Ars Amatoria; or, The Art Of Love
```Fecit in Andromache prius hoc fortissimus Hector;
````Nec solum bellis utüis file fuit.
```Fecit et in captâ Lyrneside magnus Achilles,
````Cum premeret mollem lassus ab hoste torum.=
```Illis, te tangi manibus, Brisei, sinebas,
````Imbutæ Phrygiâ quæ nece semper erant.
```An fuit hoc ipsum, quod te lasciva juvaret
````Ad tua victrices membra venire manus?
```Crede mihi, non est Yeneris properanda voluptas:
````Sed sensim tarda prolicienda morâ.
```Cum loca repereris, quæ tangi fcemina gaudet;
````Non obstet, tangas quo minus ilia, pudor.
```Adspicics oculos tremulo fulgore micantes,
```Ut sol a liquida sæpe refulget aquâ.
```Accèdent questus, accedet amabile murmur,
````Et dulces gemitus, aptaque verba loco.
```Sed neque tu dominam velis majoribus usus
````Desine; nec cursus anteat ilia tuos.
```Ad metam properate simul; turn plena voluptas,
````Cum pariter victi foemina virque jacent.
```Hi tibi servandus tenor est, cum libera dantur
````Otia; furtivum nec timor urget opus.
```Cum mora non tuta est, totis incumbere remis
````Utile, et admisso subdere calcar equo.=
There is an end now of my task; grant me the palm, ye grateful youths,
and present the myrtle garlands to my perfumed locks. As great as
was Podalirius [992] among the Greeks in the art of healing, as the
descendant of Æacus with his right hand, as Nestor with his eloquence;
as great as Calchas [993] was in soothsaying, as the son of Telamon was
in arms, as Automedon [994] was in guiding the chariot, so great a Lover
am I. Celebrate me as your bard, ye men, to me repeat my praises; let
my name be sung throughout all the earth. Arms have I given to you;
to Achilles Vulcan gave arms. With the gifts presented to you, prove
victorious, as he proved victorious. But whoever subdues the Amazon
with my weapons, let him inscribe upon his spoil [995] --"Naso was my
preceptor."
And lo! the charming fair are asking me to give them my precepts. You
then shall be the next care of my song.----
BOOK THE THIRD.
|With arms against the Amazons I have furnished the Greeks. Arms remain
for me to present, Penthesilea, [1001] to thee and to thy squadrons. Go
to the combat equally prepared; and may those prove the victors, whom
genial Dione [1002] favours, and the Boy who flies over the whole world.
It was not fair for the females unprotected to engage with the men in
arms, and so it would have been disgraceful for you to conquer, ye men.
One of the multitude may say, "Why add venom to the serpent? And
why deliver the sheep-fold to the ravening wolf? Forbear to lay
the culpability of the few upon the many; and let each fair one be
considered according to her own deserts. If the younger son of Atreus
has Helen, and the elder son of Atreus [1003] has the sister of Helen,
to charge with criminality, if the son of Oclus, [1004] through the
wickedness of Eriphyle, daughter of Talaion, alive, and with living
steeds, descended to Styx; there is Penelope constant, while her husband
was wandering for twice five years, and for as many years engaged in
war. Witness the hero from Phylace, [1005] and her who is said to have
descended as the companion of her husband, and to have died before her
destined years. The wife from Pagasæ redeemed the son of Pheres [1006]
from death, and in place of [1007] the funeral of her husband, the wife was
carried out. "Receive me, Capaneus; we will mingle our ashes," said the
daughter of Iphis, and she leapt on the midst of the pile. Virtue,
herself, too, is a female, both in dress and name. 'Tis not to be
wondered at, if she favours her own sex.
But still, 'tis not such dispositions as these that are required by my
art. Sails of less magnitude are befitting my skiff. [1008] Nothing but
wanton dalliance is taught by me; in what manner a woman is to be loved,
I purpose to teach. The woman repels neither the flames, nor the cruel
bow; those weapons, I see, make less havoc among the men. Many a time
do the men prove false; not often the charming fair; and, if you make
inquiry, they have but few charges of fraud against them. Jason, the
deceiver, repudiated the Phasian, when now a mother; and into the bosom
of the son of Æson there came another bride. [1009] Ariadne, left alone
in an unknown spot, had fed the sea-birds, so far, Theseus, as thou wast
concerned. Enquire why she is said to have gone on her nine journies,
[1010] and hear how the woods lamented Phyllis, their foliage laid
aside. And Elissa, she has the credit of affection; and still, that
guest of thine, Elissa, afforded both the sword and the cause for thy
destruction. Shall I tell what it was that ruined thee? Thou didst
not know how to love; thou wast wanting in skill; through skill, love
flourishes for ever.
Even still would they have been ignorant, but Cytherea commanded me to
instruct them, and stood, herself, before my eyes. Then to me she said,
"Why have the unfortunate fair deserved this? An unarmed multitude
is handed over to the men in arms. Two treatises [1011] have
rendered them skilful; this side, as well, must be instructed by thy
advice. He who before had uttered [1012] reproaches against the wife
from Therapnæ, soon sang her praises to a more fortunate lyre. If well
I know thee, injure not the fair whom thou dost adore; their favour must
be sought by thee so long as thou shalt live."
Thus she said; and from the myrtle (for she was standing with her locks
wreathed with myrtle) she gave me a leaf and a few berries. Receiving
them, I was sensible of the divine influence as well; the sky shone
with greater brightness, and all care departed from my breast. While
she inspires my genius; hence receive the precepts, ye fair, which
propriety, and the laws, and your own privileges, [1013] allow you. Even
now, be mindful of old age, that one day will come; then will no time
be passed by you in idleness. Disport yourselves, while yet you may, and
while even now you confess to your true years; after the manner of the
flowing stream, do the years pass by. Neither shall the water which has
past by, be ever recalled; nor can the hour which has past, ever return.
You must employ your youthful age; with swift step age is gliding on;
and that which follows, is not so pleasing as that which having passed
was charming. Those brakes, which are withering, I have beheld as beds
of violets; from amid those brambles, has a beauteous chaplet been
gathered for myself.
The time will be, when you, who are now shutting out a lover, will be
lying, an old woman, chilled in the lonely night. No door [1014] of
yours will be broken open in the broils of the night; nor will you find
in the morning your threshold bestrewed with roses. [1015] How soon, ah
me! are our bodies pursed with wrinkles, and that colour which existed
in the beauteous face, fades away! The grey hairs, too, which you might
have sworn that you had had from childhood, will suddenly be sprinkled
over all your head. Old age is thrown off by serpents, together with the
light slough; and the shedding of their horns makes the stags not to be
old. Our advantages fly irretrievably; pluck the flowers then; if they
be not plucked, they will lamentably fade themselves to your sorrow.
Besides, child-bearing makes the hours of youth more short-lived; with
continual crops the soil waxes old.
Endymion of Latmus, O Moon, causes not thee to blush; nor was Cephalus a
prey for the rosy Goddess to be ashamed of. Though Adonis be allowed to
Venus, whom she yet laments; whence had she Æneas and Hermione [1016]
for her children? Follow, O race of mortals, the example of the
Goddesses; and refuse not your endearments to the eager men. Even
should they deceive you, what do you lose? All remains the same. Were
a thousand to partake thereof, nothing is wasted thereby. Iron is worn
away, stones are consumed by use; your persons are proof against all
apprehension of detriment. Who would forbid light to be taken from
another light presented? Or who, on the deep sea, would hoard up the
expanse of waters? "But 'tis not right," you say, "for any woman to
grant favours to a man." Tell me, what are you losing but the water,
which you may take up again? [1017] Nor are my words urging you to
prostitution; but they are forbidding you to fear evils that do not
exist: your favours are exempt from loss to yourselves.
But while I am in harbour, let a gentle breeze impel me, destined to
sail with the blasts of a stronger gale. 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? She was the wife of a hardy soldier. And would his
companion, forsooth, come bedecked to Ajax, him whose covering was seven
hides of oxen. Formerly a rustic simplicity existed: now gorgeous Rome
possesses the wealth of the subdued earth. See the Capitol, what it now
is and what it was, you would declare that they belonged to different
Jupiters. The Senate-house, which is now right worthy of an assemblage
so august, when Tatius held the sway, was made of straw. The fields of
the Palatine hill, which are now resplendent in honour of Phoebus [1020]
and our rulers, what were they but pastures for the oxen that ploughed?
Let old times delight others: I congratulate myself that I am born
thus late; this is the age that is suited to my tastes. Not because the
pliable gold is now dug out of the earth, and choice shells [1021] come
here from foreign shores; nor yet because, the marble cut out, mountains
diminish; nor yet because the azure waves are kept out by the moles.
[1022] But because civilization prevails; and because the rude manners
that flourished with our ancient forefathers have not come down to our
days.
But do not you as well load your ears with precious stones, which the
tawny Indian seeks in the green waves. And do not go forth heavily
loaded with clothes embroidered with gold: by the wealth through which
you seek to attract us, you often drive us away. By neatness we are
captivated; let not your hair be without arrangement; the hands applied
to it both give beauty and deny it. The method, too, of adorning is not
a single one; let each choose the one that is becoming it to her, and
let her first consult her mirror. An oval face becomes a parting upon
the unadorned head: Laodamia had her hair thus arranged. Round features
[1023] require a little knot to be left for them on the top of the head,
so that the ears may be exposed. Let the hair of another he thrown over
either shoulder. In such guise art thou, tuneful Phoebus, thy lyre
being assumed. Let another Lave her hair tied behind after the manner of
well-girt Diana, as she is wont when she hunts the scared wild beasts.
It becomes another to have her floating locks to flow loosely: another
must be bound by fillets over her fastened tresses. Another it delights
to be adorned with the figure of the tortoise [1024] of the Cyllenian
God: let another keep up her curls that resemble the waves. [1025]
But neither will you count the acorns on the branching native oak, nor
how many bees there are in Hybla, nor how many wild beasts on the Alps:
nor am I able to comprehend in numbers so many modes; _each successive
day brings a new fashion_. Even neglected locks are becoming to many;
often would you suppose that they are lying neglected since yesterday;