Page:Hero and Leander - Marlowe and Chapman (1821).pdf/102

And thrusts him down from Heaven; he, wand'ring here,
In mournful terms, with sad and heavy cheer,
Complain'd to Cupid; Cupid, for his sake,
To be reveng'd on Jove did undertake;
And those on whom Heaven, earth, and Hell relies,
I mean the adamantine Destinies,
He wounds with love, and forc'd them equally
To doat upon deceitful Mercury.
They offer'd him the deadly fatal knife,
That shears the slender threads of human life;
At his fair feather'd feet the engines laid,
Which the earth from ugly Chaos' den upweigh'd:
These he regarded not; but did intreat
That Jove, usurper of his father's seat,
Might presently be banish'd into Hell,
And aged Saturn in Olympus dwell,
They granted what he crav'd; and once again
Saturn and Ops began their golden reign.
Murder, rape, war, and lust, and treachery,
Were with Jove clos'd in Stygian empery.
But long this blessed time continued not;
As soon as he his wished purpose got,
He, reckless of his promise, did despise
The love of the' everlasting Destinies.