Where the rude Waves on Dia 's Harbour play,
The fair forsaken Ariadne lay:
Here first the wretched Maid was taught to prove
The bitter Pangs of ill rewarded Love;
Here saw, just freed from a fallacious Sleep,
Her Theseus flying o'er the distant Deep:
Wistful she look'd, nor what she saw believ'd,
Hop'd some Mistake, and wish'd to be deceiv'd.
While the false Youth his Way securely made,
His Faith forgotten, and his Vows unpay'd.
At length she found her partial Fears too true,
The well-known Vessel less'ning to her View;
Then sick with Grief, and frantick with Despair,
Her Dress she rent, and tore her golden Hair.
The gay Tiara on her Temples plac'd,
The fine-wrought Cincture that her Bosom grac'd,
The Fillets, which her heaving Breasts confin'd,
Are rent and scatter'd in the lawless Wind.
The wretched Fair regards them now no more,
Wash'd by the wanton Surges on the Shore.
Such trivial Cares, alas! no Room can find,
Her dear deceitful Theseus fills her Mind;
For him alone she grieves the live-long Day,
Sickens in Thought, and pines her Soul away.
Curst be the Time when Theseus first from Home
Reach'd the Gortynian Tyrant's stately Dome:
In that sad Day what Evils unforeseen
Were form'd in Embryo by the Cyprian Queen?
The Story goes, the Minotaur was fed
With human Victims for Androgeos dead.
Forc'd by a Sickness the Cecropians pay'd
This yearly Tribute to the Hero's Shade:
The Flow'r of Athens were compell'd to bleed,
For thus the cruel Oracle decreed.
'Till Theseus , to preserve his Country's Blood,
Himself devoted for the Public Good.
Forth for the Cretan Coast he hoisted Sail,
Fleet sped his Ship, and prosp'rous was the Gale;
Soon as to Minos ' awful Court he came,
The Princess saw him, and conceiv'd a Flame.
A grand Pavillion on the Ground there stood,
Celestial Odours issued from the Wood;
On this the Royal Fair repos'd her Charms,
Wrapt in th' Embraces of her Mother's Arms.
Such to the View the goodly Myrtle seems,
Which grows beside Eurotas ' crystal Streams;
Thus beautiful the vernal Flow'rs appear,
That glad with gay Variety the Year.
She sat and languish'd, nor her Eyes withdrew,
'Till the whole Frame the sweet Contagion knew.
O cruel Boy, that aim'st the Shafts of Love,
And rul'st the Golgi and Idalian Grove,
You give no Pleasure but has some Alloy,
And blend'st with Trouble our sincerest Joy.
You first inspir'd with this unhappy Flame
The Royal Virgin for a Foreign Name.
With what Anxiety was she opprest,
What Tempests labour'd in her troubled Breast,
When her lov'd Youth the Monster met in Fight,
Resolv'd to conquer or to leave the Light?
As when a Storm on Taurus ' Top descends,
The waving Oak or Mountain Pine it bends,
At last the Tree up-rooted, in its Way
Bears all before it with impetuous Sway;
So the dread Beast by Theseus taught to yield,
Fell down reluctant on the bleeding Field.
The conquering Hero now returns with Praise,
A Clue directs him through the giddy Maze,
Else his misguided Steps would darkling rove
In the blind Windings of the treach'rous Grove.
It now remains the Virgin's Flight to sing,
Her sudden leaving the afflicted King.
The Mother mourn'd her Child's unhappy Case,
Her Sister stop'd her with a forc'd Embrace:
But Father, Sister, Mother, little mov'd,
Her all she yielded for the Man she lov'd.
To Dia 's fatal Coast the Lovers steer,
Persidious Theseus leaves his Mistress here.
Wrapt in deceitful Slumbers while she lay,
The perjur'd Lover basely stole away.
The Nymph with Cries ascends the Mountain's height,
And o'er the distant Ocean strains her Sight,
A boundless Tract: now in the Sea she goes
Baring her Knees, and sighing vents her Woes.
The fair forsaken Ariadne lay:
Here first the wretched Maid was taught to prove
The bitter Pangs of ill rewarded Love;
Here saw, just freed from a fallacious Sleep,
Her Theseus flying o'er the distant Deep:
Wistful she look'd, nor what she saw believ'd,
Hop'd some Mistake, and wish'd to be deceiv'd.
While the false Youth his Way securely made,
His Faith forgotten, and his Vows unpay'd.
At length she found her partial Fears too true,
The well-known Vessel less'ning to her View;
Then sick with Grief, and frantick with Despair,
Her Dress she rent, and tore her golden Hair.
The gay Tiara on her Temples plac'd,
The fine-wrought Cincture that her Bosom grac'd,
The Fillets, which her heaving Breasts confin'd,
Are rent and scatter'd in the lawless Wind.
The wretched Fair regards them now no more,
Wash'd by the wanton Surges on the Shore.
Such trivial Cares, alas! no Room can find,
Her dear deceitful Theseus fills her Mind;
For him alone she grieves the live-long Day,
Sickens in Thought, and pines her Soul away.
Curst be the Time when Theseus first from Home
Reach'd the Gortynian Tyrant's stately Dome:
In that sad Day what Evils unforeseen
Were form'd in Embryo by the Cyprian Queen?
The Story goes, the Minotaur was fed
With human Victims for Androgeos dead.
Forc'd by a Sickness the Cecropians pay'd
This yearly Tribute to the Hero's Shade:
The Flow'r of Athens were compell'd to bleed,
For thus the cruel Oracle decreed.
'Till Theseus , to preserve his Country's Blood,
Himself devoted for the Public Good.
Forth for the Cretan Coast he hoisted Sail,
Fleet sped his Ship, and prosp'rous was the Gale;
Soon as to Minos ' awful Court he came,
The Princess saw him, and conceiv'd a Flame.
A grand Pavillion on the Ground there stood,
Celestial Odours issued from the Wood;
On this the Royal Fair repos'd her Charms,
Wrapt in th' Embraces of her Mother's Arms.
Such to the View the goodly Myrtle seems,
Which grows beside Eurotas ' crystal Streams;
Thus beautiful the vernal Flow'rs appear,
That glad with gay Variety the Year.
She sat and languish'd, nor her Eyes withdrew,
'Till the whole Frame the sweet Contagion knew.
O cruel Boy, that aim'st the Shafts of Love,
And rul'st the Golgi and Idalian Grove,
You give no Pleasure but has some Alloy,
And blend'st with Trouble our sincerest Joy.
You first inspir'd with this unhappy Flame
The Royal Virgin for a Foreign Name.
With what Anxiety was she opprest,
What Tempests labour'd in her troubled Breast,
When her lov'd Youth the Monster met in Fight,
Resolv'd to conquer or to leave the Light?
As when a Storm on Taurus ' Top descends,
The waving Oak or Mountain Pine it bends,
At last the Tree up-rooted, in its Way
Bears all before it with impetuous Sway;
So the dread Beast by Theseus taught to yield,
Fell down reluctant on the bleeding Field.
The conquering Hero now returns with Praise,
A Clue directs him through the giddy Maze,
Else his misguided Steps would darkling rove
In the blind Windings of the treach'rous Grove.
It now remains the Virgin's Flight to sing,
Her sudden leaving the afflicted King.
The Mother mourn'd her Child's unhappy Case,
Her Sister stop'd her with a forc'd Embrace:
But Father, Sister, Mother, little mov'd,
Her all she yielded for the Man she lov'd.
To Dia 's fatal Coast the Lovers steer,
Persidious Theseus leaves his Mistress here.
Wrapt in deceitful Slumbers while she lay,
The perjur'd Lover basely stole away.
The Nymph with Cries ascends the Mountain's height,
And o'er the distant Ocean strains her Sight,
A boundless Tract: now in the Sea she goes
Baring her Knees, and sighing vents her Woes.