from The Loves of Jupiter

After Michiel Coxie I
After Marcantonio (School of)
Print made by Virgil Solis
Date
1530-1562

British Musuem

Much as the Sun causes each thing

To lie so clearly before our eyes,

To linger too long on its splendor

Is to be suddenly robbed of sight.

My soul, its object thus supplied,

Leaves me abandoned by my senses,

As if, within me, to my surprise,

Semele were ravaged in my sight

By her Lover who, thundering on high,

Snatched her life in a flash of light.

— Maurice Sceve, translated by Richard Sieburth