Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love
the gentle Zephyrs and the balmy air, the leaves of these many kinds,
and the tops of the grass quiver. Pleasant was this retreat to Cephalus;
[1121] his servants and his hounds left behind, the youth, when weary,
often sat down in this spot. And here he was in the habit of repeating,
"Come, gentle Aura [breeze], to be received in my bosom, that thou mayst
moderate my heat."
Some person, maliciously officious, with retentive lips carried the
words he had heard to the timid ears of his wife. Procris, when she
heard the name of Aura [breeze], as though of a rival, fainted away, and
with this sudden apprehension she was mute. She turned pale, just as the
late leaves become wan, which the coming winter has nipped, the clusters
now gathered from the vine; and as the quinces [1122] which in their
ripeness are bending their boughs; and as the cornels not yet quite
fit for food for man. When her senses had returned, she tore her thin
garments from off her body with her nails, and wounded her guiltless
cheeks. And no delay was there; raving, with dishevelled locks, she flew
amid the tracks, like a Bacchanal aroused by the thyrsus. When she had
come near the spot, she left her attendants in the valley; and with
silent footsteps, in her boldness, she herself stealthily entered the
grove. What, Procris, were thy feelings, when thus, in thy frenzy, thou
didst he concealed? What the impulse of thy disquieted breast? Each
moment, forsooth, wast thou expecting that she would come, whoever Aura
might be, and that their criminality would be witnessed with thine eyes.
Now dost thou repent of having come, for indeed thou wouldst not wish to
detect him; and now thou art glad; fluctuating affection is tormenting
thy breast. There is the spot, and the name, and the informant to bid
thee give credence; and the fact that the lover always apprehends that
to exist which he dreads. When she beheld the grass beaten down,
the impress of his body, her trembling bosom was throbbing with her
palpitating heart. And now midday had made the unsubstantial shadows
small, and at an equal distance were the evening and the morn. Behold!
Cephalus, the offspring of the Cyilenian God, [1123] returns from the
woods, and sprinkles his glowing face with water of the fountain. In thy
anxiety, Procris, art thou lying concealed. Along the grass he lies
as wont, and says, "Ye gentle Zephyrs, and thou Aura [breeze], come
hither." When the welcome mistake of the name was thus revealed to
the sorrowing fair, both her senses and the real colour of her face
returned.
She arose; and the wife, about to rush into the embrace of her husband,
by the moving of her body, shook the leaves that were in her way. He,
thinking that a wild beast had made the noise, with alacrity snatched up
his bow; his arrows were in his right hand. What, wretched man, art thou
about? 'Tis no wild beast; keep still thy weapons. Ah wretched me! by
thy dart has the fair been pierced. "Ah me!" she cries aloud, "a loving
heart hast thou pierced. That spot has ever retained the wound inflicted
by Cephalus. Before my time I die, but injured by no rival; this,
O Earth, will make thee light when I am entombed. Now is my breath
departing in the breeze that I had thus suspected; I sink, alas! close
my eyes with those dear hands."
In his sorrowing bosom he supports the dying body of his spouse, and
with his tears he bathes her cruel wounds. Her breath departs; and
gradually fleeting from her senseless breast, her breath [1124] is
received into the mouth of her wretched husband.
But let us return to our path; I must deal with my subject undisguised,
that my wearied bark may reach its port. You may be waiting, in fact,
for me to escort you to the banquet, and may be requesting my advice in
this respect as well. Come late, and enter when the lights are brought
in; delay is a friend to passion; a very great stimulant is delay. Even
should you be ugly, to the tipsy you will appear charming: and night
itself will afford a concealment for your imperfections. Take up your
food with your fingers; [1125] the method of eating is something; and do
not besmear all your face with your dirty hand. And do not first [1126]
take food at home; but cease to eat a little sooner than you could
wish, and could have eaten. 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. And it is no safe thing when the tables are removed
to fall asleep; in sleep many a shocking thing is wont to happen. I feel
ashamed to instruct you any further, but genial Dione says, "That which
shames you is especially my own province." Let each particular then be
known unto you:=
`````----modos a corpore certos
````Sumite; non omnes una figura decet.
```Quse facie prsesignis eris, resupina jaceto:
````Spectentur tergo, quîs sua terga placent.
```Milanion humeris Atalantes crura ferebat:
````Si bona sunt, hoc sunt accipienda modo.
```Parva vehatur equo: quod erat longissima, nunquarc
````Thebais Hectoreo nupta resedit equo.
```Strata premat genibus, paulum cervice reflexâ,
````Foemina, per longum conspicienda latus.
```Cui femur est juvenile, carent cui pectora mendâ,
````Stet vir, in obliquo fusa sit ipsa toro.
```Nec tibi turpe puta crinem, ut Phylleia mater,
````Solvere: et effusis colla reflecte comis.
```Tu quoque, cui rugis uterum Lucina notavit,
````Ut celer aversis utere Parthus equis.
```Mille modi Veneris. Simplex minimique laboris,
````Cum jacet in dextrum semisupina latus,
```Sed neque Phoebei tripodes, nec comiger Ammon,
````Vera raagis vobis, quam mea Musa, canent.
```Si qua fides arti, "quam longo fecimus usu,
````Crédité: præstabunt carmiua nostra fidem.
```Sentiat ex imis Yenerem resoluta medullis
````Foemina: et ex æquo res juvet ilia duos.
```Nec blandæ voces, jucundaque murmura cessent;
````Nec taceant medus improba verba jocis.
```Tu quoque, cui Yeneris sensum natura negavit,
````Dulcia mendaci gaudia finge sono.
```Infelix, cui torpet hebes locus ille, puella es;
````Quo pariter debent foemina virque frui.
```Tantum, cum linges, ne sis manifesta caveto:
````Effice per motum luminaque ipsa fidem.
```Quod juvet: et voces et anhelitus arguat oris.
````Ah pudet! arcanas pars habet ista notas.
```Gaudia post Yeneris quæ poscet munus amantem,
````Ipsa suas nolet pondus habere preces.=
And admit not the light in your chamber with the windows wide open; many
blemishes of your person more becomingly lie concealed.
My pastime draws to a close; 'tis time to descend from the swans, [1128]
that have borne my yoke upon their necks. As once the youths did, so now
the fair, as my audience, may inscribe, "Naso was our preceptor," upon
their spoils.
FOOTNOTES BOOK ONE
[Footnote 701: For stripes.--Ver. 16. Statius, in the Thebaid, mentions
the strictness of the discipline of Chiron. See the Amores, i. El. xiii.
1. 18.]
[Footnote 702: Be ye afar.--Ver. 31. He quotes this and the following
line in the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 248, to show that it was not his
intention, by his precepts, to inculcate breaches of chastity among the
Roman matrons. See the Note to the passage, and to the Fasti, Book
ii. 1. 30. The 'vitta,' or 'fillet,' was worn solely by women of pure
character.]
[Footnote 703: The tawny Indians.--Ver. 53. Herodotus considers the
Æthiopians to be Indians. According to some, the father of Andromeda was
king of Ethiopia; but she is more frequently represented as a native of
Joppa, on the coast of Syria.]
[Footnote 704: As many stars as.--Ver. 59. Heinsius considers this and
the next line to be spurious.]
[Footnote 705: Wish a riper fair.--Ver. 63. 'Juvenis,' applied to a
female, would mean something more than a mere girl. 'Juventus' was
that age in which a person was in his best years, from about twenty to
forty.]
[Footnote 706: Pompey's Portico.--Ver. 67. He alludes to the Portico
which had been erected by Pompey at Rome, and was shaded by plane trees
and refreshed by fountains. The Porticos were walks covered with roofs,
supported by columns. They were sometimes attached to other buildings,
and sometimes were independent of any other edifice. They were much
resorted to by those who wished to take exercise without exposure to the
heat of the sun. The Porticos of the temples were originally intended
for the resort of persons who took part in the rites performed there.
Lawsuits were sometimes conducted in the Porticos of Rome, and goods
were sold there.]
[Footnote 707: The lion of Hercules.il--Ver. 68. The Nemean lion; which
formed the Constellation Leo in the Zodiac.]
[Footnote 708: Where the mother.--Ver. 69. He alludes to the Theatre and
Portico which Augustus built; the former of which received the name of
his nephew Marcellus, the latter of his sister Octavia, the mother of
Marcellus. After the death of Marcellus, Octavia added a public library
to this Portico at her own expense. Here there were valuable paintings
of Minerva, Philip and Alexander, and Hercules on Mount Aeta. Some
suppose that the temple of Concord, built by Livia, and mentioned in the
Fasti, is here referred to.]
[Footnote 709: The Portico of Livia.--Ver. 72. The Portico of Livia was
near the street called Suburra. This Portico is also mentioned in the
Fasti. We learn from Strabo that it was near the Via Sacra, or Sacred
Street.]
[Footnote 710: Granddaughters of Belus.--Ver. 73. This was the Portico
of the Danaides, in the temple of Apollo. It is referred to in the
Second Elegy of the Second Book of the Amores.]
[Footnote 711: Bewailed by Venus.--Ver. 75. He alludes to the temple of
Venus, at Rome, which, according to Juvenal, was notorious as the scene
of intrigues and disgraceful irregularities. It was a custom of the
Romans, borrowed from the Assyrians, to lament Adonis in the temple
of Venus. See the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. This worship of the
Assyrians is mentioned by the Prophet Ezekiel, chap. viii. ver. 13,
'women weeping for Thatnmuz.']
[Footnote 712: The Jew of Syria.--Ver. 76. He alludes to the rites
performed in the Synagogues of the Jews of Rome, on the Sabbath, to
which numbers or females were attracted, probably by the music. There
were great numbers of Jews at Rome in the reign of Augustus, who were
allowed to follow their own worship, according to the law of Moses.
The Roman females visiting the Synagogues, assignations and gross
irregularities became the consequence. Tiberius withdrew this privilege
from the Jews, and ordered the priests' vestments and ornaments to be
burnt. This line is thus rendered in Dryden's version:]
'Nor shun the Jewish walk, where the foul drove,]
On Sabbaths rest from everything but love.']
This wretched paraphrase is excused by the following very illiberal
note,]
'If this version seems to bear a little hard on the ancient Jews, it
does not at all wrong the modern.']
[Footnote 713: Many a woman.--Ver. 78. Io, or Isis, was debauched by
Jupiter. Martial and Juvenal speak of the irregularities practised on
these occasions.]
[Footnote 714: Where the erection.--Ver. 81. He refers to the Forum of
Cæsar and the temple of Venus, which was built by Julius Cæsar after the
battle of Pharsalia.]