- 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-lat2:2.14.1-2.14.44
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
The poet argues that abortion is a rash act endangering women's own lives, pointing out that great heroes and the human race itself only exist because of their mothers' protection, and implores the gods to forgive Corinna's mistake just this once.
Quid iuvat inmunes belli cessare puellas,1
What does it profit that girls, free from war, remain idle,
Nec fera peltatas agmina velle sequi,
and do not wish to follow the fierce ranks of shield-bearing Amazons,
Si sine Marte suis patiuntur vulnera telis,
if without battle they suffer wounds from their own weapons,
Et caecas armant in sua fata manus?
and arm blind hands for their own destruction?
Quae prima instituit teneros convellere fetus,
She who first resolved to tear out the tender fetus
Militia fuerat digna perire sua.2
deserved to perish by her own warfare.
Scilicet, ut careat rugarum crimine venter,
Is it forsooth so that the belly may lack the blemish of wrinkles,
Sternetur pugnae tristis harena tuae?
that the sad arena of your battle must be leveled?
Si mos antiquis placuisset matribus idem,
If the same custom had pleased ancient mothers,
Gens hominum vitio deperitura fuit,
the human race would have perished by its own fault,
Quique iterum iaceret3 generis primordia nostri
and he who would throw again the origin of our race
In vacuo lapides orbe, parandus erat.
in an empty world, stones, would have had to be provided.
Quis Priami fregisset opes, si numen aquarum
Who would have shattered the power of Priam, if the goddess of the waters,
Iusta recusasset pondera ferre Thetis?
Thetis, had refused to bear her proper burden?
Ilia si tumido geminos in ventre necasset,
If Ilia had killed the twins in her swelling womb,
Casurus dominae conditor Urbis erat;
the founder of the ruling City would have been about to fall;
Si Venus Aenean gravida temerasset in alvo,
If Venus had harmed Aeneas in her pregnant womb,
Caesaribus tellus orba futura fuit.
the earth would have been bereaved of the Caesars.
Tu quoque, cum posses nasci formosa, perisses,
You too, though you were able to be born beautiful, would have perished,
Temptasset, quod tu, si tua mater opus;
if your mother had attempted the same deed which you did;
Ipse ego, cum fuerim melius periturus amando,4
I myself, though I would have perished better by loving,
Vidissem nullos matre negante dies.
would have seen no days, had my mother denied me.
Quid plenam fraudas vitem crescentibus uvis,
Why do you cheat the full vine of its growing grapes,
Pomaque crudeli vellis acerba manu?
and pluck sour fruit with a cruel hand?
Sponte fluant matura sua — sine crescere nata;
Let them fall of their own accord when ripe—allow what is born to grow;
Est pretium parvae non leve vita morae.
life is no light reward for a small delay.
Vestra quid effoditis subiectis viscera telis,
Why do you dig out your own entrails with inserted instruments,
Et nondum natis dira venena datis?
and give dreadful poisons to the unborn?
Colchida respersam puerorum sanguine culpant
They blame the Colchian woman sprinkled with the blood of her children,
Aque sua caesum matre queruntur Ityn;
and lament Itys slain by his own mother;
Utraque saeva parens, sed tristibus utraque causis
Both were fierce parents, but each for sad reasons
Iactura socii sanguinis ulta virum.5
avenged herself on her husband by the loss of their shared blood.
Dicite, quis Tereus, quis vos inritet Iason
Tell me, what Tereus, what Jason incites you
Figere sollicita corpora vestra manu?
to pierce your own bodies with an anxious hand?
Hoc neque in Armeniis tigres fecere latebris,
Neither did tigers do this in Armenian lairs,
Perdere nec fetus ausa leaena suos.
nor did a lioness dare to destroy her own young.
At tenerae faciunt, sed non inpune, puellae;
But tender girls do it, yet not with impunity;
Saepe, suos utero quae necat, ipsa perit.
often she who kills her own in the womb, herself perishes.
Ipsa perit, ferturque rogo resoluta capillos,
She herself perishes, and is carried to the pyre with her hair undone,
Et clamant 'merito!' qui modo cumque vident.
and whoever see her, cry out, ‘Deservedly!’
Ista sed aetherias vanescant dicta per auras,
But let those words vanish through the ethereal breezes,
Et sint ominibus pondera nulla meis!
and let there be no weight to my omens!
Di faciles, peccasse semel concedite tuto,
Easy-going gods, grant her to have sinned once with safety,
Et satis est; poenam culpa secunda ferat!
and that is enough; let a second fault bring punishment!
- 2.14.1Quid iuvat inmunes belli cessare puellas
The subject of the impersonal expression Quid iuvat ("What does it profit") is the following infinitive clauses, cessare (in §2.14.1) and velle (in §2.14.2). puellas serves as the accusative subject of the infinitive cessare.
- 2.14.6Militia fuerat digna perire sua
This features a poetic, Greek-style construction where the adjective digna is modified by the infinitive perire (in prose, a relative clause of characteristic with the subjunctive like digna quae periret would be standard). militia sua ("by her own warfare") is an ablative of cause, metaphorically calling abortion a war. fuerat is a poetic use of the pluperfect instead of the imperfect or perfect.
- 2.14.11Quique iterum iaceret
The relative pronoun with the conjunction quique is resolved into et is qui ("and he who..."). The verb in the relative clause, iaceret, is in the imperfect subjunctive expressing characteristic or destiny. This functions as the subject for the main verb phrase parandus erat, referring to the mythological Deucalion who threw stones to repopulate the earth after the deluge.
- 2.14.21cum fuerim melius periturus amando
This is an active periphrastic subjunctive (the future active participle periturus with fuerim, the perfect subjunctive of esse), used here in a concessive cum-clause ("although I was destined to perish better by loving").
- 2.14.32Iactura socii sanguinis ulta virum
The perfect participle ulta of the deponent verb ulciscor operates as the finite main verb with the ellipsis of est (ulta est, "she avenged herself"). The phrase socii sanguinis ("of shared blood") refers to the loss of the children they shared with their husbands.