162
AMYNTAS.
Thyrsis then told me his affecting story,
His ardent passion with disdain repayed.
A neighbouring shepherd passed by chance that way,
And we dispatched him for Alphesibeus,
To whom Apollo taught the healing art,
Then when to me the tuneful lyre he gave,
And with fit harmony my soul inspired,
To draw the full expression of its musick.
We with our best endeavours tried, mean while,
To re-establish nature's languid functions.
And while we thus were busied, we saw Sylvia,
And Daphne, with her hastily advancing.
They (as they told us after) had been seeking
The body of Amyntas, which they thought
The vital spirit had some time deserted.
Her shepherd in this plight while the beheld,
The blood as yet scarce creeping to his cheeks,
And slowly gaining on the lily's whiteness,
Exhaling, as she thought, his tender soul,
His ardent passion with disdain repayed.
A neighbouring shepherd passed by chance that way,
And we dispatched him for Alphesibeus,
To whom Apollo taught the healing art,
Then when to me the tuneful lyre he gave,
And with fit harmony my soul inspired,
To draw the full expression of its musick.
We with our best endeavours tried, mean while,
To re-establish nature's languid functions.
And while we thus were busied, we saw Sylvia,
And Daphne, with her hastily advancing.
They (as they told us after) had been seeking
The body of Amyntas, which they thought
The vital spirit had some time deserted.
Her shepherd in this plight while the beheld,
The blood as yet scarce creeping to his cheeks,
And slowly gaining on the lily's whiteness,
Exhaling, as she thought, his tender soul,
Straight
