- 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-lat2:2.12.1-2.12.28
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
The poet boasts of his triumph in love by winning Corinna away from her guards, comparing his bloodless victory to a grand triumph solely achieved by himself. He recalls historical and mythological instances where women caused wars, noting that he too has marched under Cupid's banner.
Ite triumphales circum mea tempora laurus!
Go, triumphal laurels, around my temples!
Vicimus: in nostro est, ecce, Corinna sinu,
I have conquered: look, Corinna is in my embrace,
Quam vir, quam custos, quam ianua firma, tot hostes,
whom her husband, whom her guard, whom the firm door—so many enemies—
Servabant,1 nequa posset ab arte capi!
were watching, lest she should be captured by any art!
Haec est praecipuo victoria digna triumpho,
This victory is worthy of a special triumph,
In qua, quaecumque est, sanguine praeda caret.
in which, whatever it is, the prey is free from blood.
Non humiles muri, non parvis oppida fossis
No low walls, no towns surrounded with small ditches
Cincta, sed est ductu capta puella meo!
were taken, but a girl, by my own leadership!
Pergama cum caderent bello superata bilustri,
When Pergama fell, conquered in the ten-year war,
Ex tot in Atridis pars quota2 laudis erat?
how small a part of the praise belonged to the sons of Atreus among so many?
At mea seposita est et ab omni milite dissors3
But my glory is set apart and unshared with any soldier,
Gloria, nec titulum muneris alter habet.
nor does another hold the title of the achievement.
Me duce ad hanc voti finem, me milite4 veni;
I came to this end of my wish with myself as leader, myself as soldier;
Ipse eques, ipse pedes, signifer ipse fui.
I myself was the horseman, myself the foot-soldier, myself the standard-bearer.
Nec casum fortuna meis inmiscuit actis —
Nor did fortune mix chance with my deeds—
Huc ades, o cura parte Triumphe mea!5
be present here, O Triumph, my care won by my effort!
Nec belli est nova causa mei. nisi rapta fuisset
Nor is the cause of my war new. If the daughter of Tyndareus
Tyndaris, Europae pax Asiaeque foret.
had not been carried off, there would be peace for Europe and Asia.
Femina silvestris Lapithas populumque biformem
A woman basely turned the wild Lapiths and the double-formed people
Turpiter adposito vertit in arma mero;
to arms when the wine was set before them;
Femina Troianos iterum nova bella movere
a woman forced the Trojans to stir up new wars again
Inpulit in regno, iuste Latine, tuo;
in your kingdom, just Latinus;
Femina Romanis etiamnunc urbe recenti
a woman also, when the city was still new, sent the fathers-in-law
Inmisit soceros armaque saeva dedit.
against the Romans and gave them cruel arms.
Vidi ego pro nivea pugnantes coniuge tauros;
I myself saw bulls fighting for a snow-white mate;
Spectatrix animos ipsa iuvenca dabat.
the heifer herself, as spectator, gave them courage.
Me quoque, qui multos,6 sed me sine caede, Cupido
Cupid, who has commanded many, ordered me too—but me without bloodshed—
Iussit militiae signa movere suae.
to move the standards of his warfare.
- 2.12.3Quam vir, quam custos, quam ianua firma, tot hostes, / Servabant
The relative pronoun quam refers to Corinna in the previous line. The three subjects vir (husband), custos (guard), and ianua firma (firm door) are in apposition with tot hostes (so many enemies), acting as the subject of the plural verb servabant.
- 2.12.10pars quota
An interrogative expression meaning "how small a part". Here it has a rhetorical force, implying "how insignificantly small (in fact, almost non-existent) was the share of praise that belonged to the Atridae among so many soldiers."
- 2.12.11ab omni milite dissors
The adjective dissors (having no share, unshared) governs the ablative with ab, meaning "unshared with any other soldier."
- 2.12.13Me duce ... me milite
Ablative absolute (noun + noun construction). It translates to "with myself as leader, with myself as soldier," emphasizing that he won his love entirely by his own efforts without anyone else's help.
- 2.12.16o cura parte Triumphe mea
Although many manuscripts read parte, it is widely regarded as a scribal error for the perfect passive participle parta (from pario, feminine ablative singular), agreeing with curā meā as an ablative absolute or ablative of means ("won by my effort"). Alternatively, cura can be understood in apposition with the vocative Triumphe ("my care/love").
- 2.12.27qui multos
In the relative clause introduced by qui, the verb of the main clause iussit is omitted in an instance of prolepsis. It should be understood with the ellipsis supplied: "who has ordered many [to move the standards of his warfare]."