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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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