As wax diffolves, as ice begins to run,
And trickle into drops before the fun,
So melts the youth, and languishes away:
His beauty withers, and his limbs decay,
And none of those attractive charms remain,
To which the flighted echo fu'd in vain.
She faw him in his present misery,
Whom, fpite of all her wrongs, fhe griev'd to see.
She answer'd fadly to the lover's moan,
Sigh'd back his fighs, and groan'd to ev'ry groan: "Ah youth! belov'd in vain," Narciffus cries;
Ah youth! belov'd in vain," the nymph replies.
"Farewel," fays he; the parting found scarce fell
From his faint lips, but she reply'd, "Farewel.”
Then on th' unwholfome earth he gafping lies,
Till death fhuts up thofe felf-admiring eyes.
To the cold fhades his flitting ghoft retires,
And in the Stygian waves itself admires.
For him the Naiads and the Dryads mourn,
Whom the fad echo anfwers in her turn;
And now the fifter nymphs prepare his urn:
When, looking for his corps, they only found
A rifing ftalk, with yellow bloffoms crown'd.
Nor let him then enjoy fupreme command;
But fall untimely, by fome hoftile hand:
And lie unbury'd on the barren fand.
These are my pray'rs, and this my dying will:
And you, my Tyrians, ev'ry curfe fulfil.
Perpetual hate, and mortal wars proclaim,
Against the prince, the people, and the name.
These grateful off'rings on my grave bestow ;
Nor league, nor love, the hoftile nations know:
Now, and from hence in ev'ry future age,
When rage excites your arms, and strength supplies
Rife fome avenger of our Lybian blood,
With fire and fword pursue the perjur'd brood:
Our arms, our feas, our fhores, oppos'd to theirs,
And the fame hate defcend on all our heirs.
This faid, within her anxious mind fhe weighs
The means of cutting fhort her odious days.
Then to Sichæus' nurfe the briefly faid,
(For when the left her country, hers was dead)
Go Barce, call my fifter; let her care
The folemn rites of facrifice prepare :
The sheep, and all th' atoneing off'rings bring;
Sprinkling her body from the crystal spring
With living drops: then let her come, and thou
With facred fillets bind thy hoary brow.
Thus will I pay my vows to Stygian Jove;
And end the cares of my disastrous love.
Then caft the Trojan image on the fire;
And as that burns, my paffion fhall expire.
The nurse moves onward, with officious care, And all the speed her aged limbs can bear. But furious Dido, with dark thoughts involv'd, Shook at the mighty mischief fhe refolv'd. With livid fpots diftinguish'd was her face, Red were her rowling eyes, and difcompos'd her pace: Ghaftly fhe gaz'd, with pain she drew her breath, And nature shiver'd at approaching death.
Then swiftly to the fatal place fhe pafs'd;
And mounts the fun'ral pile, with furious hafte.
Unfheaths the fword the Trojan left behind,
(Not for fo dire an enterprize defign'd.)
But when the view'd the garments loosely spread,
Which once he wore, and faw the conscious bed,
She paus'd, and, with a figh, the robes embrac'd;
Then on the couch her trembling body caft,
Reprefs'd the ready tears, and spoke her laft.
Dear pledges of my love, while heav'n fo pleas'd,
Receive a foul, of mortal anguish eas'd:
My fatal courfe is finish'd; and I go
A glorious name, among the ghofts below.
A lofty city by my hands is rais'd;
Pygmalion punifh'd, and my lord appeas'd.
What cou'd my fortune have afforded more,
Had the falfe Trojan never touch'd my shore!
And rage of love, that plung'd her in defpair,
The fifters had not cut the topmast hair,
Which Proferpine, and they can only know;
Nor made her facred to the fhades below.
Downward the various goddefs took her flight;
And drew a thousand colours from the light :
Then flood above the dying lover's head,
And faid, I thus devote thee to the dead.
This off'ring to th' infernal Gods I bear:
Thus while fhe fpoke, the cut the fatal hair;
The ftrugling foul was loos'd, and life diffolv'd in air.
Tranflated by Mr. ADDISON.
HUS did the nymph in vain caress the boy,
He ftill was lovely, but he ftill was coy;
When one fair virgin of the flighted train
Thus pray'd the Gods, provok'd by his disdain,
"Oh may
he love like me, and love like me in
vain !"
Rhamnufia pity'd the neglected fair,
And with just vengeance answer'd to her pray❜r.
There ftands a fountain in a darkfom wood,
Nor ftain'd with falling leaves nor rifing mud;
Untroubled by the breath of winds it rests,
Unfully'd by the touch of men or beasts;
High bow'rs of fhady trees above it grow,
And rifing grafs and chearful greens below.
Pleas'd with the form and coolaefs of the place,
And over-heated by the morning chace,
Narciffus on the graffy verdure lies:
But whilft within the cryftal fount he tries
To quench his heat, he feels new beats arife.
For as his own bright image he furvey'd,
He fell in love with the fantastic fhade;
And o'er the fair resemblance hung unmov'd,
Nor knew, fond youth! it was himself he lov'd.
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