THE LEGENDS

OF

ARIADNE; PHILOMENE; AND PHILLIS;

MODERNIZED BY

THOMAS POWELL.

THE

LEGEND OF ARIADNE.

O JUDGE infernal, Minos-Cretan King!
Thy lot now cometh on the very ring ;
Not for thy sake alone I tell this tale,
But that it may, until all memory fail,
To Theseus cling, for his untruth in love;
For which the gods that sit in Heaven above,
Are wroth, and wrath have taken for thy sin :
Be red for shame, for I thy life begin.

Minos, who was the mighty king of Crete, And had a hundred cities strong and great, To school hath sent his son Androgeus

At Athens, of the which it happened thus,That he was slain, learning philosophy Right in that town, for hate and jealousy!

The puissant Minos, of the which I speak, With wrath a-flame, comes all his rage to wreak, And Alcatho besieg'd, fiercely and long;

But ne'ertheless the walls were built so strong,
And Nisus, who was king of that brave town,
So chivalrous, and of so great renown,
That he for Minos and his warlike host
Caréd no more than if he had been a ghost.
Till on a day a strange adventure fell,
Of which I will, as short as may be, tell.
The daughter fair of Nisus stood upon
The lofty wall, to see the siege go on ;
And looking at the gallant skirmishing,
She cast her heart on Minos, the great king:
And for his beauty and his chivalry
She longéd so, that she was like to die,
And, faithless to her sire, did on a day

To the besiegers this strong town betray.

Now all the town was at the conqueror's will,

To save whoe'er he list, or else to kill;
But he requited ill her lovingness,

And let her drench in sorrow and distress,
Nor did the gods to her their pity show ;-
But this to tell, my tale too long would grow.