Humanitext Reader

Ovid · Sorrows §5.13.1-5.13.33

Lament for His Illness and a Plea for Letters

Passage 59 of 60 · Latin

Summary

Ovid sends a letter from the land of the Getae, complaining of his illness and gently reproaching his friend for writing so rarely, while urging him to continue their silent dialogue through correspondence to prove his unchanging friendship.

§5.13.1Hanc tuus e Getico mittit tibi Naso salutem, §5.13.2mittere si quisquam, quo caret ipse, potest,
Your Naso sends you this greeting from the Getic land, if anyone can send what he himself lacks.
§5.13.3aeger enim traxi contagia corpore mentis, §5.13.4libera tormento pars mihi ne qua vacet,
For, sick in body, I have drawn in the contagion of the mind, so that no part of me may be free and vacant from torment.
§5.13.5perque dies multos lateris cruciatibus uror; §5.13.6sic me non modico frigore laesit hiems,
And for many days I burn with the pains of my side; thus the winter has harmed me with no moderate cold.
§5.13.7si tamen ipse vales, aliqua nos parte valemus: §5.13.8quippe mea est umeris fulta ruina tuis.
Yet if you yourself are well, I am well in some part: indeed, my ruin is supported by your shoulders.
§5.13.9Quid, mihi cum dederis ingentia pignora, cumque §5.13.10per numeros omnes hoc tueare caput, §5.13.11quod tua me raro solatur epistula, peccas, §5.13.12remque piam praestas, sed mihi verba negas?
Why, when you have given me huge pledges, and when you protect this head through all measures, do you err in that your letter rarely comforts me, and perform a dutiful deed, but deny me words?
§5.13.13hoc, precor, emenda! quod si correxeris unum,
Correct this, I pray!
§5.13.14nullus in egregio corpore naevus erit.
If you correct this one thing, there will be no blemish in an excellent body.
§5.13.15pluribus accusem, fieri nisi possit, ut ad me §5.13.16littera non veniat, missa sit illa tamen,
I would accuse you more, unless it could be that a letter does not come to me, though it was nevertheless sent.
§5.13.17di faciant, ut sit temeraria nostra querella, §5.13.18teque putem falso non meminisse mei.
May the gods grant that my complaint is groundless, and that I falsely think you have forgotten me.
§5.13.19quod precor, esse liquet: neque enim mutabile robur §5.13.20credere me fas est pectoris esse tui.
What I pray for is clear to be: for indeed it is not right for me to believe that the strength of your heart is changeable.
§5.13.21cana prius gelido desint absinthia Ponto, §5.13.22et careat dulci Trinacris Hybla thymo, §5.13.23inmemorem quam te quisquam convincat amici.
White wormwood would sooner be lacking from the cold Pontus, and Sicilian Hybla would lack sweet thyme, than anyone could convict you of being forgetful of a friend.
§5.13.24non ita sunt fati stamina nigra mei.
The black threads of my fate are not so dark.
§5.13.25tu tamen, ut possis falsae quoque pellere culpae §5.13.26crimina, quod non es, ne videare, cave.
Yet, so that you may be able to dispel the accusations even of a false fault, beware lest you seem to be what you are not.
§5.13.27utque solebamus consumere longa loquendo §5.13.28tempora, sermoni deficiente die, §5.13.29sic ferat ac referat tacitas nunc littera voces, §5.13.30et peragant linguae charta manusque vices,
And just as we used to spend long times in talking, the day failing for our conversation, so now let a letter carry and bring back silent voices, and let paper and hand perform the duties of the tongue.
§5.13.31quod fore ne nimium videar diffidere, sitque §5.13.32versibus hoc paucis admonuisse satis, §5.13.33accipe quo semper finitur epistula verbo atque meis distent ut tua fata!— vale.
Lest I should seem to distrust too much that this will be, and so that it may be enough to have warned of this in a few verses, receive the word with which a letter is always ended—and may your fates be far from mine!—farewell.

Notes

  1. §5.13.2quo caret ipse — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quo is salutem from the preceding line, which carries a double meaning of "greeting" and "health." Since Ovid himself lacks health (salus), it creates an ironic paradox of "sending what one does not possess."
  2. §5.13.11quod tua me raro solatur epistula — The quod-clause functions adverbially to explain specifically in what respect ("in that...") the addressee is making a mistake (peccas), or expresses the cause.
  3. §5.13.15pluribus accusem, fieri nisi possit — The combination of the present subjunctive accusem and possit expresses a counterfactual condition in the present or future ("I would accuse more, unless it were possible...").
  4. §5.13.23prius ... quam — The adverb prius in line 21 and conjunction quam in line 23 are separated by hyperbaton, forming a comparative construction ("sooner ... than") used to emphasize impossibility.

Cite this passage

Ovid, Sorrows §5.13.1-5.13.33. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi008.humanitext-lat2:5.13.1-5.13.33

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