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.