PART III. CANTO I.
IS true, no lover has that pow'rT' enforce a desperate amour,
As he that has two strings to's bow,
And burns for love and money too;
For then he's brave and resolute, 5
Disdains to render[1] in his suit;
Has all his flames and raptures double,
And hangs or drowns with half the trouble;
While those who sillily pursue
The simple downright way, and true, 10
Make as unlucky applications,
And steer against the stream their passions.
Some forge their mistresses of stars,
And when the ladies prove averse,
And more untoward to be won 15
Than by Caligula the moon,[2]
Cry out upon the stars for doing
Ill offices, to cross their wooing,
When only by themselves they're hindred,
For trusting those they made her kindred,[3] 20
And still the harsher and hide-bounder
The damsels prove, become the fonder.
For what mad lover ever dy'd
To gain a soft and gentle bride?
- ↑ That is, surrender, or give up: from the French rendre.
- ↑ This was one of the extravagant follies of Caligula. He assumed to be a god and boasted of embracing the moon. See Suetonius, Life of Caligula (Bohn's edit. p. 266).
- ↑ The meaning is, that when men have flattered their mistresses extravagantly, and declared them to be more than human, they must not be surprised or complain, if they are treated in return with that distant reserve which superior beings may rightly exercise towards inferior creatures.
