Languages & literature > Amphitryon,or, The two Sosias

E P I L O G U
Spoken by Phaedra.
I'M thinking, (and it almoft makes me viadi)
II(me finest a time, thofe heathen ladies had.
Idolatry* •was ev'n their gods own trade ;.
"They Ovorjhifd the fne creatures they had [made.
Cupid, was chief of all the deities ;
.And love was ' dll the fdjhion, ifi the /kies.
When the, fweet "nymph, held tip' the .lily hand,
Jove, was her humble fervant, at command.
The treafury' of heaven was ne'er fo bare.
But Jlill there was a penjkr, for the fair.
Jn all his reign, adultery was no fin ; • .•*
Bar Jove, the good esasi/plc did begin.
Mark, too, when he ifarp'd the husband's name*
Hoys chilly he fav'd-the ladies fame.
The feqret 'fys if love, he wifely •hid;
But you, firs, )ioaft of more, than e'er you did.
fou. .teize your cuckolds to their .face torment 'em }
Put Jove gave Bis^ new honours to content 'an. ^
Hn'd, fn the kind'remembra?ice of the.fair.
On each exalted fun^ befendd d'flar.
f oh'thoje gbhd' deeds, ‘as Aj> 'the date appears,
Hir godjlsip, fimcriJh'd fiUd two thonfand years.
At lafl, when- he atid all -his] prieffs grew old, *)
The ladies grew in their devotion cold; >
And, that'falfe worfnp would no longer hold, yy
■ Severity of life did nsit begin ;
(And always docs,, whan we no.ynore can Sin. J ,
That dohirine, too, fo hard, in practice lyes.
That the'ne’xt-age may .fti another rife.
iThe)i% Vctgan gods, .may once again,-fuccaed; ~)
/Ind Jove, or Mars, be ready, at our need, >
To get yowig godfings ; and jo mend" our breed. j
€ I N I S.