Sylvæ, or, The second part of Poetical miscellanies

THE Complaint of ARIADNA. OUT OF CATULLUS.

The ARGUMENT.

The Poet in the Epithalamium of Peleus and The∣tis, describes the Genial Bed, on which was wrought the Story of Theseus and Ariadna, and on that occasion makes a long Digression, part of which is the Subject of the following Poem.

THere on th' extreamest Beach, and farthes•• Sand Deserted Ariadna seem'd to stand, New wak'd, and raving with her Love she f••ew To the dire Shoar, ftom whence she might pursue With longing Eyes, but all alas in vain! The winged Bark o'er the tempestuous Main;

For bury'd in fallacious Sleep she lay While thro' the Waves false Theseus cut his way, Regardless of her Fate who sav'd his Youth; Winds bore away his Promise and his Truth. Like some wild Bachanal unmov'd she stood, And with fix'd Eyes survey'd the raging Floud. There with alternate Waves the Sea does rowl, Nor less the tempests that distract her Soul; Abandon'd to the Winds her flowing Hair, Rage in her Soul exprest, and wild Despair: Her rising Breasts with Indignation swell, And her loose Robes disdainfully repell. The shining Ornaments that drest her Head, When with the glorious Ravisher she fled, Now at their Mistress Feet neglected lay, ••port of the wanton Waves that with them play. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 she nor them regards, nor Waves that beat 〈◊〉〈◊〉 snowy Legs, and wound her tender Feet,

On Theseus her lost Senses all attend, And all the Passions of her Soul depend. Long did her weaker Sense contend in vain, She sunk at last beneath the mighty pain: With various ills beset, and stupid grown, She lost the Pow'r those ills ev'n to bemoan: But when the first Assault, and fierce Surprize Were past, and Grief had found a passage at her Eyes▪ With cruel hands her snowy Breast she wounds, Theseus, in vain, through all the Shoar resounds. Now urg'd by Love she plunges in the Main, And now draws back her tender Feet again: Thrice she repeats the vain Attempt to wade, Thrice Fear and Cold her shivering Limbs invade. Fainting at last she hung her beauteous Head▪ And fixing on the Shoar her Eyes, she said, Ah cruel Man! and did I leave for thee My Parents, Friends, (for thou wast all to me)

And is my Love, and is my ••aith thus paid; Oh Cruelty unheard! a wretched Maid Here on a naked Shoar abandon'd, and betray'd! Betray'd to Mischiefs of which Death's the least, And plung'd in ills too great to be exprest. Yet the Gods will, the Gods contemn'd by you, With Vengeance thy devoted Ship pursue, O'ertake thy Sails, and rack thy guilty Breast, And with new Plagues th'ill-omen'd Flight infest. But tho' no Pity thy stern Breast could move, Nor angry Gods, nor ill requited Love, Yet sence of Honour sure should touch thy Heart, And shame from low, unmanly Flight divert. With other Hopes my easy Faith you fed, A glorious Triumph, and a Nuptial Bed, But all those Joyes with thee alas! are fled. Let no vain Woman Vows and Oaths believe, They only with more Form and Pomp deceive:

To compass their lewd ends the wretches swear, Of Oaths profuse, nor Gods nor Temples spare; But when enjoy'd— Nor broken Vows, nor angry Heav'n they fear. But, O ye Women, warn'd by me, be wise, Turn their false Oaths on them, their Arts, their Lyes, Dissemble, fawn, weep, swear when you betray, Defeat the Gamesters at their own foul Play. Oh banisht faith! but now from certain Death I snatcht the Wretch, and sav'd his perjur'd breath, His Life with my own Brothers blood I bought, And Love by such a cruel Service sought. By Me preserv'd yet Me he does betray, And to wild Beasts expose an easie Prey! Nor thou of Royal race, nor Humane stock Wast born, but nurs'd by Bears, and issu'd from a Rock; Too plain thou dost thy dire Extraction prove, Who Death for Life return'st, and Hate for Love.

Yet he securely sails! and I in vain Recall the fled, and to deaf Rocks complain. Unmov'd they stand; yet cou'd they see and hear, More Humane would than Cruel Man appear. But I— Must the sad Pleasure of Compassion want, And dy unheard, and lose my last complaint. Happy, ye Gods! too happy had I liv'd, Had'st thou, O charming Stranger, ne'er arriv'd; Dissembl'd Sweetness in thy Look does shine, But ah! th'inhumane Monsters lurk within. What now remains? or whom shall I implore In a wild Isle, on a deserted Shoar? Shall I return, and beg my Father's aid? My Father's! whom ingrateful I betray'd, And with my Brother's cruel Murderer fled? But, Theseus, Ariadna's, Constant, Kind, Kind as the Seas, and Constant as the Wind.

See! wretched Maid, vast Seas around thee roar, And angry Waves beat the resounding Shoar, Cut off thy Hopes, and intercept thy Flight, No Ship appears to bless thy Longing Sight. The dismal Isle no Humane Footstep bears, But a sad Silence doubles all my Fears, And Fate in all its dreadful Shapes appears. Ev'n fainting Nature scarce maintains the strife Betwixt prevailing Death, and yielding Life. Yet, e'er I dye, revenging Gods I'll call, And curse him first, and then contented fall. Ascend ye Furies then, ascend, and hear My last Complaints, and grant my dying Prayer, Which Grief and Rage for ill rewarded Love, And the deep sense of his Injustice move: Oh suffer not my latest Words to flye Like common Air, and unregarded dye!

With Vengeance his dire Treachery pursue, For Vengeance, Goddesses, attends on you, Terrour with you, Despair and Death appear, And all the frightful Forms the Guilty fear. May his proud Ship by furious Billows tost On Ro••ks, or some wild Shoar like this be lost; There may he fall, or late returning see, (If so the God, and so the Fates decree) A mournful House, polluted by the Dead, And Furies ever wait on his * 1.1 Incestuous Bed. Iove heard, and did the just Request approve, And nodding shook Earth, Seas, and all the radiant Lights above.

Notes

• * 1.1

  He carried away her Sister Phoedra.