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. For little things may be with great compar'd:
  2. We're told Calypso, an immortal pow'r,
  3. Detain'd a mortal in th' Ogygian pow'r,
  4. And when her pray'r to stay he would not grant,
  5. So strong her love, she kept him by constraint.
  6. A Nereid took the Pythian to her arms.
  7. And Numa knew divine Egeria's charms.
  8. Vulcan though lame, and of a form obscene,
  9. Was oft made happy by the Paphian queen;
  10. She matter'd not his limping, but approv'd
  11. His flame, and saw no faults in him she lov'd
  12. My verses are unequal like his feet,
  13. Yet the long kindly with the shorter meet.
  14. As they with them, why shouldst thou not with me
  15. Comply, my life and my divinity !
  16. Myself, when I am in thy arms, I'll own
  17. Thy subject, and the bed shall be thy throne;
  18. Thou there, my lovely queen, shall give me laws,
  19. Nor in my absence, to rejoice have cause,
  20. Nor ever shall my services be blam'd
  21. Nor shalt thou of thy servant be asham'd.
  22. My poetry's my purse, my fortun's there,
  23. I have no other way to win the fair;
  24. Nor is that way the worst; the brightest dames
  25. Would in my verse immortalize their names.
  26. My muse the place of an estate supplies,
  27. And none that know her worth, her wealth despise.
  28. Some tempted by Corinna's spreading fame,
  29. In envy rob her, and usurp her name;
  30. What would they give, d'ye think, to be the same ?
  31. But neither could Eurotas, nor the Po,
  32. With poplar shaded, in one channel flew;
  33. By diff'rent, and by distant banks they glide,
  34. Are rivers both, but various in their tide.
  35. There are more beauties, but there's none like thine,
  36. There are more versed, but thou hast only mine;
  37. No other charms can e'er inspire my muse,
  38. And other themes I with disdain refuse.
  1. While, Macer, you Achilles' choler sing,
  2. And Greece before the walls of Ilium bring;
  3. While feats of arms in Phrygian fields you tell,
  4. And how old Tory by Grecion vengeance fell;
  5. I my soft hours in softer songs employ,
  6. And all my leisure give to love and joy.
  7. When to high acts, my voice I strive to raise,
  8. Love laughs at my attempt, and mocks my lays;
  9. "Begone!" I often to my mistress cry,
  10. But have not courage, yet, myself to fly.
  11. Whene'er she sees me in this sullen fit,
  12. She fondles me, and, on my knee will sit:
  13. "Enough of this (say I), for shame give o'er,
  14. Enough of love, we'll play the fool no more."
  15. " Ah, is it then a shame to love?" she cries,
  16. And chides, and melts me with her weeping eyes.
  17. Around my neck her snowy arms she throws,
  18. And to my lips with stifling kisses grows.
  19. How can I all this tenderness refuse ?
  20. At once my wisdom, and my will I lose;
  21. I'm conquer'd, and renounce the glorious train
  22. Of arms, and war, to sing of love again:
  23. My themes are acts, which I myself have done,
  24. And my muse sings no battles but my own.
  25. Once I confess I did the drama try,
  26. And ventur'd with success on tragedy;
  27. My genius with a moving scene agrees,
  28. And if I ventured further I might please:
  29. But love my heroics makes a jest,
  30. And laughs to see me in my buskins drest.
  31. Asham'd, and weary of this tragic whim,
  32. For tender thoughts I quitted the sublime.
  33. My mind my mistress bends another way,
  34. Her must my muse in all her songs obey;
  35. Though oft I do not what I write approve,
  36. Like, or not like it, I must sing of love.
  37. Whether for Ithaca's illustrious dame,
  38. To great Ulysses I a letter frame,
  39. Or for Oenone tender things indite,
  40. Or soft complaints for injur'd Phillis write;
  41. Whether fair Canace's incestuous care
  42. I sooth, or flatter Dido's fierce despair;
  43. Whether I fan Medea's raging fire,
  44. Or for sweet Sappho touch the Lesbian lyre;
  45. Whether I Phaedra's lawless love relate,
  46. Or Theseus' flight and Ariadne's fate:
  47. Oh, that Sabinus, my departed friend,
  48. Could from all quarters now his answers send!
  49. Ulysses' hand should to his queen be known,
  50. And wretched Phaedra hear from Theseus' son;
  51. Dido Aeneas' answer should receive,
  52. And Phillis Demophoon's, if alive;
  53. Jason should to Hypsipyle return
  54. A sad reply, and Sappho cease to mourn:
  55. Nor him whom she can ne'er possess, desire,
  56. But give to Phoebus fane her votive lyre.
  57. As much as you in lofty epics deal,
  58. You, Macer, show that you love's passion feel,
  59. And sensible of beauty's powerful charm,
  60. You hear their call amid the noise of arms.
  61. A place for Paris in your verse we find,
  62. And Helen's to the young adult'rer kind;
  63. There lovely Laodamia mourns her lord,
  64. The first that fell by Hector's fatal sword.
  65. If well I know you, and your mind can tell,
  66. The theme's as grateful, and you like as well
  67. To tune your lyre for Cupid as for Mars,
  68. And Thracian combats change for Paphian wars;
  69. If well I know you, and your works design
  70. Your will, you often quit your camp for mine.
  1. If for thyself thou wilt not watch thy whore,
  2. Watch her for me that I may love her more.