Page:The Amyntas of Tasso (1770) - Percival Stockdale.djvu/181

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AMYNTAS.
149
And turn thy mind to a more worthy object.
Let us perform a sadly pleasing office;
Let us our shepherd's breathless, mangled limbs
Redeem from the unhospitable rocks,
And with a decent sepulture compose them.
His grave with yew, and cypress we'll adorn,
And, with more gay religion, o'er it strew
The brightest, and most aromatick flowers,
Invoking Heaven for his eternal rest.
For nothing now but his funereal rites
Detains me longer from the realms of Pluto.
Let me perform this last, this only duty
That I can pay his memory ere I die.
And though, I'm sensible this impious hand.
A work so pious may contaminate,
Yet well I know the tribute of this hand,
However impious, will be grateful to him.
His death, alas! but too completely proved
How partially, with what excess he loved me!

DAPHNE.
Yes, Sylvia, I'll assist thee in that office,

With