- 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-lat2:1.7.1-1.7.68
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The poet deeply regrets having committed violence against his beloved mistress in a fit of madness, compares his crime to the mad actions of mythological heroes, and begs her to take revenge on him and rearrange her disheveled hair.
Adde manus in vincla meas — meruere catenas —
Put my hands into bonds — they have deserved chains —
Dum furor omnis abit, siquis amicus ades!1
While all my madness departs, be present, if any friend is here!
Nam furor in dominam temeraria bracchia movit;
For madness moved rash arms against my mistress;
Flet mea vaesana laesa puella manu.
my girl, hurt by my mad hand, is weeping.
Tunc ego vel caros potui violare parentes
At that time, I could have violated even my dear parents,
Saeva vel in sanctos verbera ferre deos!
or have brought cruel lashes even against the holy gods!
Quid? non et clipei dominus septemplicis Aiax
What? Did not Ajax, the lord of the sevenfold shield, also
Stravit deprensos lata per arva greges,
lay low the captured flocks through the wide fields,
Et, vindex in matre patris, malus ultor, Orestes
and did not Orestes, the avenger of his father upon his mother, a bitter punisher,
Ausus in arcanas poscere tela deas?
dare to demand weapons against the mysterious goddesses?
Ergo ego digestos potui laniare capillos?
Could I, then, tear her well-arranged hair?
Nec dominam motae dedecuere comae.
Nor did the disheveled hair misbecome my mistress.
Sic formosa fuit. talem Schoeneida dicam
Thus she was beautiful. I would say that the daughter of Schoeneus was such
Maenalias arcu sollicitasse2 feras;
when she pursued the Maenalian wild beasts with her bow;
Talis periuri promissaque velaque Thesei
such was the Cretan maiden when she wept that the swift South Winds
Flevit praecipites Cressa tulisse Notos;
had carried away the promises and sails of the perjured Theseus;
Sic, nisi vittatis quod erat Cassandra capillis,
thus, except for the fact that Cassandra had her hair bound with sacred headbands,
Procubuit templo, casta Minerva, tuo.
she fell prostrate, chaste Minerva, in your temple.
Quis mihi non 'demens!' quis non mihi 'barbare!' dixit?
Who did not say to me “madman!”? Who did not say to me “barbarian!”?
Ipsa nihil; pavido est lingua retenta metu.
She herself said nothing; her tongue was held back by trembling fear.
Sed taciti fecere tamen convicia vultus;
But her silent face nevertheless made reproaches;
Egit me lacrimis ore silente reum.
with silent mouth she accused me as a defendant with her tears.
Ante meos umeris vellem cecidisse3 lacertos;
I would have wished my arms to have fallen first from my shoulders;
Utiliter potui parte carere mei.
Usefully could I have gone without a part of myself.
In mea vaesanas habui dispendia vires
I held mad strength to my own ruin,
Et valui poenam fortis in ipse meam.
and being strong, I exerted power to my own punishment.
Quid mihi vobiscum, caedis scelerumque ministrae?
What have I to do with you, ministers of slaughter and crimes?
Debita sacrilegae vincla subite manus!
Enter the deserved bonds, sacrilegious hands!
An, si pulsassem minimum de plebe Quiritem,
Or, if I had struck the lowest Roman citizen from the common people,
Plecterer — in dominam ius mihi maius erit?
I would be punished — shall I have a greater right against my mistress?
Pessima Tydides scelerum monimenta reliquit.
The son of Tydeus left behind the worst monuments of crimes.
Ille deam primus perculit — alter ego!
He was the first to strike a goddess — I am the second!
Et minus ille nocens. mihi, quam profitebar amare
And he was less guilty. To me, she whom I professed to love
Laesa est;4 Tydides saevus in hoste fuit.
was hurt; the son of Tydeus was cruel against an enemy.
I nunc, magnificos victor molire triumphos,
Go now, victor, prepare magnificent triumphs,
Cinge comam lauro votaque redde Iovi,
encircle your hair with laurel and pay your vows to Jupiter,
Quaeque tuos currus comitantum turba sequetur,
and let the crowd that follows accompanying your chariot
Clamet 'io! forti victa puella viro est!'
shout: “Io! A girl has been conquered by a brave man!”
Ante eat effuso tristis captiva capillo,
Let the sad captive go before with disheveled hair,
Si sinerent laesae, candida tota, genae.5
completely fair, if her bruised cheeks would allow it.
Aptius impressis fuerat livere labellis
It would have been more fitting for her lips to be bruised with deep kisses,
Et collum blandi dentis habere notam.
and for her neck to bear the mark of a gentle tooth.
Denique, si tumidi ritu torrentis agebar,
In short, if I was driven in the manner of a swollen torrent,
Caecaque me praedam fecerat ira suam,
and blind anger had made me its prey,
Nonne satis fuerat timidae inclamasse puellae,
would it not have been enough to have shouted at the timid girl,
Nec nimium rigidas intonuisse minas,
and to have thundered threats that were not too harsh,
Aut tunicam summa deducere turpiter ora
Or to have shamefully torn down her tunic from its top edge
Ad mediam? — mediae zona tulisset opem.
to her waist? — the belt of her waist would have brought help.
At nunc sustinui raptis a fronte capillis
But now, I had the heart, after tearing her hair from her forehead,
Ferreus ingenuas ungue notare genas.
iron-hearted, to scratch her noble cheeks with my nail.
Adstitit illa amens albo et sine sanguine vultu,
She stood stunned, with a white and bloodless face,
Caeduntur Pariis qualia saxa iugis.
just like the marble that is cut from the Parian hills.
Exanimis artus et membra trementia vidi —
I saw her lifeless limbs and trembling frame —
Ut cum populeas ventilat aura comas,
just as when the breeze stirs the poplar leaves,
Ut leni Zephyro gracilis vibratur harundo,
as when a slender reed is shaken by a gentle Zephyr,
Summave cum tepido stringitur unda Noto;
or when the surface of the wave is skimmed by the warm South Wind.
Suspensaeque diu lacrimae fluxere per ora,
And tears, held back for a long time, flowed down her face,
Qualiter abiecta de nive manat aqua.
just as water flows from melted snow.
Tunc ego me primum coepi sentire nocentem —
Then I first began to feel myself guilty —
Sanguis erant lacrimae, quas dabat illa, meus.
the tears she was shedding were my own blood.
Ter tamen ante pedes volui procumbere supplex;
Yet three times I wished to fall prostrate as a suppliant before her feet;
Ter formidatas reppulit illa manus.
three times she pushed back my feared hands.
At tu ne dubita — minuet vindicta dolorem —
But you, do not hesitate — revenge will lessen the pain —
Protinus in vultus unguibus ire meos.
to scratch my face with your nails immediately.
Nec nostris oculis nec nostris parce capillis:
Spare neither my eyes nor my hair;
Quamlibet infirmas adiuvat ira manus;
anger helps hands, however weak they are.
Neve mei sceleris tam tristia signa supersint,
And lest such sad signs of my crime remain,
Pone recompositas in statione comas!
put your rearranged hair back in its place!
- 1.7.2siquis amicus ades
The verb 'ades' (either the present imperative singular of 'adsum' or the second-person singular present indicative agreeing with an implied 'si quis amicus es, qui') is most naturally interpreted here as an imperative, entreating any friend who is present to restrain the poet's madness.
- 1.7.13talem Schoeneida dicam ... sollicitasse
Schoeneida (referring to Atalanta, daughter of Schoeneus) is a Greek accusative form. This is an accusative-and-infinitive (A.C.I.) construction governed by the main verb 'dicam' (present subjunctive or future indicative), where 'Schoeneida' serves as the subject accusative of the perfect infinitive 'sollicitasse'.
- 1.7.23vellem cecidisse
The imperfect subjunctive 'vellem' (expressing an unfulfilled wish: 'I would have wished') followed by the perfect infinitive 'cecidisse' indicates strong regret or a wish regarding a completed past state (that his arms had already fallen from his shoulders).
- 1.7.33mihi, quam profitebar amare / Laesa est
'mihi' is a dative of agent (or dative of reference) with 'laesa est'. The antecedent (the mistress) of the relative pronoun 'quam' is omitted and functions as the subject of the main verb 'laesa est', giving the syntactic structure: 'She whom I professed to love has been hurt by me (or to my sorrow)'.
- 1.7.40Si sinerent laesae, candida tota, genae
'candida tota' (nominative feminine singular) is an adjectival phrase modifying the preceding 'captiva' (the captive woman, meaning the mistress herself). 'sinerent' is an imperfect subjunctive in a counterfactual condition, showing that her bruised cheeks prevent her from appearing in her natural, completely fair state.