Carmen 43

 

You are a girl neither with the smallest nose,
Nor with pretty feet, nor with black little eyes,
Nor with long fingers, nor with dry lips,
Nor clearly with a very dulcet voice.
Pride of the beautiful people,
Are you reported to me to be beautiful?
If my better Love is compared with you in these respects,
O what a tasteless and crude age we live in!


 


 

Salve, nec minimo puella naso
nec bello pede nec nigris ocellis
nec longis digitis nec ore sicco
nec sane nimis elegante lingua.
Decoctoris amica Formiani,
ten provincia narrat esse bellam?
Tecum Lesbia nostra comparatur?
O saeclum insapiens et infacetum!