pare the face and the manners of the two, she was the more
worthy to be carried off. Her father Erectheus united her to me; love,
{too}, united her to me. I was pronounced happy, and {so} I was. Not
thus did it seem {good} to the Gods; or even now, perhaps, I should be
{so}. The second month was now passing, after the marriage rites, when
the saffron-colored Aurora, dispelling the darkness in the morn, beheld
me, as I was planting nets for the horned deer, from the highest summit
of the ever-blooming Hymettus,[110] and carried me off against my will.
By the permission of the Goddess, let me relate what is true; though she
is comely with her rosy face, {and} though she possesses the confines of
light, and possesses {the confines} of darkness, though she is nourished
with the draughts of nectar, {still} I loved Procris; Procris was {ever}
in my thoughts, Procris was ever on my lips. I alleged the sacred ties
of marriage, our late embraces, and our recent union, and the prior
engagements of my forsaken bed. The Goddess was provoked, and said,
'Cease thy complaints, ungrateful man; keep thy Procris; but, if my mind
is gifted with foresight, thou wilt wish that thou hadst not had her;'"
and {thus}, in anger, she sent me back to her.

"While I was returning, and was revolving the sayings of the Goddess
within myself, there began to be apprehensions that my wife had not duly
observed the laws of wedlock. Both her beauty and her age bade me be
apprehensive of her infidelity; {yet} her virtue forbade me to believe
it. But yet, I had been absent; and besides, she, from whom I was {just}
returning, was an example of {such} criminality: but we that are in
love, apprehend all {mishaps}. I {then} endeavored to discover that, by
reason of which I must feel anguish, and by bribes to make attempts[111]
upon her chaste constancy. Aurora encouraged this apprehension, and
changed my shape, {as} I seemed {then} to perceive. I entered Athens,
the city of Pallas, unknown {to any one}, and I went into my own house.
The house itself was without fault, and gave indications of chastity,
and was in concern for the carrying off of its master.

"Having, with difficulty, made my way to the daughter of Erectheus by
means of a thousand artifices, soon as I beheld her, I was amazed, and
was nearly abandoning my projected trial of her constancy; with
difficulty did I restrain myself from telling the truth, with difficulty
from giving her the kisses which