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. Vice by my verse I never will defend,
  2. Nor by false arms to fence my own pretend.
  3. Frankly my failings I with shame confess;
  4. To hide my errors would not make them less.
  5. My faults, whate'er I suffer by't, I own,
  6. That others, if they please, those faults may shun
  7. I hate myself, my follies, and would fain
  8. Be, were it in my pow'r, another man.
  9. How difficult it is, ye righteous Gods,
  10. Against our wills to bear such heavy loads.
  11. I have not strength to guard myself from ill,
  12. And, as I wish, to rule my wicked will.
  13. I'm hurry'd on, as by the boistrous sea
  14. The driving bark is swiftly borne away.
  15. No certain form inflames my am'rous breast,
  16. All beauty is alike to me the best;
  17. A hundred causes kindle my desires,
  18. And love ne'er wants a torch to light my fires.
  19. When on the earth the modest virgin looks,
  20. That very modesty of hers provokes;