Giving the huntress virgin's hand
Empire o'er Libya's realm to keep,
Third portion of the peopled land, [1]
That teems alike with fruits and sheep. 15
The silver-footed Cyprian dame 15
Received her Delian guest,
And with a touch ethereal press'd
The heaven-built chariot's frame;
And o'er his genial bed she threw
Sweet modesty of virgin hue; 20
Joining the god in nuptial tie
With powerful Hypseus' progeny:
He who then made his regal sway
Th' impetuous Lapithæ obey:
The second hero whose bright line [2] 25
From ocean drew its source divine.
Him erst in Pindus' valleys fair
Peneus' bed well-pleased to share,
Daughter of earth, Creüsa bore,
While he a father's tender love 30
His white-arm'd child, Cyrene, gave to prove. 32
Not fond with dull delay to pore
The web's repeated progress o'er,
Nor hallow with domestic rites
- ↑ Alluding to the ancient division of the habitable globe into Asia, Europe, and Libya, or Africa.
- ↑ Peneus was the son of Oceanus, and Hypseus, the father of Cyrene, was the son of Peneus, and of the nymph of Creusa, daughter of Tellus. The description given by the poet in this passage of the martial disposition of Creusa will remind the classical reader of the character of Camilla as sketched by Virgil: (Æn., vii., 805, sq.:)—
"Bellatrix; non illa colo calathisve Minervæ
Fœmineas assueta manus; sed prælia virgo
Dura pati, cursuque pedum prævertere ventos."
