Thursday, January 10, 2019

“Love, that denial takes from none belov’d”

O felix animo, felix, Nigrina, marito,
atque inter Latias gloria prima nurus:
te patrios miscere iuvat cum coniuge census,
gaudentem socio participique viro.
Arserit Euhadne flammis iniecta mariti,
nec minor Alcestin fama sub astra ferat;
tu melius. Certo meruisti pignore vitae
ut tibi non esset morte probandus amor.

O blest in soul, Nigrina, in husband blest!
And among Latin wives the chiefest glory!
Blithe art thou to share with thy spouse thy father’s wealth,
Glad that thy husband should be partner and sharer with thee.
Let Evadne burn, cast on her husband’s pyre;
Nor any lesser fame lift Alcestis to the stars.
Thou doest better:
This hast thou earned by a sure pledge given in life —
That dead was not needed to prove thy love!

Martial, Epigrams, Book 4, LXXV
English translation by Walter C. A. Ker

Pie Face by Banksy (2006) and his newly wife, the Woman with Petrarchino by Andrea del Sarto (c. 1528).

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