3
Let him go ahead.
Ares is a democrat.
There are no privileged people
On a battlefield.
32
Whoever is alive
Is pleased by song.
35
And the heart
Is pleased
By one thing
After another.
40
Friends hurt the most.
96
To engage with an insatiable girl,
Ramming belly against belly,
Thigh riding against thigh.
Translated by Guy Davenport
Down, wanton, down! Have you no shame
That at the whisper of Love’s name,
Or Beauty’s, presto! up you raise
Your angry head and stand at gaze?
Poor bombard-captain, sworn to reach
The ravelin and effect a breach–
Indifferent what you storm or why,
So be that in the breach you die!
Love may be blind, but Love at least
Knows what is man and what mere beast;
Or Beauty wayward, but requires
More delicacy from her squires.
Tell me, my witless, whose one boast
Could be your staunchness at the post,
When were you made a man of parts
To think fine and profess the arts?
Will many-gifted Beauty come
Bowing to your bald rule of thumb,
Or Love swear loyalty to your crown?
Be gone, have done! Down, wanton, down!