TO SOME ONE,

WHO SPREAD RUMOURS CONCERNING HIMSELF AND LESBIA.

DID

you believe that I had cursed

My heart, my life, my cherish'd fair?
No cause inflamed my rage to burst;
Or had I cause, the gravest, worst,
My desperate love must still forbear.

But whence the tale I well conceive,
For when with noise and wine elated,

When with your tavern host at eve,
Let one but talk and one believe,
And any miracle's created.

VOL. II.

H

THE RECONCILIATION.

TO LESBIA.

WHEN the first wish the bosom knows,
But hope has never dared to plight,
Some unexpected hour bestows;

How heartfelt is the mind's delight!

Thus grateful to my lovesick vow,
Than all the wealthiest can acquire
More precious far, thus, Lesbia, thou
Restor'st thyself to my desire.

Yes, thou restor'st thyself, my fair,

When high my love, but hope how dark!

And this recorded day shall bear

Of all my life the happiest mark.

I ask the prosperous crowd in vain For one possess'd of greater bliss: Yes, challenge thought itself to feign A boon that blesses more than this.

TO COMINIUS

If your foul age, which every vice defiles,
Were doom'd, Cominius, by the people's law;
First your coarse tongue, that all the good reviles,

Cut out, would glut the vulture's hungry maw; The crow's black gorge your torn-out eyes digest; Your entrails dogs devour, and wolves the rest.

LESBIA'S VOW OF CONSTANCY.

ADDRESSED TO HERSELF.

Dost thou, my life, a tender bond propose
Of lasting truth and constant love's delights?
Gods grant, that truly from thy heart it flows,
And nerve that heart to keep the faith it plights!

Thus let their hallow'd vows, their fond career Till both shall end, our lives and loves pursue; And coming time through each succeeding year

Find me as fond as now, and her as true.