What Deidamia did in days of yore, The tale is old but worth the telling o'er. When Venus had the golden apple
					gain'd, And the just judge fair Helen had obtained; When she with triumph was at Troy 
					receiv'd, The Trojans joyful, while the Grecians griev'd: They vow'd revenge of violated laws, And Greece was arming in the cuckold's
					cause; Achilles, by his mother warn'd from war, Disguis'd his sex, and lurk'd among the fair. What means Aeacides to spin and sew ? With spear and sword in field thy valour show! And leaving this, the noble Pallas 
						know. Minerva or Pallas was not only the goddess
						of arms, but of arts and manufactures. The poet means he has learnt of her
						enough to spin, let him now learn of her the more glorious exercise of
						arms. Why dost thou in that hand the distaff wield, Which is more worthy to sustain the shield? Or with that other draw the woolly twine, The same the fates for lector's thread assign? Banish thy falchion in thy powerful hand, Which can alone the pond'rous lance command. In the same room by chance the royal maid Was lodg'd, and, by his seeming sex, betrayed, Close to her side the youthful hero laid. I know not how his courtship he began; But, to her cost, she found it was a man. 'Tis thought she struggled, but withal 'tis thought Her wish was to be conquer'd, when she fought. For when disclos'd, and hast'ning to the field, He laid his distaff down and took the shield, With tears her humble suit she did prefer, And thought to stay the grateful ravisher. She sighs, she sobs, she begs him not to part; And now 'tis nature what before was art. She strives by force her lover to detain, And wishes to be ravish'd once again. This is the sex; they will not first begin, But when compelled, are pleas'd to suffer sin. Is there, who thinks that woman first should woo? Lay by thy self-conceit, thou foolish beau. Begin, and save their modesty the shame; 'Tis well for thee, if they receive thy flame. 'Tis decent for a man to speak his mind; They but expect th' occasion to be kind. Ask, that thou may'st enjoy; she waits for this: And on thy first advance depends thy bliss. E'en Jove himself was forc'd to sue for love; None of the nymphs did first solicit Jove. But if you find your pray'rs increase her pride, Strike sail awhile, and wait another tide. They fly when we pursue; but make delay. And when they see you shaken, they will stay. Sometimes it profits to conceal your end; Name not yourself her lover, but her friend. How many skittish girls have thus been caught? He prov'd a lover, who a friend was thought. Sailors by sun and wind are swarthy made; A tann'd complexion best becomes their trade. 'Tis a disgrace to ploughmen to be fair; Bluff cheeks they have, and weather-beaten hair. Th' ambitious youth who seeks an olive crown, Is sun-burnt with his daily toil, and brown; But if the lover hopes to be in grace, Wall be his looks, and meagre be his face. That colour from the fair compassion draws; She thinks you sick, and thinks herself the cause. Orion wander'd in the woods for love. Orion fell in love with the nymph Lyrice, some name her Lynce, from a lynx,
						a wild beast so called, which is Merula's interpretation. But though who
						this Lyrice was is not very well known, yet it is not likely that Orion
						should be so passionately enamoured of a wild beast, and it is very probable
						he might be so charmed with a beautiul damsel. His paleness did the nymphs to pity move; His gastly visage argu'd hidden love. Nor fail a night-cap in full health to wear; Neglect thy dress, and discompose thy hair. All things are decent, that in love avail. Read long by night, and study to be pale. Forsake your food, refuse your needful rest; Be miserable that you may be blest. Shall I complain, or shall I warn you most? Faith, truth, and friendship, in the world are lost; A little and an empty name they boast. Trust not thy friend, much less thy mistress praise; If he believe, thou man'st a rival raise. 'Tis true, Patroclus, by no lust misled, Sought not to stain his dear companion's bed. Patroclus, son of Menoeceus, and grandson of Actor, who having
						killed Clytonymus, son of Amphidamus, was banished his country, and came to
						Phthia, where he remained with Peleus, Achilles's father, his kinmnan. By
						these means he contracted a strict friendship with Achilles, and accompanied
						him to the siege of Troy , where he
						was killed. Nor Pylades Hermione embrac'd; Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and
						Helen, who married her cousin-german, Orestes. Pylades was her husband's
						friend, and therefore he would not offer to corrupt his wife. This king was
						the son of Strophius king of Phocis. Ev'n Phaedra to Pirithous still was chaste. But hope not thou, in this vile age to find Those rare examples of a faithful mind. The sea shall sooner with sweet honey flow; Or from the furze pears and apples grow. We sin with gust, we love by fraud to gain, And find a pleasure in our fellow's pain. From rival foes you may the fair defend; But would you ward the blow, beware your friend. Beware your brother, and your next of kin; But from your bosom friend your care begin. Here had I ended, but experience finds, That sundry women are of sundry minds; With various crotchets fill'd, and hard to please, They therefore must be caught by various ways. All things are not produced in any soil; This is one of Ovid 's
						happy ways of making use of common similes, and this and others are brought
						in here, to show a lover must comport himself variously, according to the
						various humors of women. This ground for wine is proper, that for oil. So 'tis in men, but more in woman-kind; Diff'rent in face, in manners, and in mind. But wise men shift their sails with ev'ry wind; As changeful Proteus varied oft his shape, And did in sundry forms and figures 'scape. A running stream, a standing tree became, A roaring lion, or a bleating lamb. Some fish with harpoons, some with darts, are struck, This gives us a various idea, and livelily expresses
						the author's thoughts, that women are to be caught several ways. Some drawn with nets, some hang upon the hook; So turn thyself; and imitating them, Try several tricks, and change thy stratagem. One rule will not for diff'rent ages hold; The jades grow cunning, as they grow more old. Then talk not bawdy to the bashful maid; Broad words will make her innocence afraid. Nor to an ign'rant girl of learning speak; She thinks you conjure when you talk in Greek. And hence 'tis often seen, the simple shun The learn'd, and into vile embraces run. Part of my task is done, and part to do: But here 'tis time to rest myself and you. To cast anchor, as Ovid says, Hic teneat
							nostras anchora iacta rates , as one arrived at a port, where,
						though he is not to stay long, he intends to refresh himself. 
				 Book II Now Io Paean sing! now wreaths prepare! And with repeated Ios fill the air: The prey is fall'n in my successful toils, My artful nets inclose the lovely spoils. My numbers now, ye smiling lovers, crown, And make your poet deathless in renown: With lasting fame my verse shall be enroll'd, And I preferr'd to all the bards of old. Thus Paris from the warlike Spartans
					bore Their ravish'd bride to Ida's distant shore. Victorious Pelops thus in triumph drove The vanquish'd maid, and thus enjoy'd his love. Stay, eager youth! your bark's but under sail; The distant port requires a prosp'rous gale. 'Tis not enough the yielding beauty's found, And with my aid your artful passion crown'd; The conquests our successful conduct gain'd, With art must be secur'd, by arts maintain'd. The glory's more to guard than win the prize, There all the toil and threatening danger lies. If ever, Cupid, now indulgent prove; O Venus ! aid, thou charming queen of
					love! Kind Erato, let thy auspicious name Inspire the work, and raise my gen'rous flame. The labour's great! a method I design For love, and will the fetter'd god confine; The god that roves the spacious world around, In ev'ry clime, and distant region found; Active and light, his wings elude our guard, And to confine a deity is hard. His guest from flight Minos inclos'd around, Yet he with wings a daring passage found. Thus Daedalus her offspring first confin'd; Who, with a bull, in lewd embraces join'd: Her teeming womb the horrid crime confess'd; Big with a human bull, half man half beast. Said he, " Just Minos, best of human kind, Thy mercy let a prostrate exile find: By fates compell'd my native shores to fly, Permit me, where I durst not live, to die, Enlarge my son, if you neglect my tears, And show compassion to his blooming years: Let not the youth a long confinement mourn, Oh, free the son, or let his sire return!" Thus he implor'd, but still implor'd in vain, Nor could the freedom that he sought, obtain. Convinc'd at length; " Now, Daedalus," he cried, "Here's subject for thy art that's yet untried. Minos the earth commands, and guards the sea, No pass the land affords, the deep no way: Heav'n's only free, we'll heav'n's auspicious height Attempt to pass, where kinder fates invite; Favor, ye powers above, my daring flight!" Misfortunes oft prove to inventions kind, Instruct our wit, and aid the lab'ring mind: For who can credit men, in wild despair, Should force a passage thro' the yielding air? Feathers for wings design'd the artists chose, And bound with thread his forming pinions close; With temper'd wax the pointed end he wrought, And to perfection his new labors brought. The finish'd wings his smiling offspring views, Admires the work, not conscious of their use: To whom the father said, "Observe aright, Observe, my son, these instruments of flight. In vain the tyrant our escape retards, The heavens he cannot, all but heav'n he guards: Tho' earth and seas elude a father's care, These wings shall waft us through the spacious air. Nor shall my son celestial signs survey, Far from the radient virgin take your way; Or where Bootes the chill'd north commands, And with his fau chion dread Orion stands: I'll go before, me still retain in sight, Where'er I lead securely make your flight. For should we upward soar too near the sun, Dissolv'd with heat the liquid wax will run; Or near the seas an humbler flight maintain, Our plumes will suffer by the streaming main. A medium keep, the winds observe aright; The winds will aid your advantageous flight." He caution'd thus, and thus inform'd him long, As careful birds instruct their tender young; The spreading wings then to his shoulders bound, His body pois'd, and rais'd him from the ground. Prepar'd for flight, his aged arms embrace The tender youth, whilst tears o'erflow his face. A hill there was, from whence the anxious pair Essay'd their wings, and forth they launch'd air; Now his expanded plumes the artist plies, Regards his son, and leads along the skies; Pleas'd with the novelty of flight, the boy Bounds in the air, and upward springs with joy. The angler views them from the distant strand, And quits the labors of his trembling hand; Samos they past, and Naxos in their flight, And Delos , with Apollo's presence
					bright. Now on their right Lebintho's shores they found, For fruitful lakes and shady groves renown'd. When the aspiring boy forgot his fears, Rash with hot youth and unexperienc'd years; Upwards he soar'd, maintain'd a lofty stroke, And his directing father's way forsook. The wax, of heat impatient, melted run, Nor could his wings sustain the blaze of sun. From heaven he views the fatal depths below, Whilst killing fears prevent the distant blow. His struggling arms now no resistance find, Nor poise the body nor receive the wind. Falling, his father he implores in vain, To aid his flight, and sinking limbs sustain; His name invokes, till the expiring sound Far in the floods with Icarus was drown'd. The parent mourns, a parent now no more, And seeks the absent youth on ev'ry shore; "Where's my lov'd son, my Icarus?" he cries, "Say in what distant region of the skies, Or faithless clime the youthful wand'rer flies;" Then view'd his pinions scatter'd o'er the stream. The shore his bones received, the waves his name. Minos with walls attempted to detain His flying guests, but did attempt in vain; Yet the wing'd god shall to our rules submit, And Cupid yield to more prevailing wit. Thessalian arts in vain rash lovers use, In vain with drugs the scornful maid abuse; The skilfull'st potions ineffectual prove. Useless are magic remedies in love; Could charms prevail, Circe had prov'd her art, And fond Medea fix'd her Jason's heart; Nor tempt with philters the disdainful dame; They rage inspire, create a frantic flame: Abstain from guilt, all vicious arts remove, And make your passion worthy of her love. Distrust your empty form and boasted face, The nymph engage a thousand nobler ways; To fix her vanquish'd heart entirely thine, Accomplish'd graces to your native join. Beauty's but frail, a charm that soon decays, Its lustre fades as rolling years increase, And age still triumphs o'er the ruin'd face. This truth the fair but short liv'd-lily shows, And prickles that survive the faded rose. Learn, lovely boy, be with instruction wise! Beauty and youth misspent are past advice. Then cultivate thy mind with wit and fame, Those lasting charms survive the funeral flame. With arts and sciences your breast improve, Of high import are languages in love: The fam'd Ulysses was not fair nor young, But eloquent and charming with his tongue: And yet with him contented beauties strove, And ev'ry sea-nymph sought the hero's love. Calypso mourn'd when he forsook her shores, And with fond waves detain'd his hasty oars, Oft she enquir'd of ruin'd Ilium 's
					fate, Making him oft the wondrous tale relate; Which with such grace his florid tongue could frame, The story still was new, tho' still the same. Now standing on the shores, " Again declare," Calypso cried, "your fam'd exploits in war." lie with a wand, a slender wand he bore, Delineates ev'ry action on the shore. "Here's Troy ," says he, then draws the
					walls in sand. "There Simois flows, here my battalions stand. A field there was," and then describes the field, "Where Dolon, with rewards deceiv'd, we kill'd. Just thus entrench'd imagine Rhesus lies, And here we make his warlike steeds our prize." Much he describ'd, when a destructive wave Wash'd off the slender Troy, and rolling gave To Rhesus and his tents one common grave. Long with delight his charming tongue she heard, The well-rais'd passion in her looks appear'd: The goddess weeps to view his spreading sails, So much a soldier with the sex prevails. Distrust thy form, fond youth, and learn to know, There's more requir'd in love than empty show. With just disdain she treats the haughty mind, 'Tis complaisance that makes a beauty kind. The hawk we hate that always lives in arms, The raging wolf that ev'ry flock alarms: But the mild swallow none with toils infest, And none the soft Chaonian birds molest. The Chaonian bird is a dove. Chaonia is part of Epirus , so called from the fate of Chaon,
						an Athenian. There wasa temple of Dodonian Jupiter, where doves dispensed
						the sacred oracles with human voices. In the forest of Dodona , in Epirus , not far from the temple, there were doves
						thatprophecied. From whence, says Servius, comes the fable that Peliades, in
						the Thessalian tongue, signifies prophet and dove. Pausanias says that these
						doves gave answers from the Dodonean oaks. But Herodotus, in his Euterpe,
						writes, that these doves were prophecying women. Debates avoid, and rude contention shun; A woman's with submissive language won. Let the wife rail, and injur'd husband swear, Such freedoms are allow'd the married pair; Discord and strife to nuptial beds belong, The portion justifies a clam'rous tongue. With tender vows the yielding maid endear, And let her only sighs and wishes hear; Contrive with words and actions to delight, Still charm her ear, and still oblige her sight.