Oh! let that crimson on those lips remain BASIUM XVIII. CUM labra nostræ cerneret puellæ, [Ut si quis ornet, &c.] Secundus here seems to have had an eye to the following lines of Virgil: Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro Si quis ebur, aut mista rubent ubi lilia multâ VIRG. NEID. XII. So looks the beauteous iv'ry, stain'd with red; Blend their rich hues. PITT. KISS XVIII. WHEN Cytherea first beheld Those lips with ruby lustre bright, (So, when some artist's skill inlays Then, urg'd by envy and by hate, Which rising sighs and tears betray'd, To whom the queen in plaintive strain ;- "Et pronubam magni Jovis sororem 66 "Pectusque per, jecurque per jocosum, 66 Torpescat imas congelata venas." [Et pronubam magni, &c.] Pronuba is a title given to Juno, from her being supposed to preside over marriages. [Sub arbitro pastore? &c.] The story of the judgment of Paris is too well known to be related here: Paris gives a beautiful description of it, in the epistle which Ovid makes him write to Helen.-Vide Ovid. Epist. xvi. Paris Helenæ. [Plumbea sagitta, &c.] The God of love was said to have two kinds of darts; one of gold causing love; the other of lead, causing hate. Ovid in the story of Apollo and Daphne, thus mentions them: Eque sagittiferâ prompsit duo tela pharetrâ Diversorum operum. Fugat hoc, facit illud amorem. Quod facit, auratum est, cuspide fulget acutâ ; Quod fugat, obtusum est, et habet sub arundine plumbum. OVID. METAM. LIB. I. "That prize! for which, elate with pride, "If, to pervert this swain's decree, "A poet's partial judgment dare "His mortal nymph prefer to me, "Go, practise ev'ry cruel art 66 Revenge can frame, without delay; "His bosom pierce with ev'ry dart "Which love's soft poison may convey: "But wound not with such darts the fair, "Her breast must ever cold remain; "Your shafts of lead lodge deeply there, "To freeze the current of each vein." Two shafts he drew from the full quiver's store; Sharp was the shaft which caus'd, and gold the head; H |