Not more adventurous was th’ attempt, to move
Th’ infernal powers with strains of heavenly love,
Than mine, in ornamental verse to dress
The harshest sounds that terms of art express:
Such arduous toil sage Dædalus endured,
In mazes, self-invented, long immured,
Till genius her superior aid bestowed,
To guide him through that intricate abode—
Thus, long imprisoned in a rugged way
Where Phœbus’ daughters never aimed to stray,