Tell me, Muse, tell me the story
of a goddess dressed from top to toe
in gold, the goddess Aphrodite
from Cyprus; of what she gets up to,
how she has given gods irresistible
urges, how she has brought to heel
the whole crowd of men upon earth
and the birds in the sky, with all
of the creatures on land, or those beneath
the waves - Cythereia, call her,
Cythereia covered and
covered with flowers in garlands.

*

There are, in fact, three
goddesses whose wits
this great Aphrodite
can't fuddle: first
...