Then too, (if well I know thee) wilt thou influence not a few; then too, as thou passest by, wilt thou inflict many a wound. Thy arrows (even shouldst thou thyself desire it) cannot be at rest. A glowing flame _ever_ injures by the propinquity of its heat. Just such was Bacchus when the Gangetic land [018] was subdued; thou art the burden of the birds; he was _that_ of the tigers. Therefore, since I may be some portion of thy hallowed triumph, forbear, Conqueror, to expend thy strength on me. Look at the prospering arms of thy kinsman Cæsar; [019] with the same hand with which he conquers does he shield the conquered. [020] ELEGY III. _He entreats his mistress to return his affection, and shows that he is deserving of her favour._ |I ask for what is just; let the fair who has so lately captivated me, either love me, or let her give me a cause why I should always love her. Alas! too much have I desired; only let her allow herself to be loved; _and then_ Cytherea will have listened to my prayers so numerous. Accept one who will be your servant through lengthened years; accept one who knows how to love with constant attachment. If the great names of ancient ancestors do not recommend me, or if the Equestrian founder of my family [021] _fails to do so_; and _if_ no field of mine is renewed by ploughs innumerable, and each of my parents [022] with frugal spirit limits my expenditure; still Phoebus and his nine companions and the discoverer of the vine may do so; and Love _besides_, who presents me as a gift to you; a fidelity, too that will yield to none, manners above reproach, ingenuousness without guile, and modesty _ever_ able to blush. A thousand damsels have no charms for me; I am no rover in affection; [023] you will for ever be my choice, if you do but believe me. May it prove my lot to live with you for years as many as the threads of the Sister _Destinies_ shall grant me, and to die with you sorrowing _for me_. Grant me yourself as a delightful theme for my verse; worthy of their matter my lines will flow. Io, frightened by her horns, and she whom the adulterer deceived in _the shape of_ the bird [024] of the stream have a name in song; she, too, who, borne over the seas upon the fictitious bull, held fast the bending horns with her virgin hand. We, too, together shall be celebrated throughout all the world; and my name shall ever be united with thy own. ELEGY IV. _He instructs his mistress what conduct to-observe in the presence of her husband at a feast to which he has been invited._