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[138] Profert Oenothea scorteum fascinum, quod ut oleo et minuto pipere atque urticae trito circumdedit semine, paulatim coepit inserere ano meo. . . . .

Hoc crudelissima anus spargit subinde umore femina mea . . .

Nasturcii sucum cum habrotono miscet perfusisque inguinibus meis viridis urticae fascem comprehendit omniaque infraumbilicum coepitlentamanu caedere. . .

Though the poor old things were silly with drink and passion they tried to take the same road, and pursued me through several streets, crying “Stop thief!” But I escaped, with all my toes running blood in my headlong flight . . .

“Chrysis, who despised your lot before, means to follow you now even at peril of her life.”. . .

“Ariadne and Leda had no beauty like hers. Helen and Venus would be nothing beside her. And Paris himself, who decided the quarrel of the goddesses,1 would have made over Helen and the goddesses too to her, if his eager gaze had seen her to compare[p. 315] with them. If only I were allowed a kiss, or could put my arms round the body that is heaven's own self; maybe my body would come back to its strength, and the part of me that is drowsed with poison, I believe, might be itself again. No insult turns me back; I forget my floggings, and I think it fine sport to be flung out of doors. Only let her be kind to me again.” . . .

1 Paris judged the claims of Hera, Aphrodite and Athena to the golden apple inscribed “To the fairest,” which Eris threw among the guests at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and awarded it to Aphrodite.

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