Bki:Xxvii Entanglement

To fight with wine-cups intended for pleasure only suits Thracians: forget those barbarous games, and keep modest Bacchus away from all those bloodthirsty quarrels of yours. The Persian scimitar’s quite out of keeping with the wine and the lamplight: my friends restrain all that impious clamour, and rest on the couches, lean back on your elbows. So you want me to drink up my share, as well, of the heavy Falernian? Then let’s hear Opuntian Megylla’s brother tell by what wound, and what arrow, blessed, he dies. Does your will waver? I’ll drink on no other terms. Whatever the passion rules over you, it’s not with a shameful fire it burns, and you always sin with the noblest of lovers. Whoever it is, ah, come now, let it be heard by faithful ears – oh, you wretch! What a Charybdis you’re swimming in, my boy, you deserve a far better flame! What magician, with Thessalian potions, what enchantress, or what god could release you? Caught by the triple-formed Chimaera, even Pegasus could barely free you.