With other Hopes my eafie Faith you fed,
A glorious Triumph, and a Nuptial Bed;
But all thofe Joys with thee, alas! are fled.
Let no vain Woman Vows and Oaths believe,
They only with more Form and Pomp deceive:
To compafs their lewd ends the Wretches fwear,
Of Oaths profufe, nor Gods nor Temples fpare;
But when enjoy'd-----
Nor broken Vows, nor angry Heav'n they fear.
But, O ye Women! warn'd by me, be wise,
Turn their falfe Oaths on them, their Arts, their Lies;
Diffemble, fawn, weep, fwear when you betray,
Defeat the Gamefters at their own foul Play.
Oh banifht Faith! But now from certain Death
I fnatcht the Wretch, and fav'd his perjur'd Breath,
His Life with my own Brother's Blood I bought,
And Love by fuch a cruel Service fought.
By Me preferv'd, yet Me he does betray,
And to wild Beafts expose an easie Prey!
Nor thou of Royal Race, nor Human Stock [Rock;
Waft born, but nurs'd by Bears, and iffu'd from a
Too plain thou doft thy dire Extraction prove,
Who Death for Life return'ft, and Hate for Love.
Yet he fecurely Sails! and I in vain
Recal the fled, and to deaf Rocks complain.
Unmov'd they ftand; yet could they fee and hear,
More human would than cruel Man appear.
But I-----
Muft the fad Pleafure of Compassion want,
And die unheard, and lofe my last Complaint.
Happy, ye Gods! too happy had I liv'd,
Hadft thou, O charming Stranger, ne'er arriv'd;
Diffembl'd Sweetness in thy Look does fhine,
But ah! th' inhuman Monsters lurk within.
What now remains; Or whom shall I implore
In a wild Ifle, on a deferted Shoar?
Shall I return, and beg my Father's Aid?
My Father's! whom ingrateful I betray'd,
And with my Brother's cruel Murderer filed!
But, Thefeus, Ariadna's Conftant, Kind,
Kind as the Seas, and Conftant as the Wind.
See! wretched Maid, vaft Seas around thee roar,
And angry Waves beat the refounding Shoar,
Cut off thy Hopes, and intercept thy Flight,
No Ship appears to blefs thy Longing Sight.
The difmal Ifle no humán Footstep bears,
But a fad Silence doubles all my Fears,
And Fate in all its dreadful Shapes appears.
Ev'n fainting Nature fcarce maintains the ftrife
Betwixt prevailing Death, and yielding Life.
Yet, e'er I die, revenging Gods I'll call,
And curfe him firft, and then contented fall.
Afcend ye Furies then, afcend, and hear
My laft Complaints, and grant my dying Pray'r,
Which Grief and Rage for ill-rewarded Love,
And the deep Senfe of his Injustice move:
Oh fuffer not my latest Words to fly
Like common Air, and unregarded die!
With Vengeance his dire Treachery pursue,
For Vengeance, Goddeffes, attends on you,
Terror with you, Despair and Death appear,
And all the frightful Forms the Guilty fear.
May his proud Ship by furious Billows toft,
On Rocks, or fome wild Shoar like this, be loft;
There may he fall, or late returning fee,
(If fo the Gods, and fo the Fates decree)
A mournful House, polluted by the Dead,
And Furies ever wait on his Incestuous Bed.
Jove heard, and did the juft Request approve,
And nodding shook Earth, Seas, and all the radiant
Lights above.
*He carried away her Sifter Phædra.
The Twentieth Idyllium of THEOCRITUS.
ROUD Eunica, when I advanc'd to Kifs,
Laugh'd loud, and cry'd, How ignorant he is!
Alas poor Man! dare you, a wretched Swain,
Lips fuch as these, and fuch a Mouth prophane?
No: To prevent your ruftick Freedom, know
They're unacquainted yet with fuch as you:
But your foft Lip, your Beard, your horny Fist,
All charming, and all fuing to be kift,
Your matted Hair, and your fmooth Chin invite,
Confpire to make you Lovely to the fight.
Oh how you look, how prettily you play,
How foft your Words, and what fine things you fay!
Yet, to prevent Infection, pray be gone,
Your Neighbourhood, methinks, is dang❜rous grown;
Vanish, nor dare to touch me, Oh the Shame!
He fmells of the rank Goats from which he came!
This faid, with Indignation thrice fhe fpit,
Survey'd me with Difdain from Head to Feet;
Then was fierce Rage, and confcious Beauty feen
In all her Motions, and her haughty Meen.
She pray'd, as if the fome Contagion fear'd,
Caft a difdainful Smile, and difappear'd.
My boiling Blood sprang with my Rage, and spread
O'er all my burning Face a fiery Red;
[fhed. So Rofes blush, when Night her kindly Dew has rage, I curfe the haughty Jilt, that jeer'd
My graceful Perfon, and my comely Beard.
Ye Shepherds, I conjure you, tell me true, Has any God caft my old Form anew? How am I chang'd? For once a matchlefs Grace Shone in the charming Features of my Face, Like creeping Ivy did my Beard o'ergrow, And my long Hair in untaught Curls did flow,
My Brows were black, and my large Forehead white,
My fparkling Eyes fhot forth a radiant Light;
In fweetest Words did my foft Language flow,
As Honey fweet, and foft as falling Snow;
When with loud Notes I the fhrill Pipe infpir'd,
The lift'ning Shepherds all my Skill admir'd;
Me all the Virgins on our Mountains love,
They praife my Beauty, and my Flames approve.
Such tho' I am, yet me, becaufe a Swain,
(How nice these Town-bred Women are, how
Gay Eunica rejected with Difdain.
[vain!)>
And the, it seems, has never heard, or read
How Bacchus, now a God, a Flock once fed.
Venus her felf did the Profeffion grace,
By Love transform'd into a Country Lafs:
The Phrygian Fields and Woods her Flames can tell,
And how her much bewail'd Adonis fell.
How oft on Latmos did the Moon defcend
From her bright Chariot to her Carian Friend,
And abfent from the Sky whole Nights with him
did fpend?
To shining in her Orb prefer her Love,
Stoop and defert her glorious Seat above?
And was not he a Shepherd? Sure he was;
Yet did not fhe difdain his low Embrace.
The Gods great Mother too, and greater fove,
Their Majefty laid by, could Shepherds love:
The Phrygian Groves, and conscious Ida know
What She for Atys, He for Ganymed could do.
But prouder Eunica difdains alone
What Gods, and greatest Goddeffes have done :
Fairer it seems by much, and greater she,
Than Venus, Cynthia, or than Cybele.
Oh my fair Venus, may you ne'er find one
Worthy your Love, in Country, or in Town,
But to a Virgin Bed condemn'd, for ever lye alone!
To LESBIA. Out of CATULLUS.
ET's live, my deareft Lesbia, and love, The little time that Nature lends improve; In Mirth and Pleasure let us wafte the day, Nor care a farthing what old Dotards fay; The Suns may rife again that once are fet, Their ufual Labour, and old Course repeat; But when our Days once turn'd have loft their Light, We must fleep on one long eternal Night: A thousand Kiffes, Dear, a hundred more, Another hundred Lesbia, I am poor: Another thousand, Lesbia, and as warm, Let every Touch furprize, and preffing Charm: And when repeated thousands numerous grow We'll kiss out all again, that none may know How many you have lent, and what I owe: While I'll in grofs with eager hafte repay, And kiss a long Eternity away.
Y Lesbia fwears fhe would Catullus wed,
Mr her Bed;
True, this the fwears by all the Pow'rs above,
But she's a Woman speaking to her Love:
That fingle Thought my growing Faith defeats,
'Tis neceffary for them to be Cheats :
They must be falfe, they must their Oaths forget,
So pleasing is the Lech'ry of Deceit ;
What Women tell their Servants, fade like Dreams, And should be writ in Air, or running Streams.
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