cold-hearted, by saying: 'I have a husband, and
the holy laws and the vowed faith forbid me this'; for bootless are such
reasonings against the puissance of this god. He discards the laws of
others scornfully, as thinking them of no account, and ordains his own.
Pasiphae? had a husband, and Phaedra, and I, too, even though I have
loved. And it is these same husbands who most frequently fall in love
with others, albeit they have wives of their own: witness Jason and
Theseus and valiant Hector and Ulysses. Therefore to men we do no wrong
if we apply to them the same laws that they apply to others; for to
them no privilege has been granted which is not accorded to us withal.
Banish, then, thy foolish thoughts, and, in all security, go on loving
him whom thou hadst already begun to love. In good sooth, if thou
refusest to own the power of mighty Love, it behooves thee to fly; but
whither canst thou fly? Knowest thou of any retreat where he will not
follow and overtake thee? He has in all places equal puissance. Go
wheresoever thou wilt, never canst thou pass across the borders of his
realms, and within these realms vain it is for mortals to try to hide
themselves when he would smite them. But let it comfort thee to know,
young woman, that no such odious passion shall trouble thee as erstwhile
was the scourge of Myrrha, Semiramis, Byblis, Canace, and Cleopatra.
Nothing strange or new will be wrought by my son in thy regard. He has,
as have the other gods, his own special laws, which thou art not the
first to obey, and shouldst not be the last to entertain hopes
therefrom. If haply thou believest that thou art without companions in
this, foolish is thy belief. Let us pass by the other world, which is
fraught with such happenings; but observe attentively only thine own
city! What an infinite number of ladies it can show who are in the same
case with thyself! And remember that what is done by so many cannot be
deemed unseemly. Therefore, be thou of our following, and return thanks
to our beauty, which thou hast so closely examined. But return special
thanks to our deity, which has sundered thee from the ranks of the
simple, and persuaded thee to become acquainted with the delights that
our gifts bestow."

Alas! alas! ye tender and compassionate ladies, if Love has been
propitious to your desires, say what could I, what should I, answer to
such and so great words uttered by so great a goddess, if not: "Be it
done unto me accord