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. I figure to myself a thousand charms,
  2. A thousand raptures in her wanton arms.
  3. If, like the damsels of the Sabine race,
  4. She's rude, I look upon it as grimace;
  5. That sullen as she seems at first, 'tis art,
  6. That I the more may prize the conquest or her heart.
  7. New joys, if she's a wit, I hope to find;
  8. And with her body, to possess her mind:
  9. If foolish, I in that can see no harm,
  10. And in her very folly find a charm.
  11. I know a maid so very fond, and dull,
  12. To me she thinks Callimachus a fool.
  13. I soon am pleas'd with one that's pleas'd with me,
  14. Alike we in our taste and wish agree:
  15. But if the fair my verses don't approve,
  16. I bragging tell her, she will like my love;
  17. If with her tongue, or with her heel she's brisk,
  18. Her prattle pleases, and her gamesome frisk;
  19. But if she's heavy, I suppose at night
  20. She'll change, and prove, as I would have her, light,
  21. The fair that sings, enchants me with her voice;
  22. Oh, what a gust it gives a lover's joys!
  23. When her shrill shakes afresh his bosom wound,
  24. And from her lips he kisses off the sound;
  25. When her soft fingers touch the silver strings,
  26. And sweetly to the sounding lute she sings;
  27. Who can resist such strong redoubled charms?
  28. Her music melts me, as her beauty warms
  29. If in the dance the nimble nymph I find,
  30. And view how she her pliant limbs does wind,
  31. How artfully she to the music moves,
  32. I cry, "How happy is the man she loves!"
  33. My humour, in a word, is plainly this,
  34. All objects please, and nothing comes amiss.
  35. To love, and be belov'd my sole employ:
  36. Dispos'd to be enjoy'd, and to enjoy.
  37. This lady for her length I like, her spread
  38. Will swell my arms, and fill the joyous bed;
  39. She's like the lusty heroines of old,
  40. And with a strong embrace her lover will enfold.