The ready muses' lovely choir
To them on Pelion's mountain sang,
And in the midst Apollo's lyre,
Struck by his golden plectrum, rang, 50
As the great leader sounded high
Its varied seven-toned harmony. 45
They hymn'd, beginning first from Jove,
Peleus and Thetis' sacred name,
And how the fair Cretheis strove, 55
Hippolyta, to soil his fame.
Magnesia's lord, her spouse, she led
By many a lure and artful wile,
Feigning a tale of treacherous guile,
That he Acastus' nuptial bed 60
Attempted basely to defile. 56
'Twas false—for him with raging mind
And suppliant prayer she oft address'd:
Yet her warm speech no love could find
Responsive in his tortured breast. 65
But he refused the nymph's desire,
Dreading His wrath the stranger's sire. [1]
Heaven's mighty king, immortal Jove,
Who guides the clouds that roll above,
Observed the deed, and gave a sign 70
That from the golden-sceptred line
Of Nereids sporting in the main
The hero should a consort gain;
Persuading Neptune to approve [2]
The social bond of kindred love; 67 75
The god who oft from Ægæ's height
