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. Forget the promis'd hour, or feign some fright,
  2. Make me lie rough on bulks each other night.
  3. These are the arts that best secure thy reign,
  4. And this the food that must my fires maintain.
  5. Gross easy love does, like gross diet, pall;
  6. In squeasy stomachs honey turns to gall.
  7. Had Danae not been kept in brazen tow'rs,
  8. Jove had not thought her worth his golden show'rs:
  9. When Juno to a cow turn'd Io's shape,
  10. The watchman help'd her to a second leap.
  11. Let him who loves an easy whetstone whore,
  12. Pluck leaves from trees, and drink the common shore.
  13. The jilting harlot strikes the surest blow,
  14. A truth which I by sad experience know;
  15. The kind, poor, constant creature we despise,
  16. Man but pursues the quarry while it flies.
  17. But thou dull husband of a wife too fair,
  18. Stand on thy guard, and watch the precious ware;
  19. If creaking doors, or barking dogs, thou hear,
  20. Or windows scratch'd, suspect a rival there.