§518Sume animos, animis cedat ut illa tuis.
Take courage, so that she may yield to your courage.
§519Ianua forte patet? quamvis revocabere, transi.
Does the door happen to lie open? Although you will be called back, pass by.
§520Est data nox? dubita nocte venire data.
Has a night been granted? Hesitate to come on the granted night.
It is an easy thing to be able to endure, if, should patience be lacking, it is permitted to gather joys immediately from what is easy.
§523Et quisquam praecepta potest mea dura vocare?
And indeed who can call my precepts harsh?
§524En, etiam partes conciliantis ago.
Look, I even play the part of a reconciler.
For since minds vary, we shall vary our arts; there will be a thousand forms of the disease, and a thousand of cure.
Some bodies are scarcely healed by the sharp iron; for many, juice and herbs have been a help.
§529Mollior es, neque abire potes, vinctusque teneris, §530Et tua saevus Amor sub pede colla premit?
Are you more soft, and unable to depart, and held bound, and does cruel Love press your neck beneath his foot?
Cease to struggle: let the winds carry your sails, and wherever the waves call, there let your oar go.
§533Explenda est sitis ista tibi, quo perditus ardes; §534Cedimus; e medio iam licet amne bibas: §535Sed bibe plus etiam, quam quod praecordia poscunt, §536Gutture fac pleno sumpta redundet aqua.
That thirst of yours must be quenched, with which you burn, ruined; I yield; now you may drink from the middle of the river: but drink even more than what your heart demands, make sure that the swallowed water overflows from your full throat.
Go, enjoy your girl continually, with no one forbidding; let her take away your nights, let her take away your days.
§539Taedia quaere mali: faciunt et taedia finem.
Seek satiety of the evil: satiety also brings an end.
§540Iam quoque, cum credes posse carere, mane, §541Dum bene te cumules et copia tollat amorem, §542Et fastidita non iuvet esse domo.
Even now, when you believe you can do without her, remain, until you fill yourself well and abundance takes away your love, and it no longer pleases you to be in the loathed house.
That love also becomes long-lasting which distrust nourishes: if you seek to lay this aside, lay aside your fear.
He who fears lest she might not be his own, or lest someone should snatch her away, will scarcely be made well even by Machaonian aid.
A mother usually loves more one of her two children, for whose return she fears because he carries arms.
§549Est prope Collinam templum venerabile portam; §550Inposuit templo nomina celsus Eryx: §551Est illic Lethaeus Amor, qui pectora sanat, §552Inque suas gelidam lampadas addit aquam.
There is a venerable temple near the Colline Gate; lofty Eryx bestowed its name upon the temple: there is Lethaean Love there, who heals hearts, and pours cold water onto his own torches.
There both young men ask for forgetfulness with prayers, and any girl who has been captured by a harsh man.
§555Is mihi sic dixit (dubito, verusne Cupido, §556An somnus fuerit: sed puto, somnus erat) §557'O qui sollicitos modo das, modo demis amores, §558Adice praeceptis hoc quoque, Naso, tuis.
He said thus to me (I doubt whether it was true Cupid or a dream: but I think it was a dream): 'O you who now give, now take away anxious loves, add this also, Naso, to your precepts.
Let each turn his mind to his own troubles; he will lay aside love; the god has given those to everyone, more or less.
§561Qui Puteal Ianumque timet celeresque Kalendas, §562Torqueat hunc aeris mutua summa sui; §563Cui durus pater est, ut voto cetera cedant, §564Huic pater ante oculos durus habendus erit; §565Hic male dotata pauper cum coniuge vivit, §566Uxorem fato credat obesse suo.
He who fears the Puteal and Janus and the swift Kalends, let the total sum of his borrowed money torture him; he who has a harsh father, though all other things yield to his wish, must keep his harsh father before his eyes; this poor man who lives with a poorly dowered wife, let him believe that his wife stands in the way of his fortune.
§567Est tibi rure bono generosae fertilis uvae
Do you have a vineyard fertile with noble grapes in a good countryside?
§568Vinea? ne nascens usta sit uva, time.
Fear lest the budding grape be parched.
That man has a ship on its return: let him always think of the hostile sea and the shores filthy with his own loss.
Let a soldier son torment this man, a marriageable daughter torment you; and who does not have a thousand causes of grief?
§573Ut posses odisse tuam, Pari, funera fratrum §574Debueras oculis substituisse tuis. ' §575Plura loquebatur: placidum puerilis imago §576Destituit somnum, si modo somnus erat.
So that you might be able to hate your girl, Paris, the deaths of your brothers you ought to have substituted before your eyes.' He was speaking more: the boyish image abandoned my peaceful sleep, if indeed it was a sleep.
§577Quid faciam? media navem Palinurus in unda
What should I do?
§578Deserit; ignotas cogor inire vias.
Palinurus abandons the ship in the midst of the waves; I am forced to enter unknown ways.
§579Quisquis amas, loca sola nocent, loca sola caveto!
Whoever you are that loves, lonely places are harmful, beware of lonely places!
§580Quo fugis? in populo tutior esse potes.
Where do you flee? You can be safer in a crowd.
You have no need of secret places (secrecy increases madness); the crowd will be a help to you.
You will be sad if you are alone, and the face of your abandoned mistress will stand before your eyes, just like herself.
For this reason, night is sadder than the times of Phoebus; the friendly crowd, which might relieve your griefs, is absent.