Nor was himself remote, nor unsupplied With torch well-trimm'd and quiver at his side; Now to her lips he clung, her eye-lids now, Then settled on her cheeks or on her brow. 70 And with a thousand wounds from ev'ry part Pierced and transpierced my undefended heart. A fever, new to me, of fierce desire Now seiz'd my soul, and I was all on fire, But she, the while, whom only I adore, Was gone, and vanish'd to appear no more. In silent sadness I pursue my way, I pause, I turn, proceed, yet wish to stay, And while I follow her in thought, bemoan With tears my soul's delight so quickly flown. 80 When Jove had hurl'd him to the Lemnian coast12 So Vulcan sorrow'd for Olympus lost, And so Oeclides, sinking into night, From the deep gulph look'd up to distant light.13 Wretch that I am, what hopes for me remain Who cannot cease to love, yet love in vain? Oh could I once, once more, behold the Fair, Speak to her, tell her of the pangs I bear, Perhaps she is not adamant, would show Perhaps some pity at my tale of woe. 90 Oh inauspicious flame--'tis mine to prove A matchless instance of disastrous love. Ah spare me, gentle Pow'r!--If such thou be Let not thy deeds, and nature disagree. Now I revere thy fires, thy bow, thy darts: Now own thee sov'reign of all human hearts. Spare me, and I will worship at no shrine With vow and sacrifice, save only thine. Remove! no--grant me still this raging woe! Sweet is the wretchedness, that lovers know: 100 But pierce hereafter (should I chance to see One destined mine) at once both her and me. ___________________________________________________________14 Such were the trophies, that in earlier days, By vanity seduced I toil'd to raise, Studious yet indolent, and urg'd by youth, That worst of teachers, from the ways of Truth; Till learning taught me, in his shady bow'r, To quit love's servile yoke, and spurn his pow'r. Then, on a sudden, the fierce flame supprest, A frost continual settled on my breast, 110 Whence Cupid fears his flames extinct to see, And Venus dreads a Diomede15 in me. 1 i.e. "In my nineteenth year." 2 Venus (Aphrodite), so called from Amethus in Cyprus, where she had a temple. 3 Cupid, called after his mother's title. 4 Ganymede, whom Jove, in the form of an eagle, spirited away to serve as his cup-bearer. See Ovid (Met. x, 155-161) 5 The friend of Hercules, stolen by nymphs who had fallen in love with him. 6 She fled from Apollo, and was transformed into a laurel. 7 The Roman Crassus was defeated in 53 B.C. by the Parthian cavalry when they fired backwards with devastating effect. The Cydonians were also famed for their skill in archery. 8 Cephalus, who shot his wife Procris by mistake. 9 Hercules. 10 Telemon. 11 Esculapius, who came to Rome in the form of a snake. 12 Vulcan (Hephaestus) was cast down from Olympus to the isle of Lemnos. 13 One of the Argonauts. He was swallowed up by the sea.