There are courts, there are laws, there are friends whom you should protect: go through the splendid camps of the urban toga.
Or do you undertake the youthful duties of bloodstained Mars: pleasures will soon turn their backs on you and flee.
§155Ecce, fugax Parthus, magni nova causa triumphi, §156Iam videt in campis Caesaris arma suis: §157Vince Cupidineas pariter Parthasque sagittas, §158Et refer ad patrios bina tropaea deos.
Behold, the fleeing Parthian, the new cause of a great triumph, now sees the arms of Caesar in his own plains: conquer equally the Cupid's arrows and the Parthian ones, and bring back two trophies to your native gods.
Once Venus was wounded by the Aetolian spear, she commands her lover to wage wars.
§161Quaeritur, Aegisthus quare sit factus adulter?
It is asked, why Aegisthus became an adulterer?
§162In promptu causa est: desidiosus erat.
The cause is obvious: he was idle.
Others were fighting at Ilion with slow-moving arms: all Greece had transferred its strength there.
Whether he wished to give effort to wars, none was waged there: or to the court, Argos was empty of lawsuits.
§167Quod potuit, ne nil illic ageretur, amavit.
What he could do, lest nothing be done there, he loved.
§168Sic venit ille puer, sic puer ille manet.
Thus that boy comes, thus that boy remains.
The countryside also delights the mind and the zeal of cultivating: any care can yield to this care.
§171Colla iube domitos oneri supponere tauros, §172Sauciet ut duram vomer aduncus humum: §173Obrue versata Cerialia semina terra, §174Quae tibi cum multo faenore reddat ager.
Command the tamed bulls to place their necks under the burden, so that the curved ploughshare may wound the hard earth: bury the seeds of Ceres in the turned earth, which the field may return to you with much interest.
§175Aspice curvatos pomorum pondere ramos, §176Ut sua, quod peperit, vix ferat arbor onus; §177Aspice labentes iucundo murmure rivos; §178Aspice tondentes fertile gramen oves.
Look at the branches bent by the weight of fruits, how the tree can scarcely bear its own burden which it brought forth; look at the gliding streams with a pleasant murmur; look at the sheep shearing the fertile grass.
§179Ecce, petunt rupes praeruptaque saxa capellae: §180Iam referent haedis ubera plena suis; §181Pastor inaequali modulatur harundine carmen, §182Nec desunt comites, sedula turba, canes; §183Parte sonant alia silvae mugitibus altae, §184Et queritur vitulum mater abesse suum.
Behold, the young she-goats seek the cliffs and steep rocks: soon they will bring back full udders to their kids; the shepherd plays a song on his unequal reed, nor are companions, the diligent crowd of dogs, lacking; in another part, the deep woods resound with lowing, and the mother laments that her calf is absent.
What about when the swarms flee the smoke placed beneath them, so that the removed honeycombs may relieve the curved twigs?
Autumn gives fruits: summer is beautiful with harvests: spring provides flowers: winter is eased by fire.
§189Temporibus certis maturam rusticus uvam §190Deligit, et nudo sub pede musta fluunt; §191Temporibus certis desectas alligat herbas, §192Et tonsam raro pectine verrit humum.
At certain times the rustic picks the ripe grape, and the new wine flows under his bare foot; at certain times he binds the cut grass, and sweeps the shorn ground with a thin rake.
You yourself can plant a shoot in watered gardens, you yourself can lead streams of gentle water.
Let the grafting time come; make sure branch adopts branch, and let the tree stand covered with foreign leaves.
Once this pleasure has begun to soothe the mind, Amor departs in vain with weak wings.
Or do you cultivate the zeal of hunting: often has Venus retreated basely, conquered by the sister of Phoebus.
§201Nunc leporem pronum catulo sectare sagaci, §202Nunc tua frondosis retia tende iugis, §203Aut pavidos terre varia formidine cervos, §204Aut cadat adversa cuspide fossus aper.
Now pursue the downward-running hare with a sagacious hound, now stretch your nets on leafy ridges, either terrify the fearful deer with various fears, or let the boar fall pierced by an opposing spear.
At night, sleep, not the care of a girl, receives you when fatigued, and relieves your limbs with deep rest.
§207Lenius est studium, studium tamen, alite capta §208Aut lino aut calamis praemia parva sequi, §209Vel, quae piscis edax avido male devoret ore, §210Abdere sub parvis aera recurva cibis.
It is a gentler zeal, yet a zeal, when a bird is captured, to pursue small rewards either with a net or with reeds, or to hide the curved bronze under small baits, which the greedy fish may miserably devour with its eager mouth.
Either by these or by other means, until you unlearn to love, you yourself will have to deceive yourself secretly.
§213Tu tantum quamvis firmis retinebere vinclis, §214I procul, et longas carpere perge vias; §215Flebis, et occurret desertae nomen amicae, §216Stabit et in media pes tibi saepe via: §217Sed quanto minus ire voles, magis ire memento; §218Perfer, et invitos currere coge pedes.
Even though you will be held by however firm bonds, you only go far away, and proceed to travel long ways; you will weep, and the name of your deserted mistress will occur to you, and your foot will often stop in the middle of the way: but the less you wish to go, the more remember to go; endure, and compel your unwilling feet to run.
Neither wish for rains, nor let foreign Sabbaths delay you, nor Allia known for its disasters.
§221Nec quot transieris et quot tibi, quaere, supersint §222Milia; nec, maneas ut prope, finge moras: §223Tempora nec numera, nec crebro respice Romam, §224Sed fuge: tutus adhuc Parthus ab hoste fuga est.
Do not ask how many miles you have passed and how many remain for you; nor, so that you may remain near, feign delays: neither count the times, nor look back frequently at Rome, but flee: the Parthian is still safe from the enemy by flight.
§225Dura aliquis praecepta vocet mea; dura fatemur
Someone may call my precepts harsh; we confess they are harsh.