Then rush'd impetuous to thy circling arms,
And hung voluptuous o'er thy heav'nly charms:
There, as the boy in wanton folds was laid,
His lips on thine in various kisses play'd;
With ev'ry kiss he tried a thousand wiles;
A thousand gestures, and a thousand smiles;
Your inmost breast with Cyprian odours fill'd,
And all the myrtle's luscious scent instill'd:
Lastly, he swore by ev'ry pow'r above!
By Venus' self, the potent Queen of love!
That thou blest nymph! for ever shouldst remain
Exempt from am'rous care, from am'rous pain.
What wonder then such balmy sweets should flow
In ev'ry grateful kiss thy lips bestow!
What wonder, then, obdurate maid! you prove
Averse to all the tenderness of love!
LATONE niveo sidere blandior!
Et stella Veneris pulchrior aureá!
Da mi basia centum,
Da tot basia, quot dedit
Vati multivolo Lesbia, quot tulit :
Quot blanda Veneres, quotque Cupidines
Et labella pererrant,
Et genas roseus tuas ;
[Vati multivolo, &c.] Catullus is here meant, alluding most probably to the following lines:
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
Rumoresque senum severiorum
Omnes unius æstimemus assis.
Soles occidere, et redire possunt :
Nobis, cùm semel occidit brevis lux,
Nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Da mî basia mille, deinde centum,
Dein mille altera, da secunda centum,
Deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum :
Dein cum millia multa fecerimus,
Conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
Aut ne quis malus invidere possit,
Cum tantum sciant esse basiorum.
BRIGHT as Venus' golden star!
And as silver Cynthia fair!
Nymph, with ev'ry charm replete !
Give an hundred kisses sweet;
My dearest Lesbia! let's employ
Youth's transient date in am'rous joy;
Nor heed, tho' fretful age reprove
The raptures of unbounded love :
Each sun that sets again shall rise;
Not so, when death has seal'd our eyes;
Life's little gleam of sunshine o'er,
We sleep, alas to 'wake no more!
A thousand tender kisses give,
Let me an hundred more receive,
A second thousand grant me still,
A second hundred now fulfil,
Another thousand o'er again,
Another rapt'rous hundred then :
And, when the thousands num'rous grow,
Let's cease to count, that none may know
What endless sums of bliss I owe.
[Quot blanda Veneres, &.] The French versificator has imitated the beginning of this kiss with exquisite delicacy: Oui de ta bouche enfantine Donne moi dans ces vergers
Autant de furtifs baisers
Qu' Ovide en prit á Corine;
Quot vitas oculis, quotque neceis geris,
Quot spes, quotque metus, quotque perennibus Mista gaudia curis,
Et suspiria amantium.
Da, quàm multa meo spicula pectori
Insevit volucris dira manus Dei:
Et quàm multa pharetra
Conservavit in aureâ.
Autant (je n'en veux plus)
Qu'il naît d' Amours sur tes traces,
Qu'on voit jouer de Vénus
Et de beautés et de graces,
Sur ton sein, entre tes bras,
Dans ton délicat sourire,
Dans tout ce que tu sais dire,—
Et ce que tu ne dis pas;
Autant que ton œil de flamme,
Armé de séductions,
Lance d'aimable rayons,
Et de traits qui vont à l'âme,
De voluptueux désirs,
De rapides espérances,
Et d'amoureuses vengeances,
Signal de nouveaux plaisirs ;
Then as many kisses more
O'er my lips profusely pour,
As th' insatiate bard could want,
Or his bounteous Lesbia grant ;
As the vagrant loves, that stray
On thy lip's nectareous way;
As the dimpling graces spread
On thy cheeks' carnation'd bed:
As the deaths thy lovers die;
As the conquests of thine eye;
Or the cares, and fond delights,
Which its changeful beam incites;
As the hopes and fears we prove,
Or th' impassion'd sighs, in love;
As the shafts by Cupid sped,
Shafts! by which my heart has bled;
As the countless stores, that still
All his golden quiver fill.
Roucoulent de tendres feux,
Quand le printems de ses aîles
Semble caresser ces lieux.
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