While for a time I play you off,
And strive to soothe your puny rage.
As Esop comes upon the stage,
And dress’d entirely new in Rome,
Thus enters with the tragic plume.—
“O that the fair Thessalian pine
Had never felt the wrath divine,
And fearless of the axe’s wound,
Had still the Pelian mountain crown’d!
That Argus by Palladian aid