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. My faults, whate'er I suffer by't, I own,
  2. That others, if they please, those faults may shun
  3. I hate myself, my follies, and would fain
  4. Be, were it in my pow'r, another man.
  5. How difficult it is, ye righteous Gods,
  6. Against our wills to bear such heavy loads.
  7. I have not strength to guard myself from ill,
  8. And, as I wish, to rule my wicked will.
  9. I'm hurry'd on, as by the boistrous sea
  10. The driving bark is swiftly borne away.
  11. No certain form inflames my am'rous breast,
  12. All beauty is alike to me the best;
  13. A hundred causes kindle my desires,
  14. And love ne'er wants a torch to light my fires.
  15. When on the earth the modest virgin looks,
  16. That very modesty of hers provokes;
  17. And if I chance to meet a forward fair,
  18. I'm taken with her frank and easy air:
  19. I figure to myself a thousand charms,
  20. A thousand raptures in her wanton arms.