And with such wages to his service hired,
Gave him the rule of all his briny flocks,
That feed among a thousand ragged rocks."
The changes which this deity was able to make in his appearance, caused the name of Proteus to be synonimous with change. Thus
"The Proteus lover woos his playful bride,
To win the fair he tries a thousand forms,
Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms.
A dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves;
And bears the sportive damsel on the waves;
She strikes the cymbals as he moves along,