University of Virginia Library


25

[Ye faire Nereides, who love to sweep]

Ye faire Nereides, who love to sweep
(In sedgy Chariots drawn) the foaming deep;
Thou chast Actea, and Pronea sage,
Cymodoce, that Neptune canst asswage,
Themiste, Nemertea, Spio, all
Yee seed of Doris, hearken to my call.
I am Sophronia, by base lust betraid
By Prince Rhoxenor, in a dungeon laid:
Chant you my name aloud in Thetis Court,
And wealthy Rhea, she wil thank you for't;
Or else convey the Story of my woe
To my Amandus (oh) did he but know
My Innocence occasions me this ill,
Clodomer, and Rhoxenor both, hee'd kill;

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But do not as I wish, I speak in passion,
Clodomer is the Father of my Nation,
His Son our Hope and Prop, here let me die;
Yet if I hap to have an Obsequie,
This Epitaph insculpe upon my Tomb.
Here by the destinies injurious doome
Hapless Sophronia lies, kild in her prime
For to be truly chaste was all her crime.