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Salmacis
and Hermaphroditus
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Here Venus fearing, left
the loue of Ioue
Should make this mayd be plac'd
in heauen aboue,
Because she thought this Nymph
so wondrous bright,
That she would dazel her accustom'd
light:
And fearing now she should not
first be seene
Of all the glittring starres as
shee had beene,
But that the wanton Nymph would
eu'ry night
Be first that should salute eche
mortall sight,
Began to tell great Ioue,
she grieu'd to see
The heauen so full of his iniquity,
Complayning that eche strumpet
now was grac'd,
And with immortall goddesses was
plac'd,
Intreating him to place in heauen
no more
Eche wanton strumpet and lasciuious
whore.
Ioue mad with loue, harkned
not what she sayd,
His thoughts were so intangled
with the mayd,
But furiously he to his Palace
lept,
Being minded there till morning
to haue slept:
For the next morne, as soone as
Phoebus rayes
Should yet shine coole, by reason
of the seas,
And ere the parting teares of Thætis
bed,
Should be quite shak't from off
his glittring head,
Astræa promis'd to
attend great Ioue,
At his owne Palace in the heauen
aboue,
And at that Palace she would set
her hand
To what the loue-sick god should
her command:
But to descend to earth she did
deny,
She loath'd the sight of any mortall
eye;
And for the compasse of the earthly
round,
She would not set one foot vpon
the ground. |
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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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