_He confesses that he is an universal admirer of the fair sex._
|I would not presume to defend my faulty morals, and to wield deceiving
arms in behalf of my frailties. I confess them, if there is any use
in confessing one's errors; and now, having confessed, I am foolishly
proceeding to my own accusation. I hate _this state_; nor, though I
wish, can I be otherwise than what I hate. Alas! how hard it is to bear
_a lot_ which you wish to lay aside! For strength and self-control fail
me for ruling myself; just like a ship carried along the rapid tide, am
I hurried away.
There is no single style of beauty which inflames my passion; there are
a hundred causes for me always to be in love.
Is there any fair one that casts down her modest eyes? I am on fire; and
that very modesty becomes an ambush against me. Is another one forward;
_then_ I am enchanted, because she is not coy; and her liveliness raises
all my expectations. If another seems to be prudish, and to imitate the
repulsive Sabine dames; [332] I think that she is kindly disposed, but
that she conceals it in her stateliness. [333] Or if you are a learned
fair, you please me, _thus_ endowed with rare acquirements; or if
ignorant, you are charming for your simplicity. Is there one who says
that the lines of Callimachus are uncouth in comparison with mine; at
once she, to whom I am _so_ pleasing, pleases me. Is there even one who
abuses both myself, the Poet, and my lines; I could wish to have her who
so abuses me, upon my knee. Does this one walk leisurely, she enchants
me with her gait; is another uncouth, still, she may become more gentle,
on being more intimate with the other sex.
Because this one sings _so_ sweetly, and modulates her voice [334] with
such extreme case, I could wish to steal a kiss from her as she sings.
Another is running through the complaining strings with active finger;
who could not fall in love with hands so skilled? _And now_, one
pleases by her gestures, and moves her arms to time, [335] and moves her
graceful sides with languishing art _in the dance_; to say nothing about
myself, who am excited on every occasion, put Hippolytus [336] there; he
would become a Priapus. You, because you are so tall, equal the Heroines
of old; [337] and, of large size, you can fill the entire couch as you
lie. Another is active from her shortness; by both I am enchanted; both
tall and short suit my taste. Is one unadorned; it occurs what addition
there might be if she was adorned. Is one decked out; she sets out her
endowments to advantage. The blonde will charm me; the brunette [338]
will charm me _too_; a Venus is pleasing, even of a swarthy colour. Does
black hair fall upon a neck of snow; Leda was sightly, with her raven
locks. Is the hair flaxen; with her saffron locks, Aurora was charming.
To every traditional story does my passion adapt itself. A youthful age
charms me; _an age_ more mature captivates me; the former is superior in
the charms of person, the latter excels in spirit.
In fine, whatever the fair any person approves of in all the City, to
all these does my passion aspire.