Page:Lovers Legends - The Gay Greek Myths.pdf/25

Rh about only heap delight upon delight, and desire's bite is sweet. When you tempt, you joy in hope. When you win, you joy in pleasure: present and future hold only delight for you. Just now, as you were drawing up the tally of your loves with a precision worthy of Hesiod, your eyes melted, your voice flowed more sweetly than Lycambes' daughters',$6$ and your whole demeanor shouted out you were in love with love, as well as with its memory. Come, if you've left out any scrap of your trek with Aphrodite, repair the fault right away: Hercules will have his victim whole.


 * This god, Lycinus, is an eater of oxen. What's more, he likes his victims steaming. If we should honor him with stories, mine have dragged on long enough and become stale. Your turn, please. Let your own Muse cast off her usual gravity and spend the day delighting together with the god! I see you do not favor one love over another, so please be an impartial judge: Tell me, who is better – the lover of boys, or one who delights in women? I, who am smitten by both, lean neither this way nor that, but keep in balance the two arms of the scale. You, who are untouched by either, give me your impartial opinion. Be frank, dear friend. Say which side you are on, now that I have told you of my loves. (Continued on page 37) 11