Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/149

Book 11. Observes the waining Moon with hourly View, Numbers her Age, and wishes for a new; Against the promis'd Time provides with Care, And hastens in the Woof the Robes he was to wear: And for her Self employs another Loom, New-dress'd to meet her Lord returning home, Flatt'ring her Heart with Joys, that never were to come: She fum'd the Temples with an od'rous Flame, And oft before the sacred Altars came, To pray for him, who was an empty Name. All Pow'rs implor'd, but far above the rest To Juno she her pious Vows address'd, Her much-lov'd Lord from Perils to protect, And safe o'er Seas his Voyage to direct: Then pray'd, that she might still possess his Heart, And no pretending Rival share a Part; This last Petition heard of all her Pray'r, The rest, dispers'd by Winds, were lost in Air. But she, the Goddess of the Nuptial Bed, Tir'd with her vain Devotions for the Dead, Resolv'd the tainted Hand should be repell'd, Which Incense offer'd, and her Altar held: Then Iris thus bespoke; Thou faithful Maid, By whom thy Queen's Commands are well convey'd, Haste to the House of Sleep, and bid the God Who rules the Night by Visions with a Nod, Prepare a Dream, in Figure, and in Form Resembling him, who perish'd in the Storm; This Form before Alcyone present, To make her certain of the sad Event. Indu'd with Robes of various Hue she flies, And flying draws an Arch, (a Segment of the Skies:) Then leaves her bending Bow, and from the Steep Descends, to search the silent House of Sleep. The