Ovid appropriates the kiss most effectively in his passages descriptive of the endearments, the fascinations, the yearnings, and the transports of love. Briseis in her letter to Achilles, begging him to return to the Grecian camp, is made to say:
“Oh that the Greeks would send me hence to try
If I could make your stubborn heart comply!
Few words I’d use; all should be sighs, and tears,
And looks, and kisses, mixed with hopes and fears;
My love like lightning through my eyes should fly,
And thaw the ice which round your heart does lie;
Sometimes my arms about your neck I’d throw;
And then embrace your knees and humbly bow.