But him opposed Venus, lovely fair,33
whose heart her Lusian sons had won the more,
since in them seen the qualities high and rare,
the gifts that deckt her Romans dear of yore:
The heart of valour, and the potent star,
whose splendour dazzled Tingitanan shore;
and e'en the musick of their speech appears
soft bastard Latin to her loving ears.
These causes moved Cytherea's sprite;34
and more when learnt she that the Fates intended
the Queen of Beauty should be glorious hight
where'er their warrior sway her sons extended.
Thus He, who feared future stain and blight,
and She, whose heart to honours high pretended
urge the debate in obstinate strife remaining;
with fav'ouring friends each rival right maintaining:
As the fierce South, or Boreas in the shade35
of sylvan upland where the tree-boles cluster,
the branches shattering crash through glooming glade
with horrid hurry and infuriate fluster:
Roars all the mountain, Echo moans in dread;
torn is the leaf ery, hill-heads boil and bluster:
Such gusty tumults rise amid the Gods
within Olympus' consecrate abodes.
