AIR. (I saw the gods, in troops attending)

I saw the gods, in troops attending, Well pleas'd, from high Olympus bending! While playful Neriedes gaily gave The splendid yatch to Neptune's wave:

I heard old Jove by Styx declare He ne'er saw mortal half so fair; While Juno own'd he'd ne'er known strife, Could she, like her, have prov'd a wife; Minerva said, proud to extol her, She'd always been her aptest scholar; Again her mirror and again Venus regarded, but in vain; Then rubb'd the surface, 'twas not right, At last she broke it out of spight. One call'd for nectar, "Go and sip," Cry'd Hebe, "Nectar from her lip;" Mars, proudly, said, he saw a race Of future heroes in her face; While rough-hewn Neptune, smiling, swore Ne'er had his billows borne before A lovelier Venus to a happier shore.