- 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-lat2:3.12.1-3.12.44
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
The poet laments that his love elegies have made Corinna famous, attracting rival lovers and ruining his own romance. He argues that his praises of her should have been taken as mere poetic fiction, just like the numerous myths created by poets.
Quis fuit ille dies, quo tristia semper amanti
What day was that, on which for a lover always wretched
Omina non albae1 concinuistis aves?
you non-white birds sang together ill-omened things?
Quodve putem sidus nostris occurrere fatis,
Or what star should I think is confronting my fate,
Quosve deos in me bella movere querar?2
or what gods should I complain are waging war against me?
Quae modo dicta mea est, quam coepi solus amare,
She who was lately called mine, whom I alone began to love,
Cum multis vereor ne sit habenda mihi.
I fear must be shared by me with many.
Fallimur, an nostris innotuit illa libellis?
Am I mistaken, or has she become known through my books?
Sic erit — ingenio prostitit illa meo.
It must be so — she has prostituted herself through my talent.
Et merito! quid enim formae praeconia feci?
And deservedly! For why did I herald her beauty?
Vendibilis culpa facta puella mea est.
My girl has been made saleable by my own fault.
Me lenone placet, duce me3 perductus amator,
With me acting as a pimp she pleases; with me as guide, the lover is led in;
Ianua per nostras est adaperta manus.
the door was opened by my own hands.
An prosint,4 dubium, nocuerunt carmina semper;
Whether poems are of any use is doubtful; they have always done harm;
Invidiae nostris illa fuere bonis.
they have been a source of envy for my blessings.
Cum Thebae, cum Troia foret, cum Caesaris acta,
Though Thebes, though Troy existed, though the deeds of Caesar,
Ingenium movit sola Corinna meum.
Corinna alone moved my talent.
Aversis utinam tetigissem carmina Musis,
Would that I had touched poetry with the Muses turned away,
Phoebus et inceptum destituisset5 opus!
and Phoebus had abandoned the work I had begun!
Nec tamen ut testes mos est audire poetas;
And yet it is not the custom to listen to poets as witnesses;
Malueram verbis pondus abesse meis.
I had preferred that weight should be absent from my words.
Per nos Scylla patri caros furata capillos
Through us, Scylla, having stolen her father’s dear hair,
Pube premit rabidos inguinibusque canes;
girds her groin and pubes with raging dogs;
Nos pedibus pinnas dedimus, nos crinibus angues;
we gave wings to feet, we gave snakes to hair;
Victor Abantiades alite fertur equo.
the victorious descendant of Abas is said to be carried by a winged horse.
Idem per spatium Tityon porreximus ingens,
Likewise, we stretched Tityos out over a vast space,
Et tria vipereo fecimus ora cani;
and made three mouths for the viperous dog;
Fecimus Enceladon iaculantem mille lacertis,
we made Enceladus throwing missiles with a thousand arms,
Ambiguae captos virginis ore viros.
and men captured by the face of the ambiguous virgin.
Aeolios Ithacis inclusimus utribus Euros;
We enclosed the Aeolian winds in Ithacan bags;
Proditor in medio Tantalus amne sitit.
the traitor Tantalus thirsts in the midst of the river.
De Niobe silicem, de virgine fecimus ursam.
Of Niobe we made a stone, of the virgin a bear.
Concinit Odrysium Cecropis ales Ityn;
The bird of Cecrops sings of Odrysian Itys;
Iuppiter aut in aves aut se transformat in aurum
Jupiter transforms himself either into birds or into gold,
Aut secat inposita virgine taurus aquas.
or as a bull cuts the waters with the virgin placed upon him.
Protea quid referam Thebanaque semina, dentes;
Why should I mention Proteus and the Theban seeds, the teeth;
Qui vomerent flammas ore, fuisse boves;
and that there were bulls that spewed flames from their mouths;
Flere genis electra tuas, Auriga, sorores;
that your sisters wept amber on their cheeks, Charioteer;
Quaeque rates fuerint, nunc maris esse deas;
and those which were ships are now goddesses of the sea;
Aversumque diem mensis furialibus Atrei,
and the sun turned away from the furious feast of Atreus,
Duraque percussam saxa secuta lyram?
and hard rocks that followed the struck lyre?
Exit in inmensum fecunda licentia vatum,
The fertile license of poets goes on to infinity,
Obligat historica nec sua verba fide.
and does not bind its words with historical truth.
Et mea debuerat falso laudata videri6
And my woman ought to have seemed praised falsely;
Femina; credulitas nunc mihi vestra nocet.
now your credulity harms me.
- 3.12.2non albae
"non albae" (not white birds) is an instance of litotes, meaning "black/ill-omened birds." In Roman augury, white birds were favorable, whereas dark birds brought bad portents.
- 3.12.3putem, querar
The present subjunctives putem and querar are used as deliberative subjunctives in direct questions.
- 3.12.11Me lenone, duce me
Ablative absolute constructions consisting of a pronoun and a noun in the ablative case, functioning as circumstantial or conditional clauses ("with me as a pimp", "with me as a guide").
- 3.12.13prosint
Present subjunctive in an indirect question introduced by An ("whether"). The main clause predicate dubium (est) ("it is doubtful") is ellipted or treated parenthetically.
- 3.12.17tetigissem, destituisset
Pluperfect subjunctives used with utinam to express an unfulfilled wish in the past ("would that I had touched...", "and Phoebus had abandoned...").
- 3.12.43debuerat... videri
The pluperfect indicative debuerat is used to express a past obligation or propriety that was not fulfilled ("she ought to have seemed... but in fact did not").