No More Learning

CVIII.

ON COMINIUS.

If by the verdict o' folk thy hoary old age (O Cominius! )
Filthy with fulsomest lust ever be doomed to the death,
Make I no manner of doubt but first thy tongue to the worthy
Ever a foe, cut out, ravening Vulture shall feed;
Gulp shall the Crow's black gorge those eye-balls dug from their sockets,
5
Guts of thee go to the dogs, all that remains to the wolves.

If, O Cominius, by the people's vote thy hoary age made filthy by unclean
practices shall perish, forsure I doubt not but that first thy tongue,
hostile to goodness, cut out, shall be given to the greedy vulture-brood,
thine eyes, gouged out, shall the crows gorge down with sable maw, thine
entrails [shall be flung] to the dogs, the members still remaining to the
wolf.

CVIIII.

Iocundum, mea vita, mihi proponis amorem
Hunc nostrum internos perpetuomque fore.
Di magni, facite ut vere promittere possit,
Atque id sincere dicat et ex animo,
Vt liceat nobis tota producere vita 5
Alternum hoc sanctae foedus amicitae.

CVIIII.

TO LESBIA ON HER VOW OF CONSTANCY.

Gladsome to me, O my life, this love whose offer thou deignest
Between us twain lively and lusty to last soothfast.
(Great Gods! ) grant ye the boon that prove her promises loyal,
Saying her say in truth spoken with spirit sincere;
So be it lawful for us to protract through length of our life-tide 5
Mutual pact of our love, pledges of holy good will!

My joy, my life, thou declarest to me that this love of ours shall last
ever between us. Great Gods!
grant that she may promise truly, and say this
in sincerity and from her soul, and that through all our lives we may be
allowed to prolong together this bond of holy friendship.

CX.

Aufilena, bonae semper laudantur amicae:
Accipiunt pretium, quae facere instituunt.
Tu quod promisti, mihi quod mentita inimica's,
Quod nec das et fers saepe, facis facinus.
Aut facere ingenuaest, aut non promisse pudicae, 5
Aufilena, fuit: sed data corripere
Fraudando + efficit plus quom meretricis avarae,
Quae sese tota corpore prostituit.

CX.

TO AUFILENA.

Aufilena! for aye good lasses are lauded as loyal:
Price of themselves they accept when they intend to perform.
All thou promised'st me in belying proves thee unfriendly,
For never giving and oft taking is deed illy done.
Either as honest to grant, or modest as never to promise, 5
Aufilena! were fair, but at the gifties to clutch
Fraudfully, viler seems than greed of greediest harlot
Who with her every limb maketh a whore of herself.

Aufilena, honest harlots are always praised: they accept the price of what
they intend to do. Thou didst promise that to me, which, being a feigned
promise, proves thee unfriendly; not giving that, and often accepting, thou
dost wrongfully. Either to do it frankly, or not to promise from modesty,
Aufilena, was becoming thee: but to snatch the gift and bilk, proves thee
worse than the greedy strumpet who prostitutes herself with every part of
her body.

CXI.