Amours
- 1.3.7
Take hin, who will for endless ages serve:
- 1.3.8
Take him whose faithful flame will never swerve
- 1.3.9
Though no illustrious names my race adorn;
- 1.3.10
Who am but of equestrian order born;
- 1.3.11
Though a few ploughs serve my paternal fields,
- 1.3.12
Nor my small table many dishes yields;
- 1.3.13
Yet Bacchus, Phoebus, and the tuneful nine,
- 1.3.14
Are all my friends, and to my side incline,
- 1.3.15
And love's great god, at last, will make me thine.
- 1.3.16
Heav'n knows, dear maid, I love no other fair;
- 1.3.17
In thee lives all my love, my heav'n lies there.
- 1.3.18
Oh! may I by indulgent Fate's decree,
- 1.3.19
With thee lead all my life, and die with thee.
- 1.3.20
Thy beauties yield me my transporting theme;
- 1.3.21
And while I celebrate thy charming name,
- 1.3.22
My verse shall be as sacred as my flame.
- 1.3.23
Jove's sev'ral rapes, his injur'd Io's wrongs,
- 1.3.24
Are made immortal in his poet's songs.
- 1.3.25
Verse still reveals where Leda's flames began,
- 1.3.26
Rais'd by the secret godhead in the swan,
- 1.3.27
The story of the rape Europa bore,
- 1.3.28
Shall last while winds shall rage, or waters roar.
- 1.3.29
Your name shall live like theirs, while verse endures,
- 1.3.30
And mine be ever writ, and read with yours.
- 1.4.1
Your husband will be with us at the treat,
- 1.4.2
May that be the last supper he shall eat.
- 1.4.3
And am poor I, a guest invited there,
- 1.4.4
Only to see, while he may touch the fair?
- 1.4.5
To see you kiss, and hug your nauseous lord,
- 1.4.6
While his lewd hand descends below the board?
- 1.4.7
No wonder that Hippodamia's charms,
- 1.4.8
At such a sight, the Centaurs urg'd to arms:
- 1.4.9
That in a rage, they threw their cups aside,
- 1.4.10
Assail'd the bridegroom, and would force the bride.
- 1.4.11
I am not half a horse, (I would I were :)
- 1.4.12
Yet hardly can from you my hands forbear.
- 1.4.13
Take, then, my counsel; which observ'd, may be,
- 1.4.14
Of some importance both to you and me.
- 1.4.15
Be sure to come before your man be there,
- 1.4.16
There's nothing can be done, but come howe'er.
- 1.4.17
Sit next him, (that belongs to decency;)
- 1.4.18
But tread upon my foot in passing by.
- 1.4.19
Read in my looks what silently they speak,
- 1.4.20
And slily, with your eyes, your answer make.
- 1.4.21
My lifted eye-brow shall declare my pain,
- 1.4.22
My right hand to his fellow shall complain;
- 1.4.23
And on the back a letter shall design,
- 1.4.24
Beside a note that shall be writ in wine.
- 1.4.25
Whene'er you think upon our last embrace,
- 1.4.26
With your fore-finger gently touch your face.
- 1.4.27
If any word of mine offend my dear,
- 1.4.28
Pull with your hand the velvet of your ear;
- 1.4.29
If you are pleas'd with what I do or say,
- 1.4.30
Handle your rings, or vith your fingers play.
- 1.4.31
As suppliants use at altars, hold the board,
- 1.4.32
Whene'er you wish the devil may take your lord.
- 1.4.33
When he fills for you, never touch the cup,
- 1.4.34
But bid th' officious cuckold drink it up:
- 1.4.35
The waiter on those services employ;
- 1.4.36
Drink you, and I will snatch it from the boy,
- 1.4.37
Watching the part where your sweet mouth hath been,
- 1.4.38
And thence, with eager lips, will suck it in.
- 1.4.39
If he, with clownish manners, thinks it fit
- 1.4.40
To taste, and offer you the nasty bit,
- 1.4.41
Reject his greasy kindness, and restore
- 1.4.42
Th' unsav'ry morsel he had chew'd before.
- 1.4.43
Nor let his arms embrace your neck, nor rest
- 1.4.44
Your tender cheek upon his hairy breast;
- 1.4.45
Let not his hand within your bosom stray,
- 1.4.46
And rudely with your pretty bubbies play.
- 1.4.47
But, above all, let him no kiss receive,
- 1.4.48
That's an offence I never can forgive;
- 1.4.49
Do not, oh! do not that sweet mouth resign,
- 1.4.50
Lest I rise up in arms, and cry 'tis mine.
- 1.4.51
I shall thrust in betwixt, and void of fear
- 1.4.52
The manifest adult'rer will appear.
- 1.4.53
These things are plain to sight, but more I doubt
- 1.4.54
What you conceal beneath your petticoat;
- 1.4.55
Take not his leg between your tender thighs,
- 1.4.56
Nor with your hand provoke my foe to rise.
- 1.4.57
How many love inventions I deplore,
- 1.4.58
Which I myself have practis'd all before !
- 1.4.59
How oft have I been forc'd the robe to lift
- 1.4.60
In company; to make a homely shift
- 1.4.61
For a bare bout, ill huddled o'er in haste,
- 1.4.62
While o'er my side the fair her mantle cast!
- 1.4.63
You to your husband shall not be so kind,
- 1.4.64
But lest you should, your mantle leave behind.
- 1.4.65
Encourage him to tope, but kiss him not,
- 1.4.66
Nor mix one drop of water in his pot.
- 1.4.67
If he be fuddled well, and snores apace,
- 1.4.68
Then we may take advice from time and place.
- 1.4.69
When all depart, while compliments are loud,
- 1.4.70
Be sure to mix among the thickest crowd;
- 1.4.71
There I will be, and there we cannot miss,
- 1.4.72
Perhaps to grubble, or at least to kiss.
- 1.4.73
Alas, what length of labor I employ,
- 1.4.74
Just to secure a short and transient joy!
- 1.4.75
For night must part us, and when night is come
- 1.4.76
Tuck'd underneath his arm, he leads you home.
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Perseus Latin. CTS URN phi0959.phi001.perseus-eng2. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.