§3.654Placatur donis Iuppiter ipse datis.
Jupiter himself is appeased by gifts given.
§3.655Quid sapiens faciet, stultus cum munere gaudet?
What will a wise man do, when a fool rejoices in a gift?
§3.656Ipse quoque accepto munere mutus erit.
He too, once a gift is received, will be silent.
§3.657Sed semel est custos longum redimendus in aevum: §3.658Saepe dabit, dederit quas semel ille manus.
But a guard is to be bought off once for a long time: He who has once offered his hands will often do so again.
I had complained, I remember, that companions are to be feared: That complaint does not touch men alone.
If you are credulous, other women will pluck your joys, and this hare will have been hunted by others.
§3.663Haec quoque, quae praebet lectum studiosa locumque §3.664Crede mihi, mecum non semel illa fuit.
She too, who eagerly provides a bed and a place, believe me, she has been with me more than once.
Nor let an all too beautiful maidservant attend to you: She has often filled her mistress's place for me.
Whither am I, madman, being carried? Why am I sent with open breast against the enemy, and betrayed by my own evidence?
The bird does not show the fowlers in which part it is to be sought: the hind does not teach the hostile dogs to run.
Let utility look to itself: I will faithfully utter what I have begun: I will give swords to the Lemnian women to my own destruction.
Make us believe (and it is easy) that we are loved: Belief comes readily to the eager in their own wishes.
§3.675Spectet amabilius iuvenem, suspiret ab imo §3.676Femina, tam sero cur veniatque roget: §3.677Accedant lacrimae, dolor et de paelice fictus, §3.678Et laniet digitis illius ora suis: §3.679Iamdudum persuasus erit; miserebitur ultro, §3.680Et dicet 'cura carpitur ista mei. ' §3.681Praecipue si cultus erit speculoque placebit, §3.682Posse suo tangi credet amore deas.
Let a woman look more lovingly at a youth, sigh from her depths, and ask why he comes so late: Let tears be added, and a feigned grief over a rival, and let her tear his face with her own fingers: He will have been persuaded long ago; he will pity her of his own accord, and say 'She is consumed by love of me.' Especially if he is well-groomed and pleases himself in the mirror, he will believe that goddesses can be touched by his love.
But let wrongdoing, whatever it is, disturb you moderately, nor let your mind be helpless upon hearing of a rival.
Nor believe it quickly: how much quick belief hurts, Procris will be no light example for you.
§3.687Est prope purpureos colles florentis Hymetti §3.688Fons sacer et viridi caespite mollis humus: §3.689Silva nemus non alta facit; tegit arbutus herbam, §3.690Ros maris et lauri nigraque myrtus olent: §3.691Nec densum foliis buxum fragilesque myricae, §3.692Nec tenues cytisi cultaque pinus abest.
Near the purple hills of flowering Hymettus is a sacred spring and ground soft with green turf: The wood makes a grove not high; the arbutus covers the grass, rosemary and laurels and the dark myrtle fragrance: Neither boxwood thick with leaves, nor fragile tamarisks, nor slender cytisus, nor the cultivated pine is absent.
Driven by gentle zephyrs and the wholesome breeze, the foliage of so many kinds and the tips of the grass tremble.
§3.695Grata quies Cephalo: famulis canibusque relictis §3.696Lassus in hac iuvenis saepe resedit humo, §3.697'Quae' que 'meos releves aestus,' cantare solebat §3.698'Accipienda sinu, mobilis aura, veni. ' §3.699Coniugis ad timidas aliquis male sedulus aures §3.700Auditos memori detulit ore sonos; §3.701Procris ut accepit nomen, quasi paelicis, Aurae, §3.702Excidit, et subito muta dolore fuit; §3.703Palluit, ut serae lectis de vite racemis §3.704Pallescunt frondes, quas nova laesit hiemps, §3.705Quaeque suos curvant matura cydonia ramos, §3.706Cornaque adhuc nostris non satis apta cibis.
A pleasing rest to Cephalus: leaving behind his servants and dogs, the tired youth often sat down on this ground, and 'You who relieve my heat,' he was accustomed to sing, 'come to be received in my bosom, shifting breeze.' Someone, evilly busybody, brought to the timid ears of his wife the sounds heard with a mindful mouth; as Procris heard the name of Aura, as if of a rival, she fainted, and was suddenly mute with grief; She turned pale, as the leaves turn pale when clusters are gathered from the late vine, which a fresh winter has harmed, and ripe quinces which bend their branches, and cornel-cherries not yet fit enough for our food.
§3.707Ut rediit animus, tenues a pectore vestes §3.708Rumpit, et indignas sauciat ungue genas; §3.709Nec mora, per medias passis furibunda capillis §3.710Evolat, ut thyrso concita Baccha, vias.
When her mind returned, she tore the thin garments from her breast, and scratched her undeserving cheeks with her nail; without delay, raging with disheveled hair through the midst of the streets she flies out, like a Bacchante excited by the thyrsus.
§3.711Ut prope perventum, comites in valle relinquit, §3.712Ipsa nemus tacito clam pede fortis init.
When she arrived near, she left her companions in the valley, she herself boldly entered the grove secretly with silent foot.
§3.713Quid tibi mentis erat, cum sic male sana lateres, §3.714Procri? quis adtoniti pectoris ardor erat?
What was in your mind, Procris, when you were thus hiding, insane? What was the passion of your astonished breast?
§3.715Iam iam venturam, quaecumque erat Aura, putabas §3.716Scilicet, atque oculis probra videnda tuis.
You believed indeed that Aura, whoever she was, would arrive at any moment, and that the shameful deeds were to be seen with your own eyes.
§3.717Nunc venisse piget (neque enim deprendere velles), §3.718Nunc iuvat: incertus pectora versat amor.
Now you regret having come (for you would not wish to catch them), now you are glad: uncertain love turns your heart over and over.
§3.719Credere quae iubeant, locus est et nomen et index, §3.720Et quia mens semper quod timet, esse putat.
The place, the name, and the informant are what bid you believe, and because the mind always thinks that what it fears actually exists.
When she saw the traces of a body on the flattened grass, her trembling breast was beaten by her throbbing heart.
§3.723Iamque dies medius tenues contraxerat umbras, §3.724Inque pari spatio vesper et ortus erant: §3.725Ecce, redit Cephalus silvis, Cyllenia proles, §3.726Oraque fontana fervida pulsat aqua.
And now midday had contracted the thin shadows, and evening and dawn were at equal distance: Lo, Cephalus, Cyllenian offspring, returns from the woods, and bathes his burning face with spring water.
§3.727Anxia, Procri, lates: solitas iacet ille per herbas, §3.728Et 'zephyri molles auraque' dixit 'ades!' §3.729Ut patuit miserae iucundus nominis error, §3.730Et mens et rediit verus in ora color.
Anxious Procris, you hide: he lies on the accustomed grass, and said, 'Soft zephyrs and breeze, be present!' When the joyful error of the name became clear to the wretched woman, both her mind and her true color returned to her face.
§3.731Surgit, et oppositas agitato corpore frondes §3.732Movit, in amplexus uxor itura viri: §3.733Ille feram movisse ratus, iuvenaliter artus
She rises, and with agitated body moved the opposing leaves, a wife about to go into the embrace of her husband: he, thinking a wild beast had moved, with youthful vigor his limbs...