AMYNTAS.
157
Yet from that fall he meant that he should rise,
That fall, which seemed his end of love, and being,
To gain the arduous summit of enjoyment.
Happy Amyntas!—thy delights will hold
Proportion to thy antecedent woes.
Let thy example cheer me, and inspire me
With the religion of a modest lover;
And make me hope that one day, too, my fair-one,
By whose delusive smiles I'm now tormented,
As often flowers conceal the serpent's venom,
Will from the rigour of her soul relax,
And give me tender, unaffected smiles,
Sent from her heart; oracular of love:
Oh! 'twill be full amends for all my anguish!
That fall, which seemed his end of love, and being,
To gain the arduous summit of enjoyment.
Happy Amyntas!—thy delights will hold
Proportion to thy antecedent woes.
Let thy example cheer me, and inspire me
With the religion of a modest lover;
And make me hope that one day, too, my fair-one,
By whose delusive smiles I'm now tormented,
As often flowers conceal the serpent's venom,
Will from the rigour of her soul relax,
And give me tender, unaffected smiles,
Sent from her heart; oracular of love:
Oh! 'twill be full amends for all my anguish!
CHORUS.
Here comes the sage Elpinus; by his talk,
One would suppose Amyntas yet alive:
I hear he calls him fortunate, and happy.
Hard is the fate of unsuccessful lovers;
Here comes the sage Elpinus; by his talk,
One would suppose Amyntas yet alive:
I hear he calls him fortunate, and happy.
Hard is the fate of unsuccessful lovers;
So
