“In purity alone I joy;
“I seek no other fame,
“But that which from chaste wishes grows,
“And suits a virgin’s name.
VIII.
“Nymphs of the woods, the groves, and streams,
“Too oft have found the smart
“Of looser fires, which, once indulg’d,
“Will rankle in the heart.
IX.
“Me no rude touch shall e’er profane;
“That guard if once I leave,
“Of ev’ry virtue well I know
“Mankind would me bereave.
X.
“Nor this alone, know, curious youth,
“A thorny mail I own;
“Foe to the rash unthinking hand
“That violates my throne.
XI.
“And ev’n within this spotless breast
“Does deadly venom spring;
“So he that ravishes the sweets,
“May meet the mortal sting.
XII.
“Go then, and range from flow’r to flow’r,
“Amidst the gaudy train:
“But sacred be my homely plant,
“To bright-hair’d Vesta’s reign.
XIII.
“She ceas’d; nor I the flow’r profan’d,
“To chastity devote;
“But on the sand with rustic pen,
“This sacred moral wrote:
XIV.
The Nymph who slights strict virtue’s guard,
Shall quickly meet a snare;
And Pleasures, rais’d on Virtue’s bane,
Are fatal, as they’re fair.