Then gently rifing from his fide and bed,
In all her bright attire her limbs array'd.

And now, her fair-crown'd head aloft she rears,
Nor more a mortal, but herfelf appears :
Her face refulgent, and majestic mien,
Confefs'd the goddefs, Love's and Beauty's Queen.
Then thus, aloud, the calls: "Anchifes, wake;
Thy fond repofe and lethargy forsake :

66

"Look on the nymph who late from Phrygia came, "Behold me well---fay, if I feem the fame."

At her first call, the chains of fleep were broke, And, ftarting from his bed, Anchifes woke : But when he Venus view'd without disguise, Her fhining neck beheld, and radiant eyes; Aw'd and abaíh'd, he turn'd his head afide, Attempting with his robe his face to hide. Confus'd with wonder, and with fear opprefs'd, In winged words, he thus the Queen addrefs'd: "When firft, O Goddefs, I thy form beheld, "Whofe charms fo far humanity excell'd ; "To thy celeftial power my vows I paid, "And with humility implor'd thy aid : "But thou, for fecret cause to me unknown, "Didft thy divine immortal state disown. "But now, I beg thee by the filial love "Due to thy father, Ægis-bearing Jove, "Compaffion on my human state to show ; "Nor let me lead a life infirm below; "Defend me from the woes which mortals wait, "Nor let me fhare of men the common fate :

"Since

"Since never man with length of days was blest, "Who in delights of love a deity poffefs'd."

To him, Jove's beauteous daughter thus replied:
"Be bold, Anchifes; in my love confide :
"Nor me, nor other God, thou need'st to fear,
"For thou to all the heavenly race art dear.
"Know, from our loves, thou fhalt a fon obtain,
"Who over all the realm of Troy shall reign ;
"From whom a race of monarchs fhall defcend,
"And whofe pofterity shall know no end.
"To him thou fhalt the name Æneas give,
"As one, for whofe conception I must grieve,
"Oft as I think, he to exift began

"From my conjunction with a mortal man."
But Troy, of all the habitable earth,
To a fuperior race of men gives birth;
Producing heroes of th' ætherial kind,

And next refembling gods in form and mind.
From thence great Jove to azure fkies convey'd
To live with gods, the lovely Ganymede.
Where, by th' immortals honour'd (strange to see !)
The youth enjoys a blefs'd eternity.

In bowls of gold he ruddy nectar pours,

And Jove regales in his unbended hours.

Long did the King, his fire, his abfence mourn,
Doubtful by whom, or where, the boy was borne:
Till Jove at length, in pity of his grief,
Difpatch'd Argicides to his relief;
And, more with gifts to pacify his mind,
He fent him horfes of a deathless kind,
Whofe feet outstript in speed the rapid wind.

Charging

Charging withal fwift Hermes to relate

The youth's advancement to a heavenly flate;
Where all bis hours are pafs'd in circling joy,
Which age can ne'er decay, nor death destroy.
Now, when this embaffy the King receives,
No more for abfent Ganymede he grieves ;
The pleafing news his aged heart revives,
And with delight his swift-heel'd steeds he drives.
"But when the golden-thron'd Aurora made
"Tithonus partner of her rofy bed,

"(Tithonus too was of the Trojan line,

Refembling gods in face and form divine)

For him the ftrait the thunderer addrefs'd,

"That with perpetual life he might be bless'd: "Jove heard her prayer, and granted her request. "But ah! how rafh was fhe, how indifcreet!

"The most material bleifing to omit ;

46

Neglecting, or not thinking to provide,

"That length of days might be with strength supplied; "And to her lover's endless life, engage "An endless youth, incapable of age.

"But hear what fate befell this heavenly fair,

་་

In gold enthron'd, the brightest child of air. "Tithonus, while of pleasing youth poffefs'd, "Is by Aurora with delight carefs'd ;

"Dear to her arms, he in her court refides, "Beyond the verge of earth, and ocean's utmost tides. "But when she saw grey hairs begin to fpread, "Deform his beard, and disadorn his head,

"The

"The goddess cold in her embraces grew,
"His arms declin'd, and from his bed withdrew;
"Yet ftill a kind of nurfing care the fhow'd,
"And food ambrofial, and rich cloaths beftow'd:
"But when of age he felt the fad extreme,
"And every nerve was fhrunk, and limb was lame,
"Lock'd in a room her ufelefs spouse the left,
"Of youth, of vigour, and of voice bereft.
"On terms like thefe, I never can defire
"Thou should'st to immortality afpire.

my

"Could't thou indeed, as now thou art, remain, "Thy ftrength, thy beauty, and thy youth retain, "Could't thou for ever thus husband prove, I might live happy in thy endless love; "Nor fhould I e'er have caufe to dread the day, "When I must mourn thy lofs and life's decay. "But thou, alas! too foon and fure muft bend "Beneath the woes which painful age attend; "Inexorable age'! whose wretched state

"All mortals dread, and all immortals hate.

Now, know, I also must my portion fhare, “And for thy fake reproach and shame must bear. "For I, who heretofore in chains of love "Could captivate the minds of gods above, "And force them, by my all-fubduing charms, "To figh and languish in a woman's arms: "Muft now no more that power fuperior boaft, "Nor tax with weaknefs the celeftial hoft; "Since I myself this dear amends have made, *And am at last by my own arts betray'd.

"Erring

"Erring like them, with appetite deprav'd, "This hour, by thee, I have a fon conceiv'd; "Whom hid beneath my zone, I must conceal, "Till Time his being and my fhame reveal.

"Him fhall the nymphs who these fair woods adorn "In their deep bosoms nurse, as soon as born; 66 They nor of mortal nor immortal feed "Are faid to fpring, yet on Ambrofia feed, "And long they live, and oft in chorus join "With gods and goddesses in dance divine. "Thefe the Sileni court; thefe Hermes loves, "And their embraces feeks in fhady groves. "Their origin and birth these nymphs deduce "From common parent earth's prolific juice; "With lofty firs which grace the mountain's brow, "Or ample-fpreading oaks at once they grow; "All have their trees allotted to their care, "Whofe growth, duration, and decrease they share. "But holy are thefe groves by mortals held, "And therefore by the ax are never fell'd. "But when the fate of some fair tree draws nigh, "It first appears to droop, and then grows dry; "The bark to crack and perish next is seen, "And last the boughs it fheds, no longer green: "And thus the nymphs expire by like degrees, "And live and die coæval with their trees.

"Thefe gentle nymphs, by my perfuafion won, "Shall in their fweet receffes nurse my fon; "And when his cheeks with youth's first blushes glow, "To thee the facred maids the boy shall show.

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