In Other Words/Indorsing Xanthias's Choice
Indorsing Xanthias’s Choice
AD XANTHIUM PHOCEUM.
Horace: Book II, Ode 4.
Horace: Book II, Ode 4.
“Ne sit ancillae tibi amor pudori,Xanthia Phoceu!”
Don’t let your yearning for your cook, O Xanth, give you the willies.Remember how Brisëis, though a slave, aroused Achilles;The Telamonian Ajax young Tecmessa made a hit with;And Agamemnon had a maid whom he was awful smit with.Why, I would give you 8 to 5—and I am far from gambly—That Phyllis is descended from some fine old Southern fam’ly.Accept it from the occupant of this here conning steeple:As nice a girl as she is must have come from Lovely People.Look at her arms—they’re perfect! So the beauty of her face is;And—as an artist—I indorse her—well, her other graces.Nay, be not jealous of the bard, my Xanthias! RememberYour uncle will be forty-one the seventh of September.