Ovid

“ You have not come to be instructed by me, Semele, or Leda, thou, too, Sidonian fair, 1048 who wast borne across the sea upon the fictitious bull; or Helen, whom, Menelaus, not without reason, thou didst demand to be restored to thee, and whom, not without reason, thou Trojan ravisher, didst retain. A multitude comes to be instructed, both pretty and ugly damsels; and the unsightly are ever more in number than the good-looking. The beauteous care less for the resources and the precepts of art; they have their own endowments, charms that are powerful without art. ”

“ Neither are there wanting, Amaryllis, 1033 thy chesnuts, nor yet almonds; and wax 1034 has given its own name to woollen textures.
As many as the flowers which the renewed earth produces, when in warm spring the vine puts forth its buds, and sluggish winter retreats; so many, or still more, shades of dye does the wool imbibe. Choose them by rule; for every colour will not be suitable to every complexion. ”

“ O how indulgent is nature to your beauty, whose blemishes can be atoned for in fashions so numerous! We men, to our misfortune, become bald; and our hair, carried away by time, falls off, like Boreas shaking down the leaves.
The female stains her grey hair with the herbs from Germany; 1026 and by art a colour is sought superior to the genuine one. The female walks along, thickly covered with purchased hair; and for money 1027 she makes that of others—here comes those of fair complexion: black became the laughter of Brises. ”

“ By this introduction, I have seen the prudish fair deceived; he who was the friend, became the lover. A fair complexion is unbecoming in a sailor; he ought to be swarthy, from the spray of the sea and the rays of the sun. It is unbecoming, too, to the husbandman, who, with his crooked plough and his heavy harrows, is always turning up the ground in the open air. And if your body is fair, you, by whom the glory of the chaplet of Pallas 809 is sought, you will be unsightly.
Let every one that is in love be pale; that is the proper complexion for one in love. ”

“ Had I ten mouths, with tongues as many, they would not suffice for me to recount the abominable contrivances of courtesans.
Let the wax that is poured upon the polished tablets first try the ford; let the wax first go as the messenger of your feelings. Let it carry your compliments; and whoever you are, add expressions that feign you to be in love, and entreaties not a few. Achilles, moved with his entreaties, granted Hector to Priam; an angered Divinity is moved by the voice of entreaty. Take care to make promises: for what harm is there in promising? ”

“ The divine genius rises more rapidly than its years, and brooks not the evils of slow delay. The Tirynthian hero was a baby, and he crushed two serpents in his hands; even in his cradle he was already worthy of Jove. Bacchus, who even now art a boy, how mighty wast thou then, when conquered India dreaded thy thyrsi! With the auspices and the courage of thy sire, thou, Youth, shalt wield arms; and with the courage and the auspices of thy sire shalt thou conquer. ”

“ That is becoming; from your features, let the fair think that you are not in good health. Pale with love for Lyrice, 810 did Orion wander in the woods; pale for the Naiad, in her indifference, was Daphnis. 811 Thinness, too, shows the feelings; and think it no disgrace to put a hood over your shining looks. Let sleepless nights attenuate the bodies of the youths; care, too, and the grief that proceeds from violent love. That you may gain your desires, be wretched, that he who sees you may be able to say, "You are in love." ”

“ Thus Phoebus recommended; observe this recommendation of Phoebus. There is full confidence in the hallowed lips of this Divinity. I am now called to my more immediate subject: whoever shall love with prudence, he will prove successful, and will obtain from my skill what he shall require. The furrows do not always return with interest that which has been entrusted to them; nor does the breeze always aid the veering barks. What pleases lovers, is but a little: 'tis much more that crosses them; let them resolve to endure many things with their feelings. ”

“ I will celebrate both the backs of the Parthians as they fly, and the valour of the Romans, and the darts and the feelings, and makes them ready to be inflamed; care flies, and is drenched with plenteous wine. Then come smiles; then the poor man resumes his confidence then grief and cares and the wrinkles of the forehead depart. Then candour, most uncommon in our age, reveals the feelings, the God expelling all guile. ”

“ But let not your lover discover the boxes exposed upon the table; art, by its concealment only, gives aid to beauty. Whom would not the paint disgust, besmeared all over your face, when, through its own weight, it flows and falls upon your heated bosom? ”

“ My feelings are prompting me to go too close; check the rein, my Muse: and be not hurled headlong by the wheels in their full career. Should lines, written on the tablets made of fir, try the soundings; let a maid suited for the duty take in the billets that are sent. Examine them; and collect from the words themselves, whether he only pretends what you are reading, or whether he entreats anxiously, and with sincerity. And after a short delay, write an answer: delay ever stimulates those in love, if it lasts only for a short time. ”

“ I begin with dress: 1018 from the well-dressed vine Bacchus has birth; and in the well-dressed field the high corn springs up. Beauty is the gift of the Divinity; how many a one prides herself on her beauty? Still, a great part 1019 of you is wanting in such endowments. Care will confer charms; charms neglected will perish, even though she be like the Idalian Goddess. If the fair of olden times did not pay such attention to their persons; neither had the ancients men so well-dressed. If Andromache was clad in a coarse tunic, what wonder is it? ”

“ In his hands there was a laurel, placed on his holy locks there was a laurel: visible as a Poet he came. 958 "Thou instructor in wanton Love," says he, "come, lead thy pupils to my temples. There is there a sentence celebrated in fame over the universal world, which bids each one to know himself. 959 He who shall be known to himself, will alone love with prudence, and will proportion every task to his strength. He to whom nature has given beauty, for that let him be admired; he who has a fair complexion, let him often lie down with a shoulder exposed. ”

“ And now let her fair neck be encircled in your arms; and as she weeps, she must be received in your bosom. Give her kisses as she weeps: bestow her caresses as she weeps. Peace will ensue: by this method alone is anger appeased. When she has been passionately raving, when she shall seem to be an assured enemy; then seek your treaty of peace in caresses; she will then be pacified. For 'tis there that Concord dwells, all arms laid aside; 'tis in that spot, believe me, that the Graces were born. ”

“ At once, they start up, and, disclosing their intentions with a shout, lay their greedy hands upon the maidens. 722 As the doves, a startled throng, fly from the eagles, and as the young Iamb flies from the wolves when seen; in such manner do they dread the men indiscriminately rushing on; the complexion remains in none, which existed there before. For their fear is the same; the symptoms of their fear not the same. Some tear their hair; some sit without consciousness; one is silent in her grief ”

“ While the lover that has been captured only of late is falling into your toils, let him hope that he alone has admission to your chamber. But soon let him be aware of a rival, and a division of the privileges of your favours. Remove these contrivances; and his passion will grow effete. Then does the high-mettled courser run well, the starting-place being opened, when he has both competitors to pass by, and those for him to follow. Harshness rekindles the flame, even if gone out. Myself to wit, I confess it, I do not love unless I am ill-used. ”

“ Jupiter, from on high, smiles at the perjuries of lovers, and commands the Æolian South winds to sweep them away as worthless, Jupiter was accustomed to swear falsely to Juno by the Styx: now is he himself indulgent to his own precedent. 'Tis expedient that there should be Gods; 804 and as it is expedient, let us believe them to exist. Let frankincense and wine be presented on their ancient altars. No repose, free from care and similar to sleep, possesses them; live in innocence, for a Divinity is ever present. ”

“ Ask a bribe of her; and shouldst thou hold thy tongue, she has a favour which she may grant to thee.
Around and above the bed, Muleiber disposes the hidden toils; the work, by its fineness, escapes their eyes. He pretends a journey to Lemnos; the lovers come, according to the appointment; entangled in the toils, they both lie naked. He calls the Gods together; the captives afford a spectacle. People believe that Venus could hardly restrain her tears. They cannot conceal their faces; they cannot, in fact, veil their modesty with their hands. ”

“ And, lest the fair one should catch you in the retreat so well known to her, all must not be met in the same place of rendezvous. And, as often as you shall be writing, do you first examine the whole of the tablet; many a woman reads more than what has been sent to her. A slighted passion brandishes the arms of retribution, and hurls back the weapon, and causes yourself to complain of that of which it complained so lately. ”

“ Had the son of Priam seen Helen greedily devouring, he would have detested her; and he would have said, "That prize of mine is an oaf."
It is more proper and is more becoming for the fair to drink to excess. Thou dost not, Bacchus, consort amiss with the son of Venus. This too, only so far as the head will bear it, and the senses and the feet will be able to perform their duty; 1127 and do not see each object that is single, as double. A woman sprawling along, and drenched in plenteous wine, is a disgusting object; she is worthy to endure the embraces of any kind of fellows. ”

“ By pressing on less eagerly, remove all weariness of yourself. Nor must your hope of enjoyment be always confessed by you as you entreat; let Love make his entrance concealed beneath the name of friendship. ”

“ Phoenix, the son of Amyntor, 758 wept with his blinded eyes; you, startled steeds, tore Hippolytus in pieces. Why, Phineus, dost thou tear out the eyes of thy guiltless sons? 759 That punishment will revert to thy own head.
All these things have been caused by the passion of females. It is more violent than ours, and has more frenzy in it. Come then, and doubt not that you can conquer all the fair: out of so many, there will be hardly one to deny you. What they yield, and what they refuse, still are they glad to be asked for. ”

“ This throng, before all others, is susceptible of love. Far and wide do we herald the praises of the beauty that pleases us. Nemesis 1109 has fame; Cynthia, too, has fame. The West and the lands of the East know of Lycoris: and many a one is enquiring who my Corinna is. Besides, all deceit is wanting in the hallowed. Poets, and even our art contributes to forming our manners. No ambition influences us, no love of gain; despising the Courts, the couch and the shade are the objects of our commendation. But we are easily attracted, and are consumed by a lasting heat ”

“ They had been instructed by no preceptor: Venus completed this delightful task without any art. The bird has an object to love: the female fish finds in the midst of the waters an object with which to share her joys. ”

“ But still, let not loathing on the part of the sick fair be the result of your officiousness; let there be certain limits shown in your careful attentiveness. Do not you forbid her food, nor administer the cups with the bitter draught; let your rival mingle those.
But when you have gained the open sea, you must not use the breeze to which you set your sails from off the shore. While Love is wandering in his youth, let him gain strength by habit; if you nurse him well, in time he will be strong. Him that you fear as a bull, as a calf you were wont to pat ”

“ And be not ashamed to pass from the throng under some of the columns, 781 or to walk with her, side by side. And let her not be seated long without you in the curving Theatre; in her shoulders she will bring something for you to be spectator of. Her you may gaze upon, her you may admire; much may you say by your brows, much by your gestures. Clap too, when the actor is dancing 782 in the part of some damsel; and whatever lover is represented, him applaud. Rise when she rises; sit as long as she is seated; employ your time at the caprice of your mistress. ”

“ To her the Divinity said, "Lo! I come to thee a more constant lover; damsel of Gnossus, lay aside thy fear, the wife of Bacchus shalt thou be. Receive heaven as my gift: a conspicuous Constellation in the heavens, full oft, Cretan Diadem, 793 shalt thou direct the veering bark." Thus he said; and he leapt from the chariot, that she might not be in dread of the tigers; the sand yielded to his foot placed upon it. And folding her in his bosom he bore her off; for to struggle she was unable: how easy 'tis for a God to be able to do anything. ”

“ Thou, Venus, 1099 unmoved, and you, ye Goddesses, 1101 Hear the Appian way, from your temples blazing with plenteous gold, behold these disputes. There are even certain names notorious by a reputation that admits of no doubt; those females who have been deceived by many, share the criminality of their favorites. Learn, then, from the complaints of others, to have apprehensions for yourselves; and do not let your door be open to the knavish man. ”