Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/390

The Nymphs, Companions of th'unhappy Maid,
This punishment upon thy Crimes have laid;
And sent a Plague among thy thriving Bees.775
With Vows and suppliant Pray'rs their Pow'rs appease:
The soft Napæan Race will soon repent
Their Anger, and remit the Punishment.
The secret in an easie Method lies;
Select four Brawny Bulls for Sacrifice,780
Which on Lycæus graze, without a Guide;
Add four fair Heifars yet in Yoke untry'd:
For these, four Altars in their Temple rear,
And then adore the Woodland Pow'rs with Pray'r.
From the slain Victims pour the streaming Blood,785
And leave their Bodies in the shady Wood:
Nine Mornings thence, Lethean Poppy bring,
T' appease the Manes of the Poets King:
And to propitiate his offended Bride,
A fatted Calf, and a black Ewe provide:790
This finish'd, to the former Woods repair.$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
His Mother's Precepts he performs with care;
The Temple visits, and adores with Pray'r.
Four Altars raises, from his Herd he culls,
For Slaughter, four the fairest of his Bulls;795
Four Heifars from his Female Store he took,
All fair, and all unknowing of the Yoke.
Nine Mornings thence, with Sacrifice and Pray'rs,
The Pow'rs aton'd, he to the Grove repairs.