BASIUM V.

DUM me mollibus, hinc et hunc, lacertis
Astrictum premis, imminensque toto
Collo, pectore, lubricoque vultu,
Dependes humeris, Neæra, nostris :
Componensque meis labella labris,
Et morsu petis et gemis remorsa;

Et linguam tremulam, hinc et inde, vibras ;
Et linguam querulam, hinc et inde, sugis ;

[Dependes humeris, &c.] Mons. Dorat has thus prettily turned this part;

Belle Thaïs, ô toi que j'idolâtre,

Dans des bras amoureux quand je tombe éperdu,

Et qu'à tes épaules d'albâtre

Entrelaçant les miens, je reste suspendu.

DORAT. BAISER 6.

[Et linguam tremulam, &c.] A French writer seems to have paraphrased these thoughts with no small degree of merit:

Et qu'en ces jeux nos langues fretillardes
S'étreignent mollement ;

Quand je te baise, un gracieux zéphire,
Un petit vent moite et doux qui soupire,
Va mon cœur éventant.

L'ABBE DESPORTES.

KISS V.

WHILE you, Neæra, close entwine
In frequent folds your frame with mine;
And hanging o'er, to view confest,
Your neck, and gently-heaving breast;
Down on my shoulders soft decline

Your beauties more than half divine;

With wand'ring looks that o'er me rove,

And fire the melting soul with love:

While you, Neæra, fondly join
Your little pouting lips with mine,
And frolic bite your am'rous swain,
Complaining soft if bit again;.
And sweetly-murm'ring pour along
The trembling accents of your tongue,

Your tongue! now here now there that strays,
Now here now there delighted plays;

Our tongues in humid pleasures roll;
And, mid the frolic, blend each soul.-
Whene'er thy lips a kiss impart;
Moist breezes, with voluptuous sighing,
Exhale rich nectar as they're dying:

Breezes that cool my fever'd heart!

Aspirans animæ suavis auram

Mollem, dulci-sonam, humidam, meæque

Altricem misera, Neæra, vitæ :

Hauriens animam meam caducam,

Flagrantem, nimio vapore coctam,
Coctum pectoris impotentis æstu;
Eludisque meas, Neæra, flammas,
Flabro pectoris haurientis æstum,
O, jucunda mei caloris aura!

[O, jucunda, &c.] An expression so beautifully, so delicately metaphorical, cannot sure be found in any writer Petrarch very frequently applies the word gale to his mistress, for the sake of the concetti, so peculiar to Italian poetry; L'aura, the gale, signifying also her name, Laura.

L'aura serena, che fra verdi fronde
Mormorando, à ferir nel volto viemme.

PETRAR. SONETTO CLXIII.

Soft gale! that murmurs thro' the verdant grove,
Plays o'er my face, and playing whispers love.

That now my humid kisses sips,
Now wanton darts between my lips;
And on my bosom raptur'd lie,
Venting the gently whisper'd sigh;
A sigh! that kindles warm desires,
And kindly fans life's drooping fires;
Soft as the zephyr's breezy wing,
And balmy as the breath of spring":

While you, sweet Nymph! with am'rous play In kisses suck breath away;

my

My breath; with wasting warmth replete,
Parch'd by my breast's contagious heat;

Till, breathing, soft, you pour again
Returning life thro' ev'ry vein;
And thus elude my passion's rage,

Love's burning fever thus assuage:

Sweet Nymph! whose sweets can best allay
Those fires that on my bosom prey :

Sweet as the cool refreshing gale

That blows when scorching heats prevail !

L'aura mia sacra al mio stanco riposo

Spira si spesso.

SONETTO CCCVII.

Oh my sweet gale! gale dear to lost repose,

Breathing so frequent!

But such conceits cannot compare with this one exquisite

line of Secundus.

Tunc, dico, "deus est Amor deorum!
"Et nullus deus est Amore major!
"Si quisquam tamen est Amore major,
"Tu, Tu sola mihi es, Neæra, major!"

[Tunc, dico, &c.] Thus beautifully again the French

imitator:

Alors je renais: et m'écrie ;

L'Amour soumet la Terre, assujetit les Cieux,
Les Rois sont à ses pieds, il gouverne les Dieux,
Il mêle en se jouant des pleurs à l'ambroisie,
Il est maître absolu; mais Thaïs aujourd'hui
L'emporte sur les Rois, sur les Dieux, et sur lui.

DORAT. BAISER VI.