<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=457237" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>To a Lady</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Spare, gen'rous victor, spare the slave,<br>Who did unequal war pursue;<br>That more than triumph he might have,<br>In being overcome by you.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In the dispute whate'er I said,<br>My heart was by my tongue belied;<br>And in my looks you might have read<br>How much I argued on your side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">You, far from danger as from fear,<br>Might have sustain'd an open fight:<br>For seldom your opinions err:<br>Your eyes are always in the right.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Why, fair one, would you not rely<br>On Reason's force with Beauty's join'd?<br>Could I their prevalence deny,<br>I must at once be deaf and blind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Alas! not hoping to subdue,<br>I only to the fight aspir'd:<br>To keep the beauteous foe in view<br>Was all the glory I desir'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But she, howe'er of vict'ry sure.<br>Contemns the wreath too long delay'd;<br>And, arm'd with more immediate pow'r,<br>Calls cruel silence to her aid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Deeper to wound, she shuns the fight:<br>She drops her arms, to gain the field:<br>Secures her conquest by her flight;<br>And triumphs, when she seems to yield.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So when the Parthian turn'd his steed,<br>And from the hostile camp withdrew;<br>With cruel skill the backward reed<br>He sent; and as he fled, he slew.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Matthew+Prior">Matthew Prior</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=457237" data-title="To a Lady de Matthew Prior" data-description="Spare, gen'rous victor, spare the slave, Who did unequal war pursue; That more than triumph he might have, In being overcome by you. In the dispute whate'er I said, My heart was by my tongue belied; And in my looks you might have read How much I ..."></div> </div> </div>

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