Cui colar infelix? aut cui placuiffe laborem ?
Ille mihi cultus unicus auctor abeft.
Molle meum levibus cor eft violabile telis ;
Et femper caufa eft, cur ego femper amem. 90 Sive ita nafcenti legem dixere forores,
Nec data funt vitae fila fevera meae ;
Sive abeunt ftudia in mores, artefque magiftrae,
Ingenium nobis molle Thalia facit.
Quid mirum, fi me primae lanuginis aetas
Abftulit, atque anni, quos vir amare poteft?
Hunc ne pro Cephalo raperes, Aurora, timebam:
Et faceres; fed te prima rapina tenet.
Hunc fi confpiciat quae confpicit omnia, Phoebe;
Juffus erit fomnos continuare Phaon.
Hunc Venus in coelum curru vexiffet eburno;
Sed videt et Marti poffe placere fuo.
O nec adhuc juvenis, nec jam puer ! utilis aetas!
O decus, atque aevi gloria magna tui !
Huc ades, inque finus, formofe, relabere noftros:
Non ut ames oro, verum ut amare finas.
Scribimus, et lacrymis oculi rorantur obortis :
Afpice, quam fit in hoc multa litura loco.
For whom should Sappho use such arts as these?
He's gone, whom only she defir'd to please!
Cupid's light darts my tender bofom move,
Still is there cause for Sappho ftill to love:
So from my birth the Sifters fix'd my doom,
gave to Venus all my life to come;
Or, while my Mufe in melting notes complains,
My yielding heart keeps measure to my strains.
By charms like thine which all my foul have won,
Who might not-ah! who would not be undone?
For those Aurora Cephalus might fcorn,
And with fresh blushes paint the confcious morn.
For those might Cynthia lengthen Phaon's fleep,
And bid Endymion nightly tend his sheep. 100
Venus for those had rapt thee to the skies,
But Mars on thee might look with Venus' eyes.
O scarce a youth, yet scarce a tender boy!
O useful time for lovers to employ !
Pride of thy age, and glory of thy race,
Come to these arms, and melt in this embrace !
The vows you never will return, receive;
And take at least the love you will not give.
See, while I write, my words are loft in tears!
The less my sense, the more my love appears. 110
Si tam certus eras hinc ire, modeftius iffes, 110 Et modo dixiffes: Lefbi puella, vale.
Non tecum lacrymas, non ofcula fumma tulisti; Denique non timui, quod dolitura fui.
Nil de te mecum eft, nifi tantum injuria: nec tu,
Admoneat quod te, pignus amantis habes.
Non mandata dedi ; neque enim mandata dediffem
Ulla, nifi ut nolles immemor effe mei.
Per tibi, qui nunquam longe difcedat; Amorem,
Perque novem juro, numina noftra, Deas;
Cum mihi nefcio quis, Fugiunt tua gaudia, dixit:
Nec me flere diu, nec potuiffe loqui;
Et lacrymae deerant oculis, et lingua palato:
Aftrictum gelido frigore pectus erat.
Poftquam fe dolor invenit; nec pectora plangi,
Nec puduit fciffis exululare comis.
Non aliter quam fi nati pia mater adempti
Portet ad extructos corpus inane rogos.
Sure 'twas not much to bid one kind adieu,
(At leaft to feign was never hard to you)
Farewell, my Lesbian love, you might have faid
Or coldly thus, Farewell, oh Lesbian maid!
No tear did you, no parting kiss receive,
Nor knew I then how much I was to grieve.
No lover's gift your Sappho could confer,
And wrongs and woes were all you left with her.
No charge I gave you, and no charge could give,
But this, Be mindful of our loves, and live. 120
Now by the Nine, thofe pow'rs ador'd by me,
And Love, the God that ever waits on thee,
When first I heard (from whom I hardly knew)
That you were fled, and all my joys with you,
Like some sad statue, fpeechlefs, pale I stood, 125
Grief chill'd my breaft, and stopp'd my freezing
blood;
No figh to rife, no tear had pow'r to flow,
Fix'd in a stupid lethargy of woe:
But when its way th' impetuous paffion found,
I rend
my treffes, and my breast I wound; 130
I rave, then weep; I curfe, and then complain;
Now fwell to rage, now melt in tears again.
Not fiercer pangs distract the mournful dame,
Whose first-born infant feeds the fun'ral flame,
Gaudet, et e nostro crescit moerore Charaxus 135
Frater; et ante oculos itque reditque meos.
Utque pudenda mei videatur caufa doloris ;
Quid dolet haec? certe filia vivit, ait.
Non veniunt in idem pudor atque amor: omne videbat
Vulgus; eram lacero pectus aperta finu. 140 Tu mihi cura, Phaon; te fomnia noftra reducunt; Somnia formofo candidiora die.
Illic te invenio, quanquam regionibus abfis; 145
Sed non longa fatis gaudia fomnus habet.
Saepe tuos noftra cervice onerare lacertos,
Saepe tuae videor fuppofuiffe meos.
Blandior interdum, verifque fimillima verba
Eloquor; et vigilant fenfibus ora meis.
Ofcula cognofco; quae tu committere linguae,
Aptaque confueras accipere, apta dare.
Ulteriora pudet narrare; fed omnia fiunt.
Et juvat, et fine te non libet effe mihi.
At cum fe Titan oftendit, et omnia fecum ;
Tam cito me fomnos deftituiffe queror.
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