Remedia amoris

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. Tate, Nahum, translator. New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1855.

  1. Nor yet abruptly should you leave the fair
  2. And, like Ulysses, drive them to despair:[*](He not only abandoned Circe, but Calypso queen of Ogygia, who had been as kind to him as Circe.)
  3. To no such violent methods I'll advise,
  4. Nor aid a lover while his mistress dies.
  5. I mean not Cupid's purple wings to clip,
  6. Nor break his bow, or feather'd arrows strip.
  7. The counsels that I gave are just and true,
  8. Do you as faithfully my rules pursue.
  9. Phoebus, to thee once more for aid I run;
  10. Assist me, as thou hast already done.
  11. He comes, he comes, he'll instantly appear,
  12. His quiver, and his sounding harp I hear,[*](The same Mercury gave him, with which he vanquished Marsyas, who challenged him to a trial of skill in music, for which he was a little too severely punished. Apollo himself repenting of it, is said to break the strings of his lyre, and, according to Diodorus, would not for a log time make use of it.)
  13. Both signs most certain that the god is near.
  14. Compare your bastard scarlet with the right,[*](The Lacedaemonian with the Tyrian; for the dye of Amyclea near Lacedaemon was inferior to that of Tyre, as Pliny witnesses.)
  15. The difference will appear, though both are bright.
  16. Your charmer so by first rate beauties place,
  17. And her defects by brighter lustre trace.
  18. Pallas was tall and graceful, sternly fair,
  19. And Juno carried a majestic air;
  20. Singly they pleas'd, and by each other charm'd,
  21. But both by Venus' presence were disarm'd.[*](Alluding to the vision of those three goddesses by Paris on Mount Ida.)
  22. Nor manhood yet must you so far disgrace
  23. As to become the vassal of a face,
  24. Nor to mere beauty your devotion pay;
  25. Her breeding, humor, and her manners weigh;
  26. But in the scale of an impartial mind,
  27. Or inclination will your judgment blind.