has happened between us had the slightest influence upon the love I bore
him, nor has it now. Still, I will not deny that our close intimacy was
then, and is now, most dear to me. And where is the woman so unwise as
not to wish to have the object of her affection within reach rather than
at a distance? How much more intensely does love enthrall us when it is
brought so near us that we and it are made almost inseparable! I say,
then, that after such an adventure, never afore willed or even thought
of by me, not once, but many times did fortune and our adroit stratagems
bring us good cheer and consolation, not indeed screened entirely from
danger, for which I cared less than for the passing of the fleeing wind.
But while the time was being spent in such joyous fashion--and that it
was joyous, Love, who alone may bear witness thereof, can truly say--yet
sometimes his coming inspired me with not a little natural apprehension,
inasmuch as he was beginning to be indiscreet in the manner of his
coming. But how dear to him was my own apartment, and with what gladness
did it see him enter! Yet was he filled with more reverence for it than
he ever had been for a sacred temple, and this I could at all times
easily discern. Woe is me! what burning kisses, what tender embraces,
what delicious moments we had there!

Why do I take such pleasure in the mere words which I am now setting
down? It is, I say, because I am forced to express the gratitude I then
felt to the holy goddess who was the promiser and bestower of Love's
delights. Ah, how often did I visit her altars and offer incense,
crowned with a garland of her favorite foliage! How often did I think
scornfully of the counsels of my aged nurse! Nay, furthermore, being
elated far more than all my other companions, how often did I disparage
their loves, saying within myself: "No one is loved as I am loved, no
one loves a youth as matchless as the youth I love, no one realizes such
delights from love as I!" In short, I counted the world as nothing in