“They haste, and what their tardy feet denied, The trusty staff (their better leg) supplied. An arrow’s flight they wanted to the top, And there secure, but spent with travel, stop; Then turn their now no more forbidden eyes; Lost in a lake the floated level lies: A watery desert covers all the plains, Their cot alone, as in an isle, remains. Wondering, with weeping eyes, while they deplore Their neighbours’ fate, and country now no more; Their little shed, scarce large enough for two, Seems, from the ground increased, in height and bulk to grow. A stately temple shoots within the skies, The crotches of their cot in columns rise; The pavement polish’d marble they behold, The gates with sculpture graced, the spires and tiles of gold.

“Then thus the sire of gods, with looks serene: ‘Speak thy desire, thou only just of men; And thou, O woman, only worthy found To be with such a man in marriage bound.’