Ad Cypassim ancillam CorinnÊ.
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ypassis, that a thousand ways trim'st hair,Worthy to kemb none but a goddess fair,Our pleasant scapes show thee no clown to be,Apt to thy mistress, but more apt to me.Who that our bodies were comprest bewrayed?Whence knows Corinna that with thee I played?Yet blushed I not, nor used I any saying,That might be urged to witness our false playing.What if a man with bondwomen offend,To prove him foolish did I e'er contend? 10Achilles burnt with face of captive BrisËis,Great Agamemnon loved his servant ChrysËis.[278]Greater than these myself I not esteem:What gracËd kings, in me no shame I deem.But when on thee her angry eyes did rush,In both thy[279] cheeks she did perceive thee[280] blush.But being present,[281] might that work the best,By Venus deity how did I protest!Thou goddess dost command a warm south blast,My self oaths in Carpathian seas to cast. 20For which good turn my sweet reward repay,Let me lie with thee, brown Cypass, to-day.Ungrate, why feign'st new fears, and dost refuse?Well may'st thou one thing for thy mistress use.[282]If thou deniest, fool, I'll our deeds express,And as a traitor mine own faults confess;Telling thy mistress where I was with thee,How oft, and by what means, we did agree. FOOTNOTES: [277] Not in Isham copy or ed. A. [278] "Serva Phoebas" (_i.e._ Cassandra). [279] Old eds. "my." [280] So ed. B.--Ed. C "the." [281] "At quanto, si forte refers, _prÊsentior_ ipse,Per Veneris feci numina magna fidem." [282] The original has "Unum est e dominis emeruisse satis." ELEGIA IX.[283]
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