§2.19.1Si tibi non opus est servata, stulte, puella, §2.19.2At mihi fac serves, quo magis ipse velim!
If you have no need, fool, of your girl being guarded, at least make sure you guard her for me, so that I myself may desire her more!
§2.19.3Quod licet, ingratum est; quod non licet acrius urit.
What is allowed is unpleasant; what is not allowed burns more fiercely.
§2.19.4Ferreus est, siquis, quod sinit alter, amat
He is made of iron, if anyone loves what another permits.
Let us as lovers hope equally, let us fear equally, and let an occasional rejection make room for our vows.
§2.19.7Quo mihi fortunam, quae numquam fallere curet?
What is the use to me of fortune that never cares to deceive?
§2.19.8Nil ego, quod nullo tempore laedat, amo!
I love nothing that at no time causes pain!
Clever Corinna had seen this flaw in me, and she, cunning, knew the means by which I could be captured.
Ah, how often, feigning headaches when her mind was sound, she ordered me, as I lingered, to depart with slow step!
§2.19.13A, quotiens finxit culpam, quantumque licebat §2.19.14Insonti, speciem praebuit esse nocens!
Ah, how often she invented a fault, and how much she, to the innocent me, presented the appearance of being guilty herself!
Thus when she had vexed and rekindled my lukewarm fire, she was again gentle and accommodating to my desires.
§2.19.17Quas mihi blanditias, quam dulcia verba parabat
What flatteries, what sweet words she would prepare for me!
§2.19.18Oscula, di magni, qualia quotque dabat!
Great gods, what kind of kisses and how many she used to give!
§2.19.19Tu quoque, quae nostros rapuisti nuper ocellos, §2.19.20Saepe time simulans, saepe rogata nega; §2.19.21Et sine me ante tuos proiectum in limine postis §2.19.22Longa pruinosa frigora nocte pati.
You too, who have recently stolen my eyes, often pretend to be afraid, and often, when asked, deny me; and let me, cast down before your doorposts on the threshold, endure long chills in the frosty night.
§2.19.23Sic mihi durat amor longosque adolescit in annos; §2.19.24Hoc iuvat; haec animi sunt alimenta mei.
Thus my love lasts and grows into long years; this pleases me; these are the nourishments of my soul.
§2.19.25Pinguis amor nimiumque patens in taedia nobis §2.19.26Vertitur et, stomacho dulcis ut esca, nocet.
A sluggish love and one too easily accessible turns for us into boredom and, like sweet food to the stomach, does harm.
§2.19.27Si numquam Danaen habuisset aenea turris, §2.19.28Non esset Danae de Iove facta parens; §2.19.29Dum servat Iuno mutatam cornibus Io, §2.19.30Facta est, quam fuerat, gratior illa Iovi.
If the bronze tower had never held Danae, Danae would not have been made a mother by Jove; While Juno guarded Io, who was changed with horns, she became more pleasing to Jove than she had been before.
§2.19.31Quod licet et facile est quisquis cupit, arbore frondis §2.19.32Carpat et e magno flumine potet aquam.
Whoever desires what is allowed and easy, let him pluck leaves from a tree and drink water from a great river.
§2.19.33Siqua volet regnare diu, deludat amantem.
If any woman wishes to rule long, let her delude her lover.
§2.19.34Ei mihi, ne monitis torquear ipse meis!
Ah me, let me not be tortured by my own counsels!
§2.19.35Quidlibet eveniat, nocet indulgentia nobis — §2.19.36Quod sequitur, fugio; quod fugit, ipse sequor.
Whatever happens, indulgence hurts us — I flee what follows; what flees, I myself pursue.
But you, too secure about your beautiful girl, begin now to close your door at the first part of the night.
§2.19.39Incipe, quis totiens furtim tua limina pulset, §2.19.40Quaerere, quid latrent nocte silente canes, §2.19.41Quas ferat et referat sollers ancilla tabellas, §2.19.42Cur totiens vacuo secubet ipsa toro.
Begin to ask who knocks so often secretly at your threshold, why the dogs bark in the silent night, what tablets the clever maid carries back and forth, why she herself sleeps so often in an empty bed.
Let that care at last bite into your marrow, and give room and material for our tricks.
That man can steal sands from an empty shore, if anyone can love the wife of a fool.
And now I forewarn you: unless you begin to guard your girl, she will begin to cease being mine!
I have borne much and for a long time; I often hoped it would be, when you had guarded her well, that I might deceive you well.
You are sluggish and endure what no husband should endure; but to me, it will be the end of allowed love!
§2.19.53Scilicet infelix numquam prohibebor adire?
Shall I indeed, wretched, never be forbidden to approach?
§2.19.54Nox mihi sub nullo vindice semper erit?
Will night always be for me with no avenger?
§2.19.55Nil metuam? per nulla traham suspiria somnos?
Shall I fear nothing? Shall I draw sighs through no sleep?
§2.19.56Nil facies, cur te iure perisse velim?
Will you do nothing, why I should rightly wish you to perish?
§2.19.57Quid mihi cum facili, quid cum lenone marito?
What have I to do with an easy husband, what with a pimp-like husband?
§2.19.58Corrumpit vitio gaudia nostra suo.
He ruins our pleasures with his own vice.
§2.19.59Quin alium, quem tanta iuvat patientia, quaeris?
Why not look for another, whom such great patience pleases?
§2.19.60Me tibi rivalem si iuvat esse, veta!
If it pleases you that I be your rival, forbid it!