Page:The Amyntas of Tasso (1770) - Percival Stockdale.djvu/105

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AMYNTAS.
73
THYRSIS.
Who fears, and flies him, certainly escapes him.

DAPHNE.
Would you pretend to fly a winged god?

THYRSIS.
At first, by Providence's kind decree,
Leaving it in our power to fly from ruin,
He meditates attack with feeble wing.
Short are the flights he takes, and near the ground.
He beats, and flutters, like a captive sparrow,
Which strives in vain to mount with shortened pinions,
The cruel pastime of some idle boy.
But if with love we trifle, and admit him
To hazardous familiarity,
Neglecting to repel his childish onset,
He soon gains strength, he soon becomes our master.
He haunts us waking, haunts us in our dreams;

With