oods;
"And thousands shelter in the shady caves:
"Nor could I, should'st thou ask, their numbers tell.
"Poor he who counts his store. Believe not me
"When these I praise; before thine eyes behold
"How scarce their legs the swelling udder bear.
"Mine are the tender lambs, in the warm fold
"Secure; and mine are kids of equal age
"In folds apart. The whitest milk have I;
"But still for drink shall serve, and thicken'd, part
"Shall harden into cheese. Nor wilt thou find
"But cheap delights, and common vulgar gifts:
"For deer, and hares, and goats, thou shalt possess;
"Pigeons in pairs, and nests from mountains gain'd.
"Upon the hills, a shaggy bear's twin cubs
"I found; so like, no difference could be seen,
"With thee to play I found them: these, I said,
"These will I force my mistress to obey.
"O Galatea! raise thy lovely head
"Above the azure deep; come! only come;
"Nor scorn my gifts. Right well myself I know:
"I view'd me lately in the liquid stream;
"And much my image satisfy'd my view.
"Behold, how vast my bulk! Jove, in his heaven,
"(For of some Jove ye oft are wont to tell
"Who rules there) towers not in a mightier size.
"Thick bushy locks o'er my stern forehead hang,
"And like a forest down my shoulders spread.
"Nor deem my body, with hard bristles rough,
"Unseemly; most unsightly is the tree,
"Without a leaf; unsightly is the steed,
"Save on his neck the flowing mane is spread:
"Plumes clothe the feather'd race; and their own wool
"Becomes the sheep; so beards become mankind,
"And bushy bristles, o'er their limbs bespread.
"True in my forehead but one light is plac'd;
"But huge that light, and like a mighty shield
"In size. Yet does not Sol from heaven's high round
"All view? and Sol possesses lights no more.
"Remember too, my father o'er your realm
"Rules sovereign; I in him a sire-in-law
"Would give thee. Only pity me, I pray,
"And hear my suppliant vows. To thee alone
"I bend: and while I scorn your mighty Jove,
"His heaven, and piercing thunder, thee, O nymph!
"I fear: than fiercest lightnings dreading more
"Thy anger. Far more patient should I rest
"With this contempt, all didst thou thus contemn.
"But how, the Cyclops first repuls'd, dar'st thou
"This Acis love? this Acis dare prefer
"To my embraces? Yet may he himself
"Delight; nay let him Galatea please,
"If so it must be, though what most