Carmen XV (Cornish)

To you, Aurelius, I entrust my all, even my loved one, and I ask a favour of you, a modest favour. If you have ever with all your soul desired to keep anything pure and free from stain, then guard my darling now in safety—I don't mean from the vulgar throng; I have no fear of such as pass to and fro our streets absorbed in their own business. 'Tis you I fear, you and your passions, so fatal to the young, both good and bad alike. Give those passions play where and how you please, ever ready for indulgence when you walk abroad. This one boy I would have you spare: methinks 'tis a modest request. And if infatuate frenzy drive you to the heinous crime of treason against me ah! then I pity you for your sad fate. For before the city's gaze with fettered feet you shall be tortured as cruelly as an adulterer.