§17.68Tu melior culpae causa futurus eras.
You would have been a better cause for my fault.
§17.69Aut ego perpetuo famam sine labe tenebo, §17.70Aut ego te potius quam tua dona sequar; §17.71Utque ea non sperno, sic acceptissima semper §17.72Munera sunt, auctor quae pretiosa facit.
Either I shall keep my reputation without stain forever, or I shall follow you rather than your gifts; and just as I do not despise them, so those gifts are always most welcome which the giver makes precious.
§17.73Plus multo est, quod amas, quod sum tibi causa laboris, §17.74Quod per tam longas spes tua venit aquas.
It is much more that you love, that I am the cause of labor to you, that your hope came across such long waters.
§17.75Illa quoque, adposita quae nunc facis, inprobe, mensa, §17.76Quamvis experiar dissimulare, noto — §17.77Cum modo me spectas oculis, lascive, protervis, §17.78Quos vix instantes lumina nostra ferunt, §17.79Et modo suspiras, modo pocula proxima nobis §17.80Sumis, quaque bibi, tu quoque parte bibis.
Those things too, shameless one, which you do now when the table is set, although I try to ignore them, I notice — when you look at me, playful one, with wanton eyes, which, pressing upon me, my eyes can scarcely bear, and now you sigh, now you take the cups nearest to us, and where I drank, you too drink from that part.
Ah, how often have I noted hidden signs given with fingers, how often signs given with a brow that almost speaks!
And often I feared lest my husband should see those things, and I blushed at signs that were not hidden enough!
§17.85Saepe vel exiguo vel nullo murmure dixi: §17.86'Nil pudet hunc. ' nec vox haec mea falsa fuit.
Often with a tiny murmur or none at all I said: "This man has no shame." and this word of mine was not false.
§17.87Orbe quoque in mensae legi sub nomine nostro, §17.88Quod deducta mero littera fecit, amo. §17.89Credere me tamen hoc oculo renuente negavi — §17.90Ei mihi, iam didici sic ego posse loqui!
And on the circle of the table, under my name, I read what a letter traced in wine made: "I love." Yet, with a denying eye, I denied that I believed this — Alas for me, now I have learned that I too can speak thus!
By these flatteries, if I were going to sin, I would be bent; by these my heart could have been captured.
§17.93Est quoque, confiteor, facies tibi rara, potestque §17.94Velle sub amplexus ire puella tuos; §17.95Altera vel potius felix sine crimine fiat, §17.96Quam cadat externo noster amore pudor.
There is also, I confess, an uncommon beauty to you, and a girl might well wish to go into your embraces; Let another rather become happy without crime, than that our shame should fall by a foreign love.
Only learn by example to be able to do without beautiful things; it is a virtue to have abstained from pleasing goods.
§17.99Quam multos credis iuvenes optare quod optas,
How many young men do you think desire what you desire, who have sense?
§17.100Qui sapiant? oculos an Paris unus habes?
Or do you, Paris, alone have eyes?
§17.101Non tu plus cernis, sed plus temerarius audes: §17.102Nec tibi plus cordis, sed nimis oris, adest.
You do not see more, but you dare more rashly: nor is there more heart in you, but too much cheek.
§17.103Tunc ego te vellem celeri venisse carina, §17.104Cum mea virginitas mille petita procis; §17.105Si te vidissem, primus de mille fuisses.
I would wish you had come with a swift ship then, when my virginity was sought by a thousand suitors; If I had seen you, you would have been the first of the thousand.
§17.106Iudicio veniam vir dabit ipse meo.
My husband himself will forgive my judgment.
§17.107Ad possessa venis praeceptaque gaudia, serus; §17.108Spes tua lenta fuit; quod petis, alter habet.
You come late to joys already possessed and preempted; your hope was slow; what you seek, another possesses.
Granted that I might have wished to become your Trojan wife, yet even Menelaus does not hold me against my will.
§17.111Desine molle, precor, verbis convellere pectus, §17.112Neve mihi, quam te dicis amare, noce; §17.113Sed sine quam tribuit sortem fortuna tueri, §17.114Nec spolium nostri turpe pudoris ave!
Cease, I pray, to tear my tender heart with words, nor harm me, whom you say you love; but suffer me to preserve the lot which fortune has granted, and do not long for the shameful spoil of my modesty!
§17.115At Venus hoc pacta est, et in altae vallibus Idae §17.116Tres tibi se nudas exhibuere deae, §17.117Unaque cum regnum, belli daret altera laudem, §17.118'Tyndaridis coniunx,' tertia dixit, 'eris!'
But Venus promised this, and in the valleys of lofty Ida three goddesses revealed themselves naked to you, and while one offered royal power, the other glory in war, "You shall be the husband of Tyndareus' daughter," the third said!
§17.119Credere vix equidem caelestia corpora possum §17.120Arbitrio formam supposuisse tuo, §17.121Utque sit hoc verum, certe pars altera ficta est, §17.122Iudicii pretium qua data dicor ego.
Indeed, I can scarcely believe that celestial bodies submitted their beauty to your judgment, and though this be true, certainly the other part is feigned, by which I am said to have been given as the reward of the judgment.
I do not have such confidence in my body that I should think that I was the greatest gift, with the greatest goddess as witness.
My beauty is content to be approved by the eyes of men; Venus as a praiser brings envy upon me.
§17.127Sed nihil infirmo; faveo quoque laudibus istis — §17.128Nam, mens, vox quare, quod cupit esse, neget?
But I deny nothing; I even favor those praises of yours — For why should my voice deny what my mind wishes to be?
Nor should you be angry that you are believed by me with too much difficulty; belief is wont to be slow in great matters.
§17.131Prima mea est igitur Veneri placuisse voluptas; §17.132Proxima, me visam praemia summa tibi, §17.133Nec te Palladios nec te Iunonis honores §17.134Auditis Helenae praeposuisse bonis.
My first pleasure, therefore, is to have pleased Venus; the next, that I, when seen, was the highest prize to you, and that you preferred neither Palladian nor Juno's honors to the heard-of blessings of Helen.