The Labyrinth
8:233 Now Minos, landed on the Cretan shore,
8:234 Performs his vows to Jove's protecting
pow'r;
8:235 A hundred bullocks of the largest
breed,
8:236 With flowrets crown'd, before
his altar bleed:
8:237 While trophies of the vanquish'd,
brought from far
8:238 Adorn the palace with the spoils
of war.
8:239 Mean-while the monster of a human-beast,
8:240 His family's reproach, and stain,
increas'd.
8:241 His double kind the rumour swiftly
spread,
8:242 And evidenc'd the mother's beastly
deed.
8:243 When Minos, willing to conceal
the shame
8:244 That sprung from the reports
of tatling Fame,
8:245 Resolves a dark inclosure to
provide,
8:246 And, far from sight, the two-form'd
creature hide.
8:247 Great Daedalus of Athens was the man
8:248 That made the draught, and form'd
the wondrous plan;
8:249 Where rooms within themselves
encircled lye,
8:250 With various windings, to deceive
the eye.
8:251 As soft Maeander's wanton current
plays,
8:252 When thro' the Phrygian fields
it loosely strays;
8:253 Backward and forward rouls the
dimpl'd tide,
8:254 Seeming, at once, two different
ways to glide:
8:255 While circling streams their
former banks survey,
8:256 And waters past succeeding waters
see:
8:257 Now floating to the sea with
downward course,
8:258 Now pointing upward to its ancient
source,
8:259 Such was the work, so intricate
the place,
8:260 That scarce the workman all its
turns cou'd trace;
8:261 And Daedalus was puzzled how
to find
8:262 The secret ways of what himself
design'd.
8:263 These private walls the Minotaur include,
8:264 Who twice was glutted with Athenian
blood:
8:265 But the third tribute more successful
prov'd,
8:266 Slew the foul monster, and the
plague remov'd.
8:267 When Theseus, aided by the virgin's
art,
8:268 Had trac'd the guiding thread
thro' ev'ry part,
8:269 He took the gentle maid, that
set him free,
8:270 And, bound for Dias, cut the
briny sea.
8:271 There, quickly cloy'd, ungrateful,
and unkind,
8:272 Left his fair consort in the
isle behind,
8:273 Whom Bacchus saw, and straining
in his arms
8:274 Her rifled bloom, and violated
charms,
8:275 Resolves, for this, the dear
engaging dame
8:276 Shou'd shine for ever in the
rolls of Fame;
8:277 And bids her crown among the
stars be plac'd,
8:278 With an eternal constellation
grac'd.
8:279 The golden circlet mounts; and,
as it flies,
8:280 Its diamonds twinkle in the distant
skies;
8:281 There, in their pristin form,
the gemmy rays
8:282 Between Alcides, and the dragon
blaze.