, 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
comparison with my love. It seemed to me that my head touched the skies,
and that nothing was lacking to the culmination of my ecstatic bliss.
Betimes the idea flashed on my mind that I must disclose to others the
occasion of my transports, for surely, I would reflect, it would be a
delight to others to hear of that which has brought such delight to me!
But thou, O Shame, on the one side, and thou, O Fear, on the other, did
hold me back: the one threatening me with eternal infamy; the other with
loss of that which hostile Fortune was soon afterward to tear from me.
In such wise then, did I live for some time, for it was then pleasing to
Love that I should live in this manner; and, in good sooth, so blithely
and joyously were these days spent that I had little cause to envy any
lady in the whole world, never imagining that the delight wherewith my
heart was filled