to her mind; {but} when dissolved in
soft sleep, she often sees the {object} which she is in love with. She
seems to be even embracing her brother, and she blushes, though she is
lying buried in sleep. Slumber departs; for a long time she is silent,
and she recalls to {memory} the appearance of her dream, and thus she
speaks with wavering mind:

"Ah, wretched me! What means this vision of the silent night? How far am
I from wishing it real. Why have I seen this dream? He is, indeed,
beautiful, even to envious eyes. He pleases me, too; and were he not my
brother, I could love him, and he would be worthy of me. But it is my
misfortune that I am his sister. So long as I strive, while awake,
to commit no such {attempt}, let sleep often return with the like
appearance. No witness is there in sleep; and yet there is the
resemblance of the delight. O Venus and winged Cupid, together with thy
voluptuous mother, how great the joys I experienced! how substantial the
transport which affected me! How I lay dissolved {in delight} throughout
my whole marrow! How pleasing to remember it; although short-lived was
that pleasure, and the night sped onward rapidly, and was envious of my
attempts {at bliss}. Oh, could I only be united {to thee}, by changing
my name, how happily, Caunus, could I become the daughter-in-law of thy
father! how happily, Caunus, couldst thou become the son-in-law of my
father! O, that the Gods would grant that all things were in common with
us, except our ancestors. Would that thou wast more nobly born than
myself. For this reason then, most beauteous one, thou wilt make some
stranger, whom I know not, a mother; but to me, who have unhappily got
the same parents as thyself, thou wilt be nothing {more} than a brother.
That {tie} alone we shall have, which bars all else. What, then, do my
visions avail me? And what weight have dreams? And do dreams have any
weight? The Gods {fare} better; for the Gods have their own sisters {in
marriage}. Thus Saturn married Ops,[50] related to him by blood; Ocean
Tethys, the ruler of Olympus Juno. The Gods above have their privileges.
Why do I attempt to reduce human customs to the rule of divine
ordinances, and those so different? Either this forbidden flame shall be
expelled from my heart, or if I cannot effect that, I pray that I may
first perish, and that when dead I may be laid out on my bed, and that
my brother may give me kisses as I lie. And besides, this matter
requires