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. Or had the vestal whom fierce Mars enjoy'd,
  2. Stifled the twins within her pergnant womb,
  3. What founder would have then been born to Rome?
  4. Had Venus, when she with Aeneas teem'd,
  5. To death, ere born, Anchises' son condemn'd,
  6. The world had of the Caesars been depriv'd;
  7. Augustus ne'er had reign'd, nor Julius liv'd.
  8. And thou, whose beauty is the boast of fame,
  9. Hadst perish'd, had thy mother done the same;
  10. Nor had I liv'd love's faithful slave to be,
  11. Had my own mother dealt as ill by me.
  12. Ah, vile invention, ah, accurs'd design,
  13. To rob of rip'ning fruit the loaded vine
  14. Ah, let it grow for nature's use mature,
  15. Ah, let it its full length of time endure;
  16. 'Twill of itself, alas! too soon decay,
  17. And quickly fall, like autumn leaves, away
  18. Why barb'rously dost thou thy bowels tear
  19. To kill the human load that quickens there?
  20. On venom'd drugs why venture, to destroy