wet dropping with the dew of tears.
"Plac'd on the threshold hard his tender side,
"Venting reproaches on the cruel bar.
"But she more deaf than surges which arise
"With setting stars; and harder than the steel
"Numician fires have temper'd; or the rock
"Still living in its bed, spurn'd him, and laugh'd:
"And cruel, added lofty words to deeds
"Unmerciful, and robb'd him ev'n of hope.
"Impatient Iphis, now no longer bore
"The pangs of endless grief, but at her gate
"Thus utter'd his last 'plaints--Thou hast o'ercome
"O Anaxarete! for never more
"Will I molest thy quiet. Now prepare
"Glad triumphs; Paean call; and bind thy brows
"With laurel bright, for thou victorious art,
"And joyfully I die. O heart of steel!
"Enjoy thy bliss. Now will I force thy praise
"In something;--somehow find a way to please,
"And thee constrain to grant I have desert.
"Yet still remember, that my love for thee
"Leaves me not but with life! at once I lose
"A double light. But fame shall not announce
"To thee my death, for I myself will come.
"Lest thou should'st doubt, thou shalt thyself behold
"My death, and on my lifeless body glut
"Thy cruel eyes. But, O ye gods above!
"If mortal deeds ye view, remember me:
"No more my tongue can dare to ask, than this,
"That distant ages may my fortune know;
"Grant fame to him, whom ye of life deprive.--
"He spoke, and to the porch so oft adorn'd
"With flowing chaplets, rais'd his humid eyes,
"And stretch'd his pallid arms; then to the post,
"The cord with noose well-fitted, fastening, cry'd:--
"Nymph, pitiless and cruel! pleas'd the best
"With garlands such as these!--Then in the cord,
"His head inserted; tow'rd the maid still turn'd,
"As, hapless load! with strangled throat he hung.
"Struck by his dangling feet, the portals seem'd
"A sound to give, which mighty seem'd to mourn;
"And open thrown, the horrid deed display'd:
"Loudly the servants shriek, and vainly bear
"His breathless body to his mother's dome.
"(Defunct his sire) She clasp'd him to her breast,
"Embrac'd his clay-cold limbs; and all she said
"That wretched parents say; and all she did
"That hapless mothers do: then through the town
"The melancholy funeral pomp she led,
"The lurid members following, on a bier
"For burning. In the road the dwelling stood
"Through which the sad procession took its way,
"And sound of lamentation