Ovid Metamorphoses, 1.496-502
“He burns inside and nourishes his fruitless love with hope. He sees the way her disordered hair hangs at her neck and asks, ‘Ah, what if it were combed?’ He sees her eyes, flashing with fire like stars; he sees her lips, but it is not enough simply to see them. He praises her fingers, her hands, her shoulders, and her half-bare arms; he thinks that whatever lies under her clothes must be better still!”
uritur et sterilem sperando nutrit amorem.
spectat inornatos collo pendere capillos
et ‘quid, si comantur?’ ait. videt igne micantes
sideribus similes oculos, videt oscula, quae non
est vidisse satis; laudat digitosque manusque 500
bracchiaque et nudos media plus parte lacertos;
si qua latent, meliora putat.
