl% that in the wars of Spiine, he faw a fea Monfier with the face andbody likeamany but below the belly like a fi[hy brought thither from the far* thefi/bores i^Mauritania. It had an old countenance • tthe hake and beard rough and [baggy ^ blew of colour y andhigh offtaturCyWith finnes hetweene the arms andthe kody.Thefe were held for Gods of the SeUy and propitious t(hfailers: Ignorance producing admiration, and admiration fuperjlition, Tet perhaps they erre not who conceived them tobeoneiy Dwells y ajfuming that formeytoitouri/h afilfe devotion, \ I The defolate Earth now emergenty difireJfedDtxicoXiovi andPytih^Lypurging themfelves with the holy water of Ctphiixxs [an ancient cuftome amongthe Pagans) repake to the temple (/Themis 5 with projlratedtodies and humblefoules prefenting their prayers to the GoddeJ/ii Fri^er^ inforce Cas^ lefi!iallpitty yandpittyreliefe-y afforded in this anfweri Man-ktndc from* aones.4 .t i Goe from my Temple 5 both your faces hide Let garments, all unbraced, loofely flow; And your great Parents bones bchinde you throw* The Earth interpreted for our common mother, and the[ones for her bones, diffolved the antbi£uk tie of the Oracle, Such was that (/Apollo to Sextus and A runs thefonnes of Tarquin, Junius Bru¬ tus thenprefent: Which of you firftkifleth his Mother,(half have thefoveraignccmitoandof Rome. The bret hr en c afi lots who firfijhouldfaim her of ter their returnt: but Brutus, afuppofed idiotyfaining to fumble, fellfiat on the Barth and kiffed it: lighting on a true fenfe, as appeared by thefequell. Like unto this w^ Csefars dreame the night before hepaffedover Rubicon, hoti he car¬ nally knew his mother, which fignifiedhis countrey. The fame is reported of our Heniy the fourth when he landed at Ravenlfoarge •, both of them obtaining the Empire of either. As Prometheus before made men ofClay y fo now Peticaliqn dmVyxxhz his neece, by 'cafiing off ones be- htndc them: both including tme moraliit^ai of falv^ they made civHiy And imbetVed ihe^^ mindes with cottefiiaU knowledge: and that by the ddviie of ThemiSy which is the inbred law and in- fiinll of nature^-The Cimgruity'. of the hansel gave birth perhaps tothe fable-, for fignifieth a fionCy andf^i^t. the common people, or in that they drove the rude and fionedikipeople in tothe plains from the rocks and caves of the mount aines firfi aftev the DetugCy and gatheredthem into Cities ^ God is [aid in the Gcjpell to be able of ftones to raife up children unto Abraham 2 the fenfe not unlike^ J mam$