De Arte Amandi

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 8.15. As usual, Owen's little poem is based on a contrast; this time the contrast is between ars and natura. Who, after all, needs an art of love, when we are all, by nature, looking for love!

De Arte Amandi
Iudice me, rudis est, artem qui tradit amandi.
Naturae scopus est, non opus artis, amor.

ON THE ART OF LOVE
I think ’twas rudeness th’ Art of Love t’ impart.
Love is the work of Nature, not of Art.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are two words which are not on the DCC list:

rudis, -e; rudis - rough, coarse, undeveloped
scopus, -ī m. - goal, target

amo -āre: to love
amor -ōris m.: love
ars artis f.: skill
dē: down from, about, concerning (+ abl.)
ego me mihi mē: I, me
iūdex iūdicis m.: judge, juror
nātūra -ae f.: nature
nōn: not
opus operis n.: work
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
trādo -ere -didī -ditum: hand over, yield

(Image: Cupid, William-Adolphe Bouguereau)