'er mountains thick
"With forests clad; o'er stones, and rugged rocks;
"And pathless spots. Behind me Phoebus shone.
"I saw, if fear deceiv'd me not, far spread
"His shade before me. What could less deceive,
"I heard his footsteps; and his breath full strong
"Blew on my banded tresses. Weary'd, faint
"With the long flight, I cry'd;--Dictynna, chaste!
"Lost am I,--help a quiver-bearing nymph,
"One who thy bow has oft entrusted borne;
"And oft thy quiver, loaded full with darts.
"Mov'd was the goddess; from the darkest clouds
"She one selected, and around me threw.
"The river-god, about the misty veil
"Pry'd anxious; and unwitting deeply grop'd
"Within the hollow cloud! Unconscious, twice
"The spot he compass'd, where Diana thought
"My safety surest; twice he then aloud
"Ho! Arethusa,--Arethusa! call'd:--
"What terror seiz'd my soul! not less the dread
"Of lambs, when round the sheltering fold they hear
"The wolves loud howling: or the trembling hare
"Close in a bramble hid, who sees approach
"The wide-mouth'd, hostile hounds, and fears to move.
"Further he pass'd not, for beyond the place
"No footsteps he discern'd, but guarding watch'd
"Around the mist. So closely thus besieg'd,
"My limbs a cold sweat seiz'd; cerulean drops
"Fell from my body; when my feet I mov'd,
"A pool remain'd; fast dropp'd my hair in dew;
"And speedier than the wonderous tale I tell,
"Chang'd to a stream I flow'd. But soon the god,
"Knew his lov'd waters; laid the man aside,
"And straight assum'd his proper watery form;
"With mine to mingle. Dian' cleft the ground;
"Sinking, through caverns dark I held my way;
"And reach'd Ortygia, from the goddess nam'd;
"There first ascending view'd the upper skies.

"Here Arethusa ceas'd. Then Ceres yokes
"The coupled dragons to her car, their mouths
"Curb'd by the reins; and through the air is borne,
"Midway 'twixt heaven and earth. At Pallas' town
"Arriv'd, Triptolemus the car ascends,
"By her commission'd;--bade to spread the seed
"Entrusted: part on ground untill'd before;
"And part on land which long had fallow laid.
"O'er Europe now, and Asia's lands, the youth
"Sublimely sails, and reaches Scythia's clime,
"Where Lyncus rul'd. Beneath the monarch's roof,
"Here enter'd; and to him, who curious sought
"How there he journey'd; what his journey's cause;
"His name, and country; thus the youth