§740Hic vomit epotas dira Charybdis aquas.
Here dreadful Charybdis vomits up the swallowed waters.
There are things which cannot be commanded by anyone forcing them, yet often, having happened by chance, they are wont to help.
If Phaedra were to lose her wealth, you would spare your grandson, Neptune, nor will the grandfather's bull make the horses panicked.
Had you made the daughter of Knossos destitute, she would have loved wisely: wanton love is nourished by riches.
§747Cur nemo est, Hecalen, nulla est, quae ceperit Iron?
Why is there no one who took Hecale, no woman who took Irus?
§748Nempe quod alter egens, altera pauper erat.
Surely because the one was needy, the other was poor.
§749Non habet, unde suum paupertas pascat amorem: §750Non tamen hoc tanti est, pauper ut esse velis.
Poverty does not have the means from which to feed its love: yet this is not of such value that you would wish to be poor.
But let it be of such great value to you not to indulge in theaters, until love safely departs from your empty breast.
Citharas and lotus-flutes and lyres enervate the mind, and the voice, and the arms moved to their own rhythms.
There, simulated lovers are constantly danced: what you should avoid, the actor teaches by his art how pleasing it is.
§757Eloquar invitus: teneros ne tange poetas!
I shall speak unwillingly: do not touch the tender poets!
§758Summoveo dotes impius ipse meas.
I myself, impious, remove my own gifts.
Flee Callimachus: he is no enemy to Love: and along with Callimachus, you too, O poet of Cos, do harm.
Surely Sappho made me more compliant to my mistress, nor did the Teian Muse impart rigid morals.
Who could have read the songs of Tibullus safely, or yours, whose sole work was Cynthia?
§765Quis poterit lecto durus discedere Gallo?
Who, having read Gallus, will be able to depart unmoved?
§766Et mea nescio quid carmina tale sonant.
And my poems, too, sound some such note.
§767Quod nisi dux operis vatem frustratur Apollo, §768Aemulus est nostri maxima causa mali: §769At tu rivalem noli tibi fingere quemquam, §770Inque suo solam crede iacere toro.
But unless Apollo, the leader of our work, deceives the prophet, a rival is the greatest cause of our misfortune: but do not imagine any rival for yourself, and believe that she lies alone in her bed.
Orestes loved Hermione more fiercely for this reason, because she had begun to belong to another man.
§773Quid, Menelae, doles? ibas sine coniuge Creten,
Why, Menelaus, do you grieve?
§774Et poteras nupta lentus abesse tua.
You were going to Crete without your wife, and you were able to be absent from your bride indifferently.
As soon as Paris snatched her away, now at last you cannot be without a wife: your love grew because of another's love.
§777Hoc et in abducta Briseide flebat Achilles, §778Illam Plisthenio gaudia ferre viro; §779Nec frustra flebat, mihi credite: fecit Atrides, §780Quod si non faceret, turpiter esset iners.
Achilles too wept over this in the case of the abducted Briseis, that she was bringing joys to the Plisthenian man; nor did he weep in vain, believe me: the son of Atreus did which, if he had not done, he would have been shamefully sluggish.
Certainly I would have done it, nor am I wiser than he: that was the greatest fruit of jealousy.
For when he swears that Briseis was never touched by him, by the sceptre, he does not think the sceptre is gods.
May the gods grant that you can pass by the threshold of the abandoned mistress, and that your feet may suffice for your purpose.
And you will be able; only hold on to the will: now to go bravely, now there is need to apply the spur to the swift horse.
Think that the Lotophagi are in that cave, the Sirens in that one; add sails to your oars.
This man too, by whom as a rival you once grieved too much, I would wish you would cease to hold in the place of an enemy.
But certainly, although hatred remains, greet him; when you are able now to give kisses, you will be sound.
Behold, I will also give foods—that I may perform every office of medicine—which you should avoid and which you should pursue.
Whether a Daunian bulb is sent to you, or one from Libyan shores, or whether it comes from Megara, every bulb will be harmful.
Nor is it less fitting to avoid lustful rockets, and whatever prepares our bodies for Venus.
It is more useful to take rues that sharpen the eyes, and whatever denies our bodies to Venus.
§803Quid tibi praecipiam de Bacchi munere, quaeris?
Do you ask what I would prescribe for you concerning the gift of Bacchus?
§804Spe brevius monitis expediere meis.
Swifter than expectation, you will be set free by my advice.
Wines prepare the mind for Venus, unless you take very much and the heart buried in much unmixed wine is benumbed.
Fire is nourished by the wind, and by the wind it is extinguished: a gentle breeze nourishes the flames, a greater wind kills them.
Let there be either no drunkenness, or so much that it snatches away your cares; if there is any between the two, it harms.
I have completed this work: give garlands to the tired keel; we have reached the port, whither my course was.