Book II, Elegy 6

Not so was the house of Ephyrean Lais thronged, at whose doors all Greece lay bowed; nor even did Menander's Thais, the darling of the folk of Athens, gather about her such a swarm of gallants; nor Phryne, who might have restored the ruined walls of Thebes, so many a lover had brought her riches.

Aye, and oft thou feign'st false kindred and lackest not those that have a right to kiss thee. Jealous am I of the very portraits, the very names of young men, even of the tender boy in the cradle that knows not how to speak. Jealous shall I be of thy mother if she gives thee many a kiss, of thy sister and of the friend that may chance to sleep with thee. All things will awake my fears; I am a coward (pardon my cowardice) and beneath the woman's dress I, poor fool, suspect the presence of a man.

'Twas by reason of such jealousies that of old, as the story goes, the world went forth to battle; such was the beginning of the slaughter before Troy. The same madness bade the Centaurs break embossed goblets in conflict against Pirithous. Why should I seek examples from the tales of Greece? Thou, Romulus, nurtured by the milk of the cruel she-wolf, didst give warrant for the crime; thou taughtest thy Romans to ravish unpunished the Sabine maids; thou art the cause that now there is naught Love dare not do at Rome. Happy was the wife of Admetus, happy the partner of Ulysses' bed, and every woman that loves her husband's home.

What profits it for maids to found temples in honour of Chastity, if every bride is permitted to be whate'er she will? The hand that first painted lewd pictures, and set up objects foul to view in chaste homes, first corrupted the unsullied eyes of maids and refused to allow them to be ignorant of its own wantonness. May he groan in torment who by his vile art first wakened strife 'twixt lovers, strife lurking secret under silent joy! Not with such figures did men of old adorn their houses; then their walls had no foul deeds painted on them. But deservedly have cobwebs gathered o'er the temples and rank herbage has overgrown the neglected gods.

What guardians then, what limits shall I set thee, thresholds o'er which no enemy's foot shall ever pass? For no stern guardian can save her that will not be saved: she alone is surely guarded, my Cynthia, who is ashamed to sin. As for me, no wife nor mistress shall ever steal me from thee; for me thou shalt at once be mistress and wife.