---
title: "Elegies · Elegiae"
author: "Sulpicia"
translator: "Anne Mahoney"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/sulpicia-elegies/
cite: "Sulpicia, tr. Anne Mahoney, Elegies · Elegiae. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/sulpicia-elegies/"
---

# Elegies · Elegiae

*Sulpicia, tr. Anne Mahoney*

Six short love poems by a young Roman noblewoman of Augustus’ time, the only Latin poems by a woman to survive from the classical age.

> Latin: ed. Anne Mahoney, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0660.phi003, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Anne Mahoney, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0660.phi003.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Poems 1–6](https://scriptura.si/works/sulpicia-elegies/1.md)

## 1. Poems 1–6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/sulpicia-elegies/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/sulpicia-elegies/1/#p-N

[¶0] 1. At last the love I've waited for has come.
(No shame to say so: more to cover up).
My Camenae called on her in prayer,
and Cytherea brought him to my heart.
Venus kept her promise: now she can tell
my tale of joy to those who don't believe.
I hardly want to give this letter up
so no one else sees it before he does.
I'm glad I did it — why wear a prudish mask,
as if he wasn't good enough for me!

> Latin: 1. Tandem venit amor, qualem texisse pudori
quam nudasse alicui sit mihi fama magis.
Exorata meis illum Cytherea Camenis
attulit in nostrum deposuitque sinum.
Exsolvit promissa Venus: mea gaudia narret,
dicetur si quis non habuisse sua.
Non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis,
ne legat id nemo quam meus ante, velim.
Sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae
taedet: cum digno digna fuisse ferar.

[¶1] 2. My stupid birthday's here, and I'm supposed
to go away and leave Cerinthus here.
What's better than the city? On the farm,
it's cold and rustic — no place for a girl.
Messalla, uncle, you're thinking of me,
but stop it: this is no time for a trip.
Take me away, I'll leave my heart and mind
In Rome: what good's free will? You make the rules.

> Latin: 2. Invisus natalis adest, qui rure molesto
et sine Cerintho tristis agendus erit.
Dulcius urbe quid est? an villa sit apta puellae
atque Arretino frigidus amnis agro?
Iam nimium Messalla mei studiose, quiescas,
non tempestivae, saeve propinque, viae!
Hic animum sensusque meos abducta relinquo,
arbitrio quamvis non sinis esse meo.

[¶2] 3. You know, that trip's been taken off my mind:
your girlfriend gets to spend her day in Rome.
Let's spend the day together, as we hoped:
we've had the good luck you were waiting for.

> Latin: 3. Scis iter ex animo sublatum triste puellae?
natali Romae iam licet esse suo.
Omnibus ille dies nobis natalis agatur,
qui nec opinanti nunc tibi forte venit.

[¶3] 4. I should be glad you think that you can cheat:
what a fool I'd be to fall into your arms.
Go: court your working girl as she spins her wool
instead of Sulpicia daughter of Servius.
My family are concerned I might lose out
to the affections of an unknown's bed.

> Latin: 4. Gratum est, securus multum quod iam tibi de me
permittis, subito ne male inepta cadam.
Sit tibi cura togae potior pressumque quasillo
scortum quam Servi filia Sulpicia:
Solliciti sunt pro nobis, quibus illa dolori est,
ne cedam ignoto, maxima causa, toro.

[¶4] 5. Cerinthus, do you care that I am sick,
my body wracked with fever and fatigue?
I cannot hope that I'll be well again
unless I think that that's what you want too.
But if my sickness doesn't worry you,
what good is it to me to be well again?

> Latin: 5. Estne tibi, Cerinthe, tuae pia cura puellae,
quod mea nunc vexat corpora fessa calor?
A! ego non aliter tristes evincere morbos
optarim, quam te si quoque velle putem.
At mihi quid prosit morbos evincere, si tu
nostra potes lento pectore ferre mala?

[¶5] 6. My light, may you not love me any more
the way I think you did a few days since,
if I have ever in my youthful life
done anything as stupid as I did
yesterday, when I left you all alone
because I didn't want to show my love.

> Latin: 6. Ne tibi sim, mea lux, aeque iam fervida cura
ac videor paucos ante fuisse dies,
si quicquam tota commisi stulta iuventa,
cuius me fatear paenituisse magis,
hesterna quam te solum quod nocte reliqui,
ardorem cupiens dissimulare meum.