Page:Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.djvu/111

What if their charms exceed Aurora's teint,
No words could tell them, and no pencil paint,

Thy love too vehement hastens to destroy

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Each blooming maid, and each celestial boy.

Now Manto comes, endu'd with mighty skill,
The past to explore, the future to reveal.
Thro' Thebes' wide streets Tiresia's daughter came,

Divine Latona's mandate to proclaim:

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The Theban maids to hear the orders ran,
When thus Mæonia's prophetess began:

"Go, Thebans! great Latona's will obey,
"And pious tribute at her altars pay:

"With rights divine, the goddess be implor'd,

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"Nor be her sacred offspring unador'd."
Thus Manto spoke. The Theban maids obey,
And pious tribute to the goddess pay.
The rich perfumes ascend in waving spires,

And altars blaze with consecrated fires;

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The fair assembly moves with graceful air,
And leaves of laurel bind the flowing hair.

Niobe