Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/79

Book 9. Now grinding Pains proceed to bearing Throes, Till its own Weight the Burden did disclose. 'Twas of the beauteous Kind, and brought to Light With Secrecy, to shun the Father's Sight. Th' indulgent Mother did her Care employ, And past it on her Husband for a Boy. The Nurse was conscious of the Fact alone; The Father paid his Vows as for a Son; And call'd him Iphis, by a common Name, Which either Sex with equal Right may claim: Iphis his Grandsire was; the Wife was pleas'd, Of half the Fraud by Fortune's Favour eas'd: The doubtful Name was us'd without Deceit, And Truth was cover'd with a pious Cheat. The Habit shew'd a Boy, the beauteous Face With manly Fierceness mingled Female Grace. Now thirteen Years of Age were swiftly run, When the fond Father thought the Time drew on Of settling in the World his only Son. Ianthe was his Choice; so wondrous fair, Her Form alone with Iphis cou'd compare; A Neighbour's Daughter of his own Degree, And not more bless'd with Fortune's Goods than he. They soon espous'd; for they with ease were join'd, Who were before contracted in the Mind. Their Age the same, their Inclinations too; And bred together, in one School they grew. Thus, fatally dispos'd to mutual Fires, They felt, before they knew, the same Desires. Equal their Flame, unequal was their Care; One lov'd with Hope, one languish'd in Despair. The Maid accus'd the lingring Day alone: For whom she thought a Man, she thought her own. But Iphis bends beneath a greater Grief; As fiercely burns, but hopes for no Relief. Rh