_He entreats his mistress to return his affection, and shows that he is
deserving of her favour._
|I ask for what is just; let the fair who has so lately captivated me,
either love me, or let her give me a cause why I should always love her.
Alas! too much have I desired; only let her allow herself to be loved;
_and then_ Cytherea will have listened to my prayers so numerous. Accept
one who will be your servant through lengthened years; accept one
who knows how to love with constant attachment. If the great names of
ancient ancestors do not recommend me, or if the Equestrian founder of
my family [021] _fails to do so_; and _if_ no field of mine is renewed
by ploughs innumerable, and each of my parents [022] with frugal spirit
limits my expenditure; still Phoebus and his nine companions and the
discoverer of the vine may do so; and Love _besides_, who presents me
as a gift to you; a fidelity, too that will yield to none, manners above
reproach, ingenuousness without guile, and modesty _ever_ able to blush.
A thousand damsels have no charms for me; I am no rover in affection;
[023] you will for ever be my choice, if you do but believe me. May it
prove my lot to live with you for years as many as the threads of the
Sister _Destinies_ shall grant me, and to die with you sorrowing _for
me_. Grant me yourself as a delightful theme for my verse; worthy of
their matter my lines will flow. Io, frightened by her horns, and she
whom the adulterer deceived in _the shape of_ the bird [024] of the
stream have a name in song; she, too, who, borne over the seas upon the
fictitious bull, held fast the bending horns with her virgin hand. We,
too, together shall be celebrated throughout all the world; and my name
shall ever be united with thy own.