T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Reconciliation
By Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 B.C.)(Ode IX. Book III; translated by Sir Theodore Martin, 1881) |
HORACE WHILST I was dear and thou wert kind, | |
| And I, and I alone might lie | |
| Upon thy snowy breast reclined, | |
| Not Persia’s king so blest as I. | |
LYDIA Whilst I to thee was all in all, | 5 |
| Nor Chloë might with Lydia vie, | |
| Renowned in ode or madrigal, | |
| Not Roman Ilia famed as I. | |
HORACE I now am Thracian Chloë’s slave, | |
| With hand and voice that charms the air, | 10 |
| For whom even death itself I’d brave, | |
| So fate the darling girl would spare! | |
LYDIA I dote on Calaïs—and I | |
| Am all his passion, all his care, | |
| For whom a double death, I’d die, | 15 |
| So fate the darling boy would spare! | |
HORACE What, if our ancient love return, | |
| And bind us with a closer tie, | |
| If I the fair-haired Chloë spurn, | |
| And as of old for Lydia sigh? | 20 |
LYDIA Though lovelier than yon star is he, | |
| Thou fickle as an April sky, | |
| More churlish, too, than Adria’s sea, | |
| With thee I’d live, with thee I’d die! | |