et him and his flight oppose.

590 Now when despair had settled on her mind,
What way to meet the death that she design'd
Fill'd all her thoughts. Her sister she addrest
While treach'rous smiles beguil'd her soul distrest.
"Rejoice, my friend, while I the means impart,
595 To gain his love or drive him from my heart:
A place there is where AEthiopia ends,
And into ocean's lap the sun descends;
Where Atlas on his spreading shoulders bears,
And turns the shining glory of the spheres.
600 Thence comes a priestess, in Massyla rear'd,
Who for the watchful Dragon food prepar'd;
Th' Hesperian temple 'twas her charge to keep,
The drowsy flow'rs in liquid honey steep,
And watch the golden branches on the tree.
605 She, at her will, the lab'ring mind can free,
With mystic verse,--or deadly cares enforce,
Repell the stars--arrest the rivers course;
Raise the dead shade, the trembling mountain rend,
And make the wood with horrid sound descend.
610 By heav'n and thee, thou nearest to my heart,
Against my will I fly to magic art.
But in the inmost court, in open air,
A lofty pile thou, dearest friend, prepare,
There let his arms, my nuptial couch that grac'd,
615 There ev'ry thing he faithless left be plac'd;
And fast that bed--sad witness of my fall;
The priestess orders to destroy them all.
Of the sad deed be left no conscious trace--"
She ceas'd and smil'd,--but death was in her face.
620 Anna obey'd; prepar'd the pyre; her mind
Conceiv'd no fear of all the Queen design'd,
Nor with such deep despair, her spirit fraught,
Nor worse than when Sicheus fell she thought.
In open air, but in a court inclos'd,
625 Rich pine and cloven oak the pyre compos'd;
The Queen herself the lofty sides around,
With flow'rs of death, funereal fillets bound;
Then o'er the pyre, upon the nuptial bed,
His sword, his portrait, all he left, she spread;
630 Her spirit labour'd with the dread design;
All round were altars rais'd for rites divine.
There stands the priestess with dishevell'd hair;
(Her voice like thunder shakes the trembling air)
Thrice on the hundred gods aloud she calls,
635 Deep night and chaos, thrice her Voice appalls;
The triple form that Virgin Dian wears,
Infernal Hecate's threefo