One conscious bed receives the happy pair;
Retire, my muse; the door demands thy care.86
What charming words, what tender things are said,
What language flows without the useless aid!
There shall the roving hand employment find,
Inspire new flames, and make e'en virgins kind.
Thus Hector did Andromache delight,
Hector in love victorious, as in fight.
When weary from the field Achilles came,
Thus with delays he rais'd Briseis' flame;
Ah, could those arms, those fatal hands, delight!
Inspire kind thoughts, and raise thy appetite!
Coulds't thou, fond maid, be charm'd with his embrace,
Stain'd with the blood of half thy royal race.
Nor yet with speed the fleeting pleasures waste,
Still moderate your love's impetuous haste;
The bashful virgin, tho' appearing coy,
Detains your hand, and hugs the proffer'd joy.
Then view her eyes, with humid lustre bright,
Sparkling with rage, and trembling with delight;
Her kind complaints, her melting accents hear,
The eye she charms, and wounds the list'ning ear.
Defer not then the clasping nymphs embrace,
But with her love maintain an equal pace;
Raise to her heights the transports of your soul,
And fly united to the happy goal.
Observe these precepts when with leisure bless'd
No threatening fears your private hours molest.
When danger's near, your active force employ,
And urge with eager speed the hasty joy.
Then ply your oars, then practise this advice,
And strain with whip and spur to gain the prize.
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