Ovid – Phaedra

Ars Amatoria 1.299-326

ipsa novās frondēs et prāta tenerrima taurō

fertur inadsuētā subsecuisse manū. 300

it comes armentis, nec itūram cūra morātur

coniugis, et Mīnōs ā bove victus erat.

quō tibi, Pasiphaë, pretiōsās sumere vestes?

ille tuus nullās sentit adulter opēs.

quid tibi cum speculō, montāna armenta petenti? 305

quid totiēns positās fingis, inepta, comās?

crēde tamen speculō, quod tē negat esse iuvencam.

quam cuperēs frontī cornua nāta tuae!

sīve placet Mīnos, nullus quaerātur adulter:

sīve virum māvis fallere, falle virō! 310

in nemus et saltūs thalamō rēgīna relictō

fertur, ut Āoniō concita Baccha deō.

āh, quotiēns vaccam vultū spectāvit inīquō,

et dixit “dominō cūr placet ista meō?

aspice, ut ante ipsum tenerīs exultet in herbīs: 315

nec dubitō, quin sē stulta decēre putet.”

dixit, et ingentī iamdūdum dē grege dūcī

iussit et immeritam sub iuga curva trahī,

aut cadere ante ārās commentaque sacra coēgit,

et tenuit laetā paelicis exta manū. 320

paelicibus quotiēns plācāvit nūmina caesīs,

atque ait, exta tenens, “īte, placēte meō!”

et modo sē Europen fierī, modo postulat Īō,

altera quod bos est, altera vecta bove.

hanc tamen implēvit, vaccā dēceptus acernā, 325

dūx gregis, et partū prōditus auctor erat.

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Notes Meter: elegiac couplet
300 fertur: “is said”inadsuētus, -a, -um: unaccustomedsubseco, subsecāre, subsecuī, subsectum: to clip301 it: “goes”; itūram: future participle of eō, īre, “to go”, used predicatively: “as she is about to go”302 coniugis, objective genitive with cūra: “concern about her husband”303 quō here = “to what end?”, i.e., ‘why?’sūmere = sūmeris, second person singular passive as middle (deponent): “up on, wear” 305 quid?: “to what end?” > “why?”308 cuperēs, present contrary to fact; with nāta understand esse: “had been born”309 quaerātur, jussive subjunctive310 virō is an instrumental ablative312 fertur, “is carried” > “moves, travels”Āonius, -a, -um = “Boeotian”, the chief city of Boeotia being Thebes; the deus Āonius is Bacchus316 decēre, i.e., ‘is pretty’318 immeritus, -a, -um: undeserving, guiltless, innocent319 paelex here = “rival”323 fierī = “to become”324 vecta perfect passive participle of vehō326 prōditus from prōdō: “betrayed”

Pasiphaë, Daedalus & the vacca acerna,fresco, House of the Vettii, Pompeii