THE THIRTY-FIRST IDILLION.
Argument
The conceit of this Idillion is very delicate. Wherein it is imagined how Venus did send for the Boar who in hunting slew Adonis, a dainty youth whom she loved: and how the Boar answering for himself that he slew him against his will, as being enamoured on him, and thinking only to kiss his naked thigh; she forgave him. The Poet's drift is to shew the power of Love, not only in men, but also in brute beasts: although in the last two verses, by the burning of the Boar's amorous teeth, he intimateth that extravagant and unorderly passions are to be restrained by reason.
ADONIS.
Hen Venus first did see
Adonis dead to be;
With woeful tattered hair
And cheeks so wan and sear,
The wingèd Loves she bade,