§1.387Hoc unum moneo, siquid modo creditur arti, §1.388Nec mea dicta rapax per mare ventus agit: §1.389Aut non temptaris aut perfice! tollitur index,
This one thing I advise, if any trust is to be placed in my art, and if the rapacious wind does not blow my words across the sea: Either do not attempt, or carry it through!
§1.390Cum semel in partem criminis ipsa venit.
The informer is eliminated once she herself has become a partner in the crime.
The bird does not escape with advantage when its wings are limed; The wild boar does not easily get out of loose nets.
Let the wounded fish be held by the hook it has taken: Press home on her once she is tried, and do not depart except as a victor.
But let it be well concealed: if the accomplice is well concealed, your mistress will always remain subject to your acquaintance.
§1.399Tempora qui solis operosa colentibus arva, §1.400Fallitur, et nautis aspicienda putat; §1.401Nec semper credenda ceres fallacibus arvis, §1.402Nec semper viridi concava puppis aquae, §1.403Nec teneras semper tutum captare puellas: §1.404Saepe dato melius tempore fiet idem.
He who thinks that times must be observed only by those who cultivate the laborious fields, and by sailors, is mistaken; Neither must Ceres always be trusted to deceitful fields, nor always the hollow ship to the green water, nor is it always safe to pursue tender girls: Often the same thing will be done better at a given time.
§1.405Sive dies suberit natalis, sive Kalendae, §1.406Quas Venerem Marti continuasse iuvat, §1.407Sive erit ornatus non ut fuit ante sigillis, §1.408Sed regum positas Circus habebit opes, §1.409Differ opus: tunc tristis hiems, tunc Pliades instant, §1.410Tunc tener aequorea mergitur Haedus aqua; §1.411Tunc bene desinitur: tunc siquis creditur alto, §1.412Vix tenuit lacerae naufraga membra ratis.
Whether her birthday is near, or the Kalends, which it pleases Venus to have joined with Mars, or if the Circus is adorned, not as before with clay figurines, but will have the displayed wealth of kings, defer your work: then gloomy winter, then the Pleiades press, then the tender Kid is submerged in the sea water; then it is well to leave off: then if anyone trusts himself to the deep, he scarcely holds together the shipwrecked timbers of his shattered vessel.
§1.413Tu licet incipias qua flebilis Allia luce §1.414Vulneribus Latiis sanguinolenta fluit, §1.415Quaque die redeunt, rebus minus apta gerendis, §1.416Culta Palaestino septima festa Syro.
You may begin on that day when the mournful Allia flows blood-red with Latin wounds, and on the day when they return, little suited for doing business, the seventh-day feasts observed by the Syrian of Palestine.
§1.417Magna superstitio tibi sit natalis amicae: §1.418Quaque aliquid dandum est, illa sit atra dies.
Let the birthday of your mistress be a great dread to you: and whatever day something must be given, let that be a black day.
Though you have avoided it well, she will still take from you; woman has found an art, by which to fleece the wealth of an eager lover.
§1.421Institor ad dominam veniet discinctus emacem, §1.422Expediet merces teque sedente suas: §1.423Quas illa, inspicias, sapere ut videare, rogabit: §1.424Oscula deinde dabit; deinde rogabit, emas.
The loose-girdled peddler will come to your mistress, who is eager to buy, and will lay out his wares while you are sitting there: which she will ask you to look at, so that you may seem to have good taste; then she will give you kisses; then she will ask that you buy them.
She will swear that she will be content with this for many years, she will say that she needs it now, that now it is bought at a bargain.
If you plead that you do not have at home the coins to give, a promissory note will be demanded — so that it brings no joy to have learned to write!
What of when she demands gifts, as if with a birthday cake, and she is born to herself as often as she needs to be?
What of when she weeps most mournfully over a feigned loss, and a gemstone is pretended to have slipped from her pierced ear?
They ask for many things to be given to them for use, and refuse to return what was given: You lose it, and there is no gratitude for your loss.
§1.435Non mihi, sacrilegas meretricum ut persequar artes, §1.436Cum totidem linguis sint satis ora decem.
Not to me, that I should pursue the sacrilegious arts of courtesans, even if I had ten mouths with as many tongues, would it be enough.
Let wax, poured on smoothed tablets, try the shallow water; let the wax go first, privy to your mind.
§1.439Blanditias ferat illa tuas imitataque amantem §1.440Verba; nec exiguas, quisquis es, adde preces.
Let it carry your flatteries and words that imitate a lover; and do not fail to add, whoever you are, no small entreaties.
Achilles gave Hector's body to Priam, moved by entreaty; an angry god is swayed by a praying voice.
§1.443Promittas facito: quid enim promittere laedit?
See to it that you make promises: for what harm does it do to promise?
§1.444Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest.
Anyone can be rich in promises.
§1.445Spes tenet in tempus, semel est si credita, longum: §1.446Illa quidem fallax, sed tamen apta dea est.
Hope, if once it is believed in, holds out for a long time: she indeed is a deceitful, but yet a useful goddess.
If you have given something, you can be abandoned with good reason: she will have carried off the past gift, and lost nothing of her own.
§1.449At quod non dederis, semper videare daturus: §1.450Sic dominum sterilis saepe fefellit ager: §1.451Sic, ne perdiderit, non cessat perdere lusor, §1.452Et revocat cupidas alea saepe manus.
But what you have not given, you may always seem about to give: thus a barren field has often deceived its master: thus, lest he should have lost, the gambler does not cease to lose, and the dice often recall his greedy hands.
§1.453Hoc opus, hic labor est, primo sine munere iungi; §1.454Ne dederit gratis quae dedit, usque dabit.
This is the task, this is the toil: to be united without a prior gift; lest she should have given for nothing what she has given, she will keep giving.
§1.455Ergo eat et blandis peraretur littera verbis, §1.456Exploretque animos, primaque temptet iter.
Therefore let a letter go, written with sweet words, and let it explore her mind, and first try the path.
A letter brought on an apple deceived Cydippe, and the unwitting girl was captured by her own words.
§1.459Disce bonas artes, moneo, Romana iuventus, §1.460Non tantum trepidos ut tueare reos; §1.461Quam populus iudexque gravis lectusque senatus, §1.462Tam dabit eloquio victa puella manus.
Learn the liberal arts, I advise you, Roman youth, not only so that you may protect anxious defendants; as much as the people, the grave judge, and the chosen senate, so the girl, conquered by eloquence, will yield.
§1.463Sed lateant vires, nec sis in fronte disertus;
But let your power lie hidden, nor be eloquent on your brow;