Seneca: Changing Morals

num iam ulla repudio erubescit,

Is any woman today ashamed of divorce,

postquam feminae quaedam illustres ac nobiles

now that some distinguished and noble ladies

annos suos computant

count their age,

non consulum numero

not by the number of the consuls

sed maritorum

but of [their] husbands,

et exeunt matrimonii causa,

indeed they leave in order to marry [again],

nubunt repudii?

marry [only to be] divorced?

tamdiu istuc timebatur,

There was fear of that,

quamdiu rarum erat;

[only] so long as it was unusual;

quia nihil sine divortio actum est,

now that no event is ever complete without a divorce,

id facere didicerunt.

[women] have learnt to do this,

quod saepe audiebant

which they have heard about [so] often.

num iam ullus adulterii pudor est,

Is there no longer any shame in adultery,

postquam eo ventum est

now that things have reached the point

ut nulla virum habeat

that no woman keeps a husband

nisi ut adulterum irritet?

except to frustrate her lover?

pudicitia argumentum est deformitatis.

Chastity is [now] a sign of ugliness.

quam invenies tam miseram,

What [woman] will you find so wretched,

tam sordidam,

so undesirable,

ut illi satis sit unum adulterorum par,

that for her a single pair of lovers is sufficient

nisi singulis divisit horas

unless she is sharing [her] hours between several

et non sufficit dies omnibus,

and the day is not long enough for them all,

nisi apud alium gestata est,

[or] unless she has taken an excursion in the company of one,

apud alium mansit?

and stayed [the night] with another?

infrunita et antiqua est,

Foolish and old-fashioned is she

quae nesciat

who does not know

matrimonium vocari unum adulterium.

[that only] one lover is known as marriage.