The Poetical Works of Elijah Fenton/Marullus de Neaera imitated
MARULLUS TO NEÆRA,
IMITATED.
Rob'd like Diana, ready for the chase,Her mind as spotless, and as fair her face,Young Sylvia stray'd beneath the dewy dawn,To course th' imperial stag o'er Windsor lawn:There Cupid view'd her speeding o'er the plain, 5The first and fairest of the rural train,And, by a small mistake, the pow'r of LoveThought her the virgin-goddess of the grove.Soon aw’d with innocence, t'evade her sightHe fled, and dropp'd his quiver in the flight: 10Tho' pleas'd she blush'd, and with a glowing smilePursu'd the god, and seiz'd the golden spoil.The nymph, resistless in her native charms,Now reigns, possess'd of Cupid's dreaded arms,And wing'd with lightning from her radiant eyes, 15Unerring in its speed each arrow flies.No more his deity is held divine,No more we kneel at Cytherea's shrine;Their various pow'rs, complete in Sylvia, proveHer title to command the realms of Love. 20