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. Have they not hearts ?-and surely they have eyes,
  2. Nay, had I been a god, I had believ'd
  3. The lovely criminals, and been deceiv'd;
  4. Had wav'd the judgments to their perj'ries due,
  5. And sworn myself that all they spoke was true.
  6. Since then the gods such ample gifts bestow,
  7. As make you absolute o'er men below;
  8. Pray let me find some mercy in your reign,
  9. Or spare at least your lover's eyes from pain.
  1. Vex not thyself and her, vain man, since all
  2. By their own vice or virtue stand or fall.
  3. She's truly chaste, and worthy of that name,
  4. Who hates the ill, as well as fears the shame;
  5. And that vile woman whom restraint keeps in,
  6. Tho' she forbear the act, has done the sin.
  7. Spies, locks, and bolts may keep her brutal part,
  8. But thou'rt an odious cuckold in her heart.
  9. They that have freedom use it least, and so
  10. The power of ill does the design overthrow.
  11. Provoke not vice by a too harsh restraint;