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. Whether fair Canace's incestuous care
  2. I sooth, or flatter Dido's fierce despair;
  3. Whether I fan Medea's raging fire,
  4. Or for sweet Sappho touch the Lesbian lyre;
  5. Whether I Phaedra's lawless love relate,
  6. Or Theseus' flight and Ariadne's fate:
  7. Oh, that Sabinus, my departed friend,
  8. Could from all quarters now his answers send!
  9. Ulysses' hand should to his queen be known,
  10. And wretched Phaedra hear from Theseus' son;
  11. Dido Aeneas' answer should receive,
  12. And Phillis Demophoon's, if alive;
  13. Jason should to Hypsipyle return
  14. A sad reply, and Sappho cease to mourn:
  15. Nor him whom she can ne'er possess, desire,
  16. But give to Phoebus fane her votive lyre.
  17. As much as you in lofty epics deal,
  18. You, Macer, show that you love's passion feel,
  19. And sensible of beauty's powerful charm,
  20. You hear their call amid the noise of arms.