For beauty is the substitute for all things, satisfying every absence,
The rich delirious cup to make all else forgotten:
She also is the zest unto all things, enhancing every presence,
The rare and precious ambergris, to quicken each perfume.
O beauty, thou art eloquent; yea, though slow of tongue,
Thy breast, fair Phryne, pleaded well before the dazzled judge:
O beauty, thou art wise; yea, though teaching falsely,
Sages listen, sweet Corinna, to commend thy lips;
O beauty, thou art ruler; yea, though lowly as a slave,
Myrrha, that imperial brow is monarch of thy lord;