22
AMYNTAS.
Where thou may'st lodge it in full confidence.
Why need I launch into the praise of friendship?
Friendship the best support of wretched man!
Which gives us, when our life is painful to us,
A sweet existence in another's being!
Revere, O swain, the sacred rights of friendship.
Why need I launch into the praise of friendship?
Friendship the best support of wretched man!
Which gives us, when our life is painful to us,
A sweet existence in another's being!
Revere, O swain, the sacred rights of friendship.
AMYNTAS.
Thyrsis, I'll tell without reserve to thee,
What oft I've told to streams, and trees, and mountains,
But never yet revealed to human ear.
For as my death approaches, I would wish
To leave my story with my faithful friend,
That he at proper junctures might relate it,
And carve it on some venerable beech,
Under whose boughs I have my sepulture;
A useful monument to future swains.
Then may the cruel fair-one tread my ashes;
Then may she say, with barbarous exultation,
“Thus have my powerful charms completely triumphed.”
Thyrsis, I'll tell without reserve to thee,
What oft I've told to streams, and trees, and mountains,
But never yet revealed to human ear.
For as my death approaches, I would wish
To leave my story with my faithful friend,
That he at proper junctures might relate it,
And carve it on some venerable beech,
Under whose boughs I have my sepulture;
A useful monument to future swains.
Then may the cruel fair-one tread my ashes;
Then may she say, with barbarous exultation,
“Thus have my powerful charms completely triumphed.”
Then
