Tibullus: TIBVLLI ALIORVMQUE CARMINVM LIBRI TRES

Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro
     Et teneat culti iugera multa soli,
Quem labor adsiduus vicino terreat hoste,
     Martia cui somnos classica pulsa fugent:
Me mea paupertas vita traducat inerti,               5
     Dum meus adsiduo luceat igne focus.
Ipse seram teneras maturo tempore vites
     Rusticus et facili grandia poma manu;
Nec spes destituat, sed frugum semper acervos
     Praebeat et pleno pinguia musta lacu.               10
Nam veneror, seu stipes habet desertus in agris
     Seu vetus in trivio florida serta lapis,
Et quodcumque mihi pomum novus educat annus,
     Libatum agricolae ponitur ante deo.
Flava Ceres, tibi sit nostro de rure corona               15

Let another amass riches in glistening gold
     And hold many acres of cultivated soil,
him whom ceaseless toil may frighten with a neighboring foe,
     Whose slumbers warlike trumpets drive away:
May my poverty conduct me to a life of idle ease,               5
     So long as my hearth shines with a continual flame.
I myself will plant tender vines at the fitting season,
     A simple husbandman and gather great fruits with an easy hand;
Nor let hope abandon me, but ever heaped mounds of grain
     And rich musts offer sweetness in a full vat.               10
For I revere, whether a lone stump stands in the fields
     Or an ancient stone in the crossroads bears flowery garlands,
And whatever fruit the new year brings forth to me,
     Is set as a libation before the farmer’s god.
Golden Ceres, let a crown from our country be for you               15

     Spicea, quae templi pendeat ante fores,
Pomosisque ruber custos ponatur in hortis,
     Terreat ut saeva falce Priapus aves.
Vos quoque, felicis quondam, nunc pauperis agri
     Custodes, fertis munera vestra, Lares.               20
Tunc vitula innumeros lustrabat caesa iuvencos,
     Nunc agna exigui est hostia parva soli.
Agna cadet vobis, quam circum rustica pubes
     Clamet 'io messes et bona vina date'.
Iam modo iam possim contentus vivere parvo               25
     Nec semper longae deditus esse viae,
Sed Canis aestivos ortus vitare sub umbra
     Arboris ad rivos praetereuntis aquae.

     Spicea, which hangs before the temple doors,
And let a red guardian of the fruit-gardens be set in the orchards,
     That Priapus with his savage sickle may frighten the birds.
You also, once of a happy field, now guardians of a poor land
     You bear your offerings, Lares.               20
Then a calf, slaughtered, used to purify countless bullocks,
     Now a lamb is a small victim of a scanty soil.
A lamb will fall to you, round which the rustic youth
     Shout 'Io, give harvests and good wines.'
If only now at last I could live content with little               25
     And not be ever given to a long road,
But to avoid the Dog-star's summer risings under the shade
     Of a tree by the streams of passing water.

Nec tamen interdum pudeat tenuisse bidentem
Aut stimulo tardos increpuisse boves, 30

Nor yet should it at times be a shame to have held the two-pronged fork
Or with the goad to have chided slow oxen, 30

Non agnamve sinu pigeat fetumve capellae
     Desertum oblita matre referre domum.
At vos exiguo pecori, furesque lupique,
     Parcite: de magno est praeda petenda grege.
Hic ego pastoremque meum lustrare quotannis               35
     Et placidam soleo spargere lacte Palem.

Let it not displease to bring back a lamb into the bosom or the kid’s offspring, deserted, forgetting its mother, back home.
     But you, thieves and wolves, spare the small flock: seek booty from a great herd.
Hic ego pastoremque meum lustrare quotannis               35
     And I am wont to sprinkle gentle Palēs with milk.

Adsitis, divi, neu vos e paupere mensa
     Dona nec e puris spernite fictilibus.
Fictilia antiquus primum sibi fecit agrestis
     Pocula, de facili conposuitque luto.               40
Non ego divitias patrum fructusque requiro,
     Quos tulit antiquo condita messis avo:
Parva seges satis est, satis requiescere lecto
     Si licet et solito membra levare toro.
Quam iuvat inmites ventos audire cubantem               45

Adsitis, divi, neu vos e paupere mensa
     Be present, O gods, and do not scorn gifts from a poor table
     Nor the earthenware made from plain clay.
Fictilia antiquus primum sibi fecit agrestis
     The rustic forefather first made for himself earthen vessels,
     Cups, and fashioned them from pliant clay.               40
Non ego divitias patrum fructusque requiro,
     I do not seek the riches of my fathers nor the fruits
     Which the stored harvest bore to some ancient grandfather:
Parva seges satis est, satis requiescere lecto
     A small crop is enough, enough to rest upon a bed
     If it be allowed to raise my limbs on my accustomed couch.
Quam iuvat inmites ventos audire cubantem               45

     Et dominam tenero continuisse sinu
Aut, gelidas hibernus aquas cum fuderit Auster,
     Securum somnos igne iuvante sequi.
Hoc mihi contingat. Sit dives iure, furorem
     Qui maris et tristes ferre potest pluvias.               50
O quantum est auri pereat potiusque smaragdi,
     Quam fleat ob nostras ulla puella vias.

     And that he hold his mistress in a tender bosom
Or, when the wintry South has poured cold waters,
     To follow secure sleeps with fire giving aid. Let this befall me. Let him be rich by right, the madness
     Which of the sea and can bring sad rains.               50
O how much gold may perish, or rather an emerald,
     Than that any girl should weep on account of our roads.

Te bellare decet terra, Messalla, marique,
     Ut domus hostiles praeferat exuvias;
Me retinent vinctum formosae vincla puellae,               55
     Et sedeo duras ianitor ante fores.
Non ego laudari curo, mea Delia; tecum
     Dum modo sim, quaeso segnis inersque vocer.
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,
     Te teneam moriens deficiente manu.               60

Flebis et arsuro positum me, Delia, lecto,
     Tristibus et lacrimis oscula mixta dabis.
Flebis: non tua sunt duro praecordia ferro
     Vincta, neque in tenero stat tibi corde silex.
Illo non iuvenis poterit de funere quisquam               65
     Lumina, non virgo, sicca referre domum.

You will weep even when I am laid upon the burning bed, Delia,
     You will give kisses mingled with sad tears.
You will weep: your breast is not bound with hard iron
     Nor does flint stand in your tender heart.
Illo non iuvenis poterit de funere quisquam               65
     To carry home eyes, not a maiden, dry from that funeral.

Tu manes ne laede meos, sed parce solutis
     Crinibus et teneris, Delia, parce genis.
Interea, dum fata sinunt, iungamus amores:
     Iam veniet tenebris Mors adoperta caput,               70
Iam subrepet iners aetas, nec amare decebit,
     Dicere nec cano blanditias capite.
Nunc levis est tractanda Venus, dum frangere postes
     Non pudet et rixas inseruisse iuvat.

You, manes, do not injure my own, but spare my loosened
     tresses and spare my tender cheeks, Delia, spare them.
Meanwhile, while the fates allow, let us join our loves:
     Now Death will come, his head covered with darkness,               70
Now creeping, idle age will steal upon us, and it will not be fitting to love,
     nor to speak blandishments with a white head.
Now frivolous Venus is to be dealt with, while it is no shame to break the doorposts
     and it pleasures to have sown quarrels.

Hic ego dux milesque bonus: vos, signa tubaeque, 75

Here I, leader and trusty soldier: you, the standards and the trumpets, 75

Ite procul, cupidis volnera ferte viris,
Ferte et opes: ego conposito securus acervo
Despiciam dites despiciamque famem.

Go far off, carry wounds to greedy men,
Ferte et opes: ego conposito securus acervo
I will despise the rich, and I will despise hunger.

Adde merum vinoque novos conpesce dolores,
     Occupet ut fessi lumina victa sopor,
Neu quisquam multo percussum tempora baccho
     Excitet, infelix dum requiescit amor.
Nam posita est nostrae custodia saeva puellae,               5
     Clauditur et dura ianua firma sera.
Ianua difficilis domini, te verberet imber,
     Te Iovis imperio fulmina missa petant.

Add pure wine and with wine curb fresh pains,
     Let conquered sleep seize our weary eyes,
Lest anyone, struck in the temples by excessive Bacchus,
     Awaken him, unhappy, while love takes rest.
For the guard of my cruel girl is set,               5
     The door is shut and the hard bolt is firm.
O stubborn door of my master, may the rain beat you,
     May the thunderbolts sent by Jupiter's command seek you.

Ianua, iam pateas uni mihi, victa querelis,
     Neu furtim verso cardine aperta sones.               10
Et mala siqua tibi dixit dementia nostra,
     Ignoscas: capiti sint precor illa meo.
Te meminisse decet, quae plurima voce peregi
     Supplice, cum posti florida serta darem.
Tu quoque ne timide custodes, Delia, falle,               15

Ianua, iam pateas uni mihi, victa querelis,
     Nor let you sound opened secretly by a turned hinge.               10
Et mala siqua tibi dixit dementia nostra,
     Forgive them: may those things, I pray, be laid upon my head.
Te meminisse decet, quae plurima voce peregi
     As a suppliant, when I, placed there, gave flowery garlands.
Tu quoque ne timide custodes, Delia, falle,               15

     Audendum est: fortes adiuvat ipsa Venus.
Illa favet, seu quis iuvenis nova limina temptat,
     Seu reserat fixo dente puella fores;
Illa docet molli furtim derepere lecto,
     Illa pedem nullo ponere posse sono,               20
Illa viro coram nutus conferre loquaces
     Blandaque conpositis abdere verba notis.
Nec docet hoc omnes, sed quos nec inertia tardat
     Nec vetat obscura surgere nocte timor.

     One must be daring: bold Venus herself helps.
She favours, whether some youth attempts new thresholds,
     Or whether a girl, biting her lip, opens the door fixed with a bolt;
She teaches how to slip away secretly from the soft bed,
     She teaches that one can place the foot without any sound,               20
She teaches to exchange significant nods openly with the man
     And to hide flattering words in prearranged signs.
Nor does she teach this to all, but to those whom neither sluggishness delays
     Nor does the fear of the dark forbid to rise at night.

En ego cum tenebris tota vagor anxius urbe,               25
     * * *
Nec sinit occurrat quisquam, qui corpora ferro
     Volneret aut rapta praemia veste petat.
Quisquis amore tenetur, eat tutusque sacerque
     Qualibet: insidias non timuisse decet.               30

En ego cum tenebris tota vagor anxius urbe,               25
     * * *
Nor does she allow anyone to meet (me) who would wound bodies with iron
     or seek plundered rewards with a torn garment. Whoever is held by love, let him go safe and sacred to any one:               30
it becomes one not to have feared ambushes.

Non mihi pigra nocent hibernae frigora noctis,
     Non mihi, cum multa decidit imber aqua.
Non labor hic laedit, reseret modo Delia postes
     Et vocet ad digiti me taciturna sonum.
Parcite luminibus, seu vir seu femina fiat               35
     Obvia: celari volt sua furta Venus.

Not to me do the sluggish chills of the wintry night hurt,
     Not to me, when much rain of water falls.
This toil does not harm me, provided Delia but unbars the doors
     And silently summons me to the sound of her finger.
Spare your eyes, whether he be a man or whether a woman be made               35
     Go to meet them: Venus wills that her thefts be hidden.

Neu strepitu terrete pedum neu quaerite nomen
     Neu prope fulgenti lumina ferte face.
Siquis et inprudens adspexerit, occulat ille
     Perque deos omnes se meminisse neget:               40
Nam fuerit quicumque loquax, is sanguine natam,
     Is Venerem e rapido sentiet esse mari.
Nec tamen huic credet coniunx tuus, ut mihi verax
     Pollicita est magico saga ministerio.

Do not terrify by the noise of your feet nor seek a name
     Nor carry a torch near the shining lights. If any unwary man should behold her, he will hide her
     And before all the gods will deny that he remembers her:               40
For whoever is talkative, he, born of blood,
     Will feel that Venus sprang from the swift sea. Nor yet will your wife believe this one, as she truly promised me
     By the witch’s magical ministry.

Hanc ego de caelo ducentem sidera vidi, 45

I saw her leading the stars from heaven, 45

     Fluminis haec rapidi carmine vertit iter,
Haec cantu finditque solum Manesque sepulcris
     Elicit et tepido devocat ossa rogo;
Iam tenet infernas magico stridore catervas,
     Iam iubet adspersas lacte referre pedem.               50
Cum libet, haec tristi depellit nubila caelo,
     Cum libet, aestivo convocat orbe nives.
Sola tenere malas Medeae dicitur herbas,
     Sola feros Hecates perdomuisse canes.
Haec mihi conposuit cantus, quis fallere posses:               55
     Ter cane, ter dictis despue carminibus.

     With a chant she turns the course of the rushing river,
She with song cleaves the soil and from graves draws up the Manes
     And summons the bones to the warm pyre;
Now she holds the infernal throngs with a magic screech,
     Now she bids them return their feet sprinkled with milk.               50
When she wills, she drives away clouds from the gloomy sky,
     When she wills, she summons snows in the summer orb.
She alone is said to possess Medea’s wicked herbs,
     She alone to have tamed Hecate’s fierce dogs.
She composed these songs for me, by which you might deceive:               55
     Sing three times, thrice spit forth the spoken charms.

Ille nihil poterit de nobis credere cuiquam,
Non sibi, si in molli viderit ipse toro.
Tu tamen abstineas aliis: nam cetera cernet
Omnia, de me uno sentiet ipse nihil. 60

He will be able to tell nothing of us to anyone,
Not even to himself, if he shall see himself on a soft couch.
You, however, keep back from others: for he will discern the rest
All things, he himself will think nothing concerning me alone. 60

Quid, credam? nempe haec eadem se dixit amores
     Cantibus aut herbis solvere posse meos,
Et me lustravit taedis, et nocte serena
     Concidit ad magicos hostia pulla deos.
Non ego, totus abesset amor, sed mutuus esset,               65
     Orabam, nec te posse carere velim.

What, shall I believe? Surely she herself said that these same things could dissolve my loves
     by songs or by herbs,
And purified me with torches, and on a serene night
     a dark victim fell to the magic gods.
I would not, that love should be wholly absent, but that it should be mutual,               65
     I was pleading, nor would I wish you ever to be without it.

Ferreus ille fuit, qui, te cum posset habere,
     Maluerit praedas stultus et arma sequi.
Ille licet Cilicum victas agat ante catervas,
     Ponat et in capto Martia castra solo,               70
Totus et argento contextus, totus et auro
     Insideat celeri conspiciendus equo,
Ipse boves mea si tecum modo Delia possim
     Iungere et in solito pascere monte pecus,
Et te, dum liceat, teneris retinere lacertis,               75

That man would be iron-hearted, who, when he could have you,
     Would, foolish, prefer spoils and to follow arms.
Though he may lead Cilician captives driven before his bands,
     May he also pitch martial camps on captured soil,               70
All clothed in silver, all in gold,
     May he bestride a swift, conspicuous horse,
If only I myself, Delia, could join my oxen with you
     And graze the flock upon the customary hill,
And hold you, while it may be allowed, in tender arms,               75

     Mollis et inculta sit mihi somnus humo.
Quid Tyrio recubare toro sine amore secundo
     Prodest, cum fletu nox vigilanda venit?
Nam neque tum plumae nec stragula picta soporem
     Nec sonitus placidae ducere posset aquae.               80
Num Veneris magnae violavi numina verbo,
     Et mea nunc poenas inpia lingua luit?

     Let soft and uncultivated sleep be mine upon the ground.
What profits it to lie on a Tyrian couch without a returning love
     When night must be kept awake with weeping?
For then neither the down nor the painted coverings could bring sleep
     Nor could the sound of placid water lead one to slumber.               80
Have I perchance by a word violated the mighty powers of Venus,
     And do I now pay the penalties with my impious tongue?

Num feror incestus sedes adiisse deorum
     Sertaque de sanctis deripuisse focis?
Non ego, si merui, dubitem procumbere templis               85
     Et dare sacratis oscula liminibus,
Non ego tellurem genibus perrepere supplex
     Et miserum sancto tundere poste caput.
At tu, qui laetus rides mala nostra, caveto
     Mox tibi: non uni saeviet usque deus.               90

Am I to be reckoned unchaste for having entered the seats of the gods
     and plucked garlands from their sacred hearths?
I would not, if I deserved it, hesitate to prostrate myself before temples               85
     and to give kisses to the consecrated thresholds,
I would not, a suppliant, crawl upon the earth on my knees
     and beat my miserable head against the holy door-post.
But you, who cheerfully laugh at our misfortunes, beware
     soon for yourself: the god will not rage for one only.               90

Vidi ego, qui iuvenum miseros lusisset amores,
     Post Veneris vinclis subdere colla senem
Et sibi blanditias tremula conponere voce
     Et manibus canas fingere velle comas,
Stare nec ante fores puduit caraeve puellae               95
     Ancillam medio detinuisse foro.
Hunc puer, hunc iuvenis turba circumterit arta,
     Despuit in molles et sibi quisque sinus.
At mihi parce, Venus: semper tibi dedita servit
     Mens mea: quid messes uris acerba tuas?

I saw, I who had played with the wretched loves of youths,
     Later to submit his neck beneath Venus’s bonds as an old man
And to frame blandishments to himself with a trembling voice
     And with his hands to feign gray hairs, desiring them,
Stand, nor was he ashamed before the doors and of the beloved girl               95
     To have detained a maid in the midst of the forum.
This boy, this youth a close throng surrounds,
     He spat upon soft bosoms and each folded into his own lap.
But spare me, Venus: my mind always given and serving you
     What do your bitter harvests burn upon me?

III

Ibitis Aegaeas sine me, Messalla, per undas,
     O utinam memores ipse cohorsque mei.
Me tenet ignotis aegrum Phaeacia terris,
     Abstineas avidas, Mors, modo, nigra, manus.
Abstineas, Mors atra, precor: non hic mihi mater               5
     Quae legat in maestos ossa perusta sinus,
Non soror, Assyrios cineri quae dedat odores
     Et fleat effusis ante sepulcra comis,
Delia non usquam; quae me cum mitteret urbe,
     Dicitur ante omnes consuluisse deos.               10
Illa sacras pueri sortes ter sustulit: illi
     Rettulit e trinis omina certa puer.

You will go across the Aegean waves without me, Messalla,
     O would that you yourself and your cohort were mindful of me.
Phaeacian lands hold me sick in unknown regions,
     Refrain, greedy hands, Death, for a little, black ones.
Refrain, black Death, I pray: not here for me a mother               5
     Who would lay my burnt bones in her sorrowful bosom,
Not a sister who would give Assyrian perfumes to my ashes
     And weep with loosened hair before the tombs,
Delia nowhere; she who, when she sent me from the city,
     Is said to have consulted the gods before all others.               10
She thrice drew the boy’s sacred lots: to him
     The boy brought back certain omens from the threefold lots.

Cuncta dabant reditus: tamen est deterrita numquam,
Quin fleret nostras respiceretque vias.
Ipse ego solator, cum iam mandata dedissem, 15

All things seemed to promise a return: nevertheless she was never deterred, but rather she wept and looked back upon our ways.
I myself, a comforter, when I had now given the commands, 15

     Quaerebam tardas anxius usque moras.
Aut ego sum causatus aves aut omina dira,
     Saturni sacram me tenuisse diem.
O quotiens ingressus iter mihi tristia dixi
     Offensum in porta signa dedisse pedem!               20
Audeat invito ne quis discedere Amore,
     Aut sciat egressum se prohibente deo.

     I was anxiously seeking lingering delays.
Either I am accused by the birds or by dire omens,
     that I have kept Saturn’s sacred day.
O how often, when I had set out on the road, I uttered sad things
     that, offended at the gate, I had set foot by the standards!               20
Let no one dare to depart against Love’s will,
     or suppose his going forth when a god forbids it.

Quid tua nunc Isis mihi, Delia, quid mihi prosunt
     Illa tua totiens aera repulsa manu,
Quidve, pie dum sacra colis, pureque lavari               25
     Te—memini—et puro secubuisse toro?
Nunc, dea, nunc succurre mihi—nam posse mederi
     Picta docet templis multa tabella tuis—,
Ut mea votivas persolvens Delia voces
     Ante sacras lino tecta fores sedeat               30

What now does your Isis avail me, Delia, what do those coins of yours so often thrust back by your hand avail me,
     Or what, while you piously tend the rites, and are purely washed               25
     You—I remember—having lain apart on a spotless couch?
Now, goddess, now come to my aid—for many a painted tablet in your temples teaches the power to heal—,
     That Delia, fulfilling my votive vows, may sit before your sacred doors roofed with linen               30

Bisque die resoluta comas tibi dicere laudes
     Insignis turba debeat in Pharia.
At mihi contingat patrios celebrare Penates
     Reddereque antiquo menstrua tura Lari.
Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege, priusquam               35
     Tellus in longas est patefacta vias!

Twice a day, with your hair unbound, the distinguished throng should owe to sing your praises at Pharia.
     But may it fall to me to celebrate the ancestral Penates
     and to pay monthly incense to the ancient Lar.
How well they lived under Saturn as king, before               35
     the Earth was opened into long roads!

Nondum caeruleas pinus contempserat undas,
     Effusum ventis praebueratque sinum,
Nec vagus ignotis repetens conpendia terris
     Presserat externa navita merce ratem.               40
Illo non validus subiit iuga tempore taurus,
     Non domito frenos ore momordit equus,
Non domus ulla fores habuit, non fixus in agris,
     Qui regeret certis finibus arva, lapis.
Ipsae mella dabant quercus, ultroque ferebant               45

Not yet had the pine scorned the blue waves,
     Nor offered a sail poured out to the winds,
Nor had the wandering mariner, retracing burdens to unknown lands,
     Pressed foreign merchandise upon the keel of the ship.               40
Then the strong bull did not undergo the yoke in season,
     Nor did the tamed horse bite the bridle with its mouth,
No house had doors, no stone fixed in the fields,
     To govern the fields with certain boundaries, a landmark stone.
The oaks themselves gave honey, and bore of their own accord               45

     Obvia securis ubera lactis oves.
Non acies, non ira fuit, non bella, nec ensem
     Inmiti saevus duxerat arte faber.
Nunc Iove sub domino caedes et vulnera semper,
     Nunc mare, nunc leti mille repente viae.               50
Parce, pater.

Before the axe met the udders of milk-bearing sheep.
There was no battle-line, no wrath, no wars, nor had a savage craftsman led the sword by cruel art.
Now under lord Jove there is ever slaughter and wounds,
now the sea, now a thousand sudden paths of death 50
Spare, father.

timidum non me periuria terrent,
     Non dicta in sanctos inpia verba deos.
Quodsi fatales iam nunc explevimus annos,
     Fac lapis inscriptis stet super ossa notis:
'Hic iacet inmiti consumptus morte Tibullus,               55
     Messallam terra dum sequiturque mari.'
Sed me, quod facilis tenero sum semper Amori,
     Ipsa Venus campos ducet in Elysios.
Hic choreae cantusque vigent, passimque vagantes
     Dulce sonant tenui gutture carmen aves,               60

Perjuries do not frighten me, nor impious words spoken against the holy gods.
     But if we have now fulfilled the fated years,
     Let a stone stand above the bones with these words inscribed:
'Hic iacet, consumed by cruel death, Tibullus,               55
     While earth and sea pursue Messalla.'
But me, since I am always easily given to tender Love,
     Venus herself will lead (me) to the Elysian fields.
Here dances and songs flourish, and, wandering everywhere,
     The birds sweetly sound a song with their delicate throat.               60

Fert casiam non culta seges, totosque per agros
     Floret odoratis terra benigna rosis;
Ac iuvenum series teneris inmixta puellis
     Ludit, et adsidue proelia miscet Amor.
Illic est, cuicumque rapax mors venit amanti,               65
     Et gerit insigni myrtea serta coma.
At scelerata iacet sedes in nocte profunda
     Abdita, quam circum flumina nigra sonant:
Tisiphoneque inpexa feros pro crinibus angues
     Saevit, et huc illuc inpia turba fugit.               70
Tum niger in porta serpentum Cerberus ore
     Stridet et aeratas excubat ante fores.

Fert casiam non culta seges, totosque per agros
     Floret odoratis terra benigna rosis;
Ac iuvenum series teneris inmixta puellis
     Ludit, et adsidue proelia miscet Amor. Illic est, cuicumque rapax mors venit amanti,               65
     Et gerit insigni myrtea serta coma.
At scelerata iacet sedes in nocte profunda
     Abdita, quam circum flumina nigra sonant:
Tisiphoneque inpexa feros pro crinibus angues
     Saevit, et huc illuc inpia turba fugit.               70
Tum niger in porta serpentum Cerberus ore
     Stridet et aeratas excubat ante fores.

Uncultivated grain bears cassia, and the kindly land blooms all across the fields with fragrant roses;
     A procession of youths, mingled with tender girls, plays, and Love continually mixes in battles. There is she, to whomsoever rapacious Death has come as a lover,               65
     and she wears a conspicuous wreath of myrtle in her hair. But a wicked seat lies hidden in the deep night,
     secret, which black rivers murmur around; and Tisiphone, hair uncombed, rages with fierce snakes in place of locks,
     and the impious throng flees hither and thither.               70
Then black Cerberus, with serpent mouths, hisses at the gate
     and keeps watch before the brazen doors.

Illic Iunonem temptare Ixionis ausi
Versantur celeri noxia membra rota,
Porrectusque novem Tityos per iugera terrae 75

There Ixion, who dared to tempt Juno, his guilty limbs are whirled on a swift wheel,
and Tityus, outstretched over nine acres of earth, 75

     Adsiduas atro viscere pascit aves.
Tantalus est illic, et circum stagna, sed acrem
     Iam iam poturi deserit unda sitim,
Et Danai proles, Veneris quod numina laesit,
     In cava Lethaeas dolia portat aquas.               80
Illic sit, quicumque meos violavit amores,
     Optavit lentas et mihi militias.
At tu casta precor maneas, sanctique pudoris
     Adsideat custos sedula semper anus.

     He feeds continual birds on his dark flesh.
Tantalus is there, and the pools around him; yet the keen wave, even when now about to be drunk, leaves his thirst unquenched,
     And the offspring of the Danaans, because they offended the powers of Venus,
     Bear Lethean waters in hollow jars.               80
There may sit whoever violated my loves,
     Who wished for slow rites and campaigns against me.
But you, I pray, remain chaste, and may a diligent old woman, guardian of holy modesty,
     Always sit beside you as your watchful keeper.

Haec tibi fabellas referat positaque lucerna               85
     Deducat plena stamina longa colu,
At circa gravibus pensis adfixa puella
     Paulatim somno fessa remittat opus.
Tum veniam subito, nec quisquam nuntiet ante,
     Sed videar caelo missus adesse tibi.               90

May she recount these little tales to you, and with the lamp set down               85
     May she draw out full threads upon the long spindle,
But the girl, fastened about to the heavy weights,
     May, weary by degrees with sleep, slacken her work.
Then may I come suddenly, and let no one announce it beforehand,
     But may I be seen, sent from heaven, to stand by you.               90

Tunc mihi, qualis eris, longos turbata capillos,
Obvia nudato, Delia, curre pede.
Hoc precor, hunc illum nobis Aurora nitentem
Luciferum roseis candida portet equis.

Then to me, as you will be, your long hair disordered,
Meet me, Delia, running with your foot bared.
This I pray: may radiant Aurora bring to us that shining one,
the Morning‑star, borne by her rosy, white horses.

'Sic umbrosa tibi contingant tecta, Priape,
     Ne capiti soles, ne noceantque nives:
Quae tua formosos cepit sollertia? certe
     Non tibi barba nitet, non tibi culta coma est,
Nudus et hibernae producis frigora brumae,               5
     Nudus et aestivi tempora sicca Canis.'
Sic ego; tum Bacchi respondit rustica proles
     Armatus curva sic mihi falce deus:
'O fuge te tenerae puerorum credere turbae,
     Nam causam iusti semper amoris habent.               10
Hic placet, angustis quod equom conpescit habenis,
     Hic placidam niveo pectore pellit aquam,
Hic, quia fortis adest audacia, cepit; at illi
     Virgineus teneras stat pudor ante genas.
Sed ne te capiant, primo si forte negabit,               15

'Thus may shady roofs fall to you, Priapus,
     So that the suns do not (harm) your head, nor may the snows hurt you:
What cunning of yours has taken hold of the handsome ones? certainly
     No beard gleams on you, no tended hair is yours,
Naked you bring forth the chills of wintry midwinter,               5
     Naked also the dry seasons of the summer Dog.'
So I; then Bacchus' rustic offspring answered
     Armed, the god with a curved sickle thus to me:
'O flee, do not trust yourself to a tender throng of boys,
     For they always have cause of a just love.               10
This one pleases, in that he restrains his horse with tight reins,
     This one drives water from his placid, snowy chest,
This one, because bold audacity is present, has seized; but to that one
     Virgin modesty sets tender shame before his cheeks.
But lest they take you, if at first perhaps he will refuse,               15

     Taedia: paulatim sub iuga colla dabit.
Longa dies homini docuit parere leones,
     Longa dies molli saxa peredit aqua;
Annus in apricis maturat collibus uvas,
     Annus agit certa lucida signa vice.               20
Nec iurare time: Veneris periuria venti
     Inrita per terras et freta summa ferunt.
Gratia magna Iovi: vetuit pater ipse valere,
     Iurasset cupide quicquid ineptus amor,
Perque suas inpune sinit Dictynna sagittas               25
     Adfirmes crines perque Minerva suos.

     Weariness: little by little she will put necks beneath yokes.
Long time has taught man to yield even to lions,
     Long time the soft rocks eats away with water;
A year on sunny hills ripens the grapes,
     A year drives sure bright signs in their turn.               20
Nor fear to swear: the perjuries of Venus the winds
     Bear as null across lands and over the highest seas.
Great thanks to Jove: the father himself forbade them to prevail,
     He would have sworn eagerly whatever foolish love demanded,
And Dictynna allows her arrows to fly unpunished,               25
     You may affirm her tresses and likewise Minerva's.

At si tardus eris, errabis: transiet aetas.
Quam cito non segnis stat remeatque dies,
Quam cito purpureos deperdit terra colores,
Quam cito formosas populus alta comas! 30

But if you are slow, you will err: the age will pass.
How quickly — not sluggish — day stands and returns,
How quickly the earth destroys purple colours,
How quickly the people undo fair lofty tresses! 30

Quam iacet, infirmae venere ubi fata senectae,
Qui prior Eleo est carcere missus equos!
Vidi iam iuvenem, premeret cum serior aetas,
Maerentem stultos praeteriisse dies.
Crudeles divi!

How she lies, where the fates of infirm old age have come,
Who first was sent from prison to Eleo his horses!
I saw already the youth, when the later age pressed him,
Sorrowing that the foolish days had gone by.
Cruel gods!

serpens novus exuit annos,               35
     Formae non ullam fata dedere moram.
Solis aeterna est Baccho Phoeboque iuventas,
     Nam decet intonsus crinis utrumque deum.
Tu, puero quodcumque tuo temptare libebit,
     Cedas: obsequio plurima vincet amor.               40
Neu comes ire neges, quamvis via longa paretur
     Et Canis arenti torreat arva siti,
Quamvis praetexens picta ferrugine caelum
     Venturam anticipet imbrifer arcus aquam.

the serpent newly casts off its years,               35
     Fate allows no delay to any beauty.
For to Bacchus and to Phoebus youth is eternal,
     For unshorn locks suit both gods.
You, whatever you please to try with your boy,
     Yield: love will overcome many things by compliance.               40
Do not refuse to go as companion, though a long road is prepared
     And Sirius may parch the fields with burning thirst,
Although the sky, overlaid with painted rust, may foretell
     That the rain-bringing arch will anticipate the coming water.

Vel si caeruleas puppi volet ire per undas, 45

Or if he wishes the dark-blue ship to go through the waves, 45

     Ipse levem remo per freta pelle ratem.
Nec te paeniteat duros subiisse labores
     Aut opera insuetas adteruisse manus,
Nec, velit insidiis altas si claudere valles,
     Dum placeas, umeri retia ferre negent.               50
Si volet arma, levi temptabis ludere dextra:
     Saepe dabis nudum, vincat ut ille, latus.
Tum tibi mitis erit, rapias tum cara licebit
     Oscula: pugnabit, sed tamen apta dabit.

     He himself shall drive the light skiff with an oar through the seas.
Nec te paeniteat duros subiisse labores
     Aut opera insuetas adteruisse manus,
Nec, velit insidiis altas si claudere valles,
     Dum placeas, umeri retia ferre negent.               50
If he desire arms, you will essay to sport with a light right hand:
     Often you will bare your side, that he may prevail there.
Then he will be gentle to you, then you may snatch dear kisses:
     He will fight, but nevertheless will give fit ones.

Rapta dabit primo, post adferet ipse roganti,               55
     Post etiam collo se inplicuisse velit.
Heu male nunc artes miseras haec saecula tractant:
     Iam tener adsuevit munera velle puer.
At tu, qui venerem docuisti vendere primus,
     Quisquis es, infelix urgeat ossa lapis.               60

She will first give what has been snatched, afterward she herself will bring it to the one asking,               55
     Then she will even wish that she had entangled herself about his neck. Alas, how ill these wretched ages now handle the arts:
     Already the tender boy is grown accustomed to desiring gifts. But you, who first taught how to sell love,
     Whoever you are, unhappy, may a stone press upon your bones.

Pieridas, pueri, doctos et amate poetas,
     Aurea nec superent munera Pieridas.
Carmine purpurea est Nisi coma: carmina ni sint,
     Ex umero Pelopis non nituisset ebur.
Quem referent Musae, vivet, dum robora tellus,               65
     Dum caelum stellas, dum vehet amnis aquas.

Pieridas, boys, learn and love the learned poets,
     Nor may golden gifts remain for the Pierides.
Purple is in the song, unless the hair: if there be no songs,
     From the shoulder of Pelops the ivory would not shine.
Whom the Muses shall recall, he will live, while the earth has oaks,               65
     While heaven has stars, while the river bears waters.

At qui non audit Musas, qui vendit amorem,
     Idaeae currus ille sequatur Opis
Et tercentenas erroribus expleat urbes
     Et secet ad Phrygios vilia membra modos.               70
Blanditiis volt esse locum Venus ipsa: querelis
     Supplicibus, miseris fletibus illa favet.'
Haec mihi, quae canerem Titio, deus edidit ore,
     Sed Titium coniunx haec meminisse vetat.
Pareat ille suae; vos me celebrate magistrum,               75

But let him who does not heed the Muses, who sells love,
     May that chariot of Idaean Ops pursue him
And let him fill three hundred cities with wanderings/errors
     And trim his base limbs to Phrygian measures.               70
Venus herself desires to be a place for blandishments: with complaints
     She favors suppliants, the wretched, and tears.'
These things the god put into my mouth, which I was singing to Titius,
     But Titius's wife forbids remembering these things.
Let him obey his own; you celebrate me as your master,               75

     Quos male habet multa callidus arte puer.
Gloria cuique sua est: me, qui spernentur, amantes
     Consultent: cunctis ianua nostra patet.
Tempus erit, cum me Veneris praecepta ferentem
     Deducat iuvenum sedula turba senem.               80
Heu heu quam Marathus lento me torquet amore!

     Whom the boy, cunning in many arts, treats ill.
Glory is to each his own: let those lovers who will scorn me take counsel:
     My door is open to all. Time will come when a busy throng of youths,
     bringing the precepts of Venus, will lead me forth an old man.               80
Alas, alas how Marathus torments me with slow love!

Deficiunt artes, deficiuntque doli.
Parce, puer, quaeso, ne turpis fabula fiam,
Cum mea ridebunt vana magisteria.

     The arts are failing, and deceitful wiles are failing too;
     Spare me, boy, I beg, lest I become a shameful spectacle,
     since my vain masteries will be laughed at.

Asper eram et bene discidium me ferre loquebar,
     At mihi nunc longe gloria fortis abest.
Namque agor ut per plana citus sola verbere turben,
     Quem celer adsueta versat ab arte puer.
Ure ferum et torque, libeat ne dicere quicquam               5
     Magnificum post haec: horrida verba doma.

I was harsh and used to boast that I could bear a keen cutting well,
     But now bold glory is far from me.
For I am driven to stir the plains swiftly with a single lash of words,
     Whom the quick boy, accustomed to the art, turns about.
Burn and twist the savage, let it please that I say nothing               5
     A magnificent thing after this: tame the horrid words.

Parce tamen, per te furtivi foedera lecti,
     Per venerem quaeso conpositumque caput.
Ille ego, cum tristi morbo defessa iaceres,
     Te dicor votis eripuisse meis,               10
Ipseque te circum lustravi sulphure puro,
     Carmine cum magico praecinuisset anus;
Ipse procuravi, ne possent saeva nocere
     Somnia, ter sancta deveneranda mola;
Ipse ego velatus filo tunicisque solutis               15

Spare me then, by you, the secret covenants of our bed,
     By Venus I beg, and by our mingled head.
I am he who, when you lay exhausted by a grievous sickness,
     Am said to have snatched you from my vows,               10
And I myself purified you all around with pure sulphur,
     When the old woman had first chanted a magic song;
I myself arranged that cruel dreams should not be able to harm you
     —three times the holy, to-be-reverenced mill was set in motion;
I myself, veiled with thread and with my tunics undone               15

     Vota novem Triviae nocte silente dedi.
Omnia persolvi: fruitur nunc alter amore,
     Et precibus felix utitur ille meis.
At mihi felicem vitam, si salva fuisses,
     Fingebam demens, sed renuente deo.               20
Rura colam, frugumque aderit mea Delia custos,
     Area dum messes sole calente teret,
Aut mihi servabit plenis in lintribus uvas
     Pressaque veloci candida musta pede;
Consuescet numerare pecus, consuescet amantis               25
     Garrulus in dominae ludere verna sinu.

     I offered nine vows to Trivia on a silent night.
I paid all: another now enjoys your love,
     And he, happy, makes use of my prayers.
At mihi felicem vitam, si salva fuisses,
     I fancied a happy life for myself, madly imagining, but with the god refusing.               20
Rura colam, frugumque aderit mea Delia custos,
     I shall tend the fields, and my Delia will be there as guardian of the crops,
Area dum messes sole calente teret,
     While the threshing-floor, the harvests turned in the hot sun,
Aut mihi servabit plenis in lintribus uvas
     Or she will keep for me grapes in full baskets,
Pressaque veloci candida musta pede;
     And press white must with a swift foot;
Consuescet numerare pecus, consuescet amantis               25
     She will grow used to counting the flock; the talkative farm-servant of her lover will play
     in his mistress’s lap.

Illa deo sciet agricolae pro vitibus uvam,
Pro segete spicas, pro grege ferre dapem.
Illa regat cunctos, illi sint omnia curae,
At iuvet in tota me nihil esse domo. 30

She will know, for the farmer, to provide grapes for the vines,
ears for the sowing, to bring a feast for the flock.
Let her rule over all, let all things be her care,
but let it avail me that I am nothing throughout the house. 30

Huc veniet Messalla meus, cui dulcia poma
     Delia selectis detrahat arboribus;
Et tantum venerata virum hunc sedula curet,
     Huic paret atque epulas ipsa ministra gerat.
Haec mihi fingebam, quae nunc Eurusque Notusque               35
     Iactat odoratos vota per Armenios.
Saepe ego temptavi curas depellere vino,
     At dolor in lacrimas verterat omne merum.

Messalla my own will come hither, to whom Delia will pluck sweet apples from chosen trees;
     And so devoutly worshipping she will heed this man with diligent care,
     She will obey him and herself as hostess bear the feasts. These things I was forming for myself, which now Eurus and Notus               35
     Cast fragrant vows through the Armenians.
Often I have tried to drive away cares with wine,
     But sorrow had turned every unmixed wine into tears.

Saepe aliam tenui, sed iam cum gaudia adirem,
     Admonuit dominae deseruitque Venus.               40
Tunc me discedens devotum femina dixit
     Et pudet et narrat scire nefanda meam.
Non facit hoc verbis, facie tenerisque lacertis
     Devovet et flavis nostra puella comis.
Talis ad Haemonium Nereis Pelea quondam               45

Often I held another lightly, but now when I was coming to joys,
     Venus warned the mistress and deserted her.                40
Then, departing, the woman called me accursed
     And she is ashamed and declares she knows my wickedness.
She does not do this with words; with her face and tender arms
     She curses me, and our girl with her golden hair.
Such to Haemonian once was the Nereid Pelea               45

     Vecta est frenato caerula pisce Thetis.
Haec nocuere mihi, quod adest huic dives amator;
     Venit in exitium callida lena meum.
Sanguineas edat illa dapes atque ore cruento
     Tristia cum multo pocula felle bibat;               50
Hanc volitent animae circum sua fata querentes
     Semper et e tectis strix violenta canat;
Ipsa fame stimulante furens herbasque sepulcris
     Quaerat et a saevis ossa relicta lupis,
Currat et inguinibus nudis ululetque per urbes,               55
     Post agat e triviis aspera turba canum.

     Thetis is borne in a bridled blue fish.
These things have harmed me, for to her there is a wealthy lover;
     A crafty procuress has come to my ruin.
Let her eat blood-stained banquets and with a bloody mouth
     Drink sad cups with much gall;               50
Let souls hover about her, complaining of their own fates,
     And let a violent screech-owl cry always from the roofs;
She herself, maddened by hunger, may seek herbs at graves
     And bones left by savage wolves,
Let her run with groins bare and howl through the cities,               55
     And afterward let a fierce pack of dogs drive her from the crossroads.

Eveniet: dat signa deus; sunt numina amanti,
Saevit et iniusta lege relicta Venus.
At tu quam primum sagae praecepta rapacis
Desere, nam donis vincitur omnis amor. 60

It will come to pass: God gives signs; there are divinities for the lover,
And Venus rages, abandoned by unjust law.
At you, as soon as possible, abandon the precepts of the rapacious witch,
For every love is conquered by gifts. 60

Pauper erit praesto semper, te pauper adibit
     Primus et in tenero fixus erit latere,
Pauper in angusto fidus comes agmine turbae
     Subicietque manus efficietque viam,
Pauper ad occultos furtim deducet amicos               65
     Vinclaque de niveo detrahet ipse pede.
Heu canimus frustra, nec verbis victa patescit
     Ianua, sed plena est percutienda manu.
At tu, qui potior nunc es, mea fata timeto:
     Versatur celeri Fors levis orbe rotae.               70
Non frustra quidam iam nunc in limine perstat
     Sedulus ac crebro prospicit ac refugit,
Et simulat transire domum, mox deinde recurrit,
     Solus et ante ipsas excreat usque fores.

A poor man will always be at hand; a poor man will first approach you
     and will be fixed at your tender side,
A poor man, a faithful companion in the narrow throng’s column,
     will put forth his hands and will make a way,
A poor man will furtively lead friends to hidden places               65
     and will himself strip bonds from the snowy foot.
Alas we sing in vain, nor does the door, overcome by words, lie open
     but it is full and must be struck by the hand.
But you, who are superior now, fear my fates:
     Light Fortune is whirled in the swift circle of the wheel.               70
Not without cause does a certain man already linger at the threshold,
     attentive and often looking out and drawing back,
And he feigns to cross into the house, soon then returns,
     alone and even before the very doors empties himself.

Nescio quid furtivus amor parat. utere quaeso, 75

I know not what stealthy love prepares. Use it, I beg, 75

Dum licet: in liquida nat tibi linter aqua.

While it is allowed: a skiff floats for you on the liquid water.

CHAPTER 6.

Semper, ut inducar, blandos offers mihi voltus,
Post tamen es misero tristis et asper, Amor.
Quid tibi saevitiae mecum est? an gloria magna est
Insidias homini conposuisse deum?

Always, as if to ensnare me, you offer bland countenances,
Yet afterwards you are to the wretched sad and harsh, Love.
What have you to do with cruelty toward me? or is it great glory
for a god to have laid ambushes for a man?

Nam mihi tenduntur casses: iam Delia furtim               5
     Nescio quem tacita callida nocte fovet.
Illa quidem tam multa negat, sed credere durum est:
     Sic etiam de me pernegat usque viro.
Ipse miser docui, quo posset ludere pacto
     Custodes: heu heu nunc premor arte mea,               10
Fingere nunc didicit causas, ut sola cubaret,
     Cardine nunc tacito vertere posse fores.

For snares are spread against me: now Delia secretly               5
     I know not whom she cherishes in the silent crafty night.
She indeed denies so many things, but it is hard to believe:
     Thus even concerning me she utterly denies before her husband.
I myself, wretched, taught by what device she could play
     the guards: alas, alas now I am pressed by my own art,               10
Now she has learned to feign excuses so as to lie alone,
     and now to be able to turn the doors on a silent hinge.

Tum sucos herbasque dedi, quis livor abiret,
Quem facit inpresso mutua dente venus.
At tu, fallacis coniunx incaute puellae, 15

Then I gave juices and herbs, that the bruise might depart,
which mutual Venus makes with the kiss pressed by the tooth.
At tu, deceitful spouse of an unsuspecting girl, 15

     Me quoque servato, peccet ut illa nihil.
Neu iuvenes celebret multo sermone, caveto,
     Neve cubet laxo pectus aperta sinu,
Neu te decipiat nutu, digitoque liquorem
     Ne trahat et mensae ducat in orbe notas.               20
Exibit quam saepe, time, seu visere dicet
     Sacra Bonae maribus non adeunda Deae.
At mihi si credas, illam sequar unus ad aras;
     Tunc mihi non oculis sit timuisse meis.

     Keep me also safe, so that she may sin as if nothing.
Neu iuvenes celebret multo sermone, caveto,
     Nor let her entertain young men with much talk, beware,
Neve cubet laxo pectus aperta sinu,
Neu te decipiat nutu, digitoque liquorem
     Nor lie with her breast bared in a loose fold,
Nor let her deceive you by a nod, nor with a finger draw the liquor
     Ne trahat et mensae ducat in orbe notas.               20
Exibit quam saepe, time, seu visere dicet
     How often she will go out, fear, if she says she will go to behold
Sacra Bonae maribus non adeunda Deae.
     the rites of the Good Goddess, not to be approached by men.
At mihi si credas, illam sequar unus ad aras;
     But if you trust me, I alone will follow her to the altars;
Tunc mihi non oculis sit timuisse meis.

Saepe, velut gemmas eius signumque probarem,               25
     Per causam memini me tetigisse manum;
Saepe mero somnum peperi tibi, at ipse bibebam
     Sobria subposita pocula victor aqua.
Non ego te laesi prudens: ignosce fatenti,
     Iussit Amor: contra quis ferat arma deos?               30

Saepe, velut gemmas eius signumque probarem,               25
     By pretext I remember that I touched her hand;
Saepe mero somnum peperi tibi, at ipse bibebam
     Sobria subposita pocula victor aqua.
I did oftentimes bring sleep to you with wine, while I myself drank,
     sober, the cups set beneath me—water the victor.
Non ego te laesi prudens: ignosce fatenti,
     Love commanded: who would set arms against the gods?               30

Ille ego sum, nec me iam dicere vera pudebit,
Instabat tota cui tua nocte canis.
Quid tenera tibi coniuge opus? tua si bona nescis
Servare, frustra clavis inest foribus.

I am that man, nor will I now be ashamed to speak the truth,
for whom your dog stood guard the whole night. What use is a tender wife to you? If you do not know
how to keep your goods, the key is in the doors in vain.

Te tenet, absentes alios suspirat amores               35
     Et simulat subito condoluisse caput.
At mihi servandam credas: non saeva recuso
     Verbera, detrecto non ego vincla pedum.
Tum procul absitis, quisquis colit arte capillos,
     Et fluit effuso cui toga laxa sinu,               40
Quisquis et occurret, ne possit crimen habere,
     Stet procul aut alia ~stet procul~ ante via.

He holds you, he sighs for other absent loves               35
     And suddenly he feigns that his head has mourned.
But believe that I must be preserved: I do not refuse
     cruel lashes, nor do I reject the bonds about my feet.
Then be distant, you who with art cultivate your hair,
     And whose toga flows with a loose, outpoured fold,               40
Whoever even should meet (me), so that he may not have a charge,
     Let him stand far off or let another ~stet procul~ stand far off before the way.

Sic fieri iubet ipse deus, sic magna sacerdos
Est mihi divino vaticinata sono.
Haec ubi Bellonae motu est agitata, nec acrem 45

Thus the god himself orders that it be done, thus to me the great priest has been foretold by a divine voice.
When these things have been stirred by the movement of Bellona, nor fierce 45

     Flammam, non amens verbera torta timet;
Ipsa bipenne suos caedit violenta lacertos
     Sanguineque effuso spargit inulta deam,
Statque latus praefixa veru, stat saucia pectus,
     Et canit eventus, quos dea magna monet:               50
'Parcite, quam custodit Amor, violare puellam,
     Ne pigeat magno post didicisse malo.
Adtigerit, labentur opes, ut volnere nostro
     Sanguis, ut hic ventis diripiturque cinis.'
Et tibi nescio quas dixit, mea Delia, poenas;               55
     Si tamen admittas, sit precor illa levis.
Non ego te propter parco tibi, sed tua mater
     Me movet atque iras aurea vincit anus.

     She fears the flame, not the twisted lashes of the scourge;
Ipsa bipenne suos caedit violenta lacertos
     And she herself, violent, hews at her own arms with a double-axe
Sanguineque effuso spargit inulta deam,
Statque latus praefixa veru, stat saucia pectus,
     and with blood poured forth besprinkles the unavenged goddess,
Et canit eventus, quos dea magna monet:               50
'Parcite, quam custodit Amor, violare puellam,
     Spare her whom Love guards from violation,
Ne pigeat magno post didicisse malo.
Adtigerit, labentur opes, ut volnere nostro
     Lest afterwards she be sorry to have learned by a great evil. If she should touch her, riches will slip away, so by our wound
Sanguis, ut hic ventis diripiturque cinis.'
Et tibi nescio quas dixit, mea Delia, poenas;               55
     If, however, you consent, I pray those penalties be light.
Non ego te propter parco tibi, sed tua mater
     I do not spare you for your own sake; it is your mother who moves me, and the golden old woman overcomes my angers.

Haec mihi te adducit tenebris multoque timore
Coniungit nostras clam taciturna manus, 60

These things bring you to me in darkness and great fear
And secretly join our silent hands, 60

Haec foribusque manet noctu me adfixa proculque
     Cognoscit strepitus me veniente pedum.
Vive diu mihi, dulcis anus: proprios ego tecum,
     Sit modo fas, annos contribuisse velim.
Te semper natamque tuam te propter amabo:               65
     Quicquid agit, sanguis est tamen illa tuos.

These things remain fixed to the doors by night, and from afar
     She recognizes the noises of my approaching feet.
Live long for me, sweet old woman: with you, my own one,
     If only it be lawful, I would wish to have contributed years.
I will always love you and your daughter for your sake:               65
     Whatever she does, nevertheless she is your blood.

Sit modo casta, doce, quamvis non vitta ligatos
     Impediat crines nec stola longa pedes.
Et mihi sint durae leges, laudare nec ullam
     Possim ego, quin oculos adpetat illa meos,               70
Et siquid peccasse putet, ducarque capillis
     Inmerito pronas proripiarque vias.
Non ego te pulsare velim, sed, venerit iste
     Si furor, optarim non habuisse manus;
Nec saevo sis casta metu, sed mente fideli,               75

Only be chaste, teach me, although no fillet bind your hair
     Nor long stola hinder your feet.
And let the laws for me be harsh, that I may praise no woman at all
     Yet that she may lay claim upon my eyes,               70
And if she thinks she has sinned anything, and I be led by the hair
     To be cast down and dragged along the sloping ways undeservedly.
I do not wish to strike you, but if that madness should come
     If frenzy, I would wish I had had no hands;
Nor be chaste from savage fear, but with a faithful mind,               75

     Mutuus absenti te mihi servet amor.
At, quae fida fuit nulli, post victa senecta
     Ducit inops tremula stamina torta manu
Firmaque conductis adnectit licia telis
     Tractaque de niveo vellere ducta putat.               80
Hanc animo gaudente vident iuvenumque catervae
     Conmemorant merito tot mala ferre senem,
Hanc Venus exalto flentem sublimis Olympo
     Spectat et, infidis quam sit acerba, monet.
Haec aliis maledicta cadant; nos, Delia, amoris               85
     Exemplum cana simus uterque coma.

     May mutual love keep you for me though absent.
But she who was faithful to none, after conquered senescence
     Leads, helpless, the trembling twisted threads with her hand
     And fastens firm thongs to the woven loom
     And, having drawn and led from the snowy fleece, thinks so.               80
With joyful spirit the bands of youths behold her
     And rightly recount that the old man bears so many evils;
Venus on high from lofty Olympus watches this one weeping
     And warns how bitter she is to the unfaithful.
Let these curses fall upon others; we, Delia, as an example               85
     May we both be of love with hoary hair.

VII

Hunc cecinere diem Parcae fatalia nentes
     Stamina, non ulli dissoluenda deo,
Hunc fore, Aquitanas posset qui fundere gentes,
     Quem tremeret forti milite victus Atax.
Evenere: novos pubes Romana triumphos               5
     Vidit et evinctos bracchia capta duces;
At te victrices lauros, Messalla, gerentem
     Portabat nitidis currus eburnus equis.
Non sine me est tibi partus honos: Tarbella Pyrene
     Testis et Oceani litora Santonici,               10
Testis Arar Rhodanusque celer magnusque Garunna,
     Carnutis et flavi caerula lympha Liger.
An te, Cydne, canam, tacitis qui leniter undis
     Caeruleus placidis per vada serpis aquis,
Quantus et aetherio contingens vertice nubes               15

These days the Parcae sang, proclaiming the fatal threads
     Stamina, not to be loosened by any god,
These that he would be, who could pour out the Aquitanian peoples,
     Whom the Atax, vanquished by brave soldiery, would fear.
They came to pass: Rome beheld new youth in triumphs               5
     And saw the captured leaders’ arms bound about them;
But you, Messalla, wearing victorious laurels,
     An ivory chariot with gleaming horses bore along.
The honor of your birth is not without me: Tarbella of Pyrene
     Is witness and the shores of the Ocean of Santonicus,               10
Arar and swift Rhodanus and the great Garunna bear witness,
     The Carnutes and the blue clear waters of golden Liger.
Shall I sing of you, Cydnus, who gently winds through silent waves
     Blue, gliding through the peaceful shallows with tranquil waters,
As great as a cloud touching the aethereal summit               15

     Frigidus intonsos Taurus alat Cilicas?
Quid referam, ut volitet crebras intacta per urbes
     Alba Palaestino sancta columba Syro,
Utque maris vastum prospectet turribus aequor
     Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros,               20
Qualis et, arentes cum findit Sirius agros,
     Fertilis aestiva Nilus abundet aqua?
Nile pater, quanam possim te dicere causa
     Aut quibus in terris occuluisse caput?

     Does cold Taurus nourish the unshorn Cilicians?
What shall I relate, how the white, sacred dove, untouched, may flit through the crowded Palestinian Syrian cities,
     And how from the towers she may behold the vast sea of Tyre, first taught to trust a ship to the winds,               20
What sort, too, and when Sirius cleaves the parchéd fields,
     Does the Nile, fertile in the summer, abound with water? O father Nile, by what cause could I tell of you
     Or on what lands you have hidden your head?

Te propter nullos tellus tua postulat imbres,               25
     Arida nec pluvio supplicat herba Iovi.
Te canit atque suum pubes miratur Osirim
     Barbara, Memphiten plangere docta bovem.
Primus aratra manu sollerti fecit Osiris
     Et teneram ferro sollicitavit humum,               30

Te propter nullos tellus tua postulat imbres,               25
     No land for your sake demands rains, nor does the dry herb entreat rainy Jove.
Te canit atque suum pubes miratur Osirim
     Barbarian youth sing of you and admire their Osiris, who taught the Memphian ox to bewail.
Primus aratra manu sollerti fecit Osiris
     Osiris first made the ploughs with a skilful hand
Et teneram ferro sollicitavit humum,               30

Primus inexpertae conmisit semina terrae
     Pomaque non notis legit ab arboribus.
Hic docuit teneram palis adiungere vitem,
     Hic viridem dura caedere falce comam;
Illi iucundos primum matura sapores               35
     Expressa incultis uva dedit pedibus.
Ille liquor docuit voces inflectere cantu,
     Movit et ad certos nescia membra modos,
Bacchus et agricolae magno confecta labore
     Pectora tristitiae dissoluenda dedit.               40
Bacchus et adflictis requiem mortalibus adfert,
     Crura licet dura conpede pulsa sonent.

Primus inexpertae conmisit semina terrae
     Pomaque non notis legit ab arboribus. Hic docuit teneram palis adiungere vitem,
     Hic viridem dura caedere falce comam;
Illi iucundos primum matura sapores               35
     Expressa incultis uva dedit pedibus.
Ille liquor docuit voces inflectere cantu,
     Movit et ad certos nescia membra modos,
Bacchus et agricolae magno confecta labore
     Pectora tristitiae dissoluenda dedit.               40
Bacchus et adflictis requiem mortalibus adfert,
     Crura licet dura conpede pulsa sonent.

First he entrusted seeds to untried earth
     and gathered fruits from trees unknown. This man taught to bind the tender vine to stakes,
     this to cut the green shoot with a hard sickle;
To him the ripe grape first gave pleasant flavors               35
     the grape, pressed by uncultivated feet, bestowed its juice.
That liquor taught voices to bend into song,
     and moved ignorant limbs to certain measures,
Bacchus also granted to the farmer, after great toil completed,
     relief for hearts to be dissolved of sadness.               40
Bacchus also brings rest to afflicted mortals,
     even if legs, struck by a hard shackle, clank.

Non tibi sunt tristes curae nec luctus, Osiri,
Sed chorus et cantus et levis aptus amor,
Sed varii flores et frons redimita corymbis, 45

Not for you are sad cares nor mourning, Osiris,
But chorus and song and a light, fitting love,
But varied flowers and a brow wreathed with corymbs, 45

     Fusa sed ad teneros lutea palla pedes
Et Tyriae vestes et dulcis tibia cantu
     Et levis occultis conscia cista sacris.
Huc ades et Genium ludis Geniumque choreis
     Concelebra et multo tempora funde mero:               50
Illius et nitido stillent unguenta capillo,
     Et capite et collo mollia serta gerat.
Sic venias hodierne: tibi dem turis honores,
     Liba et Mopsopio dulcia melle feram.

     But let a saffron pall be spread over your tender feet
And Tyrian robes and a sweet tibia with song
     And a light casket knowing of hidden rites.
Huc ades et Genium ludis Geniumque choreis
     Concelebra and with much wine pour out the seasons:               50
May perfumes drip from his shining hair,
     And may he wear soft garlands about head and neck.
Thus come today: to you I will give the honors of incense,
     A libation and sweet things of Mopsopian honey I will bring.

At tibi succrescat proles, quae facta parentis               55
     Augeat et circa stet veneranda senem.
Nec taceat monumenta viae, quem Tuscula tellus
     Candidaque antiquo detinet Alba Lare.
Namque opibus congesta tuis hic glarea dura
     Sternitur, hic apta iungitur arte silex.               60

But may a progeny grow for you, which may augment the deeds of the parent               55
     May it increase and stand venerable around the aged man. Nor let the monuments of the road be mute, him whom Tusculan soil
     and white Alba holds for the ancient Lar. For here the hard gravel, heaped by your riches,
     is spread, here the flint is joined by fitting craft.               60

Te canit agricola, a magna cum venerit urbe
Serus inoffensum rettuleritque pedem.
At tu, Natalis multos celebrande per annos,
Candidior semper candidiorque veni.

The farmer sings of you; when, late, he shall have come from the great city and shall have brought back his unharmed foot.
At you, Natalis, to be celebrated through many years, come ever more fair and fairer.

VIII

CHAPTER 8.

Non ego celari possum, quid nutus amantis
     Quidve ferant miti lenia verba sono.
Nec mihi sunt sortes nec conscia fibra deorum,
     Praecinit eventus nec mihi cantus avis:
Ipsa Venus magico religatum bracchia nodo               5
     Perdocuit multis non sine verberibus.
Desine dissimulare: deus crudelius urit,
     Quos videt invitos subcubuisse sibi.

I cannot be hidden what a lover's nod is
     Nor what mild, soothing words bear with gentle tone.
Nor do I possess lots nor the conscious threads of the gods,
     No bird's song foretokens events for me:
Ipsa Venus, her arms bound by a magic knot               5
     Has instructed many, not without lashes.
Cease to dissemble: a more cruel god burns,
     Those whom he sees have lain unwilling beneath him.

Quid tibi nunc molles prodest coluisse capillos
     Saepeque mutatas disposuisse comas,               10
Quid fuco splendente genas ornare, quid ungues
     Artificis docta subsecuisse manu?
Frustra iam vestes, frustra mutantur amictus,
     Ansaque conpressos conligat arta pedes.
Illa placet, quamvis inculto venerit ore               15

What now profits you to have tended soft locks
     And often to have arranged your changed tresses,               10
Why paint your cheeks with shining dye, why trim your nails
     Taught by the artisan's hand?
Now vainly the garments, vainly the cloaks are changed,
     And a tight band may bind the feet pressed close together.
She pleases, though she come with an unadorned face               15

     Nec nitidum tarda compserit arte caput.
Num te carminibus, num te pallentibus herbis
     Devovit tacito tempore noctis anus?
Cantus vicinis fruges traducit ab agris,
     Cantus et iratae detinet anguis iter,               20
Cantus et e curru Lunam deducere temptat
     Et faceret, si non aera repulsa sonent.

     Nor has slow art adorned a shining head.
Num has some old woman devoted you by charms, or by pale herbs,
     In the silent hour of night?
A song leads the crops away from the neighboring fields,
     A song also detains the course of the angry snake,               20
     A song even tries to draw the Moon down from her chariot,
     And would do so, were not the struck bronze to sound.

Quid queror heu misero carmen nocuisse, quid herbas?
     Forma nihil magicis utitur auxiliis:
Sed corpus tetigisse nocet, sed longa dedisse               25
     Oscula, sed femori conseruisse femur.
Nec tu difficilis puero tamen esse memento:
     Persequitur poenis tristia facta Venus.

Why do I complain, alas, that a charm harmed the wretched one, or the herbs?
     Beauty makes no use of magical auxiliaries:
But it is harmful to have touched the body, harmful to have given long               25
     kisses, harmful to have yoked thigh to thigh. Nor remember to be hard to the boy, however:
     Grievous deeds are pursued by Venus with punishments.

Munera ne poscas: det munera canus amator,
Ut foveat molli frigida membra sinu. 30

Do not ask for gifts: let the white-haired lover give gifts,
That he may warm cold limbs in a soft bosom. 30

Carior est auro iuvenis, cui levia fulgent
     Ora nec amplexus aspera barba terit.
Huic tu candentes umero subpone lacertos,
     Et regum magnae despiciantur opes.
At Venus invenit puero concumbere furtim,               35
     Dum timet et teneros conserit usque sinus,
Et dare anhelanti pugnantibus umida linguis
     Oscula et in collo figere dente notas.

A youth is dearer than gold, whose smooth cheeks shine
     Nor does a rough beard rub away embraces.
To him place shining arms upon the shoulder,
     And let the great riches of kings be despised. But Venus found the boy to lie with her secretly,               35
     While she fears and presses together his tender breasts continually,
And to give the panting one, with struggling tongues, wet kisses
     And to fix tooth-marks on his neck.

Non lapis hanc gemmaeque iuvant, quae frigore sola
     Dormiat et nulli sit cupienda viro.               40
Heu sero revocatur amor seroque iuventas,
     Cum vetus infecit cana senecta caput.
Tum studium formae est: coma tum mutatur, ut annos
     Dissimulet viridi cortice tincta nucis;
Tollere tum cura est albos a stirpe capillos               45

Not stone nor gems avail this, which alone by cold
     May sleep and be desired by no man.               40
Alas, love is recalled too late and youth too late,
     When old age has stained the head with gray.
Then there is a zeal for beauty: then the hair is altered, that it may disguise the years
     Dyed with the green bark of the walnut;
Then the care is to pluck white hairs from the root               45

Et faciem dempta pelle referre novam.
At tu, dum primi floret tibi temporis aetas,
Utere: non tardo labitur illa pede.
Neu Marathum torque: puero quae gloria victo est?

And to restore a new face when the skin has been stripped away.
At you, while the first age of your time blooms for you, use it: it slips away with no slow foot.
Nor strain after Marathus: what glory is there in a boy conquered?

     In veteres esto dura, puella, senes.               50
Parce precor tenero: non illi sontica causa est,
     Sed nimius luto corpora tingit amor.
Vel miser absenti maestas quam saepe querelas
     Conicit, et lacrimis omnia plena madent!
'Quid me spernis?' ait.

     Be hard toward old men, girl.               50
Parce, I pray, the tender one: it is not drunkenness that is his cause,
     But excessive love stains bodies with mud.
Vel miserable absenti how often sad complaints he throws,
     and all things are wet, filled with tears!
'Why do you scorn me?' he says.

'poterat custodia vinci:               55
     Ipse dedit cupidis fallere posse deus.
Nota venus furtiva mihi est, ut lenis agatur
     Spiritus, ut nec dent oscula rapta sonum;
Et possum media quamvis obrepere nocte
     Et strepitu nullo clam reserare fores.               60

'custody could be overcome:               55
     The god himself gave to the desirous the power to deceive.
Secret Venus is known to me, that she be treated like a gentle breeze,
     so that stolen kisses give no sound;
And I can, though the night is halfway on us, creep in
     and, with no noise, quietly unfasten doors.               60

Quid prosunt artes, miserum si spernit amantem
     Et fugit ex ipso saeva puella toro?
Vel cum promittit, subito sed perfida fallit,
     Est mihi nox multis evigilanda malis.
Dum mihi venturam fingo, quodcumque movetur,               65
     Illius credo tunc sonuisse pedes.'
Desistas lacrimare, puer: non frangitur illa,
     Et tua iam fletu lumina fessa tument.

What avail the arts, if she scorns the wretched lover
     And the cruel girl flees even from the very bed?
Or when she promises, yet the perfidious one suddenly deceives,
     For me the night must be watched because of many evils.
While I imagine that she will come to me, whatever stirs,               65
     Then I believe that her feet have sounded.'
Cease weeping, boy: she is not broken,
     And already your eyes, weary with tears, swell.

Oderunt, Pholoe, moneo, fastidia divi,
     Nec prodest sanctis tura dedisse focis.               70
Hic Marathus quondam miseros ludebat amantes,
     Nescius ultorem post caput esse deum;
Saepe etiam lacrimas fertur risisse dolentis
     Et cupidum ficta detinuisse mora:
Nunc omnes odit fastus, nunc displicet illi               75

They hate, Pholoe, I warn, the disdain of the god,
     Nor does it avail to have offered incense to the sacred hearths.               70
This Marathus once mocked wretched lovers,
     Unaware that an avenging god was at hand behind the head;
Often even he is said to have laughed at the tears of one grieving
     And to have held back the eager with a feigned delay:
Now he hates all pride, now arrogance displeases him               75

Quaecumque obposita est ianua dura sera.
At te poena manet, ni desinis esse superba.
Quam cupies votis hunc revocare diem!

Whatever hard bolt is set upon a door.
At te poena manet, ni desinis esse superba.
How you will long with vows to call back this day!

Quid mihi si fueras miseros laesurus amores,
     Foedera per divos, clam violanda, dabas?
A miser, et siquis primo periuria celat,
     Sera tamen tacitis Poena venit pedibus.
Parcite, caelestes: aequum est inpune licere               5
     Numina formosis laedere vestra semel.

What to me if you were about to wound wretched loves,
     Would you give oaths by the gods, to be secretly violated?
Ah wretch, and if anyone conceals perjuries at first,
     Yet late Punishment comes on silent feet.
Spare, ye heavens: is it right to be allowed to act with impunity               5
     to wound your numina once for the beautiful.

Lucra petens habili tauros adiungit aratro
     Et durum terrae rusticus urget opus,
Lucra petituras freta per parentia ventis
     Ducunt instabiles sidera certa rates:               10
Muneribus meus est captus puer, at deus illa
     In cunerem et liquidas munera vertat aquas.
Iam mihi persolvet poenas, pulvisque decorem
     Detrahet et ventis horrida facta coma;
Uretur facies, urentur sole capilli,               15

Seeking gains he yokes bulls to a nimble plough
     And the rustic urges on the hard work of the earth,
Seeking gains the seas, borne by ancestral winds,
     The fixed stars lead unsteady ships:               10
My boy is seized by gifts, but may a god turn those gifts
     Into a cradle and into flowing waters.
Already he will pay the penalties for me, and dust will strip away his beauty
     And roughened hair be swept by the winds;
May his face be burned, may his hair be scorched by the sun,               15

     Deteret invalidos et via longa pedes.
Admonui quotiens 'auro ne pollue formam:
     Saepe solent auro multa subesse mala.
Divitiis captus siquis violavit amorem,
     Asperaque est illi difficilisque Venus.               20
Ure meum potius flamma caput et pete ferro
     Corpus et intorto verbere terga seca.

     And the long road will deter weak feet.
I warned how often, "do not pollute your form with gold:
     Often many evils lie beneath gold."
     If anyone, seized by riches, has violated love,
     Venus is harsh and difficult for him.               20
Burn rather my head with flame and seek my body with iron,
     and cut my back with a twisted lash.

Nec tibi celandi spes sit peccare paranti:
     Est deus, occultos qui vetat esse dolos.
Ipse deus tacito permisit lene ministro,               25
     Ederet ut multo libera verba mero;
Ipse deus somno domitos emittere vocem
     Iussit et invitos facta tegenda loqui.'
Haec ego dicebam: nunc me flevisse loquentem,
     Nunc pudet ad teneros procubuisse pedes.               30

Nor let there be any hope for you, preparing to sin by hiding:
     There is a god who forbids hidden deceits.
The god himself, with a gentle minister, quietly permitted,               25
     that I should utter free words with abundant wine;
The god himself ordered those subdued by sleep to send forth a voice
     and (ordered) that things destined to be hidden should speak unwillingly.'
These things I was saying: now it shames me to have spoken in tears,
     now it shames me to have lain prostrate at tender feet.               30

Tum mihi iurabas nullo te divitis auri
     Pondere, non gemmis, vendere velle fidem,
Non tibi si pretium Campania terra daretur,
     Non tibi si, Bacchi cura, Falernus ager.
Illis eriperes verbis mihi sidera caeli               35
     Lucere et puras fulminis esse vias.
Quin etiam flebas: at non ego fallere doctus
     Tergebam umentes credulus usque genas.

Then you swore to me that you would sell your faith for no weight of rich gold,
     not for gems; not if the Campanian land were given you as the price,
     nor if, by Bacchus’ care, the Falernian field. By those words you would snatch from me the stars of heaven               35
     to shine and to be the pure paths of the thunderbolt. Nay, you even wept: but I, not skilled in deceiving,
     was wiping my wet cheeks, gullible to the last.

Quid faciam, nisi et ipse fores in amore puellae?
     Sed precor exemplo sit levis illa tuo.               40
O quotiens, verbis ne quisquam conscius esset,
     Ipse comes multa lumina nocte tuli!
Saepe insperanti venit tibi munere nostro
     Et latuit clausas post adoperta fores.

What shall I do, unless I myself were also a doorway in the girl's love?
     But I pray that she be light by your example.               40
O how often, lest any one be privy to the words,
     I myself, as companion, bore many lights at night!
Often, unsuspecting, he came to you by our gift
     And lay hidden behind doors closed and covered.

Tum miser interii, stulte confisus amari: 45

Then I, wretched, perished, foolishly trusting to be loved: 45

     Nam poteram ad laqueos cautior esse tuos.
Quin etiam adtonita laudes tibi mente canebam,
     Et me nunc nostri Pieridumque pudet.
Illa velim rapida Volcanus carmina flamma
     Torreat et liquida deleat amnis aqua.               50
Tu procul hinc absis, cui formam vendere cura est
     Et pretium plena grande referre manu.

     For I could have been more cautious of your snares.
Nay even, astonished, I chanted praises of you in my mind,
     And now I am ashamed of myself and of our Pierides.
May that one, Volcanus, scorch the swift songs with flame
     And may a flowing river of water wipe them away.               50
You be far away from here, you whose care is to sell form
     And to bring back a great price with a full hand.

At te, qui puerum donis corrumpere es ausus,
     Rideat adsiduis uxor inulta dolis,
Et cum furtivo iuvenem lassaverit usu,               55
     Tecum interposita languida veste cubet.
Semper sint externa tuo vestigia lecto,
     Et pateat cupidis semper aperta domus;
Nec lasciva soror dicatur plura bibisse
     Pocula vel plures emeruisse viros.               60

But you, who dared to corrupt the boy with gifts,
     Let your unavenged wife laugh at your continual deceits,
And when she shall have wearied the youth with furtive use,               55
     May she lie with you with a languid robe interposed.
May foreign footsteps always be upon your bed,
     And may your house lie ever open to the desirous;
Nor let your lascivious sister be said to have drunk more
     Cups, or to have bought more men.               60

Illam saepe ferunt convivia ducere Baccho,
     Dum rota Luciferi provocet orta diem.
Illa nulla queat melius consumere noctem
     Aut operum varias disposuisse vices.
At tua perdidicit, nec tu, stultissime, sentis,               65
     Cum tibi non solita corpus ab arte movet.

They often say that she keeps revels with Bacchus,
     While the wheel of Lucifer, risen, challenges the day.
She can do nothing better than to spend the night away
     Or to have arranged the various turns of her works.
But she has thoroughly learned to ruin you, nor do you, most foolish one, perceive,               65
     When an unaccustomed art stirs your body.

Tune putas illam pro te disponere crines
     Aut tenues denso pectere dente comas?
Ista haec persuadet facies, auroque lacertos
     Vinciat et Tyrio prodeat apta sinu?               70
Non tibi, sed iuveni cuidam volt bella videri,
     Devoveat pro quo remque domumque tuam.
Nec facit hoc vitio, sed corpora foeda podagra
     Et senis amplexus culta puella fugit.

Do you think she sets her hair out for you
     Or combs thin locks with a close‑toothed comb?
Does that face persuade these things, and that with gold she should conquer arms
     And be fit to come forth with a Tyrian fold at her breast?               70
She wishes not to seem fair to you, but to some certain youth,
     May she be vowed for whom both your goods and house are (pledged).
Nor does she do this from vice, but because foul podagra and the embrace
     Of an old man a well‑adorned girl flees.

Huic tamen adcubuit noster puer: hunc ego credam 75

Yet our boy reclined beside him: this one I will believe 75

Cum trucibus venerem iungere posse feris.
Blanditiasne meas aliis tu vendere es ausus?
Tune aliis demens oscula ferre mea?

That I could join with savage beasts?
Blanditiasne meas aliis tu vendere es ausus?
Then are you, mad, to carry my kisses to others?

Tum flebis, cum me vinctum puer alter habebit
     Et geret in regno regna superba tuo.               80
At tua tum me poena iuvet, Venerique merenti
     Fixa notet casus aurea palma meos:
'Hanc tibi fallaci resolutus amore Tibullus
     Dedicat et grata sis, dea, mente rogat'.

Then you will weep, when another boy will have me bound
     And will wield proud realms in your kingdom.               80
But then let your punishment help me, and may the golden palm, fixed, mark my fortunes as meriting Venus:
     'Having been freed from deceptive love, Tibullus
     dedicates this to you and begs that you, goddess, be pleased with his grateful mind.'

Quis fuit, horrendos primus qui protulit enses?
Quam ferus et vere ferreus ille fuit!
Tum caedes hominum generi, tum proelia nata,
Tum brevior dirae mortis aperta via est.

Who was he, who first thrust forth those horrendous swords?
How fierce and truly iron he was!
Tum slaughter for the human race, tum battles were born,
Then the open, shorter way of dreadful death was there.

An nihil ille miser meruit, nos ad mala nostra               5
     Vertimus, in saevas quod dedit ille feras?
Divitis hoc vitium est auri, nec bella fuerunt,
     Faginus adstabat cum scyphus ante dapes.
Non arces, non vallus erat, somnumque petebat
     Securus sparsas dux gregis inter oves.               10
Tunc mihi vita foret, volgi nec tristia nossem
     Arma nec audissem corde micante tubam;
Nunc ad bella trahor, et iam quis forsitan hostis
     Haesura in nostro tela gerit latere.

An did that wretched man deserve nothing, that we turn to our evils               5
     Because of what he gave to savage beasts do we fall?
This is the vice of rich gold, and there were no wars,
     Faginus stood by with a cup before the feasts.
There were no citadels, no palisade, and he sought sleep
     Secure, a leader of the scattered flock among the sheep.               10
Then life would have been mine, I would not have known
     The people's grim arms nor heard the trumpet with a flashing heart;
Now I am dragged to wars, and now perhaps some enemy
     Bearing weapons poised to stick in our flank lies hidden.

Sed patrii servate Lares: aluistis et idem, 15

But preserve the paternal Lares: you have nourished them likewise, 15

     Cursarem vestros cum tener ante pedes.
Neu pudeat prisco vos esse e stipite factos:
     Sic veteris sedes incoluistis avi.
Tum melius tenuere fidem, cum paupere cultu
     Stabat in exigua ligneus aede deus.               20
Hic placatus erat, seu quis libaverat uva,
     Seu dederat sanctae spicea serta comae,
Atque aliquis voti compos liba ipse ferebat
     Postque comes purum filia parva favum.

     I would run about you in my tenderness before your feet.
Nor let it shame you to be made from an ancient stump:
     Thus you dwelt in the seat of the old forefather. Then they kept faith better, when with humble dress
     a wooden god stood in a small shrine.               20
This one was placated, whether someone had poured a libation of grape,
     or had given sacred ears of grain as garlands for his hair,
And someone, having fulfilled his vow, himself bore cakes of offering
     and afterward the little daughter, accompanying, brought pure honeycomb.

At nobis aerata, Lares, depellite tela,               25
                              * * *                                        25a
                              * * *                                        25b
     Hostiaque e plena rustica porcus hara.
Hanc pura cum veste sequar myrtoque canistra
     Vincta geram, myrto vinctus et ipse caput.
Sic placeam vobis: alius sit fortis in armis
     Sternat et adversos Marte favente duces,               30

At nobis aerata, Lares, depellite tela,               25
                              * * *                                        25a
                              * * *                                        25b
     And for us, O Lares, cast away the brazen weapons from us.
A rustic sow from doorways and full stalls shall be the household offering.
I will follow her in a pure robe and bear baskets bound with myrtle,
my head also bound with myrtle. Thus may I please you: let another be strong in arms
and let him lay low opposing commanders with Mars favoring him,               30

Ut mihi potanti possit sua dicere facta
Miles et in mensa pingere castra mero.
Quis furor est atram bellis accersere mortem?
Inminet et tacito clam venit illa pede.

So that, to me drinking, a soldier may be able to tell his own deeds
and to paint camps upon the table with wine.
What madness is it to summon forth dark death by wars?
It threatens and stealthily comes with a silent foot.

Non seges est infra, non vinea culta, sed audax               35
     Cerberus et Stygiae navita turpis aquae;
Illic percussisque genis ustoque capillo
     Errat ad obscuros pallida turba lacus.
Quam potius laudandus hic est, quem prole parata
     Occupat in parva pigra senecta casa.               40
Ipse suas sectatur oves, at filius agnos,
     Et calidam fesso conparat uxor aquam.
Sic ego sim, liceatque caput candescere canis,
     Temporis et prisci facta referre senem.

Not a crop is below, not a tended vine, but the bold               35
     Cerberus and the foul ferryman of Stygian water;
There, with cheeks struck and hair scorched,
     a pale throng wanders to the shadowy lakes. How rather to be praised is this man, whom with offspring provided
     Occupies in a small lazy old age a little house.               40
He himself tends his own sheep, and his son the lambs,
     And his wife prepares warm water for the weary.
Thus may I be, and may my head be permitted to grow white with age,
     And as an old man to recount deeds of ancient time.

Interea pax arva colat. pax candida primum 45

Meanwhile let Peace cultivate the fields. Bright Peace first 45

     Duxit araturos sub iuga curva boves,
Pax aluit vites et sucos condidit uvae,
     Funderet ut nato testa paterna merum,
Pace bidens vomerque nitent—at tristia duri
     Militis in tenebris occupat arma situs—               50
Rusticus e lucoque vehit, male sobrius ipse,
     Uxorem plaustro progeniemque domum.
Sed Veneris tum bella calent, scissosque capillos
     Femina perfractas conqueriturque fores.
Flet teneras subtusa genas, sed victor et ipse               55
     Flet sibi dementes tam valuisse manus.

     He led the oxen to the ploughs beneath the curved yokes,
Pax nourished the vines and stored away the juices of the grape,
     That from the father’s jar he might pour unmixed wine for his son,
With peace the two-pronged share and the shining plough gleamed— but the grim
     Post of the stern soldier in the darkness takes up arms—               50
Rustic from the grove carries, himself ill-sober,
     His wife by wagon and his offspring home.
But then the wars of Venus burn, and the woman bewails her torn hair
     And her broken doors are complained of. She weeps with her tender cheeks pressed,               55
     Yet the victor himself weeps that his maddened hands were so strong for him.

At lascivus Amor rixae mala verba ministrat,
Inter et iratum lentus utrumque sedet.
A, lapis est ferrumque, suam quicumque puellam
Verberat: e caelo deripit ille deos. 60

But wanton Love supplies evil words for quarrel,
and sluggish between both he sits, each angry.
Ah, stone and iron is he who beats his own girl;
that one plucks the gods from heaven. 60

Sit satis e membris tenuem rescindere vestem,
     Sit satis ornatus dissoluisse comae,
Sit lacrimas movisse satis: quater ille beatus,
     Quo tenera irato flere puella potest.
Sed manibus qui saevus erit, scutumque sudemque               65
     Is gerat et miti sit procul a Venere.
At nobis, Pax alma, veni spicamque teneto,
     Perfluat et pomis candidus ante sinus.

Let it be enough to tear the delicate garment from the limbs,
     Let it be enough to have unbound the adorned hair,
Let it be enough to have stirred up tears: four times blessed is he,
     To whom the tender girl can weep in anger.
But let him be savage with his hands, and bear shield and spear               65
     Let him wear them and be far from gentle Venus.
But for us, nurturing Peace, come and hold the ear of corn,
     And may a bright plenty of fruits flow before our laps.