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. When all depart, while compliments are loud,
  2. Be sure to mix among the thickest crowd;
  3. There I will be, and there we cannot miss,
  4. Perhaps to grubble, or at least to kiss.
  5. Alas, what length of labor I employ,
  6. Just to secure a short and transient joy!
  7. For night must part us, and when night is come
  8. Tuck'd underneath his arm, he leads you home.
  9. He locks you in, I follow to the door,
  10. His fortune envy, and my own deplore;
  11. He kisses you, he more than kisses too,
  12. Th' outrageous cuckold thinks it all his due.
  13. But add not to his joy by your consent,
  14. And let it not be given, but only lent;
  15. Return no kiss, nor move in any sort,
  16. Make it a dull and a malignant sport.
  17. Had I my wish he should no pleasure take,
  18. But slubber o'er your bus'ness for my sake;
  19. And whate'er fortune shall this night befall,
  20. Coax me to morrow by forswearing all.