Love Accepted

LOVE ACCEPTED .

E'en as from airy heights of mountain springeth a springlet
Limpedest leaping forth from rocking felted with moss,
Then having headlong rolled the prone-laid valley downpouring,
Populous region amid wendeth his gradual way,
Sweetest solace of all to the sweltering traveller way-worn,
Whenas the heavy heat fissures the fiery fields;
Or, as to seamen lost in night of whirlwind a-glooming
Gentle of breath there comes fairest and favouring breeze,
Pollux anon being prayed, nor less vows offered to Castor: —
Such was the aidance to us Manius pleased to afford.
He to my narrow domains far wider limits laid open,
He too gave me the house, also he gave me the dame,
She upon whom both might exert them, partners in love-deeds.
Thither graceful of gait pacing my goddess white-hued
Came and with gleaming foot on the worn sole of the threshold
Stood she and prest its slab creaking her sandals the while;
E'en so with love enflamed in olden days to her helpmate,
Laodamia the home Protesilean besought,
Sought, but in vain, for ne'er wi' sacrificial bloodshed
Victims appeased the Lords ruling Celestial seats:
Never may I so joy in aught (Rhamnusian Virgin!)
That I engage in deed maugre the will of the Lords. . . .
Worthy of yielding to her in naught or ever so little
Came to the bosom of us she, the fair light of my life,
Round whom fluttering oft the Love-God hither and thither
Shone with a candid sheen robed in his safflower dress.
She though never she bide with one Catullus contented,
Yet will I bear with the rare thefts of my dame the discreet,
Lest over-irk I give which still of fools is the fashion.
Often did Juno eke Queen of the Heavenly host
Boil wi' the rabidest rage at dire default of a husband
Learning the manifold thefts of her omnivolent Jove. . . .
Yet was she never to me by hand paternal committed
Whenas she came to my house reeking Assyrian scents;
Nay, in the darkness of night her furtive favours she deigned me,
Self-willed taking herself from very mate's very breast.
Wherefore I hold it enough since given to us and us only
Boon of that day with Stone whiter than wont she denotes.
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Catullus
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