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. Thy actions shock us, and thy beauty moves,
  2. And he who hates thy faults, thy person loves.
  3. Happy, ah ! ever happy should I be,
  4. If I no charms or no defects could see.
  5. Thee I conjure by all our past delights,
  6. Our cheerful days and our transporting nights,
  7. By all the imprecated gods above,
  8. To whom thou art forsworn, but most by Love,
  9. By thy fair face, which I as much adore
  10. As all those gods, and own as much its pow'r,
  11. Forgive me this offence, and I'll offend no more.
  12. Be what thou wilt, thy humour good or ill,
  13. I'll love thee, thou shalt be my mistress still
  14. Ah, let my passion ever favour find,
  15. Or be it with, or be't against my mind,
  16. But rather let me sail before the wind.
  17. Ah, let thy wishes with my will agree,
  18. Since surely I thy slave must ever be;
  19. In thee since I have centred all my joys,
  20. Oh Venus ! let my love be still my choice.