Book 4, Chapter 32
Original Latin
68 Haec laetitia quam turpis sit, satis est diligenter attendentem penitus videre.
Et ut turpes sunt, qui ecferunt se laetitia tum cum fruuntur Veneriis voluptatibus, sic flagitiosi, qui eas inflammato animo concupiscunt. totus vero iste, qui volgo appellatur amor—nec hercule invenio, quo nomine alio possit appellari—, tantae levitatis est, ut nihil videam quod putem conferendum. quem Caecilius ‘deum qui non summum putet, aut stultum aut rerum esse imperitum’ existumat,Cui ín manu sit, quem ésse dementém velit,Quem sápere, quem sanári, quem in morbum ínici,[…]Quem cóntra amari, quem éxpeti, quem arcéssier.
69 O praeclaram emendatricem vitae poëticam, quae amorem flagitii et levitatis auctorem in concilio deorum conlocandum putet! de comoedia loquor, quae, si haec flagitia non probaremus, nulla esset omnino; quid ait ex tragoedia princeps ille Argonautarum? Tú me amoris mágis quam honoris sérvavisti grátia. quid ergo? hic amor Medeae quanta miseriarum excitavit incendia! atque ea tamen apud alium poëtam patri dicere audet se ‘coniugem’ habuisse ‘illum, Amor quem dederat, qui plus pollet potiorque est patre.’
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted translation from the Latin. Latin transcription by the Perseus Project, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0.
68 “How shameful this delight is, one need only attend carefully to see to its depths.
“And just as those who exult in delight while enjoying sexual pleasures are shameful, so those who crave them with an inflamed soul are disgraceful. Indeed, this whole thing commonly called love—and, by Hercules, I can find no other name for it—is so unstable that I see nothing I would think comparable. Caecilius considers that ‘anyone who does not think him the highest god is either a fool or ignorant of the world,’
“‘In whose hand it lies whom he would make mad,“‘Whom wise, whom healed, whom cast into disease,“‘[…]“‘Whom loved in return, whom sought, whom summoned.’
69 “What a splendid reformer of life is poetry, which thinks that love, the author of disgrace and instability, should have a seat in the council of the gods! I am speaking of comedy, which would not exist at all if we did not approve of these disgraces. But what does that leader of the Argonauts say in tragedy?
“‘You saved me more for love than for honor.’
“What then? What fires of misery this love of Medea’s kindled! And yet in another poet she dares tell her father that she had as ‘husband the man whom Love had given, who has more power and greater sway than a father.’”
Plain English translation
Complete independent machine-assisted translation directly from the Latin. Latin transcription by the Perseus Project, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0.
68 “Anyone who pays careful attention has only to look deeply to see how shameful this delight is.
“Getting swept up in delight during sex is shameful, and so is pursuing sex with desire blazing in your mind. In fact, nothing I can think of matches the instability of what people commonly call love—by Hercules, I can’t find a different name for it either. Caecilius judges ‘the person who won’t rank him highest among gods a fool or someone ignorant of how things are.’ Love has the power“‘To decide who is to lose his mind,“‘Who is to think clearly, who is to recover, who is to be struck with sickness,“‘[…]“‘Who is to win love back, who is to be wanted, who is to be summoned.’
69 “What an excellent guide to a better life poetry turns out to be! It would seat love, the promoter of instability and disgrace, among the gods in council. I mean comedy: without our approval of these disgraceful acts, comedy couldn’t exist at all. Now consider tragedy. The leader of the Argonauts says: “‘Love, more than honor, was your reason for saving me.’ “And look at what followed: Medea’s love started such blazing misery! Another poet even lets her tell her father boldly that her ‘husband was the man Love gave her—Love, stronger and mightier than her father.’”
About this section
Book 4, Chapter 32 is part of Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This page sets the Latin original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is part 142 of 189 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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