Because this one sings _so_ sweetly, and modulates her voice [334] with such extreme case, I could wish to steal a kiss from her as she sings. Another is running through the complaining strings with active finger; who could not fall in love with hands so skilled? _And now_, one pleases by her gestures, and moves her arms to time, [335] and moves her graceful sides with languishing art _in the dance_; to say nothing about myself, who am excited on every occasion, put Hippolytus [336] there; he would become a Priapus. You, because you are so tall, equal the Heroines of old; [337] and, of large size, you can fill the entire couch as you lie. Another is active from her shortness; by both I am enchanted; both tall and short suit my taste. Is one unadorned; it occurs what addition there might be if she was adorned. Is one decked out; she sets out her endowments to advantage. The blonde will charm me; the brunette [338] will charm me _too_; a Venus is pleasing, even of a swarthy colour. Does black hair fall upon a neck of snow; Leda was sightly, with her raven locks. Is the hair flaxen; with her saffron locks, Aurora was charming. To every traditional story does my passion adapt itself. A youthful age charms me; _an age_ more mature captivates me; the former is superior in the charms of person, the latter excels in spirit. In fine, whatever the fair any person approves of in all the City, to all these does my passion aspire. ELEGY V. _He addresses his mistress, whom he has detected acting falsely towards him._ |Away with thee, quivered Cupid: no passion is of a value so great, that it should so often be my extreme wish to die. It is my wish to die, as oft as I call to mind your guilt. Fair one, born, alas! to be a never-ceasing cause of trouble! It is no tablets rubbed out [339] that discover your doings; no presents stealthily sent reveal your criminality. Oh! would that I might so accuse you, that, _after all_, I could not convict you! Ah wretched me! _and_ why is my case so stare? Happy _the man_ who boldly dares to defend the object which he loves; to whom his mistress is able to say, "I have done nothing _wrong_." Hard-hearted _is he_, and too much does he encourage his own grief, by whom a blood-stained victory is sought in the conviction of the accused.