O DE XIX.

DE GLYCERA .

Love's unrelenting Queen,
With Bacchus—Theban maid! thy wayward child
Whene'er I try to wean,
My heart, from vain amours and follies wild,
Is sure to intervene,
Kindling within my breast some passion unforeseen.

Glycera's dazzling glance,
That with voluptuous light my vision dims—
The graces that enhance
The Parian marble of her snow-white limbs,
Have left my heart no chance
Against her winning wiles and playful petulance.

Say not that Venus dwells
In distant Cyprus, for she fills my breast,
And from that shrine expels
All other themes: my lyre, by love possest,
No more with war-notes swells,
Nor sings of Parthian shaft, nor Scythian slaughter tells.

Come hither, slaves! and pile
An altar of green turf, and incense burn;
Strew magic vervain, while
I pour libations from a golden urn:
These rites may reconcile
The goddess of fierce love, who yet may deign to smile.