Kitap 3
Others thro' affectation lisp; and find
In imperfection charms to catch mankind.
Neglect no means which may promote your end;
370
Now learn what way of walking recommends.
Too masculine a motion shocks the sight;
But female grace allures with strange delight.
One has an artful swing and jut behind,
Which helps her coats to catch the swelling wind;
375
Swell'd with the wanton wind, they loosely flow,
And ev'ry step and graceful motion show.
Another, like an Umbrian's sturdy spouse,
Strides all the space her petticoats allows.
Between extremes, in this, a mean adjust,
380
Nor show too nice a gait, nor too robust.
If snowy white your neck, you still should wear
That, and the shoulder of the left arm bare;
Such sights ne'er fail to fire my am'rous heart,
And make me pant to kiss the naked part.
385
Sirens, tho' monsters of the stormy main,Ovid here advises the ladies to learn to sing, and takes his comparisons from the Sirens. They were three in number, half women and half fish; one made use of her voice, another her lyre. and another her flute. Their haunt was on the coast of Sicily, where they charmed voyagers by their singing, but Ulysses escaped them.
Can ships, when under sail, with songs detain:
