Even fear with passion will some minds inspire
Remove distrust, and passion will retire.
Who fears some rival should his mistress gain,
585
Machaon's skill can scarce relieve his pain.
Since no fond mother for her darling son,
Feels greater pangs, when to the wars he's gone.
Near the Salarian gate a temple's plac'd,
With Erycinian Venus' worship grac'd;
590
'Tis there Lethaean love cures love's desire,
1
Bedews his lamps, and water blends with fire;
There sweet forgetfulness griev'd lovers find,
And, injur'd nymphs, whose husbands prove unkind.
There in a vision, (if a vision 'twere)
595
I heard the Cupid speak, or seem'd to hear.
"0, thou who dost sometimes teach youth to love,
Then rules prescribe their passion to remove:
One powerful precept more let me impart,
Unknown to you a master in the art.
600
Bid him who loves, and would love's yoke reject,
On his own life's misfortunes oft reflect:
For all have crosses, 'tis the common lot.
Let him, who deeply into debt has got,
Think on a gaol, and how he shall sustain
605
Confinement, more severe than Cupid's chain.
Let him who serves a rigid father's will
And sees his filial duty treated ill,
(Whate'er success in other things he find)
Keep still his father's angry looks in mind.
610
Let him who has that double curse of life,
At once a shrew and beggar to his wife,
Instead of gallantry abroad, contrive
Domestic famine from his door to drive,
You that are masters of a gen'rous soil,
615
Look to your vines, employ your careful toil,
Lest sudden frosts the hopeful vintage spoil.
One has a trading vessel homeward bound;
Let him imagine storms, his ship unsound,
Bulg'd, founder'd, wreck'd, and more, some barb'rous coast
620
Enrich'd with the dear cargo he has lost.
Fear for your son, who serves in this campaign,
And for your daughter be in greater pain.
For mortifying cares you need not roam,
By thousands they will throng to you at home.
625
If,
Paris
, Helen's charms you would abhor,
Behold your brothers weltering in their gore."
Thus spake the god, till from my fancy's view
His youthful form, sleep from my eyes withdrew.
What shall I do, my Palinurus gone,
2
630
And left to steer through untried seas alone?
Remedia amoris. P. Ovidius Naso. New York. 1855.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.