- Source
- Ovid. P. Ovidius Naso, Volume 1: Amores, Epistulae, Medicamina faciei femineae, Ars amatoria, Remedia amoris. Ehwald, Rudolf; Merkel, Rudolph; editors. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1907.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.3.1-1.3.26
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The poet pleads with the girl who captured his heart to either love him back or let him love her. He offers his unyielding fidelity, simple virtues, and poetic devotion in place of vast wealth, promising to render her name immortal through his verse just like the legendary heroines of old.
Iusta precor: quae me nuper praedata puella est,
I pray for just things: let the girl who has recently made me her prey
Aut amet aut faciat, cur ego semper amem!1
either love me or give me cause why I should always love her!
A, nimium volui — tantum patiatur amari;
Ah, I have wished for too much — let her only allow herself to be loved;
Audierit nostras tot Cytherea preces!
may Cytherea have heard so many of our prayers!
Accipe, per longos tibi qui deserviat annos;
Accept one who would serve you through long years;
Accipe, qui pura norit amare fide!
accept one who knows how to love with pure fidelity!
Si me non veterum commendant magna parentum
If the great names of ancient ancestors do not recommend me,
Nomina, si nostri sanguinis auctor eques,
if the founder of our bloodline is only a knight,
Nec meus innumeris renovatur campus aratris,
nor is my field renewed by countless plows,
Temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens —
and each thrifty parent regulates our expenses —
At Phoebus comitesque novem vitisque repertor
yet Phoebus and his nine companions and the discoverer of the vine
Hac faciunt,2 et me qui tibi donat, Amor,
take my side, and Love, who gives me to you,
Et nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores
and a fidelity that will yield to none, habits without blame,
Nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor.
and naked simplicity, and blushing shame.
Non mihi mille placent, non sum desultor amoris:3
A thousand girls do not please me, I am no horse-leaper of love:
Tu mihi, siqua fides, cura perennis eris.
you will be my perpetual care, if there is any faith.
Tecum, quos dederint annos mihi fila sororum,4
May it be my lot to live with you for whatever years the threads of the sisters shall give me,
Vivere contingat teque dolente mori!
and to die with you grieving!
Te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe —
Offer yourself to me as happy material for songs —
Provenient causa carmina digna sua.
songs worthy of their cause will come forth.
Carmine nomen habent exterrita cornibus Io
By song, Io, terrified by her horns, has a name,
Et quam fluminea lusit adulter ave,5
and she whom the adulterer deceived as a river bird,
Quaeque super pontum simulato vecta iuvenco
and she who, carried over the sea on a feigned bull,
Virginea tenuit cornua vara manu.
held the curved horns with her maiden hand.
Nos quoque per totum pariter cantabimur orbem,
We too shall be sung of equally throughout the whole world,
Iunctaque semper erunt nomina nostra tuis.
and my name will always be joined to yours.
- 1.3.2faciat, cur ego semper amem
faciat is a present subjunctive (jussive/optative) taking an indirect question clause introduced by the relative adverb cur (cur... amem) as its object, meaning "make it so that there is a reason why I should always love" (i.e., either love me back or give me a reason to keep loving).
- 1.3.12hac faciunt
The expression hac facere (literally "to act in this direction") is an idiomatic phrase meaning "to side with," "to favor," or "to act on this side." The subjects of this verb are Phoebus, comites, repertor (l. 11), Amor (l. 12), and the qualities listed in lines 13-14 (fides, mores, simplicitas, pudor).
- 1.3.15desultor amoris
The noun desultor (originally a circus rider who leaps from horse to horse) is here combined with the objective genitive amoris ("of love") to metaphorically denote an inconstant lover who moves rapidly from one object of affection to another.
- 1.3.17quos dederint annos mihi fila sororum
The noun annos (antecedent) is incorporated into the relative clause quos... dederint.... In the main clause, it functions as the object of vivere (vivere contingat quos annos... / "may it be my lot to live those years which..."). The sororum refers to the Fates (Parcae) who spin the threads of life.
- 1.3.22Et quam fluminea lusit adulter ave
The feminine antecedent (Leda) is omitted, and quam is the accusative relative pronoun introducing the clause. The subject is adulter (the adulterer, Jupiter), and fluminea ave is an ablative of instrument/means ("with/by means of a river bird", i.e., a swan), meaning "and her whom the adulterer deceived by means of a river bird."