And soon the fleet their ready anchors threw: Lifted on eager tip-toe at the view, On nimble feet that bounded to the strand The second Argonauts[583] elance to land. Wide o'er the beauteous isle[584] the lovely fair Stray through the distant glades, devoid of care. From lowly valley and from mountain grove The lovely nymphs renew the strains of love. Here from the bowers that crown the plaintive rill The solemn harp's melodious warblings thrill; Here from the shadows of the upland grot The mellow lute renews the swelling note. As fair Diana, and her virgin train, Some gaily ramble o'er the flow'ry plain, In feign'd pursuit of hare or bounding roe, Their graceful mien and beauteous limbs to show; Now seeming careless, fearful now and coy, (So, taught the goddess of unutter'd joy), And, gliding through the distant glades, display Each limb, each movement, naked as the day. Some, light with glee, in careless freedom take Their playful revels in the crystal lake; One trembling stands no deeper than the knee To plunge reluctant, while in sportful glee Another o'er her sudden laves the tide; In pearly drops the wishful waters glide, Reluctant dropping from her breasts of snow; Beneath the wave another seems to glow; The am'rous waves her bosom fondly kiss'd, And rose and fell, as panting, on her breast. Another swims along with graceful pride, Her silver arms the glist'ning waves divide, Her shining sides the fondling waters lave, Her glowing cheeks are brighten'd by the wave, Her hair, of mildest yellow, flows from side To side, as o'er it plays the wanton tide, And, careless as she turns, her thighs of snow Their tap'ring rounds in deeper lustre show.
Some gallant Lusians sought the woodland prey, And, thro' the thickets, forc'd the pathless way; Where some, in shades impervious to the beam, Supinely listen'd to the murm'ring stream: When sudden, through the boughs, the various dyes Of pink, of scarlet, and of azure rise, Swift from the verdant banks the loit'rers spring, Down drops the arrow from the half-drawn string: Soon they behold 'twas not the rose's hue, The jonquil's yellow, nor the pansy's blue: Dazzling the shades the nymphs appear--the zone And flowing scarf in gold and azure shone. Naked as Venus stood in Ida's bower, Some trust the dazzling charms of native power; Through the green boughs and darkling shades they show The shining lustre of their native snow, And every tap'ring, every rounded swell Of thigh, of bosom, as they glide, reveal. As visions, cloth'd in dazzling white, they rise, Then steal unnoted from the flurried eyes: Again apparent, and again, withdrawn, They shine and wanton o'er the smiling lawn. Amaz'd and lost in rapture of surprise, "All joy, my friends!" the brave VELOSO cries, "Whate'er of goddesses old fable told, Or poet sung of sacred groves, behold. Sacred to goddesses divinely bright These beauteous forests own their guardian might. From eyes profane, from ev'ry age conceal'd, To us, behold, all Paradise reveal'd! Swift let us try if phantoms of the air, Or living charms, appear divinely fair!" Swift at the word the gallant Lusians bound, Their rapid footsteps scarcely touch the ground; Through copse, through brake, impatient of their prey, Swift as the wounded deer, they spring away: Fleet through the winding shades, in rapid flight, The nymphs, as wing'd with terror, fly their sight; Fleet though they fled, the mild reverted eye And dimpling smile their seeming fear deny. Fleet through the shades in parted rout they glide: If winding path the chosen pairs divide, Another path by sweet mistake betrays, And throws the lover on the lover's gaze: If dark-brow'd bower conceal the lovely fair, The laugh, the shriek, confess the charmer there.