- 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.phi005.humanitext-lat2:76-150
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
The poet invokes Apollo's aid and emphasizes the importance of resisting the onset of love's disease early on. If the passion has already grown too strong for immediate cure, one must wait for the appropriate time when the initial fury subsides, and then take action—primarily by avoiding leisure and occupying the mind with work and activity.
Carminis et medicae, Phoebe, repertor1 opis.
O Phoebus, discoverer of song and of medical help.
Tu pariter vati, pariter succurre medenti:
Do you help equally the poet, and equally the healer:
Utraque tutelae subdita cura tua est.
both cares are subjected to your protection.
Dum licet, et modici tangunt praecordia motus,
While it is allowed, and moderate emotions touch the heart,
Si piget, in primo limine siste pedem.
if it displeases you, stop your foot on the very first threshold.
Opprime, dum nova sunt, subiti mala semina morbi,
Suppress the evil seeds of sudden disease while they are new,
Et tuus incipiens ire resistat equus.
and let your horse halt as it begins to go.
Nam mora dat vires, teneras mora percoquit uvas,
For delay gives strength; delay ripens tender grapes,
Et validas segetes quae fuit herba,2 facit.
and makes what was a green blade into strong crops.
Quae praebet latas arbor3 spatiantibus umbras,
The tree which provides broad shades for those walking,
Quo posita est primum tempore virga fuit;
was a twig at the time when it was first planted;
Tum poterat manibus summa tellure revelli:
then it could be torn from the surface of the earth by hands:
Nunc stat in inmensum viribus aucta suis.
now it stands, grown to an immense size by its own strength.
Quale sit id, quod amas, celeri circumspice mente,
Look around with a swift mind at what sort of thing that is which you love,
Et tua laesuro4 subtrahe colla iugo.
and withdraw your neck from the yoke that is about to hurt you.
Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur,
Resist the beginnings; too late is medicine prepared
Cum mala per longas convaluere moras.
when the evils have grown strong through long delays.
Sed propera, nec te venturas differ in horas;
But hasten, and do not defer yourself to coming hours;
Qui non est hodie, cras minus aptus erit:
he who is not ready today, will be less ready tomorrow:
Verba dat5 omnis amor, reperitque alimenta morando;
every love gives false words and finds nourishment by delaying;
Optima vindictae proxima quaeque dies.
the very next day is always the best for deliverance.
Flumina pauca vides de magnis fontibus orta:
You see few rivers rising from great springs:
Plurima collectis multiplicantur aquis.
very many are multiplied by gathered waters.
Si cito sensisses, quantum peccare parares,
If you had perceived quickly, how great a sin you were preparing to commit,
Non tegeres vultus cortice, Myrrha, tuos.
you would not, Myrrha, have covered your face with bark.
Vidi ego, quod fuerat primo sanabile, vulnus
I myself saw a wound, which had been curable at first,
Dilatum longae damna tulisse morae.
delayed, and bring the damages of long neglect.
Sed quia delectat Veneris decerpere fructum,
But because it pleases to pluck the fruit of Venus,
Dicimus adsidue 'cras quoque fiet idem.'
we say constantly ‘tomorrow also the same will happen.’
Interea tacitae serpunt in viscera flammae,
Meanwhile quiet flames creep into the vitals,
Et mala radices altius arbor agit.
and the evil tree drives its roots deeper.
Si tamen auxilii perierunt tempora primi,
Yet if the times of the first help have perished,
Et vetus in capto pectore sedit amor,
and old love has settled in the captured breast,
Maius opus superest: sed non, quia serior aegro
a greater work remains; but not because I am called late
Advocor, ille mihi destituendus erit.6
to the sick man, must he be abandoned by me.
Quam laesus fuerat, partem Poeantius heros
The Poeantian hero ought to have cut off with a certain hand
Certa debuerat praesecuisse manu;
the part which had been wounded;
Post tamen hic multos sanatus creditur annos
yet afterwards he is believed, healed after many years,
Supremam bellis imposuisse manum.
to have put the finishing hand to the wars.
Qui modo nascentes properabam pellere morbos,
I who just now was hastening to expel the rising diseases,
Admoveo tardam nunc tibi lentus opem.
now, lingering, slowly bring a late help to you.
Aut nova, si possis, sedare incendia temptes,
Either try to soothe the fresh fires, if you can,
Aut ubi per vires procubuere suas:
or when they have collapsed by their own strength:
Dum furor in cursu est, currenti cede furori;
while madness is in its course, yield to the running madness;
Difficiles aditus impetus omnis habet.
every onset has difficult access.
Stultus, ab obliquo qui cum descendere possit,
He is foolish as a swimmer who, when he can descend obliquely,
Pugnat in adversas ire natator aquas.
fights to go against the opposing waters.
Impatiens animus nec adhuc tractabilis artem
An impatient mind, not yet manageable,
Respuit, atque odio verba monentis habet.
rejects art and holds the words of the advisor in hatred.
Adgrediar melius tum, cum sua vulnera tangi
I shall approach better then, when he finally allows
Iam sinet, et veris vocibus aptus erit.
his wounds to be touched, and will be ready for true words.
Quis matrem, nisi mentis inops, in funere nati
Who, unless out of his mind, would forbid a mother
Flere vetet? non hoc illa monenda loco est.
to weep at the funeral of her son? She is not to be advised in this place.
Cum dederit lacrimas animumque impleverit aegrum,
When she has given her tears and filled her sick soul,
Ille dolor verbis emoderandus erit.
that grief will have to be moderated by words.
Temporis ars medicina fere est: data tempore prosunt,
Medicine is mostly an art of time: given in time they help,
Et data non apto tempore vina nocent.
and wines given at an unsuitable time do harm.
Quin etiam accendas vitia inritesque vetando,
Nay, you would even inflame vices and irritate by forbidding,
Temporibus si non adgrediare suis.
if you should not approach at your own proper times.
Ergo ubi visus eris nostra medicabilis arte,
Therefore, when you seem curable by our art,
Fac monitis fugias otia prima meis.
make sure to flee leisure first according to my warnings.
Haec, ut ames, faciunt; haec, quod fecere, tuentur;
These make you love; these protect what they have made;
Haec sunt iucundi causa cibusque mali.
these are the cause and food of the sweet evil.
Otia si tollas, periere Cupidinis arcus,
If you take away leisure, Cupido’s bows are perished,
Contemptaeque iacent et sine luce faces.
and his despised torches lie without light.
Quam platanus vino gaudet, quam populus unda,
As much as the plane tree rejoices in wine, as the poplar in water,
Et quam limosa canna palustris humo,
and as the marshy reed in muddy soil,
Tam Venus otia amat; qui finem quaeris amoris,
so much Venus loves leisure; you who seek an end of love,
Cedit amor rebus: res age, tutus eris.
love yields to business: do business, and you will be safe.
Languor, et inmodici sub nullo vindice somni,
Sloth, and excessive sleep under no guardian,
Aleaque, et multo tempora quassa mero
and dice, and temples shaken by much pure wine
Eripiunt omnes animo sine vulnere nervos:
take away all strength from the mind without a wound:
Adfluit incautis insidiosus Amor.
insidious Amor flows into the incautious.
Desidiam puer ille sequi solet, odit agentes:
That boy is accustomed to follow laziness, he hates those who act:
Da vacuae menti, quo teneatur, opus.
give to the empty mind a work by which it may be held.
- 76repertor
A noun in apposition to the vocative Phoebe in the same line. It complements the invocation of Apollo by referencing his dual roles as the initiator of both poetry and medicine, relevant to the previous verb adsit (§75).
- 84quae fuit herba
A relative clause functioning as the object of the main verb facit, with its antecedent (such as id) omitted, meaning "that which was a green blade." validas segetes serves as the predicative accusative.
- 85arbor
The antecedent arbor is attracted into the relative clause Quae praebet... and also functions as the subject of the main clause virga fuit. Despite the inverted word order, it is understood as "The tree which provides broad shades..."
- 90laesuro
Future active participle of laedo, modifying iugo (yoke). It actively and prophetically describes the harm that the yoke is bound to bring ("the yoke that is about to hurt you").
- 95Verba dat
The Latin idiom verba dare (literally "to give words") means "to deceive or cheat" (using mere words without substance).
- 110mihi destituendus erit
A periphrastic conjugation expressing obligation using the gerundive destituendus and esse. The dative mihi indicates the agent of the action ("by me"), meaning "he must not be abandoned by me."