Sulpicia VI
Salvete! I’m so upset, my original translation of this poem didn’t post or save when I originally did it, so this is my best attempt to recreate it. This is the last installation of Sulpicia, and I’ll miss her. I love her tone and her dramatics, and I think I’m going to keep translating love poetry after this to get something similar. Ovid and Sulpicia wrote at the same time and likely drew from each other, so I’d like to read his poetry next. Without further ado, here is Sulpicia VI, the Latin is from The Latin Library.
Ne tibi sim, mea lux, aeque iam fervida cura
ac videor paucos ante fuisse dies,
si quicquam tota conmisi stulta iuventa,
cuius me fatear paenituisse magis,
hesterna quam te solum quod nocte reliqui,
ardorem cupiens dissimulare meum.
My light, may I not be yours equally now in fervid care
As I seemed to have been a few days ago,
If in my whole stupid youth I have committed anything
Which I confess I have regretted to a greater extent
Than yesterday when I left you alone in the night,
Desiring to conceal my passion.
This final chapter, the last thing we ever hear from Sulpicia, makes me sad. The poem is regretful, she says she’s never committed anything as stupid as she did this one particular night. She left Cerinthus alone, because she wanted to seem like she cared less than she did, but she regrets it immensely. She loves Cerinthus, as we’ve seen through everything she’s left us to read. I wish I could find out what happened to her and Cerinthus, but this is all we have of her, so I’ll have to make up an ending. Since this was my second pass at this poem, the grammar fit easily, but if I had to focus on one thing, it would be the line cuius me fatear paenituisse magis. This is because I was a bit confused about the me, which is accusative. I translated it as the direct object of fatear, but then sort of smushed it into the perfect active participle paenituisse, which means “to have regretted.” I think its alright because it preserves the meaning, and also paenituisse behaves weirdly in general, but I felt like highlighting it because I’m trying to showcase more translation choices. In any case, I really enjoyed this poem, and I hope you did too. I’m excited to start Ovid! Valete.
