I flee you, Dindymus, when chased; I chase you when you flee.
It’s not your wanting me I want; it’s your not wanting me.
 
[Insequeris, fugio; fugis, insequor; haec mihi mens est:
Velle tuum nolo, Dindyme, nolle volo.]

Marcus Valerius Martial
Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 5, epigram 83 (5.83) (AD 90) [tr. McLean (2014)]
    (Source)

"To Dindymus." (Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

I fly, you follow; fly when I pursue:
What I love, hate; what hated, loved by you.
[tr. Wright (1663)]

You pursue, I fly; you fly, I pursue; such is my Humour. What you wish, Dindymus, I do not wish; what you do not wish, I do.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

You pursue me, I fly; you fly, I follow. Such is your mind; your willingness I reject, Dindymus, your coyness I prize.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

Follow, and I shall flee,
Fly, I shall follow thee;
Such is the bent
Of love’s perversity;
Denial draweth me,
But not assent.
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921), "The Old Story"]

You follow, I flee; you flee, I follow.
That's the way it goes.
I hate your yesses, Dindymus,
I much prefer your noes.
[tr. Marcellino (1968)]

I run, you chase; you chase, I run.
I love what's cold: what's hot I shun.
[tr. Whigham (1987)]

You're hot to trot? Well then I'm not.
You've cooled? I'm ardent on the spot.
What's going on? Don't sulk, my pet:
I like you best as hard to get.
[tr. Matthews (1992)]

You pursue, I fly; you fly, I pursue. This is the way I am. Your wishing, Dindymus, I wish not; your wishing not I wish.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

You chase, I flee; you flee, I chase; it’s how I am:
what you wish I don’t, Dindymus, what you don’t I wish.
[tr. Kline (2006), "Contrary"]

I fly when you pursue me,
But when you shy, I woo thee.
Explain it to me, can't you,
Why I must ever want to want you.
[tr. Wills (2007)]


 
Added on 29-Dec-23 | Last updated 29-Dec-23
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