Propertius

Never change when love has found its home.

Sextus Propertius (50 BC – 16 BC) was a Roman elegiac poet in Maecenas' circle.

Quotes

Elegies

• Neque assueto mutet amore torum.
  • Never change when love has found its home.
  • I, i, 36.

• Nudus Amor formam non amat artificem.
  • Love is naked, and loves not beauty gained by artifice.
  • I, ii, 8; translation by G.P. Goold

• Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator,
  Enumerat miles vulnera, pastor oves.
  • The sailor tells of winds, the ploughman of bulls,
    the soldier counts his wounds, the shepherd his sheep.
  • II, i, 43–4.

• Qua pote quisque, in ea conterat arte diem.
  • Let each man pass his days in that wherein his skill is greatest.
  • II, i, 46.

• Aut patrio qualis ponit vestigia ponto
  Mille Venus teneris cincta Cupidinibus.
  • O like Venus attended by a thousand tender Cupids, setting foot upon the sea that gave her birth.
  • II, ii, 9-10.

• Quod si deficiant vires, audacia certe
  Laus erit: in magnis et voluisse sat est.
  • What though strength fails? Boldness is certain to win praise. In mighty enterprises, it is enough to have had the determination.
  • Variant translation: Even if strength fail, boldness at least will deserve praise: in great endeavors even to have had the will is enough.
  • II, x, 5.

• Quicumque ille fuit, puerum qui pinxit Amorem
  nonne putas miras hunc habuisse manus?
  is primum vidit sine sensu vivere amantes
  • Whoever he was who first depicted Amor as a boy, don’t you think it was a wonderful touch? He was the first to see that lovers live without sense.
    • II, xii, 1-3; translation by A. S. Kline

• Nemo in amore videt.
  • No one in love can see.
    • II, xiv, 18.

• Errat, qui finem vesani quaerit amoris:
  verus amor nullum novit habere modum
  • He errs that seeks to set a term to the frenzy of love; true love hath no bound.
    • II, xv, 29; translation by H.E. Butler

• Absenti nemo non nocuisse velit.
  • Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.
  • II, xix, 32.

• Unus quisque sua noverit ire via.
  • Let each man have the wit to go his own way.
  • II, xxv, 38.

• Semper in absentes felicior aestus amantes.
  • Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
  • II, xxxiii, 43.

• Cedite Romani scriptores, cedite Grai!
  Nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade.
  • Make way, you Roman writers, make way, Greeks!
    Something greater than the Iliad is born.
    • Of Virgil’s Aeneid.
  • II, xxxiv, 65.

• Sunt aliquid Manes: letum non omnia finit,
  Luridaque evictos effugit umbra rogos.
  • There is something beyond the grave; death does not end all, and the pale ghost escapes from the vanquished pyre.
  • IV, vii, 1.

• Magnum iter ascendo; sed dat mihi gloria vires
  • I am climbing a difficult road; but the glory gives me strength.
    • IV. 10. 3