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SILVAE, I. ii. 28–53

of lying fables cease, and, Rumour, be thou silent; that love that ranged so free now brooks control and takes the bridle; we have done with gossip and our citizens have seen the kisses so long talked of. Yet thou in bewilderment—although a night so marvellous has been granted thee—still dost pray, and art affrighted that kindly heaven has given thee thy wish. Sigh no more, sweet poet, she is thine. The door lies open, and thou canst come and go with fearless step; no doorkeeper, no rule of honour stays thee now. At last take thy fill of the desired embrace—it is thine to take!—and remember the while those nights of misery.

Worthy indeed were thy reward, even though Juno set thee Herculean toils, and the Fates gave thee monsters to contend withal, though thou wert swept through the Cyanean surge.[1] To gain her it were worth while to run the race in terror of Pisa’s law[2] and hear the shouts of Oenomaus in hot pursuit. Nor had such a prize been thine, hadst thou, a bold shepherd lad, held thy court on Dardan Ida, nor though the warm-hearted Dawn[3] had preferred thee, and snatched thee up and borne thee in her chariot through the air.

But what was the cause that brought to the poet the unhoped-for joys of wedlock? Do thou teach me, lovely Erato, here by my side, while the halls and portals are astir with folk, and many a staff beats upon the threshold. Time permits apt converse, and the poet’s home knows well how to listen.

Once on a time, where the milky region is set in a tranquil heaven, lay kindly Venus in her bower, whence night had but lately fled, faint in the rough embrace of her Getic[4] lord. About the posts and

  1. ↑ The dangerous clashing rocks at the Bosporus.
  2. ↑ Suitors for the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus, were challenged by him to a chariot-race, on condition of forfeiting their lives if they were beaten.
  3. ↑ Aurora was the wife of Tithonus.
  4. ↑ i.e., Thracian.

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