The Art of Love, Book III (Mozley)

I HAVE armed the Danai against the Amazons ; there remain arms which I must give to thee, Penthesilea, and to thy troop. Go into battle on equal terms ; let those conquer whom kind Dione favours, and the boy who flies o’er all the world. It were not just that defenceless maids should fight with armed men ; such a victory, O men, would be shameful for you also. Some one or other may say to me, “ Why do you add gall to serpents, and betray the sheepfold to the mad she-wolf?” Forbear to spread over all the reproach of a few; let each woman be judged on her own merits. If the younger son of Atreus has a charge to bring against Helen, and the elder against Helen’s sister, if by the crime of Talaonian Eriphyle Oeclides went to Styx alive and drawn by living steeds, yet Penelope is chaste, though for ten years her lord was wandering, and fighting for as many years. Consider Phylacides and her who is said to have accompanied her spouse, and to have died before her time. The Pagasaean consort of Pheretiades redeemed his fate, and in her husband’s funeral his wife was borne in her husband’s stead. “ Take me, Capaneus ; we will mingle our ashes,” cried the daughter of This, and leapt into the middle of the pyre. Virtue too herself is by dress and name a woman ; no wonder if she please her own folk. Yet such minds are not demanded by my art ; smaller sails become my bark. Naught save wanton loves are learnt through me ; I will teach in what way a woman is to be loved. A woman wields neither flames nor savage bows : seldom do I see these weapons hurting men. Often do men deceive tender maids not often ; should you inquire they are rarely charged with deceit. Perfidious Jason sent away the Phasian, already a mother another bride came to the bosom of Aeson’s son. So far as concerned thee, O Theseus, Ariadne fell a prey to the sea-birds, left desolate in an unknown spot ! Ask why one way is called Nine Ways, and hear how the woods shed their leaves and wailed for Phyllis. Famed too is he for piety, yet thy guest, Elissa, gave thee both a sword and the cause of thy destruction. Shall I tell what led you all to ruin ? ye knew not how to love ; it was skill ye lacked ; skill makes love unending. Would that now too they knew not ! but Cytherea bade me teach them, and stood herself before my eyes. Then she said, “What have poor women deserved ? their defenceless throng is surrendered to armed men. These have two poems taught the craft : those too must be instructed by your counsels. He who first abused the Therapnean consort soon sang her praises on a more prosperous lyre ; if I know you well (harm not the cultured fair !), so long as you live you must seek their favour. She spoke, and from her myrtle (for she stood with myrtle binding her hair) she gave me a leaf and a few berries ; as I took them I felt too their power divine, heaven shone with purer light, and my heart was relieved of all its burden. While she inspires me, seek here the precepts, O women, which propriety and the laws and your own rights allow. Now already be mindful of the old age which is to come ; thus no hour will slip wasted from you. While you can, and still are in your spring-time, have your sport ; for the years pass like flowing water ; the wave that has gone by cannot be called back, the hour that has gone by cannot return. You must employ your time : time glides on with speedy foot, nor is that which follows so good as that which went before. These plants, now withering, I saw as violet-beds ; from this thorn was a pleasing garland given me. That day will come when you, who now shut out your lovers, will lie, a cold and lonely old woman, through the night ; nor will your door be broken in a nightly brawl, nor will you find your threshold strewn with roses in the morning. How quickly, ah, me ! is the body furrowed by wrinkles, and the colour fled that once was in that lovely face ! And the white hairs that you swear have been there since maidenhood will suddenly be scattered over all your head. Serpents put off their age with their frail skins, nor are stags made old by casting their horns : our charms flee without our aid ; pluck the flower, which save it be plucked will basely wither. Besides, childbirth shortens the period of youth : a field grows old by continual harvesting. Latmian Endymion brings no blush to thee, O Moon, nor is Cephalus a prize that shames the roseate goddess ; though Adonis, whom she mourns, be granted to Venus, whence has she her Aeneas and Harmonia ? Study, ye mortal folk, the examples of the goddesses, nor deny your joys to hungry lovers. Though they at last deceive you, what do you lose ? those joys abide ; though they take a thousand pleasures, naught is lost therefrom. Iron is worn away, and flints are diminished by use ; that part endures, and has no fear of loss. What forbids to take light from a light that is set before you, or who would guard vast waters upon the cavernous deep ? And yet does any woman say to a man, It is not expedient tell me, what are you doing, save wasting the water that you will draw? Nor do my words make you vile, but forbid you to fear unreal loss ; there is no loss in your giving. But though the blasts of a stronger wind will soon impel me, while I am still in harbour, let a light breeze bear me on.

I begin with the body’s care : from grapes well cared for Liber gives good vintage, on well-cared-for soil the crops stand high. Beauty is heaven’s gift : how few can boast of beauty ! A great part of you lack a gift so precious. Care will give good looks : looks neglected go to waste though they resemble the Idalian goddess. If women of old did not so cultivate their bodie, the women of old had not lovers so cultivated ; if Andromache was clad in a stout tunic, what wonder ? she was a hardy soldier’s wife. What? would you come arrayed like the spouse of Ajax, whose protection was seven oxen’s hides ? There was rude simplicity of old, but now golden Rome possesses the vast wealth of the conquered world. See what the Capitol is now, and what it was : you would say they belonged to different Jupiters. The senate-house now is most worthy of so august a gathering : when Tatius held the rule it was made of wattles. The Palatine whereon now Phoebus and our chieftains are set in splendour, what was it save the pasture of oxen destined to the plough ? Let ancient times delight other folk : I congratulate myself that I was not born till now ; this age fits my nature well. Not because now stubborn gold is drawn from out the earth, and shells come gathered from divers shores, nor because mountains diminish as the marble is dug from them, nor because masonry puts to flight the dark-blue waters ; but because culture is with us, and rusticity, which survived until our grandsires, has not lasted to our days.

You too burden not your ears with precious stones, which the discoloured Indian gathers from the green water, and come not forth weighed down with the gold sewn upon your garments ; the wealth wherewith you seek us ofttimes repels. ’Tis with elegance we are caught : let not your locks be lawless : a touch of the hand can give or deny beauty. Nor is there but one form of adornment : let each choose what becomes her, and take counsel before her own mirror. An oval face prefers a parting upon the head left unadorned : the tresses of Laodamia were so arranged. Round faces would fain have a small knot left on top of the head, so that the ears show.

Let another’s locks hang down on either shoulder ; thus art thou, tuneful Phoebus, when thou hast taken up thy lyre. Let another braid her hair like girt-up Dian, as she is wont to be when she hunts the frightened beasts. This one it beseems to let her waving locks lie loose ; to that one her tight-drawn tresses should be a hindrance ; this one is pleased by the adornment of the Cyllenian tortoiseshell let that one bear folds that resemble waves. But you will not count the acorns on the oak’s numerous boughs, nor how many bees there are in Hybla, nor wild beasts upon the Alps; nor can I enumerate all the fashions that there are : each day adds more adornments. Even neglected hair is becoming to many; often you would think it lay loose from yesterday ; this very moment it has been combed afresh. Art counterfeits chance ; when Alcides beheld Iole thus in the captured city, he said, “This is the woman I love.” Thus wert thou, deserted Gnosian, when Bacchus lifted thee to his car, and the Satyrs cried “Hurrah ! ” Ah, how kind is nature to your beauty, you whose defects may be made good in so many ways ! We are shamefully left bare and, carried away by time, our hairs fall, as when Boreas shakes down the leaves. A woman stains her whitening locks with German juices, and by skill seeks a hue better than the real ; a woman walks ’neath a burden of purchased tresses, and money buys new locks for old. Nor does she blush to buy: publicly do we see them sold before the eyes of Hercules and the Virgin band. What shall I say of clothes ? flounces, I need you not, nor the wool that blushes twice with Tyrian dye. When so many cheaper colours walk abroad, what madness to carry whole incomes on one’s body ! Lo ! there is the colour of the sky, when the sky is cloudless, and warm Auster brings no rainy showers ; lo, here is one like thee, who once art said to have rescued Phrixus and Helle from Ino’s wiles ; this colour imitates water, and from water has its name : in this raiment I could think the Nymphs were clad. That colour counterfeits saffron; in saffron robe is the dewy goddess veiled, when she yokes her lightbringing steeds ; this has the hue of Paphian myrtle, that, of purple amethysts, these of white roses and of Thracian cranes ; nor, Amaryllis, are thy chestnuts lacking, nor yet almonds ; and wax has given to fleeces its own name. As many as are the flowers that the new-born earth produces, when the vine in warm spring urges forth its buds, and sluggish winter is fled, so many dyes and more does the wool drink up; choose those that are sure to please, for not every one suits every woman. Snow-white skins like dark grey colours, dark grey became Briseis; even when she was carried off was her robe dark grey. Those dark of hue like white ; in white didst thou please, Cepheis ; for thee thus clad was Seriphos oppressed.

How nearly did I warn you that no rude goat find his way beneath your arms, and that your legs be not rough with bristling hairs ! But I am not teaching girls from the cliffs of Caucasus, nor such as drink thy waters, Mysian Caicus. Why should I enjoin that no laziness leave the teeth to darken, and that hands should be washed with water in the morning? You know, too, how to gain a bright hue by applying powder : art gives complexion if real blood gives it not. By art you fill up the bare confines of the eyebrow, and a tiny patch veils cheeks without a blemish. Nor are you ashamed to mark your eyes with powdery ash, or with saffron born near thee, O shining Cydnus. I have a book, a small work, but great in the pains it cost me, wherein I have told of the paints that will make you beautiful ; from it too seek means to rescue impaired beauty : my art is no sluggard in your behalf. Yet let no lover find the boxes set out upon the table ; your looks are aided by dissembled art. Who would not be offended by paint smeared over all the face, when it flows with ponderous glide into the warm bosom ? How strong is the smell of oil of wool, though from Athens be sent the juices drawn from a sheep’s unwashed fleece ! Nor should I approve your openly taking the mixed marrow of a hind, or cleaning your teeth for all to see; such things will give beauty, but they will be unseemly to look on : many things, base in the doing, please when done ; the statues of industrious Myron that now are famous Were once a hard mass and lifeless weight ; gold is first crushed that it may become a ring ; the gowns you wear were once filthy wool; your jewel was rough when being shaped : now it is a noble gem, whereon naked Venus is wringing her spray-drenched tresses. So while you are at your toilet let us think that you are asleep; it is more fitting you should be seen when the last touch has been given. Why must I know the cause of the whiteness of your cheek ? Shut your chamber door : why show the unfinished work ? There is much that it befits men not to know ; most of your doings would offend, did you not hide them within. Those images that shine all golden in the decorated theatre, see how thin the gold leaf that conceals the wood ; but neither may the people come nigh them, till complete, nor save when men are absent should beauty be contrived. Yet I forbid you not to let your locks be combed before them, so that they lie rippling adown your back : at that time, especially, beware of being ill-tempered, nor often unbind your fallen tresses. Let the tiring-woman be safe ; I hate her who tears with her nails her handmaid’s face, or seizing a needle stabs her arms. That maid curses, as she touches it, her mistress’ head, and weeps the while, bloodstained, over the hated locks. Let her who has poor hair set a guard at her door, or always be tired in the temple of the Good Goddess. My arrival was suddenly announced to a woman once ; in confusion she put her hair on all awry. Let my foes endure a cause of shame so fearful ! upon Parthian women let that dishonour fall ! Ugly is a bull without horns ; ugly is a field without grass, a plant without leaves, or a head without hair, You have not come to learn from me Semele and Leda or thou Sidonian maid, borne on the false bull o’er the sea ; or Helen, whom not foolishly, Menelaus, thou askest back, and whom not foolishly, Trojan ravisher, thou dost keep. It is the crowd that come to learn, women both fair and plain ; and ever are the plain more numerous than the fair. The beautiful care not for precepts and the help of art ; their dowry have they, beauty that without art is powerful ; when the sea is calm the careless sailor takes his ease : when it swells high he implores his helpers. Yet rare is the face that lacks a blemish : hide your blemishes, and so far as you can conceal any fault of body. Sit if you are short, lest standing you seem to be sitting, and recline, small as you are, on your couch ; here, too, lest your measure be taken as you lie, let your feet be hidden by a robe thrown across them. Let her that is too slender choose garments of full texture, and let her robe hang loosely from her shoulders. Let a pale woman adorn her person with purple stripes, and one who is swarthy have recourse to the aid of the Pharian fish. Let an ill-formed foot be ever hidden beneath a snow-white sandal ; never release lean ankles from their bonds. Small clasps suit high shoulder-blades : a band should confine a swelling bosom. Let her whose fingers are fat, or nails rough, mark what she says with but little gesture. She whose breath is tainted should never speak before eating, and she should always stand at a distance from her lover’s face. If you have a tooth that is black or too large or growing out of place, laughing will cost you dear.

Who would believe it ? women learn even how to laugh ; here too seemliness is required of them. Let the mouth be but moderately opened, let the dimples on either side be small, and let the bottom of the lip cover the top of the teeth. Nor should they strain their sides with continuous laughter, but laugh with a feminine trill. One woman will distort her face with a hideous guffaw, another, you would think, was weeping, while she is laughing happily. That one’s laugh has a strident and unlovely harshness, as when a mean she-ass brays by the rough millstone. How far does art not go ? they learn to weep becomingly, and can wail when and how they choose. What, when they defraud letters of their rightful utterance, and the tongue is compelled to lisp at their command. The defect has charm — this uttering some words amiss ; they learn the power to mar their power of speech, Give attention to all these things, because they are useful : learn to carry yourself with womanly step. In walk too there is no mean part of charm ; it attracts or repels unknown admirers. This woman sways her side with skill, and welcomes the breeze with flowing robe, as she haughtily places her extended feet that one walks like the sunburnt spouse of an Umbrian lord, and takes long, straddling steps. But, as in many things, let there be moderation here ; one motion is rustic, another will be more affected than is allowed. Nevertheless let the lower part of your shoulder and the upper part of your arm be bare and easily seen from the left hand. This becomes you especially, you who have snowy skins ; when I see this, fain would I kiss that shoulder, wherever it is exposed.

The Sirens were wondrous creatures of the sea, who with tuneful voice detained vessels, how swift soe’er they sailed. Hearing them the son of Sisyphus all but unloosed his body ; for his comrades’ ears were stopped with wax. A persuasive thing is song : let women learn to sing ; with many voice instead of face has been their procuress. Let them repeat now ditties heard in marble theatres, now songs acted in the fashion of Nile ; nor should a woman skilled as I would have her be ignorant how to hold the quill in her right hand and the lyre in her left. With his lyre did Orpheus of Rhodope move rocks and hearts, and the lakes of Tartarus and the three-headed dog. At thy strains, most just avenger of thy mother, the stones with ready service formed new walls. A fish though dumb is believed to have shown favour to the voice in the well-known fable of Arion’s lyre. Learn also to sweep with both hands the genial Phoenician harp ; suitable is it to merry-making.

Let the Muse of Callimachus and of the Coan bard be known to you, and the old drunkard’s Teian strains ; let Sappho too be known (for who more wanton than she .), or he whose sire is deceived by the crafty Getan’s cunning. And you should be able to read a poem of tender Propertius or something of Gallus or of you, Tibullus ; and the fleece that Varro told of, famous for its tawny hairs, a cause of complaint to thy sister, Phrixus ; and Aeneas the wanderer; origin of lofty Rome; a Work than which none more famous has appeared in Latium. Perhaps too my name will be joined to theirS; nor will my writings be given to Lethe’s waters ; and someone will say; Read the elegant poems of our master; wherein he instructs the rival parties ; or from the three books marked by the title of ‘Loves ’ choose out what you may softly read with docile voice ; or let some Letter be read by you with practised utterance ; he first invented this art; unknown to others.” So grant it, O Phoebus ! so grant it; ye blessed souls of poets, and thou, O horned Bacchus, and ye goddesses nine !

Who would doubt that I would have a Woman know how to dance, that when the wine is set she may, when bidden, move her arms. Artists whom the stage displays win favour as they move their sides ; so great a charm has this easy movement. I am ashamed to advise in little things, that she should know the throws of the dice, and thy powers, O flung counter. Now let her throw three dice, and now reflect which side she may fitly join in her cunning, and which challenge. Let her cautiously and not foolishly play the battle of the brigands, when one piece falls before his double foe, and the warrior caught without his mate fights on and the enemy retraces many a time the path he has begun. And let the smooth balls be flung into the open net, nor must any ball be moved save that which you will take out. There is a sort of game confined by subtle method into as many lines as the slippery year has months : a small board has three counters on either side whereon to join your pieces together is to conquer. Make up a thousand games; it is unseemly for a girl to know not how to play ; by play love is often won. But the smallest task is to use your throws wisely ; more important is it to control one’s own behaviour. Then are we incautious and reveal ourselves in our very zest, and in our games our hearts show clear to see; anger steals in, an unsightly evil, and desire for gain, and brawls and quarrels and distressful grief ; reproaches are hurled ; the air resounds with cries, and each calls angry gods to his aid : none trusts his neighbour, and amid vows new tables are demanded; oft have I seen cheeks wet with tears. May Jupiter keep such foul reproach far from you, who seek to win any man’s favour.

These are the games that indolent nature has given to women ; men have richer material for their sport. Swift balls have they, and javelins and hoops and armour, and steeds compelled to go in circles. You the Campus knows not, nor the cool water of the Maiden, nor does the Tuscan river bear you down on its placid stream. But you may, and with profit, walk through the Pompeian shade, when the head is scorched with the Maiden’s celestial steeds. Visit the Palace sacred to laurelled Phoebus : it was he that sank in the deep the Paraetonian barks ; and the monuments that the sister and consort of our Chief have won, and his son-in-law whose head is wreathed with naval glory. Visit the incense-burning altars of the Memphian heifer ; visit three theatres in conspicuous seats. See the arena stained with warm blood, and the goal that the glowing wheels must round. What is hidden is unknown ; what is unknown none desires ; naught is gained when a comely face has none to see it. Though in song you may surpass Thamyras and Amoebeus, in an unknown lyre there is no great delight. If Coan Apelles had never painted Venus, she would still be lying hid in the sea’s depths. What is sought by the sacred bards save fame alone toil we ne’er so hard, this is all we ask. Poets once were the care of chieftains and of kings, and choirs of old won great rewards. Sacred was the majesty and venerable the name of the poet ; and ofttimes lavish wealth was given them. Ennius, sprung from Calabrian hills won a place, great Scipio, by thy side; but now the ivy lies unhonoured, and wakeful toil devoted to the learned Muses bears the name of sloth. Yet wakeful pursuit of fame brings reward : who would know of Homer if the Iliad, an ever-enduring work, had lain hid ? Who would know of Danae, had she always been a prisoner, and tarried to old womanhood in her tower ? Profitable to you, beauteous damsels, is a crowd; oft let your wandering feet stray o’er the threshold. The wolf draws nigh to many sheep that she may prey on one, and the eagle of Jove swoops down on many birds. Let the beautiful woman also offer herself to the people to be seen ; out of many there will be one, perchance, whom she may attract. Let her that is eager to please be always everywhere, and give all her mind’s attention to her charms. Chance everywhere has power; ever let your hook be hanging; where you least believe it, there Will be a fish in the stream. Often do hounds stray in vain through mountain glens, and a stag, without any driving it, falls into the nets. What had fettered Andromeda less to hope for than that her tears could e’er find favour.? Often a husband is sought for at a husband’s funeral ; it is becoming to go with dishevelled hair, and to mourn without restraint.

But avoid men who profess elegance and good looks, and who arrange their hair in its proper place. What they tell you they have told a thousand women ; their fancy wanders, and has no fixed abode. What can a woman do when her lover is smoother than herself, and may perhaps have more lovers than she .? You will hardly believe me. yet believe : Troy would have survived, had she followed the precepts of her own Priam. Some make their assault under a false appearance of love, and by such approaches seek shameful gains. Let not their hair, sleek with liquid nard, deceive you, nor the tongue of the belt tucked tightly into the creases it makes ; let not the toga of finest texture play you false, nor if there be one ring and yet another on their fingers. Perchance out of their number the most elegant will prove a thief, and be inflamed by longing for your robe. “ Give me back my own,” robbed women often cry ; “ give me back my own,” cry their voices over the whole forum : these quarrels dost thou watch unheeding, O Venus, from temples shining with lavish gold, thou and thy Appian Nymphs. There are, too, certain names of ill fame unquestionable ; many, alas, bear the reproach of a deserted mistress. Learn from the complaints of another to fear for yourselves ; nor let your door be open to a false lover. Ye maids of Athens, believe not Theseus’ oaths : the gods he will call to witness, he has called upon before, and thou too, Demophoon, heir of Theseus’ reproach, art no longer trusted since thou didst play Phyllis false. If they make fair promises, promise in as many words ; if they give, give also your bargained joys. That woman could extinguish Vesta’s watchful flame, and rob thy temple, Inachis, of its sanctities, and give aconite mixed with pounded hemlock to her lover, who receives a gift and then denies her favours.

My spirit bids me take a closer stand ; draw in the reins, my Muse, nor dash headlong with ungoverned wheels. Let words written on fir-wood tablets prepare the way : let a suitable handmaid receive the missive ; examine it, and in what you read, gather from the words themselves whether he is feigning, or writes from his heart in real distress ; after brief delay write back : delay ever spurns lovers on, if but its term be brief. But neither promise yourself too easily to him who entreats you, nor yet deny what he asks too stubbornly. Cause him to hope and fear together ; and as often as you reply, see that hope becomes surer and fear diminishes. Dainty, O women, be the words you write, but customary and in common use ; ordinary speech gives pleasure ; ah, how often has a message inflamed a doubting lover, or some barbaric phrase done harm to beauteous shape. But because, though you lack the honour of the fillet, you too have your lords you are eager to deceive, Write your messages by the hand of slave or handmaid, and entrust not your pledges to a slave you know not ; I have seen women pale with terror on that account, suffering in their misery unending servitude. Perfidious indeed is he who keeps such pledges, but he holds what is like a thunderbolt of Aetna. In my judgment fraud may be repelled by fraud, and the laws allow arms to be taken against an armed foe. Let one hand be accustomed to tracing many figures, (ah, perish they who make this counsel needful !) nor is it safe to write an answer unless the wax is quite smoothed over, lest one tablet hold two hands. Let your lover always be called a woman by the writer : in your messages let what is really “ he ” be “ she.”

If I may turn my mind from small things to greater, and spread out full my swelling sails, it is beauty’s task to hold mad moods in check ; fair peace is becoming to men, fierce anger to beasts. The face becomes swollen with passion ; the veins grow black with blood, the eyes flash more savagely than Gorgon fire. “Away with you,” said Pallas, “to me, flute, you are not worth the cost,” when she saw her countenance in the stream. And you, should you in mid-passion behold a mirror, scarce one of you would know her own features. Not less harmful in your looks is pride ; by gentle eyes must love be enticed. I hate immoderate haughtiness (believe one who knows) ; a silent face oft holds the seeds of hatred. Look at one who is looking at you ; return a pleasant smile ; if he beckons, acknowledge and return his nod. ’Tis after such prelude that young Cupid, abandoning the foils, draws the sharp arrows from his quiver. Melancholy women too I hate; let Ajax love Tecmessa we, a mirthful folk, are charmed by cheerful women. Never would I ask you, Andromache, nor you, Tecmessa, to be either of you my mistress. Scarce, methinks, can I believe, though your offspring compel me, that you ever lay with your husbands. What, did that most melancholy of women call Ajax “ Darling,” or use such words as please a lover?

Who forbids me to use great things as examples for little, or to fear the name of leader ? To this man a good leader commits a hundred men to be ruled by his vinewood staff, to another the care of horsemen, to another that of the standards ; do you likewise consider which of us is suited to which use, and set each in his proper place. Let the rich man give presents ; let him who professes law give legal aid ; let the eloquent often plead his client’s cause ; let us who make poems send poems only : we poets are a band more fitted than the rest for love. ’Tis we who herald the loved one’s beauty far and wide ; renowned is Nemesis, Cynthia is renowned ; evening and Eastern lands know of Lycoris, and many inquire who my Corinna may be. Besides, treachery is alien to sacred bards, and our art too helps to shape our character. Neither ambition nor love of gain affects us ; the Forum we despise, and cultivate the couch and the shade. But we are easily caught, and burn with a strong passion, and know that we love with a loyalty most sure. "Tis in truth from the gentle art that our spirit wins tenderness, and our behaviour is akin to our pursuit. Be kind, ye women, to Aonian bards ; divinity is in them, and the Muses show them favour. There is a god in us ; we are in touch with heaven : from celestial places comes our inspiration. To hope for reward from skilled poets is a crime : ah, wretched that I am, it is a crime no woman fears! Yet dissemble, and carry not greed on your open countenance ; a new lover will take fright if he sees the net. But a rider would not use the same bridle for a horse who but lately felt the reins and for one who knows his paces ; nor must the same path be taken to catch discreet age and tender youth. This raw recruit, now first known to Love’s campaigning, who has come, a new prey, to your chamber-door — let him know none but you, let him cling to you alone ; high is the fence that must guard that tender crop. Avoid a rival : you will prevail, so long as you alone have power ; in partnership neither thrones nor love stand sure. But the veteran will come gradually and prudently to love, and will bear much a recruit would not endure ; he will not break doors nor burn them with fierce flames, nor attack with his nails the soft cheeks of his mistress, nor rend his own nor his lady’s clothes, nor will torn tresses be a cause of weeping. Such doings suit lads aflame with youth and love ; but he will bear bitter smarts composedly, he will burn, ah, with slow fires like a humid torch, like timber lately cut from the mountain ridge. Such love is surer ; the other is richer but brief ; pluck with quick hand the fruit that quickly passes.

Let all be revealed : we have flung our gates open to the foe, and in faithless treason let us keep faith. What is easily given ill fosters an enduring love ; let an occasional repulse vary your merry sport. Let him lie before your gate; let him cry, “Ah, cruel door!” and play the suppliant oft, and oft the threatener. We cannot bear sweetness ; let us be refreshed by bitter juices ; oft is a vessel sunk by favouring winds ; ’’tis this which prevents wives from being loved : to them their husbands come whenever they will; add but a door, and let a doorkeeper say to you with stubborn mouth, “ You cannot ; ” once shut out, you too, sir, will be touched by love. Throw down the foils now, and fight with sharpened swords; nor do I doubt that I shall be attacked with my own weapons, While a lover lately ensnared is falling into the toils, let him hope that he alone has the right to your chamber ; later on let him be aware of a rival and of the shared privilege of your couch ; neglect these devices and his love will wane. The valiant horse races best, at the banker’s fall, when he has others to follow and o’erpass. Fires, howe’er extinct, are aroused by injury; lo, myself (I confess) save when hurt, I cannot love. But let the cause of pain be not too manifest, and in his vexation let him fancy more than he knows. The surly guardianship of a pretended slave excites him, and the irksome vigilance of a husband too severe. Pleasure safely enjoyed is less welcome ; though you be freer than Thais pretend to fears. Though it were easier by the door, admit him by the window, and show signs of fright upon your face. Let a clever maid hurry in, and cry, “ We are undone ! ” conceal the frightened youth in any hiding-place. Yet with fear must be mingled secure enjoyment, lest he think your nights are not worth while.

How a crafty husband or a vigilant guardian may be deceived I was about to pass by; let the bride fear her spouse, let the guarding of a bride be sure ; that is seemly, that the laws and right and modesty command : but that you too should be watched, whom the rod has lately redeemed, who could endure ? Attend my rites that you may learn to deceive. Though as many keep watch as Argus had eyes (so your purpose be but firm), you will deceive them. Will a guardian forsooth prevent your writing, when time is allowed you for taking a bath ? when a confidant can carry a written tablet, concealed by a broad band on her warm bosom when she can hide a paper packet in her stocking, and bear your coaxing message ’twixt foot and sandal ? Should the guardian beware of this ! let the confidant offer her back for your note, and bear your words upon her body. A letter too is safe and escapes the eye, when written in new milk touch it with coal-dust, and you will read. That too will deceive which is written with a stalk of moistened flax, and a pure sheet will bear hidden marks. Acrisius used diligence to guard his daughter : yet by her own crime she made him a grandsire. What can a guardian do, when there are so many theatres in the city ? when she delights to watch the teams of horses. when she sits doing honour with the sistrum to the Pharian heifer, and goes where her male attendants are forbidden to go when the Good Goddess repels from the temple the eyes of men, except such as she bids come there herself.? when, while the guardian keeps the girl’s clothes without, the numerous baths hide furtive sport .? when, so often as is needful, the cunning friend falls sick, and, however ailing, withdraws from her own bed? when by its very name the adulterate key tells us what to do, and not only the door permits the passage you demand ? Much wine, too, will baffle a guardian’s care, even though the grape be picked on Spanish slopes ; there are drugs, too, which induce deep slumber, and steep the vanquished eyes in Lethaean night ; easily too does a confidant detain the hateful fellow with tardy dalliance, and keep him by her own side in long delays. What avails it to make a long tale of trivial precepts, when a small bribe will buy the guardian ? Bribes, believe me, buy both gods and men ; Jupiter himself is appeased by the offering of gifts. What will the wise man do ? (for the fool also delights in a bribe ;) he too when bribed will hold his tongue. But the guardian must be bought outright for a long time ; the service he has given once he will often give. Once I lamented, I remember, that comrades were to be feared : ’’tis not men only that my lament touches. If you are credulous, other women will reap your joys, and that hare will be hunted by others. She too, who eagerly offers bed and room, not once only, believe me, has she been with me. Nor let the pretty serving-maid be too helpful: often has she played her mistress’ part for me.

Whither am I borne in my frenzy ? Why rush I with open breast against the foe, and am betrayed by my own evidence The bird does not show the fowlers where it may be hunted ; the hind does not teach the enemy hounds to run. Let expediency see to itself ; I will fulfil my purpose faithfully ; I will give the Lemnian women swords to slay me. Make us (and it is easy) believe we are loved ; swift comes belief to those whose desires are keen. Let the woman regard the youth with more loving looks, and deeply sigh, and ask why he comes so late : let tears be added, and feigned wrath about a rival ; and let her tear his cheeks with her nails : long since will he have been persuaded ; he will be quick to pity, and will say, “ For love of me is she distressed.” Particularly if he be well dressed and approved by his glass will he believe that goddesses could fall in love with him. But, however he wrong you, let it disturb you but little, nor be put out when you hear of a rival. Nor be quick to believe : what harm quick belief can do, Procris will be to you a weighty warning.

Near the purple hills of flowery Hymettus there is a sacred spring and ground soft with green turf : trees of no great height form a grove ; arbutus covers the grass, and rosemary, bays and dark myrtles are fragrant ; nor is the thick foliage of the box-tree lacking, or fragile tamarisks and tender lucerne and the cultivated pine. Gentle zephyrs and healthgiving breezes sway the varied foliage, and the tips of the grasses tremble. Sweet sleep was upon Cephalus ; leaving servants and hounds the youth often rested in this spot when weary, and, “ Come, wandering Aura,” was he wont to sing, come to my bosom and refresh my sultriness.” To his wife’s timid ears some foolish busy-body reported with mindful utterance the sounds he had heard; when Procris heard the name of Aura, a rival, as she thought, she fainted, and was speechless with sudden grief : she paled, as pale the late leaves upon clusters of the vine, hurt by the first breath of winter, and as ripe quinces that bend their boughs are pale, and cornel-berries not yet fit for human food. When her spirits returned she plucked the frail garment from her breast, and marred with her nails her innocent cheeks ; and straightway with streaming hair she flies through the streets in frenzy, like a Bacchant sped by the thyrsus. When she drew nigh, she left her comrades in the vale, and herself secretly with silent step bravely entered the wood. What were thy feelings, Procris, when thus frantic thou lurkedst there ? What a fire was in thy maddened heart ! Soon would she come, that Aura, whoe’er she might be (so didst thou think), and thine own eyes would see the shame. Now dost thou regret thy coming (for thou could’st not wish to find him guilty), now art thou glad : this way and that love sways thy heart. To commend belief there is the name and the place and the informer, and because the mind ever thinks its fears are true. When she saw the mark of a body on the flattened grass, her leaping heart beats within her fearful bosom. And now midday had drawn short the unsubstantial shadows, and evening and morning were of equal length : lo ! Cephalus, son of Cyllene, returns from the woods, and scatters spring water on his glowing cheeks. Anxiously, Procris, thou Rest hid : he rests on the wonted grass, and cries, “ Come, breeze, come tender Zephyrs ! ” When the name’s pleasing error was manifest to the hapless woman, her reason returned, and the true colour to her face. She rises, and speeding to her lover’s embrace stirred with her hurrying frame the leaves that were in her way : he thinking he saw a quarry leapt up with youthful ardour, and his weapon was in his hand. What dost thou, hapless one ? ’’tis no beast : drop thy bow. Woe is me ! thy dart has pierced the maid. “ Alas !” she cries, thou hast pierced a friendly breast : this spot hath ever a wound from Cephalus. Untimely I die, yet injured by no rival: this will make thee, earth, lie lightly on my bones. Now goes my spirit out upon the air whose name I once suspected : alas ! I am failing ; close my eyes with the hand I love.” He raises to his sad bosom his lady’s dying form, and laves the cruel wound in tears : her spirit passes, and ebbing little by little from her rash breast is caught upon her unhappy lover’s lips.

But let us back to our work ! with unveiled matters must I deal, if my weary bark is to reach her haven. Anxiously are you expecting me to lead you to the feast ; here too do you await my counsels. Come late, and make a graceful entrance when the lamp has been set : delay will enhance your charm : a great procuress is delay. Though plain, to the tipsy you will seem fair : and night herself will hide your faults. Help yourself with your fingers : manners in eating count for something ; and smear not all your face with a soiled hand. And do not take your meal beforehand at home, but stop short of your appetite ; eat somewhat less than you are able ; if Priam’s son saw Helen eating greedily, he would hate her and say, “ My prize is a foolish woman.” Better suited is drinking, and were more becoming in a woman : not badly goest thou, Bacchus, with Venus’ son. This too note, when the head endures, the mind and feet are also firm ; do not see double where there is but one. A woman lying steeped in wine is an ugly sight ; she deserves to endure any union whatever. Nor is it safe when the table is cleared to fall asleep ; in sleep much happens that is shameful.

What remains I blush to tell; but kindly Dione says, “ What brings a blush is before all else my business.” Let each woman know herself; from your own bodies fix your methods ; one fashion does not suit all alike. Let her who is fair of face recline upon her back ; let those whose backs please them be seen from behind. Milanion bore Atalanta’s legs upon his shoulders ; if they are comely, let them be taken thus. A small woman should ride astride ; because she was tall, his Theban bride never sat Hector like a horse. A woman whose long flanks deserve to be seen should press the coverlets with her knees, her neck bent backward somewhat. If her thighs be youthful and her breasts without blemish, her lover should stand, and she herself lie slantwise on the couch. Nor think it unbecoming to loose your hair, like the Phylleian mother, and bend back your neck amid flowing tresses. And you whose belly Lucina has marked with wrinkles, like the swift Parthian, use a backward-turned steed. There are a thousand modes of love ; a simple one, and least fatiguing, is when the woman lies upon her right side, half-reclined. But neither Phoebus’ tripods nor horned Ammon will tell you more truth than does my Muse : if an art I have learnt by long experience be trustworthy, give credence : my poems will warrant for its truth. Let the woman feel love’s act, unstrung to the very depths of her frame, and let that act delight both alike. Nor let winning sounds and pleasant murmurs cease nor in the midst of the play let naughty words be hushed. You to Whom nature has denied the sensation of love, counterfeit the sweet bliss with lying sounds. Unhappy the woman for whom that place, whereof man and woman ought to have joy alike, is dull and unfeeling. Only, when you pretend, see that you are not caught : win assurance by your movements and even by your eyes. Let your words and panting breath make clear your pleasure ; ah, for shame ! that part of your body has its secret signs. She that after love’s joys will ask a lover for reward will not wish her prayers to have much weight. And let not light into your room by all the windows ; it is better that much of your body should be hidden.

Our sport is ended : it is time to step down from the swans whose necks have drawn my car. As once the youths, so now let the women, my votaries, write upon their spoils, Naso was our master.