And yet what flame, what lighthing, e'er
So great an active force did bear?
They are all weapon; and they dart,
Like porcupines, from every part.
Who can, alas, their ftrength exprefs,
Arm'd, when they themselves undrefs,
Cap-a-pee with nakednefs?
YES, I will love then, I will love :
I will not now love's rebel prove,
Though I was once his enemy;
Though, ill-advis❜d and stubborn, I
'Did to the combat him defy.
An helmet, spear, and mighty fhield,
Like fome new Ajax, I did wield.
Love in one hand his bow did take,
In th' other hand a dart did shake.
But yet in vain the dart did throw,
In vain he often drew the bow.
So well my armour did refift,
So oft by flight the blow I miss'd.
But, when I thought all danger paft,
His quiver emptied quite at laft,
Inftead of arrow, or of dart,
He fhot himself into my heart.
The living and the killing arrow
Ran through the skin, the flesh, the blood,
And broke the bones, and fcorch'd the marrow;
No trench or work of life withstood.
In vain I now the walls maintain,
I fet out guards and scouts in vain,
Since th' enemy does within remain.
In vain a breaft-plate now I wear,
Since in my breast the foe I bear.
In vain my feet their swiftnefs try;
For from the body can they fly?
OFT am I by the women told, Poor Anacreon, thou grow'ft old: Look, how thy hairs are falling all; Poor Anacreon, how they fall! Whether I grow old or no,
By th' effects I do not know.
This I know, without being told, "Tis time to live, if I grow old;
"Tis time fhort pleasures now to take, Of little life the best to make,
WHEN all the ftars are by thee told
(The endless fums of heavenly gold);
Or, when the hairs are reckon'd all;'
From fickly autumn's head that fall,
Or, when the drops that make the fea,
Whilft all her fands thy counters be;
Thou then, and thou alone, may'ft prove
Th' arithmetician of my love.
An hundred loves at Athens fcore,
At Corinth write an hundred more :
Fair Corinth does fuch beauties bear,
So few is an escaping there [].
Write then at Chios feventy-three;
Write then at Lefbos (let me fee)
Write me at Lesbos ninety down,
Full ninety loves, and half a one.
[o]-an escaping there.] A ftroke of moral fatire, flid in, on that city, fo infamous for its brothelry. The poet is fage, even in these mad Anacreontics.
And next to thefe let me prefent
The fair Ionian regiment.
And next the Carian company,
Five hundred both effectively [p]
Three hundred more at Rhodes and Crete;
Three hundred 'tis, I'm fuse, complete;
For arms at Crete each face does bear,
And every eye's an archer there.
Go on; this ftop why doft thou make?
Thou think'ft, perhaps, that I mistake.
Seems this to thee too great a fum?
Why, many thousands are to come;
The mighty Xerxes could not boast
1 Such different nations in his hoft.
On; for my love, if thou be'ft weary,
Muft find fome better fecretary.
I have not yet my Perfian told,
Nor yet my Syrian loves enroll'd,
Nor Indian, nor Arabian;
Nor Cyprian loves, nor African;
Nor Scythian, nor Italian flames;
There's a whole map behind of names:
Of gentle loves i'th' temperate zone,
And cold ones in the frigid zone;
[p] — effectively.] The term in ufe with military men (and therefore humouroufly affected here) for completely.
Cold frozen loves, with which I pine,
And parched loves, beneath the line.
A MIGHTY pain to love it is,
And 'tis a pain that pain to mifs.
But of all pains the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain.
Virtue now, nor noble blood,
Nor wit by love is understood,
Gold alone does paffion move,
Gold monopolizes love!
A curfe on her, and on the man
Who this traffic first began!
A curfe on him who found the ore!
A curfe on him who digg'd the ftore!
A curfe on him who did refine it!
A curfe on him who firft did coin it!
A curfe, all curfes elfe above,
On him, who us'd it firft in love;
Gold begets in brethren hate,
Gold, in families debate;
Gold, does friendships feparate,
Gold, does civil wars create.
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