- 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-lat2:2.9b.25-2.9b.54
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
The poet vows to reject any divine offer to abandon love, willingly accepting its uncertainties and pains. He entreats Cupid to maintain eternal dominion over his heart and over all girls.
'Vive' deus 'posito' siquis mihi dicat 'amore!'
”Live, having laid aside love!” if any god should say to me,
Deprecer1 — usque adeo dulce puella malum est.
I would pray against it — to such an extent is a girl a sweet evil.
Cum bene pertaesum est,2 animoque relanguit ardor,
When I am thoroughly weary, and the passion has grown faint in my mind,
Nescio quo miserae turbine mentis agor.
I am driven by some tempest of a wretched mind.
Ut rapit in praeceps dominum spumantia frustra
Just as a horse with a hard mouth sweeps its master headlong,
Frena retentantem durior oris equus;
who in vain holds back the foaming reins;
Ut subitus, prope iam prensa tellure, carinam
just as a sudden wind, when the land is now nearly gripped, sweeps back into the deep
Tangentem portus ventus in alta rapit —
the ship that is touching the harbor —
Sic me saepe refert incerta Cupidinis aura,
so the uncertain breeze of Cupid often brings me back,
Notaque purpureus tela resumit Amor.
and radiant Love takes up again his familiar weapons.
Fige, puer! positis nudus tibi praebeor armis;
Pierce me, boy! Stripped of my weapons, I offer myself naked to you;
Hic tibi sunt vires, hac tua dextra facit;
here is your strength, here your right hand acts;
Huc tamquam iussae veniunt iam sponte sagittae —
hither your arrows now come of their own accord, as if bidden —
Vix illis prae me nota pharetra sua est!3
their own quiver is scarcely more known to them than I am!
Infelix, tota quicumque quiescere nocte
Unhappy is he, whoever can endure to rest the whole night,
Sustinet et somnos praemia magna vocat!
and calls sleep a great reward!
Stulte, quid est somnus, gelidae nisi mortis imago!
Fool, what is sleep but the image of cold death!
Longa quiescendi tempora fata dabunt.
The Fates will give long times for resting.
Me modo decipiant voces fallacis amicae;
At one time let the words of a deceitful mistress deceive me;
Sperando certe gaudia magna feram.
by hoping at least I shall carry away great joys.
Et modo blanditias dicat, modo iurgia nectat;
And at another let her speak flatteries, at another spin quarrels;
Saepe fruar domina, saepe repulsus eam.4
often let me enjoy my mistress, often let me go, having been rejected.
Quod dubius Mars est, per te, privigne Cupido, est;
That Mars is doubtful in war is because of you, stepson Cupid;
Et movet exemplo vitricus arma tuo.
and your stepfather moves his weapons after your example.
Tu levis es multoque tuis ventosior alis,
You are light, and far more windy than your wings,
Gaudiaque ambigua dasque negasque fide.
and you give and deny joys with ambiguous faith.
Si tamen exaudis, pulchra cum matre, Cupido,
If, however, you listen, Cupid, along with your beautiful mother,
Indeserta5 meo pectore regna gere!
exercise in my breast a reign never to be deserted!
Accedant regno, nimium vaga turba, puellae!
Let girls, a too fickle crowd, join your kingdom!
Ambobus populis sic venerandus eris.
Thus you will be revered by both peoples.
- 2.9b.26deprecer
Formulates a potential subjunctive condition (future less vivid) with si ... dicat (line 25, present subjunctive) as the protasis and deprecer (line 26, present subjunctive) as the apodosis. Additionally, deprecari does not merely mean "to pray", but "to pray against, deprecate, or refuse".
- 2.9b.27pertaesum est
Perfect tense of the impersonal verb pertaedet (to be thoroughly weary of). Normally, the person feeling the weariness is in the accusative (here me is omitted), and the object of weariness is in the genitive, but here it is used absolutely to describe a general state of weariness.
- 2.9b.38vix illis prae me nota pharetra sua est
prae me expresses comparison, meaning "in comparison with me". For "them" (illis, dative, referring to the arrows), "their own quiver (pharetra sua) is scarcely known in comparison with me". This is a hyperbolic expression meaning that the arrows spend more time in the poet's body than in their own quiver, making the poet a more familiar target.
- 2.9b.43–46decipiant ... dicat ... nectat ... fruar ... eam
These are all present subjunctives used independently as jussive/concessive subjunctives ("let them deceive...", "let me enjoy..."). The third-person forms in lines 43-45 (decipiant, dicat, nectat) indicate acceptance of the mistress's behavior, while the first-person forms in line 46 (fruar, eam) express the poet's own resolve or resignation.
- 2.9b.52indeserta
An adjective derived from a passive participle, meaning "undeserted". Here it modifies regna (kingdom, reign) and means "a reign never to be abandoned or permanently maintained". It expresses the poet's vow never to actively escape from the domain of Love.