What more I have to say will lie compris'd
In little room, but must not be despis'd.
Those short receipts have cures on many done,
800
And of that number, I myself am one.
The letters sent you when your nymph was kind,
Revise not, for they'll shake your constant mind:
But say, when you commit them to the fire,
"Be this the fun'ral pile of my desire;
805
Perish, my love, in this just flame expire."
Althaea burnt the fatal brand, and knew,
The brand consuming, her own son she slew.
1
Can you whose kindness had a worse return
Repine, a few deceitful words to burn!
810
No: make a total sacrifice, nor spare
The very seal that does her image bear.
From all such places too you must remove,
As ever have been conscious to your love.
You'll say, (and grieve to think those joys are fled)
815
This was th' apartment, this the happy bed!
The dear remembrance will renew desire,
And to fresh blaze blow up the sleeping fire.
The Greeks could wish t' have shun'd th' Eubaean coast,
2
And vengeful fire by which their fleet was lost.
820
Wise sailors tack, when Scylla's rock they spy;
3
So you should from your mistress' dwelling fly,
There stands the rock, on which you split before,
Imagine there you hear Charybdis roar.
4
But chance itself sometimes may stand your friend,
825
And give your griefs an unexpected end.
Had Phaedra's wealth to poverty declin'd.
She never for Hippolitus had pin'd.
Or were Medea born a rural maid,
No faithless Jason had implor'd her aid.
830
But love in pamper'd palaces is bred,
By pleasure and luxurious riches fed.
Not Hecale or Irus could arrive
5
At Hymen's joys, though long they did survive,
For both were poor: and Cupid still shoots high,
835
His shafts above the humble cottage fly.
Yet so severe a cure I can't approve,
Or bid you starve yourself, to starve your love.
Remedia amoris. P. Ovidius Naso. New York. 1855.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.