In vain she called upon her attendants for help, the God bore her off to
his dominions, and she became his bride.
[Illustration]
"So in Sicilia's ever blooming shade,
The playful Proserpine from Ceres strayed.
Led with unwary step her virgin trains
O'er Etna's steeps, and Enna's golden plains;
Plucked with fair hand the silver blossomed bower,
And purpled mead,--herself a fairer flower;
{105}
Sudden, unseen amid the twilight glade,
Rushed gloomy Dis, and seized the trembling maid.
Her startling damsels sprung from mossy seats,
Dropped from their gauzy laps the gathered sweets,
Clung round the struggling nymph, with piercing cries
Pursued the chariot, and invoked the skies;--
Pleased as he grasps her in his iron arms,
Frights with soft sighs, with tender words alarms;
The wheels descending, rolled in smoky rings,
Infernal Cupids flapped their demon wings;
Earth with deep yawn received the fair amazed,
And far in night, celestial beauty blazed."