Metin
My song; with Thais all my business lies:
The actress, if my muse performs with art,
You must commend, tho' you dislike the part.
Burst envy; I've already got a name,A justice which Ovid does himself; and we may see by it, his reputation was very well settled, or he could not have said this with so much assurance.
And, writing more, shall more advance my fame,
415
Despair not then, for, as I longer live,
Each day fresh fuel for your spleen shall give.
Thus fame's increasing gale bears me on high,
While tir'd and grovelling on the ground you lie.
Soft elegy in such esteem I've plac'd,
420
Not Virgil more the Epic strain has grac'd.The poet gives us to understand that he has made himself as famous for elegiac verse, as Virgil was for heroic; and at the same time that he praises himself, he gives the highest commendation to Virgil. Propertius, Tibullus, and Catullus excelled also in the elegy, which they wrote in imitation of Callimachus and Euphorion.
Censure did us to this digression force;
Now, muse, pursue thy interrupted course.
When first the nymph admits your visit, stay,
And take some other beauty in your way;
425
More safely thus your passion you may trust,
When you approach her charms with fainter gust;
You'll otherwise misconstrue for delight
The eagerness of your own appetite.
Desire does all; the grotto's cool retreat,
430
