CXVIII.

Here didst thou dwell, in this enchanted cover,[497] Egeria! thy all heavenly bosom beating For the far footsteps of thy mortal lover; The purple Midnight veiled that mystic meeting With her most starry canopy[498]--and seating Thyself by thine adorer, what befel? This cave was surely shaped out for the greeting Of an enamoured Goddess, and the cell Haunted by holy Love--the earliest Oracle!