Propertius 3.23 Flashcards
Ergo tam doctae nobis periere tabellae,
Scripta quibus partier tot periere bona!
So, my cunning writing-tablets are lost, then,
And so are many good texts too!
Has quondam nostris minibus detriverat usus,
Qui non signatas iussit habere fidem.
They were worn away by my hand’s former usage,
And they sought good faith by not being sealed.
Illae iam sine me norant placare puellas,
Et quaedam sine me verba diserta loqui.
Moreover they knew how to pacify girls,
Without me, and how without me to utter eloquent words.
Non illas fixum caras effecerat auram:
Vulgari buxo sordida cera fuit.
No gold fittings made them precious:
They were dingy wax on ordinary boxwood.
Qualescumque mihi semper mansere fideles,
Semper et effectus promeruere bonos.
Such as they were they stayed ever-faithful to me,
And always produced a good effect.
Forsitan haec illis fuerint mandata tabellis:
‘Irascor quoniam es, lente, moratus heri.’
Perhaps the tablets were entrusted with these words:
‘I am angry because you were late yesterday, you laggard.’
An ‘Tibi nescio quae visa est formosior.’ An ‘Tu
Non bona de nobis criminal ficta iacis.’
Or ‘Did someone else seem lovelier to you?’ Or ‘Did you
Spread some unkind slander about me?’
Aut dixit: ‘Venies hodie, cessabimus una:
Hospitium tota nocte paravit Amor.’
Or she said: ‘Come today, we’ll rest together: all night,
Love has been preparing a welcome.’
Et quaecumque volens reperit non stulta puella,
Garrula cum blandis ducitur hora dolis.
And whatever else a willing and talkative girl invents
When she sets a time, with flattering wiles.
Me miserum, his aliquis rationem scribit avarus
Et point duras inter ephemeridas!
Oh well, now some miser writes his accounts on them,
And places them with his dire ledgers!
Quas si quis mihi rettulerit, donabitur auro:
Quis pro divitiis ligna retenta velit?
Whoever gives me them back can have gold:
Who would keep pieces of wood and not have money?
I puer, et citus haec aliqua propone columna,
Et dominum Esquiliis scribe habitare tuum.
Go boy, and quickly stick these words on some column,
And write that your master lives on the Esquiline.
