That neither plate nor mail sustain'd the stour,

But riveld wreak like rotten wood asunder,

And fire did flash like lightning after thunder;

[5455]Nam si abest quod ames, praesto simulacra tamen sunt

Illius, et nomen dulce observatur ad aures.

The very carrier that comes from him to her is a most welcome guest; and if he bring a letter, she will read it twenty times over, and as [5456] Lucretia did by Euryalus, “kiss the letter a thousand times together, and then read it:” And [5457]Chelidonia by Philonius, after many sweet kisses, put the letter in her bosom,

And kiss again, and often look thereon,

And stay the messenger that would be gone:

[5458]Vult placere sese amicae, vult mihi, vult pedissequae,

Vult famulis, vult etiam ancillis, et catulo meo.