Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE JUDGEMENT OF TIRESIAS, by HILDEBRAND JACOB


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE JUDGEMENT OF TIRESIAS, by                    
First Line: When willing nymphs and swains unite / in quest of amorous delight
Last Line: That party best obtains its end.
Subject(s): Goddesses & Gods; Judgments; Mythology; Mythology - Classical; Venus (goddess)


WHEN willing nymphs and swains unite
In quest of amorous delight,
Which sex does Venus most befriend,
Which party best obtains its end.
Which does the greatest pleasure prove,
And taste the sweetest joys of love?
'Twixt Jove and Juno, we are told,
This was a famed dispute of old.
Long the debate with equal strife
They held, like mortal man and wife:
The god in reason could not yield,
The goddess scorned to quit the field.
At length quoth Jove, thus rudely crossed,
His breath and patience almost lost,
'If by your sex's appetite,
Proud queen, we measure your delight,
Tis plain the goddess does dispense
To them her kindest influence.'
Juno the inference denied
And, with decisive female pride,
Would have it still o'th' other side.
'I'll lay,' says Jupiter, 'I'm right
Three storms, with clouds as black as night,
Three peals of thunder mixed with hail,
And lightning shafts which never fail;
Win 'em, and use 'em at command
Against your foes by sea or land,
For vows forgot or rites neglected,
My friends of Crete alone excepted.'
"Tis done,' she cried, 'and Argus' eyes
I stake against your troubled skies,
Those watchful eyes you so much dread
When wand'ring from our nuptial bed.'
'Enough,' quoth Jove, 'by Styx's flood,
The wager's ratified and good!'
But who can this affair decide?
'Tiresias can,' the Thund'rer cried:
'Tiresias either sex has tried.'
Tiresias summoned straight appears,
And thus the knotty question clears:
'Parent of gods! tremendous Jovel
Great monarch of the realms above!
And you, dread queen! in Samos known,
Invoked by matrons when they groan;
The judgement you require, attend,
Nor may th' impartial judge offend.
An abler sure you ne'er had found
In heav'n, on earth, or under ground;
For I've done all that's done by man,
And suffered all poor woman can,
Have made myself the bold attack,
And fought like tigress on my back;
Now pressed the fair within my arms,
Now died beneath the hero's charms,
Still greatly blest; for what degree
'Twixt ecstasy and ecstasy?
And who will venture to compare
The mighty raptures none can bear?
The happy moment is the same
To active man or passive dame:
The diff'rence lies, with due submission,
Not in degree, but repetition.
That sex which oftest can renew
Those happy moments, still too few!
That sex does Venus most befriend,
That party best obtains its end.





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