# a temptation it is to kissing



## Casquilho

I would to say, “it is tempting to kiss”, but I couldn’t find the right Latin verb for “to tempt”, so I changed it a little:

Your mouth has divine colors,
My dear, and a temptation [it is] to kissing!
Upon the flowering grass do you wish to chat,
Girl with long lashes and delicate curves?

_Os tuum colores tenet divinos,
Dilecta mea, et tentatio [est] ad osculandum!
In florente herba vis fabulare,
Puella longis ciliis et delicatis curvis?_


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## Scholiast

Salve!

The English is already rather awkward ("a temptation...to kissing") - I don't think this passes English idiomatic muster, "temptation to" + gerund.

There are several alternatives: _invitare_, _allicere_ as verbs, or _invitamentum_, _incitamentum_ as nouns (there would be others too).

_fabulor_, _fabulari_, please (it's a deponent).

And I think _curvus_ has the wrong connotations: it might indeed imply "bent" or "stooping" with old-age, but what you need here surely is _forma_ or _figura_.


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## Casquilho

_Os tuum colores tenet divinos,
Dilecta mea, et incitat oscula!
In florida herba vis [?],
Puella longis cillis et delicata forma?


_What do you think, is a good translation? I need your help to fill the [?] above...


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## Scholiast

salvete!

Lines 1, 2 and 4 are fine.

In l. 3 you need to make it clear that you are asking a question: this is usually done by inverting the word-order and adding the enclitic particle -ne to the verb. Also, there was nothing wrong with the sense of _fabulari_ for "chat", only with the way you had conjugated it; but since ll. 3-4 constitute a kind of invitation, I think Latin would prefer to make explicit that it is "with me" [the poet] that the "chat" is to be shared. So I'd suggest:
_
visne mecum in florida herba fabulari...?_

(Note that with personal pronouns, _cum_ becomes enclitic as well.)

How's that?


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## Casquilho

That sounds good! Thank you! 
Indeed, deponent verbs are always confusing me. 
_fabulari_ is an infinite passive (these verbs have no active forms), but with an active sense, that's it? Like, _visne mecum fabulari_? would literally be "want you not with me to be talked?", however nonsensical that sounds in English?


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## Scholiast

Casquilho, dear boy:

'Deponent' verbs follow passive paradigms (according to the regular conjugational systems), but have active or intransitive meanings.

Google "deponent Latin verbs" and you will find a host of other examples. Explanations can also be found through Perseus.

Maybe (Cagey?) Perseus should be added to the resources in this forum?


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## Cagey

(You might try looking at the Resources thread. It's already there.)


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## lacrimae

Casquilho said:


> Os tuum colores tenet divinos,
> Dilecta mea, et incitat oscula!
> In florida herba vis [?],
> Puella longis cillis et delicata forma?




I propose several ideas

habet instead tenet 

in viridi fronde instead florida herba

incitat ad basia or incitationem basiandi instead incitat oscula.

cupisne instead visne

 and loqui instead fabulari.
Saludos


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## Casquilho

Lacrimae, I would appreciate if you furnish your reasons (grammatical or stylistical) for proposing those changes!


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## XiaoRoel

En prosa mi traducción sería: 
*Os tuum colores caelestes ostendit, mihi cara, et ad oscula multa incitat. Visne florido prato, o puella capillis promissis ac uenusta specie, colloqui? 
*En verso habría que buscar un metro para el breve epigrama, quizás una estrofa alcaica.


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