Yet he dared, with wings, to cleave himself a way. Minos had left no stone unturned to prevent the escape of his stranger-guest. Airy is he, possessed of wings to fly withal. I am going to tell how Love, that fickle child, may captured be Love that is wandering up and down in this wide world of ours. And thee too, Erato, I invoke, for ’tis, from love thou dost derive thy name. Queen of Cythera, and thou her son, if ever ye looked with kindly eye upon me, ’tis, above all, to-day that of your succour I have need. The former is sometimes the work of chance, the latter is always the work of skill. conquests, it is still more glorious to retain them. It sufficieth not that my verses have brought thy mistress to thine arms my art hath taught thee how to win her it must also teach thee how to keep her. Young man, why wilt thou haste so fast? Thy vessel sails the open sea, and the harbour to which I am steering thee is still far off. Thus did Priam's son, crowding on all sail in his flight from warlike Amyclæ, bear with him his ravished bride and thus, too, Hippodamia, did Pelops, in his victorious chariot, carry thee far from thy native land. Let the joyous lover set the laurel crown upon my brow and raise me to a loftier pinnacle than Hesiod of Ascra or the blind old bard of Mæonia. SING, and sing again Io Pæan! The quarry that I was hot upon hath fallen into my toils. Sacred Texts Classics Ovid Index Previous Next The Love Books of Ovid: The Art of Love: Book II
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