O Phileros, Why a Torch, that We Need Not? by Valerius Aedituus

O Phileros, why a torch, that we need not?
Just as we are we’ll go, our hearts aflame.
That flame no wild wind’s blast can ever quench,
Or rain that falls torrential from the skies;
Venus herself alone can quell her fire,
No other force there is that has such power.

From: Aulus Gellius and Rolfe, John C. (ed. and transl.), The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. With an English Translation, 1927, William Heinemann Ltd: London and Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass., p. 385.
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0072%3Abook%3D19%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D9arg)

Date: 1^st century BCE (original in Latin); 1927 (translation in English)

By: Valerius Aedituus (1^st century BCE)

Translated by: John Carew Rolfe (1859-1943)

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Tags: 1927, 1st century bce, john carew rolfe, o phileros why a torch that we need not?, poetry, valerius aedituus