Thou art greatly deceived, and I fear me that thou
must perish in the end, if thou persist in thy changed purpose. Let that
which has erstwhile sufficed for the whole world, suffice for thee, nor
try to render thyself cold-hearted, by saying: 'I have a husband, and
the holy laws and the vowed faith forbid me this'; for bootless are such
reasonings against the puissance of this god. He discards the laws of
others scornfully, as thinking them of no account, and ordains his own.
Pasiphae? had a husband, and Phaedra, and I, too, even though I have
loved. And it is these same husbands who most frequently fall in love
with others, albeit they have wives of their own: witness Jason and
Theseus and valiant Hector and Ulysses. Therefore to men we do no wrong
if we apply to them the same laws that they apply to others; for to
them no privilege has been granted which is not accorded to us withal.
Banish, then, thy foolish thoughts, and, in all security, go on loving
him whom thou hadst already begun to love. In good sooth, if thou
refusest to own the power of mighty Love, it behooves thee to fly; but
whither canst thou fly? Knowest thou of any retreat where he will not
follow and overtake thee? He has in all places equal puissance. Go
wheresoever thou wilt, never canst thou pass across the borders of his
realms, and within these realms vain it is for mortals to try to hide
themselves when he would smite them.
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