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. A hundred causes kindle my desires,
  2. And love ne'er wants a torch to light my fires.
  3. When on the earth the modest virgin looks,
  4. That very modesty of hers provokes;
  5. And if I chance to meet a forward fair,
  6. I'm taken with her frank and easy air:
  7. I figure to myself a thousand charms,
  8. A thousand raptures in her wanton arms.
  9. If, like the damsels of the Sabine race,
  10. She's rude, I look upon it as grimace;
  11. That sullen as she seems at first, 'tis art,
  12. That I the more may prize the conquest or her heart.
  13. New joys, if she's a wit, I hope to find;
  14. And with her body, to possess her mind:
  15. If foolish, I in that can see no harm,
  16. And in her very folly find a charm.