The poem "A Thousand Martys" was written by Aphra Behn. Some of the themes presented are love, desire and betrayal from the point of view of a promiscuous and libertine character. It has three stanzas and each one of them is used in the following way:
The first stanza is used by the speaker to state how a "thousand martyrs" were made from a "thousand beauties," for desire purposes only.
On the second one, the reader is shown how the speaker deceived the thousand lovers by making them believe he/she was in pain. The feelings shown were always false, as only "Love's pleasures" mattered.
The third and final stanza is more introspective, and while the speaker "despises the fools that whine for love," he also implies that he has no joy and roves (wanders without direction).