Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

The Lover and His Lass

By Theocritus (fl. Third Century B.C.)

(From the Idylls; translated by James Henry Hallard, 1901)

GIRL … Ay, and a neatherd ravished the wise Helen.
DAPHNIS Nay, Helen won him with a willing kiss.
GIRL Boast not, young satyr, for—‘a kiss is naught.’
DAPHNIS Yet empty kisses have a sweet delight.
GIRL I rub my mouth and blow thy kiss away.	5
DAPHNIS Dost rub thy lips? Give them again to kiss!
GIRL Heifers should’st thou kiss, not an unwed maid.
DAPHNIS Boast not, for Youth drifts by thee like a dream.
GIRL But raisins come from grapes, the dried rose lives.
DAPHNIS I, too, age; let me drink that milk and honey!	10
GIRL Hands off!—Would’st dare?—I’ll scratch thy lips again!
DAPHNIS Come ’neath yon olives! I would tell a tale.
GIRL Nay, with a sweet tale thou beguil’dst me once.
DAPHNIS Come ’neath yon elms, and listen to my pipe!
GIRL Pleasure thyself! No silly song love I.	15
DAPHNIS Ah, maiden, maiden, dread the Paphian’s wrath!
GIRL Good-bye to her, if Artemis be kind!
DAPHNIS Hush, lest she fling thee in her scapeless toils!
GIRL Nay, let her fling me! Artemis will save.
DAPHNIS Thou can’st not flee from Love; no maiden can.	20
GIRL By Pan, I do! But thou aye bear’st his yoke.
DAPHNIS I fear he give thee to a meaner man.
GIRL Many my wooers, but none hath my heart.
DAPHNIS A wooer, too, ’mongst many here I come.
GIRL What shall I do, friend? Full of woe is wedlock.	25
DAPHNIS Nor woe nor pain hath marriage, but a dance.
GIRL Ay, but they say that women dread their lords.
DAPHNIS Nay, rule them rather. What do women fear?
GIRL Travail I dread. Keen pangs hath childbearing.
DAPHNIS Thy lady Artemis will ease the pain.	30
GIRL But I fear childbirth for my beauty’s sake.
DAPHNIS A mother, thou shalt glory in thy sons.
GIRL What wedding-gift dost bring, if I say ‘yes’?
DAPHNIS My herd, my woodland, and my pasturage.
GIRL Swear not to leave me after to my woe!	35
DAPHNIS Never, by Pan, e’en did’st thou drive me forth!
GIRL Wilt build a chambered house and yard-walls for me?
DAPHNIS I’ll build a chambered house, and tend thy flocks.
GIRL But oh! what shall I tell my aged sire?
DAPHNIS He’ll praise thy wedlock, when he learns my name.	40
GIRL Tell me thy name. A name oft gives delight.
DAPHNIS Daphnis—Nomaea’s child and Lycidas’.
GIRL Well-born indeed! But no less well am I.
DAPHNIS Of honoured birth, I know. Thy sire’s Menalcas.
GIRL Show me thy grove where stands thy cattle-stall.	45
DAPHNIS Hither, and see how soft my cypress blooms!
GIRL Browse, goats; I go to view the herdsman’s place.
DAPHNIS Feed, bulls; I’ll show my grove unto the maid.
GIRL What dost thou, satyr? Why dost touch my breasts?
DAPHNIS To know if these young apples there are ripening.	50
GIRL By Pan, I faint; Take back that hand of thine!
DAPHNIS Courage, dear girl! Why shak’st thou so for fear?
GIRL Would’st thrust me in the ditch and wet my gown?
DAPHNIS See, I will throw this fleece beneath thy robe.
GIRL My girdle is torn off! Why did’st thou loose it?	55
DAPHNIS I vow this firstling to the Paphian one.
GIRL Oh wait!… If some one came!… I hear a noise!
DAPHNIS The cypresses are murmuring of our love.
GIRL My kirtle is in rags, and I am naked.
DAPHNIS An ampler kirtle will I give to thee …	60
GIRL All things today; perhaps no salt tomorrow!
DAPHNIS … And oh to give my life along with it!
GIRL Forgive me, Artemis; I break thy vow!
DAPHNIS I’ll slay a calf to Love, the cow to Cypris.
GIRL A maid I hither came, a woman go.	65
DAPHNIS Yea, but a mother and a nurse of children.
So these twain, joying in their youthful limbs,
Babbled together, and Love’s stolen sweet
Tasted. Then up she rose, and silently
Moved off to tend her flock, her eyes downcast,	70
But gladness in her heart. He towards his herd
Of bulls departed full of Love’s delight.