“Since the kind instances of pious love Do all pretence of obstacle remove: Since Procne’s, and her own, with your request, O’errule the fears of a paternal breast, With you, dear son, my daughter I entrust, And, by the gods, adjure you to be just; By truth, and ev’ry consanguineal tie, To watch and guard her with a father’s eye; And, since the least delay will tedious prove, In keeping from my sight the child I love, With speed return her, kindly to assuage The tedious troubles of my ling’ring age. And you, my Philomel, let it suffice, To know your sister’s banish’d from my eyes; If any sense of duty sways your mind, Let me from you the shortest absence find.” He wept; then kiss’d his child; and while he speaks, The tears fall gently down his aged cheeks. Next, as a pledge of fealty, he demands, And, with a solemn charge, conjoins their hands; Then to his daughter and his grandson sends, And by their mouth a blessing recommends; While, in a voice with dire forebodings broke. Sobbing and faint, the last farewell was spoke.