Sulpicia V

Salvete! This next poem returns to the gravitas and insight of the first poem, but of course doesn’t let go of the melodramatics. I love Sulpicia. Here we go, this poem is currently one I can relate to because I’m sick. The Latin comes from the Latin Library of course.

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?

Do you, Cerinthus, have affectionate care for your girl ,

Now that fever ravages my wearied body?

Ah, I would not otherwise desire to overcome this sorrowful illness,

Unless I knew that you also wanted it.

On the contrary, what could be useful to me to evade this sickness,

If you are able to bear our tumults with an unworried heart?

Okay! This poem was actually surprisingly easy which was really nice! All the words fit together great! The only thing I’m left wondering about is how to translate nostra mala. I translated it as “our tumults,” but translations I referenced translated it as “my sickness” or “my troubles,” so I don’t know if this is a Caesar-esque situation, where saying “our” refers to one’s own self. I went with an interpretation of nostra mala as sort of “our ups and downs in this relationship.” I love this girl’s drama. She is such a teenager. She’s like “do you even care about me? You know what, I’d rather never get over this fever and die if you don’t care enough about us.” This was a great one, I’m excited to attempt the last installment in this mini-series in the next post. Valete, et gratias.