'This boon alone I wish'd thee to impart,
This wish alone lay dormant at my heart.
'But now, alas! tho' first of Grecian names,
'Admir'd and envy'd by Thessalian dames,
'I, like an hand-maid, now am left behind,⁠355
'Bereav'd of all tranquillity of mind.
'By thee rever'd, in dignity I shone,
'And first and last for thee unloos'd my zone.
'For unrelenting hate Lucina bore,
'Thee, one lov'd son, she gave, but gave no more.⁠360
'Alas! not ev'n the visions of the night
'Foretold such fatal woes from Phrixus' flight.'
⁠Thus mourn'd Alcimeda; her handmaids hear,
Sigh back her sighs, and answer tear with tear.
Then Jason these consoling words address'd,⁠365
To sooth the rising anguish of her breast:
"Cease, mother, cease excess of grief to show,
"Oh! cease this wild extravagance of woe.
"Tears cannot make one dire disaster less;
"They cherish grief, and aggravate distress.⁠370
"Wisely and justly have the Gods assign'd
"Unthought-of miseries to all mankind.
"The lot they give you, tho' perchance severe,
"Confiding in Minerva, bravely bear.