Venus for those had rapt thee to the skies,
But Mars on thee might look with Venus' eyes.
O fcarce 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 lefs my fenfe, the more my love appears.
Sure 'twas not much to bid one kind adieu,
(At least to feign was never hard to you)
Farewel my Lesbian love, you might have said,
Or coldly thus, farewel oh Lesbian maid !
No tear did you, no parting kiss receive,
Nor knew I then how much I was to grieve.
Hunc Venus in cælum curru vexiffet eburno;
Sed videt & Marti poffe placere fuo.
O nec adhuc juvenis, nec jam puer! utilis ætas!
O decus, atque avi gloria magna tui!
Huc ades, inque finus formofe relabere noftros:
Non ut ames oro, verum ut amare finas.
Scribimus, & lacrymis oculi rorantur obortis;
Afpice, quam fit in hoc multa litura loco.
Si tam certus eras hinc ire, modeftius iffes,
Et modo dixiffes: Lefbi puella, vale.
Non tecum lacrymas, non ofcula fumma tulifti;
Denique non timui, quod dolitura fui.
No lover's gift your Sapho 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.
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 fome fad ftatue, fpeechlefs, pale, I ftood,
Grief chill'd my breast, and stop'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 passion found,
I rend my treffes, and my breast I wound,
I rave, then weep, I curfe, and then complain,
Now fwell to rage, now melt in tears again.
Nil de te mecum eft, nifi tantum injuria: nec te
Admonuit, quamvis pignus amantis habes.
Non mandata dedi; neque enim mandata dedissem
Ulla, nifi ut nolles immemor effe mei.
Per tibi, qui nunquam longè difcedit, amorem,
Perque novem juro, numina noftra, Deas;
Quum mihi nefcio quis, Fugiunt tua gaudia, dixit;
Nec me flere diu, nec potuiffe loqui;
Et lacrymæ deerant oculis, & verba paluto:
Aftri&tum gelido frigore pectus erat.
Poftquam fe dolor imminuit; nec pectora plangi,
Nec puduit raptis exululare comis.
Not fiercer pangs distract the mournful dame,
Whose first-born infant feeds the fun'ral flame.
My scornful brother with a smile appears,
Infults my woes, and triumphs in my tears,
His hated image ever haunts my eyes,
And why this grief? thy daughter lives, he cries.
Stung with my love, and furious with defpair,
All torn my garments, and my bofom bare,
My woes, thy crimes, I to the world proclaim;
Such inconfiftent things are love and shame!
'Tis thou art all my care and my delight,
My daily longing, and my dream by night:
Oh night more pleasing than the brightest day,
When fancy gives what abfence takes away,
And drefs'd in all its vifionary charms,
Reftores my fair deferter to my arms!
Non aliter quam fi nati pia mater adempti
Portet ad extru&tos corpus inane rogos.
Gaudet&è noftro crefcit mærore Charaxus
Frater; & ante oculos itque reditque meos.
Utque pudenda mei videatur caufa doloris;
Quid dolet hæc? certe filia vivit, ait.
Non veniunt in idem pudor atque amor: omne videbat
Vulgus; eram lacero pectus aperta finu.
Tu mihi cura Phaon; te fomnia noftra reducunt;
Somnia formofo candidiora die.
Illic te invenio, quanquam regionibus abfis;
Sed non long fatis gaudia fomnus habet.
Then round your neck in wanton wreaths I twine,
Then you, methinks, as fondly circle mine:
A thousand tender words, I hear and speak;
A thousand melting kiffes, give, and take:
Then fiercer joys—I blush to mention these,
Yet while I blush, confess how much they please.
But when, with day, the sweet delufions fly,
And all things wake to life and joy, but I,
As if once more forfaken, I complain,
And close my eyes, to dream of you again :
Then frantic rife, and like fome Fury rove
Thro' lonely plains, and thro' the filent
As if the filent grove, and lonely plains
That knew my pleasures, could relieve my pains.
Sæpe tuos noftra cervice onerare lacertos,
Sæpe tua videor fuppofuiffe meos.
Ofcula cognofco; que tu committere linguæ,
Aptaque confuetas accipere, apta dare.
Blandior interdum, verifque fimillima verba
Eloquor; & vigilant fenfibus ora meis.
Ulteriora pudet narrare; fed omnia fiunt,
Et juvat, & fine te non licet effe mihi.
At cum fe Titan oftendit, & omnia fecum;
Tam cito me fomnos deftituiffe queror.
Antra nemufque peto, tanquam nemus antraque profint, 160
Confcia deliciis illa fuere tuis.
Illuc mentis inops, ut quam furialis Erichtho
Impulit, in collo crine jacente ferer.
I view the Grotto, once the scene of love,
The rocks around, the hanging roofs above,
That charm'd me more, with native mofs o'ergrown, Than Phrygian marble, or the Parian stone.
I find the fhades that veil'd our joys before,
But, Phaon gone, those fhades delight no more.
Here the prefs'd herbs with bending tops betray
Where oft' entwin'd in am'rous folds we lay;
I kiss that earth which once was prefs'd by you,
And all with tears the with'ring herbs bedew.
For thee the fading trees appear to mourn,
And birds defer their fongs till thy return:
Night shades the groves, and all in filence lie,
All, but the mournful Philomel and I:
Antra vident oculi fcabro pendentia topho,
Que mihi Mygdonii marmoris inftar erant.
Invenio fylvam, quæ fæpe cubilia nobis
Prabuit, & multa texit opaca coma.
At non invenio dominum fylvæque, meumque,
Vile folum locus eft: dos erat ille loci.
Agnovi preffas noti mihi cefpitis herbas:
De noftro curvum pondere gramen erat.
Incubui, tetigique locum qua parte fuifti;
Grata prius lacrymas combibit herba meas.
Quinetiam rami pofitis lugere videntur
Frondibus; & nulla dulce queruntur aves. Sola virum non ulta pie maftiffima mater Concinit Ifmarium Daulias ales Ityn.
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