Kitap 2
Enlarge my son, if you neglect my tears,
And show compassion to his blooming years:
Let not the youth a long confinement mourn,
Oh, free the son, or let his sire return!"
Thus he implor'd, but still implor'd in vain,
45
Nor could the freedom that he sought, obtain.
Convinc'd at length; " Now, Daedalus," he cried,
"Here's subject for thy art that's yet untried.
Minos the earth commands, and guards the sea,
No pass the land affords, the deep no way:
50
Heav'n's only free, we'll heav'n's auspicious height
Attempt to pass, where kinder fates invite;
Favor, ye powers above, my daring flight!"
Misfortunes oft prove to inventions kind,
Instruct our wit, and aid the lab'ring mind:
55
For who can credit men, in wild despair,
Should force a passage thro' the yielding air?
Feathers for wings design'd the artists chose,
And bound with thread his forming pinions close;
With temper'd wax the pointed end he wrought,
60
