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The FIRST BOOK of
Yet I can pardon those obscurer rapes,
Those bashful crimes disguis'd in borrow'd shapes;
But Thebes, where shining in cœlestial charms
Thou cam'st triumphant to a mortal's arms,
When all my glories o'er her limbs were spread,
And blazing lightnings danc'd around her bed;
Curs'd Thebes the vengeance it deserves, may prove,———
Ah why shou'd Argos feel the rage of Jove?
Yet since thou wilt thy sister-Queen controul,
Since still the lust of discord fires thy soul,
Go, rase my Samos, let Mycenè fall,
And level with the dust the Spartan wall:
No more let mortals Juno's pow'r invoke,
Her fanes no more with eastern incense smoke,
Nor victims sink beneath the sacred stroke;
But to your Isis all my rites transfer,
Let altars blaze and temples smoke for her;
For her, thro' Ægypt's fruitful clime renown'd,
Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel sound.
Those bashful crimes disguis'd in borrow'd shapes;
But Thebes, where shining in cœlestial charms
Thou cam'st triumphant to a mortal's arms,
When all my glories o'er her limbs were spread,
And blazing lightnings danc'd around her bed;
Curs'd Thebes the vengeance it deserves, may prove,———
Ah why shou'd Argos feel the rage of Jove?
Yet since thou wilt thy sister-Queen controul,
Since still the lust of discord fires thy soul,
Go, rase my Samos, let Mycenè fall,
And level with the dust the Spartan wall:
No more let mortals Juno's pow'r invoke,
Her fanes no more with eastern incense smoke,
Nor victims sink beneath the sacred stroke;
But to your Isis all my rites transfer,
Let altars blaze and temples smoke for her;
For her, thro' Ægypt's fruitful clime renown'd,
Let weeping Nilus hear the timbrel sound.
But