Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/215

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

199

And took them to his bosom. Falsehood metHer unsuspecting victim, fair of front,And lovely as [1]Apega's sculptured form,Like that false image caught his warm embraceAnd gored his open breast. The reptile raceClung round his bosom, and with viper foldsEncircling, stung the fool who fostered them.His mother was Simplicity, his sireBenevolence; in earlier days he boreHis father's name; the world who injured himCall him Misanthropy. I may not chuseBut love him, Household Gods! for we were nurstIn the same school.Penates! some there areWho say, that not in the inmost heaven ye dwell,
  1. ↑ One of the ways and means of the Tyrant Nabis. If one of his subjects refused to lend him money, he commanded him to embrace his Apega; the statue of a beautiful Woman so formed as to clasp the victim to her breast, in which a pointed dagger was concealed.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.