Amores

69. All thou hast done be ready to forswear:
70. For lovers' oaths fair Venus has no ear.
71. Whilst lie is with thee, let some woman bring
72. Some Indian stuff or foreign precious thing;
73. Which thou must say thou want'st, and he must buy,
74. Though for it six months hence in gaol he lie.
75. Thy mother, sister, brother, and thy nurse,
76. Must have a pull each at thy lover's purse.
77. Let him from rivals never be secure,
78. That hope once gone, love will not long endure;
79. Show him the presents by those rivals sent,
80. So shall his bounty thy request prevent.
81. When he will give no more, ask him to lend:
82. If he wants money, find a trusting friend.
83. Get hangings, cabinets, and looking-glass,
84. Or any thing for which his word will pass.
85. Practise these rules, thou'lt find the benefit!
86. I lost my beauty ere I got this wit."
87. I at that word step'd from behind the door,
88. And scarce my nails from her thin cheeks forbore.
89. Her few gray hairs in rage I vow'd to pull,
90. And thrust her drunken eyes into her skull.
91. "Poor in a dungeon's bottom may'st thou rot,
92. Die with a blow with thy beloved pot;
93. No brandy, and eternal thirst, thy lot."

1. Trust me, my Atticus, in love are wars;
2. And Cupid has his camp, as well as Mars:
3. The age that's fit for war best suits with love,
4. The old in both unserviceable prove,
5. Infirm in war, and impotent in love.
6. The soldiers which a general does require,
7. Are such as ladies would in bed desire:
8. Who but a soldier, and a lover, can
9. Bear the night's cold, in show'rs of hail and rain?
10. One in continual watch his station keeps,
11. Or on the earth in broken slumbers sleeps;
12. The other takes his still repeated round
13. By mistress' house — then lodges on the ground.
14. Soldiers, and lovers, with a careful eye,
15. Observe the motions of the enemy:
16. One to the walls makes his approach in form,
17. Pushes the siege, and takes the town by storm:
18. The other lays his close to Celia's fort,
19. Presses his point, and gains the wish'd-for port.
20. As soldiers, when the foe securely lies
21. In sleep, and wine dissolv'd, the camp surprise;
22. So when the jealous to their rest remove,
23. And all is hush'd, — the other steals to love.
24. You then, who think that love's an idle fit,
25. Know, that it is the exercise of wit.
26. In flames of love the fierce Achilles burns,
27. And, quitting arms, absent Briseis mourns:
28. From the embraces of Andromache
29. Went Hector arm'd for war, and victory.
30. As Agamemnon saw Cassandra pass
31. With hair dishevell'd, and disorder'd dress,
32. H' admir'd the beauties of the prophetess:
33. The god of war was caught in th' act of love;
34. A story know to all the court above.
35. Once did I pass my hours in sloth and ease,
36. Cool shades and beds of down could only please;
37. When a commanding beauty rais'd my mind,
38. I left all little trifling thoughts behind,
39. And to her service all my heart resign'd:
40. Since, like an active soldier, have I spent
41. My time in toils of war, in beauty's tent:
42. And for so sweet a pay all dangers underwent.
43. You see, my Atticus, by what I prove,
44. Who would not live in idleness-must love.

Poem 10, in which the poet complains that his mistress has asked him for money, is not here translated.

1. Nape, who know'st so well to set the hair,
2. And all the fashions of the modish fair,
3. Like thee no lady's woman in the town
4. Can forward an intrigue, or pin a gown;
5. No maid than thee can boast a quicker eye,
6. Nor sooner the sour husband's coming spy.
7. Here, Nape, take this billet-doux, and bear
8. My soul's soft wishes to the absent fair.
9. If I can guess, thy heart is not of flint,
10. Nor is there the least vein of iron in't;
11. I something in thy looks and manners see