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ORAMVS, si forte non molestum est, | 1 | I beg you, if I may without offence, |
demonstres ubi sint tuae tenebrae. | 2 | show me where is your dark corner. |
te Campo quaesiuimus minore, | 3 | I have looked for you in the lesser Campus, |
te in Circo, te in omnibus libellis, | 4 | in the Circus, in all the booksellers' shops, |
te in templo summi Iouis sacrato. | 5 | in the hallowed temple of great Jove. |
in Magni simul ambulatione | 6 | And when I was in Pompey's portico, |
femellas omnes, amice, prendi, | 7 | I stopped all the women there, my friend, |
quas uultu uidi tamen sereno. | 8 | who, however, faced me with untroubled look. |
a, uel te, sic ipse flagitabam, | 9 | You it was that I kept asking them for: |
"Camerium mihi pessimae puellae!" | 10 | "Give me my Camerius, you wicked girls!" |
quaedam inquit, nudum reducta pectus, | 11 | One of them, baring her naked bosom, says |
"en hic in roseis latet papillis." | 12 | "Look here, he is hiding between my rosy breasts." |
sed te iam ferre Herculi labos est. | 13 | Well, to bear with you is now a labour of Hercules. |
non custos si fingar ille Cretum, | 14 | Not though I should be moulded in brass like the fabled warder of Crete, |
non si Pegaseo ferar volatu, | 15 | not though I were to soar aloft like flying Pegasus, |
non Ladas ego pinnipesve Perseus, | 16 | not if I were Ladas or wing-footed Perseus, |
non Rhesi niveae citaeque bigae: | 17 | not if I were the swift snow-white pair of Rhesus could I overtake you: |
adde huc plumipedas volatilesque, | 18 | add to these the feather-footed gods and the winged, |
ventorumque simul require cursum; | 19 | and with them call for the swiftness of the winds; |
quos iunctos, Cameri, mihi dicares, | 20 | though you should harness all these, Camerius, and press them into my service, |
defessus tamen omnibus medullis | 21 | yet I should be tired out to my very marrow, |
et multis langoribus peresus | 22 | and worn away with frequent faintness, |
essem te, mi amice, quaeritando. | 23 | my friend, while searching for you. |
tanto te in fastu negas, amice. | 24 | Do you deny yourself so haughtily, my friend? |
dic nobis ubi sis futurus, ede | 25 | Tell us where you are likely to be, out with it boldly, |
audacter, committe, crede luci. | 26 | trust me with it, give it to the light. |
nunc te lacteolae tenent puellae? | 27 | Do the milk-white maids detain you? |
si linguam clauso tenes in ore, | 28 | If you keep your tongue shut within your mouth, |
fructus proicies amoris omnes. | 29 | you will waste all the gains o flove; |
uerbosa gaudet Venus loquella. | 30 | Venus loves an utterance full of words. |
uel, si uis, licet obseres palatum, | 32 | However, if you will, you may lock up your lips, |
dum uestri sim particeps amoris. |
33 |
so long as you let me be a sharer in your love. |