Amores

Ovid

Ovid. Ovid's Art of Love (in three Books), the Remedy of Love, the Art of Beauty, the Court of Love, the History of Love, and Amours. Dryden, John, et al., translator. New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1855.

  1. Deceiv'd, unarm'd, we Cupid soon o'ercame,
  2. And I glow shameless with a double flame.
  3. They both are fair, both dress'd so nicely well,
  4. That the pre-eminence is hard to tell.
  5. Sometimes for this, sometimes for that I burn,
  6. And each more beauteous sparkles in her turn.
  7. Each claims my passion, and my heart divides
  8. As to and fro the doubtful galliot rides.
  9. Here driven by winds, and there redriven by tides.
  10. Why doubly chain'd ? was not a single fair
  11. Enough to load me with perpetual care?
  12. Why are more leaves brought to the shady wood,
  13. Stars to the sky, or waters to the flood ?
  14. Yet better so than not to love at all;
  15. Still on my foes may such dull blessings fall.
  16. May they, insipidly supine, be spread
  17. Along the middle of a widowed bed;
  18. While I with sprightliness love's vigil's keep,
  19. Stretch'd out for something far more sweet than sleep.
  20. Others from ruin fly, to mine I run,