Mythological fables Author:John Dryden Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Their vests, and veil'd, they cast the stones behind: The stones (a miracle to mortal view, But long tradition makes it pass for true) Did first the rigour of th... more »eir kind expel, And suppled into softness as they fell; Then swell'd, and swelling by degrees, grew warm, And took the rudiments of human form. Imperfect shapes: in marble such are seen, When the rude chisel does the man begin ; While yet the roughness of the stone remains, Without the rising muscles and the veins. The sappy parts, and next resembling juice, Were turn'd to moisture for the body's use, Supplying humours, blood, and nourishment; The rest, too solid to receive a bent, Converts to bones; and what was once a vein, Its former name and nature did retain. By help of power divine, in little space, What the man threw assum'd a manly face, And what the wife, renew'd the female race. Hence we derive our nature ; born to bear Laborious life, and harden'd into care. THE SERPENT PYTHON. The celebrated Serpent Python, sprang from the mud and stagnated waters, which remained on the surface of the earth after the deluge of Deucalion. Apollo, attacked the monster, and killed himjvith his arrows ; in commemoration of which victory, he instituted the Pythian games. The rest of animals, from teeming earth Produced, in various forms received their birth. Some were of several sorts produced before ; But of new monsters, earth created more. Unwillingly, but yet she brought to light, The Pythian games were celebrated every fifth year, near Delphi, a small, but important city of Phocis, in Greece. The exercises practised at these games, were, leaping, running, throwing, boxing, wrestling, and musical contentions. The victors were crowned with laurel. They were instituted in honour of Apollo. (Delphi is now called Cast...« less