 | Ovid's metamorphoses in fifteen books |  |
The Transformation of Cercopians into Apes.
The Gallies now by Pythecusa pass;The Name is from the Natives of the Place.
The Father of the Gods detesting Lies;
Oft, with Abhorrence, heard their Perjuries.
Th'abandon'd Race, transform'd to Beasts, began
To mimick the Impertinence of Man.
Flat-nos'd, and furrow'd; with Grimace they grin;
And look, to what they were, too near akin:
Merry in Make, and busy to no End;
This Moment they divert, the next offend:
So much this Species of their past retains;
Tho' lost the Language, yet the Noise remains.
| Ovid's metamorphoses in fifteen books | |