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. Wretched I saw thy wantonness unsought,
  2. By thee in sleep secure and eyeless thought;
  3. With glances on each other how you hung!
  4. How ev'ry nod had more than half a tongue!
  5. How roll'd thy glowing eyes! how lewd they spoke!
  6. E'en from thy artful fingers language broke;
  7. While writing on the board with pens they vied,
  8. And the spilt wine the want of ink supplied.
  9. The silent speech too well I understood,
  10. For to deceive a lover yet who could?
  11. Tho' thou didst write in a laconic hand,
  12. And words for sentences were taught to stand.
  13. Now ended was the treat, and ev'ry guest
  14. Indulg'd his ease, and lay compos'd to rest:
  15. Your close, lascivious kisses then I spied,
  16. And something more than lips to lips applied;
  17. Such from a sister brothers ne'er receive,
  18. But yielding fair ones to warm lovers give.
  19. Not so Diana would to Phoebus press,
  20. But Cytherea so her Mars would bless.