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    Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Ovid's Art of Love
  • Ovid's Remedy of Love
  • Ovid's Art of Beauty.
  • The Court of Love, a tale from Chaucer.
  • History of Love, by Charles Hopkins
  • Ovid's Amours.
    		•

    P. Ovidius Naso, Art of Love, Remedy of Love, Art of Beauty, Court of Love, History of Love, Amours (ed. various)

    Editions and translations: Latin (ed. R. Ehwald) | English (ed. various)
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    Ovid's Art of Beauty.

    Once more, ye fair, attend your master's song,
    And learn what method will your charms prolong;
    What happy heart best recommends a face;
    What heightens beauty; what preserves a grace.
    Art improves nature; 'twas by art we found
    The vast advantages of furrow'd ground:
    The soil manur'd, a fruitful harvest bore,
    Where thorns and hungry brambles grew before.
    By art the gard'ner grafts his trees, to bear
    A kinder fruit, and recompense his care.
    A gilded roof delights our captive eyes,
    And stately monuments the sight surprise,
    Tho' sordid earth beneath the polish'd marble lies.
    The fleece may be with royal purple died,
    And India precious ivory provide,
    To please your fancies and supply your pride.
    When Tatius rul'd the ancient Sabine race,
    Then, rough and careless of a handsome face,
    The women took more pains to earn their bread
    At plough and cart, than how to dress the head;
    All day their task the busy matrons plied,
    Or spinning sat, as to their distaffs tied.
    The mother then at night would fold the sheep
    Her little daughter us'd by day to keep;
    And when at home, would cleave out logs of wood,
    Or kindle up a fire to boil their food.
    But you, by nature form'd in finer moulds,
    Must wrap your tender limbs in silken folds;
    Wear lawns and tissue, sleep in damask beds,
    And with gay knots and wires adorn your heads:
    Your ears with pendants, lockets on your arms,
    Besides a thousand other nameless charms.
    Nor needs this care to please a blush create;
    The men themselves have learned to dress of late.
    You are not now particular in clothes,
    The husband and the bridegroom both are beaux;
    Dress then, and 'tis no sin to dress with art,
    For that's the way to wound the lover's heart.
    E'en those that live remote in country towns,
    Will dress their hair with flowers and daisy crowns,
    And deck and prank themselves, to please the clowns.
    Besides, all women take a secret pride
    In being fine, or else they are belied;
    For when the conscious maid her glass explores,
    And finds she's handsome, she herself adores.
    Thus Juno's bird with silent pride will raise
    And spread his starry plumes, whene'er he meets with praise.
    This method will oblige our sex to love,
    And more than magic herbs their passions move.
    Trust not to philtres; all such stuff forbear;
    Nor try the venom of the lustful mare.
    'Tis all a jest; no snakes by such a force
    Enchanted burst, no rivers change their course;
    Nor can they make the moon from heaven descent
    Whate'er some superstitious fools pretend.
    First learn good breeding; that I first advise;
    Good carriage oft the other wants supplies.
    For when ill-natur'd age shall rudely plough
    Injurious furrows on your wrinkled brow,
    You then perhaps may chide the tell-tale glass,
    That shews the frightful ruins of your face;
    But if good humour to the last remain,
    E'en age may please, and love his force retain.

    Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Ov.+Med.+1

    Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    P. Ovidius Naso. 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. Anne Mahoney. edited for Perseus. New York. Calvin Blanchard. 1855.


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