Erotica Romana

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"></SPAN></p> <h2> XXIII </h2> <p>However comely be strength, or free and undaunted comportment,<br/> <br/> Secrecy is for a man most important of all.<br/> <br/> Mighty subduer of cities, Discretion, O princess of nations,<br/> <br/> Goddess whom I adore, safely you've led me thus far.<br/> <br/> Now, though, what fate shall befall me? My frivolous muse has now opened<br/> <br/> &mdash;Cupid, the scamp&mdash;opens lips hitherto sealed so well.<br/> <br/> Difficult is it, alas, to conceal the shame of a monarch;<br/> <br/> Hide it can neither his crown, nor a tight Phrygian cap:<br/> <br/> Midas has asses ears! the first servant discovers&mdash;O horror!<br/> <br/> Shame of this secret so weighs, Midas unburdens his heart.<br/> <br/> Into the earth for safekeeping the servant must bury the story,<br/> <br/> Easing in this way the king: earth must conceal the tale.<br/> <br/> Reeds in a trice are sprouting and rustling in murmuring breezes:<br/> <br/> "Midas, o Midas the King&mdash;bears the ears of an ass!"<br/> <br/> Mine is a secret more pleasant, but even more difficult keeping:<br/> <br/> Out of abundance of heart eagerly speaketh my mouth.<br/> <br/> None of my ladyfriends dare I confide in, for they would but chide me;<br/> <br/> Nor any gentleman friend, lest he be rival to me.<br/> <br/> Rapture proclaim to the grove, to the echoing cliffs perorate it?<br/> <br/> One can do that if one's young, or if one's lonely enough.<br/> <br/> I to hexameters tell, in pentameters I will confide it:<br/> <br/> During the day she was joy, happiness all the night long.<br/> <br/> Courted by so many suitors, avoided the snares that were set her<br/> <br/> Now by one bolder than I, now by another in guile,<br/> <br/> Cleverly, daintily, always slipped past them, and sure of the byways,<br/> <br/> Comes to her lover's embrace, where he so eagerly waits.<br/> <br/> Luna! Don't rise yet. She's coming, and must not be seen by the neighbor!<br/> <br/> Breezes, rustle the leaves: muffle the sound of her feet.<br/> <br/> And as for you, little poems, o grow and flower, your blossoms<br/> <br/> Cradling themselves in the air, tepid and soft with love's breath.<br/> <br/> Wafting, betray to Quirites, as Midas' reeds did with cheap gossip,<br/> <br/> One happy couple in love, and their sweet secret, at last.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />