Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/12

There tell my Quality, confess my Flame,
And grant him any Dowry that he'd name.
All, all I'd give; only my native Land,
My dearest Country, shou'd excepted stand.
For, perish Love, and all expected Joys,
E're, with so base a Thought, my Soul complies.
Yet, oft the Vanquish'd some Advantage find,
When conquer'd by a noble, gen'rous Mind.
Brave Minos justly has the War begun,
Fir'd with Resentment for his murder'd Son:
The righteous Gods a righteous Cause regard,
And will, with Victory, his Arms reward:
We must be conquer'd; and the Captive's Fate
Will surely seize us, tho' it seize us late.
Why then shou'd Love be idle, and neglect
What Mars, by Arms and Perils, will effect?
Oh! Prince, I dye, with anxious Fear opprest,
Lest some rash Hand shou'd wound my Charmer's Breast:
For, if they saw, no barb'rous Mind cou'd dare
Against that lovely Form to raise a Spear.
But I'm resolv'd, and fix'd in this Decree,
My Father's Country shall my Dowry be.
Thus I prevent the Loss of Life and Blood,
And, in Effect, the Action must be good.
Vain Resolution! for, at ev'ry Gate
The trusty Centinels, successive, wait:
The Keys my Father keeps; ah! there's my Grief;
'Tis he obstructs all Hopes of my Relief.
Gods! that this hated Light I'd never seen!
Or, all my Life, without a Father been!
But Gods we all may be; for those that dare,
Are Gods, and Fortune's chiefest Favours share.
The ruling Pow'rs a lazy Pray'r detest,
The bold Adventurer succeeds the best.
What other Maid, inspir'd with such a Flame,
But wou'd take Courage, and abandon Shame?

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