ate,"------

[5464]he desires to confer with some of her acquaintance, for his heart is
still with her, [5465]to talk of her, admiring and commending her,
lamenting, moaning, wishing himself anything for her sake, to have
opportunity to see her, O that he might but enjoy her presence! So did
Philostratus to his mistress, [5466]"O happy ground on which she treads,
and happy were I if she would tread upon me. I think her countenance would
make the rivers stand, and when she comes abroad, birds will sing and come
about her."

"Ridebunt valles, ridebunt obvia Tempe,
In florem viridis protinus ibi humus."

"The fields will laugh, the pleasant valleys burn,
And all the grass will into flowers turn."

_Omnis Ambrosiam spirabit aura_. [5467]"When she is in the meadow, she is
fairer than any flower, for that lasts but for a day, the river is
pleasing, but it vanisheth on a sudden, but thy flower doth not fade, thy
stream is greater than the sea. If I look upon the heaven, methinks I see
the sun fallen down to shine below, and thee to shine in his place, whom I
desire. If I look upon the night, methinks I see two more glorious stars,
Hesperus and thyself." A little after he thus courts his mistress, [5468]
"If thou goest forth of the city, the protecting gods that keep the town
will run after to gaze upon thee: if thou sail upon the seas, as so many
small boats, they will follow thee: what river would not run into the sea?"
Another, he sighs and sobs, swears he hath _Cor scissum_, a heart bruised
to powder, dissolved and melted within him, or quite gone from him, to his
mistress' bosom belike, he is in an oven, a salamander in the fire, so
scorched with love's heat; he wisheth himself a saddle for her to sit on, a
posy for her to smell to, and it would not grieve him to be hanged, if he
might be strangled in her garters: he would willingly die tomorrow, so that
she might kill him with her own hands. [5469]Ovid would be a flea, a gnat,
a ring, Catullus a sparrow,

[5470] "O si tecum ludere sicut ipsa possem,
Et tristes animi levare curas."

[5471]Anacreon, a glass, a gown, a chain, anything,

"Sed speculum ego ipse fiam,
Ut me tuum usque cernas,
Et vestis ipse fiam,
Ut me tuum usque gestes.
Mutari et opto in undam,
Lavem tuos ut artus,
Nardus puella fiam,
Ut ego teipsum inungam,
Sim fascia in papillis,