Matthew Prior (1664-1721)
To A Lady, She Refusing to Continue a Dispute with me, and Leaving me in the Argument: An Ode
1Spare, gen'rous victor, spare the slave,
2 Who did unequal war pursue;
3That more than triumph he might have,
4 In being overcome by you.
5In the dispute whate'er I said,
6 My heart was by my tongue belied;
7And in my looks you might have read
8 How much I argued on your side.
9You, far from danger as from fear,
10 Might have sustain'd an open fight:
11For seldom your opinions err:
12 Your eyes are always in the right.
13Why, fair one, would you not rely
14 On Reason's force with Beauty's join'd?
15Could I their prevalence deny,
16 I must at once be deaf and blind.
17Alas! not hoping to subdue,
18 I only to the fight aspir'd:
19To keep the beauteous foe in view
20 Was all the glory I desir'd.
21But she, howe'er of vict'ry sure.
22 Contemns the wreath too long delay'd;
23And, arm'd with more immediate pow'r,
24 Calls cruel silence to her aid.
25Deeper to wound, she shuns the fight:
26 She drops her arms, to gain the field:
27Secures her conquest by her flight;
28 And triumphs, when she seems to yield.
29So when the Parthian turn'd his steed,
30 And from the hostile camp withdrew;
31With cruel skill the backward reed
32 He sent; and as he fled, he slew.
Notes
29] The Parthians, an Asiatic tribe, were proverbial for their prowess in using their arrows while retreating: cf. Virgil, Georgics, III, 31.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: John Dryden, ed., Miscellany, Vol. 5 (London: Jacob Tonson, 1704). B-11 815 Fisher Rare Book Library
First publication date:
1704
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP.1.524; RPO 1996-2000.
Recent editing: 2:2002/4/11
Rhyme: abab
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