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Ceyx, the fon of Lucifer (the morning ftar), and king of Trachin in Theffaly, was married to Alcyone daughter to alus god of the winds. Both the husband and the wife loved each other with an entire affection. Dadalion, the elder brother of Ceyx, whom he fucceeded, having been turned into a falcon by Apollo ; and Chione, Dadalion's daughter, flain by Diana; Ceyx prepared a ship to fail to Claros, there to confult the oracle of Apollo, and (as Ovid seems to intimate) to enquire how the anger of the Gods might be atoned.

THESE prodigies affect the pious prince,

But more perplex'd with thofe that happen'd fince, He purposes to feck the Clarian God,

Avoiding Delphos, his more fam'd abode;
Since Phlegian robbers made unfafe the road.
Yet could not he, from her he lov'd fo well,
The fatal voyage, he refolv'd, conceal:
But when the faw her lord prepar'd to part,
A deadly cold ran fhivering to her heart :

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Her

Her faded cheeks are chang'd to boxen hue,
And in her eyes the tears are ever new :
She thrice effay'd to speak; her accents hung,
And faltering dy'd unfinish'd on her tongue,
Or vanish'd into fighs: with long delay

Her voice return'd; and found the wonted way.
Tell me, my lord, she said, what fault unknown
Thy once-belov'd Alcyone has done?
Whither, ah whither is thy kindness gone!
Can Ceyx then sustain to leave his wife,
And unconcern'd forfake the sweets of life?
What can thy mind to this long journey move,
Or need'ft thou abfence to renew thy love?
Yet, if thou goeft by land, though grief poffefs
My foul ev'n then, my fears will be the less.
But ah! be warn'd to shun the watery way,
The face is frightful of the ftormy sea.
For late I faw a-drift disjointed planks,
And empty tombs erected on the banks.
Nor let falfe hopes to truft betray thy mind,
Because my fire in caves constrains the wind,
Can with a breath a clamorous rage appease,
They fear his whistle, and forsake the seas ;
Not fo, for once, indulg'd, they sweep the main
Deaf to the call, or hearing hear in vain ;
But bent on mifchief bear the waves before,
And, not content with feas, infult the shore;
When ocean, air, and earth, at once engage,
And rooted forests fly before their rage :

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At

At once the clashing clouds to battle move,
And lightnings run across the fields above:

I know them well, and mark'd their rude comport,
While yet a child, within my father's court:
In times of tempeft they command alone,
And he but fits precarious on the throne:
The more I know, the more my fears augment,
And fears, are oft prophetic of th' event.
But, if not fears or reafons will prevail,
If fate has fix'd the obftinate to fail,
Go not without thy wife, but let me bear
My part of danger with an equal share,
And prefent fuffer what I only fear :
Then o'er the bounding billows fhall we fly,
Secure to live together, or to die.

These reasons mov'd her ftarlike husband's heart,
But ftill he held his purpose to depart:

For, as he lov'd her equal to his life,
He would not to the feas expofe his wife;
Nor could be wrought his voyage to refrain,
But fought by arguments to footh her pain;
Nor these avail'd; at length he ights on one,
With which fo difficult a cause he won :
My love, fo fhort an abfence ceafe to fear,
For, by my father's holy flame, I swear,
Before two moons their orb with light adorn,
If heaven allow me life, I will return.

This promife of fo fhort a stay prevails;
He foon equips the fhip, fupplies the fails,

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And

And gives the word to lanch; fhe trembling views
This pomp of death, and parting tears renews:
Last, with a kiss, she took a long farewel,
Sigh'd, with a fad prefage, and swooning fell;
While Ceyx feeks delays, the lusty crew,
Rais'd on their banks, their oars in order drew
To their broad breasts, the ship with fury flew.
The queen recover'd rears her humid eyes,
And first her husband on the poop espies
Shaking his hand at distance on the main ;
She took the fign; and shook her hand again.
Still, as the ground recedes, retracts her view
With fharpen'd fight, till the no longer knew
The much-lov'd face; that comfort lost supplies
With lefs, and with the galley feeds her eyes;
The galley borne from view by rifing gales,
She follow'd with her fight the flying fails :
When ev'n the flying fails were feen no more,
Forfaken of all fight, she left the shore.

Then on her bridal bed her body throws,
And fought in fleep her weary'd eyes to close:
Her husband's pillow, and the widow'd part
Which once he prefs'd, renew'd the former fmart.
And now a breeze from fhore began to blow,
The failors fhip their cars, and cease to row;
Then hoift their yards a-trip, and all their fails
Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales :
By this the veffel half her courfe had run,

And as much refted till the rising sun;

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Both

Both fhores were loft to fight, when, at the close
Of day, a ftiffer gale at eaft arofe:

The fea grew white, the rolling waves from far,
Like heralds, firft denounce the watery war.

This feen, the mafter foon began to cry,

Strike, ftrike the top-fail; let the main-fheet fly,
And furl your fails: the winds repel the found,
And in the speaker's mouth the speech is drown'd.
Yet, of their own accord, as danger taught,
Each in his way, officioufly they wrought;
Some ftow their oars, or ftop the leaky fides,
Another bolder yet the yard beftrides,
And folds the fails; a fourth, with labour, laves
Th' intruding feas, and waves ejects on waves.

In this confufion while their work they ply,
The winds augment the winter of the sky,
And wage inteftine wars; the fuffering feas
Are tofs'd, and mingled as their tyrants please.
The mafter would command, but, in defpair
Of fafety, ftands amaz'd with stupid care,
Nor what to bid or what forbid he knows,
Th' ungovern'd tempeft to fuch fury grows;
Vain is his force, and vainer is his skill;
With fuch a concourfe comes the flood of ill:
The cries of men are mix'd with rattling fhrowds ;
Seas dafh on feas, and clouds encounter clouds:
At once from east to west, from pole to pole,
The forky lightnings flafh, the roaring thunders roll.
Now waves on waves afcending fcale the fkies,
And, in the fires above, the water fries:

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