Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/184

46 I saw, I perish'd; yet indulg'd my Pain: Begin with me, my Flute, the sweet Mænalian Strain.

I know thee, Love; in Desarts thou wert bred; And at the Dugs of Salvage Tygers fed: Alien of Birth, Usurper of the Plains: Begin with me, my Flute, the sweet Mænalian Strains.

Relentless Love the cruel Mother led, The Blood of her unhappy Babes to shed: Love lent the Sword; the Mother struck the blow; Inhuman she; but more inhuman thou. Alien of Birth, Usurper of the Plains: Begin with me, my Flute, the sweet Mænalian Strains.

Old doting Nature change thy Course anew: And let the trembling Lamb the Wolf pursue: Let Oaks now glitter with Hesperian Fruit, And purple Daffodils from Alder shoot. Fat Amber let the Tamarisk distil: And hooting Owls contend with Swans in Skill. Hoarse Tity'rus strive with Orpheus in the Woods: And challenge fam'd Arion on the Floods. Or, oh! let Nature cease; and Chaos reign: Begin with me, my Flute, the sweet Mænalian Strain.

Let Earth be Sea; and let the whelming Tide, The lifeless Limbs of luckless Damon hide: