Full teeming coffers swell'd her pride of youth:
Her person ever fresh and new, your satrap
Was more accessible than she;—but now,
That life is flagging at the goal, and like
An unstrung lute, her limbs are out of tune,
She is become so lavish of her presence,
That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They surfeit at the sight.
She's grown companion to the common streets—
Want her who will, a stater, a three-obol piece,
Or a mere draught of wine brings her to hand!
Nay, place a silver stiver in your palm,
And, shocking tameness! she will stoop forthwith
To pick it out.—Mitchell.
The same.
Laïs herself's a lazy drunkard now,
And looks to nothing but her daily wine
And daily meat. There has befallen her
What happens to the eagle; who, when young,
Swoops from the mountain in his pride of strength,
And hurries off on high the sheep and hare;
But, when he's aged, sits him dully down
Upon some temple's top, weak, lean, and starved;
And this is thought a direful prodigy.
And Laïs would be rightly reckon'd one;
For when she was a nestling, fair and youthful,
The guineas made her fierce; and you might see
E'en Pharnabázus easier than her.
But now that her years are running four-mile heats,
And all the junctures of her frame are loose,
'Tis easy both to see and spit upon her;
And she will go to any drinking-bout;
And take a crown-piece, aye, or e'en a sixpence,
And welcome all men, be they old or young.
Nay, she's become so tame, my dearest sir,
She'll even take the money from your hand.—Walsh.
<tb>
