Humanitext Reader

Ovid · The Loves §3.11b.1-3.11b.52

Inner Conflict Between Love and Hate for a Mistress

Passage 49 of 53 · Latin

Summary

The poet expresses his inner conflict between love and hatred, torn between his lover's outstanding beauty and her wicked character, and finally begs to love her willingly rather than by force.

§3.11b.1Luctantur pectusque leve in contraria tendunt §3.11b.2Hac amor hac odium, sed, puto, vincit amor.
Love and hatred fight, and pull my fickle heart in opposite directions; here is love, there is hatred, but, I think, love wins.
§3.11b.35Odero, si potero; si non, invitus amabo.
I will hate, if I can; if not, I will love against my will.
§3.11b.36Nec iuga taurus amat; quae tamen odit, habet.
Nor does the bull love the yoke; yet what he hates, he bears.
§3.11b.37Nequitiam fugio — fugientem forma reducit; §3.11b.38Aversor morum crimina — corpus amo.
I flee from your wickedness — but your beauty brings me back as I flee; I shrink from the sins of your character — but I love your body.
§3.11b.39Sic ego nec sine te nec tecum vivere possum, §3.11b.40Et videor voti nescius esse mei.
Thus I can live neither without you nor with you, and I seem not to know my own wish.
§3.11b.41Aut formosa fores minus, aut minus inproba, vellem; §3.11b.42Non facit ad mores tam bona forma malos.
I wish that you were either less beautiful, or less wicked; such a fine beauty does not suit bad morals.
§3.11b.43Facta merent odium, facies exorat amorem — §3.11b.44Me miserum, vitiis plus valet illa suis!
Your deeds deserve hatred, your face pleads for love — miserable me, that face is more powerful than its own vices!
§3.11b.45Parce, per o lecti socialia iura, per omnis §3.11b.46Qui dant fallendos se tibi saepe deos, §3.11b.47Perque tuam faciem, magni mihi numinis instar, §3.11b.48Perque tuos oculos, qui rapuere meos!
Spare me, oh, by the shared laws of our bed, by all the gods who so often offer themselves to be falsely sworn by you, and by your face, which is to me like a great deity, and by your eyes, which have captured mine!
§3.11b.49Quidquid eris, mea semper eris; tu selige tantum, §3.11b.50Me quoque velle velis, anne coactus amem!
Whatever you will be, you will always be mine; only you choose, whether you want me to want you too, or whether I should love you under compulsion!
§3.11b.51Lintea dem potius ventisque ferentibus utar, §3.11b.52Ut, quam, si nolim, cogar amare, velim.
I would rather set my sails and use the favoring winds, so that I may willingly love her whom, even if I were unwilling, I should be forced to love.

Notes

  1. 3.11b.1Luctantur — The subject of the plural verbs `Luctantur` and `tendunt` is `amor` (love) and `odium` (hatred) which appear in the following line.
  2. 3.11b.41vellem — `vellem` is in the imperfect subjunctive, expressing an unachievable present wish ('I wish that...'). The verb in the dependent clause, `fores` (= esses), is also in the imperfect subjunctive.
  3. 3.11b.44vitiis ... suis — `vitiis` is an ablative of comparison used with the comparative `plus` ('more'), meaning 'than her own vices'. `illa` (she, referring to her beauty) is the subject.
  4. 3.11b.46dant fallendos se — The verb `dant` combined with the reflexive pronoun `se` and the gerundive `fallendos` means 'they offer themselves to be deceived [by you]'.
  5. 3.11b.52ut, quam, si nolim, cogar amare, velim — The main verb of the clause introduced by `ut` ('so that') is `velim` ('I may wish to love'). `quam` is a relative pronoun with an omitted antecedent (the woman), functioning as the object of `velim` and `amare`. `si nolim` ('even if I were unwilling') is a conditional clause, and `cogar amare` ('I should be forced to love [her]') is the predicate of the relative clause.

Cite this passage

Ovid, The Loves §3.11b.1-3.11b.52. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi001.humanitext-lat2:3.11b.1-3.11b.52

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