lena-l

[lena-l]

Sulpicia I - (1 sec. a.C.)

Hi, my name is Alena and here I am pursuing my goal to spread the thoughts and words oh women from the ancient world, which had always been undervalued, if not forgotten completely by history.

Sulpicia is one of the few female writers whose words are still surviving: her six elegies are part of the so-said "Corpus Tibullianum", therefore were attributed to the elegiac poet Tibullus, who attended the same literary circle as her under Valerius Messalla Corvinus' patronage.

I elogy:

❝ Tandem venit amor, qualem texisse pudori

quam nudasse alicui sit mihi fama magis.

Exorata meis illum Cytherea Camenis

attulit in nostrum deposuitque sinum.

Exsoluit promissa Venus: mea gaudia narret,

dicetur si quis non habuisse sua.

Non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis,

ne legat id nemo quam meus ante, velim,

sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae

taedet: cum digno digna fuisse ferar. ❞

At last the love I've waited for has come.

(No shame to say so: more to cover up).

My Camenae called on her in prayer,

and Cytherea brought him to my heart.

Venus kept her promise: now she can tell

my tale of joy to those who don't believe.

I hardly want to give this letter up

so no one else sees it before he does.

I'm glad I did it — why wear a prudish mask,

as if he wasn't good enough for me!