Venus and Mars
by Anaëlle Lepin
For you alone can gratify mortals with a quiet peace,
for cruel warlike actions govern Mars
of mighty in arms, who often turns his head in thy lap,
vanquished by love's eternal wound, and so aiming at thee with his turned
reclining neck,
in thee, o god, satiates his eager eyes with love,
and at thy mouth is suspended the supine god's breath.
1st century B.C.
Lucretius, De rerum natura, 31-36
A story is told,
well known throughout the sky,
of Venus and Mars falling victims
of Vulcan's wiles
Ovidio, Ars amatoria, II, vv. 561-600
