velle tuum nolo

Latin Learning Latin
1

Salvete,

I was browsing through some Martial sayings, and got stuck on this one:
“Insequeris, fugio;fugis, insequor; haec mihi mens est:
velle tuum nolo, Dyndime, nolle, volo.”

I have translated the first half as “you pursue, I flee; you feel, I pursue; here is my way of thinking:”

The second half’s syntax, though I know what it is supposed to mean since I saw some other translations, I cannot decipher at all. I originally translated it as: “To wish that which is yours, I do not want, Dyndimus, instead to not want it, I wish.”

I know that this is wrong but can’t figure it out… Any thoughts?

Thank you!

R

2

“Whatever you want, I don’t want, Dindymus; I want whatever you don’t want.”

The infinitives are used as if they were neuter nouns: velle=something wanted; velle tuum= something you want; nolle=something not wanted, with tuum understood. This yields a pithy and epigrammatic pentameter.

The verbs are chiastically arranged, i.e., ABBA: insequeris fugio fugis insequor; velle nolo nolle volo.

This is supposed to be witty.

3

Maybe the syntactic oddity of the Latin could be captured in English this way:

Your “I want” I don’t want, Dindymus; I want your “I don’t want.”

This is one of those jokes that makes you say “I guess you had to be there.”