Amores II.10

'Twas you, Graecinus, 'twas surely you, I remember, who declared to me that for any man to love two maids at once was a thing impossible. To you I owe my fall; to you I owe being caught without my arms — lo! to my shame in love I am with two maids at once. Each one is beautiful, both tasteful in their dress; in accomplishment, 'tis doubtful whether the one or the other is first. The one is fairer than the other — and the other is also fairer than she; one pleases me the more — and so does the other, too! Like a yacht that is driven by contrary winds, my love is now for the one and now for the other; it veers about, and keeps me torn in two. Why, O lady of Eryx, dost thou double endlessly my woes? Was not one love enough to keep me anxious? Why add leaves to the trees, stars to a full sky, and heaped-up waters to the deep seas?

And yet 'tis better thus than if I were loveless and alone — to my enemies fall the austere life! To my enemies fall the lot of sleep in a lonely bed, and the laying their limbs loosely in its midst. But for me — let cruel love break off my lazy slumbers, and may I not be the only burden of my bed! Let my powers be waste by love, and no one say me nay — if one suffices, well; if not, then two! I shall meet the test — slender my limbs, but not without strength; 'tis bulk, not sinew, my body lacks; and delight will feed the vigour of my loins. No fair one has ever been deceived in me; oft have I made merry through all the hours of night, and reached the morning fit and strong. Happy he whom the mutual strife of Love lays low! Ye gods, let my end come from such a cause!

Let the soldier give his breast to cover with hostile darts, and buy eternal glory with his blood. Let the grasping trader's quest be wealth, and his perjured mouth drink in when he is wrecked the billow his ploughing keel has tired. But for me — may it be my lot when I die to languish in Venus' embrace, and be dissolved in the midst of its delight; and may one, dropping tears at my funeral, say : " Thine was a death accorded with thy life! "