Vilest paper of all dishonour, annals
Of Volusius, hear my lovely lady's
Vow, and pay it; awhile she swore to Venus
And fond Cupid, if ever I returning
Ceased from enmity, left to launch iambics,
She would surely devote the sorry poet's
Choicest rarities unto sooty Vulcan,
The lame deity, there to blaze lamenting.
With such drollery, such supreme defiance,
Swore strange oath to the gods the naughty wanton.
Now, O heavenly child of azure Ocean,
Queen of Idaly, queen of Urian highlands,
Who Ancona the fair, the reedy Cnidos
Hauntest, Amathus and the lawny Golgi,
Or Dyrrhachium, hostel Adriatic;
Hear thy votaress, answer her petition;
'Tis most graceful, a dainty thought to charm thee.
But ye verses, away to fire, to burning,
Rank rusticities, empty vapid annals
Of Volusius, heap of all dishonour.