The Art of Love, Book II (Mozley)

Cry Hurrah! Triumph!” and “ Hurrah ! Triumph ! ” cry once more : the prey I sought has fallen into my toils ; joyously does the lover crown my poem with green palm-leaves and prefer it to the Maeonian and Ascraean sages. In such mood did the stranger, Priam’s son, spread his gleaming sails from warlike Amyclae in the company of his stolen bride ; in such mood was he who bore thee in victorious car, O Hippodamia, conveyed upon his foreign wheels. Why do you hasten, O youth ? your bark sails in mid-ocean, and the harbour I seek is far away. It is not enough that through my strains you have won your mistress ; by my art you gained her, by my art she must be kept. Nor is there less prowess in guarding what is won than in seeking ; in that there is chance, but this task demands skill. Now, if ever, favour me, Cytherea and thy Boy ! and thou, Erato, for thy name is a name of Love. Great things am I planning — to tell by what arts Love can be made to tarry, the boy that wanders over the wide world. Fickle is he, and he has two wings, wherewith to fly away ; hard is it to restrain them.

Every way had Minos barred his guest’s escape, yet he by means of feathers found a daring path. When Daedalus imprisoned him whom his mother wrongfully conceived, the man half-bull and the bull half-man, “ Let my exile have an end, most righteous Minos,” said he, let my father’s land receive my ashes. And because, pursued by unjust fate, I could not live in my own country, let me be able to die there. Grant my boy his return, if you hold cheap your gratitude to his sire ; spare the sire, if you will not spare the boy.” So spake he ; but this and much more might he speak ; the other gave not the hero his return. Which when he knew, he said, “ Now, Daedalus, now is your chance to show your wit. Lo ! Minos possesses the earth and also the seas ; nor land nor wave is free for our escape. The way of the sky remains : by the sky we will essay to go ; pardon my enterprise, Jupiter on high. I endeavour not to touch thy starry dwellings ; no way but this have I to escape my master. Should a way be given me by Styx, o’er the Stygian waters we will swim ; I must devise new laws for my nature.” Ills often stir the wits ; who would e’er have believed that man could sail the paths of air. He arranges in order feathers, the oarage of the birds, and interweaves the frail fabric with linen fastenings ; the base is bound with wax softened in the fire, and already the toil of the wondrous work was over. With beaming face the boy handled the feathers and the wax, not knowing that the harness was prepared for his own shoulders. “These are the ships,” said his father, “ whereon we must sail home ; by their aid must we flee from Minos. The air Minos could not close, though he had closed all else ; break through the air (for there thou canst) by my device. But not on the Tegean maid nor on sword-bearing Orion, comrade of Bootes, must thou fix thy gaze ; me do thou follow on the wings that I shall give thee ; I will lead the way, let it be thine to follow ; under my leadership thou wilt be safe. For if we go nigh the sun through the upper air, the wax will be impatient of the heat ; or if we beat our low-flying wings too near the sea, the nimble feathers will be wet with watery spray. Fly between the two ; and the winds also hold in awe, my son, and where the breezes carry thee, spread thy sails to the breeze.” While he counsels, he fits his handiwork on the boy, and shows him how to move, as their mother instructs the tender fledglings. Then he fastens on his own shoulders the wings he has made, and cautiously poises his body for its new journey. And now on the verge of flight he kissed his little son, nor could the father’s eyes restrain the tears. There was a hill smaller than a mountain, but rising above the level plains ; from this the bodies of the twain were launched on their hapless flight. Daedalus, while he plies his own, looks back at his son’s wings, and ever keeps on his own course. And now the wondrous voyage delights them, and forgetting his fear Icarus flies more courageously with daring skill. One who was catching fish on a tremulous line beheld them, and his right hand left the task he had begun. Already was Samos on their left, (Naxos and Paros had been passed, and Delos loved by the Clarian god) : on their right was Lebynthos and Calymne shady with forests, and Astypalaea girt with fish-haunted seas ; when the boy, too bold in his youthful daring, deserted his sire and winged his way too high. The fastenings give way, and the wax, too near the god, is melted ; nor do his moving arms keep their hold on the frail airs. Terrified, he gazed down at the water from the height of heaven ; in his panic fear darkness came flooding upon his eyes. The wax had melted : bare are the arms he shakes ; he shudders, nor has he aught that may sustain him. Down he falls, and falling cries, “ Father, O father, I am borne away ” ; the green waters choked the words upon his lips. But his hapless sire, a sire no longer, calls, “ Icarus ! ” “ Icarus ! ” he cries, “ where art thou ? where beneath heaven art thou flying ? ” “ Icarus ! ” he was crying: — he saw the feathers in the water. The earth covers his bones : the waters bear his name.

Minos could not control the wings of a man ; I am planning to hold fast the winged god. Deceived is he whoever has recourse to Haemonian arts, and gives what he tears from the forehead of a foal. Medean herbs will not keep love alive, nor Marsian charm united to magic sounds. The Phasian had kept the son of Aeson, Circe had kept Ulysses, if love could be saved by spells alone. Nor will pale philtres given to girls profit : philtres affect the mind and have power to madden. Far hence be all unholy deeds ! that you may be loved, be lovable ; and this nor face nor figure alone will bring you ; though you be Nireus, loved by Homer of old, or young Hylas, stolen by naughty Naiads, that you may keep your mistress, nor marvel to find yourself abandoned, add gifts of mind to bodily advantages.

A frail advantage is beauty, that grows less as time draws on, and is devoured by its own years. Violets do not bloom for ever, nor lilies open-mouthed ; when the rose is perished, the hard thorn is left behind. And to thee, O handsome youth, will soon come hoary hairs, soon will come wrinkles to make furrows in your body. Now make thee a soul that will abide, and add it to thy beauty ; only that endures to the ultimate pyre. Nor let it be a slight care to cultivate your mind in liberal arts, or to learn the two languages well. Ulysses was not comely, but he was eloquent ; yet he fired two goddesses of the sea with love. Ah, how oft did Calypso grieve that he was hasting, and say that the waters were not fit for oars. Again and again did she ask to hear the fate of Troy ; often would he tell the same tale in other words. They stood upon the shore ; there also fair Calypso inquired the cruel fate of the Odrysian chiefs He with a light staff (for by chance he carried a staff) draws in the deep sand the tale of which she asks. “Here,” says he “is Troy” (he made walls upon the beach), “ and here, suppose, is Simois ; imagine this to be my camp. There was a plain” (and he draws a plain) “ which we sprinkled with Dolon’s blood, while he watched and yearned for the Haemonian steeds. There were the tents of Sithonian Rhesus ; on that night I rode back on the captured horses.” More was he portraying, when a sudden wave washed Pergamus away, and the camp of Rhesus with its chief. Then said the goddess, “ Those waters which thou thinkest will be favourable to thy voyage, dost see what great names they have destroyed ”

Come then, trust but timidly, whoever you are, to treacherous beauty ; or possess something Worth more than outward shape. Chief above all does tactful indulgence win the mind ; harshness and angry words cause hatred. We hate the hawk because he ever lives in arms, and the wolves that are wont to go against the timorous flock. But the swallow is free from men’s attack because he is gentle, and the Chaonian bird has towers he may inhabit. Keep far away, quarrels and bitter-tongued affrays ; with soft Words must love be fostered. With quarrels let wives pursue husbands and husbands wives, and deem that they are ever at issue with each other ; this befits Wives ; the dowry of a wife is quarrelling : but let your mistress ever hear Welcome sounds. Not by the law’s command have you come into one bed ; for you love performs the work of law. Bring soft blandishments and words that soothe the ear, that your coming may make her glad.

I come not to teach the rich to love ; he who will give has no need of my art ; he who when he pleases says “Accept” has wit enough of his own; I give place : my devices will not please so much as he. I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved ; since I could not give gifts, I gave words. Let the poor man love with caution; let the poor-man fear to speak harshly ; let him bear much that the rich would not endure. I remember how once in anger I disarranged my lady’s hair ; of how many days did that anger rob me ! I do not think nor did I notice that I tore her vest ; but she said so, and it was paid for at my expense. But do you, if you are wise, avoid your master’s errors, and fear the loss my fault incurred. Battle with Parthians, but with a cultured mistress have peace and mirth and whatever is the cause of love.

Should she be neither kindly nor courteous to your wooing, persist and steel your resolve ; one day she will be kind. By compliance is the curved bough bent away from the tree ; you will break it if you try your strength. By compliance are waters swum ; nor can you conquer rivers if you swim against the current’s flow. Compliance tames tigers and Numidian lions ; little by little the bull submits to the rustic plough. What could be more stern than Nonacrian Atalanta? yet stubborn as she was she yielded to a hero’s prowess. Often, they say, beneath the trees Milanion bewailed his lot and the maiden’s cruelty ; often did he bear the crafty nets on his obedient neck, often with ruthless spear transfixed the grisly boars ; from the bow too that Hylaeus strung did he feel the wound — and yet another bow was still more known than this. I do not bid you arm and climb the forests of Maenalus, nor carry nets upon your neck ; nor do I bid you offer your breast to flying arrows ; easy will be the precepts of my cautious art. Yield if she resists ; by yielding you will depart the victor ; only play the part she bids you play. Blame if she blames ; approve whatever she approves. Affirm what she affirms and deny what she denies. If she laughs, laugh with her; if she weeps, remember to weep; let her impose her laws upon your countenance. If she be framing, and throwing with her hand the ivory dice, do you throw amiss and move your throws amiss; or if it is the large dice you are throwings let no forfeit follow if she lose ; see that the ruinous dogs often fall to you ; or if the piece be marching under the semblance of a robbers’ band, let your warrior fall before his glassy foe. Do you yourself hold her parasol outstretched upon its rods, yourself make room for her in the crowd, where she is coming. Nor hesitate to place the footstool for her trim couch ; take off her slipper from her dainty foot, or put it on. Often too when she is cold, though you are shivering too, you must warm your lady’s hand in your own lap. Nor think it base (though base, it will give pleasure to hold a mirror in your freeborn hand. He who won the heaven which first he bore himself, when his step-mother was wearied of sending monsters, is believed to have held a basket among Ionian maidens, and to have spun fine the unworked wool. The Tirynthian hero obeyed a mistress’ command : go, shrink from enduring what he endured ! Bidden meet her at the Forum, go earlier than the hour of bidding, nor leave till it be late. She has told you to join her somewhere : put off everything, run ! let not the crowd delay your passage. At night she will return to her house, the banquet finished : then too come in the slave’s stead, if she calls. You are in the country, and she says “Come!” Love ‘hates the sluggish: if wheels fail, ’ make the journey on foot. Let neither the fatal heat and the thirsty Dogstar delay you, nor a road made white by fallen snow.

Love is a kind of warfare ; avaunt ye laggards ! these banners are not for timid men to guard. Night, storm, long journeys, cruel pains, all kinds of toil are in this dainty camp. Oft will you put up with rain from melting clouds of heaven, and oft will you lie cold on the bare ground. The Cynthian is said to have pastured the kine of Admetus king of Pherae, and to have made a humble cot his lodging. Whom does that not become which became Phoebus? put off your pride, whoever you are that care for an enduring love. If it is denied you to go by a safe and easy road, and if the door be held by a fastened bolt, yet slip down headlong through an opening in the roof ; or let a high window afford a secret path. She will rejoice, and know herself the cause of peril to you ; this will be a pledge of your lady’s sure affection. Oft was it in your power, Leander, to be absent from your mistress : you swam across that she might know your passion.

Blush not to win over handmaidens, as each stands first in rank, nor blush to win over slaves. Salute each one by name : you lose nothing thereby ; clasp low-born hands, ambitious one, in yours. Ay, even to a slave, should he ask you (the cost is trivial), offer some small gift on the day of Fortune ; offer it to a handmaid also, on the day that the Gallic band paid penalty, tricked by the marriage-robe. Believe me, make the humble folk your own ; let the gatekeeper ever be one of them, and him who lies before her chamber-door. Nor do I bid you give your mistress costly gifts: let them be small, but choose your small gifts cunningly and well. While lands are fertile, while your branches droop with their burden, let a slave bring rustic tributes in a basket. You can say they were sent to you from your suburban property, though you bought them in the Sacred Way. Let him bring either grapes or the nuts that Amaryllis loved ’ — but chestnuts she loves not now. Nay too by sending a thrush or a pigeon you may witness that you are mindful of your lady. Dishonourable is it when such gifts produce the hope of death and a childless old age ; ah, perish they by whom gifts bear reproach !

Shall I bid you send tender verses also ? Alas, a poem is not much honoured. Poems are praised, but costly gifts are sought; so he be wealthy, even a barbarian pleases. Now truly is the age of gold : by gold comes many an honour, by gold is affection gained. Though you come, Homer, and all the Muses with you, if you bring nothing, Homer, out you go ! Yet there are learned women too, a scanty number ; and others are not learned, but wish to be so. Let either sort be praised in poems ; his verses, whate’er their quality, let the reader commend by the charm of his recital ; and thus to learned and unlearned the poem fashioned in their praise will perchance seem like a little gift.

But what you are going to do of yourself and deem to be useful see that your mistress always begs you do. One of your slaves has been promised his liberty ; see that he asks it nevertheless from your mistress : if you release a slave from punishment or cruel chains make her your debtor for what you were about to do ; be yours the gain ; make your mistress a present of the glory : waste nothing ; let her play the powerful lady. But whoever you are who are anxious to keep your mistress, be sure she thinks you spellbound by her beauty. If she be in Tyrian attire, then praise her Tyrian gown; or in Coan, then find the Coan style becoming. Is her raiment golden ? let her be to you more precious than gold itself; if she wear woollens, then approve the woollens that she wears. Should she stand by you in her shift, cry “You inflame me!” but with timid voice beg her to mind the cold. Has she arranged her parting? praise it. Has she curled her hair with the irons ? curled tress, find favour. Admire her arms as she dances, her voice as she sings; and find words of complaint that she has stopped. Your actual union and moment of bliss you may adore, and praise the pleasures of the night. Though she be more violent than grim Medusa, she will be mild and gentle to her lover. Only while so talking take care not to show you are feigning, nor let your looks undo your words. Art, if hidden, avails ; if detected, it brings shame, and deservedly discredits you for ever.

Often in autumn, when the season is most fair, and the grape begins to blush with the purple wine, when at one time we are stiffened with cold, at another melted with heat, then in the uncertain air a languor holds the body. May she indeed keep her health ! but should she ail and in sickness suffer from the inclement sky, then let your love and affection be manifest to the girl, then sow what afterwards you may reap with a full sickle. Nor let impatience with fretful sickness come upon you ; let yours be the hands that do what she will allow. And let her see you weeping, and be not weary of giving her kisses ; let her drink your tears with parched mouth. Make many vows, and all aloud ; and whenever you wish, have joyful dreams to tell her. And let an old woman come to purify her bed and chamber, and to bring sulphur and eggs with trembling hand. All this will show signs of willing care ; this path has led many to a legacy. Yet incur not by your services the displeasure of the sick one ; flattering zeal in service should keep its proper limits : debar her not from food, nor offer cups of bitter juices ; them let your rival mingle.

But the wind to which you spread your sails when leaving the shore should not be used when once you have won the open sea. While love wanders in its youth let it gather strength by experience ; so but you nurture it well, in time it will be strong. The bull you fear, you were wont to stroke as a calf ; the tree under which you lie was once a sapling : a river at birth is small, but acquires force by flowing ; wherever it fares, it receives many waters. See that she grows used to you : than use and wont naught is mightier : till you secure that, shun no weariness. Let her be always seeing you, always giving you her ear ; let night and day show her your features. When you are quite confident that you can be missed, when your absence is likely to be regretted, suffer her to rest : a field that is rested well repays its trust, and a dry soil drinks up heaven’s rain. Demophoon’s presence fired in Phyllis but a moderate flame : when his sails were set she burned more fiercely. In the absence of crafty Ulysses was Penelope racked ; absent too, Laodamia, was thy Phyllacides. But a short sojourning is safest : affection wanes with lapse of time : an absent love vanishes, and a new one takes its place. While Menelaus was away, Helen, that she should not lie alone, was welcomed at night by the warm bosom of her guest. What folly was this, Menelaus ? you went away alone ; your wife and her guest were beneath the selfsame roof. Madman, do you trust timid doves to a hawk ? do you trust a full sheepfold to a mountain wolf.? In naught does Helen sin; in naught is that adulterer to blame ; he does what you, what anyone would have done. By giving time and place you are compelling adultery ; the woman has but used your own counsel. What could she do? her husband is away ; a guest, and no rustic one, is present ; and she fears to sleep in an empty bed alone. Let the son of Atreus see to it; Helen I absolve from blame ; she used the opportunity a courteous lover gave.

But neither is the red boar so savage at his fury’s height, when with lightning jaw he o’erturns the raging hounds, nor the lioness when she is giving the udder to her unweaned cubs, nor the tiny adder hurt by a careless foot, as is a woman set aflame when a rival is taken in the bed she shares ; on her face she bears the tokens of her feelings. She rushes to seize fire and steel and, her modesty flung aside, rages as though struck by the horns of the Aonian god. The barbarous Phasian by means of her own children avenged the crime of her spouse and wedlock’s broken law. Another terrible parent is this swallow that you behold : look, her breast is stained with blood. This it is loosens loves that are well compact and strong ; these are sins to be feared by cautious husbands. Yet my ruling does not condemn you to one woman alone : heaven forfend ! even a young bride can hardly secure this. Have your sport, but let modest deception veil the fault ; seek no vainglory from your sin. Give no gift whereof the other might learn, and have no fixed seasons for your wantonness. And lest the lady catch you in some well-known retreat, meet not every mistress in one spot; and whenever you write, examine the whole letter first yourself; many read more than the message sent to them. Venus when injured wages righteous war, and flings the weapon back ; and she makes you complain yourself of what she complained of but now. While Atrides was content with one, she was chaste also ; she was made wicked by her husband’s sin. She had heard that Chryses, wearing the fillets and with laurel in his hand, had not availed for his daughter ; she had heard of thy sorrows, stolen Lyrnesian maid, and how shameful tarrying had drawn out the war. Yet this she had but heard: Priam’s daughter she herself had seen; the victor was his own captive’s shameful prey. Then did she welcome Thyestes’ son to her heart and, to her bower : and Tyndareus’ daughter avenged her husband’s heinous sin.

Should what you have well concealed be nevertheless made manifest, manifest though it be yet deny it ever. Be not submissive then, nor more flattering than of wont ; such signs point overmuch to guilt ; but spare no efforts ; peace is centred in one thing : by caresses must the former passion be disproved. Some counsel the taking of savory, noxious herb ; it is poison, in my judgment ; or they mingle pepper with the seed of biting nettle, and yellow camomile ground up in old wine ; but the goddess whom lofty Eryx holds upon his shady hill will not thus be driven to her joys. Let white onions, sent from the Pelasgian city of Alcathous, be eaten, and the salacious plant which comes from the garden, eggs too and Hymettian honey, and the nuts that the sharp-leaved pine tree bears.

Why turnest thou, learned Erato, to magical arts ? my chariot must graze the inner goal. You who were but now concealing your fault by my advice, turn your path, and by my advice uncover your deceit. And blame me not for fickleness : not always with the same wind does the curved bark bear its crew. For now we run before Thracian Boreas, now before Eurus ; often our sails swell with the Zephyr, often with the south wind. See how the driver in his car now lets the reins float loose now skilfully holds back the galloping steeds. Some women are there whom timid indulgence serves without reward, and, when no rival exists, their passion wanes. Often pride waxes in prosperity, nor is it easy to bear good fortune with equal mind. Just as a fire, growing frail as its forces gradually abate, itself lies hid, while the cinders grow grey on the surface of the fire ; but add sulphur, and it finds its extinguished flames, and the light that once was there returns — So when hearts grow torpid in dull repose and freedom from all care, sharp goads must call forth love. See that she has fears about you, and fire anew her cooling thoughts ; let her grow ])ale at hearing of your guilt ; O four times and unnumbered times happy is he over whom an injured woman grieves ; who, as soon as the charge has reached her unwilling ears, faints away, and voice and colour leave her unhappy frame. May I be he whose hair she furiously rends ! may I be he whose tender cheeks her nails attack ! whom weeping she regards, at whom she glares with angry eyes, without whom she could not live, though fain she would ! Should you ask how long, let the time for her to lament her injuries be short, lest anger gather strength by slow delay ; long ere this let your arms encircle her white neck, and gather her weeping to your bosom. Kiss her as she weeps, give her as she weeps the joys of Venus ; then there will be peace, in this way alone will anger be dispelled. When she has raged her fill, when she seems your certain foe, then seek the treaty of a love embrace : that will make her gentle. Therein dwells Concord when the fight is o’er; there, believe me, was Reconciliation born.

The doves who lately fought now join bill to bill ; words of blandishment are in their cooing.

First there was a confused mass of things without order and stars and earth and sea had but one appearance; presently the sky was set over the earth, the land was ringed by the sea, and empty void retired to its own place ; the forest received wild beasts to keep), and the air birds ; ye lurked, ye fishes, in the liquid waters. Then mankind wandered in the lonely fields ; brute strength was theirs and forms uncouth ; woodland was their home, their food grass, their bedding leaves ; and for long none knew his fellow. Beguiling pleasure is said to have softened those fierce spirits : a man and a woman had tarried together in one spot ; what were they to do, they learnt themselves with none to teach them : artlessly did Venus accomplish the sweet act. The bird has one he may love; in mid-sea the female fish finds one with whom to unite in pleasure ; the hind follows her mate, serpent is clasped by serpent, the hound is joined in clinging lechery to the bitch ; gladly the ewe endures the leap, the heifer rejoices in the bull, the snub-nosed goat supports her unclean lord ; mares are excited to frenzy, and through regions far removed follow the stallions, though streams divide them. Come then, and for an angry woman bring powerful medicines ; they alone give repose to savage wrath ; those medicines surpass the juices of Machaon,! by them, when you have erred, must you be restored to favour. w

While I was singing thus, Apollo suddenly appeared and moved with his thumb the strings of his golden lyre. In his hand was hay, with bay his sacred locks were veiled ; he draws nigh, a poet worthy to behold. Preceptor of wanton love,” said he to me, “come, lead thy pupils to my shrine, where there is a saying renowned in fame o’er all the world, which bids each be known by himself. Only he who knows himself will love with Wisdom, and perform all his task according to his powers. Let him to whom nature has given beauty be looked at for that ; he who has a fair skin, let him oft lie with shoulder visible ; let him who pleases by his talk break the still silence ; who sings well, let him sing, who drinks well, let him drink. But neither let the eloquent declaim in the midst of talk, nor the frenzied poet recite his verses.’’ So Phoebus counselled : obey ye Phoebus’ counsels ; in the sacred mouth of that god is sure warrant.

To nearer matters am I called. Whoso loves wisely will be victorious, and by my art will gain his end. Not always do the furrows repay their trust with interest, not always does the wind assist perplexed vessels ; what aids lovers is but little, more there is to thwart them ; let them make up their minds to many a trial. As many as the hares that feed on Athos, or the bees on Hybla, as many as the berries that the blue-grey tree of Pallas bears, or the shells that are on the shore, so many are the pains of love ; the darts that wound us are steeped in much poison. She will be said to have gone abroad, though you perchance will see her : believe she has gone, and that your eyes deceive you. On the promised night her door will be shut against you: endure to lay your body even on unclean ground. Perhaps some lying, proud-faced maid will say, “ Why does this fellow besiege our door ? ’’ Supplicate and coax both door and cruel damsel, take the roses from your head and hang them on the doorpost. When she is willing, go to her ; when she shuns you, depart; the well-bred man should not bear to become a bore. Why should your mistress be able to say, “ I cannot escape from this fellow ? ” the senses are not always present to aid. Think it not shameful to endure a woman’s abuse or blows, nor to give kisses to her tender feet.

Why do I tarry over small matters? my spirit ventures greater themes : of great things will I sing : ye people, give all your mind. I attempt a difficult task ; but what is meritorious must needs be difficult : stern toil is demanded by my art. Endure a rival patiently ; victory will be on your side ; you will stand a victor on the citadel of great Jove. Think that no man, but the Pelasgian oaks are saying this ; naught of greater import than this does my art contain. Does she beckon ? bear it ; does she write ? touch not her tablets ; let her come whence she will ; let her go whither she pleases. Husbands afford this liberty to their lawful wives, when thou, soft sleep, comest to their aid. In this art, I confess, I am not perfect ; what am I to do ? I fall short of my own counsels. Shall anyone in my presence make signs to my own mistress ? shall I endure it ? shall wrath not drive me where it will? Her own husband, I remember, had kissed her : I complained of the kisses ; my love is full of savagery. Not once only has this fault done me harm : wiser he by whose complaisance other men come to his mistress. But ignorance were better : allow deceptions to be hid, lest the shame of confession fly from her dissembling countenance.! Wherefore all the more, O lovers, detecting your mistresses ; let them err, and erring think they have deceived. Detection fans the flame of passion; where two have shared misfortune, each persists in the cause of his own fall. There is a story, most famous over all the world, of Mars and Venus caught by Mulciber’s guile. Father Mars, plagued by frenzied love of Venus, from a terrible captain became a lover. Nor was Venus bashful (for no goddess has a tenderer heart), nor unresponsive to Gradivus’ prayers. Ah, how oft is she said to have laughed, the wanton, at her husband’s legs, and at his hands hardened by fire and workmanship ! In Mars’ presence she had but to imitate Vulcan, and it became her: and much charm was mingled with her beauty. But at first they concealed their meetings well, and full of shamefast modesty was their sinning. By the Sun’s evidence (who could deceive the Sun .?) the doings of his wife were made known to Vulcan. How bad an example. Sun, you are giving ! Request a privilege from her : you too she will oblige, if you will but hold your tongue. Mulciber disposes hidden snares around and above the couch ; the device baffles the eye. He feigns a voyage to Lemnos ; the lovers meet as arranged ; caught in the snares the two lie naked. He summons the gods; the captured pair afford a spectacle; scarce did Venus, they say, restrain her tears. They cannot cover their faces, nor even veil their lewd parts with their hands. Then someone laughs and says, “ Most valiant Mars, if they burden you, transfer your chains to me ! ” Scarce at thy prayer, O Neptune, does he set their bodies free : Mars hurries to Thrace, and she to Paphos. After this feat of thine, O Vulcan, what they before concealed they do more freely, since all shame is absent : yet often, mad fool, dost thou confess that thou didst act stupidly, and they say thou hast repented of thine own skill. Do you be warned of this; Dione’s detection warns you not to set those snares that she endured. Devise no toils for your rival, nor lie in wait for letters written in a secret hand. Them let those men try to catch (if they think them worth the catching) whom fire and water will make lawful husbands. Lo ! again do I bear witness : there is here no sport save what the law allows : no long skirt figures in my mirth.

Who would dare to publish to the profane the rites of Ceres, or the great ceremonies devised in Samothrace? Keeping silence is but a small virtue, but to speak what should not be uttered is a heinous crime. Well is it that garrulous Tantalus clutches in vain at the apples on the tree, and parches in the water’s midst ! Cytherea above all forbids her rites to be told of; I give warning that no talkative person approach them. Even if the mysteries of Venus are not hidden in chests, nor does the hollow bronze resound to frenzied blows, yet among us they are met with in common use, but only so that among us they would fain be hidden. Venus herself, as oft as she lays aside her robes, half stooping covers with her left hand her secret parts. Beasts unite everywhere and in public view; and oft at the sight a maiden turns her face aside. Chambers and a locked door beseem our secret doings, the parts of shame are hid ’neath a covering garment, and we seek, if not darkness, at least dim shadow and somewhat less than open daylight. In those days too when sun and rain were not yet kept out by a roof, but an oak gave food and covering alike, pleasure was shared in forest and cave, not in the open air : so strong was the thought of shame in a simple folk. But now we make our nightly exploits a title to renown, and purchase at a high price naught but the power to brag ! What ! shall you make trial of all women everywhere, so that you may say to no matter who, “ She too was mine,” and never lack girls to point to with your finger ? As you touch upon each, shall there be a tale of shame I lament but trifles : some make up tales which if true they would deny, and say there is no woman with whom they have not lain. If bodies escape them, they take hold of names, and though the body escape, the name retains the charge. Go now, hateful guardian, bar the lady’s door, and add a hundred bolts to the sturdy posts. What remains secure, when the dishonourer of her name abides, and would have what ne’er befell believed ? As for me I recount even true amours but sparely, and a solid secrecy hides my dark intrigues.

Particularly forbear to reproach a woman with her faults, faults which many have found it useful to feign otherwise. Her complexion was not made a reproach against Andromeda by him on whose either foot was a swift moving pinion. All thought Andromache too big : Hector alone deemed her of moderate size. Grow used to what you bear ill : you Will bear it well ; age eases many a smart, but love feels everything at first. While the graft is newly growing in the green bark, let any breeze but shake the weakling shoot, ’twill fall ; soon, strengthened by time, this same tree will withstand the winds, and stoutly bear its adopted fruits. Time itself removes all faults from the body, and what was a blemish ceases to be a hindrance. Nostrils in youth cannot bear the hides of bulls ; when years of habit have tamed them the odour is not noticed. With names you can soften shortcomings ; let her be called swarthy, whose blood is blacker than Illyrian pitch ; if cross-eyed, she is like Venus : yellow-haired, like Minerva; call her slender whose thinness impairs her health; if short, call her trim; if stout, of full body; let its nearness to a virtue conceal a fault.

Ask not how old she be, nor under what consul she was born; these are the duties of the stern Censor : particularly so, if she is past her prime, if the flower of her age is over, and already she is plucking out the whitening hairs. Profitable, ye lovers, is that or even a later age ; that field will bear, that field must be sown. Endure the toil, while your strength and years permit ; soon bent old age will come with silent foot. Cleave the sea with oars, or the earth with the plough, or exert your warlike hands in savage battle, or bring to women’s service your bodily strength and vigour and diligence : this too is warfare, this too calls for your powers. Add this, that they have greater acquaintance with their business, and they have experience, which alone gives skill, upon their side : they make good the waste of years. By elegance and by their pains contrive not to seem old. According to your taste they will embrace you in a thousand ways ; no picture could devise more modes than they. They need no spur to enjoy their pleasure : let both man and woman feel what delights them equally. I hate embraces which leave not each outworn ; that is why a boy’s love appeals to me but little. I hate her who gives because she must, and who, herself unmoved, is thinking of her wool. Pleasure given as a duty has no charms for me ; for me let no woman be dutiful. I like to hear the words that confess rapture, that beg me hold back and stay awhile. May I see my mistress in frenzy, with eyes that confess defeat ; may she be languid, and long refuse to be embraced. These joys, which come quickly after seven lustres, nature has not granted to early youth. Let those who hasten drink new liquor ; for me let a jar put down under ancient consuls pour forth its ancestral wine. Neither can the plane tree, save it be mature, resist the sun, and new-sprung meads injure naked feet. What ? would you be able to prefer Hermione to Helen, and was Gorge fairer than her mother whoever you are that wish to approach charms that are mature, if you will play your part, you will win a fitting reward.

Lo ! the conscious couch has received two lovers : tarry O Muse at the closed door of their chamber. Of their own accord without your aid, they Will utter eloquent speech, nor will the left hand lie idle on the bed. Their fingers will find what to do in those parts where Love plies his weapons unperceived. Most valiant Hector of old did thus with Andromache, nor in war alone did he avail. Thus did the great Achilles with the Lyrnesian captive, when weary from the foe he burdened the soft couch. By those hands didst thou suffer thyself to be touched, Briseis, that were ever imbued in Phrygian blood ; was it this very thing, wanton one, that delighted thee, that a conqueror’s hands should caress thy limbs Believe me, love’s bliss must not be hastened, but gradually lured on by slow delay. When you have found the place where a woman loves to be touched, let not shame prevent you from touching it. You will see her eyes shooting tremulous gleams, as the sun often glitters in clear water. Then she will complain, then she will lovingly murmur, and sweetly sigh, and utter words that fit the sport. But neither do you, spreading too full sail, leave your mistress behind, nor let her outstrip your speed ; haste side by side to the goal : then is pleasure full, when man and woman lie vanquished both together. This is the tenor you must keep, when dallying is free, and no fear urges on the secret work. When delay is dangerous, it is best to press on with all oars, and to spur the galloping horse.

My task is finished : give me the palm, ye grateful lovers, and bring wreaths of myrtle for my scented locks. As great as was Podalirius among the Greeks in the art of healing, or Aeacides in might of hand, or Nestor in understanding, as great as Was Calchas at the sacrifice, or Telamon’s son in arms, or Automedon in the chariot, so great a lover am I. Celebrate me, the prophet, O ye men ; sing my praises, let my name be sung in all the world. I have given you armour; Vulcan gave armour to Achilles; do ye conquer, as he conquered, by virtue of the gift. But whosoever shall by my steel lay low the Amazon, let him inscribe upon his spoils Naso was my Master.”

Lo ! the young girls are begging me to give them counsel : you will be my poetry’s next care.