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. Sure I should know if love had fix'd his dart;
  2. Or creeps he softly in with treacherous art,
  3. And then grows tyrant, there and wounds the heart?
  4. 'Tis so, the shaft sticks deep, and galls my breast;
  5. 'Tis tyrant love, that robs my thoughts of rest!
  6. Well, shall I tamely yield, or must I fight?
  7. I'll yield; 'tis patience makes a burden light:
  8. A shaken torch grows fierce, and sparks arise;
  9. But, if unmov'd, the fire looks pale and dies.
  10. The hard-mouth'd horse smarts for his fierce disdain
  11. The gentle's ridden with a looser rein.
  12. Love smooths the gentle, but the fierce reclaims;
  13. He fires their breasts, and fills their souls with flames.
  14. I yield; great Love, my former crimes forgive,
  15. Forget my rebel thoughts, and let me live;
  16. No need of force: I willingly obey,
  17. And now unarm'd, shall prove no glorious prey.
  18. Go take thy mother's doves, thy myrtle crown,
  19. And for thy chariot, Mars shall lend his own;
  20. There thou shalt sit in thy triumphant pride,