Page:Pindar and Anacreon.djvu/162

154

Since gods and men alike approve,

Oh Phœbus! that ingenuous shame

Should hide the deeds of sacred flame,

And all be secrecy in love.

But thee, whom falsehood ne'er can reach,

Some motive of a doubtful kind

Has with feign'd ignorance inclined

To utter this ambiguous speech.

For whence, oh king! thy fond desire

The damsel's lineage to inquire?

Whose eye of all events surveys

The fated end, the various ways;

Who to what leaves the teeming earth

In spring's prolific hour gives birth,

What sands are moved when waves tempestuous swell,

Canst number with omniscient mind,

And every future period find

Which time's revolving course shall e'er impel.

But if with thine I must compare

My wisdom, this I will declare.

Her husband thou who seek'st this vale

Shalt o'er the paths of ocean sail;

And to the verdant plain of Jove

Convey the object of thy love.

Thou shalt appoint Cyrene there

The ruler of a city fair,

Collecting all the island train

To the steep hill that crowns the plain.