LVII.
Mercury from the smith conveyed the prize,
Wanting to take young Chloris in the snare;
Sweet Chloris, who behind Aurora flies,
At rise of sun, through fields of liquid air,
And from her gathered garment, through the skies,
Scatters the violet, rose, and lily fair.
He for this nymph his toils so deftly set,
One day, in air he took her with the net.
LVIII.
The nymph (it seems) was taken as she flew,
Where the great Æthiop river meets the brine:
The net was treasured in Canopus, through
Successive ages, in Anubis’ shrine.
After three thousand years, Caligorant drew
The sacred relict from the place divine:
Whence with the net the impious thief returned,
Who robbed the temple and the city burned,
LIX.
He fixed it here, beneath the sandy plain,
In mode, that all the travellers whom he chased
Ran into it, and the engine was with pain
Touched, ere it arms, and feet, and neck embraced.
From this the good Astolpho took a chain,
And with the gyve his hands behind him laced:
His arms and breast he swaddled in such guise,
He could not loose himself; then let him rise.
