by Tibullus
’Tis taught of her, a maid with firm-set lips
Steals from her soft couch, silent and alone,
And noiseless to her tryst securely trips.
Her art it is, if with a husband near,
A lady darts a love-lorn look and smile
To one more blest; but languid sloth and fear
Receive not Venus’ perfect gift of guile.
Trust Venus, too, t’ avert the wretched wrath
Of footpad, hungry for thy robe and ring!
So safe and sacred is a lover’s path,
That common caution to the winds we fling.
Oft-times I fail the wintry frost to feel,
And drenching rains unheeded round me pour,
If Delia comes at last with mute appeal,
And, finger on her lip, throws wide the door.
Away those lamps! Thou, man or maid, away!
Great Venus wills not that her gifts be scanned.
Ask me no names! Walk lightly there, I pray!
Hold back thy tell-tale torch and curious hand!
Yet fear not! Should some slave our loves behold,
Let him look on, and at his liking stare!
Hereafter not a whisper shall be told;
By all the gods our innocence he’ll swear.
Or should one such from prudent silence swerve
The chatterer who prates of me and thee
Shall learn, too late, why Venus, whom I serve,
Was born of blood upon a storm-swept sea.
Nay, even thy husband will believe no ill.
All this a wondrous witch did tell me true:
One who can guide the stars to work her will,
Or turn a torrent’s course her task to do.
Her spells call forth pale spectres from their graves,
And charm bare bones from smoking pyres away:
‘Mid trooping ghosts with fearful shriek she raves,
Then sprinkles with new milk, and holds at bay.
She has the power to scatter tempests rude,
And snows in summer at her whisper fall;
The horrid simples by Medea brewed
Are hers; she holds the hounds of Hell in thrall.
For me a charm this potent witch did weave;
Thrice if thou sing, then speak with spittings three,
Thy husband not one witness will believe,
Nor his own eyes, if our embrace they see!
But tempt not others! He will surely spy
All else — to me, me only, magic-blind!
And, hark! the hag with drugs, she said, would try
To heal love’s madness and my heart unbind.
One cloudless night, with smoky torch, she burned
Black victims to her gods of sorcery;
Yet asked I not love’s loss, but love returned,
And would not wish for life, if robbed of thee.
ELEGY THE THIRD
SICKNESS AND ABSENCE
Am I abandoned? Does Messala sweep
Yon wide Aegean wave, not any more
He, nor my mates, remembering where I weep,
Struck down by fever on this alien shore?
Spare me, dark death! I have no mother here,
To clasp my relics to her widowed breast;
No sister, to pour forth with hallowing tear
Assyrian incense where my ashes rest.
Nor Delia, who, before she said adieu,
Asked omens fair at every potent shrine.
Thrice did the ministrants give blessings true,
The thrice-cast lot returned the lucky sign.
All promised safe return; but she had fears
And doubting sorrows, which implored my stay;
While I, though all was ready, dried her tears,
And found fresh pretext for one more delay.
An evil bird, I cried, did near me flit,
Or luckless portent thrust my plans aside;
Or Saturn’s day, unhallowed and unfit,
Forbade a journey from my Delia’s side.
Full oft, when starting on the fatal track,
My stumbling feet foretold unhappy hours:
Ah! he who journeys when love calls him back,
Should know he disobeys celestial powers!
Help me, great Goddess! For thy healing power
The votive tablets on thy shrine display.
See Delia there outwatch the midnight hour,
Sitting, white-stoled, until the dawn of day!
Each day her tresses twice she doth unbind,
And sings, the loveliest of the Pharian band.
O that my fathers’ gods this prayer could find!
Gods of my hearth and of my native land!
How happily men lived when Saturn reigned!
Ere weary highways crossed the fair young world,
Ere lofty ships the purple seas disdained,
Their swelling canvas to the winds unfurled!
No roving seaman, from a distant course,
Filled full of far-fetched wares his frail ship’s hold:
At home, the strong bull stood unyoked; the horse
Endured no bridle in the age of gold.
Men’s houses had no doors? No firm-set rock
Marked field from field by niggard masters held.
The very oaks ran honey; the mild flock
Brought home its swelling udders, uncompelled.
Nor wrath nor war did that blest kingdom know;
No craft was taught in old Saturnian time,
By which the frowning smith, with blow on blow,
Could forge the furious sword and so much crime.
Now Jove is king! Now have we carnage foul,
And wreckful seas, and countless ways to die.
Nay! spare me, Father Jove, for on my soul
Nor perjury, nor words blaspheming lie.
If longer life I ask of Fate in vain,
O’er my frail dust this superscription be: —
“Here Death’s dark hand TIBULLUS doth detain,
Messala’s follower over land and sea!”
Then, since my soul to love did always yield,
Let Venus guide it the immortal way,
Where dance and song fill all th’ Elysian field,
And music that will never die away.
There many a song-bird with his fellow sails,
And cheerly carols on the cloudless air;
Each grove breathes incense; all the happy vales
O’er-run with roses, numberless and fair.
Bright bands of youth with tender maidens stray,
Led by the love-god all delights to share;
And each fond lover death once snatched away
Winds an immortal myrtle in his hair.
Far, far from such, the dreadful realms of gloom
By those black streams of Hades circled round,
Where viper-tressed, fierce ministers of doom, —
The Furies drive lost souls from bound to bound.
The doors of brass, and dragon-gate of Hell,
Grim Cerberus guards, and frights the phantoms back:
Ixion, who by Juno’s beauty fell,
Gives his frail body to the whirling rack.
Stretched o’er nine roods, lies Tityos accursed,
The vulture at his vitals feeding slow;
There Tantalus, whose bitter, burning thirst
The fleeting waters madden as they flow.
There Danaus’ daughters Venus’ anger feel,
Filling their urns at Lethe all in vain; —
And there’s the wretch who would my Delia steal,
And wish me absent on a long campaign!
O chaste and true! In thy still house shall sit
The careful crone who guards thy virtuous bed;
She tells thee tales, and when the lamps are lit,
Reels from her distaff the unending thread.
Some evening, after tasks too closely plied,
My Delia, drowsing near the harmless dame,
All sweet surprise, will find me at her side,
Unheralded, as if from heaven I came.
Then to my arms, in lovely disarray,
With welcome kiss, thy darling feet will fly!
O happy dream and prayer! O blissful day!
What golden dawn, at last, shall bring thee nigh?
ELEGY THE FOURTH
THE ARTS OF CONQUEST
“Safe in the shelter of thy garden-bower,
“Priapus, from the harm of suns or snows,
“With beard all shag, and hair that wildly flows, —
“O say! o’er beauteous youth whence comes thy power?
“Naked thou frontest wintry nights and days,
“Naked, no less, to Sirius’ burning rays.”
So did my song implore the rustic son
Of Bacchus, by his moon-shaped sickle known.
“Comply with beauty’s lightest wish,” said he,
“Complying love leads best to victory.
“Nor let a furious ‘No’ thy bosom pain;
“Beauty but slowly can endure a chain.
“Slow Time the rage of lions will o’er-sway,
“And bid them fawn on man. Rough rocks and rude
“In gentle streams Time smoothly wears away;
“And on the vine-clad hills by sunshine wooed,
“The purpling grapes feel Time’s secure control;
“In Time, the skies themselves new stars unroll.
“Fear not great oaths! Love’s broken oaths are borne
“Unharmed of heaven o’er every wind and wave.
“Jove is most mild; and he himself hath sworn
“There is no force in vows which lovers rave.
“Falsely by Dian’s arrows boldly swear!
“And perjure thee by chaste Minerva’s hair!
“Be a prompt wooer, if thou wouldst be wise:
“Time is in flight, and never backward flies.
“How swiftly fades the bloom, the vernal green!
“How swift yon poplar dims its silver sheen!
“Spurning the goal th’ Olympian courser flies,
“Then yields to Time his strength, his victories;
“And oft I see sad, fading youth deplore
“Each hour it lost, each pleasure it forbore.
“Serpents each spring look young once more; harsh Heaven
“To beauteous youth has one brief season given.
“With never-fading youth stern Fate endows
“Phoebus and Bacchus only, and allows
“Full-clustering ringlets on their lovely brows.
“Keep at thy loved one’s side, though hour by hour
“The path runs on; though Summer’s parching star
“Burn all the fields, or blackest tempests lower,
“Or monitory rainbows threaten far.
“If he would hasten o’er the purple sea,
“Thyself the helmsman or the oarsman be.
“Endure, unmurmuring, each unwelcome toil,
“Nor fear thy unaccustomed hands to spoil.
“If to the hills he goes with huntsman’s snare,
“Let thine own back the nets and burden bear.
“Swords would he have? Fence lightly when you meet;
“Expose thy body and compel defeat.
“He will be gracious then, and will not spurn
“Caresses to receive, resist, return.
“He will protest, relent, and half-conspire,
“And later, all unasked, thy love desire.
“But nay! In these vile times thy skill is vain.
“Beauty and youth are sold for golden gain.
“May he who first taught love to sell and buy,
“In grave accurst, with all his riches lie!
“O beauteous youth, how will ye dare to slight
“The Muse, to whom Pierian streams belong?
“Will ye not smile on poets, and delight,
“More than all golden gifts, in gift of song?
“Did not some song empurple Nisus’ hair,
“And bid young Pelops’ ivory shoulder glow?
“That youth the Muses praise, is he not fair,
“Long as the stars shall shine or waters flow ?
“But he who scorns the Muse, and will for gain
“Surrender his base heart, — let his foul cries
“Pursue the Corybants’ infuriate train,
“Through all the cities of the Phrygian plain, —
“Unmanned forever, in foul Phrygian guise!
“But Venus blesses lovers who endear
“Love’s quest alone by flattery, by fear,
“By supplication, plaint, and piteous tear.”
Such song the god of gardens bade me sing
For Titius; but his fond wife would fling
Such counsel to the winds: “Beware,” she cried,
“Trust not fair youth too far. For each one’s pride
“Offers alluring charms: one loves to ride
“A gallant horse, and rein him firmly in;
“One cleaves the calm wave with white shoulder bare;
“One is all courage, and for this looks fair;
“And one’s pure, blushing cheeks thy praises win.”
Let him obey her! But my precepts wise
Are meant for all whom youthful beauty’s eyes
Turn from in scorn. Let each his glory boast!
Mine is, that lovers, when despairing most,
My clients should be called. For them my door
Stands hospitably open evermore.
Philosopher to Venus I shall be,
And throngs of studious youth will learn of me.
Alas! alas! How love has been my bane!
My cunning fails, and all my arts are vain.
Have mercy, fair one, lest my pupils all
Mock me, who point a path in which I fall!
ELEGY THE FIFTH
COUNTRY-LIFE WITH DELIA
With haughty frown I swore I could employ
Thine absence well. But all my pride is o’er!
Now am I lashed, as when a madcap boy
Whirls a swift top along the level floor.
Aye! Twist me! Plague me! Never shall I say
Such boast again. Thy scorn and anger spare!
Spare me! — by all our stolen loves I pray,
By Venus, — by thy wealth of plaited hair!
Was it not I, when fever laid thee low,
Whose holy rites and offerings set thee free?
Thrice round thy bed with brimstone did I go,
While the wise witch sang healing charms for thee.
Lest evil dreams should vex thee, I did bring
That worshipped wafer by the Vestal given;
Then, with loose robes and linen stole, did sing
Nine prayers to Hecate ‘neath the midnight heaven.
All rites were done! Yet doth a rival hold
My darling, and my futile prayers deride:
For I dreamed madly of a life all gold,
If she were healed, — but Heaven the dream denied.
A pleasant country-seat, whose orchards yield
Sweet fruit to be my Delia’s willing care,
While our full corn-crop in the sultry field
Stands ripe and dry! O, but my dreams were fair!
She in the vine-vat will our clusters press,
And tread the rich must with her dancing feet;
She oft my sheep will number, oft caress
Some pretty, prattling slave with kisses sweet.
She offers Pan due tributes of our wealth,
Grapes for the vine, and for a field of corn
Wheat in the ear, or for the sheep-fold’s health
Some frugal feast is to his altar borne.
Of all my house let her the mistress be!
I am displaced and give not one command!
Then let Messala c
ome! From each choice tree
Let Delia pluck him fruit with her soft hand!
To serve and please so worshipful a guest,
She spends her utmost art and anxious care;
Asks his least wish, and spreads her dainty best,
Herself the hostess and hand-maiden fair.
Mad hope! The storm-winds bore away that dream
Far as Armenia’s perfume-breathing bids.
Great Venus! Did I at thy shrine blaspheme?
Am I accursed for rash and impious words?
Had I, polluted, touched some altar pure,
Or stolen garlands from a temple door —
What prayers and vigils would I not endure,
And weeping kiss the consecrated floor?
Had I deserved this stroke, — with pious pain
From shrine to shrine my suppliant knees should crawl;
I would to all absolving gods complain,
And smite my forehead on the marble wall.
Thou who thy gibes at love canst scarce repress,
Beware! The angry god may strike again!
I knew a youth who laughed at love’s distress,
And bore, when old, the worst that lovers ken.
His poor, thin voice he did compel to woo,
And curled, for mockery, his scanty hair;
Spied on her door, as slighted lovers do,
And stopped her maid in any public square.
The forum-loungers thrust him roughly by,
And spat upon their breasts, such luck to turn:
Have mercy, Venus! Thy true follower I!
Why wouldst thou, goddess, thine own harvest burn!
ELEGY THE SIXTH
A LOVER’S CURSES
I strove with wine my sorrows to efface.
But wine turned tears was all the drink I knew;
I tried a new, strange lass. Each cold embrace
Brought my true love to mind, and colder grew.
“I was bewitched” she cried “by shameful charms;”
And things most vile she vowed she could declare.
Bewitched! ’tis true! but by thy soft white arms,
Thy lovely brows and lavish golden hair!
Such charms had Thetis, born in Nereid cave,
Who drives her dolphin-chariot fast and free
To Peleus o’er the smooth Hæmonian wave,
Love-guided o’er long leagues of azure sea.
Ah me! the magic that dissolves my health
Is a rich suitor in my mistress’ eye,
Whom that vile bawd led to her door by stealth
And opened it, and bade me pine and die.
That hag should feed on blood. Her festive bowls
Should be rank gall: and round her haunted room
Wild, wailing ghosts and monitory owls
