'Goddess of shades! beneath whose gloomy reign Yon spangled arch glows with the starry train; You who the cares of heaven and earth allay Till nature, quicken'd by th' inspiring ray, Wakes to new vigour with the rising day: O thou who freest me from my doubtful state, Long lost and wilder'd in the maze of fate, Be present still, O goddess! in our aid; 590 Proceed, and firm those omens thou hast made. We to thy name our annual rites will pay, And on thy altars sacrifices lay; The sable flock shall fall beneath the stroke, And fill thy temples with a grateful smoke. Hail, faithful Tripos! hail, ye dark abodes Of awful Phoebus; I confess the gods!' Thus, seized with sacred fear, the monarch pray'd; Then to his inner court the guests convey'd, Where yet thin fumes from dying sparks arise, 600 And dust yet white upon each altar lies, The relics of a former sacrifice. The king once more the solemn rites requires, And bids renew the feasts and wake the fires. His train obey; while all the courts around With noisy care and various tumult sound. Embroider'd purple clothes the golden beds; This slave the floor, and that the table spreads; A third dispels the darkness of the night, And fills depending lamps with beams of light; 610 Here loaves in canisters are piled on high, And there in flames the slaughter'd victims fly. Sublime in regal state Adrastus shone, Stretch'd on rich carpets on his ivory throne; A lofty couch receives each princely guest; Around, at awful distance, wait the rest. And now the king, his royal feast to grace, Acestis calls, the guardian of his race, Who first their youth in arts of virtue train'd, And their ripe years in modest grace maintain'd; 620 Then softly whisper'd in her faithful ear, And bade his daughters at the rites appear. When from the close apartments of the night The royal nymphs approach, divinely bright, Such was Diana's, such Minerva's face; Nor shine their beauties with superior grace, But that in these a milder charm endears, And less of terror in their looks appears. As on the heroes first they cast their eyes, O'er their fair cheeks the glowing blushes rise; 630 Their downcast looks a decent shame confess'd, Then on their father's reverend features rest. The banquet done, the monarch gives the sign To fill the goblet high with sparkling wine, Which Danaus used in sacred rites of old, With sculpture graced, and rough with rising gold: Here to the clouds victorious Perseus flies, Medusa seems to move her languid eyes, And, e'en in gold, turns paler as she dies: There from the chase Jove's towering eagle bears, 640 On golden wings, the Phrygian to the stars; Still as he rises in th' ethereal height, His native mountains lessen to his sight, While all his sad companions upward gaze, Fix'd on the glorious scene in wild amaze; And the swift hounds, affrighted as he flies, Run to the shade, and bark against the skies.