Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/84

These soothing arts to ^[1] Venus sure were known,
To beg immortal arms, to grace her son;
Her injur'd spouse each thrilling word inspires,
With every pang of love to second her desires.
With nicest art the fair adult'ress draws
Her fond addresses from a distant cause;
And all her guileful accents are design'd
To catch his passions, and ensnare his mind.
'Tis hence the poet learns in every part,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
To bend the soul, and give with wondrous art
A thousand diff'rent motions to the heart.
Hence, as his subject gay or sad appears,
He claims our joy, or triumphs in our tears;
Who, when he sees how ^[2] Orpheus' sorrows flow,
Weeps not his tears, and answers woe for woe?
When he his dear Euridice deplores,
To the deaf rocks, and solitary shores;
With the soft harp the bard relieves his pain,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
For thee, when morning dawns, prolongs the strain,
For thee, when Phœbus seeks the seas again.

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1. Æneid. Lib. 8. vers. 370.
2. Georg. 4. v. 464.