Talk:Amores (Ovid)

Draft

Classical and Foreign Quotations

W. Francis H. King, ed. Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 264, 368, 380, 398, 412, 426, 549, 707, 751, 889, 921, 1219, 1391, 1748, 1858, 1890, 2075, 2281, 2307, 2498, 2948

• Cedant carminibus reges, regumque triumphi.
  • To verse must kings, and regal triumphs yield.
    • 1, 15, 33.

• Confiteor, si quid prodest delicta fateri.
  • I confess my fault if the confession be of any avail.
    • 2, 4, 3.

• Conveniens vitæ mors fuit ista suæ.
  • His death was in keeping with his life.
    • 2, 10, 38.

• Crede mihi, res est ingeniosa dare.
  • Believe me, giving is a matter that requires judgment.
    • 1, 8, 62.

• Cui peccare licet, peccat minus. Ipsa potestas
  Semina nequitiæ languidiora facit.
  • Who’s free to sin, sins less: the very power
    Robs evildoing of its choicest flower.
    • 3, 4, 9.

• Cur opus adfectas, ambitiose, novum?
  • Why, ambitious youth, do you undertake a new work?
    • 1, 1, 14.

• Da populo, da verba mihi, sine nescius errem;
  Et liceat stulte credulitate frui.
  • Pray undeceive me not, nor let me know that I mistaken be,
    I would a little longer yet enjoy my fond credulity.
    • 3, 14, 29.
    • To a Faithless Mistress.

• Eveniat nostris hostibus ille pudor.
  • May such shame be the portion of my enemy!
    • 3, 11, 16.
    • For similar imprecations, cf. Di meliora piis, erroremque hostibus illum!—"God give His servants better fortune, and send that error to His enemies!" (Virgil, Georgics, 3, 513); Sic pereant omnes inimici tui, Domine: qui autem diligunt te, sicut sol in ortu suo splendet, ita rutilent!—"So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love Thee shine as the sun shineth in his rising!" (Vulgate Judges 5, 31).

• Et nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores,
  Nudaque simplicitas, purpureusque pudor.
  • Trusty good faith, a life without a stain,
    Of blushing purity, of manners plain.
    • 1, 3, 13.

• Fabula (nec sentis) tota jactaris in urbe.
  • You don't know it, but you are the talk of the town.
    • 3, 1, 21.

• Heu! melior quanto sors tua sorte mea!
  • Alas! how much superior is your lot to mine.
    • 1, 6, 46.

• Hoc illi garrula lingua dedit.
  • This penalty his chattering tongue has paid.
    • 2, 2, 44.
    • Said of Tantalus for revealing the secrets of the gods.

• Labitur occulte, fallitque volubilis ætas.
  • Time glides away unnoticed, and eludes us in his flight.
    • 1, 8, 49.

• Leve fit quod bene fertur onus.
  • The burden which is borne with cheerfulness becomes light.
    • 1, 2, 10.

• Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata.
  • We are always striving after what is forbidden, and coveting the prohibited.
    • 3, 4, 17.
    • Cf. Quicquid servatur, cupimus magis, ipsaque furem / Cura vocat. Pauci, quod sinit alter, amant.—"Whatever is carefully guarded we covet all the more, and the very solicitude invites a thief: few long for what others leave alone." (3, 4, 25); Quod licet ingratum est: quod non licet acrius urit.—"What is lawful is unattractive; what is unlawful excites all the more keenly." (2, 19, 3); Permissum fit vile nefas.—"Permitted sin loses its value." (Maximianus Etruscus (falsely attributed to Cornelius Gallus), Elegies, 3, 77 (in Lemaire’s Bibliotheca Classica Latina, vol. 140, p. 246)); Vile est quod licet.—"What is lawful is of little value." (Petronius, 93).

• Non ego sum stultus, ut ante fui.
  • I am no longer the fool I was.
    • 3, 11, 32.
    • i.e. "I have learned by experience."

• Omina sunt aliquid.
  • There is something in omens.
    • 1, 12, 3.

• Perter et obdura: dolor hic tibi proderit olim:
  Sæpe tulit lassis succus amarus opem.
  • Bear and endure: some day your pains will tell.
    The bitter draught has oft made sick men well.
    • 3, 11, 7.
    • Cf. Perfer et obdura: multo graviora tulisti.—"Bear and endure: you have borne much harder things than this." (Tristia, 5, 11, 7).
    • Patience.

• Quid tibi cum pelago? Terra contenta fuisses.
  • What business had you with the sea? You might have been content with the land.
    • 3, 8, 49.

• Qui nolet fieri desidiosus, amet.
  • If any man wish to escape idleness, let him fall in love.
    • 1, 9, 46.

• Sero respicitur tellus, ubi fune soluto,
  Currit in immensum panda carina salum.
  • It is too late to look back to the land,
    With moorings loosed, and keel slipped from the strand.
    • 2, 11, 23.

• Vix a te videor posse tenere manus.
  • I can scarcely keep my hands off you!
    • 1, 4, 10.
    • Translated by Sydney Smith: as said to the lady in red velvet, whose gown reminded him so vividly of his pulpit cushion.