Page:Poems upon Several Occasions.djvu/105

Presumptuous wretch! with Mortal Art to dare
Immortal Power, and brave the Thunderer.

Cassiopè, preferring with Disdain
Her Daughter to the Nereïds, they complain:
The Daughter, for the Mother's guilty Scorn,
Is doom'd to be devour'd; the Mother's born
Above the Clouds, where by immortal Light
Reverst she shines, expos'd to human Sight,
And to a shameful Posture is confin'd,
As an eternal Terror to Mankind.
Did thus the Gods such private Nymphs protect,
What Vengeance might the Queen of Love expect?
But grant such arbitrary Pleas are vain,
Wav'd let them be: Meer Justice shall obtain:
Who to a Husband better can succeed,
Than his lov'd Wife, the Partner of his Bed?
Or to a Father's Right lay stronger Claim,
Than the dear Youth in whom survives his Name?
Behold that Youth, consider whence he springs,
And in his Royal Veins respect your King's;
Immortal Jove upon a Mortal She
Begat his Sire; Second from Jove is he.
Well did the Father blindly fight your Cause,
Following the Cry of Liberty and Laws,
If by those Laws, for which he lost his Life,
You spoil ungratefully the Son and Wife.

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