VI
To the same lady, concerning violets
If the season were bringing me white lilies as it usually does, or if the rose were lovely with its sweet blush, these I would have gathered in the countryside or on the turf of a poor little garden, and gladly sent them as small gifts in place of great ones. But since the first flowers are wanting to me, I discharge my duty at least with the second: he who offers vetches would, were love so served, bring roses. Yet among these fragrant herbs which we have sent, the purple violets possess a noble bloom. They breathe out their scent, dyed alike with royal purple, and from their petals comes here a fragrance, there a beauty. Since these flowers bear both qualities equally, may you possess both alike, and may the scent of the gift, together with the flower, be your perpetual ornament.
VI
Ad eandem de violis
Tempora si solito mihi candida lilia ferrent
aut speciosa foret suave rubore rosa,
haec ego rure legens aut caespite pauperis horti
misissem magnis munera parva libens.
sed quia prima mihi desunt, vel solvo secunda:
profert qui vicias, ferret amore rosas.
inter odoriferas tamen has quas misimus herbas
purpureae violae nobile germen habent.
respirant pariter regali murice tinctae
et saturat foliis hinc odor, inde decor.
hae quod utrumque gerunt pariter habeatis utraque,
et sit mercis odor flore perenne decus.
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VI To the same lady, concerning violets
If the season were bringing me white lilies as it usually does, or if the rose were lovely with its sweet blush, these I would have gathered in the countryside or on the turf of a poor little garden, and gladly sent them as small gifts in place of great ones. But since the first flowers are wanting to me, I discharge my duty at least with the second: he who offers vetches would, were love so served, bring roses. Yet among these fragrant herbs which we have sent, the purple violets possess a noble bloom. They breathe out their scent, dyed alike with royal purple, and from their petals comes here a fragrance, there a beauty. Since these flowers bear both qualities equally, may you possess both alike, and may the scent of the gift, together with the flower, be your perpetual ornament.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
VI Ad eandem de violis Tempora si solito mihi candida lilia ferrent aut speciosa foret suave rubore rosa, haec ego rure legens aut caespite pauperis horti misissem magnis munera parva libens. sed quia prima mihi desunt, vel solvo secunda: profert qui vicias, ferret amore rosas. inter odoriferas tamen has quas misimus herbas purpureae violae nobile germen habent. respirant pariter regali murice tinctae et saturat foliis hinc odor, inde decor. hae quod utrumque gerunt pariter habeatis utraque, et sit mercis odor flore perenne decus.