But as for me—first above all, may the sweet Muses whose holy emblems, under the spell of a mighty love, I… — Virgil
But as for me—first above all, may the sweet Muses whose holy emblems, under the spell of a mighty love, I bear, take me to themselves, and show me heaven's pathways, the stars, the sun's many lapses, the moon's many labours; whence come tremblings of the earth, the force to make deep seas swell and burst their barriers, then sink back upon themselves; why winter suns hasten so fast to dip in Ocean, or what delays clog the lingering nights.
Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae,
Quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore,
Accipiant caelique vias et sidera monstrent,
Defectus solis varios lunaeque labores;
Unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant
Obicibus ruptis rursusque in se ipsa residant.
Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles
Hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.
Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
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But when you hold him in the grasp of hands and fetters, then will manifold forms baffle you, and figures of wild beasts. For of a sudden he will become a bristly boar, a deadly tiger, a scaly serpent, or a lioness with tawny neck; or he will give forth the fierce roar of flame, and thus slip from his fetters, or he will melt into fleeting water and be gone.
And now farewell! Involved in shades of night,
For ever I am ravished from thy sight.
In vain I reach my feeble hands to join
In sweet embraces—ah! no longer thine!
And lay down their lives in the wound.
