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. Dear, skilful Betty, who dost far excel
  2. My lady's other maids in dressing well;
  3. Dear Betty, fit to be preferred above
  4. To Juno's chamber, or the queen of love;
  5. Genteel, well-bred, not rustically coy,
  6. Not easy to deny desired joy;
  7. Thro' whose soft eyes still secret wishes shine,
  8. Fit for thy mistress' use, but more for mine;
  9. Who, Betty, did the fatal secret see?
  10. Who told Corinna you were kind to me!
  11. Yet when she chid me for my kind embrace,
  12. Did any guilty blush spread o'er my face!
  13. Did I betray thee, maid, or could she spy
  14. The least confession in my conscious eye !
  15. Not that I think it a disgrace to prove
  16. Stol'n sweets, or make a chambermaid my love;
  17. Achilles wanton'd in Briseis' arms,
  18. Atrides bow'd to fair Cassandra's charms:
  19. Sure I am less than these,-then what can bring
  20. Disgrace to me, that so became a king !