§2.375Nec lea, cum catulis lactentibus ubera praebet, §2.376Nec brevis ignaro vipera laesa pede, §2.377Femina quam socii deprensa paelice lecti: §2.378Ardet et in vultu pignora mentis habet.
Neither the lioness, when she offers her udders to her suckling cubs, nor the short viper, hurt by an unaware foot, is as savage as a woman who has detected a rival in her partner's bed: she burns, and has on her countenance the tokens of her mind.
She rushes into sword and flames, and having cast aside her dignity, she is carried away, like one struck by the horns of the Aonian god.
The barbarian woman of Phasis avenged her husband's crime and her violated marital rights through her own children.
§2.383Altera dira parens haec est, quam cernis, hirundo: §2.384Aspice, signatum sanguine pectus habet.
Another dread mother is this swallow whom you see: look, she has her breast marked with blood.
This dissolves well-ordered and firm loves; those crimes are to be feared by cautious men.
§2.387Nec mea vos uni damnat censura puellae:
Nor does my judgment condemn you to a single girl: God forbid!
§2.388Di melius! vix hoc nupta tenere potest.
Scarcely can a bride keep this.
Play, but let the fault be concealed by modest secrecy: no glory is to be sought from one's own sin.
And do not give a gift which the other can find out about, nor let there be fixed times for your mischief.
§2.393Et, ne te capiat latebris sibi femina notis, §2.394Non uno est omnis convenienda loco; §2.395Et quotiens scribes, totas prius ipse tabellas §2.396Inspice: plus multae, quam sibi missa, legunt.
And, lest a woman catch you in hiding places known to her, every woman must not be met in a single place; and as often as you write, first inspect the whole tablets yourself: many women read more than what was sent to them.
§2.397Laesa Venus iusta arma movet, telumque remittit, §2.398Et, modo quod questa est, ipse querare, facit.
Injured Venus moves just arms, and returns the weapon, and makes you yourself complain of what she just complained of.
While the son of Atreus was content with one wife, she too was chaste; she was made wicked by the husband's vice.
§2.401Audierat laurumque manu vittasque ferentem §2.402Pro nata Chrysen non valuisse sua: §2.403Audierat, Lyrnesi, tuos, abducta, dolores, §2.404Bellaque per turpis longius isse moras.
She had heard that Chryses, carrying laurel and fillets in his hand, had not prevailed on behalf of his daughter; she had heard, O abducted woman of Lyrnesus, of your griefs, and that the war had gone on longer through shameful delays.
Yet these things she had only heard: Priam's daughter she had seen herself; the victor was the shameful prey of his own prey.
Then she received the son of Thyestes into her heart and chamber, and the daughter of Tyndareus avenged her evilly sinning husband.
What things you have well concealed, if any acts should nevertheless lie open, though they lie open, yet do you constantly deny them.
§2.411Tum neque subiectus, solito nec blandior esto: §2.412Haec animi multum signa nocentis habent: §2.413Sed lateri ne parce tuo: pax omnis in uno est; §2.414Concubitu prior est infitianda venus.
Then be neither submissive nor more flattering than usual: these signs have much of a guilty mind; but do not spare your flanks: all peace is in one thing; a prior love affair must be denied by intercourse.
§2.415Sunt, qui praecipiant herbas, satureia, nocentes §2.416Sumere; iudiciis ista venena meis; §2.417Aut piper urticae mordacis semine miscent, §2.418Tritaque in annoso flava pyrethra mero; §2.419Sed dea non patitur sic ad sua gaudia cogi, §2.420Colle sub umbroso quam tenet altus Eryx.
There are those who prescribe noxious herbs, like savory, to be taken; in my judgment, those are poisons; or they mix pepper with the seed of stinging nettle, and yellow pyrethrum crushed in old wine; but the goddess does not allow her joys to be compelled thus, whom high Eryx holds under a shady hill.
§2.421Candidus, Alcathoi qui mittitur urbe Pelasga, §2.422Bulbus et, ex horto quae venit, herba salax §2.423Ovaque sumantur, sumantur Hymettia mella, §2.424Quasque tulit folio pinus acuta nuces.
Let the white bulb, which is sent from the Pelasgian city of Alcathous, and the aphrodisiac herb which comes from the garden, and eggs be taken, and let Hymettian honey be taken, and the nuts which the sharp-leaved pine has borne.
§2.425Docta, quid ad magicas, Erato, deverteris artes?
O learned Erato, why do you turn aside to magical arts?
§2.426Interior curru meta terenda meo est.
The inner turning-point must be grazed by my chariot.
You who just now were concealing your crimes by my advice, turn your course, and disclose your thefts by my advice.
Nor is my inconstancy to be blamed: the curved hull does not always carry those on board with the same wind.
For now we run with Thracian Boreas, now with Eurus; often the sails swell with Zephyr, often with Notus.
Behold how the driver in his chariot now gives the flowing reins, now skillfully restrains the galloping horses.
§2.435Sunt quibus ingrate timida indulgentia servit, §2.436Et, si nulla subest aemula, languet amor.
There are those for whom a timid indulgence serves without gratitude, and if no female rival is underneath, love languishes.
Minds mostly run riot in favorable circumstances, nor is it easy to bear good fortune with an equal mind.
§2.439Ut levis absumptis paulatim viribus ignis §2.440Ipse latet, summo canet in igne cinis, §2.441Sed tamen extinctas admoto sulpure flammas §2.442Invenit, et lumen, quod fuit ante, redit: §2.443Sic, ubi pigra situ securaque pectora torpent, §2.444Acribus est stimulis eliciendus amor.
Just as a light fire, its strength gradually consumed, itself lies hidden, and the ash grows white on top of the fire, but yet finds the extinguished flames when sulfur is brought near, and the light which was before returns: so when minds grow numb, idle from neglect and secure, love must be elicited by sharp stimuli.
§2.445Fac timeat de te, tepidamque recalface mentem: §2.446Palleat indicio criminis illa tui; §2.447O quater et quotiens numero conprendere non est §2.448Felicem, de quo laesa puella dolet:
Make her fear for you, and warm up again her lukewarm mind: let her grow pale at the evidence of your crime; O four times and countless times happy is he, at whom the injured girl grieves!