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Arma gravi numero violentaque bella parabam

Edere, materia conveniente modis.

Par erat inferior versus: risisse Cupido

Dicitur atque unum surripuisse pedem.

'Quis tibi, saeve puer, dedit hoc in carmina iuris?

Pieridum vates, non tua turba sumus.

Quid, si praeripiat flavae Venus arma Minervae,

Ventilet accensas flava Minerva faces?

Quis probet in silvis Cererem regnare iugosis,

Lege pharetratae virginis arva coli?

Crinibus insignem quis acuta cuspide Phoebum

Instruat, Aoniam Marte movente lyram?

Sunt tibi magna, puer, nimiumque potentia regna;

Cur opus adfectas, ambitiose, novum?

An, quod ubique, tuum est? tua sunt Heliconia tempe?

Vix etiam Phoebo iam lyra tuta sua est?

Cum bene surrexit versu nova pagina primo,

Attenuat nervos proximus ille meos;

Nec mihi materia est numeris levioribus apta,

Aut puer aut longas compta puella comas.'

Questus eram, pharetra cum protinus ille soluta

Legit in exitium spicula facta meum,

Lunavitque genu sinuosum fortiter arcum,

'Quod' que 'canas, vates, accipe' dixit 'opus!'

Me miserum! certas habuit puer ille sagittas.

Uror, et in vacuo pectore regnat Amor.

Sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat:

Ferrea cum vestris bella valete modis!

Cingere litorea flaventia tempora myrto,

Musa, per undenos emodulanda pedes!

Amores. P. Ovidius Naso. Leipzig. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

Current edition Perseus

Amores (Ovid. P. Ovidius Naso, Volume 1: Amores, Epistulae, Medicamina faciei femineae, Ars amatoria, Remedia amoris. Ehwald, Rudolf; Merkel, Rudolph; editors. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1907.)

Translations (1)

Amores Perseus (Ovid. Ovid's Art of Love (in three Books), the Remedy of Love, the Art of Beauty, the Court of Love, the History of Love, and Amours. Dryden, John, et al., translator. New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1855.) — 1.1 focus

Elegy I: By Dryden

For mighty wars I thought to tune my lute,

And make my measures to my subject suit.

Six feet for ev'ry verse the muse design'd,

But Cupid laughing, when he saw my mind,

From ev'ry second verse a foot purloin'd.

"Who gave thee, boy, this arbitrary sway,

On subjects, not thy own, commands to lay,

Who Phoebus only, and his laws obey ?

'Tis more absurd, than if the queen of love

Should in Minerva's arms to battle move;

Or manly Pallas from that queen should take

Her torch, and o'er the dying lover shake.

In fields as well may Cynthia sow the corn,

Or Ceres wind in woods the bugle-horn;

As well may Phoebus quit the trembling string,

For sword and shield; and Mars may learn to sing.

Already thy dominions are too large;

Be not ambitious of a foreign charge.

If thou wilt reign o'er all, and ev'ry where,

The god of music for his harp may fear.

Thus when with soaring wings I seek renown,

Thou pluck'st my pinions, and I flutter down.

Could I on such mean thoughts my muse employ,

I want a mistress, or a blooming boy."

Thus I complain'd; his bow the stripling bent,

And chose an arrow fit for his intent.

The shaft his purpose fatally pursues;

" Now, poet, there's a subject for thy muse,"

He said: (too well, alas, he knows his trade,)

For in my breast a mortal wound he made.

Far hence ye proud Hexameters remove,

My verse is pac'd, and tramell'd into love.

With myrtle wreaths my thoughtful brows enclose,

While in unequal verse I sing my woes.

P. Ovidius Naso Amores 1.1

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Elegy I: By Dryden

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