AMOR INERMIS.

At revocans animos, fraudem sub pectore versat,
Cætera qui fallit, fallere certa deum.

Tum solvens zonam, pueri per brachia ducit,
Et teneras vincit callida nympha manus.

Sopitum lædunt divum nova vincula; Somne,
Non ita cum vînclis excutienda tuis;

Ter filum vano tentat diffringere nisu,

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Ter frustra ad celerem tenditur ala fugam. Et trepidam quatiens pennam, cum fletibus inquit, Fortunæ ignoscas, blanda puella, meæ ; Ignoscas, si cæcum, inquit, me devius error Duxerit ad pectus, candida virgo, tuum : Devius error erat certe ; namque heu ! bene norâm, Quod sedes illic non habiturus eram.

Dimittas captivum, oro; qui nil tibi, nympha, est Molitus, certe nil tibi, nympha, mali.

Nec scio, nec me scire juvat, cui rettulit illa,
Unde puer venias, quo fugiasve vagus;

Non mihi, quæ latebræ, quæ sint habitacula, curæ est,
Non mihi, qua nectas in regione moram ;

At non dimittam; neque enim tibi credo; parabas Nam certe insidias, insidiasque mihi.

Virgineum quæ curæ urgent tibi pectus inanes!
Ipse lubens arcus, et tibi tela dabo:
Captivo mihi, chara Chloe, si vincula solves,
Et me, quo libeat, rursus abire sines.

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CHLOE HUNTING,

Agreed! secure my virgin heart;
Instant give up thy bow and dart :
The chain I'll in return untie ;
And freely thou again shalt fly.
Thus she the captive did deliver;
The captive thus gave up his quiver.

The God disarm'd, e'er since that day,
Passes his life in harmless play ;
Flies round, or sits upon her breast,
A little, flutt'ring, idle guest.

E'er since that day, the beauteous maid,
Governs the world in Cupid's stead,
Directs his arrows, as she wills;

Gives grief, or pleasure; spares, or kills.

CHLOE HUNTING.

PRIOR.

BEHIND her neck her comely tresses tied,

Her i. 'ry quiver graceful by her side,

A hunting Chloe went : she lost her way,
And through the woods uncertain chanc'd to stray.

CHLOE VENATRIX.

Virgineum defende meum de vulnere pectus,

Et mihi des arcus, et mihi tela lubens :
Captivo tibi, chare puer, tum vincula solvam,
Et te, quo libeat, rursus abire sinam.
Vincula sic puero solvit nympha, et sua nymphæ
Vincula solventi, tradidit arma puer.

Se deus hinc lusu puerili exercet inermis,
Nec juvenes curat virgineosque greges :
Interdum ad pectus volitat, nymphamque revisit;
Sed sedet innocuum numen, et hospes iners.

Hinc arcus pharetramque gerens funestaque tela,
Pro libitu passim dirigit arma Chloe ;
Pro libitu parcit vel vulnerat; ipsa Cupido
Et simul in terris regnat, et ipsa Venus.

CHLOE VENATRIX.

FORTE Chloe, pulchros nodo collecta capillos Post collum, pharetraque latus succincta decora, Venatrix ad sylvam ibat; cervumque secuta Elapsum visu, deserta per avia tendit

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80

CHLOE HUNTING.

Apollo passing by, beheld the maid;

And, Sister dear, bright Cynthia, turn, he said:
The hunted hind lies close in yonder brake.
Loud Cupid laugh'd, to see the God's mistake:
And laughing cried, learn better, great divine,
To know thy kindred, and to honour mine.
Rightly advis'd, far hence thy sister seek,
Or on Meander's banks, or Latmus' peak.
But in this nymph, my friend, my sister know
She draws my arrows and she bends my bow.
Fair Thames she haunts, and every neighb'ring grove
Sacred to soft recess, and gentle love.

Go, with thy Cynthia, hurl the pointed spear

At the rough boar, or chace the flying deer:

I and my Chloe take a nobler aim:

At human hearts we fling, nor ever miss the game.

PRIOR.

CHLOE VENATRIX.

Incerta. Errantem nympham conspexit Apollo,
Et, Converte tuos, dixit, mea Cynthia, cursus ;
En ibi (monstravitque manu) tibi cervus anhelat
Occultus dumo, latebrisque moratur in illis.

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Improbus hæc audivit Amor, lepidumque cac hin

num

Attollens, Poterantne etiam tua numina falli ?

Hinc quæso, bone Phoebe, tuam dignosce sororem, Et melius venerare meam. Tua Cynthia longe

Mæandri ad ripas, aut summi in vertice Latmi, Versatur; nostra est soror hæc, nostra, inquit, amica

est:

Hæc nostros promit calamos, arcumque sonantem
Incurvat, Tamumque colens, placidosque recessus
Lucorum, quos alma quies sacravit amori.
Ite per umbrosos saltus, lustrisque vel aprum
Excutite horrentem setis, cervumve fugacem,
Tuque sororque tua, et directo sternite ferro:
Nobilior labor, et divis dignissima cura,

Meque Chloenque manet; nos corda humana feri

mus,

Vibrantes certum vulnus, nee inutile telum.

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