Remedia Amoris; or, The Remedy of Love

May the Deities grant that you may be able to pass the threshold of the mistress that you have forsaken; and that your feet may aid your determination. And you will be able; do you only wish to adhere to your purpose. Now it is necessary to go with boldness, now to put spur to the swift steed. Believe that in that cave are the Lotophagi, 1283 in that the Syrens; add sail to your oars. The man, too, who being your rival, you formerly took it amiss; I would have you cease to hold him in the place of an enemy. But, at least, though the hatred should still exist, salute him. When now you shall be able to embrace him, you will be cured.

That I may perform all the duties of a physician, behold! I will tell you what food to avoid, or what to adopt. The Bauman 1284 onions, or those sent you from the Libyan shores, or whether those that come from Megara, 1285 will all prove injurious. And 'tis no less proper to avoid the lustful rocket, and whatever else provokes our bodies to lust. To more advantage may you use rue that sharpens the sight, 1286 and whatever guards our bodies against lust. Do you enquire what I would advise you about the gifts of Bacchus? You will be satisfied thereon by my precepts sooner than you expect. Wine incites the feelings to lust, unless you take it in great quantities, and, drenched with much liquor, your senses become stupefied. By wind is fire kindled, by wind is it extinguished. A gentle breeze nourishes flame, a stronger one puts it out. Either let there be no drunkenness, or to so great an extent as to remove your anxieties; if there is any medium between the two, it is injurious.

This work have I completed; present the garlands to my wearied bark. I have reached the harbour, whither my course was directed. Both females and males, healed by my lays, to the Poet ere long will you be fulfilling your duteous vows.

FOOTNOTES

1201 (return)

[ Wounded by whom.—Ver. 5. He alludes to the wound received by Venus from Diomedes, the son of Tydeus.]

1202 (return)

[ Tying up his neck.—Ver. 17. He probably alludes to the unfortunate end of the passion of Iphis for Anaxarete, which is related at the close of the Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses.]

1203 (return)

[ A remedy.—Ver. 47. Telephus, the son of Hercules and Autre, having been wounded by the spear of Achilles, was cured by the application of the rust of the same weapon.]

1204 (return)

[ Nine times she went.—Ver. 56. See the Epistle of Phyll is to Demophoa.]

1205 (return)

[ Become a bird.—Ver. 62. See the Metamorphoses, Book vi.]

1206 (return)

[ Assertor.—Ver. 73. This word was properly applied to one who laid his hands on a slave, and asserted his freedom. By the Laws of the 'Twelve Tables,' he was required to give security for his appearance in an action by the master of the slave, to the amount of fifty 'asses,' and no more.]

1207 (return)

[ Liberating wand.—Ver. 74. See the Last Book, 1. 615 and the Note.]

1208 (return)

[ Son of Poeas.—Ver. 111. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. L 45, and the Note.]

1209 (return)

[ Plane-tree.—Ver. 141. The shade of this tree was much valued as a place of resort for convivial parties. Wine was sometimes poured upon its roots.]

1210 (return)

[ To defend.—Ver. 151. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 22, and the Note.]

1211 (return)

[ Into the ranks.—Ver. 152. He recommends the idle man to become a candidate for public honours: on which occasion, the party canvassing wore a white 'toga,' whence he was called 'candidatus,' literally, 'one clothed in white.']

1212 (return)

[ Flying Parthian.—Ver. 155. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 177, and the Note.]

1213 (return)

[ Ætolian.—Ver. 159. Ætolia was the native country of Diomedes.]

1214 (return)

[ Waging it.—Ver. 165. He might have gone to Troy, and taken part in that war; unless, indeed, as Ovid hints in another passage, his intrigue did not commence with Clyteinnestra till after Troy had fallen, and Cassandra had become the captive of Agememnon.]

1215 (return)

[ Fly from the yew trees.—Ver. 185. 'Fumos,' 'smoke,' is a better reading here than 'taxos,' 'yews,' inasmuch as the swarm of bees would be driven away by smoke, but not by the yew, which was not noxious to the swarm, though it was thought to make the honey of a poisonous nature, or bitter, according to Pliny. See the Amores, B. i. El. xii. 1. 10, and the Note.]

1216 (return)

[ Bending osiers.—Ver. 186. The beehives, if stationary, were made of brick, or baked cow dung; if moveable, they were made from a hollow block of wood, cork, bark, earthenware, and, as in the present instance, wicker-work, or osier. Those of cork were deemed the best, and those of earthenware the worst, as being most susceptible to the variations of the temperature.]

1217 (return)

[ The grafting.—Ver. 195. The process of engrafting was performed in the spring. * Feather-foils.—Ver. 203. See the Fasti, B. v. L 173, and the Note.]

1218 (return)

[ Nor let the Sabbaths.'—Ver. 219. It is supposed that the Romans in some measure imitated the Jews in the observance of their Sabbath, by setting apart every seventh day for the worship of particular Deities. See the Art of Love, Book i. lines 76 and 416, and the Notes.]

1219 (return)

[ Allia.—Ver. 220. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 413; and the Ibis, 1. 221, and the Notes.]

1220 (return)

[ Still is.—Ver. 224. By the use of the word 'adhuc,' 'still,' or 'up to this time,' he intends to pay a compliment to Augustus, by implying that they will not long remain unconquered.]

1221 (return)

[ Paternal home.—Ver. 239. Literally, 'paternal Lar.' On the Lares, see the Fasti, Book i. 1. 136; and Book v. 1. 140, and the Notes.]

1222 (return)

[ To come forth.—Ver. 250. See the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 17, 18, and the Note. This achievement is similar to that performed by the witch of Endor, if, indeed, she did not impose on the unhappy Saul, and tell him that the spirit of Samuel appeared, when that really was not the case.]

1223 (return)

[ Tiberinus.—Ver. 257. See the Fasti, Book ii. L 389, and the Note. Also Book iv. 1. 47; the Ibis, 1. 516; and the Metamorphoses, Book xiv. 1. 614.]

1224 (return)

[ Virgin sulphur.—Ver. 260. See the Art of Love, Book ii. 1. 329, and the Note.]

1225 (return)

[ Neritos.—Ver; 264. This island formed part of the realms of Ulysses.]

1226 (return)

[ Dulichian chief.—Ver. 272. Dulichian was one of the Echinades, a group of islands on the western side of the Peloponnesus, and was subject to Ulysses. See the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 590, and the Note.]

1227 (return)

[ Put up for sale.—Ver. 302. Through her extravagance.]

1228 (return)

[ Some hawker.—Ver. 306. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 421, and the Note. Being mostly liberated slaves, the 'institores' were looked upon with great contempt by the Romans.]

1229 (return)

[ Podaurius.—Ver. 313. See the Art of Love, Book ii. 1. 735, and the Note.]

1230 (return)

[ Confounding one for the other.—Ver. 323. 'Errore sub illo.' Literally, 'under that mistake.']

1231 (return)

[ Move her hands.—Ver. 334 He alludes to the gestures used in dancing.]

1232 (return)

[ Stomacher.—Ver. 338. See the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 374, and the Note.]

1233 (return)

[ This Ægis—Ver. 346. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 848, and the Note; also the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 798.]

1234 (return)

[ Of the fleece.—Ver. 354. See the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 213, and the Note. Surely Swift must have borrowed his notion of describing Chloe's dressing-room from these passages. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 339, and the Note.]

1235 (return)

[ Smell like thy tables.—Ver. 355. He alludes to the defilement of the tables of Phineus by the filthy Harpies.]

1236 (return)

[ From him, Zoilus.—Ver. 366. It was unknown of what parentage and country Zoilus was. He compiled a work in dispraise of Homer, and was called by the ancients, 'Horaeromastix,' 'the scourge of Homer.' Zoilus was ultimately accused of parricide, and crucified.]

1237 (return)

[ Mangled thy poems.—Ver. 367. He alludes to Virgil, who, he says, had his censurers as well. Carvilius Picto wrote a satire against the Æneid, called Æneidomastix.]

1238 (return)

[ Proper numbers.—Ver. 372. He adroitly avows the essence of the charge, by defending the Elegiac measure, in which he had written, and which could not be the object of any censures. He does not say a word in defence of the subject matter, which had incurred these remarks.]

1239 (return)

[ The sock of Comedy.—Ver. 376. The 'soccus' was a low shoe, which did not fit closely, and had no tie. These shoes were worn among the Greeks by both men and women. The 'soccus' was worn by comic actors, and was in this respect opposed to the 'cothurnus,' or 'buskin,' of Tragedy.]

1240 (return)

[ Drag on its foot.—Ver. 378. He alludes first to a genuine lambic line, ending with an Iambus, and then to a Scazonic line, so called from the Greek word, 'limping,' which was a kind of bastard Iambic line, having a Trochee (or foot of a long and a short syllable) in the last place, instead of an Iambus. Scazonic lines were much used in satirical composition.]

1241 (return)

[ Cydippe—Ver. 382. Callimachus wrote a poem on the loves of Acontius and Cydippe. See Epistles xx and xxi.]

1242 (return)

[ Andromache.—Ver. 383. She was a heroine of Tragedy, while Thais, the courtesan, figured in the Eunuchus, a Comedy of Terence.]

1243 (return)

[ Noble Epic.—Ver. 396. 'Epos'seems preferable here to 'opus,' the common reading. * Disgust.—Ver. 432. This passage and that in 1. 437, are necessarily somewhat modified.]

1244 (return)

[ Procris. J—Ver. 453. See the Translation of the Metamorphoses, p 262.]

1245 (return)

[ Wife from Ida.'—Ver. 454. He refers to Clytemnestra being supplanted by Cassandra.]

1246 (return)

[ The brother of.—Ver. 455 Alcmæon was married to Alphesibea, the daughter of Phegeus, and deserted her for Calirrhoë, the daughter of the river Achelous.]

1247 (return)

[ Odrysian.—Ver. 459. He here alludes to the story of Tereus and Progne.]

1248 (return)

[ Than she who.—Ver. 464. 'Quæ' seems to be a preferable reading to 'cui though in either case the sense is the same. Ovid had probably the instance of Niobe in his mind, when he wrote this passage. See the Metamorphoses, B. vi. 1. 297.]

1249 (return)

[ Had ordered.—Ver. 473. See the Introduction to the Epistle of Briseis to Achilles.]

1250 (return)

[ If the first syllable.—Ver. 476. Ovid, with his propensity for playing upon words, remarks upon the similarity of the names, Chryseis and Seis; the one being the daughter of Chryses, and the other of Briser.]

1251 (return)

[ Appear asleep.—Ver. 499. See the Amores, B. ii. El. v. 1. 13.]

1252 (return)

[ And let not this.—Ver. 513. The reading of this line and the next is probably corrupt. Burmann suggests that 'propositus' should lie substituted for 'propositis,' and that the stop should be removed from the end of 'amàndi,' and a semicolon placed after 'propositus.' In that case, the meaning would be, 'You must, however, act the deceiver to yourself, and must not make any determination to cease altogether from loving her; lest, as the horse struggles against the rein, your affection should rebel against such a determination.']

1253 (return)

[ Collinian.—Ver. 549. See the Fasti, B. iv. 1. 8'2, and the Note.]

1254 (return)

[ The Puteal.—Ver. 561. 'Puteal' properly means the enclosure which surrounds the opening of a well, to prevent persons from falling into it. The 'Puteal' here referred to was that called 'Puteal Scribonianum,' or 'Libonis,' and was situate in the Forum, near the Fabian arch. Scribonius Libo erected in its neighbourhood a tribunal for the Prætor, in consequence of which the place was frequented by persons engaged in litigation, especially by debtors and creditors; to which circumstance reference is here made.]

1255 (return)

[ And Janus.—Ver. 561. He probably refers to the fact of the temple of Janus being near the Puteal, and the tribunal of the Praetor. The Calends, or first of January, was the time when money lent became due, and on the same day was the Festival of Janus. See the Fasti, B. i. 1. 89.]