Lucky yet sad? My friend, should Fortune find
You lacking gratitude, she’ll change her mind.[Tristis es et felix. Sciat hoc Fortuna caveto:
Ingratum dicet te, Lupe, si scierit.]Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 6, epigram 79 (6.79) (AD 91) [tr. B. Hill (1972)]
(Source)
"To Lupus." (Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Th' art rich & sad; take heed lest fortune know;
She 'll call th' unthankefull, Lupus, if she do.
[tr. May (1629)]
How? sad and rich? Beware lest Fortune catch
Thee, Lupus, then she'll call thee thankless wretch.
[tr. Fletcher (1656)]
Th'art rich and sad; take heed lest Fortune see,
And, as ungrateful, do proceed with thee.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]
What! sad and successfull! let Fortune not know.
Ingrate! would she brand thee, did she see thee so.
[tr. Elphinston (1782), Book 12, ep. 88]
You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe, or she will call you ungrateful.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]
You are sad, although fortunate. Take care Fortune does not know this; "Ingrate" will be her name for you, Lupus, if she knows.
[tr. Ker (1919)]
In spite of your luck you seem gloomy of late:
Take care, or Dame Fortune will dub you 'Ingrate.'
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]
You are sad and lucky. Mind you don't let Fortune know. She will call you ungrateful, Lupus, if she gets to know.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]
Lupus, you're sad, though lucky. Don't disclose it.
Fortune will call you thankless if she knows it.
[tr. McLean (2014)]
You've got it all, Lupus, but you're glum, moping, dour.
Do you want Fortune to think you're ungrateful to her?
[tr. D. Hill (2023)]
Quotations about:
fickleness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
A woman is a fickle, changeful thing!
[Varium et mutabile semper
femina.]Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]
(Source)
Warning Aeneas that Dido is likely to attack Aeneas' forces now that she knows he is deserting her.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Still inconstant is a womans minde.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]
Who knows what hazards thy delay may bring?
Woman's a various and a changeful thing.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]
Woman is a fickle and ever changeable creature.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]
Away to sea! a woman's will
Is changeful and uncertain still.
[tr. Conington (1866)]
Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]
For woman's heart is shifting evermore.
[tr. Morris (1900)]
Away!
Changeful is woman's mood, and varying with the day.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 73]
A mutable and shifting thing
is woman ever.
[tr. Williams (1910)]
A fickle and changeful thing is woman ever.
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]
A shifty, fickle object
Is woman, always.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]
Woman was ever
A veering, weathercock creature.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]
An ever
uncertain and inconsistent thing is woman.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 786-87]
Woman's a thing
Forever fitful and forever changing.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]
Women are unstable creatures, always changing.
[tr. West (1990)]
Woman is ever fickle and changeable.
[tr. Kline (2002)]
A woman is a fickle and worrisome thing.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]
Woman’s a thing
that’s always changing, shifting like the wind.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 710-11]
Females are a fickle thing, always prone to change.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]
See also:
