Old Baucis look'd where old Philemon ftood,
And faw his lengthen'd arms a fprouting wood:
New roots their fasten'd feet begin to bind,
Their bodies fliffen in a rifing rind :
Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew,
They give and take at once their laft adieu;
At once, farewel, O faithful spouse, they said;
At once th' incroaching rinds their clofing lips invade.
Ev'n yet, an ancient Tyanæan shows
A spreading oak, that near a linden grows ;
The neighbourhood confirm the prodigy,
Grave men, not vain of tongue, or like to lie.
I faw myself the garlands on their boughs,
And tablets hung for gifts of granted vows;
And offering fresher up, with pious prayer,
The good, faid I, are God's peculiar care,
And fuch as honour heaven, fhall heavenly honour
fhare.
HE fame of this, perhaps, through Crete had flown;
But Crete had newer wonders of her own,
In Iphis chang'd; for near the Gnoffian bounds, (As loud report the miracle refounds)
At Phæftus dwelt a man of honeft blood,
But meanly born, and not fo rich as good;
Efteem'd and lov'd by all the neighbourhood;
Who to his wife, before the time affign'd
For child-birth came, thus bluntly spoke his mind.
If heaven, faid Lygdus, will vouchsafe to hear,
I have but two petitions to prefer;
Short pains for thee, for me a fon and heir.
Girls coft as many throes in bringing forth ;
Befide, when born, the tits are little worth;
Weak puling things, unable to sustain
Their fhare of labour, and their bread to gain.
If, therefore, thou a creature fhalt produce,
Of fo great charges, and fo little use,
(Bear witnefs, heaven, with what reluctancy)
Her hapless innocence I doom to die.
He said, and tears the common grief display,
Of him who bad, and her who must obey.
Yet Telethufa ftill perfifts, to find
Fit arguments to move a father's mind;
T'extend his wishes to a larger fcope,
And in one veffel not confine his hope.
Lygdus continues hard: her time drew near,
And she her heavy load could scarcely bear;
When flumbering, in the latter fhades of night,
Before th' approaches of returning light,
She faw, or thought fhe faw, before her hed,
A glorious train, and Ifis at their head:
Her moony horns were on her forehead plac'd,
And yellow theaves her fining temples grac'd :
A mitre, for a crown, he wore on high;
The dog and dappled bull were waiting by;
Ofiris, fought along the banks of Nile;
The filent God; the facred Crocodile;
And, laft, a long proceflion moving on,
With timbrels, that affift the labouring moon.
Her flumbers feem'd dispell'd, and, broad awake,
She heard a voice, that thus diftin&tly fpake.
My votary, thy babe from death defend,
Nor fear to fave whate'er the Gods will fend.
Delude with art thy husband's dire decree :
When danger calls, repofe thy truft on me ;
And know thou haft not ferv'd a thankiefs Deity.
This promife made, with night the Goddess fled :
With joy the woman wakes, and leaves her bed;
Devoutly lifts her spotlefs hands on high,
And prays the powers their gift to ratify.
Now grinding pains proceed to hearing throes,
Till its own weight the burden did disclose.
'Tw was of the beauteous kind, and brought to light
With secrecy, to fhun the father's fight.
Th' indulgent mother did her care employ,
And pafs'd it on her husband for a boy.
The nurfe was confcious of the fact alone;
The father paid his vows as for a fon;
And call'd him Iphis, by a common name,
Which either fex with equal right may claim.
Iphis his grandfire was; the wife was pleas'd,
Of half the fraud by Fortune's favour eas'd :
The doubtful name was us'd without deceit,
And truth was cover'd with a pious cheat.
The habit fhew'd a boy, the beauteous face
With manly fiercenefs mingled female grace.
Now thirteen years of age were swiftly run,
When the fond father thought the time drew on
Of fettling in the world his only fon.
Ianthe was his choice; fo wondrous fair,
Her form alone with Iphis could compare;
A neighbour's daughter of his own degree,
And not more blefs'd with Fortune's goods than he.
They foon efpous'd: for they with eafe were join'd,
Who were before contracted in the mind.
Their age the fame, their inclinations too;
And bred together in one school they grew.
Thus, fatally difpos'd to mutual fires,
They felt, before they knew, the fame defires.
Equal their flame, unequal was their care;
One lov'd with hope, one languifh'd in despair.
The maid accus'd the lingering days alone:
For whom he thought a man, she thought her own.
But Iphis bends beneath a greater grief;
As fiercely burns, but hopes for no relief.
Ev'n her defpair adds fuel to her fire;
A maid with madness does a maid defire.
And, fcarce refraining tears, Alas, said she,
What iffue of my love remains for me!
How wild a passion works within my breast !
With what prodigious flames am I poffeft!
Could I the care of Providence deferve,
Heaven muft deftroy me, if it would preferve.
And that's my fate, or fure it would have fent
Some ufual evil for my punishment:
Not this unkindly curfe; to rage and burn,
Where Nature fhews no profpect of return.
Nor cows for cows confume with fruitless fire;
Nor mares, when hot, their fellow-mares defire :
The father of the fold fupplies his ewes ;
The tag through fecret woods his hind pursues ;
And birds for mates the males of their own fpecies
Her females nature guards from female flame,
And joins two fexes to preferve the game :
Would I were nothing, or not what I am!
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