Humanitext Reader

Ovid · The Loves §1.3.1-1.3.26

Devoted Courtship and the Promise of Immortality in Verse

Passage 4 of 53 · Latin

Summary

The poet pleads with the girl who captured his heart to either love him back or let him love her. He offers his unyielding fidelity, simple virtues, and poetic devotion in place of vast wealth, promising to render her name immortal through his verse just like the legendary heroines of old.

§1.3.1Iusta precor: quae me nuper praedata puella est, §1.3.2Aut amet aut faciat, cur ego semper amem!
I pray for just things: let the girl who has recently made me her prey either love me or give me cause why I should always love her!
§1.3.3A, nimium volui — tantum patiatur amari; §1.3.4Audierit nostras tot Cytherea preces!
Ah, I have wished for too much — let her only allow herself to be loved; may Cytherea have heard so many of our prayers!
§1.3.5Accipe, per longos tibi qui deserviat annos; §1.3.6Accipe, qui pura norit amare fide!
Accept one who would serve you through long years; accept one who knows how to love with pure fidelity!
§1.3.7Si me non veterum commendant magna parentum §1.3.8Nomina, si nostri sanguinis auctor eques, §1.3.9Nec meus innumeris renovatur campus aratris, §1.3.10Temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens — §1.3.11At Phoebus comitesque novem vitisque repertor §1.3.12Hac faciunt, et me qui tibi donat, Amor, §1.3.13Et nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores §1.3.14Nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor.
If the great names of ancient ancestors do not recommend me, if the founder of our bloodline is only a knight, nor is my field renewed by countless plows, and each thrifty parent regulates our expenses — yet Phoebus and his nine companions and the discoverer of the vine take my side, and Love, who gives me to you, and a fidelity that will yield to none, habits without blame, and naked simplicity, and blushing shame.
§1.3.15Non mihi mille placent, non sum desultor amoris: §1.3.16Tu mihi, siqua fides, cura perennis eris.
A thousand girls do not please me, I am no horse-leaper of love: you will be my perpetual care, if there is any faith.
§1.3.17Tecum, quos dederint annos mihi fila sororum, §1.3.18Vivere contingat teque dolente mori!
May it be my lot to live with you for whatever years the threads of the sisters shall give me, and to die with you grieving!
§1.3.19Te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe — §1.3.20Provenient causa carmina digna sua.
Offer yourself to me as happy material for songs — songs worthy of their cause will come forth.
§1.3.21Carmine nomen habent exterrita cornibus Io §1.3.22Et quam fluminea lusit adulter ave, §1.3.23Quaeque super pontum simulato vecta iuvenco §1.3.24Virginea tenuit cornua vara manu.
By song, Io, terrified by her horns, has a name, and she whom the adulterer deceived as a river bird, and she who, carried over the sea on a feigned bull, held the curved horns with her maiden hand.
§1.3.25Nos quoque per totum pariter cantabimur orbem, §1.3.26Iunctaque semper erunt nomina nostra tuis.
We too shall be sung of equally throughout the whole world, and my name will always be joined to yours.

Notes

  1. §1.3.2faciat, cur ego semper amem — `faciat` is a present subjunctive (jussive/optative) taking an indirect question clause introduced by the relative adverb `cur` (`cur... amem`) as its object, meaning "make it so that there is a reason why I should always love" (i.e., either love me back or give me a reason to keep loving).
  2. §1.3.12hac faciunt — The expression `hac facere` (literally "to act in this direction") is an idiomatic phrase meaning "to side with," "to favor," or "to act on this side." The subjects of this verb are `Phoebus`, `comites`, `repertor` (l. 11), `Amor` (l. 12), and the qualities listed in lines 13-14 (`fides`, `mores`, `simplicitas`, `pudor`).
  3. §1.3.15desultor amoris — The noun `desultor` (originally a circus rider who leaps from horse to horse) is here combined with the objective genitive `amoris` ("of love") to metaphorically denote an inconstant lover who moves rapidly from one object of affection to another.
  4. §1.3.17quos dederint annos mihi fila sororum — The noun `annos` (antecedent) is incorporated into the relative clause `quos... dederint...`. In the main clause, it functions as the object of `vivere` (`vivere contingat quos annos...` / "may it be my lot to live those years which..."). The `sororum` refers to the Fates (Parcae) who spin the threads of life.
  5. §1.3.22Et quam fluminea lusit adulter ave — The feminine antecedent (Leda) is omitted, and `quam` is the accusative relative pronoun introducing the clause. The subject is `adulter` (the adulterer, Jupiter), and `fluminea ave` is an ablative of instrument/means ("with/by means of a river bird", i.e., a swan), meaning "and her whom the adulterer deceived by means of a river bird."

Cite this passage

Ovid, The Loves §1.3.1-1.3.26. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.3.1-1.3.26

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.