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Ovid · The Loves §1.9.1-1.9.46

Comparison of Lovers to Soldiers and Love as Warfare

Passage 11 of 53 · Latin

Summary

Ovid compares lovers to soldiers through their shared endurance of night vigils, arduous journeys, and strategic attacks, noting that even great mythological heroes were driven by love. He concludes that love rescued him from his own former laziness and turned him into an active soldier of Cupid.

§1.9.1Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido; §1.9.2Attice, crede mihi, militat omnis amans.
Every lover is a soldier, and Cupid has his own camp; Atticus, believe me, every lover is a soldier.
§1.9.3Quae bello est habilis, Veneri quoque convenit aetas.
The age which is fit for war is also suitable for Venus.
§1.9.4Turpe senex miles, turpe senilis amor.
An old soldier is a shameful thing, and shameful is elderly love.
§1.9.5Quos petiere duces animos in milite forti, §1.9.6Hos petit in socio bella puella viro.
The spirit which leaders seek in a brave soldier, a beautiful girl seeks in the man who is her companion.
§1.9.7Pervigilant ambo; terra requiescit uterque — §1.9.8Ille fores dominae servat, at ille ducis.
Both keep watch through the night; each rests on the ground — the one guards the doors of his mistress, the other those of his general.
§1.9.9Militis officium longa est via; mitte puellam, §1.9.10Strenuus exempto fine sequetur amans.
The soldier's duty is a long road; send the girl away, the active lover will follow without end.
§1.9.11Ibit in adversos montes duplicataque nimbo §1.9.12Flumina, congestas exteret ille nives, §1.9.13Nec freta pressurus tumidos causabitur Euros §1.9.14Aptaque verrendis sidera quaeret aquis.
He will go against opposing mountains and rivers doubled by storms, he will tread down the piled-up snows, nor, about to cross the seas, will he plead the swollen East winds as an excuse, nor will he seek stars suitable for sweeping the waters.
§1.9.15Quis nisi vel miles vel amans et frigora noctis §1.9.16Et denso mixtas perferet imbre nives?
Who but either a soldier or a lover will endure the cold of night and the snows mixed with heavy rain?
§1.9.17Mittitur infestos alter speculator in hostes; §1.9.18In rivale oculos alter, ut hoste, tenet.
One is sent into the hostile enemy as a scout; the other keeps his eyes on his rival, as if on an enemy.
§1.9.19Ille graves urbes, hic durae limen amicae §1.9.20Obsidet; hic portas frangit, at ille fores.
The former besieges heavy cities, the latter the threshold of a harsh mistress; this one breaks gates, but that one breaks doors.
§1.9.21Saepe soporatos invadere profuit hostes §1.9.22Caedere et armata vulgus inerme manu.
Often it has been useful to attack sleeping enemies and to slaughter an unarmed crowd with an armed hand.
§1.9.23Sic fera Threicii ceciderunt agmina Rhesi, §1.9.24Et dominum capti deseruistis equi.
Thus fell the fierce troops of Thracian Rhesus, and you, captured horses, deserted your master.
§1.9.25Nempe maritorum somnis utuntur amantes, §1.9.26Et sua sopitis hostibus arma movent.
Surely, lovers make use of the sleep of husbands, and move their weapons while the enemy is asleep.
§1.9.27Custodum transire manus vigilumque catervas §1.9.28Militis et miseri semper amantis opus.
To pass through the hands of guards and crowds of watchmen is always the task of the soldier and of the wretched lover.
§1.9.29Mars dubius nec certa Venus; victique resurgunt, §1.9.30Quosque neges umquam posse iacere, cadunt.
Mars is doubtful and Venus not certain; and the defeated rise again, and those fall whom you would say could never lie low.
§1.9.31Ergo desidiam quicumque vocabat amorem, §1.9.32Desinat.
Therefore, whoever used to call love laziness, let him cease.
ingenii est experientis amor.
Love is of an enterprising nature.
§1.9.33Ardet in abducta Briseide magnus Achilles — §1.9.34Dum licet, Argeas frangite, Troes, opes!
Great Achilles burns for the abducted Briseis — Trojans, while it is permitted, shatter the Argive power!
§1.9.35Hector ab Andromaches conplexibus ibat ad arma, §1.9.36Et, galeam capiti quae daret, uxor erat.
Hector went from the embraces of Andromache to arms, and it was his wife who put the helmet on his head.
§1.9.37Summa ducum, Atrides, visa Priameide fertur §1.9.38Maenadis effusis obstipuisse comis.
The highest of leaders, the son of Atreus, is said, when the daughter of Priam was seen, to have been amazed by her hair, spread out like a Maenad's.
§1.9.39Mars quoque deprensus fabrilia vincula sensit; §1.9.40Notior in caelo fabula nulla fuit.
Mars also, when caught, felt the craftsman's chains; no story was better known in heaven.
§1.9.41Ipse ego segnis eram discinctaque in otia natus; §1.9.42Mollierant animos lectus et umbra meos.
I myself was sluggish and born for unbuttoned leisure; the bed and the shade had softened my mind.
§1.9.43Inpulit ignavum formosae cura puellae §1.9.44Iussit et in castris aera merere suis.
Care for a beautiful girl impelled me, sluggard, and ordered me to earn my pay in her camp.
§1.9.45Inde vides agilem nocturnaque bella gerentem.
Thence you see me agile and waging nocturnal wars.
§1.9.46Qui nolet fieri desidiosus, amet!
Let him who does not wish to become lazy, love!

Notes

  1. §1.9.5petiere — A poetic shortened form of *petiverunt* (third-person plural perfect active indicative), not an infinitive. The antecedent *animos* is attracted into the relative clause *Quos... animos*.
  2. §1.9.9mitte — Imperative of the verb *mitto* (to send, dismiss). Here it carries a conditional force, implying "send the girl away/on a journey [and] the active lover will follow without end."
  3. §1.9.14verrendis sidera quaeret aquis — The adjective *apta* (suitable) takes the gerundive construction *verrendis aquis* (for sweeping the waters), either in the dative or ablative case depending on *apta*.
  4. §1.9.30neges — Present subjunctive second-person singular used as a generalizing potential ("one would deny / you would say... not"). The relative clause refers to the omitted subject of *cadunt*.
  5. §1.9.37visa Priameide — Ablative absolute ("the daughter of Priam having been seen"). The main subject *Atrides* (Agamemnon) is the subject of the nominative with infinitive construction *obstipuisse* governed by the personal verb of reporting *fertur* ("is said to have been amazed").

Cite this passage

Ovid, The Loves §1.9.1-1.9.46. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.9.1-1.9.46

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