The Art of Love

ما هذا الجمال !
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لم أتوقعه بهذه الروعة! في الواقع لم أتوقع أي شيء.
فأنا بيني وبين الشعر المترجم عداوة تجعلني أحجم عنه منذ تجربتي لـ" شاعر في نيويورك" لـ لوركا
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ولما قرأت عدة صفحات من النبي لجبران بترجمة د.ثروت عكاشة فلم استسيغها،
لكن مع هذه الترجمة ومع أوفيد
وجدتها أكثر من رائعة.
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لم استمتع بقراءة شعر من قبل بمثل هذه الصورة،
يقولون أشعار لورد بايرون ساخرة، - جربت بضعة صفحات منها ولم استسيغها-
لكن مع أوفيد ..رغمًا عني ابتسم لسخريته وتهكمه خلال الكتب الثلاثة.
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بكل الأوجه الكتاب ستستمتع به، فإن وجدت نصائحه قد بلت في هذا العصر، فلا شك وأنك ستجد طريقة سرده للأساطير والحكايات ممتعة مثل أسطورة إيكاروس، وحكاية هيلينا ومينيلاوس وطرودة أو إيخيل

Piacevole da leggere e sorprendente sotto vari aspetti, “L’arte d’amare” di Publio Ovidio Nasone è un’opera poetica che si distingue subito per contenuto ed eleganza stilistica, considerando la metrica utilizzata (intreccio di esametri e pentametri) e i copiosi e sempre affascinanti richiami al mito.
È un poema che invita all’amore libero, c’è poco da girarci intorno. Un vademecum per libertini, di libero stato civile o già uniti in matrimonio che siano, uomini anzitutto ma anche donne dal momento che l’ultima parte dell’opera si rivolge direttamente ed inequivocabilmente alle “tenere fanciulle”.
Come tutte le arti, anche quella di amare va appresa, studiata e applicata; Ovidio stesso si erge al ruolo di “magister” con la benedizione - dice lui - delle divinità a cui, pur essendo tali, non sono certo ignoti i piaceri dell’eros.
Gli oltre duemila versi del poema sono suddivisi in tre libri; eccone i contenuti:

-tLibro primo: destinato agli uomini, esso illustra dove e come rimorchiare. “…non c’è donna al mondo che non possa divenire la tua: e tu l’avrai, purché tu sappia tendere i tuoi lacci”. Siccome la manna non scende dal cielo, ci si deve pur dare una mossa e fare qualche fatica per andare a cercarla, specie nei posti giusti: quelli pubblici principalmente, come portici, templi, teatri e dove si svolgono le corse dei cavalli, senza trascurare mense e banchetti presumibilmente presso case private. Una volta individuata la donna, attirarla con la giusta parlantina che però non l’annoi, con lusinghe, con la pazienza e, naturalmente, con promesse, promesse, promesse… “Prometti molto: le promesse attraggono a sé le donne”. E non ci si scordi di spergiurare, invocando come testimoni i sommi dei ché pure Giove, adultero incallito, è solito giurare il falso alla divina consorte. Non tralasciare poi di piacere al marito della donna in questione né d’ingraziarsi la sua ancella (e valutare bene se valga la pena di togliersi qualche voglia pure con quest’ultima, ma, nel caso, sempre dopo aver concluso prima con la padrona). Se si vuole fare colpo, meglio curare igiene e aspetto personali, senza però rischiare di apparire troppo effeminati come coloro che, tra gli uomini, si arricciano col ferro i capelli o si depilano le gambe. Ultimo sincero consiglio: in amore guardarsi da amici e parentame vario poiché, a quanto pare, in molti si candidano a soppiantare chi troppo loda la propria amante.
-tLibro secondo: destinato anch’esso a un pubblico maschile di lettori come il precedente, erudisce nell’ardua impresa di conservare a lungo la conquista, giacché “il mantenerla è frutto d’arte fina”. Non perder tempo con magie e filtri d’amore, ma “sii amabile, se vuoi essere amato”. Aggiungere “doti d’ingegno” alla bellezza che da sola poco può fare, vista la sua caducità. Evitare i litigi, abbondando in dolcezza (soprattutto chi non può fare doni materiali); magari comporre per lei “teneri versi”, ché, a quanto pare, con la cultura qualcosa si rimedia sempre. Non risparmiarsi nemmeno in lodi e adulazioni, così come non domandare mai l’età ed evitare lo scandalo. Ma, in particolare, “fai solo e sempre tutto ciò che vuole” e sopportare tutto, ingiurie, percosse… persino le temute corna!
- Libro terzo: forse un tentativo da parte dell’autore di accattivarsi anche le simpatie del pubblico femminile, dal momento che questa parte che chiude la sua “Ars amatoria” è a uso e consumo delle donne. Non fosse mai che queste, nella nobile arte, non potessero vantare un maestro pari a quello degli uomini. “Godetevi la vita” e “cogliete il fiore”, le esorta Ovidio ché non è mistero quant’è bella giovinezza. Tutto sommato, i consigli non sono dissimili da quelli dispensati ai colleghi maschi: curare la pulizia e l’aspetto personali, trucco e parrucco; ma - attenzione! - mantenere segreta l’arte con la quale ci si rende belle, fatta com’è di pratiche e intrugli mica tanto belli a vedersi. Per accalappiare un uomo è buona norma imparare a cantare, suonare la cetra, danzare e - perché no? - conoscere i poeti greci e latini: su come la cultura possa rivelarsi utile in certe circostanze già si è disquisito. Mostrarsi socievoli, al bando l’ira e la superbia, così pure la gelosia. Ogni tanto tenere la porta chiusa all’amante e imparare alla svelta a eludere la sorveglianza del marito, tanti trucchetti esistono apposta. Infine, all’occorrenza, fingere di raggiungere il piacere nell’amplesso.

Qualsiasi commento sembra superfluo. Del resto, si sa, la saggezza degli antichi è indiscutibile!

I'm a great collector of Folio Society books. The choices in books are excellent and the quality of the books themselves is unsurpassed. They are normally bound in full cloth and I'm always so impressed with the vibrant colours of the illustrations as can be seen in this particular book.

I came across this book purely by chance yesterday as I was dusting and noted that I purchased it in 1994. I vividly recall how impressed I was at the time both with the poetry and the illustrations.

Looking at it now, I wonder if I'm turning into a prude because although some of these illustrations are erotic and exquisite, others are well rather pornographic. I keep on returning to them in fact. The poetry itself is wonderful but nevertheless rather sexually explicit in parts.

Still, it's a super book to have and the introduction in itself gives a good account of Ovid's life.

Artful and audacious at all times, the Roman poet Ovid claims that he can help any young man or woman find and keep the beloved person he or she longs for; and in the extended poem that the Romans call Ars Amatoria, and that residents of the contemporary Anglosphere refer to as The Art of Love, Ovid sets forth his strategies and tactics for amatory success.

In a manner that might remind some readers of the “self-help” books of the present day, Ovid, writing all the way back around the year 2 A.D., seeks to guide the reader through all of the steps of meeting, wooing, winning, and keeping that special someone. When it comes to starting a conversation, and keeping it going, Ovid’s advice is as follows:

Now is the time for conversation. Be off, rustic modesty! Fortune and Venus favour daring. Do not count on me to teach you the laws of eloquence. Only make a beginning, and the eloquence will follow without your looking for it. You must play the role of a lover. Let what you say express the ache which burns within you, and neglect no means of persuading your mistress. (p. 33)

Some of Ovid’s advice is fairly timeless; at other times, one must apply a bit of historical context. Characteristic in that regard is this passage, in which Ovid tells a young man how to let his beloved know that she is always uppermost in his thoughts:

Take care to hold her sunshade over her, and make a way for her if she finds herself caught up in the crowd. Hasten to place a footstool to help her get into bed. Take off or put on her sandals on her delicate feet. Often, too, though you may be shivering yourself, warm the ice-cold hands of your mistress in your breast. Do not hesitate, though you may feel a little ashamed, to use your hand, the hand of a free man, to hold her mirror. (p. 53)

Note that Ovid is trying to anticipate and refute the likely protest of a proud Roman freeman – something to the effect that holding a mirror for a lady is “slave work.” But Ovid wants his reader to move beyond such thinking. After all, what is more democratizing, more liberating, than the universality of love – of falling in love, of loving and being loved?

By the way, Ovid has some other sage advice for a young man wishing to preserve his relationship with the woman he loves: (1) agree with her regarding what she praises or criticizes; and (2) if you’re playing dice or chess, be sure to let her win.

Ovid also has some (ahem!) bedroom advice for young men, regarding ways to make sure that the connubial aspect of the relationship is most perfectly happy for both partners. It is stated more poetically and elegantly than what one might find in the pages of Playboy or Men’s Health, but is unmistakable in its import. It is near the end of Book II, if you want to look it up for yourself. I will say no more.

Ovid sums up his advice to young men by writing that “May every lover who has triumphed over a fierce Amazon with the sword he has received from me inscribe on his trophies: Ovid was my master” (p. 79). But Ovid is interested in offering advice to young women as well as young men, pointing out that “here, also, is the fair sex demanding lessons from me. So, it is for you, young Beauties, that I reserve what follows” (p. 79).

Ovid is just as specific in his advice to young women as he is when advising young men, writing to young women that

My dears, you will do well to mingle with crowds; often go out with no destination in view. The she-wolf watches many ewes in order to seize one of them; the eagle pursues more than one bird through the air. Thus a Beauty ought to be seen by the people; among them perhaps there will be one whom her charms will captivate. Everywhere let her show herself eager to please, and let her pay great attention to all that can enhance her attractions. Everywhere chance offers luck. Let the hook be always held out; the fish will come to take it when you least expect it. (p. 102)

“Young maidens,” Ovid writes, “be kinder to those who appear to be in love with you; this love, at first put on, will become sincere” (p. 33). But, Ovid warns the ladies, “avoid those men who show off their dress and their beauty, and who are afraid to disarrange their hair. What they will say to you they will already have repeated a thousand times to others. Theirs is an errant love which will settle nowhere….Perhaps this seems unbelievable to you, but you must believe it. Troy would still be standing where she was if she had listened to the advice of old Priam” (pp. 102-03). His advice seems as sound and sensible in 2020 A.D. as it was in 2 A.D.

I wish I could tell you that Ovid was able to pass the remainder of his days in Rome, writing of love and hopefully being in love; but alas, such was not to be. Six years after publishing The Art of Love, in 8 A.D. – the same year in which Ovid published his magnum opus, the cycle of Greek and Roman mythological stories known as The Metamorphoses - he was exiled from Rome by personal order of the emperor Augustus Caesar, and sent to the city of Tomis, on the shores of the Black Sea in Dacia. Today, Tomis is the seaside city of Constanța in Romania, where a statue of Ovid shows the pride that the Romanian people have in knowing that the great poet was once a fellow-countryman of theirs.

Why did the Emperor treat Ovid as he did? There is speculation that Augustus may have suspected Ovid of involvement in a coup attempt against the Emperor. Beyond such possibilities, however, there is the certainty that Ovid’s world-view and that of Augustus Caesar were fundamentally different. Ovid was worldly, pleasure-loving, tolerant of human frailty; Augustus was stern, cold, duty-bound. Ovid focused on the individual; Augustus, on the state. Ovid wanted people to seek out love as a key to happiness; Augustus wanted strict, stable couples to dutifully bring forth and raise future generations of valiant Roman soldiers and stern Roman matrons who could help further the imperial project of Roman hegemony. In a way, perhaps it’s a surprise that Augustus didn’t exile Ovid sooner than he did.

Whatever the reasons for his exile – and Ovid himself said the reason was carmen et error, “a poem and a mistake” – Ovid passed the last decade of his life in unhappy exile on what he would have regarded as a “barbarian” frontier, far from the Rome that he loved, with its high culture, its elegant society, its gossip, its love affairs. Truly, Augustus knew how to choose a punishment that would be most painful to its recipient.

But Augustus’ empire, so precious to him, crumbled into dust in 476 A.D. Meanwhile, Ovid’s The Art of Love still delights with its naughty, flirtatious playfulness. And somewhere in the world, as I write these words, some young person who is desperately in love is even now taking up a copy of The Art of Love, saying to him- or herself, “I’ve heard that this person Ovid has some good ideas that can help me…”

ciary żenady

There is no need for anyone to write about the art of seduction, or to travel the world as a 'pick up artist' - Ovid revealed all about two thousand years ago, at times with explicit detail. Some sound advice using Roman mythology to illustrate his points, and while some advice seems well and truly inappropriate, in other parts he seems very progressive, and he advocates a good sex life for both men and women.

Kobiete swojego zycia nalezy poznac w teatrze, nastepnie zaprosic ja na wyscigi rydwanow i strzepnac pył z jej sukienki (nawet jak pyłu nie ma)

Sexist as hell, even encouraging rape.