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. And then a ram whose horns around his temples twine.
  2. A goat, whom most the goddess hates, comes last;
  3. The present feels her vengeance for the past.
  4. When in a wood to hide herself she tried,
  5. She by the bleating of a goat was spied;
  6. For this the beast is by the boys pursu'd;
  7. For this she's ever greedy of its blood,
  8. And he, who first the letcher wounds in play,
  9. Claims by her law, and hears the prize away.
  10. The tender youth, and tim'rous virgin strow
  11. With robes the ground the goddess is to go.
  12. The virgins' locks with golden fillets bound,
  13. And sparkling diamonds glitt'ring all around;
  14. Buskins embroider'd on their feet they wear,
  15. And spreading trains with pride uneasy bear.
  16. Here, as in Greece the custom was of old,
  17. The image of the goddess we behold
  18. Borne on the heads of maidens, and behind
  19. The priestesses in beauteous rank you find.
  20. An awful silence reigns : the goddess last