Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/14

These are their hard conditions: ----They require
The sons, to purchase, and redeem the sire.
But yet, brave youth, from grief, from tears abstain,
Fate may relent, and heav'n grow mild again;
At last perhaps the glorious day may come,
The day that brings our royal exile home;
When, to thy native realms in peace restor'd,
The ravish'd crowds shall hail their passing lord;
When each transported city shall rejoice,
And nations bless thee with a public voice;
To the throng'd fanes the matrons shall repair;
Absolve their vows; and breathe their souls in pray'r.
Till then, let ev'ry muse engage thy love,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
With me at large o'er high Parnassus rove,
Range every bow'r, and sport in ev'ry grove.

First then observe that verse is ne'er confin'd
To one fixt measure, or determin'd kind;
Tho' at its birth it sung the gods alone,
And then religion claim'd it for her own;
In sacred verse addressed the deity,
And spoke a language worthy of the sky;