Humanitext Reader

Ovid · Sorrows §1.6.1-1.6.36

Praise of His Faithful Wife and Promise of Immortality

Passage 8 of 60 · Latin

Summary

The poet praises the virtue and loyalty of his wife, who supported him in his ruin and protected his property from malicious plunderers, promising to immortalize her name through his songs despite his own diminished poetic strength.

§1.6.1Nec tantum Clario est Lyde dilecta poetae, §1.6.2nec tantum Coo Bittis amata suo est, §1.6.3pectoribus quantum tu nostris, uxor, inhaeres, §1.6.4digna minus misero, non meliore viro.
Lyde was not so cherished by the Clarian poet, nor was his Bittis so loved by her Coan poet, as much as you, my wife, cling to our heart, a wife worthy of a less wretched, though not a better husband.
§1.6.5te mea supposita veluti trabe fulta ruina est: §1.6.6siquid adhuc ego sum, muneris omne §1.6.7tui est.
My ruin is supported by you, as if by a beam placed beneath; if I am still anything, it is entirely your gift.
tu facis, ut spolium non sim, nec nuder ab illis, §1.6.8naufragii tabulas qui petiere mei.
You bring it about that I am not a spoil, nor stripped by those who sought the planks of my shipwreck.
§1.6.9utque rapax stimulante fame cupidusque cruoris §1.6.10incustoditum captat ovile lupus, §1.6.11aut ut edax vultur corpus circumspicit ecquod §1.6.12sub nulla positum cernere possit humo, §1.6.13sic mea nescio quis, rebus male fidus acerbis §1.6.14in bona venturus, si paterere, fuit.
And as a rapacious wolf, driven by hunger and greedy for blood, watches for an unguarded sheepfold, or as a greedy vulture looks around to see if any body is lying on the ground, covered by no earth, so someone, unfaithful in my bitter fortunes, was about to come upon my goods, if you had allowed it.
§1.6.15hunc tua per fortis virtus summovit amicos, §1.6.16nulla quibus reddi gratia digna potest,
Your virtue has repelled this man through brave friends, to whom no worthy gratitude can be returned.
§1.6.17ergo quam misero, tam vero teste probans, §1.6.18hic aliquod pondus si modo testis habet.
Therefore, proving it by a witness as true as he is wretched, if only this witness has any weight.
§1.6.19nec probitate tua prior est aut Hectoris uxor, §1.6.20aut comes extincto Laodamia viro.
Neither is Hector’s wife superior to your virtue, nor Laodamia, companion to her dead husband.
§1.6.21tu si Maeonium vatem sortita fuisses, §1.6.22Penelopes esset fama secunda tuae: §1.6.23sive tibi hoc debes, nullo pia facta magistro, §1.6.24cumque nova mores sunt tibi luce dati, §1.6.25femina seu princeps omnes tibi culta per annos §1.6.26te docet exemplum coniugis esse bonae, §1.6.27adsimilemque sui longa adsuetudine fecit, §1.6.28grandia si parvis adsimulare licet,
If you had been allotted the Maeonian bard, Penelope's fame would be second to yours: whether you owe this to yourself, having become dutiful with no teacher, and your character was given to you with the new light, or whether the first lady, revered by you through all the years, teaches you to be an example of a good wife, and has made you similar to herself by long custom, if it is permitted to compare great things with small.
§1.6.29ei mihi, non magnas quod habent mea carmina vires, §1.6.30nostraque sunt meritis ora minora tuis!— §1.6.31siquid et in nobis vivi fuit ante vigoris, §1.6.32extinctum longis occidit omne malis!— §1.6.33prima locum sanctas heroidas inter haberes, §1.6.34prima bonis animi conspicerere tui.
Alas for me, because my songs do not have great power, and our lips are too small for your merits!— If also there was any of living vigor in us before, it has all died, extinguished by long misfortunes!— You would have held the first place among the sacred heroines, you would be looked upon as first for the goodness of your mind.
§1.6.35quantumcumque tamen praeconia nostra valebunt, §1.6.36carminibus vives tempus in omne meis.
Yet, however much our praises shall avail, you will live through my songs for all time.

Notes

  1. 1.6.4digna minus misero, non meliore viro — The adjective `digna` governs the ablative case; here `misero [viro]` and `non meliore viro` function as the ablatives. `viro` (husband) refers to Ovid himself.
  2. 1.6.14in bona venturus, si paterere, fuit — `venturus ... fuit` is an active periphrastic conjugation (future participle with `fuit`), expressing intention, imminence, or the apodosis of a conditional sentence in the past. Along with the protasis `si paterere` (syncopated form of `patereris`, imperfect subjunctive of the deponent verb `patior`), it forms a past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence: "he would have come upon my goods, if you had allowed it."
  3. 1.6.17ergo quam misero, tam vero teste probans — `probans` is a present participle, which either modifies the following `hic ... testis` (= the poet himself) or functions independently without an explicit main verb. `quam misero, tam vero teste` is an ablative phrase (of means or accompaniment) meaning "by a witness who is as true as he is wretched," emphasizing the credibility of the witness.
  4. 1.6.23sive tibi hoc debes ... seu — A disjunctive correlative structure introduced by `sive ... seu`. It contrasts whether the wife's outstanding virtue is due to her own innate disposition (`tibi hoc debes`) or to her imitation of a noble role model, Empress Livia (`femina seu princeps...`), praising her virtue in either case.
  5. 1.6.33prima locum sanctas heroidas inter haberes — `haberes` and `conspicerere` (line 34) are imperfect subjunctives serving as the apodosis of a past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence. The condition loosely corresponds to lines 31-32 `siquid... vigoris... extinctum... occidit` ("if any vigor had remained [but actually it has died]").

Cite this passage

Ovid, Sorrows §1.6.1-1.6.36. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi008.humanitext-lat2:1.6.1-1.6.36

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