a

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He was the first to see, and first to show

Ours is the title, thine a foreign claim,
His friends the marks of the successful blow. Since Meleagrus from our lineage came.
“Nor shall thy valour want the praises due," Trust not thy beauty; but restore the prize,
He said ; a virtuous envy seiz'd the crew.

Which he, besotted on that face and eyes,
They shout; the shouting animates their hearts, Would rend from us.” At this, inflam d with spite,
And all at once employ their thronging darts; From her they snatch'd the gift, from him the
But, out of order thrown, in air they join;

giver's right. And multitude makes frustrate the design.

But soon th’impatient prince his fauchion drew, With both his hands the proud Ancæus takes, And cry'd, “ Ye robbers of another's due, And flourishes his double-biting ax:

Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, Then, forward to his fate, he took a stride,

Betwixt true valour, and an empty boast.” Before the rest, and to his fellows cry'd,

At this advanc'd, and, sudden as the word, “Give place, and mark the difference, if you can, In proud Plexippus' bosom plung'd the sword: Between a woman-warrior and a man;

Toxeus amaz'd, and with amazement slow, The boar is doom'd; nor, though Diana lend Or to revenge, or ward the coming blow, Her aid, Diana can her beast defend.”

Stood doubting; and, while doubting thus he stood, Thus boasted he; then stretch'd, on tiptoe stood, Receiv'd the steel bath'd in his brother's blood. Secure to make his empty promise good.

Pleas'd with the first, unknown the second new 3, But the more wary beast prevents the blow, Althæa to the temples pays their dues And upwards rips the groin of his audacious foe. For her son's conquest; when at length appear Ancæus falls; his bowels from the wound

Her grisly brethren stretch'd upon the bier : Rush out, and clotted blood distains the ground. Pale, at the sudden sight, she chang'd her cheer, Pirithous, no small portion of the war,

And with her cheer her robes; but hearing teil Press'd on, and shook his lance: to whom from far, The cause, the manner, and by whom they fell, Thus Theseus cry'd: “O stay, my better part, 'Twas grief no more, or grief and rage were one My more than mistress ; of my heart, the heart. Within her soul; at last 'twas rage alone; The strong may fight aloof: Ancæus try'd

Which, burning upwards, in succession dries His force too near, and by presuming dy'd:” The tcars that stood considering in her eyes. He said, and while he spake, his javelin threw; There lay a log unlighted on the earth, Hissing in air th’unerring weapon flew;

When she was labouring in the throes of birth: But on an arm of oak, that stood betwixt

For th’unborn chief the fatal sisters came,
The marks-man and the mark, his lance he fixt. And rais'd it up, and toss'd it on the flame:

Once more bold Jason threw, but fail'd to wound Then on the rock a scanty measure place
The boar, and slew an undeserving hound; Of vital flax, and turn’d the wheel apace;
And through the dog the dart was nail'd to ground. And turning sung, “ To this red brand and ther,

Two spears from Meleager's hand were sent, O new-born babe, we give an equal destiny :"
With equal force, but various in th’ event: So vanish'd out of view. The frighted dame
The first was fix'd in earth, the second stood Sprung hasty from her bed, and quench'd the flame:
On the boar's bristled back, and deeply drank his The log in secret lock’d, she wept with care,
Now while the tortur'd savage turns around, (blood. And that, while thus preservd, preserv'd her heir.
And flings about his foam impatient of the wound, This brand she now produc'd; and first she strows
The wound's great author close at hand provokes The hearth with heaps of chips, and after blows;
His rage, and plies him with redoubled strokes; Thrice heav'd her hand, and, heav'd, she thrice
Wheels as he wheels; and with his pointed dart The sister and the mother long contest, (represt:
Explores the nearest passage to his heart.

Two doubtful titles in one tender breast.
Quick and more quick he spins iu giddy gyres, And now her eyes and cheeks with fury glow,
Then falls, and in much foam his soul expires. Now pale her cheeks, her eyes with pity flow;
This act with shouts Heaven-high the friendly band Now lowering looks presage approaching storms,
Applaud, and strain in theirs the victor's hand. And now prevailing love her face reforms:
Then all approach the slain with vast surprise, Resolv'd, she doubts again; the tears, she dry'd
Admire on what a breadth of earth he lies; With blushing rage, are by new tears supply'd:
And, scarce secure, reach out theirspearsafar, (war. And as a ship, which winds and waves assail,
And blood their points, to prove their partnership of Now with the current drives, now with the gale,

But he, the conquering chief, his foot impress'd Both opposite, and neither long prevail, On the strong neck of that destructive beast; She feels a double force, by turns obeys And, gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes, Th’ imperious tempest, and th’impetuous seas:

Accept,” said he, “ fair Nonacrine, my prize, So fares Althæa's mind : first she relents
And, though inferior, suffer me to join

With pity, of that pity then repents:
My labours, and my part of praise, with thine:” Sister and mother long the scales divide,
At this presents her with the tusky head

But the beam nodded on the sister's side,
And chine, with rising bristles roughly spread. Sometimes she softly sigh’d, then roar'd aloud;
Glad, she receiv'd the gift; and seem'd to take But sighs were stified in the cries of blood.
With double pleasure, for the giver's sake.

The pious impious wretch at length decreed, The rest were seiz'd with sullen discontent, To please her brothers' ghosts, her son should bleed; And a deaf murmur through the sgr: iron went: And when the funeral flames began to rise, All envy'd; but the Thestyan brethren show'd “ Receive," she said, “a sister's sacrifice: The least respect, and thus they vent their spleen A mother's bowels burn:” high in her hand, aloud:

Thus while she spoke, she lield the fatal brand; "Lay down those honour'd spoils, northink to share, Then thrice before the kindled pile she bow'd,' Weak woman as thou art, the prize of war:

And the three Furies thrice invok'd aloud:

“ Come, come, revenging sisters, come and vicw Just so his inward heats, at height, impair, A sister paying a dead brother's due:

Till the last burning breath shoots out the soul in A crime I punish, and a crime commit;

Now lofty Calydon in ruins lies;

(air. But blood for bivod, and death for death, is fit: All ages, all degrees, unsluice their eyes; Great crimes must be with greater crimes repaid, And Heaven and Earth resound with murmurs, And second fuuera's on the former laid.

groans, and cries. Let the whole househoid in one ruin fall,

Matrons and maidens beat their breasts, and tcar And may Diana's curse o'ertake us all!

Their habits, and root up their scatter'd bair, Shail Fate tu happy Oenus still allow

The wretched father, father now no more, Ou sou, while Thestius stands depriv'd of two? With sorrow sunk, lies prostrate on the floor, Beiter true lost, than one unpunish'd go.

Deforins his hoary locks with dust obscene, Tahe then, dear ghosts, (while yet admitted new And curses a e, and loaths a life prolong'd with In Hill you wait my duty) take your due :

pain. A costly otlering on your tomb is laid,

By steel her stubborn soul his mother freed, When with my blood the price of yours is paid. And punish'd on herself her impious deed.

“ Ah! whither am I hurry'd ? Ah! forgive, Had 1 an hundred tongues, a wit so large Ye Shades, and let your sister's issue live: As could their hundred offices discharge; A niother cannot give him death ; though he Had Phæbus ail bis Helicon bestow'd, Deserves it, he deserves it not from me. (slain, In all the streams inspiring ail the god;

“ Then shail th' unpunish'd wretch insult the Those tongues, that wit, those streams, that god, Triumphant live, not oniy live, but reign;

in vain While you, thin Shades, the spurt of winds, are tost Would offer to describe his sisters' pain: O'er dreary plains, or tread the burning coast. They beat their breasts with many a bruising blow, I cannot, cannot bear; 'tis past, 'tis done; Till they turn livid, and corrupt the snow. Perish this impious, this detested son;

The corpse they cherish, while the corpse remains, Perish bis one, and perish I withal; (fall. And exercise and rub with fruitiess pains; And let the house's heir, and the hop'd kingdoin And when to funeral flames 'tis borne away,

“ Where is thi mother fied, her pious love, They kiss the bed on which the body lay: And where the pains with which ten mouths I And when those funeral flames no longer burn strove!

(The dust compos'd within a pious urn), Ah! hadst thou dy'd, my son, in infant years, Er'n in that urn their brother they confess, Thy little herse had been bedes'd with tears. And hug it in their arms, and to their bosoms “ Thou liv'st by me; to me thy breath resign; press.

(ground, Mine is the merit, the demerit thine.

His tomb is rais'd; tben, stretch'd along the Thy life by double title I require;

Those living nontuments his tomb surround: Once given at birth, and once preserv'd from fire: Ev'n to his name, inscrib'd, their tears they pay, One murder pay, or add one murder more,

Till tears and kisses wear his name away. Aud me to them who fell by thee restore.

But Cynthia now had all her fury spent, “I wou d, but cannot: my son's image stands Not with less ruin, than a race, content : Before my sight; and now their angry hands Excepting Gorgé, perish'd all the seed, My brothers hold, and vångeance these exact, And ber whom Heaven for Hercules decreed. This pleads compassion, and repents the fact. Satiate at last, no longer she pursu'd

“ He pleads in vain, and I pronounce his doom: The weeping sisters; but, with wings endu'd My brothers, thoi gh unjustly, shall v'ercome. And horny beaks, and sent to flit in air; (pair. But, having paid their injurd ghosts their due, Who yearly round the tomb in feather'd docks reMy son requires my death, and mine shall his

pursue."
At this for the last time she lifts her hand,
Averts her eyes, and, half unwilling, drops the brand.

BAUCIS AND PHILEMON.
The brand, amid the flaming fuel thrown,
Or drew, or seem'd to draw, a dying groan;

OUT OF THE EIGHTH BOOK OF
The fires thems lves but faintly lick'd their prey,

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES Then loath'd their impious food, and would bave shrunk away.

The author, pursuing the deeds of Theseus, reJust then the hero cast a doleful cry,

lates how he, with his friend Pirithous, were And in those absent flames began to fry:

invited by Achclous, the river-god, to stay The blind conta ion rag'd within his veins;

with him, till his waters were abated. AcheBut he with manly patience bore his pains:

lous entertains them with a relation of his He fear'd not fate, but only griev'd to die

own love to Perimele, who was changed into an Without an honest wound, and by a death so dry.

island by Neptune, at his request. Pirithous, “ Happy Aucæus, thrice aloud he cry'd,

being an atheist, derides the legend, and denies With what becoming fate in arms he dy'd;"

the power of the gods to work that miracle. Theu call'd his brothers, sisters, sire, around,

Lelex, another companion of Theseus, to conAnd her to whom his nuptial vows were bound;

firm the story of Achelous, relates another Perhaps his mother; a long sigh he drew,

metamorphosis of Baucis and Philemon into And, his voice failing, took bis last adicu:

trees: of which he was partly an eye-witness. For as the flames augment, and as they stay At thcir full height, then languish to decay, They rise, and sink by fits; at last they soar

Thus Achelous ends: bis audience hear In one bright blaze, and then descend no more; With admiration, and, admiring, fear

2

The powers of Heaven; except Ixion's son, The time between, before the fire they sat,
Who laugh'd at all the gods, believ'd in none; And shorten'd the delay by pleasing chat.
He shook his impious head, and thus replies, “ A beam there was, on which a beechen pail
“ These legends are no more than pious lies: Hung by the handle, on a driven nail:
You attribute too much to heavenly sway, This filld with water, gently warm'd, they set
To think they give us forms, and take away.” Before their guests; in this they bath'd their feet,

The rest, of better minds, their sense declar'd And after with clean towels dry'd their sweat : Against this doctrine, and with horrour heard. This done, the host produc'd the genial bed,

Then Lelex rose, an old experienc'd man, Sallow the foot, the borders, and the sted; And thus with sober gravity began:

Which with no costly coverlet they spread, “ Heaven's power is infinite: earth, air, and sea, But coarse old garments; yet such robes as these The manufacture mass, the making power obey : They laid alone, at least, on holydays. By proof to clear your doubt; in Phrygian ground The good old housewife, tucking up her gown, Two neighbouring trees, with walls encompass d 'The tables set; th' invited gods lie down. round,

The trivet-table of a foot was lame, Stand on a moderate rise, with wonder shown, A blot which prudent Baucis overcame, One a hard oak, a softer linden one:

Who thrust, beneath the limping leg, a sherd, I saw the place and them, by Pittheus sent So was the mended board exactly rear'd: To Phrygian realms, my grandsire's government. Then rubb'd it o'er with newly-gather'd mint, Not far from thence is seen a lake, the haunt A wholesome herb that breath'd a grateful scent. Of coots, and of the fishing cormorant:

Pallas began the feast, where first was seen Here Jove with Herines came; but in disguise The party-colourd olive, black and green: Of mortal men conceal', their deities:

Autumnal cornels next in order serv'd, One laid aside his thunder, one his rod;

In lees of wine well pickled and preserv'd : And many toilsome steps together trod;

A garden-salad was the third supply, For harbour at a thousand doors they knock'd, Of endive, radishes, and succory : Not one of all the thousand but was lock'd. Then curds and cream, the flower of country fare, At last an hospitable house they found,

And new-laid eges, which Baucis' busy care A homely shed; the roof, not far from ground, Turn'd by a gentle fire, and roasted rare. Was thatch'd with reeds and straw together bound. All these in earthen-ware were serv'd to board; There Baucis and Philemon liv'd, and there And next in place an earthen pitcher stor'd Had liv'd long married, and a happy pair : With liquor of the best the cottage could afford. Now old in love; though little was their store, This was the table's ornament and pride, Inur'd to want, their poverty they bore,

With figures wrought: like pages at his side Nor aim'd at wealth, professing to be poor. Stood beechen bowls; and these were shining clean, For master or for servant here to call,

Varnish'd with wax without, and lin'd within. Was all alike, where only two were all.

By this the boiling kettle had prepard,
Command was none, where equal love was paid, And to the table sent the smoking lard ;
Or rather both commanded, both obey'd.

On which with eager appetite they dine,
“ From lofty roofs the gods repuls'd before, A savory bit, that serv'd to relish wine:
Now stooping, enter'd through the little door; The wine itself was suiting to the rest,
The man (their hearty welcome first express'd) Still working in the must, and lately press'd.
A common settle drew for either guest,

The second course succeeds like that before,
Inviting each his weary limbs to rest.

Plums, apples, nuts, and, of their wintry store, But ere they sat, officious Baucis lays

Dry fi:s and grapes, and wrinkled dates, were set Two eushions stuff'd with straw, the seat to raise; | In canisters, t' enlarge the little treat: Coarse, but the best she had; then takes the load All these a milk-white honey-comb surround, Of ashes from the hearth, and spreads abroad Which in the midst the country-banquet crown'd. The living coals, and lest they sbould expire, But the kind hosts their entertainment

grace With leaves and barks she feeds her infant-fire: With hearty welcome, and an open face : It sinokes, and then with trembling breath she In all they did, you might discern with ease blows,

A willing mind, and a desire to please. Till in a cheerful blaze the flames arose.

“Mean time the beechen bowls went round, and With brush-wood and with chips she strengthens still, these,

Though often emptied, were observ'd to fill, And adds at last the boughs of rotten trees. Fill'd without hands, and of their own accord The fire thus form’d, she sets the kettle on, Ran without feet, and danc'd about the board. (like bumish'd gold the little seether shone) Devotion seiz'd the pair, to see the feast Next took the coleworts which her husband got With wine, and of no common grape, increas'd; From his own ground (a small well-water'd spot;) | And up they held their hands, and fell to pray'r, She stripp'd the stalks of all their leaves; the best Excusing, as they could, their country fare. She cuild, and then with handy care she dress'd. One goose they had ('twas all they could allow) High o'er the hearth a chine of bacon hung; A wakeful centry, and on duty now, Good old Philemon seiz'd it with a prong, Whom to the gods for sacrifice they vow : And from the sooty rafter drew it down,

Her, with malicious zeal, the couple view'd; Then cut a slice, but scarce enough for one : She ran for life, and limping they pursu'd : Yet a large portion of a little store,

Full well the fowl perceiv'd their bad intent, Which for their sakes alone he wish'd were more. And would not make her master's compliment; This in the pot he plung'd without delay, Eut persecuted, to the powers she flies, To tame the flesh, and drain the salt away. And close between the legs of Jove she lies.

:

He with a gracious ear the suppliant heard,

THE FABLE OF IPHIS AND JANTHE. And sav'd her life; then what he was declard,

FROM THE NINTI BOOK OF And own'd the god. The neighbourhood,' said he,

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES. ‘Shall justly perish for impiety: You stand alone exempted; but obey

The fame of this, perhaps, through Crete had *With speed, and follow where we lead the way:

flown; Leave these accurs'd; and to the mountains height But Crete had newer wonders of her own, Ascend; nor once look backward in your flight.' In Iphis chang'd; for near the Gnossian bounds, “ They haste; and what their tardy feet de- (As loud report the miracle resounds) ny'd,

At Phæstus dwelt a map of honest blood, The trusty staff (their better leg) supply'd.

But meanly born, and not so rich as good; An arrow's flight they wanted to the top,

Esteem'd and lov'd by all the neighbourhood; And there sicure, but spent with travel, stop;

Who to his wife, before the time assign'd Then turu their now no more forbidden eyes;

For child-birth came, thus bluntly spoke bis mind. Lost in a lake the floated level Les :

“ If Heaven,” said Lygdus, “ will vouchsafe to A watery desert covers all the plains,

I have but two petitions to prefer; [hear, Their cot alone, as in an isle, remains :

Short pains for thee, for me a son and heir, Wondering with peeping eyes, while they de- Girls cost as many throes in bringing forth; plore

Beside, when born, the tits are little worth; Their neighbours fate, and country now no more,

Weak puling things, unable to sustain Their little shed scarce large enough for two,

Their share of labour, and their bread to gain. Seems, from the ground increas'd, in beight and If, therefore, thou a creature shalt produce, bulk to grow.

Of so great charges, and so little use, A stately temple shoots within the skies:

(Bear witness, Heaven, with what reluctancy) The crotchets of their cut in columns rise: Her hapless innocence I doom to die.” The pavement polish'd marble they behold, He said, and tears the common grief display, The gates with sculpture grac'd, the spires and Of him who bad, and her who must obey. tiles of gold.

Yet Telethusa still persists, to find “ Then thus the sire of gods, with looks se- Fit arguments to move a father's mind; rene,

T'extend his wishes to a larger scope, Speak thy desire, thou only just of men; And in one vessel not confine his hope. And thou, O woman, only worthy found

Lygdus "continues hard: her time drew near, "To be with such a man in marriage bound.' And she her beavy load could scarcely bear;

A while they whisper; then, to Jove ad. When slumbering, in the latter shades of night, dress'd,

Before th' approaches of returning light, Philemon thus prefers their joint request. She saw, or thought she saw, before her bed, - We crave to serve before your sacred shrine, A glorious train, and Isis at their head : And offer at your altars rites divine;

Her moony horns were on her forehead plac'd, And since not any action of our life

And yellow sheaves her shining temples grac'd: Has been pol uted with domestic strife,

A mitre, for a crown, she wore on high; We beg one bour of death; that neither she The dog and dappled bull were waiting by; With widow's tears may live to bury me, Osiris, sought along the banks of Nile; Nor weeping I, with wither'd arms, may bear The silent god; the sacred crocodile; My breathless Baucis to the sepulchre.'

And, last, a long procession moving on, “ The godheads sign their suit. They run their With timbrels, that assist the labouring Moon.

Her slumbers seem'd dispelld, and, broad awake, In the same tenour all th’appointed space; She heard a voice, that thus distinctly spake. Then, when their hour was come, while they relate “My votary, thy babe from death defend, These past adventures at the temple-gate, Nor fear to save whate'er the gods will send. Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen

Delude with art thy husband's dire decree : Sprouting with sudden leaves of sprightly green: When danger calls, repose thy trust on me; Old Baucis look'd where old Philemon stood, And know thou hast not servd a thankless deity." And saw his len then'd arms a sprouting wood: This promise made, with night the goddess fled: New roots their fasten'd feet begin to bind, With joy the woman wakes, and leaves her bed; Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind :

Devoutly lifts her spotless bands on high, Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew, And prays the powers their gift to ratify. They give and take at once their last adieu; Now grinding pains proceed to bearing throes, At once, ‘Farewel, O faithful spouse,' they said ; Till its own weight the burthen did disclose. At once th' encroaching rinds their closing lips in- | 'Twas of the beauteous kind, and brought to light vade.

With secrecy, to shun the father's sight. Ev'n yet, an ancient Tyanæan shows

Th’indulgent mother did her care employ, A spreading oak, that near a linden grows; And pass'd it on her husband for a boy. The neighbourhood confirm the prodigy,

The nurse was.conscious of the fact alone; Grave men, not vain of tongue, or like to lie. The father paid his vows as for a son; I saw myself the garlands on their boughs, And call’d him Iphis, by a common name, And tablets hung for gifts of granted vows; Which either sex with equal right may claim. And offering fresher up, with pious prayer, Iphis his grandsire was; the wife was pleas'd, « The good,' said I, are God's peculiar care, Of half the fraud by Fortune's favour easd: And such as honour Heaven, shall heavenly bo- The doubtful name was us'd without deceit, nour share,' »

And truth was cover'd with a pious cheat.

race

6

The habit show'd a boy, the beauteous face Heaven has been kiud, as far as Heaven can be;
With manly fierceness mingled female grace. Our parents with our own desires agree;

Now thirteen years of age were swiftly run, But Nature, stronger than the gods above,
When the fond father thought the time drew on Refuses her assistance to my love;
Of settling in the world his only son.

She sets the bar that causes all my pain: lanthe was his choice; so wondrous fair,

One gift refus'd makes all their bounty vain. Her form alone with Iphis could compare; And now the happy day is just at hand, A neighbour's daughter of his own degree, [he. | To bind our hearts in Hymen's holy band : And not more bless'd with Fortune's goods than Our hearts, but not our bodies. Thus accurs'd, They soon espous'd: for they with ease were join'd, In midst of water I complain of thirst. Who were before contracted in the mind.

Why com'st thou, Juno, to these barren rites, Their age the same, their inclinations too : To bless a bed defrauded of delights? And bred together in one school they grew. And why should Hymen lift his torch on high, Thus, fatally dispos'd to mutual fires,

To see two brides in cold embraces lie?” They felt, before they knew, the same desires. Thus lovesick Iphis her vain passion mourns; Equal their flame, unequal was their care; With equal ardour fair lanthe burns, One lor'd with hope, one languish'd in despair. Invoking Hymen's name, and Juno's power, The maid accus'd the lingering days alone: To speed the work, and haste the happy hour. Por whom she thought a man, she thought her own. She hopes, while Telethusa fears the day, But Iphis bends beneath a greater grief;

And strives to interpose some new delay : As fiercely burns, but hopes for no relief.

Now feigns a sickness, now is in a fright Ev'n her despair adds fuel to her sire;

For this bad omen, or that boding sight.
A maid with madness does a maid desire.

But, having done whate'er she could devise,
And, scarce refraining tears, “ Alas,” said she, And empty'd all her magazine of lies,
What issue of my love remains for me!

The time approach'd; the next ensuing day
How wild a passion works within my breast ! The fatal secret must to light betray.
With what prodigious fames am I possest! Then Telethusa had recourse to prayer,
Could I the care of Providence deserve,

She and her daughter with dishevell d hair;
Heaven must destroy me, if it would preserve.

Trembling with fear, great Isis they adord, And that's my fate, or sure it would have sent Embrac'd her altar, and her aid implor'd. Some usual evil for my punishment,

“ Fair queen, who dost on fruitful Egypt smile, Not this unkindly curse; to rage and burn, Who sway'st the sceptre of the Pharian isle, Where Nature shows no prospect of return. And seven-fold falls of disemboguing Nile; Nor cows for cows consume with fruitless fire; Relieve, in this our last distress,” she said, Nor mares, when hot, their fellow-mares desire: “ A suppliant mother, and a mournful majd. The father of the fold supplies his ewes ;

Thou, goddess, thou wert present to my sight; The stag through secret woods his hind pursues; Reveald I saw thee by thy own fair light: And birds for mates the males of their own species I saw thee in my dream, as now I see, choose.

With all thy marks of awful majesty : Her females Nature guards from female flame, The glorious train that compass'd thee around; And joins two sexes to preserve the game:

And heard the hollow timbrel's holy sound.
Would I were nothing, or not what I am!

Thy words I noted; which I still retain;
Crete, far'd for monsters, wanted of her store, Let not thy sacred oracles be vain.
Till my new love produc'd one mouster more. That Iphis lives, that I myself am free
The daughter of the Sun a bull desir'd,

From shame, and punishment, I owe to thee. And yet ev'n then a male a female sir'd:

On thy protection all our hopes depend : Her passion was extravagantly new :

Thy counsel sav'd us, let thy power defend.” But mine is much the madder of the two.

Her tears pursu'd her words; and while she To things impossible she was not bent,

spoke
But found the means to compass her intent. The goddess nodded, and her altar shook :
To cheat his eyes, she took a different shape; The temple doors, as with a blast of wind,
Yet still she gain'd a lover, and a leap.

Were heard to clap; the lunar horns that bind
Should all the wit of all the world conspire, The brows of Isis cast a blaze around;
Should Dædalus assist my wild desire,

The trembling timbrel made a murmuring sound. What art can make me able to enjoy,

Some hopes these happy omens did impart; Or what can change lanthe to a boy?

Forth went the mother with a beating heart,
Extinguish then thy passion, hopeless maid, Not much in fear, nor fully satisfy'd;
And recollect thy reason for thy aid.

But Iphis follow'd with a larger stride:
Know what thou art, and love as maidens ought, The wbiteness of her skin forsook her face;
And drive these golden wishes from thy thought. Her looks embolden'd with an awful grace;
Thou canst not hope thy fond desires to gain ; Her features and her strength together grew,
Where hope is wanting, wishes are in vain. And her long hair to curling locks withdrew.
And yet no guards against our joys conspire; Her sparkling eyes with manly vigour shone;
No jealous husband binders our desire;

Big was her voice, audacious was her tone, My parents are propitious to my wish,

The latent parts, at length reveald, began And she herself consenting to the bliss.

To shoot, and spread, and burnish into man. All things concur to prosper our design;

The maid becomes a youth; no more delay All things to prosper any love but mine.

Your vows, but look, and confidently pay. And yet I never can enjoy the fair ;

Their gifts the parents to the temple bear: Tis past the power of Heaven to grant my prayer. The votive tables this inscription wear: