Erotic Conundrums from Sulpicia to Sappho

This book presents English versions of Latin and Greek poems by Lucretius, Sulpicia, Ovid, Horace, Vergil and Sappho. The pieces of this collection move generally backward through time, from levitas and Romanticism steadily into deeper gravitas and Classicism. Roman and Greek poets frequently expressed the idea of the brevity of life and the logic of enjoying it while it could be enjoyed. Many were receptive to the Epicurean principle that the goal of life is voluptas, pleasure, personified as Venus, Goddess of Love: Pleasure of Gods and Mortals; smiling, happy, erotic, arousing Venus, who infuses the hearts of all creatures with a lust to procreate. Precisely because this desire is irresistible, Venus was called the cruelest of gods, for life often raises barriers to love's fulfillment. Erotic Conundrums offers views of Eros from antiquity with depictions of the poets' understanding of love, lust, and the desires of the human heart.