The Complete Book of Love: The Art of Love, Love Remedies, Beauty, and Love Songs (Latest Full Translation with Illustrations)

Author: Ovid (Ancient Rome), translated by Cao Yuanyong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: "The Art of Love" is a work where Ovid feigns to receive a commission from the god of love and his mother, delivering teachings on the art and techniques of love to both men and women. The first book addresses men, instructing them on where to find the women they desire and how to approach and charm them; the second book guides men on how to maintain a love relationship with the women they love; the third book serves as a women's guide, teaching them how to please men and how to keep love lasting. "The Love Remedies" offers prescriptions for those who have suffered setbacks in love: hunting, farming, abstaining from alcohol, traveling, and avoiding reading love letters, allowing the heartbroken to alleviate their inner frustrations and sorrows. "Beauty" explores the art of female adornment, though unfortunately unfinished. "Lovesongs" celebrates the poet's love for a woman named Corinna, serving as a practical application of Ovid's art of love. The poet envisions various scenarios, vividly expressing his emotional shifts: joy or anger, exultation or dejection, pleading or longing, regret or self-blame, jealousy or vanity, flirting or devotion. In the poet's view, love is both a sacred emotion and a beautiful art, a dizzying game of the soul. Together, the four works constitute Ovid's "Complete Art of Love," which, alongside India's "Kama Sutra," China's "The Secrets of the Jade Girl" and "The Method of Harmonizing Yin and Yang," is hailed as a timeless classic of world cultural heritage.