Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love
the very moment before they have been combed afresh. Let art imitate
chance. 'Twas thus that, in the captured city, when Hercules beheld
Iole; "Her," said he, "do I love." In such guise, deserted fair one of
Gnossus, did Bacchus bear thee away in his chariot, while the Satyrs
shouted Evôe! 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.
Nor is she ashamed to buy it openly: we see it being sold
before the eyes of Hercules [1028] and the Virgin throng.
What am I to say on clothing? Gold flounces, [1029] I have no need of
you; nor you, the wool which dost blush twice dipt in Tyrian purple.
Since so many colours can be procured at a lower price, what folly it is
to be carrying a fortune on one's person. [1030] Lo! there is the colour
of the sky, at the time when the sky is without clouds, and the warm
South wind is not summoning the showers of rain. Lo! there is the colour
like to thee, that art said [1031] once to have borne away Phryxus and
Helle from the treachery of Ino. That which resembles the waves, [1032]
has its name, too, from the waves; I could imagine that the Nymphs
are clad in vestments of this colour. Another resembles saffron; in
saffron-coloured garments is the dewy Goddess dressed,when she yokes
her steeds that bear the light of day. Another resembles the Paphian
myrtles; another the purple amethysts, or the white roses, or the
Thracian crane. 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.
When she was carried off, then, too, was she clothed in a dark garment.
White befits the swarthy; in white, daughter of Cepheus, thou wast
charming; by thee, thus clothed, was Seriphos [1035] trodden.
How nearly was I recommending you that there should be no shocking goat
[1036] in the armpits, and that your legs should not be rough with harsh
hair. But I am not instructing fair ones from the crags of Caucasus,
and who are drinking, Mysian Caïcus, of thy waves. Besides; need I to
recommend that idleness should not blacken your teeth, and that your
mouth ought to be washed each morning with water used for the purpose.
You know, too, how to find whiteness in an application of wax; [1037]
she who is blushing with no real blood, is blushing by the aid of art.
With skill do you fill up the bared edges of the eye-brows, [1038] and
the little patch [1039] covers your cheeks in all their genuineness.
'Tis no harm, too, to mark the eyes [1040] slightly with ashes; or
with saffron, produced, beauteous Cydnus, near to thee. I have a little
treatise, [1041] but through the care bestowed, a great work, in which
I have mentioned the various recipes for your beauty. From that as well,
do you seek aid for your diminished charms: my skill is not idle in
behalf of your interests.
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? Why is the smell of the oesypum
[1042] so powerful, sent from Athens though it be, an extract drawn
from the filthy fleece of the sheep? Nor would I recommend you in his
presence to apply the mixture of the marrow of the deer, [1043] nor
before him to clean your teeth. These things will give you good looks,
but they will be unbecoming to be seen; there are many things, too,
which, disgusting while being done, add charms when done. The statues
which now bear the name of the laborious Myron, [1044] were once a
sluggish weight and a solid mass. That the ring may be made, the gold is
first beaten; the clothes, that you are wearing, were once dirty wool.
While it was being wrought, it was hard stone; now, as a beautiful
statue, [1045] naked Venus is wringing the moisture from her dripping
locks.
You, too, while you are dressing, let us suppose to be asleep; after the
finishing hand, you will be seen much more àpropos. Why is the cause
of the fairness of your complexion known to me? Shut the door of your
chamber, why expose the work half done? It is proper for the men to be
in ignorance of many a thing. The greatest part of things would cause
disgust, if you were not to conceal what is within. Examine the gilded
statues which hang in the decorated theatre; how thin the tinsel that
covers the wood. But it is not permitted the public to approach them
unless completed; neither ought your charms to be heightened unless the
men are at a distance. But I would not forbid you to allow your hair to
be combed in their presence, so that it may be flowing along your back.
Only take care especially on such occasions not to be cross; and do
not many times undo your hair, pulled down, when fastened up. Let your
coiffeuse be with a whole skin. I detest her who tears the face of her
attendant with her nails, and who, seizing the hair-pin, pierces her
arms. [1046] As she touches the head of her mistress, she curses it; and
at the same time, streaming with blood, she is crying over the odious
locks.
The fair one that has but little hair, let her set a watch on her
threshold; or let her always make her toilet in the temple [1047] of the
Good Goddess. I was unexpectedly announced as having paid a visit to
a certain lady; in her confusion, she put on her locks the wrong side
before. May a cause of shame so disgraceful fall to the lot of my foes,
and may that dishonour happen to the Parthian dames. A mutilated animal
is repulsive, the fields without grass are repulsive; and so is a
shrub without foliage, and a head without hair. 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. When the sea is calm,
the sailor rests free from care; when it becomes boisterous, he appeals
to his own resources.
Few, however, are the forms free from defect. Conceal your blemishes;
and, so far as you can, hide the imperfections of your person. If you
are short, sit down; that, while standing, you may not appear to be
sitting; and if of a diminutive size, throw yourself upon your couch.
Here, too, that your measure may not be able to be taken as you lie,
take care that your feet are concealed with the clothes [1049] thrown
over them. She who is too thin, let her wear clothes of thick texture;
and let her vestments hang loosely from her shoulders. Let her who is
pale, tint her complexion with purple stripes; [1050] do you that are more
swarthy, have recourse to the aid of the Pharian fish. [1051] Let an
ill-shaped foot be always concealed in a boot of snow-white leather
steeped in alum; and do not unloose their laced sandals from the spindly
legs. For high shoulders, small pads are suitable; [1052] and let the
girth [1053] encircle the bosom that is too prominent. She whose fingers
are dumpy, and whose nails are rough, should mark with but little
gesture whatever is said. She, whose breath is strong smelling, should
never talk with an empty stomach; and she should always stand at a
distance [1054] from her lover's face.
If your teeth are black, or large, or not, growing straight, you will
suffer very great inconvenience from laughing. Who could have supposed
it? The fair take lessons even in laughing; and even in that respect is
gracefulness studied by them. Let your mouth be but moderately open; let
the dimples on either side he but small; and let the extremity of the
lips cover the upper part of the teeth. And do not let your sides be
shaking with prolonged laughter; but let them utter sounds gentle and
feminine, to I know not what degree. Some there are, who distort
their face with an unsightly grin; another, when she is joyous in her
laughter, you would take to be crying. Another makes a harsh noise, and
screams in a disagreeable manner; just as the unsightly she-ass brays by
the rough mill-stone.
To what point does not art proceed? Some study how to weep with grace,
and cry at what time and in what manner they please. Nay, further; when
the letters are deprived of their full sound, and the lisping tongue
becomes contracted with an affected pronunciation; then is grace sought
in an imperfection; to pronounce certain words badly, they learn to be
less able to speak than they really are. To all these points, since they
are of consequence, give attention. Learn how to walk with steps suited
to a female. Even in the gait, there are certain points of gracefulness
not to be disregarded; this both attracts and repels men who are strange
to you. This fair one moves her sides with skill, and with her flowing
tunics catches the breeze, and haughtily moves her extended feet.
Another walks just like the redfaced spouse of some Umbrian [1055]
husband, and, straddling, takes huge strides. But, as in many other
things, let there be a medium here as well; one movement is clownish;
another movement will be too mincing in its gait. But let the lower part
of your shoulders, and the upper part of your arm be bare, to be beheld
from your left hand upwards. This is especially becoming to you, ye of
fair complexion; when I see this, I have always a longing to give a kiss
to the shoulder, where it is exposed.
The Sirens were monsters of the deep, which with their tuneful voices
detained the ships, even though in full career. On hearing them, the son
of Sisyphus [1056] almost released his body from the mast; for the
wax [1057] was melted in the ears of his companions. The voice is an
insinuating quality; let the fair learn how to sing. In place of beauty,
her voice has proved the recommendation of many a woman. And sometimes
let them repeat what they have heard in the marble theatres; and
sometimes the songs attuned to the measures of the Nile. [1058] Neither,
in my way of thinking, ought a clever woman to be ignorant how to hold
the plectrum [1059] in her right hand, the lyre in her left. Orpheus
of Rhodope with his lyre moved rocks, and wild beasts, and the lakes of
Tartarus, and Cerberus the triple dog. At thy singing, most righteous
avenger of thy mother, [1060] the attentive stones built up the walls.
The fish, (the well-known story of the lyre of Arion, [1061] although he
was dumb, is supposed to have been moved by his voice. Learn, too, to
sweep the chords of the festive psaltery [1062] with your two hands;
'tis an instrument suited to amorous lays.
Let the songs of Callimachus [1063] be known to you, let those of the
poet of Cos, [1064] let the Teian Muse too, of the drunken old bard. Let
Sappho, too, be well known; for what is there more exciting than she?