Living
Epigram LXXXIX. — What Sort of Mistress he would have
Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1919–21) · From Book XIX. — Epigrams of Ausonius on Various Matters
Fain would I have such a mistress as may lightly start a quarrel, nor be careful to speak as if an honest woman; pretty, saucy, hasty of hand, one to take blows and return them, and, if beaten, to take refuge in kisses. For if she be not of this character, but live chaste, subdued, shamefastly — I shudder to say it — she will be a wile.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Ausonius, Decimus Magnus. “Epigram LXXXIX. — What Sort of Mistress he would have.” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/ausonius/287/.
Chicago
Ausonius, Decimus Magnus. “Epigram LXXXIX. — What Sort of Mistress he would have.” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/ausonius/287/.
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