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AN EPITAPH by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS

First Line: FAIR CANACE THIS LITTLE TOMB DOTH HIDE
Last Line: LEST HER SWEET TONGUE SHOULD FORCE THE FATES TO SAVE HER.
Subject(s): EPITAPHS;

FAIR Canace this little tomb doth hide,
Who only seven Decembers told and died.
O cruelty! O sin! yet no man here
Must for so short a life let fall a tear;
Than death the kind was worse, what did infect
First seiz'd her mouth, and spoil'd her sweet aspect:
A horrid ill her kisses bit away,
And gave her almost lipless to the clay.
If Destiny so swift a flight did will her,
It might have found some other way to kill her;
But Death first struck her dumb, in haste to have her,
Lest her sweet tongue should force the Fates to save her.



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