wrath of the gods by thy
speech. Now that thou art incapacitated from love by age and rejected by
all the gods, thou railest against this one, blaspheming him in whom
thou didst erstwhile take delight. If other ladies, far more puissant,
famous, and wise than I, have formerly called him by that name, it is
not in my power to give him a name anew. By him am I now truly enslaved;
whatever be the cause of this, and whether it be the occasion of my
happiness or misery, I am helpless. The strength wherewith I once
opposed him has been vanquished and has abandoned me. Therefore either
death or the youth for whom I languish can alone end my tortures. If
thou art, then, as wise as I hold thee to be, bestow such counsel and
help on me as may lighten my anguish, or, at least, abstain from
exasperating it by censuring that to which my soul, unable to act
differently, is inclined with all its energy."

Thereupon, she, being angry, and not without reason, making no answer,
but muttering to herself, passed out of the chamber and left me alone.

When my dear nurse had departed without making further discourse, and I
was again alone, I felt that I had acted ill in despising her advice. I
revolved her sayings within my restless breast; and, albeit my
understanding was blinded, I perceived that what she had said was
replete with wisdom, and, almost repenting of what I had uttered and of
the course which I had declared I purposed taking, I was wavering in my
mind. And, already beginning to have thoughts of abandoning that course
which was sure to be in every way most harmful, I was about to call her
back to give me encouragement, when a new and unforeseen event suddenly
changed my intention. For a most beautiful lady, come to my private
chamber I know not whence, presented herself before my eyes, enveloped
in such dazzling light that scarcely could my sight endure the
brightness thereof. But while she stood still and silent before me, the
effulgent radiance that had almost blinded my vision, after a time left
it unobscured, and I was able so to portray her every aspect to my mind,
as her whole beauteous figure was impressed on my memory. I saw that she
was nude, except for a thin and delicate drapery of purple, which,
albeit in some parts it covered the milk-white body, yet no more
concealed it from my ravished eyes than does the transparent glass
conceal the portrait beneath it. Her head, the hair whereof as much
surpassed gold in its l