Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Building of Troy
11:297 Phoebus, with full revenge, from Tmolus flies,
11:298 Darts thro' the air, and cleaves the liquid skies;
11:299 Near Hellespont he lights, and treads the plains
11:300 Where great Laomedon sole monarch reigns;
11:301 Where, built between the two projecting strands,
11:302 To Panomphaean Jove an altar stands.
11:303 Here first aspiring thoughts the king employ,
11:304 To found the lofty tow'rs of future Troy.
11:305 The work, from schemes magnificent begun,
11:306 At vast expence was slowly carry'd on:
11:307 Which Phoebus seeing, with the trident God
11:308 Who rules the swelling surges with his nod,
11:309 Assuming each a mortal shape, combine
11:310 At a set price to finish his design.
11:311 The work was built; the king their price denies,
11:312 And his injustice backs with perjuries.
11:313 This Neptune cou'd not brook, but drove the main,
11:314 A mighty deluge, o'er the Phrygian plain:
11:315 'Twas all a sea; the waters of the deep
11:316 From ev'ry vale the copious harvest sweep;
11:317 The briny billows overflow the soil,
11:318 Ravage the fields, and mock the plowman's toil.
11:319 Nor this appeas'd the God's revengeful mind,
11:320 For still a greater plague remains behind;
11:321 A huge sea-monster lodges on the sands,
11:322 And the king's daughter for his prey demands.
11:323 To him that sav'd the damsel, was decreed
11:324 A set of horses of the Sun's fine breed:
11:325 But when Alcides from the rock unty'd
11:326 The trembling fair, the ransom was deny'd.
11:327 He, in revenge, the new-built walls attack'd,
11:328 And the twice-perjur'd city bravely sack'd.
11:329 Telamon aided, and in justice shar'd
11:330 Part of the plunder as his due reward:
11:331 The princess, rescu'd late, with all her charms,
11:332 Hesione, was yielded to his arms;
11:333 For Peleus, with a Goddess-bride, was more
11:334 Proud of his spouse, than of his birth before:
11:335 Grandsons to Jove there might be more than one,
11:336 But he the Goddess had enjoy'd alone.
Metamorphoses (Books I-XIV)
The Building of Troy
11:297 Phoebus, with full revenge, from Tmolus flies,
11:298 Darts thro' the air, and cleaves the liquid skies;
11:299 Near Hellespont he lights, and treads the plains
11:300 Where great Laomedon sole monarch reigns;
11:301 Where, built between the two projecting strands,
11:302 To Panomphaean Jove an altar stands.
11:303 Here first aspiring thoughts the king employ,
11:304 To found the lofty tow'rs of future Troy.
11:305 The work, from schemes magnificent begun,
11:306 At vast expence was slowly carry'd on:
11:307 Which Phoebus seeing, with the trident God
11:308 Who rules the swelling surges with his nod,
11:309 Assuming each a mortal shape, combine
11:310 At a set price to finish his design.
11:311 The work was built; the king their price denies,
11:312 And his injustice backs with perjuries.
11:313 This Neptune cou'd not brook, but drove the main,
11:314 A mighty deluge, o'er the Phrygian plain:
11:315 'Twas all a sea; the waters of the deep
11:316 From ev'ry vale the copious harvest sweep;
11:317 The briny billows overflow the soil,
11:318 Ravage the fields, and mock the plowman's toil.
11:319 Nor this appeas'd the God's revengeful mind,
11:320 For still a greater plague remains behind;
11:321 A huge sea-monster lodges on the sands,
11:322 And the king's daughter for his prey demands.
11:323 To him that sav'd the damsel, was decreed
11:324 A set of horses of the Sun's fine breed:
11:325 But when Alcides from the rock unty'd
11:326 The trembling fair, the ransom was deny'd.
11:327 He, in revenge, the new-built walls attack'd,
11:328 And the twice-perjur'd city bravely sack'd.
11:329 Telamon aided, and in justice shar'd
11:330 Part of the plunder as his due reward:
11:331 The princess, rescu'd late, with all her charms,
11:332 Hesione, was yielded to his arms;
11:333 For Peleus, with a Goddess-bride, was more
11:334 Proud of his spouse, than of his birth before:
11:335 Grandsons to Jove there might be more than one,
11:336 But he the Goddess had enjoy'd alone.