Humanitext Reader

Ovid · The Loves §1.ep.1-1.ep.4

Reduction to Three Books and Address to the Reader

Passage 1 of 53 · Latin

Summary

The poet announces that his collection *Amores* has been reduced from five books to three, humorously suggesting that even if the reading brings no pleasure, the reader's suffering will at least be shorter.

§1.ep.1Qui modo Nasonis fueramus quinque libelli, §1.ep.2Tres sumus; hoc illi praetulit auctor opus.
We who just now had been five little books of Naso, are now three; the author preferred this work to that one.
§1.ep.3Ut iam nulla tibi nos sit legisse voluptas, §1.ep.4At levior demptis poena duobus erit.
Even if reading us should now be no pleasure for you, yet the pain will be lighter with two books removed.

Notes

  1. §1.ep.1fueramus — First-person plural pluperfect indicative of sum. It emphasizes that what "had been" the case in the past is no longer true in the present.
  2. §1.ep.2illi — Dative singular of the demonstrative pronoun ille, serving as the indirect object of praetulit (perfect of praefero, "to prefer [something, acc.] to [something, dat.]"). It refers to the previous five-book edition.
  3. §1.ep.3Ut — Introducing a concessive clause ("even if", "although") with the subjunctive sit in line 3.
  4. §1.ep.4demptis... duobus — An ablative absolute construction consisting of demptis (perfect passive participle of demo, "to remove") and duobus (ablative of duo, "two"), meaning "with two books having been removed."

Cite this passage

Ovid, The Loves §1.ep.1-1.ep.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.ep.1-1.ep.4

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