Part 1 (2/2)
Gutta praeceps...o...b.. parvo sustinet casus suos.
En, pudorem florulentae prodiderunt purpurae: Umor ille quern serenis astra rorant noctibus 20 Mane virgineas papillas solvit umenti peplo.
Ipsa jussit mane ut udas virgines nubant rosae; Fusa Paphies de cruore deque Amoris osculis Deque gemmis deque flammis deque solis purpuris, Cras ruborem qui latebat veste tectus ignea 25 Unico marita nodo non pudebit solvere.
_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras amet_.
Mis...o...b..ing and clinging and trembling--”Now, now must I fall? Is it now?”
Star-fleck'd on the stem of the brier as it gathers and falters and flows, Lo! its trail runs a ripple of fire on the nipple it bids be a rose, 20 Yet englobes it diaphanous, veil upon veil in a tiffany drawn To bedrape the small virginal b.r.e.a.s.t.s yet unripe for the spousal of dawn; Till the vein'd very vermeil of Venus, till Cupid's incarnadine kiss, Till the ray of the ruby, the sunrise, ensanguine the bath of her bliss; Till the wimple her bosom uncover, a tissue of fire to the view, 25 And the zone o'er the wrists of the lover slip down as they reach to undo.
_Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew_!
Ipsa nymphas diva luco jussit ire myrteo: It puer comes puellis. Nee tamen credi potest Esse Amorem feriatum, si sagittas vexerit. 30 Ite, nymphae, posuit arma, feriatus est Amor; Jussus est inermis ire, nudus ire jussus est, Neu quid arcu, neu sagitta, neu quid igne Iaederet; Sed tamen nymphse cavete, quod Cupido pulcher est; Est in armis totus idem quando nudus est Amor! 35
_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit eras amet_.
Conpari Venus pudore mitt.i.t ad te virgines:
”Go, maidens,” Our Lady commands, ”while the myrtle is green in the groves, Take the Boy to your escort.” ”But ah!” cry the maidens, ”what trust is in Love's Keeping holiday too, while he weareth his archery, tools of his trade?” 30 ”Go! he lays them aside, an apprentice released; ye may wend unafraid.
See, I bid him disarm, he disarms; mother-naked I bid him to go, And he goes mother-naked. What flame can he shoot without arrow or bow?”
Yet beware ye of Cupid, ye maidens! Beware most of all when he charms As a child: for the more he runs naked, the more he's a strong man-at-arms. 35
_Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew!
”Lady Dian”--Behold how demurely the damsels approach her and sue--
Una res est quam rogamus: cede, virgo Delia, Ut nemus sit incruentum de ferinis stragibus.
Ipsa vellet ut venires, si deceret virginem: 40 Jam tribus choros videres feriatos noctibus Congreges inter catervas ire per saltus tuos, Floreas inter coronas, myrteas inter casas: Nee Ceres nee Bacchus absunt, nee poetarum Deus; De tenente tota nox est pervigilia canticis: 45 Regnet in silvis Dione; tu recede, Delia.
_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras amet_.
Hear Venus her only pet.i.tion! Dear maiden of Delos, depart!
Let the forest be bloodless to-day, unmolested the roe and the hart!
Holy huntress, thyself she would bid be her guest, 40 could thy chast.i.ty stoop To approve of our revels, our dances--three nights that we weave in a troop Arm-in-arm thro' thy sanctu'ries whirling, till faint and dispersed in the grove We lie with thy lilies for chaplets, thy myrtles for arbours of love: And Apollo, with Ceres and Bacchus to chorus-- song, harvest, and wine-- Hymns thee dispossess'd, ”'Tis Dione who reigns! 45 Let Diana resign!”
O, the wonderful nights of Dione! dark bough, with her star s.h.i.+ning thro'!
_Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew!_
Jussit Hyblaeis tribunal stare diva floribus; Praeses ipsa jura dicit, adsederunt Gratiae.
Hybla, totos funde floras quidquid annus adtulit; 50 Hybla, florum rumpe vestem quantus aetnae campus est.
Ruris hic erunt puellae, vel puellae montium, Quaeque silvas, quaeque lucos, quaeque fontes incolunt:
Jussit omnes adsidere mater alitis dei, Jussit et nudo puellas nil Amori credere. 55
_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras amet._ She has set up her court, has Our Lady, in Hybla, and deckt it with blooms:-- With the Graces at hand for a.s.sessors Dione dispenses her dooms.
Now burgeon, O Hybla! put forth and abound, till 50 Proserpina's field, To the foison thy lap overflowing its laurel of Sicily yield.
Call, a.s.semble the nymphs--hamadryad and dryad-- the echoes who court From the rock, who the rushes inhabit, in ripples who swim and disport.
”I admonish you maids--I, his mother, who suckled the scamp ere he flew-- An ye trust to the Boy flying naked, some pestilent 55 prank ye shall rue.”
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