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De Rerum Natura (Lucretius)
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De Rerum Natura

Author: Lucretius
Translator: William Ellery Leonard
121
Nec
Veneris
fructu
caret
is
qui
vitat
amorem
,
sed
potius
quae
sunt
sine
poena
commoda
sumit
;
nam
certe
purast
sanis
magis
inde
voluptas

quam
miseris
;
etenim
potiundi
tempore
in
ipso

fluctuat
incertis
erroribus
ardor
amantum

nec
constat
quid
primum
oculis
manibusque
fruantur
.
quod
petiere
,
premunt
arte
faciuntque
dolorem

corporis
et
dentes
inlidunt
saepe
labellis

osculaque
adfigunt
,
quia
non
est
pura
voluptas

et
stimuli
subsunt
,
qui
instigant
laedere
id
ipsum
,
quod
cumque
est
,
rabies
unde
illaec
germina
surgunt
.
sed
leviter
poenas
frangit
Venus
inter
amorem

blandaque
refrenat
morsus
admixta
voluptas
.
namque
in
eo
spes
est
,
unde
est
ardoris
origo
,
restingui
quoque
posse
ab
eodem
corpore
flammam
.
quod
fieri
contra
totum
natura
repugnat
;
unaque
res
haec
est
,
cuius
quam
plurima
habemus
,
tam
magis
ardescit
dira
cuppedine
pectus
.
nam
cibus
atque
umor
membris
adsumitur
intus
;
quae
quoniam
certas
possunt
obsidere
partis
,
hoc
facile
expletur
laticum
frugumque
cupido
.
ex
hominis
vero
facie
pulchroque
colore

nil
datur
in
corpus
praeter
simulacra
fruendum

tenvia
;
quae
vento
spes
raptast
saepe
misella
.
ut
bibere
in
somnis
sitiens
quom
quaerit
et
umor

non
datur
,
ardorem
qui
membris
stinguere
possit
,
sed
laticum
simulacra
petit
frustraque
laborat

in
medioque
sitit
torrenti
flumine
potans
,
sic
in
amore
Venus
simulacris
ludit
amantis
,
nec
satiare
queunt
spectando
corpora
coram

nec
manibus
quicquam
teneris
abradere
membris

possunt
errantes
incerti
corpore
toto
.
denique
cum
membris
conlatis
flore
fruuntur

aetatis
,
iam
cum
praesagit
gaudia
corpus

atque
in
eost
Venus
ut
muliebria
conserat
arva
,
adfigunt
avide
corpus
iunguntque
salivas

oris
et
inspirant
pressantes
dentibus
ora
,
ne
quiquam
,
quoniam
nihil
inde
abradere
possunt

nec
penetrare
et
abire
in
corpus
corpore
toto
;
nam
facere
inter
dum
velle
et
certare
videntur
.
usque
adeo
cupide
in
Veneris
compagibus
haerent
,
membra
voluptatis
dum
vi
labefacta
liquescunt
.
tandem
ubi
se
erupit
nervis
coniecta
cupido
,
parva
fit
ardoris
violenti
pausa
parumper
.
inde
redit
rabies
eadem
et
furor
ille
revisit
,
cum
sibi
quod
cupiant
ipsi
contingere
quaerunt
,
nec
reperire
malum
id
possunt
quae
machina
vincat
.
usque
adeo
incerti
tabescunt
volnere
caeco
.

Nor doth that man who keeps away from love
Yet lack the fruits of Venus; rather takes
Those pleasures which are free of penalties.
For the delights of Venus, verily,
Are more unmixed for mortals sane-of-soul
Than for those sick-at-heart with love-pining.
Yea, in the very moment of possessing,
Surges the heat of lovers to and fro,
Restive, uncertain; and they cannot fix
On what to first enjoy with eyes and hands.
The parts they sought for, those they squeeze so tight,
And pain the creature's body, close their teeth
Often against her lips, and smite with kiss
Mouth into mouth,- because this same delight
Is not unmixed; and underneath are stings
Which goad a man to hurt the very thing,
Whate'er it be, from whence arise for him
Those germs of madness. But with gentle touch
Venus subdues the pangs in midst of love,
And the admixture of a fondling joy
Doth curb the bites of passion. For they hope
That by the very body whence they caught
The heats of love their flames can be put out.
But nature protests 'tis all quite otherwise;
For this same love it is the one sole thing
Of which, the more we have, the fiercer burns
The breast with fell desire. For food and drink
Are taken within our members; and, since they
Can stop up certain parts, thus, easily
Desire of water is glutted and of bread.
But, lo, from human face and lovely bloom
Naught penetrates our frame to be enjoyed
Save flimsy idol-images and vain-
A sorry hope which oft the winds disperse.
As when the thirsty man in slumber seeks
To drink, and water ne'er is granted him
Wherewith to quench the heat within his members,
But after idols of the liquids strives
And toils in vain, and thirsts even whilst he gulps
In middle of the torrent, thus in love
Venus deludes with idol-images
The lovers. Nor they cannot sate their lust
By merely gazing on the bodies, nor
They cannot with their palms and fingers rub
Aught from each tender limb, the while they stray
Uncertain over all the body. Then,
At last, with members intertwined, when they
Enjoy the flower of their age, when now
Their bodies have sweet presage of keen joys,
And Venus is about to sow the fields
Of woman, greedily their frames they lock,
And mingle the slaver of their mouths, and breathe
Into each other, pressing teeth on mouths-
Yet to no purpose, since they're powerless
To rub off aught, or penetrate and pass
With body entire into body- for oft
They seem to strive and struggle thus to do;
So eagerly they cling in Venus' bonds,
Whilst melt away their members, overcome
By violence of delight. But when at last
Lust, gathered in the thews, hath spent itself,
There come a brief pause in the raging heat-
But then a madness just the same returns
And that old fury visits them again,
When once again they seek and crave to reach
They know not what, all powerless to find
The artifice to subjugate the bane.
In such uncertain state they waste away
With unseen wound.
122
Adde
quod
absumunt
viris
pereuntque
labore
,
adde
quod
alterius
sub
nutu
degitur
aetas
,
languent
officia
atque
aegrotat
fama
vacillans
.
labitur
interea
res
et
Babylonia
fiunt

unguenta
et
pulchra
in
pedibus
Sicyonia
rident
,
scilicet
et
grandes
viridi
cum
luce
zmaragdi

auro
includuntur
teriturque
thalassina
vestis

adsidue
et
Veneris
sudorem
exercita
potat
.
et
bene
parta
patrum
fiunt
anademata
,
mitrae
,
inter
dum
in
pallam
atque
Alidensia
Ciaque
vertunt
.
eximia
veste
et
victu
convivia
,
ludi
,
pocula
crebra
,
unguenta
,
coronae
,
serta
parantur
,
ne
quiquam
,
quoniam
medio
de
fonte
leporum

surgit
amari
aliquid
,
quod
in
ipsis
floribus
angat
,
aut
cum
conscius
ipse
animus
se
forte
remordet

desidiose
agere
aetatem
lustrisque
perire
,
aut
quod
in
ambiguo
verbum
iaculata
reliquit
,
quod
cupido
adfixum
cordi
vivescit
ut
ignis
,
aut
nimium
iactare
oculos
aliumve
tueri

quod
putat
in
voltuque
videt
vestigia
risus
.

To which be added too,
They squander powers and with the travail wane;
Be added too, they spend their futile years
Under another's beck and call; their duties
Neglected languish and their honest name
Reeleth sick, sick; and meantime their estates
Are lost in Babylonian tapestries;
And unguents and dainty Sicyonian shoes
Laugh on her feet; and (as ye may be sure)
Big emeralds of green light are set in gold;
And rich sea-purple dress by constant wear
Grows shabby and all soaked with Venus' sweat;
And the well-earned ancestral property
Becometh head-bands, coifs, and many a time
The cloaks, or garments Alidensian
Or of the Cean isle. And banquets, set
With rarest cloth and viands, are prepared-
And games of chance, and many a drinking cup,
And unguents, crowns and garlands. All in vain,
Since from amid the well-spring of delights
Bubbles some drop of bitter to torment
Among the very flowers- when haply mind
Gnaws into self, now stricken with remorse
For slothful years and ruin in baudels,
Or else because she's left him all in doubt
By launching some sly word, which still like fire
Lives wildly, cleaving to his eager heart;
Or else because he thinks she darts her eyes
Too much about and gazes at another,-
And in her face sees traces of a laugh.
123
Atque
in
amore
mala
haec
proprio
summeque
secundo

inveniuntur
;
in
adverso
vero
atque
inopi
sunt
,
prendere
quae
possis
oculorum
lumine
operto
.
innumerabilia
;
ut
melius
vigilare
sit
ante
,
qua
docui
ratione
,
cavereque
,
ne
inliciaris
.
nam
vitare
,
plagas
in
amoris
ne
iaciamur
,
non
ita
difficile
est
quam
captum
retibus
ipsis

exire
et
validos
Veneris
perrumpere
nodos
.
et
tamen
implicitus
quoque
possis
inque
peditus

effugere
infestum
,
nisi
tute
tibi
obvius
obstes

et
praetermittas
animi
vitia
omnia
primum

aut
quae
corporis
sunt
eius
,
quam
praepetis
ac
vis
.
nam
faciunt
homines
plerumque
cupidine
caeci

et
tribuunt
ea
quae
non
sunt
his
commoda
vere
.
multimodis
igitur
pravas
turpisque
videmus

esse
in
deliciis
summoque
in
honore
vigere
.
atque
alios
alii
inrident
Veneremque
suadent

ut
placent
,
quoniam
foedo
adflictentur
amore
,
nec
sua
respiciunt
miseri
mala
maxima
saepe
.
nigra
melichrus
est
,
inmunda
et
fetida
acosmos
,
caesia
Palladium
,
nervosa
et
lignea
dorcas
,
parvula
,
pumilio
,
chariton
mia
,
tota
merum
sal
,
magna
atque
inmanis
cataplexis
plenaque
honoris
.
balba
loqui
non
quit
,
traulizi
,
muta
pudens
est
;
at
flagrans
,
odiosa
,
loquacula
Lampadium
fit
.
ischnon
eromenion
tum
fit
,
cum
vivere
non
quit

prae
macie
;
rhadine
verost
iam
mortua
tussi
.
at
nimia
et
mammosa
Ceres
est
ipsa
ab
Iaccho
,
simula
Silena
ac
Saturast
,
labeosa
philema
.
cetera
de
genere
hoc
longum
est
si
dicere
coner
.
sed
tamen
esto
iam
quantovis
oris
honore
,
cui
Veneris
membris
vis
omnibus
exoriatur
;
nempe
aliae
quoque
sunt
;
nempe
hac
sine
viximus
ante
;
nempe
eadem
facit
et
scimus
facere
omnia
turpi

et
miseram
taetris
se
suffit
odoribus
ipsa
,
quam
famulae
longe
fugitant
furtimque
cachinnant
.
at
lacrimans
exclusus
amator
limina
saepe

floribus
et
sertis
operit
postisque
superbos

unguit
amaracino
et
foribus
miser
oscula
figit
;
quem
si
iam
ammissum
venientem
offenderit
aura

una
modo
,
causas
abeundi
quaerat
honestas

et
meditata
diu
cadat
alte
sumpta
querella

stultitiaque
ibi
se
damnet
,
tribuisse
quod
illi

plus
videat
quam
mortali
concedere
par
est
.
nec
Veneres
nostras
hoc
fallit
;
quo
magis
ipsae

omnia
summo
opere
hos
vitae
poscaenia
celant
,
quos
retinere
volunt
adstrictosque
esse
in
amore
,
ne
quiquam
,
quoniam
tu
animo
tamen
omnia
possis

protrahere
in
lucem
atque
omnis
inquirere
risus

et
,
si
bello
animost
et
non
odiosa
,
vicissim

praetermittere
humanis
concedere
rebus
.

These ills are found in prospering love and true;
But in crossed love and helpless there be such
As through shut eyelids thou canst still take in-
Uncounted ills; so that 'tis better far
To watch beforehand, in the way I've shown,
And guard against enticements. For to shun
A fall into the hunting-snares of love
Is not so hard, as to get out again,
When tangled in the very nets, and burst
The stoutly-knotted cords of Aphrodite.
Yet even when there enmeshed with tangled feet,
Still canst thou scape the danger-lest indeed
Thou standest in the way of thine own good,
And overlookest first all blemishes
Of mind and body of thy much preferred,
Desirable dame. For so men do,
Eyeless with passion, and assign to them
Graces not theirs in fact. And thus we see
Creatures in many a wise crooked and ugly
The prosperous sweethearts in a high esteem;
And lovers gird each other and advise
To placate Venus, since their friends are smit
With a base passion- miserable dupes
Who seldom mark their own worst bane of all.
The black-skinned girl is "tawny like the honey";
The filthy and the fetid's "negligee";
The cat-eyed she's "a little Pallas," she;
The sinewy and wizened's "a gazelle";
The pudgy and the pigmy is "piquant,
One of the Graces sure"; the big and bulky
O she's "an Admiration, imposante";
The stuttering and tongue-tied "sweetly lisps";
The mute girl's "modest"; and the garrulous,
The spiteful spit-fire, is "a sparkling wit";
And she who scarcely lives for scrawniness
Becomes "a slender darling"; "delicate"
Is she who's nearly dead of coughing-fit;
The pursy female with protuberant breasts
She is "like Ceres when the goddess gave
Young Bacchus suck"; the pug-nosed lady-love
"A Satyress, a feminine Silenus";
The blubber-lipped is "all one luscious kiss"-
A weary while it were to tell the whole.
But let her face possess what charm ye will,
Let Venus' glory rise from all her limbs,-
Forsooth there still are others; and forsooth
We lived before without her; and forsooth
She does the same things- and we know she does-
All, as the ugly creature, and she scents,
Yes she, her wretched self with vile perfumes;
Whom even her handmaids flee and giggle at
Behind her back. But he, the lover, in tears
Because shut out, covers her threshold o'er
Often with flowers and garlands, and anoints
Her haughty door-posts with the marjoram,
And prints, poor fellow, kisses on the doors-
Admitted at last, if haply but one whiff
Got to him on approaching, he would seek
Decent excuses to go out forthwith;
And his lament, long pondered, then would fall
Down at his heels; and there he'd damn himself
For his fatuity, observing how
He had assigned to that same lady more-
Than it is proper to concede to mortals.
And these our Venuses are 'ware of this.
Wherefore the more are they at pains to hide
All the-behind-the-scenes of life from those
Whom they desire to keep in bonds of love-
In vain, since ne'ertheless thou canst by thought
Drag all the matter forth into the light
And well search out the cause of all these smiles;
And if of graceful mind she be and kind,
Do thou, in thy turn, overlook the same,
And thus allow for poor mortality.
124
Nec
mulier
semper
ficto
suspirat
amore
,
quae
conplexa
viri
corpus
cum
corpore
iungit

et
tenet
adsuctis
umectans
oscula
labris
;
nam
facit
ex
animo
saepe
et
communia
quaerens

gaudia
sollicitat
spatium
decurrere
amoris
.
nec
ratione
alia
volucres
armenta
feraeque

et
pecudes
et
equae
maribus
subsidere
possent
,
si
non
,
ipsa
quod
illarum
subat
,
ardet
abundans

natura
et
Venerem
salientum
laeta
retractat
.
nonne
vides
etiam
quos
mutua
saepe
voluptas

vinxit
,
ut
in
vinclis
communibus
excrucientur
,
in
triviis
cum
saepe
canes
discedere
aventis

divorsi
cupide
summis
ex
viribus
tendunt
,
quom
interea
validis
Veneris
compagibus
haerent
?
quod
facerent
numquam
,
nisi
mutua
gaudia
nossent
,
quae
iacere
in
fraudem
possent
vinctosque
tenere
.
quare
etiam
atque
etiam
,
ut
dico
,
est
communis
voluptas
.

Nor sighs the woman always with feigned love,
Who links her body round man's body locked
And holds him fast, making his kisses wet
With lips sucked into lips; for oft she acts
Even from desire, and, seeking mutual joys,
Incites him there to run love's race-course through.
Nor otherwise can cattle, birds, wild beasts,
And sheep and mares submit unto the males,
Except that their own nature is in heat,
And burns abounding and with gladness takes
Once more the Venus of the mounting males.
And seest thou not how those whom mutual pleasure
Hath bound are tortured in their common bonds?
How often in the cross-roads dogs that pant
To get apart strain eagerly asunder
With utmost might?- When all the while they're fast
In the stout links of Venus. But they'd ne'er
So pull, except they knew those mutual joys-
So powerful to cast them unto snares
And hold them bound. Wherefore again, again,
Even as I say, there is a joint delight.
125
Et
commiscendo
quom
semine
forte
virilem

femina
vim
vicit
subita
vi
corripuitque
,
tum
similes
matrum
materno
semine
fiunt
,
ut
patribus
patrio
.
sed
quos
utriusque
figurae

esse
vides
,
iuxtim
miscentes
vulta
parentum
,
corpore
de
patrio
et
materno
sanguine
crescunt
,
semina
cum
Veneris
stimulis
excita
per
artus

obvia
conflixit
conspirans
mutuus
ardor
,
et
neque
utrum
superavit
eorum
nec
superatumst
.
fit
quoque
ut
inter
dum
similes
existere
avorum

possint
et
referant
proavorum
saepe
figuras
,
propterea
quia
multa
modis
primordia
multis

mixta
suo
celant
in
corpore
saepe
parentis
,
quae
patribus
patres
tradunt
a
stirpe
profecta
.
inde
Venus
varia
producit
sorte
figuras
,
maiorumque
refert
voltus
vocesque
comasque
;
quandoquidem
nihilo
magis
haec
semine
certo

fiunt
quam
facies
et
corpora
membraque
nobis
.
et
muliebre
oritur
patrio
de
semine
saeclum

maternoque
mares
existunt
corpore
creti
;
semper
enim
partus
duplici
de
semine
constat
,
atque
utri
similest
magis
id
quod
cumque
creatur
,
eius
habet
plus
parte
aequa
;
quod
cernere
possis
,
sive
virum
suboles
sivest
muliebris
origo
.

And when perchance, in mingling seed with his,
The female hath o'erpowered the force of male
And by a sudden fling hath seized it fast,
Then are the offspring, more from mothers' seed,
More like their mothers; as, from fathers' seed,
They're like to fathers. But whom seest to be
Partakers of each shape, one equal blend
Of parents' features, these are generate
From fathers' body and from mothers' blood,
When mutual and harmonious heat hath dashed
Together seeds, aroused along their frames
By Venus' goads, and neither of the twain
Mastereth or is mastered. Happens too
That sometimes offspring can to being come
In likeness of their grandsires, and bring back
Often the shapes of grandsires' sires, because
Their parents in their bodies oft retain
Concealed many primal germs, commixed
In many modes, which, starting with the stock,
Sire handeth down to son, himself a sire;
Whence Venus by a variable chance
Engenders shapes, and diversely brings back
Ancestral features, voices too, and hair.
A female generation rises forth
From seed paternal, and from mother's body
Exist created males: since sex proceeds
No more from singleness of seed than faces
Or bodies or limbs of ours: for every birth
Is from a twofold seed; and what's created
Hath, of that parent which it is more like,
More than its equal share; as thou canst mark,-
Whether the breed be male or female stock.
126
Nec
divina
satum
genitalem
numina
cuiquam

absterrent
,
pater
a
gnatis
ne
dulcibus
umquam

appelletur
et
ut
sterili
Venere
exigat
aevom
;
quod
plerumque
putant
et
multo
sanguine
maesti

conspergunt
aras
adolentque
altaria
donis
,
ut
gravidas
reddant
uxores
semine
largo
;
ne
quiquam
divom
numen
sortisque
fatigant
;
nam
steriles
nimium
crasso
sunt
semine
partim
,
et
liquido
praeter
iustum
tenuique
vicissim
.
tenve
locis
quia
non
potis
est
adfigere
adhaesum
,
liquitur
extemplo
et
revocatum
cedit
abortu
.
crassius
hinc
porro
quoniam
concretius
aequo

mittitur
,
aut
non
tam
prolixo
provolat
ictu

aut
penetrare
locos
aeque
nequit
aut
penetratum

aegre
admiscetur
muliebri
semine
semen
.
nam
multum
harmoniae
Veneris
differre
videntur
.
atque
alias
alii
complent
magis
ex
aliisque

succipiunt
aliae
pondus
magis
inque
gravescunt
.
et
multae
steriles
Hymenaeis
ante
fuerunt

pluribus
et
nactae
post
sunt
tamen
unde
puellos

suscipere
et
partu
possent
ditescere
dulci
.
et
quibus
ante
domi
fecundae
saepe
nequissent

uxoris
parere
,
inventast
illis
quoque
compar

natura
,
ut
possent
gnatis
munire
senectam
.
usque
adeo
magni
refert
,
ut
semina
possint

seminibus
commisceri
genitaliter
apta

crassaque
conveniant
liquidis
et
liquida
crassis
.
atque
in
eo
refert
quo
victu
vita
colatur
;
namque
aliis
rebus
concrescunt
semina
membris

atque
aliis
extenvantur
tabentque
vicissim
.
et
quibus
ipsa
modis
tractetur
blanda
voluptas
.
id
quoque
permagni
refert
;
nam
more
ferarum

quadrupedumque
magis
ritu
plerumque
putantur

concipere
uxores
,
quia
sic
loca
sumere
possunt

pectoribus
positis
sublatis
semina
lumbis
.
nec
molles
opus
sunt
motus
uxoribus
hilum
.
nam
mulier
prohibet
se
concipere
atque
repugnat
,
clunibus
ipsa
viri
Venerem
si
laeta
retractat

atque
exossato
ciet
omni
pectore
fluctus
;
eicit
enim
sulcum
recta
regione
viaque

vomeris
atque
locis
avertit
seminis
ictum
.
idque
sua
causa
consuerunt
scorta
moveri
,
ne
complerentur
crebro
gravidaeque
iacerent
,
et
simul
ipsa
viris
Venus
ut
concinnior
esset
;
coniugibus
quod
nil
nostris
opus
esse
videtur
.

Nor do the powers divine grudge any man
The fruits of his seed-sowing, so that never
He be called "father" by sweet children his,
And end his days in sterile love forever.
What many men suppose; and gloomily
They sprinkle the altars with abundant blood,
And make the high platforms odorous with burnt gifts,
To render big by plenteous seed their wives-
And plague in vain godheads and sacred lots.
For sterile are these men by seed too thick,
Or else by far too watery and thin.
Because the thin is powerless to cleave
Fast to the proper places, straightaway
It trickles from them, and, returned again,
Retires abortively. And then since seed
More gross and solid than will suit is spent
By some men, either it flies not forth amain
With spurt prolonged enough, or else it fails
To enter suitably the proper places,
Or, having entered, the seed is weakly mixed
With seed of the woman: harmonies of Venus
Are seen to matter vastly here; and some
Impregnate some more readily, and from some
Some women conceive more readily and become
Pregnant. And many women, sterile before
In several marriage-beds, have yet thereafter
Obtained the mates from whom they could conceive
The baby-boys, and with sweet progeny
Grow rich. And even for husbands (whose own wives,
Although of fertile wombs, have borne for them
No babies in the house) are also found
Concordant natures so that they at last
Can bulwark their old age with goodly sons.
A matter of great moment 'tis in truth,
That seeds may mingle readily with seeds
Suited for procreation, and that thick
Should mix with fluid seeds, with thick the fluid.
And in this business 'tis of some import
Upon what diet life is nourished:
For some foods thicken seeds within our members,
And others thin them out and waste away.
And in what modes the fond delight itself
Is carried on- this too importeth vastly.
For commonly 'tis thought that wives conceive
More readily in manner of wild-beasts,
After the custom of the four-foot breeds,
Because so postured, with the breasts beneath
And buttocks then upreared, the seeds can take
Their proper places. Nor is need the least
For wives to use the motions of blandishment;
For thus the woman hinders and resists
Her own conception, if too joyously
Herself she treats the Venus of the man
With haunches heaving, and with all her bosom
Now yielding like the billows of the sea-
Aye, from the ploughshare's even course and track
She throws the furrow, and from proper places
Deflects the spurt of seed. And courtesans
Are thuswise wont to move for their own ends,
To keep from pregnancy and lying in,
And all the while to render Venus more
A pleasure for the men- the which meseems
Our wives have never need of.
127
Nec
divinitus
inter
dum
Venerisque
sagittis

deteriore
fit
ut
forma
muliercula
ametur
;
nam
facit
ipsa
suis
inter
dum
femina
factis

morigerisque
modis
et
munde
corpore
culto
,
ut
facile
insuescat
secum
degere
vitam
.
quod
super
est
,
consuetudo
concinnat
amorem
;
nam
leviter
quamvis
quod
crebro
tunditur
ictu
,
vincitur
in
longo
spatio
tamen
atque
labascit
.
nonne
vides
etiam
guttas
in
saxa
cadentis

umoris
longo
in
spatio
pertundere
saxa
?

Sometimes too
It happens- and through no divinity
Nor arrows of Venus- that a sorry chit
Of scanty grace will be beloved by man;
For sometimes she herself by very deeds,
By her complying ways, and tidy habits,
Will easily accustom thee to pass
With her thy life-time- and, moreover, lo,
Long habitude can gender human love,
Even as an object smitten o'er and o'er
By blows, however lightly, yet at last
Is overcome and wavers. Seest thou not,
Besides, how drops of water falling down
Against the stones at last bore through the stones?
128
Liber
Quintus
BOOK V