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AMYNTAS.
A blooming image, usual with old men!
It warms, and animates the frost of age.
Therefore he surely will approve their flame.
But satisfy our curiosity,
I pray, Elpinus; tell us what strange fortune,
Or tutelary God, preserved Amyntas,
When he rushed headlong down the precipice.
It warms, and animates the frost of age.
Therefore he surely will approve their flame.
But satisfy our curiosity,
I pray, Elpinus; tell us what strange fortune,
Or tutelary God, preserved Amyntas,
When he rushed headlong down the precipice.
ELPINUS.
Most willingly; hear then what I beheld.
Before my cave I was; my cave you know;
'Tis in the bosom of the charming vale;
And near it stands the lover's precipice,
On the same side; there I with Thyrsis walked.
Love was our theme; the nymph's bewitching charms,
Whose power had captivated him, and me.
His fortitude had thrown her influence off,
And he was boasting of his liberty.
But as the lover hugs his chains more fondly
Than any other slave, I would insist,
Not with cool reason, but with warm chimera,
Most willingly; hear then what I beheld.
Before my cave I was; my cave you know;
'Tis in the bosom of the charming vale;
And near it stands the lover's precipice,
On the same side; there I with Thyrsis walked.
Love was our theme; the nymph's bewitching charms,
Whose power had captivated him, and me.
His fortitude had thrown her influence off,
And he was boasting of his liberty.
But as the lover hugs his chains more fondly
Than any other slave, I would insist,
Not with cool reason, but with warm chimera,
That
