enjoy her bare With whom no Grecian Virgin can compare So soft so sweet so balmy and so fair A boy like thee would make a Kingly line But oh a Girl like her must be divine Her equals we in years but not in face Twelve score Virago's of the Spartan Race While naked to Eurota's banks we bend And there in manly exercise contend When she appears are all eclips'd and lost And hide the beauties that we made our boast So when the Night and Winter disappear The Purple morning rising with the year Salutes the spring as her Celestial eyes Adorn the World and brighten all the Skies So beauteous Helen shines among the rest Tall slender straight with all the Graces blest As Pines the Mountains or as fields the Corn Or as Thessalian Steeds the race adorn So Rosie colour'd Helen is the pride Of Lacedemon and of Greece beside Like her no Nymph can willing Ozyers bend In basket-works which painted streaks commend With Pallas in the Loomb she may contend But none ah none can animate the Lyre And the mute strings with Vocal Soul inspire Whether the Learn'd Minerva be her Theam Or chast Diana bathing in the Stream None can record their Heavenly praise so well As Helen in whose eyes ten thousand Cupids dwell O fair O Graceful yet with Maids inroll'd But whom to morrows Sun a Matron shall behold Yet e're to morrows Sun shall show his head The dewy paths of meadows we will tread For Crowns and Chaplets to adorn thy head VVhere all shall weep and wish for thy return As bleating Lambs their absent mother mourn Our Noblest Maids shall to thy name bequeath The boughs of Lotos form'd in to a wreath This Monument thy Maiden beauties due High on a Plane tree shall be hung to view On the smooth rind the Passenger shall see Thy Name ingrav'd and worship Helens Tree Balm from a Silver box distill'd around Shall all bedew the roots and scent the sacred ground The balm 't is true can aged Plants prolong But Helens name will keep it ever young Hail Bride hail Bridegroom son in Law to Iove With fruitful joys Latona bless your Love Let Venus furnish you with full desires Add vigour to your wills and fuel to your â—ires Almighty Iove augment your wealthy store Give much to you and to his Grandsons more From generous Loyns a generous race will spring Each Girl like her a Queen each Boy like you a King Now sleep if sleep you can but while you rest Sleep close with folded arms and breast to breast Rise in the morn but oh before you rise Forget not to perform your morning Sacrifice We will be with you e're the crowing Cock Salutes the light and struts before his feather'd Flock Hymen oh Hymen to thy Triumphs run And view the mighty spoils thou hast in Battle won Idyllium the 23d THE Despairing LOVER WIth inauspicious love a wretched Swain Persu'd the fairest Nimph of all the Plain Fairest indeed but prouder far than fair She plung'd him hopeless in a deep despair Her heavenly form too haughtily she priz'd His person hated and his Gifts despis'd Nor knew the force of Cupids cruel darts Nor fear'd his awful pow'r on humane hearts But either from her hopeless Lover fled Or with disdainful glances shot him dead No kiss no look to cheer the drooping Boy No word she spoke she scorn'd ev'n to deny But as a hunted Panther casts about Her glaring eyes and pricks her list'ning ears to scout So she to shun his Toyls her cares imploy'd And fiercely in her savage freedom joy'd Her mouth she writh'd her forehead taught to frown He eyes to sparkle fires to love unknown Her sallow Cheeks her envious mind did show And every feature spoke alowd the curstness of a Shrew Yet cou'd not he his obvious Fate escape His love still drest her in a pleasing shape And every sullen frown and bitter scorn But fann'd the fuel that too fast did burn Long time unequal to his mighty pain He strove to curb it but he strove in vain At last his woes broke out and begg'd relief With tears the dumb petitioners of grief With Tears so tender as adorn'd his Love And any heart but only hers wou'd move Trembling before her bolted doors he stood And there pour'd out th' unprofitable flood Staring his eyes and haggard was his look Then kissing first the threshold thus he spoke Ah Nymph more cruel than of humane Race Thy Tygress heart belies thy Angel Face Too well thou show'st thy Pedigree from Stone Thy Grandames was the first by Pyrrha thrown Unworthy thou to be so long desir'd But so my Love and so my fate requir'd I beg not now for 't is in vain to live But take this gift the last that I can give This friendly Cord shall soon deâ—ide the strise Betwixt my ling'ring Love and loathsome life This moment puts an end to all my pain I shall no more despair nor thou disdain Farewell ungrateful and unkind I go Condemn'd by thee to those sad shades below I go th' extreamest remedy to prove To drink Oblivion and to drench my Love There happily to lose my long desires But ah what draught so deep to quench my fires Farewel ye never opening Gates ye Stones And Threshold guilty of my Midnight Moans What I have suffer'd here ye know too well What I shall do the Gods and I can tell The Rose is fragrant but it fades in time The Violet sweet but quickly past the prime White Lillies hang their heads and soon decay And whiter Snow in minutes melts away Such is your blooming youth and withering so The time will come it will when you shall know The rage of Love your haughty heart shall burn In flames like mine and meet a like return Obdurate as you are oh hear at least My dying prayers and grant my last request When first you ope your doors and passing by The sad ill Omend Object meets your Eye Think it not lost a moment if you stay The breathless wretch so made by you survey Some cruel pleasure will from thence arise To view the mighty ravage of your Eyes I wish but oh my wish is vain I fear The kind Oblation of a falling Tear Then loose the knot and take me from the place And spread your Mantle o're my grizly Face Upon my livid Lips bestow a kiss O envy not the dead they feel not bliss Nor fear your kisses can restore my breath Even you are not more pittiless than death Then for my Corps a homely Grave provide Which Love and me from publick Scorn may hide Thrice call upon my Name thrice beat your breast And hayl me thrice to everlasting rest Last let my Tomb this sad inscription bear A wretch whom Love has kill'd lies buried here Oh Passengers Amintas Eyes beware Thus having said and furious with his Love He heav'd with more than humane force 'to move A weighty Stone the labour of a Team And
there were cry's some well meaning tongue Whose friendship equal on Love's Ballance hung Espnilus one Aïtes t'other name Both surely fix'd in the Records of Fame Of honest ancient make and heav'nly mould Such as in good King Saturn's dayes of old Flourish'd and stamp'd the Age's name with Gold Grant mighty Iove that after many a day While we amidst th' Elysian Valleys stray Some welcom Ghost may this glad Message say Your Loves the copious theme of ev'ry tongue Ev'n now with lasting Praise are daily sung Admir'd by all but chiefly by the Young But Pray'rs are vain the ruling Pow'rs on high Whate'er I ask can grant or can deny In the mean time thee my due Songs shall praise Thee the glad matter of my tuneful lays Nor shall the well meant Verse a tell-tale Blister raise Nay shou'd you chide I 'll catch the pleasing sound Since the same Mouth that made can heal the wound Ye Megarensians who from Nisa's Shoar Plow up the Sea with many a well-tim'd Oar May all your Labours glad Success attend You who to Diocles that generous Friend Due Honours and becoming Reverence pay When rowling Years bring on the happy Day Then round his Tomb the crowded Youth resort With Lips well sitted for the wanton Sport And he whose pointed Kiss is sweetest found Returns with Laurels and fresh Garlands crown'd Happy the Boy that bears the Prize away Happy I grant but O far happier they Who from the Seats of their much envy'd Bliss Receiv'd the Tribute of each wanton Kiss Surely to Ganymed their Pray'rs are made That while the am'rous Strife is warmly plaid He would their Lips with equal Virtues guide To those which in the faithful Stone reside Whose touch apply'd the Artist can explore The baser Mettal from the shining Ore KHPIOKΛEÎ THΣ OR THE Nineteenth IDYLLIUM OF THEOCRITUS CVpid the slyest Rogue alive One day was plundring of a Hive But as with too too eager Haste He strove the liquid Sweets to taste A Bee surpriz'd the heedless Boy Prick'd him and dash'd th' expected Joy The Urchin when he felt the Smart Of the envenom'd angry Dart He kick'd he flung he spurn'd the Ground He blow'd and then he chaf'd the Wound He blow'd and chaf'd the Wound in vain The rubbing still increas'd the pain Straight to his Mothers Lap he hyes With swelling Cheeks and blubber'd Eyes Cry's she What does my Cupid ail When thus he told his mournful Tale. A little Bird they call a Bee With yellow Wings see Mother see How it has gor'd and wounded me And are not you reply'd his Mother For all the World just such another Just such another angry thing Like in bulk and like in Sting For when you aim a poys'nous Dart Against some poor unwary Heart How little is the Archer found And yet how wide how deep the Wound THE Complaint of ARIADNA OUT OF CATULLUS The ARGUMENT The Poet in the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis describes the Genial Bed on which was wrought the Story of Theseus and Ariadna and on that occasion makes a long Digression part of which is the Subject of the following Poem THere on th' extreamest Beach and farthesâ— Sand Deserted Ariadna seem'd to stand New wak'd and raving with her Love she fâ—ew To the dire Shoar ftom whence she might pursue With longing Eyes but all alas in vain The winged Bark o'er the tempestuous Main For bury'd in fallacious Sleep she lay While thro' the Waves false Theseus cut his way Regardless of her Fate who sav'd his Youth Winds bore away his Promise and his Truth Like some wild Bachanal unmov'd she stood And with fix'd Eyes survey'd the raging Floud There with alternate Waves the Sea does rowl Nor less the tempests that distract her Soul Abandon'd to the Winds her flowing Hair Rage in her Soul exprest and wild Despair Her rising Breasts with Indignation swell And her loose Robes disdainfully repell The shining Ornaments that drest her Head When with the glorious Ravisher she fled Now at their Mistress Feet neglected lay â—port of the wanton Waves that with them play 〈◊〉 she nor them regards nor Waves that beat 〈◊〉 snowy Legs and wound her tender Feet On Theseus her lost Senses all attend And all the Passions of her Soul depend Long did her weaker Sense contend in vain She sunk at last beneath the mighty pain With various ills beset and stupid grown She lost the Pow'r those ills ev'n to bemoan But when the first Assault and fierce Surprize Were past and Grief had found a passage at her Eyes With cruel hands her snowy Breast she wounds Theseus in vain through all the Shoar resounds Now urg'd by Love she plunges in the Main And now draws back her tender Feet again Thrice she repeats the vain Attempt to wade Thrice Fear and Cold her shivering Limbs invade Fainting at last she hung her beauteous Head And fixing on the Shoar her Eyes she said Ah cruel Man and did I leave for thee My Parents Friends for thou wast all to me And is my Love and is my â—aith thus paid Oh Cruelty unheard a wretched Maid Here on a naked Shoar abandon'd and betray'd Betray'd to Mischiefs of which Death 's the least And plung'd in ills too great to be exprest Yet the Gods will the Gods contemn'd by you With Vengeance thy devoted Ship pursue O'ertake thy Sails and rack thy guilty Breast And with new Plagues th'ill-omen'd Flight infest But tho' no Pity thy stern Breast could move Nor angry Gods nor ill requited Love Yet sence of Honour sure should touch thy Heart And shame from low unmanly Flight divert With other Hopes my easy Faith you fed A glorious Triumph and a Nuptial Bed But all those Joyes with thee alas are fled Let no vain Woman Vows and Oaths believe They only with more Form and Pomp deceive To compass their lewd ends the wretches swear Of Oaths profuse nor Gods nor Temples spare But when enjoy'd Nor broken Vows nor angry Heav'n they fear But O ye Women warn'd by me be wise Turn their false Oaths on them their Arts their Lyes Dissemble fawn weep swear when you betray Defeat the Gamesters at their own foul Play Oh banisht faith but now from certain Death I snatcht the Wretch and sav'd his perjur'd breath His Life with my own Brothers blood I bought And Love by such a cruel Service sought By Me preserv'd yet Me he does betray And to wild Beasts expose an easie Prey Nor thou of Royal race nor Humane stock Wast born but nurs'd by Bears and issu'd from a Rock Too plain thou dost thy dire Extraction prove Who Death for Life return'st and Hate for Love Yet he securely sails and I in vain Recall the fled and to deaf Rocks complain Unmov'd they stand yet cou'd they see and hear More Humane would than Cruel Man appear But I Must the sad Pleasure of Compassion want And dy unheard and lose my last complaint Happy ye Gods too happy had I liv'd
for many reasons that the expression is too bold that Virgil wou'd not have said it though Ovid wou'd The Reader may pardon it if he please for the freeness of the confession and instead of that and the former admit these two Lines which are more according to the Author Nor ask I Life nor fought with that design As I had us'd my Fortune use thou thine Having with much ado got clear of Virgil I have in the next place to consider the genius of Lucretius whom I have Translated more happily in those parts of him which I undertook If he was not of the best age of Roman Poetry he was at least of that which preceded it and he himself refin'd it to that degree of perfection both in the Language and the thoughts that he left an easie task to Virgil who as he succeeded him in time so he Copy'd his excellencies for the method of the Georgicks is plainly deriv'd from him Lucretius had chosen a Subject naturally crabbed he therefore adorn'd it with Poetical descriptions and Precepts of Morality in the beginning and ending of his Books Which you see Virgil has imitated with great success in those four Bookâ— which in my Opinion are more perfect in their kind than even his Divine Aenoids The turn of his Verse he has likewise follow'd in those places which Lucretius has most labour'd and some of his very Lines he has transplanted into his own Works without much variation If I am not mistaken the distinguishing Character of Lucretius I mean of his Soul and Genius is a certain kind of noble pride and positive assertion of his Opinions He is every where confident of his own reason and assuming an absolute command not only over his vulgar Reader but even his Patron Memmius For he is always bidding him attend as if he had the Rod over him and using a Magisterial authority while he instructs him From his time to ours I know none so like him as our Poet and Philosopher of Malmsbury This is that perpetual Dictatorship which is exercis'd by Lucretius who though often in the wrong yet seems to deal bonâ fide with his Reader and tells him nothing but what he thinks in which plain sincerity I believe he differs from our Hobbs who cou'd not but be convinc'd or at least doubt of some eternal Truths which he has oppos'd But for Lucretius he seems to disdain all manner of Replies and is so confident of his cause that he is before hand with his Antagonists Urging for them whatever he imagin'd they cou'd say and leaving them as he supposes without an objection for the future All this too with so much scorn and indignation as if he were assur'd of the Triumph before he enter'd into the â—â—sts From this sublime and daring Genius of his it must of necessity come to pass that his thoughts must be Masculine full of Argumentation and that sufficiently warm From the same fiery temper proceeds the loftiness of his Expressions and the perpetual torrent of his Verse where the barrenness of his Subject does not too much constrain the quickness of his Fancy For there is no doubt to be made but that he cou'd have been every where as Poetical as he is in his Descriptions and in the Moral part of his Philosophy if he had not aim'd more to instruct in his Systeme of Nature than to delight But he was bent upon making Memmius a Materialist and teaching him to defie an invisible power In short he was so much an Atheist that he forgot sometimes to be a Poet. These are the considerations which I had of that Author before I attempted to translate some parts of him And accordingly I lay'd by my natural Diffidence and Scepticism for a while to take up that Dogmatical way of his which as I said is so much his Character as to make him that individual Poet. As for his Opinions concerning the mortality of the Soul they are so absurd that I cannot if I wou'd believe them I think a future state demonstrable even by natural Arguments at least to take away rewards and punishments is only a pleasing prospect to a Man who resolves before hand not to live morally But on the other side the thought of being nothing after death is a burden unsupportable to a vertuous Man even though a Heathen We naturally aim at happiness and cannot bear to have it confin'd to the shortness of our present Being especially when we consider that vertue is generally unhappy in this World and vice fortunate So that 't is hope of Futurity alone that makes this Life tolerable in expectation of a better Who wou'd not commit all the excesses to which he is prompted by his natural inclinations if he may do them with security while he is alive and be uncapable of punishment after he is dead if he be cunning and secret enough to avoid the Laws there is no band of morality to restrain him For Fame and Reputation are weak ties many men have not the least sence of them Powerful men are only aw'd by them as they conduce to their interest and that not always when a passion is predominant and no Man will be contain'd within the bounds of duty when he may safely transgress them These are my thoughts abstractedly and without entring into the Notions of our Christian Faith which is the proper business of Divines But there are other Arguments in this Poem which I have turn'd into English not belonging to the Mortality of the Soul which are strong enough to a reasonable Man to make him less in love with Life and consequently in less apprehensions of Death Such as are the natural Satiety proceeding from a perpetual enjoyment of the same things the inconveniencies of old age which make him uncapable of corporeal pleasures the decay of understanding and memory which render him contemptible and useless to others these and many other reasons so pathetically urg'd so beautifully express'd so adorn'd with examples and so admirably rais'd by the Prosopopeia of Nature who is brought in speaking to her Children with so much authority and vigour deserve the pains I have taken with them which I hope have not been unsuccessful or unworthy of my Author At least I must take the liberty to own that I was pleas'd with my own endeavours which but rarely happens to me and that I am not dissatisfied upon the review of any thing I have done in this Author 'T is true there is something and that of some moment to be objected against my Englishing the Nature of Love from the Fourth Book of Lucretius And I can less easily answer why I Translated it than why I thus Translated it The Objection arises from the Obscenity of the Subject which is aggravated by the too lively and alluring delicacy of the Verses In the first place without the least Formality of an excuse I own it pleas'd me and let my Enemies make the worst they can of
sing to Memmius an immortal lay Of Heav'n and Earth and every where thy wond'rous pow'r display To Memmius under thy sweet influence born Whom thou with all thy gifts and graces dost adorn The rather then assist my Muse and me Infusing Verses worthy him and thee Mean time on Land and Sea let barb'rous discord cease And lull the listning world in universal peace To thee Mankind their soft repose must owe For thou alone that blessing canst bestow Because the brutal business of the War Is manag'd by thy dreadful Servant's care Who oft retires from fighting fields to prove The pleasing pains of thy eternal Love And panting on thy breast supinely lies While with thy heavenly form he feeds his famish'd eyes Sucks in with open lips thy balmy breath By turns restor'd to life and plung'd in pleasing death There while thy curling limbs about him move Involv'd and fetter'd in the links of Love When wishing all he nothing can deny Thy Charms in that auspicious moment try With winning eloquence our peace implore And quiet to the weary World restore LUCRETIUS The beginning of the Second Book Suave Mari magno c. 'T Is pleasant safely to behold from shore The rowling Ship and hear the Tempest roar Not that anothers pain is our delight But pains unfelt produce the pleasing sight 'T is pleasant also to behold from far The moving Legions mingled in the War But much more sweet thy lab'ring steps to guide To Vertues heights with wisdom well supply'd And all the Magazins of Learning fortifi'd From thence to look below on humane kind Bewilder'd in the Maze of Life and blind To see vain fools ambitiously contend For Wit and Pow'r their lost endeavours bend T'outshine each other waste their time and health In search of honour and pursuit of wealth O wretched man in what a mist of Life Inclos'd with dangers and with noisie strife He spends his little Span And overfeeds His cramm'd desires with more than nature needs For Nature wisely stints our appetite And craves no more than undisturb'd delight Which minds unmix'd with cares and fears obtain A Soul serene a body void of pain So little this corporeal frame requires So bounded are our natural desires That wanting all and setting pain aside With bare privation sence is satisfi'd If Golden Sconces hang not on the Walls To light the costly Suppers and the Balls If the proud Palace shines not with the state Of burnish'd Bowls and of reflected Plate If well tun'd Harps nor the more pleasing sound Of Voices from the vaulted roofs rebound Yet on the grass beneath a poplar shade By the cool stream our careless limbs are lay'd With cheaper pleasures innocently blest When the warm Spring with gawdy flow'rs is drest Nor will the ragâ—ing Feavours fire abate With Golden Canopies and Beds of State But the poor Patient will as soon be sound On the hard mattress or the Mother ground Then since our Bodies are not cas'd the more By Birth or Pow'r or Fortunes wealthy store T is plain these useless â—oyes of every kind As little can relieve the lab'â—ing mind Unless we cou'd suppose the dreadful sight Of marshall'd Legions moving to the fight Cou'd with their sound and terrible array Expel our fears and drive the thoughts of death away But since the supposition vain appears Since clinging cares and trains of inbred fears Are not with sounds to be affrighted thence But in the midst of Pomp pursue the Prince Not aw'd by arms but in the presence bold Without respect to Purple or to Gold Why shou'd not we these pageantries despise Whose worth but in our want of reason lies For life is all in wandring errours led And just as Children are surpriz'd with dread And tremble in the dark so riper years Ev'n in broad day light are possest with fears And shake at shadows fanciful and vain As those which in the breasts of Children reign These bugbears of the mind this inward Hell No rayes of outward sunshine can dispel But nature and right reason must display Their beames abroad and bring the darksome soul to day TRANSLATION OF THE Latter Part of the Third Book OF LUCRETIUS Against the Fear of Death WHat has this Bugbear death to frighten Man If Souls can die as well as Bodies can For as before our Birth we felt no pain When Punique arms infested Land and Mayn When Heav'n and Earth were in confusion hurl'd For the debated Empire of the World Which aw'd with dreadful expectation lay Sure to be Slaves uncertain who shou'd sway â—o when our mortal frame shall be disjoyn'd The lifeless Lump uncoupled from the mind â—rom sense of grief and pain we shall be free We shall not feel because we shall not Be. Though Earth in Seas and Seas in Heav'n were lost VVe shou'd not move we only shou'd be tost Nay ev'n suppose when we have suffer'd Fate The Soul cou'd feel in her divided state VVhat 's that to us for we are only we VVhile Souls and bodies in one frame agree Nay tho' our Atoms shou'd revolve by chance And matter leape into the former dance Tho' time our Life and motion cou'd restore And make our Bodies what they were before VVhat gain to us wou'd all this bustle bring The new made man wou'd be another thing VVhen once an interrupting pause is made That individual Being is decay'd We who are dead and gone shall bear no part In all the pleasures nor shall feel the smart Which to that other Mortal shall accrew Whom of our Matter Time shall mould anew For backward if you look on that long space Of Ages past and view the changing face Of Matter tost and variously combin'd In sundry shapes 't is easie for the mind From thence t' infer that Seeds of things have beeâ— In the same order as they now are seen Which yet our dark remembrance cannot trace Because a pause of Life a gaping space Has come betwixt where memory lies dead And all the wandring motions from the senâ— are fled For who so e're shall in misfortunes live Must Be when those misfortunes shall arrive And since the Man who Is not feels not woe For death exempts him and wards off the blow Which we the living only feel and bear What is there left for us in death to fear When once that pause of life has come between T is just the same as we had never been And therefore if a Man bemoan his lot That after death his mouldring limbs shall rot Or flames or jaws of Beasts devour his Mass Know he 's an unsincere unthinking Ass. A secret Sting remains within his mind The fool is to his own cast offals kind He boasts no sense can after death remain Yet makes himself a part of life again As if some other He could feel the pain â—f while he live this thought molest his head What Wolf or Vulture shall devour me dead He wasts his days in idle grief nor can Distinguish 'twixt
attend The Conqur'or to the Goal who conquer'd thro his friend Next Helimus and then Diores came By two misfortunes now the third in fame But Salius enters and exclaiming loud For Justice deafens and disturbs the Crowd Urges his cause may in the Court be heard And pleads the Prize is wrongfully conferr'd But favour for Euryalus appears His blooming beauty and his graceful tears Had brib'd the Judges to protect his claim Besides Diores does as loud exclaim Who vainly reaches at the last Reward If the first Palm on Salius be conferr'd Then thus the Prince let no disputes arise Where Fortune plac'd it I award the Prize But give me leave her Errours to amend At least to pity a deserving friend Thus having said A Lions Hide amazing to behold Pond'rous with bristles and with paws of gold He gave the Youth which Nisus greiv'd to veiw If such rewards to vanquish'd men are due Said he and falling is to rise by you What prize may Nisus from your bounty claim Who merited the first rewards and fame In falling both did equal fortune try Wou'd fortune make me fall as happily With this he pointed to his face and show'd His hands and body all besmear'd with blood Th' indulgent Father of the people smil'd And caus'd to be produc'd a massie Shield Of wond'rous art by Didymaon wrought Long since from Neptunes bars in triumph brought With this the graceful Youth he gratifi'd Then the remaining presents did divide Connection of the remaining part of the Episode translated out of the 9 th Book of Virgils Aeneids with the foregoing part of the Story The War being now broken out betwixt the Trojans and Latines and Aeneas being overmatch'd in numbers by his Enemies who were ayded by King Turnus he fortiâ—ies his Camp and leaves in it his young Son Ascanius under the direction of his chief Counsellours and Captains while he goes in person to beg Succours from King Evander and the Tuscans Turnus takes advantage of his absence and assaults his Camp The Trojans in it are reduc'd to great extremities which gives the Poet the occasion of continuing this admirable Episode wherein he describes the friendship the generosity the adventures and the death of Nisus and Euryalus THe Trojan Camp the common danger shar'd By turns they watch'd the Walls and kept the Nightly Guard To Warlike Nisus fell the Gate by Lot Whom Hyrtacus on Huntress Ida got And sent to Sea Aeneas to attend Well cou'd he dart the Spear and shafts unerring send Beside him stood Euryalus his ever Faithful friend No Youth in all the Trojan Host was seen More beautiful in arms or of a Nobler meen Scarce was the Down upon his Chin begun One was their Friendship their desire was one With minds united in the Field they warr'd And now were both by Choice upon the Guard Then Nisus thus Or do the Gods this Warlike warmth inspire Or makes Each Man a God of his desire A Noble Ardour boils within my Breast Eager of Action Enemy of Rest That urges me to Fight or undertake Some Deed that may my Fame immortal make Thou seest the Foe secure How faintly shine Their scatter'd Fires the most in Sleep supine Dissolv'd in Ease and drunk with Victory The few awake the fuming Flaggon Ply All hushâ—d around Now hear what I revolve Within my mind and what my labouring thoughts resolve Our absent Lord both Camp and Council mourn By Message both wou'd hasten his return The gifts propos'd if they confer on thee For Fame is recompence enough to me Methinks beneath you Hill I have espy'd A way that safely will my Passage guide Euryalus stood Listning while he spoke With Love of praise and Noble envy strook Then to his ardent Friend expos'd his mind All this alone and leaving me behind Am I unworthy Nisus to be joyn'd Think'st thou my Share of honour I will yield Or send thee unassisted to the Field Not so my Father taught my Childhood Armes Born in a Siege and bred amongst Alarms Nor is my Youth unworthy of my Friend Or of the Heav'n-born Heroe I attend The thing call'd Life with ease I can disdain And think it oversold to purchase Fame To whom his Friend I cou'd think alas thy Tender years Wou'd minister new matter to my Fears Nor is it just thou shoudst thy Wish obtain So Iove in Triumph bring me back again To those dear eyes or if a God there be To pious Friends propitious more than he But if some one as many sure there are Of adverse accidents in doubtful War If one shou'd reach my Head there let it fall And spare thy life I wou'd not perish all Thy Youth is worthy of a longer Date Do thou remain to mourn thy Lovers fate To bear my mangled body from the Foe Or buy it back and Fun'ral rites bestow Or if hard Fortune shall my Corps deny Those dues with empty Marble to supply O let not me the Widows tears renew Let not a Mothers curse my name pursue Thy pious Mother who in Love to thee Left the Fair Coast of fruitful Sicily Her Age committing to the Seas and Wind When every weary Matron staid behind â—o this Euryalus thou pleadst in vain â—nd but delayst the cause thou canst not gain â—o more 't is loss of time with that he wakes â—he nodding Watch each to his Office takes â—he Guard reliev'd in Company they went To find the Council at the Royal Tent. Now every living thing lay void of care â—nd Sleep the common gift of Nature share Mean time the Trojan Peers in Council sate And call'd their Chief Commanders to debate The weighty business of th' indanger'd State What next was to be done who to be sent T' inform Aeneas of the Foes intent â—n midst of all the quiet Camp they held Nocturnal Council each sustains a Shield Which his o're labour'd Arm can hardly rear And leans upon a long projected Spear Now Nisus and his Friend approach the Guard And beg admittance eager to be heard Th' affair important not to be deferr'd Ascanius bids them be conducted in Then thus commanded Nisus does begin Ye Trojan Fathers lend attentive Ears Nor judge our undertaking by our years The Foes securely drench'd in Sleep and wine Their Watch neglect their Fires but thinly shine And where the Smoak in thickning Vapours flies Cov'ring the plain and Clouding all the Skies Betwixt the spaces we have mark'd a way Close by the Gate and Coasting by the Sea This Passage undisturb'd and unespy'd Our Steps will safely to Aeneas guide Expect each hour to see him back again Loaded with spoils of Foes in Battle slain Snatch we the Lucky Minute while we may Nor can we be mistaken in the way For Hunting in the Vale we oft have seen The rising Turrets with the stream between And know its winding Course with every foord He paus'd and Old Alethes took the Word Our Country Gods in whom our trust we place Will yet from ruin save
the Body and the Man But thinks himself can still himself survive And what when dead he feels not feels alive Then he repines that he was born to die Nor knows in death there is no other He No living He remains his grief to vent And o're his senseless Carcass to lament If after death 't is painful to be torn By Birds and Beasts then why not so to burn Or drench'd in floods of honey to be soak'd Imbalm'd to be at once preserv'd and choak'd Or on an ayery Mountains top to lie Expos'd to cold and Heav'ns inclemency Or crowded in a Tomb to be opprest With Monumental Marble on thy breast But to be snatch'd from all thy houshold joys From thy Chast Wife and thy dear prattling boys Whose little arms about thy Legs are cast And climbing for a Kiss prevent their Mothers hast Inspiring secret pleasure thro' thy Breast All these shall be no more thy Friends opprest Thy Care and Courage now no more shall free Ah Wretch thou cry'st ah miserable me One woful day sweeps children friends and wife And all the brittle blessings of my life Add one thing more and all thou say'st is true Thy want and wish of them is vanish'd too Which well consider'd were a quick relief To all thy vain imaginary grief For thou shalt sleep and never wake again And quitting life shall quit thy living pain But we thy friends shall all those sorrows find Which in forgetful death thou leav'st behind No time shall dry our tears nor drive thee from our mind The worst that can befall thee measur'd right Is a sound slumber and a long good night Yet thus the fools that would be thought the Wits Disturb their mirth with melancholy sits When healths go round and kindly brimmers flow Till the fresh Garlands on their foreheads glow They whine and cry let us make haste to live Short are the joys that humane Life can give Eternal Preachers that corrupt the draught And pall the God that never thinks with thought Ideots with all that thought to whom the worst Of death is want of drink and endless thirst Or any fond desire as vain as these For ev'n in sleep the body wrapt in ease Supinely lies as in the peaceful grave And wanting nothing nothing can it crave Were that sound sleep eternal it were death Yet the first Atoms then the seeds of breath Are moving near to sense we do but shake And rouze that sense and straight we are awake Then death to us and deaths anxiety Is less than nothing if a less cou'd be For then our Atoms which in order lay Are scatter'd from their heap and puff'd away And never can return into their place When once the pause of Life has left an empty space And last suppose Great Natures Voice shou'd call To thee or me or any of us all What dost thou mean ungrateful wretch thou vain Thou mortal thing thus idly to complain And sigh and sob that thou shalt be no more For if thy life were pleasant heretofore If all the bounteous blessings I cou'd give Thou hast enjoy'd if thou hast known to live And pleasure not leak'd thro' thee like a Seive Why dost thou not give thanks as at a plenteous feast Cram'd to the throat with life and rise and take thy rest But if my blessings thou hast thrown away If indigested joys pass'd thro' and wou'd not stay VVhy dost thou wish for more to squander still If Life be grown a load a real ill And I wou'd all thy cares and labours end Lay down thy burden fool and know thy friend To please thee I have empti'd all my store I can invent and can supply no more But run the round again the round I ran before Suppose thou art not broken yet with years Yet still the self same Scene of things appears And wou'd be ever coud'st thou ever live For life is still but Life there 's nothing new to give VVhat can we plead against so just a Bill VVe stand convicted and our cause goes ill But if a wretch a man opprest by fate Shou'd beg of Nature to prolong his date She speaks aloud to him with more disdain Be still thou Martyr fool thou covetous of pain But if an old decrepit Sot lament VVhat thou She cryes who hast outliv'd content Dost thou complain who hast enjoy'd my store But this is still th' effect of wishing more Unsatisfy'd with all that Nature brings Loathing the present liking absent things From hence it comes thy vain desires at strife VVithin themselves have tantaliz'd thy Life And ghastly death appear'd before thy sight E're thou hadst gorg'd thy Soul sences with delight Now leave those joys unsuiting to thy age To a fresh Comer and resign the Stage Is Nature to be blam'd if thus she chide No sure for 't is her business to provide Against this ever changing Frames decay New things to come and old to pass away One Being worn another Being makes Chang'd but not lost for Nature gives and takes New Matter must be found for things to come And these must waste like those and follow Natures doom All things like thee have time to rise and rot And from each others ruin are begot For life is not confin'd to him or thee 'T is giv'n to all for use to none for Property Consider former Ages past and gone Whose Circles ended long e're thine begun Then tell me Fool what part in them thou hast Thus may'st thou judge the future by the past What horrour seest thou in that quiet state What Bugbear dreams to fright thee after Fate No Ghost no Gobblins that still passage keep But all is there serene in that eternal sleep For all the dismal Tales that Poets tell Are verify'd on Earth and not in Hell No Tantalus looks up with fearful eye Or dreads th'impending Rock to crush him from on high But fear of Chance on earth disturbs our easie hours Or vain imagin'd wrath of vain imagin'd Pow'rs No Tityus torn by Vultures lies in Hell Nor cou'd the Lobes of his rank liver swell To that prodigious Mass for their eternal meal Not tho' his monstrous bulk had cover'd o're Nine spreading Acres or nine thousand more Not tho' the Globe of earth had been the Gyants floor Nor in eternal torments cou'd he lie Nor cou'd his Corps sufficient food supply But he 's the Tityus who by Love opprest Or Tyrant Passion preying on his breast And ever anxious thoughts is robb'd of rest The Sisiphus is he whom noise and strife Seduce from all the soft retreats of life To vex the Government disturb the Laws Drunk with the Fumes of popular applause He courts the giddy Crowd to make him great And sweats toils in vain to mount the sovereign Seat For still to aim at pow'r and still to fail Ever to strive and never to prevail VVhat is it but in reasons true account To heave the Stone against the rising Mount Which urg'd
presses with his frantique pains With biteing kisses hurts the twining fair Which shews his joyes imperfect unsincere For stung with inward rage he flings around And strives t' avenge the smart on that which gave the wound But love those eageâ— biâ—â—ngs does resâ—rain And mingling pleasure molliâ—ies the pain â—or ardent hope still flatters anxious grief And sends him to his Foe to seek relief Which yet the nature of the thing denies â—or Love and Love alone of all our joyes â—y full possession does but fan the fire â—he more we still enjoy the more we still desire â—ature for meaâ— and drink provides a space â—nd when receiv'd they fill their certain place â—ence thirst and hunger may be satisfi'd â—ut this repletion is to Love deny'd â—orm feature colour whatsoe're delight â—rovokes the Lovers endless appetite These fill no space nor can we thence remove With lips or hands or all our instruments of love 〈◊〉 our deluded grasp we nothing find 〈◊〉 thin aerial shapes that fleet before the mind As he who in a dream with drought is curst And finds no real drink to quench his thirst Runs to imagin'd Lakes his heat to steep And vainly swills and labours in his sleep So Love with fantomes cheats our longing eyes Which hourly seeing never satisfies Our hands pull nothing from the parts they strain But wander o're the lovely limbs in vain Nor when the Youthful pair more clossely joyn When hands in hands they lock and thighs in thigh they twinâ— Just in the raging foam of full desire When both press on both murmur both expire They gripe they squeeze their humid tongue they dart As each wou'd force their way to t'others heart In vain they only cruze about the coast For bodies cannot pierce nor be in bodies lost As sure they strive to be when both engage In that tumultuous momentany rage â—o ' tangled in the Nets of Love they lie Till Man dissolves in that excess of joy Then when the gather'd bag has burst its way And ebbing tydes the slacken'd nervs betray â— pause ensues and Nature nods a while Till with recruited rage new Spirits boil â—nd then the same vain violence returns With flames renew'd th' erected furnace burns â—gen they in each other wou'd be lost â—ut still by adamantine bars are crost â—ll wayes they try successeless all they prove â—o cure the secret sore of lingring love â—esides They waste their strength in the venereal strife â—nd to a Womans will enslave their life â—h ' Estate runs out and mortgages are made â—ll Offices of friendship are decay'd â—heir fortune ruin'd and their fame betray'd Assyrian Oyntment from their temples flows And Diamond Buckles sparkle at their shooes The chearful Emerald twinkles on their hands With all the luxury of foreign lands And the blew Coat that with imbroid'ry shines Is drunk with sweat of their o're labour'd loyns Their frugal Fathers gains they mis-employ And turn to Point and Pearl and ev'ry female toy French fashions costly treats are their delight The Park by day and Plays and Balls by night In vain For in the Fountain where their Sweets are sought Some bitter bubbles up and poisons all the draught First guilty Conscience does the mirrour bring Then sharp remorse shoots out her angry sting And anxious thoughts within themselves at strife Upbraid the long mispent luxurious life Perhaps the fickle fair One proves unkind Or drops a doubtful word that pains his mind And leavs a ranckling jealousie behind Perhaps he watches closs her amorous eyes And in the act of ogling does surprise And thinks he sees upon her cheeks the while The dimpled tracks of some foregoing smile His raging Pulse beats thick and his pent Spirits boyl This is the product ev'n of prosp'rous Love Think then what pangs disastrous passions prove Innumerable Ills disdain despair With all the meager Family of Care Thus as I said 't is better to prevent Than flatter the Disease and late repent Because to shun th' allurement is not hard To minds resolv'd forewarn'd and well prepar'd But wond'rous difficult when once beset To struggle thro' the streights and break th' involving Net Yet thus insnar'd thy freedom thou may'st gain If like a fool thou dost not hug thy chain If not to ruin obstinately blind And willfully endeavouring not to find Her plain defects of Body and of mind For thus the Bedlam train of Lovers use T' inhaunce the value and the faults excuse And therefore 't is no wonder if we see They doat on Dowdyes and Deformity Ev'n what they cannot praise they will not blame But veil with some extenuating name The Sallow Skin is for the Swarthy put And love can make a Slattern of a Slut If Cat-ey'd then a Pallas is their love If freckled she 's a party-colour'd Dove If little then she 's life and soul all o're An Amazon the large two handed Whore She stammers oh what grace in lisping lies If she sayes nothing to be sure she 's wise If shrill and with a voice to drown a Quire Sharp witted she must be and full of fire The lean consumptive Wench with coughs decay'd â—s call'd a pretty tight and slender Maid Th' o're grown a goodly Ceres is exprest A bed-fellow for Bacchus at the least â—lat Nose the name of Satyr never misses And hanging blobber lips but pout for kisses The task were endless all the rest to trace Yet grant she were a Venus for her face And shape yet others equal beauty share And time was you cou'd live without the fair â—he does no more in that for which you woo Then homelier women full as well can do Besides she daubs and stinks so much of paint Her own Attendants cannot bear the scent But laugh behind and bite their lips to hold Mean time excluded and expos'd to cold The whining Lover stands before the Gates And there with humble adoration waites Crowning with flow'rs the threshold and the floor And printing kisses on th' obdurate door Who if admitted in that nick of time If some unsav'ry Whiff betray the crime Invents a quarrel straight if there be none Or makes some faint excuses to be gone And calls himself a doating fool to serve Ascribing more than Woman can deserve Which well they understand like cunning Queans And hide their nastiness behind the Scenes From him they have allur'd and wou'd retain But to a peircing eye 't is all in vain For common sense brings all their cheats to view And the false light discovers by the true Which a wise Harlot owns and hopes to find A pardon for defects that run thro' all the kind Nor alwayes do they feign the sweets of Love When round the panting Youth their pliant limbs they move And cling and heave and moisten ev'ry kiss They often share and more than share the bliss From every part ev'n to their inmost Soul They feel the trickling joyes and run with vigour to the Goal Stirr'd with the same impetuous desire
Birds Beasts and Herds and Mares their Males require Because the throbbing Nature in their veins Provokes them to asswage their kindly pains The lusty leap th' expecting Female stands By mutual heat compell'd to mutual Bands Thus Dogs with lolling Tongues by love are ty'd Nor shouting boys nor blows their union can divide At either end they strive the linck to loose In vain for stronger Venus holds the noose Which never wou'd those wretched Lovers do But that the common heats of Love they know The pleasure therefore must be shar'd in common too And when the Womans more prevailing juice Sucks in the mans the mixture will produce The Mothers likeness when the man prevails His own resemblance in the seed he Seals But when we see the new begotten race Reflect the features of each Parents face Then of the Fathers and the Mothers blood The justly temper'd seed is understood When both conspire with equal ardour bent From every limb the due proportion sent When neither party foils when neither foild This gives the blended features of the Child Sometimes the Boy the Grandsires image bears Sometimes the more remote Progenitor he shares Because the genial Atomes of the seed Lie long conceal'd e're they exert the breed And after sundry Ages past produce The tardy likeness of the latent juice Hence Families such different figures take And represent their Ancestors in face and Hair and make Because of the same Seed the voice and hair And shape and face and other members are And the same antique mould the likeness does prepare Thus oft the Fathers likeness does prevail In Females and the Mothers in the Male. For since the seed is of a double kind From that where we the most resemblance find We may conclude the strongest tincture sent And that was in conception prevalent Nor can the vain decrees of Pow'rs above Deny production to the act of Love Or hinder Fathers of that happy name Or with a barren Womb the Matron shame As many think who stain with Victims Blood The mournful Altars and with incense load To bless the show'ry seed with future Life And to impregnate the well labour'd Wife In vain they weary Heav'n with Prayer or fly To Oracles or Magique numbers try For barrenness of Sexes will proceed Either from too Condens'd or watry seed The â—aâ—ry juice too soon dissolves away And in the parts projected will not stay The too Condens'd unsould unwieldly mass Drops short nor carries to the destin'd place Nor pierces to the parts nor though injected home Will mingle with the kindly moisture of the womb For Nuptials are unlike in their success Some men with fruitful seed some Women bless And from some men some Women fruitful are â—ust as their constitutions joyn or jarr And many seeming barren Wives have been Who after match'd with more prolifique men Have fill'd a Family with pratling boyes And many not supply'd at home with joys Have found a friend abroad to ease their smart And to perform the Sapless Husbands part â—o much it does import that seed with seed â—hou'd of the kindly mixture make the breed And thick with thin and thin with thick shou'd joyn â—o to produce and propagate the Line Of such concernment too is Drink and food T'incrassate or attenuate the blood Of like importance is the posture too In which the genial feat of Love we do For as the Females of the four foot kind Receive the leapings of their Males behind So the good Wives with loins uplifted high And leaning on their hands the fruitful stroke may try For in that posture will they best conceive Not when supinely laid they frisk and heave For active motions only break the blow And more of Strumpets than of Wives they show When answering stroke with stroke the mingled liquors flow Endearments eager and too brisk a bound Throws off the Plow-share from the furrow'd ground But common Harlots in conjunction heave Because 't is less their business to conceive Than to delight and to provoke the deed A trick which honest Wives but little need Nor is it from the Gods or Cupids dart That many a homely Woman takes the heart But Wives well humour'd dutiful and chaste And clean will hold their wandring Husbands fast Such are the links of Love and such a Love will last For what remains long habitude and use Will kindness in domestick Bands produce For Custome will a strong impression leave Hard bodies which the lightest stroke receive In length of time will moulder and decay And stones with drops of rain are wash'd away From LVCRETIVS Book the Fifth Tum porrò puer c. THus like a Sayler by the Tempest hurl'd A shore the Babe is shipwrack'd on the World Naked he lies and ready to expire Helpless of all that humane wants require Expos'd upon unhospitable Earth From the first moment of his hapless Birth Straight with forebodeing cryes he fills the Room Too true presages of his future doom But Flocks and Herds and every Savage Beast By more indulgent Nature are increas'd They want no Rattles for their froward mood Nor Nurse to reconcile them to their food With broken words nor Winter blasts they fear Nor change their habits with the changing year Nor for their safety Citadels prepare Nor forge the wicked Instruments of War Unlabour'd Earth her bounteous treasure grants And Nature's lavish hands supplies their common wants Theocrit Idyllium the 18th THE EPITHALAMIVM OF HELEN and MENELAVS TWelve Spartan Virgins noble young and fair With Violet wreaths adorn'd their flowing hair And to the pompous Palace did resort Where Menelaus kept his Royal Court. There hand in hand a comely Quire they led To sing a blessing to his Nuptial Bed Which curious Needles wrought and painted flowers bespred Ioves beauteous Daughter now his Bride must be And Iove himself was less a God than he For this their artful hands instruct the Lute to sound Their feet assist their hands and justly beat the ground This was their song Why happy Bridegroom why â—'re yet the Stars are kindl'd in the Skie â—'re twilight shades or Evening dews are shed Why dost thou steal so soon away to Bed Has Somnus brush'd thy Eye-lids with his Rod Or do thy Legs refuse to bear their Load With flowing bowles of a more generous God â—f gentle slumber on thy Temples creep But naughty Man thou dost not mean to sleep â—etake thee to thy Bed thou drowzy Drone â—eep by thy self and leave thy Bride alone â—o leave her with her Maiden Mates to play â—t sports more harmless till the break of day Give us this Evening thou hast Morn and Night And all the year before thee for delight O happy Youth to thee among the crowd Of Rival Princes Cupid sneez'd aloud And every lucky Omen sent before To meet thee landing on the Spartan shore Of all our Heroes thou canst boast alone That Iove when e're he Thunders calls thee Son Betwixt two Sheets thou shalt
small for thy offence To Heavens strict Justice he his wrongs apply'd And call'd down vengeance for his perish'd Bride She while she fled from thee unhappy Maid By heedless fear to treacherous Banks betray'd Ne're saw the Snake glide o're the grassie ground But e're she knew the foe she felt the wound Her fellow Dryads fill'd the Hills with cries In groans the soften'd Rhodope replies Rough Thrace the Getes and Hebrus streams lament Forget their fury and in grief consent While he to doleful tunes his strings does move And strove to solace his uneasie Love Thee Thee Dear Bride on Desart shores alone He mourn'd at rising and at setting Sun His restless Love did natural fears expel He dar'd to enter the black Jaws of Hell He saw the Grove where gloomy horrors spread The Ghosts and gastly Tyrant of the dead With those rough Powers that there severely reign Unus'd to pity when poor men complain He strook his Harp and strait a numerous throng Of Airy people fled to hear the Song Thither vast troops of wretched Lovers came And shriekt at the remembrance of their flame With heavy grief and gloomy thoughts opprest Meagre each shape and wounds in every breast How deep ah me and wide must mine appear If so much Beauty can be so severe With these mixt troops of Fathers Husbands Wives As thick as swarms of Bees fly round their Hives At Evening close or when a Tempest drives With Ghosts of Heroes and of Babes expos'd And Sons whose dying eyes their Mothers clos'd Which now the dull unnavigable flood With black Cocytus horrid weeds and mud And Styx in nine large Channels spread confine The wondrous numbers soft'ned all beneath Hell and the inmost flinty seats of Death Snakes round the Furies heads did upward rear And seem'd to listen to the pleasing Air While fiery Styx in milder streams did rowl And Cerberus gap'd but yet forbore to howl Ixion's Wheel stood still all tortures ceast And Hell amaz'd knew an usual rest All dangers past beyond the reach of fear Restor'd Euridice breath'd the upper air Following behind for mov'd by his complaint Hell added this condition to the grant When fury soon the heedless Lover seiz'd To be forgiven if Hell cou'd be appeas'd Fornear the consines of Aetherial Air Unmindful and unable to forbear He stopt look'd back what cannot love perswade To take one view of the unhappy Maid Here all his Pains were lost one greedy look Defeats his hopes and Hells conditions broke Thrice Stix resounded thrice Averne shook A fatal Messenger from Pluto flew And snatch'd the forfeit from a second veiw Backward she fell ah me too greedy Youth She cry'd what fury now hath ruin'd both Death summons me again cold fates surprise And Icy sleep spreads o're my nodding eyes Wrapt up in night I feel the Stygian shore And stretch my arms to thee in vain ah thine no more This scarc'd pronounc'd like smoke disperst in air So vanish'd the twice-lost unhappy Fair And left him catching at the flying shade He stood distracted much he would have said In vain for Charon wou'd not waâ—t him o're Once he had pass'd and now must hope no more What should he do where should he seek repose Where flie the trouble of his second loss In what soft numbers should the wretch complain And beg his dear Euridice again She now grew cold in Charon's boat beneath And sadly sail'd to the known seats of Death But while nine circling months in order turn'd Beneath bleak rocks thus Fame reports he mourn'd By freezing Sirymon's unfrequented stream Euridice his lost Euridice his theme And while he sang this sad event of Love He tam'd fierce Tygers and made Oaks to move With such soft Tunes and such a doleful Song Sweet Nightingales bewail their ravisht young Which some hard hearted Swain hath born away While Callow Birds or kill'd the easie prey Restless they sit renew their mournful strains And with sad Passion fill their neighb'ring Plains No face cou'd win him and no charms cou'd move He fled the heinous thoughts of second Love In vain the Thracians woed wit wealth esteem Those great Enticers lost their force on him Alone he wander'd thro' the Scythian Snows Where Icy Tanais freezeth as it flows Thro' fields still white with frost or beat with hail Constant to grief and eager to bewail Euridice the Gods vain gift employs His thoughts and makes him deaf to other joys The slighted Thracians heat this scorn increast They breath'd revenge and fir'd at Bacchus feast For what so soon as wine makes fury burn And what can wound a Maid so deep as scorn Full of their God they wretched Orpheus tore Scatter'd his limbs and drank his reeking gore His head torn off as Hebrus roll'd along Eurydice fell from his dying tongue His parting Soul when flying thro' the wound Cry'd ah Euridice the floods around Eurydice Eurydice the banks resound The Sixth ELEGY Of the First Book of TIBULLUS OFt I by Wine have try'd to lull my cares But vexing grief turn'd all my wine to Tears Each sprightly bottle did but still supply Another Fountain for my weeping Eye I chang'd my Love but midst the kind embrace I think on her and my attempt decays The Maid deluded from my feeble Arms Straight starts and shriek's and much complains of Charms I know says she strong charms thy force restrain You us'd to prove your self a greater Man Go dull unactive Load thy strength restore Then come prepar'd and mock my hopes no more Ah me no Charms but her bewitching face Damps all my thoughts and deadens my embrace Yet now a wealthy Fool and Bawd conspire A griping Bawd to blast my just desire And what can the poor Man securely hold Against the force of Treachery and gold I faint I die yeâ— e're I mount above I 'le call down vengeance for my injur'd love Let hatred blast her and the publick scorn Who drew the fair One first to be forsworn Unpity'd hated let her range the Streets Worry'd by Dogs and curst by all she meets At night let groaning Spectres round her wait And break her rest complaining of their Fate All this will come I shall be pleas'd to see The speedy punishment of Treachery No slow delay shall coming fate prolong For Venus soon resents a Lovers wrong But take heed Fair one be no longer aw'd But fly the cunning precepts of the Bawd The Rich mans bribes her greedy hope devours She pleads for her own profit not for yours For tho the wealthy may present you more He cannot pay the service of the poor The poor is ready he will ne're disdain The meanest servile Office of thy Train He 'l bear thy Chair of the preferment proud Or force a passage for you thro' the Crowd What ever friendships strictest ty's can crave Or utmost duty challenge from a Slave In vain I sing nor will my words command This Gate ne're opens to an empty hand But happy Sir
And wilt thou Goat-herd on yon rising ground With Streams refresh'd spreading Myrtles crown'd Say wilt thou one sweet charming Song rehearse I 'll feed thy Flock and listen to thy Verse Goat-Herd Shepherd I dare not tread that hallow'd Ground 'T is now high Noon and Pan will hear the sound Weary'd with Sport he there lyes down to rest And 't is an angry God when at the best But Thyrsis you can Daphnis Story tell And understand the Rural Numbers well Let us retire then to the Sylvan Shade By reverend Oaks extended Branches made Where an old Seat stands rear'd upon the Green Hard by Priapus and the Nymphs are seen There if thou sing one of thy Noblest Lays And thy loud voice in such sweet Accents raise As when you baffled Chrome and won the Bays Thrice shalt thou milk my Goat come prythee do Two Pails she fills although she suckles Two Besides a brave large Goblet shall be thine New made new turn'd and smelling wond'rous fine Sweet wholsom Wax the inner Hollow hides And two neat handles grace the well wrought sides About the brim a creeping Ivy twines Thro' whose brown leaves the brighter Crocus shines Within a Woman 's lovely Image stands A noble Piece not wrought by Mortal Hands Around her Head a braided Fillet goes A decent Veil adown her Shoulders flows By Her two blooming Youths by Turns complain Each striving who shall the blest Conquest gain Both eagerly contend but both in vain She now on This her wanton Glances throws And now on That a careless Smile bestows Whilst they their big swol'n Eye-lids hardly rear And silently accuse the Cruel Fair. Next on a Cliff a Fisher-man you 'll view Who eagerly does his Lov'd Sport pursue His gather'd Net just hov'ring o'er the Sea He labours at the Cast on his half bended Knee You 'd swear his active Limbs work'd to and fro So tight he is so fitted for the Throw His Neck enlarg'd with swelling Veins appears Much is his Strength tho' many are his Years Not far from hence a seeming Vineyard grows The Vines all neatly set in graceful Rows Whose weighty Clusters bend the yielding Boughs And a Young Lad on a Tree's neighbo'ring Root Sits idlely by to watch the ripening Fruit. By him two Foxes unregarded Steal Each craftily designs a diff'rent Meal One tow'rds the Vineyard casts a longing Eye Looks to and fro and then creeps softly by Whil'st t'other couch'd in a close Ambuscade To intercept the Scrip and Vict'als laid Resolv's not first to quit the destin'd Prey Till he has sent the Younker Supperless away Mean while with both his Hands and both his Eyes He 's plaiting Straws and making Traps for Flyes With Art and Care he the fine Play-thing twines Survey's it and applaud's his own Designs Unmindful of his Bag or of his Vines The Cup besides a Wood-bine does contain Which round the Bottom wreath's it's leafy Train Admir'd and Envy'd by each gazing Swain I know you 'l say your self 't is strangely fine The Workman and the Workmanship Divine I bought it when I crost th' Aetolian Seas The price a dainty Kid and a large New-milk Cheese Unus'd it lyes unsully'd neat and trim Nor have my Lips once touch'd the shining Brim With This I 'd willingly reward thy Pains Would'st thou but sing those my beloved Strains Nor envy I thy Skill No envious Death Too soon alas will stop that charming Breath Come on then Sing Dear Shepherd while you may Thyrsis Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. 'T is Thyrsis sings Thyrsis on Aetna born The grateful Hills do his lov'd Notes return Where were the Nymphs Where in that fatal day When Daphnis lovely Daphnis pin'd away Did ye by Peneus or on Pindus stray For sure ye were not by Anapus side Nor Aetna's Top nor Acis Silver Tide Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. For him the Panthers and the Tygers mourn'd They came they saw and with swoln Eyes return'd Lyons themselves did uncouth Sorrows bear Their Savage Fierceness softning to a Tear Close by his Feet the Bulls and Heifers lay The Calves forgot their Feeding and their Play Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. Swift Hermes first came down to his Relief Daphnis he cry'd from whence this foolish Grief What Nymph what Goddess steals thy heart away Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. Next him the Shepherds and the Goat-herds came All ask'd the Reason of so strange a Flame Priapus came too He came and ask'd him with a pitying Eye Why all this Grief ah wretched Daphnis why While the false Nymph unmindful of thy Pains Now climbs the Hills now skims it o'er the Plains Where e'er blind Chance or Fancy leads the way Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. Ah! foolish and impatient of the Smart With which the wanton Boy hath pierc'd thy Heart An * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herdsman thou wert thought a Goat-herd sure thou art The Goat-herd when from some old craggy Rock He views the sportful Pastimes of His Flock And sees 'em how they frisk and how they play Grieves that he 's not a Goat as well as they Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. And you too when you see the Nymphs advance Their nimble Feet in a well order'd Dance And hear 'em how they talk and see 'em how they smile Are griev'd that you must stand neglected all the while All this without an Answer heard the Swain Still he went on and nourish'd still the Pain He found his Love increase and Life decay Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. Then Venus came and rais'd his drooping Head Forc'd an insulting Smile and thus she said You thought fond Swain that you could love subdue But Love it seems at last has conquer'd you Strong are his Charms and mighty is his sway Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. She spake And thus the mournful Swain reply'd Ah! Foe to me and all Mankind beside Ah! cruel Goddess spare thy Taunts at last Nor urge a Death that 's drawing on so fast Too well I know my fatal hour is come My * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sun declining to its Western Home Yet ev'n in Death thy Scorns I will repay Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. Hence Cyprian Queen to Ida's Tops repair Anchises lov'd Anchises waits you there There spreading Oaks will cover you around Here humble Shrubs scarce peep above the Ground And busy Bees are humming all the Day The noise is great 't will spoil your am'rous Play Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. Adonis too The Boy is lovely fair He feeds his Flocks he hunts the nimble Hare And boldly chases ev'ry Beast of Prey Begin Sweet Muse begin the Rural Lay. The Panthers Lyons and the Wolves adieu Who now shall travers the thick Woods with you No more shall you be chas'd no more shall I pursue Hail Arethusa lovely Fountain hail Farewel ye Streams that flow thro' Tyber's flowry Vale
Fates pursue Look down if he a Pious Life hath liv'd From Love let good Catullus be repriev'd Which like cold numness hath my thoughts confin'd And banish'd Mirth and Humour from my Mind I do not beg She should be Kind at last Or what Her Nature will not bear be Chast. But grant me Freedom and my Health restore Gods thus reward my Goodness and I ask no more OVID's ELEGIES Lib. 2. Eleg. 12 TRiumphant Laurels round my Temples twine I 'm Victor now my dear Corinna's mine As she was hard to get a careful Spy A Door well barr'd and jealous Husband's Eye Long time preserv'd her troubleâ—om Chastity Now I deserve a Crown I briskly woo'd And won my Prey without a drop of Blood 'T was not a petty Town with Gates and Barrs Those little Trophies of our meaner Wars No 't was a Whore a lovely Whore I took I won her by a Song and by a Look When ten years ruin'd Troy how mean a Name Atrides got how small a share of Fame But none pretends a Part in that I won The Vict'ry's mine the Glory all my own I in this Conquest was the General The Soldier Ensign Horse and Foot and all Fortune and lucky Chance can claim no share Come Triumph gotten by my single Care I fought as most have done for Miss and Love For Helen Europe and all Asia strove The Centaurs rudely threw their Tables o'er And spilt their Wine and boxt to get a Whore The Trojans tho' they once had lost their Troy Yet fought to get their Lord another Joy The Romans too did venture all their Lives And stoutly fought their Fathers for their Wives For one fair Cow I 've seen two Bulls ingage Whilst she stands by and looks and heats their Rage E'en I for Cupid says he 'll have it so As most Men are must be his Souldier too Yet I no bloody Conquerour shall prove My Quarrels will be Kindness Wars be Love LIB II. ELEGY XVI He invites his Mistress into the Countrey I 'Me now at where my Eyes can view Their old Delights but what I want in you Here purling Streams cut thro' my pleasing Bowers Adorn my Banks and raise my drooping Flowers Here Trees with bending Fruit in order stand Invite my Eye and tempt my greedy Hand But half the Pleasure of Enjoyment's gone Since I must pluck them single and alone Why could not Nature's Kindness first contrive That faithful Lovers should like Spirits live Mixt in one point and yet dividedly Enjoying an united Liberty But since we must thro' distant Regions go Why was not the same way design'd for two One single Care determin'd still for both And the kind Virgin joyn'd the loving Youth Then should I think it pleasant way to go O'er Alpine Frost and trace the Hills of Snow Then should I dare to view the horrid Moors And walk the Desarts of the Lybian Shoars Hear Scylla bark and see Charybdis rave Suck in and vomit out the threatning Wave Fearless thro' all I 'de steer my feeble Barge Secure and safe with the Celestial Charge But now though here my grateful Fields afford Choice Fruits to cheer their melancholly Lord Though here obedient Streams the Gardner leads In narrow Channels thro' my flowry Beds Tho' Poplars rise and spread a shady Grove Where I might lye my little Life improve And spend my Minutes 'twixt a Muse and Love Yet these contribute little to my Ease For without you they lose the Power to please I seem to walk o'er Fields of naked Sand Or tread an antick Maze in Fairy-Land Where frightful Spectres and pale Shades appear And hollow Groans invade my troubled Ear Where ev'ry Breeze that thro' my Arbour flies First sadly murmurs and then turns to Sighs The Vines love Elms what Elms from Vines remove Then why should I be parted from my Love And yet by me you once devoutly swore By your own Eyes those Stars that I adore That all my Bus'ness you would make your own And never suffer me to be alone But faithless Woman naturally deceives Their frequent Oaths are like the falling Leaves Which when a Storm has from the Branches tore Are tost by every Blast and seen no more Yet if you will be true your Vows retrieve Be kind and I can easily forgive Prepare your Coach to me direct your Course Drive fiercely on and lash the lazy Horse And while you ride I will prolong the Day And try the power of Verse to smooth your Way Sink down ye Mountains sink ye lofty Hills Ye Valleys be obedient to her Wheels Ye Streams be dry ye hindring Woods remove 'T is Love that drives and all must yield to Love LIB III. ELEGY IX NOw Ceres Feast is come the Trees are blown And my Corinna now must lye alone And why Good Ceres must thy Feast destroy Man's chief Delight and why disturb his Joy The World esteems you Bountiful and Good You led us from the Field and from the Wood And gave us fruitful Corn and wholsom food Till then poor wretched Man on Acorns fed Oaks gave Him Meat and flowry fields a Bed First Ceres made our Wheat and Barley grow And taught us how to Plow and how to Mow Who then can think that she designs to prove Our Piety by Coldness in our Love Or make poor Lovers sigh Lament and groan Or charge her Votaries to lye alone For Ceres tho' she loves the fruitful fields Yet sometimes feels the force of Love and yields This Crete can witness Crete not alwayes lyes Crete that nurs'd Iove and heard his infant Cryes There He was suckled that now rules the Skyes That Iove his Education there receiv'd Will raise her fawe and make her be believ'd Nay she her self will never strive to hide Her Love 't is too well known to be deny'd She saw young Iasius in the Cretan Grove Pursue the Deer she saw and fell in Love She then perceiv'd when first she felt the fire On this side Modesty on that Desire Desire prevail'd and then the field grew dry The Farmer lost his Crop and knew not why When he had toyl'd manur'd his Grounds plow'd Harrow'd his Fields and broke his Clods and sow'd No Corn appear'd none to reward his Pain His Labour and his Wishes were in vain For Ceres wandred in the Woods and Groves And often heard and often told her Loves Then Crete alone a fruitful Summer knew Where e'er the Goddess came a Harvest grew Ida was grey with Corn the furious Bore Grew fat with Wheat and wondred at the Store The Cretans wish'd that such all years would prove They wish'd that Ceres would be long in Love Well then since then 't was hard for you to ly All night alone why at your Feast must I Why must I mourn when you rejoyce to know Your Daughter safe and Queen of all below 'T is Holy day and calls for Wine and Love Come let 's the heigth of Mirth and Humour prove These
'T is then my pretty subs And doubtless one may find convenient sport With either fat or lean or long or short I like the mincing gate and yet if wide She steps O then I love her for her stride That waddle was a grace in Montespan These drowsie Eyes are perfect C With yellow curles Aurora pleas'd her fop And Leda Iove well saw was black a top The black or yellow to my mind agree My love will sute with every History Widow or Wife I 'm for a pad that 's way'd If Virgin Oh! who wou'd not love a Maid If she be young I take her in the nick If she has age she helps it with a trick If nothing charms me in her wit or face She has her fiddle in some other place Come every sort and size the great or small My love will find a tally for 'um all ELEGY II. Lib. 5. De Trist. Ovid complains of his three years Banishment COndemn'd to Pontus tir'd with endless toil Since Banish'd Ovid left his native soil Thrice has the frozen Ister stood and thrice The Euxine Sea been cover'd o're with ice Ten tedious years of Seige the Trojans bore But count my sorrow I have suffer'd more For me alone old Chronus stops his glass For years like ages slowly seem to pass Long days diminish not my nightly care Both Night and Day their equal portion share The course of nature sure is chang'd with me And all is endless as my misery Do time and Heav'n their common motion keep Or are the Fates that spin my thred a sleep In Euxine Pontus here I hide my Face How good the Name but oh how bad the place The people round about us threaten War Who live by spoils and Thieves or Pyrates are No living thing can here protection have Nay scarce the dead are quiet in their grave For here are Birds as well as Men of prey That swiftly snatch unseen the Limbs away Darts are flung at us by the neighb'ring foe Which oftentimes we gather as we go He who dares Plough but few there are who dare Must arm himself as if he went to War The Sheepherd puts his Helmet on to keep Not from the Wolves but Enemies his Sheep While mournfully he tunes his rural Muse One Foe the Sheepherd and his Sheep persues The Castle which the safest place shou'd be Within from cruel tumults is not free Of 't dire contentions put me in a fright The rude Inhabitants with Graecians fight In one abode amongst a barb'rous rout I live but when they please they thrust me out My hatred to these Brutes takes from my fear For they are like the Beasts whose skins they wear Ev'n those who as we think were born in Greece Wrap themselves up in Rugs and Persian Frize They easily each other understand But I alas am forc'd to speak by hand Ev'n to these Men if I may call 'em so Who neither what is right or reason know I a Barbarian am hard fâ—te to see When I speak Latine how they laugh at me Perhaps they falsly add to my disgrace Or call me wretched Exile to my Face Besides the cruel Sword 'gainst Natures Laws Cuts off the Innocent without a cause The Market-place by lawless Arms possest Has slaughter-houses both for Man and Beast Now O ye fates 't is time to stop my breath And shorten my misfortunes by my death How hard my sentence is to live among A cut-throat barb'rous and unruly throng But to leave you my Friends a harder doom Though banish'd here I left my Heart at Rome Alas I left it where I cannot come To be forbid the City I confess That were but just my crime deserves no less A place so distant from my native Air Is more than I deserve or long can bear Why do I mourn The fate I here attend Is a less grief than Caesar to offend AN ODE Sung before the KING on New-Years-Day ARise Great Monarch see the joyful day Drest in the glories of the East Presumes to interrupt your Sacred rest Never did Night more willingly give way Or Morn more chearfully appear Big with the mighty tidings of a New born Year II. Blest be that Sun who in times fruitful Womb Was to this noble Embassie design'd To Head the Golden Troops of days to come Nor lag'd ingloriously behind Ignobly in the last years Throng to rise and set In this 't is happier far than May Since to add Years is greater than to give a day Chorus Oh may the happy days encrease With spoils of War and Wealth of Peace Till time and age shall swallow'd be Lost in vast Eternity May Charles n'ere quit his sacred Throne Himself succeed himself alone And to lengthen out his time Take God from us and give to him That so each World a Charles may know Father above and Son below III. Heark the Jocund Sphears renew Their cheerful and melodious Song While the glad Gods are pleas'd to view The rich and painted throng Of happy days in their fair order march along Move on ye prosperous hours move on Finish your Course so well begun Let no ill omen daâ—e prophane Your beautious and harmonious train Or Jealousies or foolish fears disturb you as you run IV. See mighty Charles how all the minutes press Each longing which shall first appear Since in this renowned year Not one but feels a secret happiness As big with new events and some unheard success See how our troubles vanish see How the tumultuous Tribes agree Propitious Winds bear all our griefs away And Peace clears up the Troubled day Not a wrinkle not a Scar Of faction or dishonest War But Pomps and Triumphs deck the Noble Kalendar Vpon the late Ingenious Translation of PERE SIMON 'S Criâ—tical History By H. D. Lsq OF all Heavens Judgments that was sure thâ— worâ— When our bold Fathers were at Babel cursâ— Man to whose race this glorious Orb was giv'n Natures lov'd Darling and the Joy of Heav'n Whose pow'rful voice the subject World obey'd And God's were pleas'd with the discourse he made He who before did ev'ry form excel Beneath the most ignoble Creature fell Ev'ry vile beast thro' the wide Earth can rove And where the sence invites declare his love Sounds Inarticulate move thro' all the race And one short Language serves for ev'ry place But such a price did that presumption cost That half our lives in trifling words are lost Nor can their utmost force and power express The Soul's Ideas in their Native dress Knowledge that godlike Orn'ment of the mind To the small spot where it is born's confind But He brave Youth the toylsom Fate repeals While his learn'd pen mysterious Truth reveals So did of old the cloven Tongues descend And Heav'ns Commands to ev'ry Ear extend And 't was but just that all th' astonish'd throng Shou'd understand the Galileans Tongue Gods sacred Law was for all Israel made And in plain terms to ev'ry Tribe display'd On Marble Pillars
Had'st thou O charming Stranger ne'er arriv'd Dissembl'd Sweetness in thy Look does shine But ah th' inhumane Monsters lurk within What now remains or whom shall I implore In a wild Isle on a deserted Shoar Shall I return and beg my Father's aid My Father's whom ingrateful I betray'd And with my Brother 's cruel Murderer fled But Theseus Ariadna's Constant Kind Kind as the Seas and Constant as the Wind. See! wretched Maid vast Seas around thee roar And angry Waves beat the resounding Shoar Cut off thy Hopes and intercept thy Flight No Ship appears to bless thy Longing Sight The dismal Isle no Humane Footstep bears But a sad Silence doubles all my Fears And Fate in all its dreadful Shapes appears Ev'n fainting Nature scarce maintains the strife Betwixt prevailing Death and yielding Life Yet e'er I dye revenging Gods I 'll call And curse him first and then contented fall Ascend ye Furies then ascend and hear My last Complaints and grant my dying Prayer Which Grief and Rage for ill rewarded Love And the deep sense of his Injustice move Oh suffer not my latest Words to flye Like common Air and unregarded dye With Vengeance his dire Treachery pursue For Vengeance Goddesses attends on you Terrour with you Despair and Death appear And all the frightful Forms the Guilty fear May his proud Ship by furious Billows tost On Roâ—ks or some wild Shoar like this be lost There may he fall or late returning see If so the God and so the Fates decree A mournful House polluted by the Dead And Furies ever wait on his * He carried away her Sister Phoedra Incestuous Bed Iove heard and did the just Request approve And nodding shook Earth Seas and all the radiant Lights above THE Twentieth IDYLLIUM OF THEOCRITUS PRoud Eunica when I advanc'd to Kiss Laugh'd loud and cry'd How ignorant he is Alas poor Man dare you a wretched Swain Lips such as these and such a Mouth prophane No To prevent your rustick Freedom know They 're unacquainted yet with such as you But your soft Lip your Beard your horny Fist All charming and all suing to be kist Your matted Hair and your smooth Chin invite Conspire to make you Lovely to the sight Oh how you look how prettily you play How soft your Words and what fine things you say Yet to prevent Infection pray be gon Your Neighbourhood methinks is dang'rous grown Vanish nor dare to touch me Oh the Shame He smells of the rank Goats from which he came This said with Indignation thrice she spit Survey'd me with Disdain from Head to Feet Then was fierce Rage and conscious Beauty seen In all her Motions and her haughty Meen She pray'd as if she some Contagion fear'd Cast a disdainful Smile and disappear'd My boyling Blood sprang with my Rage and spread O'er all my burning Face a fiery Red So Roses blush when night her kindly dew has shed I rage I curse the haughty 〈◊〉 that jeer'd My graceful Person and my comely Beard Ye Shepherds I conjure you tell me true Has any God cast my old Form anew How am I chang'd for once a matchless Grace Shone in the charming Features of my Face Like creeping Ivy did my Beard o'er grow And my long Hair in untaught Curles did flow My Brows were black and my large Forehead white My sparkling Eyes shot forth a radiant Light In sweetest Words did my soft Language flow As Honey sweet and soft as falling Snow When with loud Notes I the shrill Pipe inspir'd The list'ning Shepherds all my Skill admir'd Me all the Virgins on our Mountains love They praise my Beauty and my flames approve Such tho' I am yet me because a Swain How nice these Town-bred Women are how vain Gay Eunica rejected with Disdain And she it seems has never heard or read How Bacchus now a God a flock once fed Venus her self did the Profession grace By Love transform'd into a Countrey Lass The Phrygian fields and woods her flames can tell And how her much bewail'd Adonis fell How oft on Latmos did the Moon descend From her bright Chariot to her Carian friend And absent from the Sky whole Nights with him did spend To shining in her Orb prefer her Love Stoop and desert her glorious Seat above And was not he a Shepherd sure he was Yet did not she disdain his low Embrace The Gods great Mother too and greater Iove Their Majesty laid by could Shepherds love The Phrygian Groves and conscious Ida know What She for Atys he for Ganymed could do But prouder Eunica disdains alone What Gods and greatest Goddesses have done Fairer it seems by much and greater she Than Venus Cynthia or than Cybele Oh my fair Venus may you ne'er find one Worthy your Love in Countrey or in Town But to a Virgin Bed condemn'd for ever lye alone TO LESBIA OUT OF CATULLUS LEt 's live my dearest Lesbia and love The little time that Nature lends improve In Mirth and Pleasure let us waste the day Nor care a farthing what old Dotards say The Suns may rise again that once are set Their usual Labour and old Course repeat But when our Day 's once turn'd have lost their Light We must sleep on one long Eternal Night A thousand Kisses Dear a hundred more Another hundred Lesbia I am poor Another thousand Lesbia and as warm Let every Touch surprize and pressing Charm And when repeated thousands numerous grow We 'll kiss out all again that none may know How many you have lent and what I owe While I 'll in gross with eager haste repay And kiss a long Eternity away To LESBIA MY Lesbia swears she would Catullus wed Tho' Iove himself should come and ask her Bed True this she swears by all the Powers above But she 's a Woman speaking to her Love That single Thought my growing faith Defeats 'T is necessary for them to be Cheats They must be false they must their Oaths forget So pleasing is the Lech'ry of Deceit What Women tell their Servants fade like Dreams And should be writ in Air or running Streams To LESBIA A Petition to be freed from LOVE IF Pleasure follows when we think upon The good and pious Deeds that we have done That we ne'er broke our Oaths ne'er strove to cheat Nor Heav'n abus'd to credit a Deceit Catullus thou art safe and sure to prove Long happy years from this uneasy Love What could be done or what devoutly said You said and did the utmost Duty paid But all was lost on the ungrateful Maid Then why wilt thou continu'd Pains endure And when thou may'st enjoy defer the Cure Assert thy Freedom and thy self restore Though Heaven denys yet be a Wretch no more T is hard a rooted Love to dispossess 'T is hard but you may do it if you please In this thy Safety doth consist alone Or possible or not it must be done Great Gods if Pity doth belong to you If you can save the man whom