Am I your empire then, and your renown?
What heart of rock but must by this be won?
And yet bear witness, oh ye powers above,
How rude I am in all the arts of love!
My hand is yet untaught to write to men:
This is the essay of my unpractised pen:
Happy those nymphs, whom use has perfect made
I think all crime, and tremble at a shade;
Ev'n while I write, my fearful conscious eyes
Look often back, misdoubting a surprise.
For now the rumour spreads among the crowd,
At court in whispers, but in town aloud:
Dissemble you, whate'er you hear them say:
To leave off loving were your better way;
Yet if you will dissemble it you may.
Love secretly: the absence of my lord
More freedom gives, but does not all afford :
Long is his journey, long will be his stay;
Call'd by affairs of consequence away.
To go or not, when unresolved he stood,
I bid him make what swift return he could:
Then kissing me, he said, "I recommend
All to thy care, but most my Trojan friend."
I smiled at what he innocently said,
And only answer'd, "You shall be obey'd."
Propitious winds have borne him far from hence
But let not this secure your confidence.
Absent he is, yet absent he commands:
You know the proverb, "Princes have long hands."
My fame's my burden; for the more I'm praised,
A juster ground of jealousy is raised.
Were I less fair, I might have been more bless'd:
Great beauty through great danger is possess'd.
To leave me here his venture was not hard,
Because he thought my virtue was my guard.
He fear'd my face, but trusted to my life,
The beauty doubted, but believed the wife.
You bid me use the occasion while I can,
Put in our hands by the good easy man.
I would, and yet I doubt, 'twixt love and fear, 160 One draws me from you, and one brings me near. Let me not live, but everything conspires
To join our loves, and yet my fear retires.
What have I said! for both of us 'twere best,
Our kindling fire if each of us suppress'd.
The faith of strangers is too prone to change,
And, like themselves, their wandering passions range.
Hypsipyle, and the fond Minonian maid,
Were both by trusting of their guests betray'd.
How can I doubt that other men deceive,
When you yourself did fair none leave?
But lest I should upbraid your treachery,
You make a merit of that crime to me;
Yet grant you were to faithful love inclined,
Your weary Trojans wait but for a wind.
Should you prevail; while I assign the night,
Your sails are hoisted, and you take your flight:
Some bawling mariner our love destroys,
And breaks asunder our unfinish'd joys.
But I with you may leave the Spartan port,
To view the Trojan wealth and Priam's court.
Shown while I see, I shall expose my fame;
And fill a foreign country with my shame.
In Asia what reception shall I find?
And what dishonour leave in Greece behind?
What will your brothers, Priam, Hecuba,
And what will all your modest matrons say?
Ev'n you, when on this action you reflect,
My future conduct justly may suspect:
And whate'er stranger lands upon your coast,
Conclude me, by your own example, lost.
I from your rage a wanton's name shall hear,
While you forget what part in it you bear;
You, my crime's author, will my crime upbraid:
Deep under ground, oh! let me first be laid.
You boast the pomp and plenty of your land,
And promise all shall be at my command:
Your Trojan wealth, believe me, I despise;
My own poor native land has dearer ties.
Should I be injured on your Phrygian shore,
What help of kindred could I there implore?
Medea was by Jason's flattery won :
I may, like her, believe, and be undone.
Plain honest hearts, like mine, suspect no cheat,
And love contributes to its own deceit.
The ships about whose sides loud tempests roar,
With gentle winds were wafted from the shore.
Your teeming mother dream'd, a flaming brand
Sprung from her, and consumed the Trojan land.
To second this, old prophecies conspire,
That Ilium shall be burnt with Grecian fire:
Both give me fear, nor is it much allay'd
That Venus is obliged our loves to aid.
For they, who lost their cause, revenge will take,
And for one friend two enemies you make.
Nor can I doubt, but should I follow you,
The sword would soon our fatal crime pursue:
A wrong so great my husband's rage would rouse,
And my relations would his cause espouse.
You boast your strength and courage, but, alas! 220
Your words receive small credit from your face.
Let heroes in the dusty field delight,
Those limbs were never fashion'd for such fight.
Bid Hector sally from the walls of Troy,
A sweeter quarrel should your arms employ.
Yet fears like these should not my mind perplex,
Were I as wise as many of my sex:
But time and you may bolder thoughts inspire;
And I perhaps may yield to your desire.
You last demand a private conference;
These are your words, but I can guess your sense:
Your unripe hopes their harvest must attend.
Be ruled by me, and time may be your friend.
This is enough to let you understand;
For now my pen has tired my tender hand;
My woman knows the secret of my heart,
And may hereafter better news impart.
OVID.-II-X
BY THE HON. MRS. WHARTON.
THE abduction of Helen having carried all the Grecian princes to the siege of Troy, Ulysses there signalizes his courage particularly-After the destruction of the city, his return to Ithaca is long delayed, and his wife Penelope sends this letter in quest of him.
PENELOPE this slow epistle sends
To him on whom her future hope depends; "Tis your Penelope, distress'd, forlorn,
Who asks no answer but your quick return.
Priam and Troy, the Grecian dames' just hate,
Have long ere this, 'tis known, received their fate, For which thy absence pays too dear a rate.
Oh ere my hopes and joys had found their graves,
Why did not Paris perish by the waves?
I should not then pass tedious nights alone,
Courting with fervent breath the rising sun;
But all in vain, for day is night to me;
Nor day nor night brings comfort, only thee.
My tender hands with weaving would not tire,
Nor anxious thoughts with unobtain❜d desire.
Still did my mind new fearful forms present
To kill my hopes, and raise my discontent.
Love, jealous love, has more than eagles' eyes
To spy out sorrows, but o'erlook our joys;
I fancied furious Trojans still were nigh
To slay my lord, and all my hopes destroy.
As there the arms of Hector still prevail,
Here at his very name my cheeks grew pale;
When told Antilochus by him was slain,
My hopes decay'd, my fears revived again.
I wept when young Patroclus was o'erthrown,
To find how weak the arts of wit were grown.
The deeds of fierce Tlepolemus alarm'd
My tender soul, and all my spirits charm'd.
Each fatal scene grief to my heart did show,
Whate'er they felt, I suffer'd here for you.
But virtuous love propitious Heaven befriends,
My husband's safe, on whom my life depends;
Troy is o'erthrown, and all our sorrow ends.
The Grecians triumph, they at large declare
The fall of Ilium, and the foes' despair.
Old men and tender maids with pleasure hear
The fatal end of all their griefs and fear.
The joyful wife from soft embraces now
Will hardly time to hear these tales allow,
Forgets long absence, and renews her vow.
Some on the tables their feign'd combats draw, With sparkling bowls the victor speaks his joy, And with spilt wine describes the famous Troy; Here," says he "Priam's palace did appear,
The far-famed river Simois glided here;
Here 'twas Achilles fought, Ulysses too;"
At that to guard my heart my spirits flew:
Achilles' mighty name pass'd careless by,
But at this name Penelope could die.
One shows the place where mangled Hector lay,
To fierce Achilles' fury made a prey;
Describes the horses, which his body drew,
Taught by an instinct they before ne'er knew,
To fear the man who could no more pursue.
Breathless on earth was laid the soul of Troy,
The army's triumph, and the city's joy.
This Nestor told your son, whom my fond haste Sent to inquire of dangers which were pass'd. He told how Rhesus was with Dolon slain; These tedious tales did but augment my pain, I listen'd still to hear of you again.
How truly valiant were you, though unkind! You little thought of what you left behind : When in the night you ventured to invade
The Thracian camp, my soul was fill'd with dread. Assisted but by one their strength you prove,
Too strong your courage, but too weak your love.
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