 | [Poems on Several Occasions with A Pastoral |  |
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BOOK III. ODE 9.
A DIALOGUE BETWIXT HORACE and LYDIA.
Donec gratus eram tibi
Nec quis quam, &c.
Nec quis quam, &c.
HORACE.
When I alone my Mistress did enjoy,
When She was kindly free, not vilely coy,
When no smooth Lad about her Neck did cling;
I vy'd in pleasure with the Persian King.
LYDIA.
When you no Beauty lov'd but only mine,
And Lydia was no slave to Chloe's shrine,
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Preceded Ilia in the rank of Fame.
HORACE.
The Thracian Chloe now has got my Heart,
Sweet at her Lute, excelling in her Art:
For whose dear sake I joyfully would die,
If I might gain the living Maid thereby.
LYDIA.
Calys, Ornitho's Son, a worthy Name,
Scorches my Heart with no unequal flame:
For whom I would a double Death enjoy,
If Heaven would give me the surviving Boy.
HORACE.
What now if Venus should the game retrieve,
And Marriage bonds betwixt us two should give?
If I should hate fair Chloes Aubourn Hair,
And ope' the Gate to Lydia, as my Dear?
LYDIA.
Though thou wert wilder than the raging Sea,
And he as beauteous as the Milky-way;
Thou angry as the Seas that threat the Skie,
In thy lov'd bosom I would live and die.
| [Poems on Several Occasions with A Pastoral | |