Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/13

But wou'd, tho' Ruin shou'd ensue, remove
Whate'er oppos'd, and clear the Way to Love?
This, shall another's feeble Passion dare?
While I sit tame, and languish in Despair:
No; for tho' Fire and Sword before me lay,
Impatient Love thro' both shou'd force it's Way.
Yet I have no such Enemies to fear,
My sole Obstruction is my Father's Hair;
His Purple Lock my sanguine Hope destroys,
And clouds the Prospect of my rising Joys.
Whilst thus she spoke, amid the thick'ning Air,
Night supervenes, the greatest Nurse of Care:
And, as the Goddess spreads her sable Wings,
The Virgin's Fears decay, and Courage springs.
The Hour was come, when Man's o'er-labour'd Breast
Surceas'd its Care by downy Sleep possest:
All things now hush'd, Scylla with silent Tread
Urg'd her Approach to Nisus' Royal Bed:
There, of the fatal Lock (accursed Theft!)
She her unwitting Father's Head bereft.
In safe Possession of her impious Prey,
Out at a Postern Gate she takes her Way.
Embolden'd, by the Merit of the Deed,
She traverses the adverse Camp with Speed,
Till Minos' Tent she reach'd: The righteous King
She thus bespoke, who shiver'd at the thing.
Behold th' Effect of Love's resistless Sway!
I, Nisus' Royal Seed, to thee betray
My Country, and my Gods. For this strange Task,
Minos, no other Boon but thee I ask.
This Purple Lock, a Pledge of Love, receive;
No worthless Present, since in it I give
My Father's Head.—Mov'd at a Crime so new,
And with Abhorrence fill'd, back Minos drew,
Nor touch'd th' unhallow'd Gift; but thus exclaim'd,
(With Mein indignant, and with Eyes inflam'd)