§1.232Purpureus Bacchi cornua pressit Amor: §1.233Vinaque cum bibulas sparsere Cupidinis alas, §1.234Permanet et capto stat gravis ille loco.
Purple Love has pressed the horns of Bacchus: And when wine has sprinkled Cupid's thirsty wings, he remains and stands heavy in the captured place.
Indeed, he quickly shakes his wet wings: but yet it is harmful for the breast to be sprinkled with love.
Wines prepare minds and make them fit for passions: care flees and is washed away in much unmixed wine.
Then laughter comes, then the poor man takes up horns, then grief and cares and the wrinkle of the brow depart.
Then simplicity, most rare in our age, opens minds, the god shaking off deceits.
There girls have often captured the minds of young men, and Venus in wine was fire in fire.
Here, do not trust too much the deceitful lamp: night and wine are harmful to the judgment of beauty.
§1.247Luce deas caeloque Paris spectavit aperto, §1.248Cum dixit Veneri 'vincis utramque, Venus. ' §1.249Nocte latent mendae, vitioque ignoscitur omni, §1.250Horaque formosam quamlibet illa facit.
In light and under the open sky Paris beheld the goddesses, when he said to Venus, "You conquer both, Venus." At night blemishes are hidden, and every defect is forgiven, and that hour makes any woman beautiful.
Consult the day about gems, about wool dyed in purple, consult the day about the face and bodies.
§1.253Quid tibi femineos coetus venatibus aptos
Why should I enumerate for you the female gatherings fit for hunting?
§1.254Enumerem? numero cedet harena meo.
The sand will yield to my number.
Why should I mention Baiae, and the shores bordered with sails, and the water that smokes from warm sulfur?
§1.257Hinc aliquis vulnus referens in pectore dixit §1.258'Non haec, ut fama est, unda salubris erat. ' §1.259Ecce suburbanae templum nemorale Dianae §1.260Partaque per gladios regna nocente manu: §1.261Illa, quod est virgo, quod tela Cupidinis odit, §1.262Multa dedit populo vulnera, multa dabit.
Hence someone bringing back a wound in his breast said: "This water was not, as rumor has it, healthy." Lo, the wooded temple of suburban Diana, and the kingdom obtained through swords by a harmful hand: she, because she is a virgin, because she hates the arrows of Cupid, has given many wounds to the people, and will give many.
§1.263Hactenus, unde legas quod ames, ubi retia ponas, §1.264Praecipit imparibus vecta Thalea rotis.
Thus far, Thalea, carried on unequal wheels, instructs where you may choose what you love, and where you may place nets.
§1.265Nunc tibi, quae placuit, quas sit capienda per artes, §1.266Dicere praecipuae molior artis opus.
Now, by what arts she who has pleased you is to be captured, I set about to tell, the work of a principal art.
§1.267Quisquis ubique, viri, dociles advertite mentes, §1.268Pollicitisque favens, vulgus, adeste meis.
Whoever you are, men, turn your teachable minds everywhere, and favor my promises, crowd, be present.
First let confidence come to your mind, that all women can be captured; you will capture them, only stretch your nets.
§1.271Vere prius volucres taceant, aestate cicadae, §1.272Maenalius lepori det sua terga canis, §1.273Femina quam iuveni blande temptata repugnet: §1.274Haec quoque, quam poteris credere nolle, volet.
Sooner would birds be silent in spring, cicadas in summer, sooner would the Maenalian dog turn his back to the hare, than a woman, winningly wooed, would resist a youth: even she whom you could believe unwilling, will be willing.
And as secret love is pleasing to a man, so is it welcome to a girl: the man badly conceals it; she desires more secretly.
Let it be agreed among males that we do not ask first, already the conquered woman will play the part of the asker.
In soft meadows the female bellows to the bull: the female always neighs to the horn-footed horse.
Lust is more moderate in us, and not so furious: the masculine flame has a legitimate limit.
§1.283Byblida quid referam, vetito quae fratris amore §1.284Arsit et est laqueo fortiter ulta nefas?
Why should I mention Byblis, who burned with forbidden love for her brother and bravely avenged her crime with a noose?
§1.285Myrrha patrem, sed non qua filia debet, amavit, §1.286Et nunc obducto cortice pressa latet: §1.287Illius lacrimis, quas arbore fundit odora, §1.288Unguimur, et dominae nomina gutta tenet.
Myrrha loved her father, but not as a daughter ought, and now lies hidden, pressed under the covered bark: with her tears, which she pours from the fragrant tree, we are anointed, and the drop holds the mistress's name.
§1.289Forte sub umbrosis nemorosae vallibus Idae §1.290Candidus, armenti gloria, taurus erat, §1.291Signatus tenui media inter cornua nigro: §1.292Una fuit labes, cetera lactis erant.
By chance under the shady valleys of wooded Ida there was a white bull, the glory of the herd, marked with a thin black spot between his horns: there was only one blemish, the rest was like milk.
The Cnossian and Cydonian heifers desired to have supported him on their backs.
Pasiphae rejoiced to become the adulteress of the bull; envious, she hated the beautiful cows.
§1.297Nota cano: non hoc, centum quae sustinet urbes, §1.298Quamvis sit mendax, Creta negare potest.
I sing of well-known things: Crete, which supports a hundred cities, although it be mendacious, cannot deny this.
She herself is said to have cut new leaves and the tenderest meadows for the bull with an unaccustomed hand.
She goes as a companion to the herds, nor does care for her husband delay her going, and Minos was conquered by a bull.
§1.303Quo tibi, Pasiphaë, pretiosas sumere vestes?
To what end for you, Pasiphae, to put on precious clothes?
§1.304Ille tuus nullas sentit adulter opes.
That adulterer of yours senses no wealth.
§1.305Quid tibi cum speculo, montana armenta petenti?
What have you to do with a mirror, seeking mountain herds?
§1.306Quid totiens positas fingis, inepta, comas?
Why, foolish woman, do you arrange your hair so many times?
§1.307Crede tamen speculo, quod te negat esse iuvencam.
Yet believe the mirror, which denies that you are a heifer.
§1.308Quam cuperes fronti cornua nata tuae!
How you would wish horns to have grown on your brow!
If Minos pleases, let no adulterer be sought: or if you prefer to deceive your husband, deceive him with a man!
§1.311In nemus et saltus thalamo regina relicto
The queen, leaving her bedchamber, goes into the woods and glades...