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. She who so much my fatal passion wrongs,
  2. Was known and first made famous by my songs.
  3. I lov'd her first, and lov'd her then alone,
  4. But now, I fear, I share her with the town.
  5. Am I deceiv'd or can she be the same,
  6. Who only to my verses owes her fame
  7. My verse a price upon her beauty laid,
  8. And by my praises she her market made;
  9. Whom but myself can I with reason blame?
  10. Without me she had never had a name.
  11. Did I do this, who knew her soul so well?
  12. Dearly to me she did her favours sell;
  13. And when the wares were to the public known,
  14. Why should I think she'd sell to me alone ?
  15. 'Twas I proclaim'd to all the town her charms,
  16. And tempted cullies to her venal arms;
  17. I made their way, I show'd them where to come,
  18. And there is hardly now a rake in Rome
  19. But knows her rates, and thanks my babbling muse:
  20. Her house is now as common as the stews;