Page:Hero and Leander (Musaeus) translated by Laurence Eusden (1750).djvu/7

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LEANDER.
7

From Phrygia these, and from Haemonia some,
But all from Cyprus, and Abydos come,
And not one ling'ring sluggard droop'd at home.
No am'rous youth would surely miss the day,
Where feasts invite, they still with joy obey:
Scarce (as I guess) on bare devotion's score,
The silent statues of the gods t'adore;
For beasts, like theirs, with youthful raptures warm,
Not the dead idols, but the living charm.
But oh! to see with what a sprightly haste
The beauteous Priestess thro' the temple past!
Not rising Phoebe shows a face so bright
To glad the world, and rule the spangl'd night.
For on each blooming cheek, by nature spread,
Was seen the purest white, and freshest red:
Such is the hue, the springing lilly shows,
Fleck'd with the blushes of the op'ning rose.