Swift fly the hours, and speed that happy day; And when arriv'd for ages let it stay:
That day! which shall restore joys so long fled,
And all th' intrancing pleasures of thy bed.
PHILLIS, the young queen of Thrace, impatient of the too long absence of her lately married husband Demophoon, the son of Theseus, king of Athens, had written him a very passionate letter intermixed with hope, fear, love, and despair; which letter Demophoon receiving, he returns this answer: wherein owning her kindness, he shews he loves her with an extreme passion, and that he has no thoughts of any other love; tells her that the disorders of his family, requiring more time to re-settle than he expected, are the true and only cause of his stay. He gently blames her doubts and her impatience; handsomely excuseth himself; promises an inviolable constancy, and that, his affairs settled, he will certainly return.
WHILE this is from recover'd Athens sent,
Can I forget the aid my Phillis lent?
No other torch has Hymen held for me,
Ah! were I happy now, as then with thee!
Theseus (whose noble blood your mind did move 5
Much less than your own free unbiass'd love)
Hard fate for us! driv'n from his regal throne,
But death has put the bold usurper down.
Theseus, who did an equal glory share,
With great Alcides in the toils of war,
When the brave heroes with united strength,
Broke the fierce Amazonian troops at length:
Theseus, who, when the Minotaur, he'd slain,
Did of an enemy a father gain:
Could such a prince, could such a parent be,
Without a crime, abandon'd, left by me?
This my dear Phillis is Demophoon's charge;
On this my brother loudly does, enlarge.
You press, he cries, for the fair Thracian's charms,
And all your courage soften'd in her arms;
Swiftly the while occasion flies away,
And our disasters, grow by your delay;
Our father's fate, had you made haste on board,
You had prevented or with ease restor❜d;
Should Athens less to you than Thrace appear, 25
And why a woman more than both be dear?
Thus rages Acamas: Old Ethra now,
With equal anger bends her wrinkled brow;
That her son's hands close not her agedeyes,
On my delay with feeble wrath she fiies.
I silent stand while me they both accuse,
Nor on their anger but thy absence muse.
Methinks this moment still I hear 'em say,
While on thy coast my shatter'd navy lay:
To sea, to sea, the weather now is kind,
On board and spread thy canvas to the wind;
By what, hard Demophoon, art thou so took!
To thy lost country, and thy father look.
Phillis you love; her your example make,
Her country she for love will not forsake ;
Begs your return but with you will not stir;
And does a barb'rous crown to yours prefer.
Yet in the midst of all how oft I pray'd
By adverse winds to be still longer stay'd!
Oft when I parting did embrace thy neck,
I blest the storms that did our parting check.
Nor to my father will I fear to own
Whate'er for my sweet Phillis I have done;
That I avow, or he that story hear,
Is owing to the merits of my fair.
I'll tell him freely that I could not leave
Thy dear embraces, but my soul must grieve.
What rocky breast from such a wife could part,
But weeping eyes would speak his sinking heart,
The ships she might deny, she does bestow,
And only bids they be a little slow.
Nor can he choose but pardon such a crime,
Bright Ariadne's not so lost in him :
Up to the stars whene'er he casts his eyes,
He sees his shining mistress in the skies.
My father's blam'd, as he his wife forsook,
Tho' by a god she forcibly was took :
Shall my ill fate too, Phillis, be the same?
Enquire the cause, nor me unjustly blame.
Take this sure pledge for Demophoon's return, 65
His heart for you and only you does burn.
Is't possible you ignorant should be
Of the disasters of my family?
I mourn a parent's fate involv'd in snares,
And oh! that nothing else employ'd my cares,
My soul laments a noble brother dead,
Torn by his frighted horses as he fled.
Not to excuse returning, have I told,
Some of the many causes that with-hold
Me from thy ports. Believe it fortune's crime, 75
That I still beg of thee, a little time.
Declining Theseus I must first inter :
Honour will that to ev'ry thing prefer.
That done, for which my pray'rs I do repeat,
For leave to Thrace I instantly retreat.
I am not false, but still adore thy charms;
Nor do I think I'm safe but in thy arms.
Nor war nor tempests since the fall of Troy,
Could me in my return so much annoy,
To cause delay: No, that was only seen
Effected by the kind fair Thracian queen.
Cast on thy shores, thou freely didst supply,
To all my pressing wants a remedy,
Be still the same: then nothing shall remove
The happy Demophoon from Phillis love.
What if a ten years war should now renew,
That honour should engage me to pursue?
Penelope thy great example be,
So fam'd for her unspotted chastity.
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