He, alas, will be consumed by slow fires, like wet hay, or like wood recently cut from mountain ridges.
§3.575Certior hic amor est: brevis et fecundior ille;
This love is more certain; that other is brief and more fruitful.
§3.576Quae fugiunt, celeri carpite poma manu.
Pluck the fruits that flee with a swift hand.
Let all things be surrendered: I have unlocked the gates to the enemy; and let there be loyalty in treacherous treason.
§3.579Quod datur ex facili, longum male nutrit amorem: §3.580Miscenda est laetis rara repulsa iocis.
What is given easily poorly nourishes a long-lasting love: an occasional refusal must be mixed with joyful jests.
Let him lie before the doors, let him say 'cruel door!', and let him act in many ways submissively, in many ways threateningly.
We do not bear sweet things: let us be restored by bitter juice; often a boat perishes, overwhelmed by its own favorable winds.
This is why wives are not allowed to be loved: husbands meet them whenever they wish.
Add a door, and let the doorkeeper say to you with a harsh face: 'You cannot enter'; love will also touch you, who are shut out.
Lay aside now your blunt swords: let us fight with sharp ones; nor do I doubt that I myself will be attacked by my own weapons.
While the lover, also recently captured, falls into the snares, let him hope that he alone possesses your bedchamber.
Afterwards let him perceive a rival and the divided treaties of the bed: take away these arts, and love will grow old.
§3.595Tum bene fortis equus reserato carcere currit, §3.596Cum quos praetereat quosque sequatur habet.
Then the strong horse runs well from the unlocked starting gate, when he has those to pass and those to follow.
Wrongdoing arouses fires, however extinct they may be: lo, I (I confess!) do not love unless I am hurt.
§3.599Causa tamen nimium non sit manifesta doloris, §3.600Pluraque sollicitus, quam sciet, esse putet.
Yet let the cause of his grief not be too manifest, and let him, anxious, think there are more things than he will actually know.
The gloomy custody of a feigned slave also incites, as does the annoying care of an all too harsh husband.
Pleasure which comes from a safe place is less welcome: even though you may be freer than Thais, feign fears.
Although you could do so better by the doors, admit him through the window, and keep signs of one who is afraid on your face.
Let a clever maid leap forward and say 'We are ruined!'; you, hide the trembling youth in any place whatsoever.
Yet carefree lovemaking must be mixed with fear, lest he think your nights are not worth so much.
By what method a crafty husband can be eluded, and by what a watchful guard, I was about to pass over.
§3.613Nupta virum timeat: rata sit custodia nuptae; §3.614Hoc decet, hoc leges iusque pudorque iubent.
Let a bride fear her husband: let the guarding of a bride be established; this is fitting, this the laws, justice, and modesty command.
§3.615Te quoque servari, modo quam vindicta redemit,
Who would tolerate that you too are watched, whom the rod of manumission recently freed?
§3.616Quis ferat? Ut fallas, ad mea sacra veni!
Come to my sacred rites, so that you may deceive!
Although as many eyes watch you as Argos had, if only there is a firm will, you will deceive them.
Will a guard indeed stand in the way so that you cannot write, when time is given to you for taking a bath?
Since a female accomplice can carry written tablets, which a wide band covers in her warm bosom?
Since she can conceal tied papers on her calf, and carry sweet notes under her bound foot?
Should the guard guard against these, let the accomplice offer her back instead of paper, and carry words on her own body.
§3.627Tuta quoque est fallitque oculos e lacte recenti §3.628Littera: carbonis pulvere tange, leges.
Writing made from fresh milk is also safe and deceives the eyes: touch it with coal dust, and you will read it.
It will also deceive, what is made with the stalk of damp flax, so that a clean tablet carries hidden messages.
Acrisius had the care of guarding his daughter: yet she made him a grandfather by her own crime.
§3.633Quid faciat custos, cum sint tot in urbe theatra, §3.634Cum spectet iunctos illa libenter equos, §3.635Cum sedeat Phariae sistris operata iuvencae, §3.636Quoque sui comites ire vetantur, eat, §3.637Cum fuget a templis oculos Bona Diva virorum, §3.638Praeterquam siquos illa venire iubet?
What can a guard do, when there are so many theaters in the city, when she willingly watches the joined horses, when she sits occupied with the sistrums of the Pharian heifer, and goes where her companions are forbidden to go, when the Good Goddess banishes the eyes of men from her temples, except for those whom she herself bids to come?
§3.639Cum, custode foris tunicas servante puellae, §3.640Celent furtivos balnea multa iocos, §3.641Cum, quotiens opus est, fallax aegrotet amica, §3.642Et cedat lecto quamlibet aegra suo, §3.643Nomine cum doceat, quid agamus, adultera clavis, §3.644Quasque petas non det ianua sola vias?
When, with the guard keeping the girl's clothes outside, many baths conceal secret jests, when, as often as necessary, a deceitful friend pretends to be ill and yields her bed, however sick she may be, when the counterfeit key teaches by its name what we are doing, and the door is not the only way to give the paths you seek?
§3.645Fallitur et multo custodis cura Lyaeo, §3.646Illa vel Hispano lecta sit uva iugo; §3.647Sunt quoque, quae faciant altos medicamina somnos, §3.648Victaque Lethaea lumina nocte premant; §3.649Nec male deliciis odiosum conscia tardis §3.650Detinet, et longa iungitur ipsa mora.
The guard's care is also deceived by much wine, even if that grape was gathered on a Spanish ridge; there are also medicines which cause deep sleep, and oppress the conquered eyes with Lethean night; and not badly does the accomplice detain the hateful guard with slow amusements, and is herself joined in a long delay.
What does it help to stir up circumlocutions and small precepts, when a guard can be bought with a very small gift?
§3.653Munera, crede mihi, capiunt hominesque deosque:
Gifts, believe me, capture both men and gods: