University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

LXXXVI
TO BASSA

[From Martial, Lib. 1. Ep. 90.]

That I ne're saw thee in a Coach with Man,
Nor thy chast Name in wanton Satyr met;
That from thy Sex thy liking never ran,
So as to suffer a Male-servant yet.

62

I thought thee the Lucretia of our time:
But, Bassa, thou the while a Tribas wert,
And clashing ------, with a prodigious Crime,
Didst act of Man th'inimitable part.
What Odipus this Riddle can untye?
Without a Male, there was Adultery.