Propertius 2.19 Flashcards
Etsi me invito discedis, Cynthia, Roma,
Laetor quod sine me devia rura coles.
Even though you’re leaving Rome against my wish,
I’m glad, Cynthia, since you’re without me, you’re in the country,
Nullus erit castis iuvenis corruptor in agris,
Qui te blanditiis non sinat esse probam;
Nulla neque ante tuas orietur rixa fenestras,
Nec tibi clamatae somnus amarus erit.
There’ll be no young seducer in those chaste fields, off the beaten track
One whose flatteries stop you being true;
No fights will begin beneath your window;
Your sleep won’t be troubled by being called aloud.
Sola eris et solos spectabis, Cynthia, montes
Et pecus et fines pauperis agricolae.
You’ll be alone, and you’ll gaze, alone, Cynthia, at mountains,
Herds, the fields of poor farmers.
Illic te nulli poterunt corrumpere ludi,
Fanaque peccatis plurima causa tuis.
No games will have power to corrupt you there,
No sanctuary temples giving you countless opportunities for sin.
Illic assidue tauros spectabis arantes
Et vitem docta ponere falce comas,
Atque ibi rara feres inculto tura sacello,
Haedus ubi agrestis corruet ante focos;
There you’ll watch the oxen’s endless ploughing,
Vines losing leaves to the pruning-hook’s skill:
And you’ll carry a little offering of incense to some crude shrine,
Where a goat will die in front of the rustic altar:
Protinus et nuda choreas imitabere sura;
Omnia ab externo sint modo tuta viro.
And you’ll imitate their choral dance bare-legged:
But only if all is safe from strange men.
Ipse ego venabor: iam nunc me sacra Dianae
Suscipere et Veneri ponere vota iuvat.
I’ll go hunting: I’ll take pleasure now, at once, in accepting the rites
Of fair Diana, and dropping my former vows to Venus.
Incipiam captare feras et reddere pinu
Cornua et audaces ipse monere canes;
I’ll start chasing wild creatures, and fasten horns to fir trees,
And control the audacious dogs myself.
Non tamen ut vastos ausim temptare leones
Aut celer agrestes comminus ire sues.
Yet I’ll not try great lions,
Or hurry to meet wild boar face to face.
Haec igitur mihi sit lepores audacia molles
Excipere et structo figere avem calamo,
Qua formoso suo Clitumnus flumina luco
Integit et niveos abluit unda boves.
It’s daring enough to take the gentle hare,
Or pierce a bird with a trim rod,
Where Clitmnus clothes the beautiful stream with woodland tangles,
And his wave bathes the snow-white heifers.
Tu quotiens aliquid conabere, vita, memento
Venturum paucis me tibi Luciferus.
You, mea vita, if you venture anything, remember
I’ll be coming there for you, in a few days time.
Hic me nec solae poterunt avertere silvae,
Nec vaga muscosis flumina fusa iugis,
Absenti nemo non nocuisse velit.
So, solitary woods and vagrant streams, in mossy hills,
Won’t stop me trying your name on my tireless tongue.
Everyone wishes to hurt those who are absent.
