Oh, oh, and enough of this,

by dew-spread caverns,

The Muses clinging to the mossy ridges;

to the ledge of the rocks;

Zeus’ clever rapes, in the old days,

combusted Semele’s, of Io strayed.

Of how the bird flew from Trojan rafters,

Ida has lain with a shepherd, she has slept between sheep.

Even there, no escape

Not the Hyrcanian seabord, not in seeking the shore of Eos.

All things are forgiven for one night of your games....

Though you walk in the Via Sacra, with a peacock’s tail for a fan.

XII

WHO, who will be the next man to entrust his girl to a friend?

W

Love interferes with fidelities;

The gods have brought shame on their relatives;

Each man wants the pomegranate for himself;

Amiable and harmonious people are pushed incontinent into duels,

A Trojan and adulterous person came to Menelaus under the rites of hospitium,

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