Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love: Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious NotesOvid
General
Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love: Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes
Ovid
Latin poetry -- Adaptations; Latin poetry -- Translations into English
Your actions, which you have studiously concealed, if perchance any of
them are discovered, although they should be notorious, still do you
always deny them. On such occasions, do you neither be subdued, nor
more kind than usual. That bears the marks of a mind that has too
deeply offended. Still, spare not any endearments on your side; peace is
entirely centred in caresses alone; by these must the former intrigue
be disavowed. There are some who would recommend you to use injurious
herbs, such as savory; in my opinion they are so many poisons. Or else,
they mingle pepper with the seed of the stinging nettle; [952] and the
yellow camomile pounded in old wine. But the Goddess, whom the lofty
Eryx receives beneath his shady hill, does not allow us to be impelled
in such manner to her delights. The white onion [953] which is sent from
the Pelasgian city of Alcathoiis, [954] and the salacious herbs which
come out of the gardens, and eggs may be eaten; the honey of Hymettus
may be eaten, and the nuts which the pine-tree with its sharp leaves
produces.
Why, learned Erato, art thou thus diverging into the medical art? The
inner side of the turning-place must be grazed by my chariot. You, who
just now were, by my recommendation, to conceal your delinquencies,
change your course, and, by my advice, disclose your intrigues. Nor yet
is any inconsistency of mine to be censured; the curving ship does not
always carry those on board with the same breezes. For sometimes we run
with the Thracian Boreas, sometimes with the East wind; full aft does
the canvass swell with the Zephyrs, with the South wind full aft. See
how, in the chariot, the driver, at one moment, gives the flowing rein,
at another, skilfully checks the horses in full career. There are some,
with whom an anxious obsequiousness is ruinous, and if there is no rival
existing, then their passion waxes faint. The feelings often run riot
amid prosperity; and to bear good fortune with equanimity is no easy
task. As the declining fire, its strength consuming by degrees, itself
lies concealed, and the ashes become white over the surface of the
fire; but still, when sulphur is applied, it finds the flames that were
extinguished, and the light returns which existed before; so, when the
feelings, sluggish through repose, and free from care, become torpid,
by sharp stimulants must love be aroused. Make her to be jealous on your
account, and rekindle her deadened feelings; let her turn pale at the
proof of your inconstancy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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