Sulpicia 16 [Appendix Tibulliana 3.16]

I have discovered that I have a rival for Cerinthus’s affections. 

1  grātum est, ... quod: “Thank you, because.” For the idiom, see OLD grātus 2.d. Sulpicia uses sarcasm to make her point. As Fulkerson puts it, she is “delighted” that Cerinthus seems to feel so secure in her affections that he can pursue another woman.

1  sēcūrus: “reckless," "careless.” LS securus I.B. Modified by multum.   

2  permittis: takes the dative tibi, “you allow yourself.” Supply esse before translating multum sēcūrus dē mē. 

2  subitō nē male inepta cadam: negative purpose clause, “so that I don’t suddenly fall on my face like a fool.” LS cado II.F.1. This clause picks up on the idea of grātum est. She’s grateful that he’s saving her from making a fool out of herself.  

2  inepta: nom., in apposition with the subject of the sentence, “like a fool.” The word harkens back to Catullus 8, 12, 17, 22, 25 and 39. 

3  togae: genitive with cura. Interestingly in Rome this was the characteristic clothing of a female prostitute. It was called a toga muliebris. See Cicero, Philippics 2.44.

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In the Early Period, both sexes dressed in a toga, but in the Republican Period, women replaced it with the stola , while the toga was degraded as the garment of adulteresses and prostitutes (Martial 2.39; Juvenal 2.70) (Brills New Pauly)

3  potior: take with quam in line 4. 

3  pressum: “weighed down (with)” + abl. 

3  quasillō: “basket”; a small wicker basket used for holding wool when spinning; here characteristic of a particularly low-status slave and also potentially of a sex-worker, scortum. 

4  scortum: “prostitute,” LS scortum II. Predicate nominative with sit. The scortum is also a cura. 

4  Servī fīlia Sulpicia: she asserts her identity and her status. Her father, Servius, was probably the son of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the consul of 51 BC and admired friend of Cicero. The highly literate statesman and general Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus was also her kinsman.

5   sollicitī sunt: the implied subject is likely Sulpicia’s friends and family. 

5   nōbīs: plural for singular, as is common in poetry. 

5-6  quibus illa dolōrī … maxima causa: “(those people) for whom that woman is the greatest cause of pain.” Illa could be nominative singular, “that woman” or neuter plural, “those things.” dolōrī is a dative of cause.

6  nē cēdam: “lest I yield,” “so that I do not yield,” a clause of fearing with sollicitī sunt (line 5) as the lead verb.

6  ignōtō ... torō: “to an unknown bed” i.e. to a sexual rival of obscure lineage. “To a lowborn mistress.” LS ignotus B, LS torus IV B.