Fall 1999: Week 14

REMEDIA AMORIS
P. OVIDII NASONIS
versus DLXXIX - DCLVIII

THE REMEDIES FOR LOVE
PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
lines 579 - 658

Quisquis amas, loca sola nocent, loca sola caveto!
   Quo fugis? in populo tutior esse potes.
Non tibi secretis (augent secreta furores)
   Est opus: auxilio turba futura tibi est.
Tristis eris, si solus eris, dominaeque relictae
   Ante oculos facies stabit, ut ipsa, tuos.
Tristior idcirco nox est quam tempora Phoebi;
   Quae relevet luctus, turba sodalis abest.
Nec fuge conloquium, nec sit tibi ianua clausa,
   Nec tenebris vultus flebilis abde tuos.
Semper babe Pyladen aliquem, qui curet Oresten:
   Hic quoque amicitiae non levis usus erit.
Quid, nisi secretae laeserunt Phyllida silvae?
   Certa necis causa est: incomitata fuit.
lbat, ut Edono referens trieterica Baccho
   Ire solet fusis barbara turba comis,
Et modo, qua poterat, longum spectabat in aequor,
   Nunc in harenosa lassa iacebat humo.
"Perfide Demophoon!" surdas clamabat ad undas,
   Ruptaque singultu verba loquentis erant.
Limes erat tenuis longa subnubilus umbra,
   Quo tulit illa suos ad mare saepe pedes.
Nona terebatur miserae via: "viderit!" inquit,
   Et spectat zonam pallida facta suam,
Aspicit et ramos; dubitat, refugitque quod audet
   Et timet, et digitos ad sua colla refert.
Sithoni, tum certe vellem non sola fuisses:
   Non flesset positis Phyllida silva comis.
Phyllidis exemplo nimium secreta timete,
   Laese vir a domina, laesa puella viro.

   Whoever you are that love, solitary places are dangerous, beware of solitudes. Whither do you flee? you will be safer in a crowd. You have no need for secrecy (secrecy adds to passion); a crowd will give you succour. If alone, you will be sad, and the shape of your deserted mistress will stand, as if herself, before your eyes. Hence night is sadder than the hours of Phoebus; the companions, who might relieve your gloom, are absent. And fly not intercourse, nor let your door be closed, nor hide your tearful countenance in darkness. Ever have some Pylades to care for his Orestes: this too will prove no small benefit of friendship. What, save the secret woods, were Phyllis' bane? the cause of her death is sure: she had no companion. She was going, as the barbarian throng is wont to go, when it keeps the triennial feast of Edonian Bacchus, with hair dishevelled, and now, where she could, she gazed on the far-flung sea, now weary lay on the sandy ground. "Faithless Demophoon!" she cried to the deaf waves, and her sobbing broke the words she uttered. There was a narrow way o'ercast by the long shadows, by which she oft betook herself to the sea. For the ninth time she trod her hapless path: "Let him see to it!" she cries, and turning pale looks at her girdle; she looks at the branches also; she hesitates, and shrinks from what she ventures, and is afraid, and sets her fingers at her neck. Then truly, Sithonian maid, could I wish thou hadst not been alone: the wood had not shed its leaves and wept for Phyllis. By example of Phyllis fear too much secrecy, O lover pained by thy mistress, O girl pained by thy lover!

Praestiterat iuvenis quidquid mea Musa iubebat,
   Inque suae portu paene salutis erat:
Reccidit, ut cupidos inter devenit amantes,
   Et, quae condiderat, tela resumpsit Amor.
Siquis amas, nec vis, facito contagia vites
   Haec etiam pecori saepe nocere solent.
Dum spectant laesos oculi, laeduntur et ipsi,
   Multaque corporibus transitione nocent.
In loca nonnumquarn siccis arentia glebis
   De prope currenti flumine manat aqua:
Manat amor tectus, si non ab amante recedas
   Turbaque in hoe omnes ingeniosa sumus.
Alter item iam sanus erat; vicinia laesit
   Occursum dominae non tulit ille suae.
Vulnus in antiquum rediit male firma cicatrix,
   Successumque artes non habuere meae.
Proximus a tectis ignis defenditur aegre
   Utile finitimis abstinuisse locis.
Nec quae ferre solet spatiantem porticus illam,
   Te ferat, officium neve colatur idem.
Quid iuvat admonitu tepidam recalescere mentem
   Alter, si possis, orbis habendus erit.

   A youth had performed whate'er my Muse commanded, and was nearly within the haven of his safety; he fell back, when he came among eager lovers, and Love resumed the arms he had put away. If you love, nor wish to love, see that you shun contagion; even beasts are hurt thereby. The eyes, in beholding the afflicted, themselves suffer affliction, and many things harm our bodies through chance encounter. Sometimes water steals from a river running near into dry and parching soil: Love steals in all unseen, if you go not from your lover; in this we are all cunning folk. Another also was already cured: neighbourhood proved his bane: meeting his mistress was too much for him. The scar ill-healed relapsed to the old wound, and my arts sustained defeat. A fire next door is ill repulsed; 'tis best to avoid the neighbourhood. And frequent not the colonnade that she frequents when walking, nor cultivate the same society. What boots it by remembrance to heat once more a cooling passion? If you can, you must live in another world.

Non facile esuriens posita retinebere mensa,
   Et multam saliens incitat unda sitim.
Non facile est taurum visa retinere iuvenca,
   Fortis equus visae semper adhinnit equae.
Haec ubi praestiteris, ut tandem litora tangas,
   Non ipsam satis est deseruisse tibi.
Et soror et mater valeant et conscia nutrix,
   Et quisquis dominae pars erit ulla tuae.
Nec veniat servus, nec flens ancillula fictum
   Suppliciter dominae nomine dicat "ave!"
Nec si scire voles, quid agat, tamen, illa, rogabis;
   Perfer! erit lucro lingua retenta tuo.
Tu quoque, qui causam finiti reddis amoris,
   Deque tua domina multa querenda refers,
Parce queri; melius sic ulciscere tacendo,
   Ut desideriis effluat illa tuis.
Et malim taceas quam te desisse loquaris
   Qui nimium multis "non amo" dicit, amat.
Sed meliore fide paulatim extinguitur ignis
   Quam subito; lente desine, tutus eris.
Flumine perpetuo torrens solet altior ire:
   Sed tamen haec brevis est, illa perennis aqua.
Fallat, et in tenues evanidus exeat auras,
   Perque gradus molles emoriatur amor.
Sed modo dilectam scelus est odisse puellam:
   Exitus ingeniis convenit iste feris.
Non curare sat est: odio qui finit amorem,
   Aut amat, aut aegre desinet esse miser.

   With difficulty will you be kept, when hungry, from the appointed feast, and springing water provokes a raging thirst. 'Tis hard to hold the bull when he spies the heifer, the lusty steed ever whinnies at the sight of the mare. When this is done, in order at last to gain the shore, it is not enough to leave her alone behind. Bid farewell to mother and sister, and to the nurse her confidant, and to whoever will be any part of your mistress. Nor let her slave come, nor her handmaid with feigned tears greet you imploringly in her mistress' name. Nor must you ask how she fares, though you wish to know; endure! you will gain by being tongue-tied. You too who relate the cause of ended love, and recount your many complaints against your mistress, cease to complain; thus by silence will you win better revenge, so that she fades away from your regrets. And I would rather you were silent than say you had ceased to love; he who says o'er much "I love not" is in love. But with better surety is the fire gradually extinguished than on a sudden; leave off slowly, and you will be safe. A torrent is likely to flow deeper than an unbroken stream: but that is short-lived, this goes on forever. Let love fail, and vanish into tenuous air, and die by slow degrees. But to hate a woman once loved is a crime: that is an end fitting to savage minds. It is enough to be indifferent: he who ends love by hating either loves still, or will find it hard to end his misery.