TRANSLATIONS, &c.
145
Venus for your fair voyage will compose
The sea, for from the sea the goddess rose:
Cupid, assisted with propitious gales,
Will hand the rudder and direct the sails. 220
But if relentless to my pray'r you prove,
If still, unkind without a cause, you'll rove,
And ne'er to Sappho's longing eyes restore
That object which her hourly vows implore,
'Twill be compassion now t' avow your hate; 225
Write, and confirm the rigour of my fate!
Then, steel'd with resolution by despair,
For cure I'll to the kinder seas repair:
That last relief for love-sick minds I'll try;
Phœbus may grant what Phaon could deny. 230
The sea, for from the sea the goddess rose:
Cupid, assisted with propitious gales,
Will hand the rudder and direct the sails. 220
But if relentless to my pray'r you prove,
If still, unkind without a cause, you'll rove,
And ne'er to Sappho's longing eyes restore
That object which her hourly vows implore,
'Twill be compassion now t' avow your hate; 225
Write, and confirm the rigour of my fate!
Then, steel'd with resolution by despair,
For cure I'll to the kinder seas repair:
That last relief for love-sick minds I'll try;
Phœbus may grant what Phaon could deny. 230
