Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/14

 These are their hard conditions: They require The sons, to purchase, and redeem the sire. But yet, brave youth, from grief, from tears abstain, Fate may relent, and heav'n grow mild again; At last perhaps the glorious day may come, The day that brings our royal exile home; When, to thy native realms in peace restor'd, The ravish'd crowds shall hail their passing lord; When each transported city shall rejoice, And nations bless thee with a public voice; To the throng'd fanes the matrons shall repair; Absolve their vows; and breathe their souls in pray'r. Till then, let ev'ry muse engage thy love, With me at large o'er high Parnassus rove, Range every bow'r, and sport in ev'ry grove.


 * First then observe that verse is ne'er confin'd

To one fixt measure, or determin'd kind; Tho' at its birth it sung the gods alone, And then religion claim'd it for her own; In sacred verse addressed the deity, And spoke a language worthy of the sky;