To Demetrius. (362/63)
Not only did your being pulled in both directions over the things delivered show the lover at a loss — unable to decide which should first receive the applause — but your verdict on the speech was itself a lover's passion.
The speech has no beauty, yet you rank it with the tales of Pelops and Ganymede, and you have become one of those who praise the snub-nosed, the hook-nosed, and the dark-skinned on the very grounds for which a man not in love would find fault.
But they are forgiven, and so are you — for this is what the god does. Still, you could not persuade anyone that things are as you say, not until you stop being in love. And that you will never do — so you will never persuade.
Not only did your being pulled in both directions over the things delivered show the lover at a loss — unable to decide which should first receive the applause — but your verdict on the speech was itself a lover's passion.
The speech has no beauty, yet you rank it with the tales of Pelops and Ganymede, and you have become one of those who praise the snub-nosed, the hook-nosed, and the dark-skinned on the very grounds for which a man not in love would find fault.
But they are forgiven, and so are you — for this is what the god does. Still, you could not persuade anyone that things are as you say, not until you stop being in love. And that you will never do — so you will never persuade.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.