Miserarum est neque amori dare ludum
Language: Latin
Miserarum est neque amori dare ludum
neque dulci mala vino lavere, aut exanimari
metuentis patruae verbera linguae.
Tibi qualum Cythereae puer ales,
tibi telas operosaeque Minervae
studium aufert, Neobule, Liparaei nitor Hebri,
Simul unctos Tiberinis humeros
Lavit in undis, eques ipso melior
Bellerophonte, neque pugno, neque segni pede victus,
Catus idem per apertum fugientis
agitato grege cervos iaculari et
celer alto latitantem fruticeto excipere aprum.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• J. Novák About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Horace, Carmina recensuit variatate Lectionis, tomus secundus, Leipzig: "F. C. G. Vogelii," 1809. Appears in Liber III, no. 12, pages 146 - 149; and confirmed with
Q. Horatii Flacci Opera: The Works of Horace, third edition, volume I, Dublin: McGlashan and Gill, 1856, from Carmen XII, pages 218 - 219.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Heinrich Voss (1751 - 1826) , "Neobule an sich selbst" ; composed by Carl Loewe, Otto Taubert.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Melanie Trumbull
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 65
It is the way of unhappy women neither...
Language: English after the Latin
It is the way of unhappy women neither to indulge love
nor to wash away ills with sweet wine, or to be troubled
by fear of a lashing from an uncle's tongue.
The Cytherean's winged boy steals from you your wool-basket,
your weaving and your devotion to diligent Minerva,
Neobule, as soon as the splendor that is Hebrus of Lipara
bathes his well-oiled shoulders in the waters
of the Tiber, a better horseman than Bellerophon
himself, undefeated by slowness of fist or of foot,
clever also at spearing deer in the open
as they flee in a startled herd, and
swift to capture the boar lurking in a tall thicket.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Ad Neobulen" = "To Neobule"
"Miserarum est" = "It is the way of unhappy women"
Note for stanza 2, line 1, "the Cytherean": Venus, goddess of love, to whom the Aegean island Cythera was sacred. Her "winged boy" is Cupid.
Note for stanza 2, line 2, "Minerva": goddess of wisdom and various arts, mentioned here for her association with weaving.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-30
Line count: 12
Word count: 110
