Where is my bay? Bring it, Thestylis. Where are my charms?
Wreathe the bowl with a sheep's fine crimson fleece that I
may bind that man, my love who is so cruel to me.
This is the twelfth day since the wretch has come to me.
He doesn't know whether I live or if I'm dead,
nor has he knocked at my door -- he is so hard. Surely
Aphrodite and Eros have taken elsewhere his fickle wits.
I'll go to see him at Timagetus' wrestling school
tomorrow and scold him for treating me so. But now I'll bind
him with fire-spells. Shine brightly, Moon, for I shall sing
softly to you, goddess, and to Hecate
of the world below. Even dogs shudder when she
comes over the black blood and the tombs of the dead. Hail,
O horrid Hecate, and attend me to the end.
Make these drugs of mine more dire than those of Circe,
or even than those of Medea or those of blond Perimede.
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
First, barley melts in the fire. Strew it on,
Thestylis. You fool, where have your wits flown?
Am I a jest, you abominable girl, even to you?
Strew it on and say, "The bones of Delphis I strew."
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Delphis pained me, and I for Delphis burn this bay.
As these leaves crackle loud in the fire and suddenly catch,
and we can see not even the ashes of them, so
may the flesh of Delphis too diminish and melt in the flame.
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Now I shall burn the bran. Artemis, you who could move
Hades' adamant and anything else as strong --
Thestylis, the dogs are howling throughout the town.
The goddess is at the crossroads. Quick! Sound the bronze!
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Look, the sea is still, and the breezes too are still,
but the pain within my breast is not at all still,
for I am all aflame for him who has made me
not a wife but a miserable thing -- no virgin now.
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Now just as I with the goddess's help melt this wax,
so straightway may Delphis of Myndus melt with love,
and just as Aphrodite turns this brazen rhomb,
so may Delphis also turn about my door.
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Three times I make libation, Lady, and three times
I cry, "Whether a woman lies with him now or a man
may he forget them as once they say Theseus
in Dia forgot Ariadne of the lovely hair."
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Coltsfoot's a weed that grows in Arcadia. For it all
the foals run mad on the hills and all the swift mares,
and so may I see Delphis, and may he come to this house,
like a creature gone mad, from that sleek and splendid wrestling
school.
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
Delphis lost this fringe from his cloak. I pluck it now.
I cast it into the savage flame. O tormenting Love,
why do you drink all the black blood from my flesh,
clinging fast to me like some sucking leech from the swamp?
Draw to my house, my magic wheel, that man of mine.
I'll powder a lizard and bring him tomorrow an evil brew.
Now, Thestylis, take these magic herbs and knead them upon
his doorstep during the dark of night, and, whispering, say,
"These are the bones of Delphis. The bones of Delphis I knead."
Now that I am alone, how shall I lament
my love? Where shall I begin? Who brought this trouble
on me? Our Anaxo, Eubulus' daughter, carried a basket
to Artemis' grove. For the goddess that day many wild beasts
paraded about her. Among them went a lioness.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
Theumaridas' Thracian nurse, now dead, who lived next door,
begged and beseeched me to go and see the Procession. And I,
unhappily, went. I wore a lovely linen dress
with Clearista's delicate cloak thrown over it.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
When I had come halfway along the road, at Lycon's,
I saw Delphis and Eudamippus walking together.
Their beards were more golden than helichryse to see
and their breasts more gleaming by far than even you, O Moon,
for they had just left the lovely toil of the wrestling school.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
When I saw them both, I went mad. My wretched heart
was set on fire. My beauty wasted away. No longer
could I bear to look at that show. Nor do I know how I
got home again. Some scorching fever shook me,
and I lay on my bed for ten days and ten nights.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
Often my skin turned as yellow as fustic dye,
all my hair was falling out of my head, and only
bones were left of me and skin. To whose house,
what hag, mumbling her magic charms, did I not go?
For it was no light matter and time was running out.
ITell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come
And so I told my slave the truth. "Thestylis,
find me some cure for this painful disease. That Myndian boy
completely possesses me. Go and keep watch
at Timagetus' wrestling school, for he is always
going there and that is where he loves to sit.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
"And when you know he's alone, nod to him silently
and say, 'Simaetha summons you,' and bring him here."
So I spoke and she went and brought back to my house
Delphis, his skin still so sleekly oiled, and I
the moment I saw him crossing my threshold with nimble foot --
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
turned colder all over than winter snow and from my brow
the sweat, just like the damp dews, kept streaming down,
nor could I say a word, not even so much as babes
when they whimper in sleep and call out for their dear mothers,
but all my lovely flesh became as stiff as a doll's.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
With a glance at me the heartless boy fixed his eyes
upon the ground. He sat on the couch and, sitting, he said,
"Truly, Simaetha, you outran my arrival by only
as much as recently I outran the charming Philinus
when you sent a summons to me to come here to your house.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
"For I would have come, yes, by sweet Love, I would
have come, with two friends, or three, just at dark
carrying in my cloak the apples of Dionysus
and on my brow the white poplar, holy plant
of Heracles, twined around with crimson bands.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
"And if you had welcomed me, that would have been sweet,
for I am called agile and comely among all
the young men, and I'd have slept if only I'd kissed
your lips. But if you'd thrust me out and bolted the door,
truly torches and axes had come against you.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
"But I owe thanks, I swear, to Cypris first of all
and after Cypris you, secondly, rescued me
from the flame, my girl, calling me here to this house of yours,
half-burned like this. Love often kindles a flame more blazing
than that Hephaestus lights on the isle of Lipara.
Tell me, my Lady Moon, from where did my love come?
"With black madness he frightens the virgin girl from her room
and the bride to leave her hushand's bed before it's cold."
That is what he said, and I, too easily won,
took his hand and drew him down to the soft couch.
And soon flesh ripened to flesh and both our faces
were warmer than before and we were whispering sweetly
and -- not to babble on, dear Moon -- soon
all was done and we two fulfilled our desire.
He had no fault to find with me till yesterday
nor I with him. But today there came to me the mother
of Philista our flute-girl and Melixo, when her steeds
were bringing rosy Dawn from ocean up to sky.
She told me many other things and how Delphis
was in love. Whether his desire was for a man
or woman she said she could not say but only this:
he toasted Love in unmixed wine and at last he went
tearing off, swearing he'd bury that house in wreaths.
Such were the things my visitor told me and she is right,
for truly at other times he'd come to me three
and four times and often he'd leave his Dorian leather
oil flask with me. But this is the twelfth day
that I've not seen him. Mustn't he have some other joy
and have forgotten me? Now I shall bind him with spells,
but if he pains me still, by the Fates, he shall rattle
Hades' gates -- such wicked drugs I keep for him
in my box, learned, my Mistress, from an Assyrian man.
But good-bye, my Lady, turn your steeds again toward Ocean.
I shall bear my longing just as I have before.
Good-bye, Moon of the gleaming throne, and now good-bye
you other stars that follow the car of quiet night.