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. Go, happy ring, who art about to bind
  2. The fair one's finger; may the fair be kind.
  3. Small is the present, tho' the love be great;
  4. May she swift slip thee on thy taper seat.
  5. As she and I, may thou with her agree,
  6. And not too large, nor yet too little be.
  7. To touch her hand thou wilt the pleasure have;
  8. I now must envy what myself I gave.
  9. O! would a Proteus or a Circe change
  10. Me to thy form, that I like thee might range !
  11. Then would I wish thee with her breasts to play,
  12. And her left hand beneath her robes to stray.
  13. Tho' straight she thought me, I will then appear
  14. Loose and unfix'd, and slip I know not where.
  15. Whene'er she writes some secret lines of love,
  16. Lest the dry gum and wax should sticking prove,
  17. He first she moistens : then sly care I take,
  18. And but, when lines I like, impression make.
  19. Of in her pocket fain she would me hide,
  20. Close will I press her finger, and not slide;