6
HERO AND
Discreet withal, nor lov'd to dance, and play,
And waste in vain impertinence the day:
Secure in innocence, she liv'd unknown,
And balk'd the witty censures of the town.
There is an inborn Pride, which taints the race;
A fair one ne'er could brook a fairer face.
To pleasure Venus was her darling care,
Nor did thy altars, Cupid, want a share:
In vain, alas! the pious virgin strove;
No vows the fiery arrows could remove,
But she must fall a sacrifice to love.
For now the time was come, the solemn day,
When annual rites religious Sestians pay
To beauty's queen; around with fables spread,
She mourns Adonis, fair Adonis dead!
Hither in shoals from neighb'ring islands throng,
Confus'd, the gay, the grave, the old, the young:
