§2.5.1Nullus amor tanti est — abeas, pharetrate Cupido! — §2.5.2Ut mihi sint totiens maxima vota mori. §2.5.3Vota mori mea sunt, cum te peccasse recordor, §2.5.4O mihi perpetuum nata puella malum! §2.5.5Non male deletae nudant tua facta tabellae, §2.5.6Nec data furtive munera crimen habent. §2.5.7O utinam arguerem sic, ut non vincere possem!
No love is of such value — away with you, quivered Cupid! — that my greatest wish should so often be to die. To die is my wish, when I remember that you have sinned, O girl born to be my everlasting ruin! It is not that poorly erased tablets expose your deeds, nor do secretly given gifts hold the charge. Oh, would that I were bringing my accusation in such a way that I could not win!
§2.5.8Me miserum! quare tam bona causa mea est?
Wretched me!
§2.5.9Felix, qui quod amat defendere fortiter audet, §2.5.10Cui sua 'non feci!' dicere amica potest. §2.5.11Ferreus est nimiumque suo favet ille dolori, §2.5.12Cui petitur victa palma cruenta rea. §2.5.13Ipse miser vidi, cum me dormire putares, §2.5.14Sobrius adposito crimina vestra mero. §2.5.15Multa supercilio vidi vibrante loquentes; §2.5.16Nutibus in vestris pars bona vocis erat. §2.5.17Non oculi tacuere tui, conscriptaque vino §2.5.18Mensa, nec in digitis littera nulla fuit. §2.5.19Sermonem agnovi, quod non videatur, agentem §2.5.20Verbaque pro certis iussa valere notis. §2.5.21Iamque frequens ierat mensa conviva relicta; §2.5.22Conpositi iuvenes unus et alter erant. §2.5.23Inproba tum vero iungentes oscula vidi — §2.5.24Illa mihi lingua nexa fuisse liquet — §2.5.25Qualia non fratri tulerit germana severo, §2.5.26Sed tulerit cupido mollis amica viro; §2.5.27Qualia credibile est non Phoebo ferre Dianam, §2.5.28Sed Venerem Marti saepe tulisse suo. §2.5.29'Quid facis?' exclamo, 'quo nunc mea gaudia differs? §2.5.30Iniciam dominas in mea iura manus! §2.5.31Haec tibi sunt mecum, mihi sunt communia tecum — §2.5.32In bona cur quisquam tertius ista venit?' §2.5.33Haec ego, quaeque dolor linguae dictavit; at illi §2.5.34Conscia purpureus venit in ora pudor, §2.5.35Quale coloratum Tithoni coniuge caelum §2.5.36Subrubet, aut sponso visa puella novo; §2.5.37Quale rosae fulgent inter sua lilia mixtae, §2.5.38Aut ubi cantatis Luna laborat equis, §2.5.39Aut quod, ne longis flavescere possit ab annis, §2.5.40Maeonis Assyrium femina tinxit ebur. §2.5.41Hic erat aut alicui color ille simillimus horum, §2.5.42Et numquam visu pulchrior illa fuit. §2.5.43Spectabat terram — terram spectare decebat; §2.5.44Maesta erat in vultu — maesta decenter erat. §2.5.45Sicut erant, et erant culti, laniare capillos §2.5.46Et fuit in teneras impetus ire genas — §2.5.47Ut faciem vidi, fortes cecidere lacerti; §2.5.48Defensa est armis nostra puella suis. §2.5.49Qui modo saevus eram, supplex ultroque rogavi, §2.5.50Oscula ne nobis deteriora daret. §2.5.51Risit et ex animo dedit optima — qualia possent §2.5.52Excutere irato tela trisulca Iovi; §2.5.53Torqueor infelix, ne tam bona senserit alter, §2.5.54Et volo non ex hac illa fuisse nota. §2.5.55Haec quoque, quam docui, multo meliora fuerunt, §2.5.56Et quiddam visa est addidicisse novi. §2.5.57Quod nimium placuere, malum est, quod tota labellis §2.5.58Lingua tua est nostris, nostra recepta tuis. §2.5.59Nec tamen hoc unum doleo — non oscula tantum §2.5.60Iuncta queror, quamvis haec quoque iuncta queror;
Why is my case so strong? Happy is he who dares to defend bravely what he loves, to whom his mistress can say, "I did not do it!" He is made of iron and favors his own pain too much, for whom a bloody palm is sought from a defeated female defendant. I myself, wretched, saw, when you thought I was sleeping, sober, though the wine was served, your criminal acts. I saw you speaking many things with trembling eyebrows; in your nods was a good part of your voice. Your eyes were not silent, and the table was written over with wine, nor was there no letter traced by your fingers. I recognized a conversation dealing with what should not be seen, and words ordered to stand for specific signs. And now many a guest had left the table and departed; one or two youths were asleep. Then indeed I saw you joining shameless kisses — it is clear to me that those were woven with tongues — such as a sister would not give to a stern brother, but a gentle mistress would give to her passionate lover; such as it is unbelievable that Diana gives to Phoebus, but Venus is believed to have often given to her Mars. "What are you doing?" I cry out, "where now do you delay my joys? I shall lay my sovereign hands upon you by my own right! These blessings of yours are shared between you and me, and mine with you — why does any third party enter into that property of ours?" Thus I spoke, and whatever pain dictated to my tongue; but upon her conscious face came a crimson blush, just as the sky, colored by Tithonus' wife, grows red, or a girl seen by her new betrothed; just as roses shine mixed among their lilies, or when the Moon struggles with her horses under a spell, or as the Assyrian ivory which, lest it should grow yellow from long years, a Maeonian woman has dyed. Her color was this, or very like one of these, and she was never more beautiful to look upon. She was looking at the ground — it was fitting to look at the ground; she was sad in her countenance — she was decently sad. Just as they were, and they were well-groomed, I felt an impulse to tear her hair and to fly at her tender cheeks — but when I saw her face, my strong arms fell; our girl was defended by her own weapons. I, who just now was savage, became a suppliant and of my own accord asked that she would not give me worse kisses. She smiled and from her heart gave the best — such as could shake the three-forked lightning from the hands of angry Jupiter; I am tormented, wretched man, lest the other should have felt them so good, and I wish those had not been of this very quality. These too were much better than those I taught her, and she seemed to have learned something new besides. That they pleased too much is the evil, that your whole tongue was received by my lips, and mine by yours. Yet I do not grieve for this alone — I do not complain only of kisses joined, though I complain of these joined ones too; those could never have been taught except in bed.