Let those men chase such traps, if indeed they think they must be chased, whom fire and water will make lawful husbands.
§2.599En, iterum testor: nihil hic, nisi lege remissum §2.600Luditur: in nostris instita nulla iocis.
Look, again I declare: nothing is played here except what is permitted by law: there is no flounce in our jokes.
Who would dare to publish the rites of Ceres to the uninitiated, and the great sacred rites discovered in Thracian Samos?
It is a small virtue to maintain silence about things: but on the contrary, it is a heavy fault to speak of things that should be kept silent.
O, how right it is that, with the fruits on the tree snatched at in vain, the talkative Tantalus thirsts in the midst of water!
Especially Cytherea orders her sacred rites to be kept silent: I warn, let no talkative person come to them.
§2.609Condita si non sunt Veneris mysteria cistis, §2.610Nec cava vesanis ictibus aera sonant, §2.611At sic inter nos medio versantur in usu, §2.612Se tamen inter nos ut latuisse velint.
If the mysteries of Venus are not hidden in chests, nor do hollow bronzes clash with wild blows, yet they are so carried on in common use among us, that they still wish themselves to be hidden among us.
Venus herself, as often as she lays aside her garments, covers her groin, shrinking back slightly, with her left hand.
In the open and everywhere the cattle mate: yet surely, seeing even this, a girl turns away her eyes.
§2.617Conveniunt thalami furtis et ianua nostris, §2.618Parsque sub iniecta veste pudenda latet: §2.619Et si non tenebras, ad quiddam nubis opacae §2.620Quaerimus, atque aliquid luce patente minus.
Bedchambers and a door suit our secret loves, and the shameful parts lie hidden under the thrown-on garment; and if not darkness, we seek some dark cloud, and something less than open light.
§2.621Tum quoque, cum solem nondum prohibebat et imbrem §2.622Tegula, sed quercus tecta cibumque dabat, §2.623In nemore atque antris, non sub Iove, iuncta voluptas; §2.624Tanta rudi populo cura pudoris erat.
Even then, when roof-tiles did not yet keep out the sun and rain, but the oak gave both shelter and food, in the grove and in caves, not under open Jove, pleasure was joined; so great was the care for shame in that rude people.
But now we place inscriptions on our nightly deeds, and nothing is bought at great cost except being able to talk about it!
§2.627Scilicet excuties omnes, ubi quaeque, puellas, §2.628Cuilibet ut dicas 'haec quoque nostra fuit,' §2.629Nec desint, quas tu digitis ostendere possis?
No doubt you will search out all the girls, where each one is, so that you may say to anyone: 'She too was mine,' and that there may be no lack of those whom you can point out with your fingers?
§2.630Ut quamque adtigeris, fabula turpis erit?
So that as you touch each one, she will become a shameful story?
I complain of small things: some invent things which they would deny if true, and report that there is no woman they have not slept with.
§2.633Corpora si nequeunt, quae possunt, nomina tangunt, §2.634Famaque non tacto corpore crimen habet.
If they cannot touch their bodies, they touch their names, and reputation is accused though the body was untouched.
Go now, hateful guardian of the girl, lock the doors, and bolt them with a hundred hard posts!
What safety remains, when there exists an adulterer of her name, and he desires that what did not happen be believed to have occurred?
We, on the other hand, declare even our true loves sparingly, and our mysterious secret loves are covered with solid trust.
Especially refrain from reproaching girls with their faults, which it was useful for many to have dissimulated.
Nor was her color objected to Andromeda by him who had a movable wing on each foot.
To all others Andromache seemed larger than fair; Hector was the only one to call her moderate.
§2.647Quod male fers, adsuesce, feres bene; multa vetustus §2.648Leniet, incipiens omnia sentit amor.
Get used to what you bear with difficulty, you will bear it well; age will soften many things; a beginning love notices everything.
§2.649Dum novus in viridi coalescit cortice ramus, §2.650Concutiat tenerum quaelibet aura, cadet: §2.651Mox eadem ventis, spatio durata, resistet, §2.652Firmaque adoptivas arbor habebit opes.
While the new branch is grafting in the green bark, let any breeze shake it while tender, and it will fall: soon, hardened by time, the same will resist the winds, and the firm tree will hold its adopted wealth.
Time itself removes all blemishes from the body, and what was a fault ceases to be one through delay.
Unaccustomed nostrils refuse to bear the hides of bulls: but their odor deceives them when tamed by continuous time.
§2.657Nominibus mollire licet mala: fusca vocetur, §2.658Nigrior Illyrica cui pice sanguis erit: §2.659Si straba, sit Veneri similis: si rava, Minervae: §2.660Sit gracilis, macie quae male viva sua est; §2.661Dic habilem, quaecumque brevis, quae turgida, plenam, §2.662Et lateat vitium proximitate boni.
It is permitted to soften defects with names: let her be called 'dark' whose blood is blacker than Illyrian pitch: If she is cross-eyed, let her be like Venus; if gray-eyed, like Minerva; let her be called 'slender' who is scarcely alive through her thinness; Call her 'active' who is short; 'full' who is bloated; and let the fault lie hidden under the proximity of the good.
§2.663Nec quotus annus eat, nec quo sit nata, require, §2.664Consule, quae rigidus munera Censor habet:
Neither ask what year she is in, nor in what year she was born; leave that duty to the rigid Censor.
especially if she lacks her flower, and her better time is past, and she is already plucking her whitening hairs.
This age, O young men, or a later one is useful: that field will bear crops, that field is to be sown.