Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Line

← Previous Next →

Annua venerunt Cerealis tempora sacri;

Secubat in vacuo sola puella toro.

Flava Ceres, tenues spicis redimita capillos,

Cur inhibes sacris commoda nostra tuis?

Te, dea, munificam gentes, ubi quaeque, loquuntur,

Nec minus humanis invidet ulla bonis.

Ante nec hirsuti torrebant farra coloni,

Nec notum terris area nomen erat,

Sed glandem quercus, oracula prima, ferebant;

Haec erat et teneri caespitis herba cibus.

Prima Ceres docuit turgescere semen in agris

Falce coloratas subsecuitque comas;

Prima iugis tauros supponere colla coegit,

Et veterem curvo dente revellit humum.

Hanc quisquam lacrimis laetari credit amantum

Et bene tormentis secubituque coli?

Nec tamen est, quamvis agros amet illa feraces,

Rustica nec viduum pectus amoris habet.

Cretes erunt testes — nec fingunt omnia Cretes.

Crete nutrito terra superba Iove.

Illic, sideream mundi qui temperat arcem,

Exiguus tenero lac bibit ore puer.

Magna fides testi: testis laudatur alumno.

Fassuram Cererem crimina nostra puto.

Viderat Iasium Cretaea diva sub Ida

Figentem certa terga ferina manu.

Vidit, et ut tenerae flammam rapuere medullae,

Hinc pudor, ex illa parte trahebat amor.

Victus amore pudor; sulcos arere videres

Et sata cum minima parte redire sui.

Cum bene iactati pulsarant arva ligones,

Ruperat et duram vomer aduncus humum,

Seminaque in latos ierant aequaliter agros,

Inrita decepti vota colentis erant.

Diva potens frugum silvis cessabat in altis;

Deciderant longae spicea serta comae.

Sola fuit Crete fecundo fertilis anno;

Omnia, qua tulerat se dea, messis erat;

Ipsa, locus nemorum, canebat frugibus Ide,

Et ferus in silva farra metebat aper.

Optavit Minos similes sibi legifer annos;

Optasset, Cereris longus ut esset amor.

Quod tibi secubitus tristes, dea flava, fuissent,

Hoc cogor sacris nunc ego ferre tuis?

Cur ego sim tristis, cum sit tibi nata reperta

Regnaque quam Iuno sorte minore regat?

Festa dies Veneremque vocat cantusque merumque;

Haec decet ad dominos munera ferre deos.

Amores. P. Ovidius Naso. Leipzig. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

Current edition Perseus

Amores (Ovid. P. Ovidius Naso, Volume 1: Amores, Epistulae, Medicamina faciei femineae, Ars amatoria, Remedia amoris. Ehwald, Rudolf; Merkel, Rudolph; editors. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1907.)

Translations (1)

Amores Perseus (Ovid. Ovid's Art of Love (in three Books), the Remedy of Love, the Art of Beauty, the Court of Love, the History of Love, and Amours. Dryden, John, et al., translator. New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1855.) — 3.10 focus

Elegy X.

Now Ceres ' feast is come, the trees are blown,

And my Corinna now must lie alone.

And why, good Ceres , must thy feast destroy

Man's chief delight, and why disturb his joy ?

The world esteems you bountiful and good,

You led us from the field and from the wood,

And gave us fruitful corn, and wholesome food.

Till then poor wretched man on acorns fed;

Oaks gave him meat, and flow'ry fields a bed.

First Ceres made our wheat and barley grow,

And taught us how to plough, and how to mow;

Who then can think that she designs to prove

Our piety, by coldness in our love ?

Or make poor lovers sigh, lament, and groan,

Or charge her votaries to lie alone ?

For Ceres , though she loves the fruitful fields,

Yet sometimes feels the force of love, and yields:

This Crete can witness, ( Crete not always lies)

Crete that nurs'd Jove, and heard his infant cries,

There he was suckled who now rules the skies.

That Jove his education there receiv'd,

Will raise her fame, and make her be believ'd;

Nay she herself will never strive to hide

Her love, 'tis too well known to be denied:

She saw young Jasius in the Cretan grove

Pursue the deer, she saw, and fell in love.

She then perceived when first she felt the fire,

On this side modesty, on that desire;

Desire prevail'd, and then the field grew dry,

The farmer lost his crop and knew not why;

When he had toil'd, manur'd his grounds, and plough' d,

Harrow'd his fields, and broke his clods, and sow'd,

No corn appear'd, none to reward his pain,

His labour and his wishes were in vain.

For Ceres wand'red in the woods and groves,

And often heard, and often told her loves:

Then Crete alone a fruitful summer knew,

Where'er the goddess came a harvest grew.

Ida was grey with corn, the furious boar

Grew fat with wheat, and wonder'd at the store:

The Cretans wish'd that such all years would prove,

They wish'd that Ceres would be long in love.

Well then, since then 'twas hard for you to lie

All night alone, why at your feast must I ?

Why must I mourn, when you rejoice to know

Your daughter safe, and queen of all below?

'Tis holy-day, and calls for wine and love;

Come, let's the height of mirth and humor prove,

These gifts will please our master pow'rs above.

P. Ovidius Naso Amores 3.10

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Elegy X.

Stable identifiers