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. From her rich soil are reap'd spontaneous crops,
  2. And from the forest oak sweet honey drops.
  3. No hinds as yet did toil their time away,
  4. Nor with keen clusters wound the parent clay:
  5. As yet no landmark was by lab'rers set,
  6. And none had learned to plough the sea as yet
  7. None as yet knew the use of sails and oars,
  8. Nor ventur'd voyages beyond their shores.
  9. The wit of men the race of men destroys,
  10. And all its pow'rs against itself employs.
  11. How subtle's human nature to contrive
  12. Its proper ruin, and itself deceive!
  13. Why didst thou cities with high walls surround,
  14. Why arms invent thy jarring sons to wound ?
  15. What quarrel hast thou with the sea, and why
  16. Didst thou at first the pathless ocean try ?
  17. Cannot the land content thy restless pride ?
  18. Didst thou with Saturn's sons the whole divide,
  19. Thou wouldst not with three worlds be satisfied.
  20. 'Tis strange thy vast ambition did not fly