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. The younger by their bloom my heart secure,
  2. The elder win it as they're more mature;
  3. And though the younger may excel in charms,
  4. The elder clasp you with experienc'd arms
  5. What all the city like, is liked by me,
  6. And I with them and all my loves agree.
  7. I'm proud to be the rival of the town,
  8. And to their taste will still conform my own.
  1. Cupid, be gone! I can for beauty sigh,
  2. But not be forc'd to wish each hour to die;
  3. For so I wish whene'er my restless thoughts
  4. Dwell on her falsehoods and repeated faults.
  5. All other plagues know sometimes to be civil,
  6. But woman is a sure, perpetual evil.
  7. No pimp I bribe to prove thy perjur'd vows,
  8. Nor intercepted once thy billet-doux.
  9. 0, cou dst thou but my arguments disprove!
  10. A cause so good is here unwish'd in love.
  11. Happy, who dares t' avow his censur'd flame,
  12. And vindicate the secret tripping dame.