had begun. In the same manner they report that Anacreon of Teios burned for the Samian Bathyllus; who often lamented his love to an inaccurate measure on a hollow lyre. You are violently in love yourself; but if a fairer flame did not burn besieged Troy, rejoice in your lot. Phryne, a freed-woman, and not content with a single admirer, consumes me.
ODE XV.
TO NEÆRA.
It was night, and the moon shone in a serene sky among the lesser stars; when you, about to violate the divinity of the great gods, swore [to be true] to my requests, embracing me with your pliant arms more closely than the lofty oak is clasped by the ivy; that while the wolf should remain an enemy to the flock,[1] and Orion, unpropitious to the sailors, should trouble the wintery sea, and while the air should fan the unshorn locks of Apollo, [so long you vowed] that this love should be mutual. O Neæra, who shall one day greatly grieve on account of my merit: for, if there is any thing of manhood in Horace, he will not endure that you should dedicate your nights continually to another, whom you prefer; and exasperated, he will look out for one who will return his love; and though an unfeigned sorrow should take possession of you, yet my firmness shall not give way to that beauty which has once given me disgust.[2] But as for you, whoever you be who are more successful [than me], and now strut proud of my misfortune; though you be rich in flocks and abundance of land, and Pactolus[3] flow for you, nor the mysteries of Py-
- ↑ Dum pecori lupus. This was probably the form of the oath which Horace dictated to Neæra, and by which he would insinuate that earth, air, and skies should be avengers of her perjury, as they were witnesses of her oath. Torr.
- ↑ Semel offensæ. The ancient commentator justly remarks, that this epithet offensæ is a passive, with an active signification. Offensa forma therefore signifies forma, quæ me offendit. Ed. Dubl.
- ↑ A river in Lydia. It rises in Mount Tmolus, runs into the Hermus, and flows along with it to the Ægean Sea, not far from Smyrna. IN the time of Crœsus, this river rolled from the mountains a kind of gold-sand, which was the chief cause of that king's immense riches. Watson.
