struck the ears
"Of Anaxarete, whom now the power
"Of vengeance follow'd. Mov'd, she now exclaim'd--
"I will this melancholy prospect view.--
"And to the open casement mounted high.
"Scarce had she Iphis on the bier beheld,
"When harden'd grew her eyes; a pallid hue
"O'erspread her body as the warm blood fled.
"Her feet to move for flight she try'd, her feet
"Stuck fast; her face she try'd to turn away;
"She could not turn it; and by small degrees
"The stony hardness of her breast was spread
"O'er all her limbs. Believe not that I feign,
"For Salamis the figure of the nymph
"Still keeps; and there a temple is high rear'd
"Where Venus, the beholder, they adore.
"Mindful of this, O dearest nymph! lay by
"That cold disdain, and join thee to a spouse.
"So may no vernal frosts thy budding fruits
"Destroy, nor sweeping storms despoil thy flowers."
When this the god, to various shapes in vain
Transform'd, had utter'd; he assum'd again
The youth, and flung the garb of age aside:
And so appear'd, as seems the radiant sun,
Freed from opposing clouds, and darting bright
His glory round. Force he prepar'd, but force
He needed not. The nymph his beauty mov'd,
And straight her bosom felt a mutual flame.

Th' Ausonian realm Amulius' force unjust
Commanded next; and ancient Numitor
By his young grandsons the lost realm regain'd.
The city's walls on Pales' feast were laid.
Now Tatius and the Sabine sires wage war
Against it; and the fortress' gate unclos'd,
Tarpeia, well-deserving of her fate,
Breathes out her soul beneath a pile of shields.
Thence Cures' sons, each sound of voice repress'd,
Silent as wolves, steal on them drown'd in sleep,
And gain the gates, which Ilia's son had clos'd
With massive bars. But Juno one threw ope,
Nor creak'd the portal on its turning hinge.
Venus alone the fastening of the gate
Withdrawn, perceiv'd, and had it clos'd again,
Save that the acts a deity performs,
No deity can e'er undo. A spot
Near Janus' temple, cool with flowing streams,
Ausonia's Naiaeds own'd; and aid from these
She sought. Nor could the nymphs deny a boon
So just; and instant all their rills and floods
Burst forth. But still to Janus' open gate
The way was passable, nor could the waves
Oppose their way. They to the fruitful springs
Apply blue sulphur, and the hollow caves
Fire with bitumen; to the lowest depth