- 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-lat2:1.6.1-1.6.74
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The poet pleads with and threatens the stubborn janitor to unlock the closed door and let him reach his lover, lamenting his suffering, but ultimately fails and departs at dawn.
Ianitor — indignum! — dura religate catena,
Janitor — oh, unworthy sight! — bound with a hard chain,
Difficilem moto cardine pande forem!
turn the hinge and open the difficult door!
Quod precor, exiguum est — aditu fac ianua parvo
What I pray for is a tiny thing — make it so that, with a small opening, the door,
Obliquum capiat semiadaperta latus.
half-open, may receive my slanting side.
Longus amor tales corpus tenuavit in usus
Long love has thinned my body for such uses,
Aptaque subducto pondere membra dedit.
and by removing weight has given me suitable limbs.
Ille per excubias custodum leniter ire
He shows how to go gently through the guards’ watches;
Monstrat: inoffensos derigit ille pedes.
he guides feet that stumble not.
At quondam noctem simulacraque vana timebam;
But once I used to fear the night and empty phantoms;
Mirabar, tenebris quisquis iturus erat.
I used to wonder at whoever was going to travel in the darkness.
Risit, ut audirem, tenera cum matre Cupido
Cupid, with his tender mother, laughed so that I might hear,
Et leviter 'fies tu quoque fortis' ait.
and gently said: “You too shall become brave.”
Nec mora, venit amor — non umbras nocte volantis,
And without delay, love came — I do not fear shadows flitting in the night,
Non timeo strictas in mea fata manus.
nor do I fear hands drawn against my fate.
Te nimium lentum timeo, tibi blandior uni;
I fear you, who are too unyielding; I flatter you alone;
Tu, me quo possis perdere, fulmen habes.
you hold the thunderbolt with which you can destroy me.
Adspice — uti videas, inmitia claustra relaxa —
Look — so that you may see, relax the cruel barriers —
Uda sit ut1 lacrimis ianua facta meis!
how wet the door has become with my tears!
Certe ego, cum posita stares ad verbera veste,
Surely I, when you stood with stripped clothing for your lashings,
Ad dominam pro te verba tremente tuli.
brought words to your mistress on behalf of your trembling self.
Ergo quae valuit pro te quoque gratia quondam —
Therefore, the gratitude which once had power on your behalf also —
Heu facinus! — pro me nunc valet illa parum?
alas, what a crime! — does it now have too little power for me?
Redde vicem meritis! grato licet esse2 quod optas.
Return the favor for my merits! You may be grateful, which you desire.
Tempora noctis eunt; excute poste seram!
The hours of the night are passing; knock the bolt from the post!
Excute! sic, inquam, longa relevere catena,
Knock it! Thus, I say, may you be released from your long chain,
Nec tibi perpetuo serva bibatur aqua!
nor may slave’s water be drunk by you forever!
Ferreus orantem nequiquam, ianitor, audis,
Iron-hearted janitor, you hear me praying in vain;
Roboribus duris ianua fulta riget.
the door, supported by hard oak, stands rigid.
Urbibus obsessis clausae munimina portae
Closed gates of defense are useful to besieged cities;
Prosunt; in media pace quid arma times?
but in the midst of peace, why do you fear weapons?
Quid facies hosti, qui sic excludis amantem?
What will you do to an enemy, you who thus shut out a lover?
Tempora noctis eunt; excute poste seram!
The hours of the night are passing; knock the bolt from the post!
Non ego militibus venio comitatus et armis;
I do not come accompanied by soldiers and weapons;
Solus eram,3 si non saevus adesset Amor.
I would be alone, if savage Love were not present.
Hunc ego, si cupiam, nusquam dimittere possum;
I cannot dismiss him anywhere, even if I should wish to;
Ante vel a membris dividar ipse meis.
sooner would I be divided from my own limbs.
Ergo Amor et modicum circa mea tempora vinum
Therefore, Love and a little wine around my temples
Mecum est et madidis lapsa corona comis.
are with me, and a crown slipped from my wet hair.
Arma quis haec timeat? quis non eat obvius illis?
Who would fear these weapons? Who would not go to meet them?
Tempora noctis eunt; excute poste seram!
The hours of the night are passing; knock the bolt from the post!
Lentus es: an somnus, qui te male perdat, amantis
You are sluggish: or does sleep, which may ruin you badly,
Verba dat in ventos aure repulsa tua?
scatter the lover’s words to the winds, repulsed by your ear?
At, memini, primo, cum te celare volebam,
But, I remember, at first, when I wished to hide from you,
Pervigil in mediae sidera noctis eras.
you were awake all night under the stars of midnight.
Forsitan et tecum tua nunc requiescit amica —
Perhaps even now your girlfriend is resting with you —
Heu, melior quanto sors tua sorte mea!
alas, how much better is your lot than mine!
Dummodo sic, in me durae transite catenae!
As long as it is so, pass onto me, hard chains!
Tempora noctis eunt; excute poste seram!
The hours of the night are passing; knock the bolt from the post!
Fallimur, an verso sonuerunt cardine postes,
Am I deceived, or did the posts sound with a turned hinge,
Raucaque concussae signa dedere fores?
did the shaken door give its hoarse signals?
Fallimur — inpulsa est animoso ianua vento.
I am deceived — the door was pushed by a spirited wind.
Ei mihi, quam longe spem tulit aura meam!
Woe is me, how far the breeze has carried away my hope!
Si satis es raptae, Borea, memor Orithyiae,
If you are sufficiently mindful, Boreas, of stolen Orithyia,
Huc ades et surdas flamine tunde foris!
come hither and beat these deaf doors with your blast!
Urbe silent tota, vitreoque madentia rore
They are silent in the whole city, and wet with glassy dew,
Tempora noctis eunt; excute poste seram!
the hours of the night are passing; knock the bolt from the post!
Aut ego iam ferroque ignique paratior ipse,
Or I myself, now better prepared with iron and fire,
Quem4 face sustineo, tecta superba petam.
which I sustain with a torch, will attack this proud house.
Nox et Amor vinumque nihil moderabile suadent;
Night and Love and wine persuade to nothing moderate;
Illa pudore vacat, Liber Amorque metu.
the former is free from shame, Liber and Love from fear.
Omnia consumpsi, nec te precibusque minisque
I have exhausted everything, yet neither by prayers nor threats
Movimus, o foribus durior ipse tuis.
have we moved you, oh you who are harder than your own doors.
Non te formosae decuit servare puellae
It did not suit you to guard the threshold of a beautiful girl;
Limina, sollicito carcere dignus eras.
you were worthy of an anxious prison.
Iamque pruinosus molitur Lucifer axes,
And now frosty Lucifer is steering his axle,
Inque suum miseros excitat ales opus.
and the winged bird rouses wretched men to their work.
At tu, non laetis detracta corona capillis,
But you, crown torn from my unhappy hair,
Dura super tota limina nocte iace!
lie upon the hard threshold all night long!
Tu dominae, cum te proiectam mane videbit,
You will be a witness to your mistress, when she sees you cast aside in the morning,
Temporis absumpti tam male testis eris.
of time so badly wasted.
Qualiscumque vale sentique abeuntis honorem;
Farewell, whatever you are like, and receive the tribute of one departing;
Lente nec admisso turpis amante, vale!
farewell, stubborn man, and shameful for not letting the lover in!
Vos quoque, crudeles rigido cum limine postes
You too, cruel doorposts with your rigid threshold,
Duraque conservae ligna, valete, fores!
and doors, hard wood of a fellow slave, farewell!
- 1.6.18Uda sit ut
The conjunction ut with the subjunctive sit is interpreted here either as an exclamation ('how wet...') or as an indirect question clause dependent on Adspice (1.6.17) ('see how...'). It could also be understood as a purpose clause ('so that...'), in which case it would modify relaxa.
- 1.6.23grato licet esse
The subject of the infinitive following licet (the implied tibi) attracts the predicate adjective gratus into the dative case grato (dative attraction). The meaning is 'it is permitted to you to be a grateful person, which is what you desire.'
- 1.6.34Solus eram
In a conditional sentence with a contrary-to-fact subjunctive imperfect in the protasis (si non adesset), the indicative imperfect (eram) is used in the apodosis. This is a rhetorical device emphasizing how close the event came to happening, or its vivid reality.
- 1.6.58Quem
The accusative masculine singular relative pronoun. Its antecedent is igni (ignisque) in the preceding line (1.6.57), meaning 'the fire which I sustain with a torch (fax).'