I would not dare to defend my faulty morals, nor to move false arms on behalf of my vices.
I confess — if it is of any use to confess one's sins; now, mad, having confessed, I go to face my own charges.
§2.4.5Odi, nec possum, cupiens, non esse quod odi; §2.4.6Heu, quam quae studeas ponere ferre grave est!
I hate [it], yet, in my desire, I cannot not be what I hate; alas, how heavy it is to bear what you strive to lay aside!
For strength and the right to govern myself are lacking to me; I am carried away like a ship driven by swift water.
§2.4.9Non est certa meos quae forma invitet amores — §2.4.10Centum sunt causae, cur ego semper amem.
There is no fixed beauty that invites my love — there are a hundred reasons why I am always in love.
§2.4.11Sive aliqua est oculos in humum deiecta modestos, §2.4.12Uror, et insidiae sunt pudor ille meae; §2.4.13Sive procax aliqua est, capior, quia rustica non est, §2.4.14Spemque dat in molli mobilis esse toro.
If some girl has her modest eyes cast down to the ground, I burn, and that modesty is my snare; or if some girl is forward, I am captured because she is not rustic, and she gives hope that she is active on the soft bed.
If she seems harsh and imitating the rigid Sabine women, I think she wishes it, but dissembles from deep within.
§2.4.17Sive es docta, places raras dotata per artes; §2.4.18Sive rudis, placita es simplicitate tua.
Or if you are learned, you please, endowed with rare arts; or if unrefined, you please by your simplicity.
§2.4.19Est, quae Callimachi prae nostris rustica dicat §2.4.20Carmina — cui placeo, protinus ipsa placet.
There is one who says that Callimachus' poems are rustic compared to mine — she whom I please immediately pleases me herself.
There is also one who finds fault with me as a poet and with my poems — I would desire to support the thigh of her who finds fault.
One walks softly — she captivates by her movement; another is stiff — but she will be able to be softer once a man has touched her.
§2.4.25Haec quia dulce canit flectitque facillima vocem, §2.4.26Oscula cantanti rapta dedisse velim; §2.4.27Haec querulas habili percurrit pollice chordas — §2.4.28Tam doctas quis non possit amare manus?
Because this one sings sweetly and modulates her voice with greatest ease, I would wish to have given snatched kisses to her as she sings; this one runs over the plaintive strings with a skillful thumb — who could not love such skilled hands?
§2.4.29Illa placet gestu numerosaque bracchia ducit §2.4.30Et tenerum molli torquet ab arte latus — §2.4.31Ut taceam de me, qui causa tangor ab omni, §2.4.32Illic Hippolytum pone, Priapus erit!
That one pleases by her gesture, and moves her arms in rhythm, and twists her tender side with soft art — to say nothing of myself, who am touched by every cause, put Hippolytus there, he will be a Priapus!
You, because you are so tall, equal the ancient heroines, and can lie taking up much space on the whole bed.
§2.4.35Haec habilis brevitate sua est.
This one is handy in her shortness.
corrumpor utraque; §2.4.36Conveniunt voto longa brevisque meo.
I am seduced by both; the tall and the short one both suit my desire.
§2.4.37Non est culta — subit, quid cultae accedere possit; §2.4.38Ornata est — dotes exhibet ipsa suas.
She is not well-dressed — it occurs to me what could be added if she were; she is adorned — she herself displays her own endowments.
A fair-skinned girl will captivate me, a blonde girl will captivate me, there is also a pleasing Venus in a dark complexion.
§2.4.41Seu pendent nivea pulli cervice capilli, §2.4.42Leda fuit nigra conspicienda coma; §2.4.43Seu flavent, placuit croceis Aurora capillis.
Or if dark hair hangs from a snowy neck, Leda was remarkable for her black hair; or if they are golden, Aurora pleased with saffron hair.
§2.4.44Omnibus historiis se meus aptat amor.
My love adapts itself to all mythological stories.
A young age arouses me, a later age touches me; the latter is better, the former pleases by her physical appearance.