Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/73

Yet why shou'd Youth, and Charms like mine despair?
Such Fears ne'er startled the Æolian Pair;
No Ties of Blood could their full Hopes destroy,
They broke thro' all for the prevailing Joy;
And who can tell but Caunus too may be
Rack'd and tormented in his Breast for me?
Like me, to the extremest Anguish drove,
Like me, just waking from a Dream of Love?
But stay! Oh whither wou'd my Fury run!
What Arguments I urge to be undone!
Away fond Byblis, quench these guilty Flames;
Caunus thy Love but as a Brother claims;
Yet had he first been touch'd with Love of me,
The charming Youth cou'd I despairing see?
Oppress'd with Grief, and dying by Disdain?
Ah no! too sure I shou'd have eas'd his Pain!
Since then, if Caunus ask'd me, it were done;
Asking my self, what Dangers can I run?
But canst thou ask? and see that Right betray'd,
From Pyrrha down to thy whole Sex convey'd?
That self-denying Gift we all enjoy,
Of wishing to be won, yet seeming to be coy.
Well then, for once, let a fond Mistress woe,
The Force of Love no Custom can subdue;
This frantick Passion he by Words shall know,
Soft as the melting Heart from whence they flow.
The Pencil then in her fair Hand she held,
By Fear discourag'd, but by Love compell'd;
She writes, then blots, writes on, and blots again,
Likes it as fit, then razes it as vain:
Shame, and Assurance in her Face appear,
And a faint Hope just yielding to Despair;
Sister was wrote, and blotted as a Word
Which she, and Caunus too (she hop'd) abhorr'd;
But now resolv'd to be no more controul'd
By scrup'lous Virtue, thus her Grief she told.