The while her dripping locks she wrung,
And spread them to the fanning wind.
Quick to present her clothes I rush,
And towards her stretch my longing armis.
But she repulsed me with a blush—
A blush that added to her charms.
Rage would have sparkled in her eyes;
Yet still they twinkled lovely sweet:
As suns in farthest distant skies
Emit their light without their heat.
Her robe she snatch'd, and round her waist
The azure mantle instant threw.-
"I'm sorry, sir, I'm in such haste;
I thank you-but must bid adieu."
I gently press'd her hand ;-she frown'd;
Yet took she not her hand away:
I kiss'd her hand-she turn'd around
To hide what conscious smiles betray.
At length she broke my rod and net;
Into the sea my capture toss'd:
Then left me vainly to regret
The fish I'd caught, and her I lost.
EPISTLE VIII. FROM THE GROOM OF A KNIGHT IN LOVE.*
ECHEPOLUS TO MELESIPPUS.
"OH! the grace, the art to rein
Fiery coursers round the plain !
See yon valiant hero ride,
Skill'd with either hand to guide:
See how beautiful and strong!
See how swift he glides away!
Sure fell Cupid's arrowy storm
Ne'er assail'd that blooming form.
This is an odd subject.-While a gentleman was riding on horse-back his groom, struck with his beauty, was exclaiming that sure so glorious a form could never have been in love. This the master overhears, and informs his groom to the contrary; who writes an account of the transaction to his friend.
No 'tis sure Adonis fair,
All the nymphs' peculiar care."
Speaking thus, the cavalier
Chanced my words to overhear.-
"Hush," said he, "thy words are vain:
Love alone can guide the rein.
Love impels, through me, the steed,
Nerves my arm, and fires my speed:
Quick as lightning though we run,
Still dread Cupid urges on.
Mount yon car, begin thy strain;
Songs best suit the lover's pain."
I submitted-and from him
Took at once the sudden theme.
"Little reck'd I, hapless lord,
Cupid's shaft thy heart had gored:
If so fair a form as thine
Can with hopeless passion pine,
By the Cyprian queen I swear,
All the Loves fell tyrants are.
Yet be't thine to brave the smart,
Boldly bear the tingling dart :-
Well might they disturb your rest,
Who could pierce their mother's breast."
STESICHORUS TO ERATOSTHENES.
A LADY walking in the street
Her lover lately chanced to meet :
But dared not speak when he came nigh,
Nor make a sign, nor wink her eye,
Lest watchful spouse should see or hear:
And servants too were in the rear.
A plea she sought to stop his walk,
To touch his hand, to hear him talk:
A plea she sought, nor sought in vain;
A lucky scheme inspired her brain.
• Who could pierce, &c.] "Et majores tuos irreverenter pulsasti toties et ipsam matrem tuam, me inquam ipsam, parricida, denudas quotidie. APOL. MIL. V.
+ Epistle IX. contains the stratagem of a lady who wanted to speak to her lover in the presence of her husband and servants.
Just as they met, she feign'd to trip,
And sprain her ankle in the slip.
The lover, ready at his cue,
Suspected what she had in view;
And as he pass'd at little distance,
Officious ran to her assistance.
Contrived her slender waist to seize,
And catch her snowy hand in his.
With unexpected raptures fill'd,
Through all their veins love instant thrill'd:
Their limbs were palsied with delight,
Which seem'd the trembling caused by fright.
Feigning condolence, he drew near,
And spoke his passion in her ear;
While she, to act the real strain,
Affects to writhe and twist with pain:
A well-concerted plan to kiss
The hand her lover touched with his :
Then, looking amorously sly,
She put it to her jetty eye;
But rubb'd in vain to force a tear
Might seem the genuine fruits of fear.
EPISTLE X.* ACONTIUS AND CYDIPPE
ERATOCLEA TO DIONYSIS.
LONG buffeted by adverse fate,
The victim of Diana's hate,
At last the blest Acontius led
Cydippe to the bridal bed.
Ne'er had been form'd by Nature's care
So lovely, so complete a pair.
And truth to that belief gave rise,t
That similarities so nice,
By destiny's impulsive act
Each other mutually attract.
• Epistle X.] This is an epistolary narration of the loves of Acontius and Cydippe.-Acontius was a youth of the isle of Cea, who going to Delos during the solemnities of Diana, fell in love with Cydippe; and being inferior to her in wealth and rank, he there practised the deceit which is the subject of this Epistle. We find the story in Ovid.
* And truth, &c.]ὁμοίον ἀγει θεὸς ὡς τὸν ὁμοίον.
On fair Cydippe Beauty's queen
Had lavish'd all her magazine :
From all her charms the magic cest❤
Reserved, and freely gave the rest :
That cest, not fit for mortal bodies,
Her own prerogative as goddess;
And but for which distinction, no man
Could know th' immortal from the woman.
In three, like Hesiod, to comprise
The graces sparkling in her eyes,
Were idle; since to count them all,
A thousand were a sum too small.
Nor were his eyes devoid of light,
Bold and yet modest, sweet though bright:
Whilst health and glowing vigour spread
His downy cheek with native red.
Numbers from every quarter ran,
To see this master-piece of man:
Crowds at the Forum might you meet,
-And if he did but cross the street,
Th' applauding train his steps pursued,
And praised and wonder'd as they view'd.
Such was th' accomplish'd youth, whose breast
The fair Cydippe robb'd of rest.
And 'twas but justice that the swain
For whom so many sigh'd in vain,
Should feel how exquisite the smart
That rankles in a lover's heart.-
So Cupid, throwing to the ground
His shafts that tickle while they wound,
Aim'd at the youth with all his strength
An arrow of a wondrous length:
His aim, alas! was all too true;
Quick to its goal the weapon flew.—
But when Acontius felt the blow,
What language can express his woe?
The fair one's heart he vow'd to move,✦
Or end at once his life and love.
From all her charms, &c.] Homer tells us of this magic girdle be longing to Venus, which made the person who wore it the object of uni versal love, and which Juno once borrowed to deceive Jupiter.
The fair one's heart, &c.]
Aut ego sigæos repetam te conjuge portus,
Aut ego Tænariâ contegar exul humô. OVID.
While he who shot so keen a dart,
The god of stratagem and art,
Awed haply by his graceful mien,
Fraught him with wiles the fair to win.
Thus while at Dian's hallow'd fane
Cydippe join'd the maiden train,
Towards her attendant's feet he roll'd
(Inscribed with characters of gold)
An apple of Cydonian stem:
(Love's garden raised the budding gem.)
The girl immediate seized the prize,
Admired its colour and its size:
Much wond'ring from what virgin's zone
So fair a pris'ner could have flown.
""Tis sure," said she, "a fruit divine;
But then, what means this mystic line?
Cydippe, see, just now I found
This apple; view how large, how round:
See how it shames the rose's bloom,
And smell its exquisite perfume.
And, dearest mistress, tell me, pray,
The meaning which these words convey?"
The blushing fruit Cydippe eyed,
Then read th' inscription on its side.-
"By chaste Diana's sacred head,
I swear I will Acontius wed."
Thus vowed she at the hallow'd shrine,
Though rashly, though without design;
And utter'd not, for modest dread,
The last emphatic word, to wed:
Which but to hear, much more to speak,
With blushes paints a virgin's cheek.
"Ah!" cries the half-distracted fair,
"Diana sure has heard me swear:
Yes, favour'd youth, without dispute
She has assented to thy suit."
He the meanwhile from day to day
In ceaseless anguish pined away.
His tears usurp'd the place of sleep
For shame forbade all day to weep.
• Which but to hear, &c.]
Nomine conjugii dicto, confusa pudore
Sensi me totis erubuisse genis. OVID
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