And prayers to Venus; if it please
The great blue ruler of the seas,
Not many full-faced moons shall wane,
Lean-horn'd, before I come again
As one triumphant, when I find
In thee all faith of womankind.
Nor would I have thee think that thou
Had'st power thyself to keep this vow,
But, having 'scaped temptation's shelf,
Know virtue taught thee, not thyself.
Queen of Ithaca, Penelope.
Incubi, adulterous spirits.
Cyane, a nymph of Syracuse, ravished by her father whom (and herself) she slew.
Medullina, a Roman virgin who endured a like fate.
Compression, embrace.
466. TO HIS KINSMAN, SIR THOS. SOAME.
Seeing thee, Soame, I see a goodly man,
And in that good a great patrician.
Next to which two, among the city powers
And thrones, thyself one of those senators;
Not wearing purple only for the show,
As many conscripts of the city do,
But for true service, worthy of that gown,
The golden chain, too, and the civic crown.
Conscripts, "patres conscripti," aldermen.
467. TO BLOSSOMS.
Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do ye fall so fast?
Your date is not so past
But you may stay yet here a while,
To blush and gently smile;
And go at last.
