M/M: Our Hearts Will Light the Way, A Fragment from Valerius Aedituus

Our Hearts Will Light the Way: An Early Roman Poet to His Boyfriend

Name: Valerius Aedituus Date:  1st century BCE Region: Rome [modern Italy]  Citation: Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 19.9.12

Phileros, you hold up a torch,

But we don’t need it.

The flame that shines in our hearts

Will produce enough light for us as we travel.

No raging wind can extinguish it;

Nor can the sudden rainstorm quench it.

Only Venus herself, if she is willing, can.

No other force can quench this fire between us.

Our Hearts Will Light the Way: An Early Roman Poet to his Boyfriend

 

Qui faculam praefers, Phileros, quae nil opus nobis?

Ibimus sic, lucet pectore flamma satis.

Istam nam potis est vis saeva extinguere venti

Aut imber caelo candidus praecipitans,

At contra hunc ignem Veneris, nisi si Venus ipsa,

Nullast quae possit vis alia opprimere.

Valerius Aedituus [1st century BCE] Little is known about the life of the Roman poet Valerius Aedituus except that he lived during the 1st century BCE. Only fragments remain of his poetry.