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from Don Juan: Canto 1, Stanzas 41-42

41

His classic studies made a little puzzle,
  Because of filthy loves of gods and goddesses,
Who in the earlier ages raised a bustle,
  But never put on pantaloons or bodices;
His reverend tutors had at times a tussle,
  And for their Aeneids, Iliads, and Odysseys,
Were forced to make an odd sort of apology,
For Donna Inez dreaded the mythology.
 

42

Ovid’s a rake, as half his verses show him,
  Anacreon’s morals are a still worse sample,
Catullus scarcely has a decent poem,
  I don’t think Sappho’s Ode a good example,
Although Longinus tells us there is no hymn
  Where the sublime soars forth on wings more ample:
But Virgil’s songs are pure, except that horrid one
Beginning with ‘Formosum Pastor Corydon.’
Other works by Lord Byron...



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