Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/372

196 Mix it with thicken'd Juice of sodden Wines, And Raisins from the Grapes of Psythian Vines: To these add pounded Galls, and Roses dry, And with Cecropian Thyme, strong scented Centaury. A Flow'r there is that grows in Meadow Ground, Amellus call'd, and easy to be found; For from one Root the rising Stem bestows A Wood of Leaves, and vi'let-purple Boughs: The Flow'r it self is glorious to behold, And shines on Altars like refulgent Gold: Sharpe to the Taste, by Shepherds near the Stream Of Mella found, and thence they gave the Name. Boyl this restoring Root in gen'rous Wine, And set beside the Door, the sickly Stock to dine. But if the lab'ring Kind be wholly lost, And not to be retriev'd with Care or Cost; Tis time to touch the Precepts of an Art, Th' Arcadian Master did of old impart: And how he stock'd his empty Hives again; Renew'd with putrid Gore of Oxen slain. An ancient Legend I prepare to sing, And upward follow Fame's immortal Spring. For where with sev'n-fold Horns mysterious Nile Surrounds the Skirts of Egypt's fruitful Isle, And where in Pomp the Sun-burnt People ride On painted Barges, o'er the teeming Tide, Which pouring down from Ethiopian Lands, Makes green the Soil with Slime, and black prolific Sands;