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Salmacis
and Hermaphroditus.
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Y wanton lines
doe treate of amorous loue,
Such as would bow the hearts
of gods aboue:
Then Venus, thou great
Citherean Queene,
That hourely tripst on the
Idalian greene,
Thou laughing Erycina,
daygne to see |
The verses wholly consecrate to
thee;
Temper them so within thy Paphian
shrine,
That euery Louers eye may melt a
line;
Commaund the god of Loue that little
King,
To giue each verse a sleight touch
with his wing,
That as I write, one line may draw
the tother,
And euery word skip nimbly o're
another.
There was a louely boy the Nymphs
had kept,
That on the Idane mountaines oft
had slept,
Begot and borne by powers that dwelt
aboue,
By learned Mercury of the
Queene of loue:
A face he had that shew'd his parents
fame,
And from them both conioynd, he
drew his name:
So wondrous fayre he was, that
(as they say)
Diana being hunting on a
day,
Shee saw the boy vpon a greene
banke lay him,
And there the virgin-huntresse
meant to slay him,
Because no Nymphes did now pursue
the chase:
For all were strooke blind with
the wantons face. |
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| © Twilight
Pictures,
September 2000. This text is freely
available for educational, non-profit uses only. Please report any
errors or suggestions to
Drew Whitehead. |
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