Humanitext Reader

Ovid · Sorrows §5.9.1-5.9.38

Gratitude to an Anonymous Friend and Refusal to Name Him

Passage 55 of 60 · Latin

Summary

The poet expresses his profound gratitude to an anonymous benefactor who saved him from ruin. While regretting that he cannot openly immortalize the friend's name in his poetry, he promises to faithfully obey the order to keep the name hidden for the friend's safety.

§5.9.1O tua si sineres in nostris nomina poni §5.9.2carminibus, positus quam mihi saepe fores:
O, if you allowed your name to be placed in my poems, how often you would have been placed there by me!
§5.9.3te canerem solum, meriti memor, inque libellis §5.9.4crevisset sine te pagina nulla meis.
I would sing of you alone, mindful of your merit, and in my little books no page would have grown without you.
§5.9.5quid tibi deberem, tota sciretur in urbe, §5.9.6exul in amissa si tamen urbe legor.
What I owe you would be known in the whole city, if indeed I, an exile, am still read in the lost city.
§5.9.7te praesens mitem nosset, te serior aetas, §5.9.8scripta vetustatem si modo nostra ferunt, §5.9.9nec tibi cessaret doctus bene dicere lector: §5.9.10hic te servato vate maneret honor.
The present age would know you as gentle, and later posterity would, if only my writings endure antiquity, nor would a learned reader cease to speak well of you: this honor would remain for you, because your poet was saved.
§5.9.11Caesaris est primum munus, quod ducimus auras; §5.9.12gratia post magnos est tibi habenda deos.
It is Caesar's first gift that we draw breath; thanks must be rendered to you next to the great gods.
§5.9.13ille dedit vitam; tu, quam dedit ille, tueris, §5.9.14et facis accepto munere posse frui.
He gave life; you protect what he gave, and make it possible to enjoy the received gift.
§5.9.15cumque perhorruerit casus pars maxima nostros, §5.9.16pars etiam credi pertimuisse velit, §5.9.17naufragiumque meum tumulo spectant ab alto, §5.9.18nec dederit nanti per freta saeva manum, §5.9.19seminecem Stygia revocasti solus ab unda.
And when the greatest part shuddered at my misfortunes, and part even wished to be believed to have been terrified, and they watch my shipwreck from a high mound, and did not give a hand to me swimming through the savage seas, you alone recalled me half-dead from the Stygian wave.
§5.9.20hoc quoque, quod memores possumus esse, tuum est.
This too, that we are able to be mindful, is yours.
§5.9.21di tibi se tribuant cum Caesare semper amicos: §5.9.22non potuit votum plenius esse meum.
May the gods with Caesar always show themselves friendly to you: my prayer could not be more complete.
§5.9.23haec meus argutis, si tu paterere, libellis §5.9.24poneret in multa luce videnda labor; §5.9.25nunc quoque se, quamvis est iussa quiescere, quin te §5.9.26nominet invitum, vix mea Musa tenet, §5.9.27utque canem pavidae nactum vestigia cervae §5.9.28latrantem frustra copula dura tenet, §5.9.29utque fores nondum reserati carceris acer §5.9.30nunc pede, nunc ipsa fronte lacessit equus, §5.9.31sic mea lege data vincta atque inclusa Thalia §5.9.32per titulum vetiti nominis ire cupit.
These things my labor, if you permitted, would place to be seen in much light in my expressive books; now also, although she has been ordered to be quiet, my Muse scarcely restrains herself from naming you, unwilling though you are, and just as a hard leash holds a dog, barking in vain, having found the tracks of a fearful hind, and just as a fierce horse strikes the doors of the not yet opened starting-gate, now with his hoof, now with his very forehead, so my Thalia, bound and shut in by the law given to her, desires to run through the title of the forbidden name.
§5.9.33ne tamen officio memoris laedaris amici, §5.9.34parebo iussis—parce timere—tuis.
Lest, however, you be harmed by the duty of a mindful friend, I will obey your orders—spare to fear.
§5.9.35at non parerem, nisi me meminisse putares.
But I would not obey, unless you knew that I remember.
§5.9.36hoc quod non prohibet vox tua, gratus ero.
In this, which your voice does not forbid, I will be grateful.
§5.9.37dumque quod o breve sit!—lumen vitale videbo, §5.9.38serviet officio spiritus iste tuo.
And as long as I shall see the vital light—O may it be short!— that spirit of mine will serve your duty.

Notes

  1. §5.9.2positus ... fores — positus fores is equivalent to positus esses, the third-person singular pluperfect passive subjunctive. Acting as the apodosis of the contrary-to-fact conditional sentence (sineres...), it expresses a past unfulfilled potential ("you would have been placed").
  2. §5.9.2mihi — A dative of agent referring to the performer of the action with the passive verb positus fores. It is a poetic usage in place of the standard ab with the ablative case, commonly found with perfect participles.
  3. §5.9.10te servato vate — An ablative absolute. The word vates (poet) refers to Ovid himself, expressing the cause or condition ("since your poet was saved").
  4. §5.9.25quin te / nominet — A quin-clause with the subjunctive following the verb phrase of restraining/preventing vix mea Musa tenet se. It means "from naming you," indicating what the Muse is scarcely able to hold herself back from doing.
  5. §5.9.34parce timere — The verb parco with an infinitive (timere) is a poetic construction used as a negative imperative, equivalent to noli timere ("spare to fear" or "do not fear").

Cite this passage

Ovid, Sorrows §5.9.1-5.9.38. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi008.humanitext-lat2:5.9.1-5.9.38

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