Kitap 1
She shook like leaves of corn when tempests blow,
Or slender reeds that in the marshes grow.
To whom the god-" Compose thy fearful mind;
In me a truer husband thou shalt find.
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With heav'n I will endow thee, and thy star
Shall with propitious light be seen afar,
And guide on seas the doubtful mariner."
He said; and from his chariot leaping light,
Lest the grim tigers should the nymph affright,
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His brawny arms around her waist he threw,
(For gods whate'er they please with ease can do,)
And swiftly bore her thence; th' attending throng
Shout at the sight, and sing the nuptial song.It was an ancient custom to sing hymns of joy at weddings; which hymns were called epithalamius, or hymeneans, from a certain Athenian named Hymen, who, as Servins reports, delivered maids from a terrible trouble, or which they used to invoke him when they married, as the god who eased them of the burden of their maidenheads: le liberateur de leur virginité as my French author has it; and whether it is more a slavery or a burden, let the satirists determine.
Now in full bowls her sorrow she may steep;
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The bridegroom's liquor lays the bride asleep.
But thou, when flowing cups in triumph ride,The poet's directions how the lover should behave himself at table, are very considerable in the affair he is speaking of.
And the lov'd nymph is seated by thy side,
Invoke the god and all the mighty powers,
That wine may not defraud thy genial hours.
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Then in ambiguous words thy suit prefer,
