Apuleius: METAMORPHOSES

[1] Noctis gallicinio venit quidam iuvenis e proxima civitate, ut quidem mihi videbatur, unus ex famulis Charites, puellae illius, quae mecum aput latrones pares aerumnas exanclaverat. Is de eius exitio et domus totius infortunio mira ac nefanda, ignem propter adsidens, inter conservorum frequentiam sic annuntiabat:

[1] At cockcrow of night there came a certain young man from the neighboring town, who, as it seemed to me, was one of the servants of Charites, that girl who had shared equal hardships with me among the robbers. He, sitting by the fire, announced among the throng of companions the wondrous and wicked tale of her destruction and the misfortune of the whole household thus:

Equisones opilionesque, etiam busequae, fuit Charite nobis, fuit misella et quidem casu gravissimo, nec vero incomitata Manis adivit. Sed ut cuncta noritis, referam vobis a capite quae gesta sunt quaeque possint merito doctiore, quibus stilos fortuna subministrat, in historiae speciem chartis involvere. Erat in proxima civitate iuvenis natalibus praenobilis quo clarus et pecuniae fuit satis locuples, sed luxuriae popinalis scortisque et diurnis potationibus exercitatus atque ob id factionibus latronum male sociatus nec non etiam manus infectus humano cruore, Thrasyllus nomine.

There were horsemen and opiliones, even busequae; Charite was to us, a poor little woman and indeed by a most grievous chance, nor did she approach the Manes unaccompanied. But that you may know all things, I will relate to you from the head what was done and what may rightly be more learned, which, with the pens that fortune supplies, I shall wind into the likeness of a history upon sheets. In the neighboring city there was a youth of very noble birth, by which he was renowned and in money sufficiently wealthy, but trained in the luxury of taverns and of prostitutes and in daytime potations, and on that account ill allied with bands of robbers and moreover a hand stained with human blood, by the name Thrasyllus.

Idque sic erat et fama dicebat.

And so it was, and fame reported it.

[2] Hic, cum primum Charite nubendo maturuisset, inter praecipuos procos summo studio petitionis eius munus obierat et quanquam ceteris omnibus id genus viris antistaret eximiisque muneribus parentum invitaret iudicium, morum tamen improbatus repulsae contumelia fuerat aspersus. Ac dum erilis puella in boni Tlepolemi manum venerat, firmiter deorsus delapsum nutriens amorem et denegati thalami permiscens indignationem, cruento facinori quaerebat accessum. Nactus denique praesentiae suae tempestivam occasionem, sceleri, quod diu cogitarat, accingitur.

[2] Here, as soon as Charite had ripened for marrying, he had taken on the office of suitor among the chief wooers with the highest zeal in his petition; and although he excelled all other men of that sort and by exceptional gifts sought to win the parents’ judgment, yet his morals were disapproved and he had been smeared by the contumely of rejection. And while the mistress’s girl had come into the hand of good Tlepolemus, he, firmly nursing a love brought low and mingling it with the indignation of a denied bed, sought access to a bloody crime. Having at last found a timely occasion of his presence, he prepares himself for the wickedness which he had long pondered.

Ac die quo praedonum infestis mucronibus puella fuerat astu virtutibusque sponsi sui liberata, turbae gratulantium exultans insigniter permiscuit sese salutique praesenti ac futurae suboli novorum maritorum gaudibundus ad honorem splendidae prosapiae inter praecipuos hospites domum nostram receptus, occultato consilio sceleris, amici fidelissimi personam mentiebatur. Iamque sermonibus assiduis et conversatione frequenti nonnumquam etiam cena proculoque communi carior cariorque factus in profundam ruinam cupidinis sese paulatim nescius praecipitaverat. Quidni, cum flamma saevi amoris parva quidem primo vapore delectet, sed fomentis consuetudinis exaestuans inmodicis ardoribus totos amburat homines?

And on the day when, by the hostile blades of robbers, the girl had been delivered through the cunning and virtues of her bridegroom, he, exulting among the throng of congratulators, mingled himself conspicuously and, rejoicing in the present safety and the future offspring of the new marriage, was received into our house among the chief guests to the honor of a splendid lineage; concealing the counsel of his crime, he feigned the person of a most faithful friend. And now, by constant talk and frequent company, sometimes even by shared dinners and journeys, he became dearer and dearer and, unwittingly, had gradually hurled himself into the deep ruin of desire. For why not, when the flame of savage love at first pleases with a little vapor, but, fanned by the fomentings of familiarity and swelling into immoderate ardors, consumes whole men?

[3] Diu denique deliberaverat secum Thrasyllus quod nec clandestinis colloquiis opportunum reperiret locum et adulterinae Veneris magis magisque praeclusos aditus [copia custodientium] cerneret novaeque atque gliscentis affectionis firmissimum vinculum non posse dissociari perspiceret, et puellae, si vellet, quanquam velle non posset, [copia custodientum] furatrinae coniugalis incommodaret rudimentum; et tamen ad hoc ipsum quod non potest contentiosa pernicie, quasi posset, impellitur. Quod nunc arduum factu putatur, amore per dies roborato facile videtur effectu. Spectate denique, sed, oro, sollicitis animis intendite, quorsum furiosae libidinis proruperit impetus.

[3] At length Thrasyllus long deliberated with himself that he found no fit place for clandestine colloquies and beheld the approaches to adulterous Venus more and more barred by the [abundance of guardians], and perceived that the most steadfast bond of new and swelling affection could not be sundered, and that the girl's rudiment of conjugal thievery would, if she wished (though she could not wish), be hindered by the [abundance of guardians]; and yet he is driven to that very thing which cannot be effected by contentious ruin, as if he could. What is now reckoned arduous in deed, with love strengthened by days seems easy in outcome. Finally behold, I pray, and, with anxious minds, attend to whither the onset of frantic lust has burst forth.

[4] Die quadam venatum Tlepolemus assumpto Thrasyllo petebat indagaturus feras, quod tamen in capreis feritatis est; nec enim Charite maritum suum quaerere patiebatur bestias armatas dente vel cornu. Iamque apud frondosum tumulum ramorumque densis tegminibus umbrosum prospectu vestigatorum obseptis capreis canes venationis indagini generosae, mandato cubili residentes invaderent bestias, immittuntur statimque sollertis disciplinae memores partitae totos praecingunt aditus tacitaque prius servata mussitatione, signo sibi repentino reddito, latratibus fervidis dissonisque miscent omnia. Nec ulla caprea nec pavens dammula nec prae ceteris feris mitior cerva, sed aper immanis atque invisitatus exsurgit toris callosae cutis obesus, pilis inhorrentibus corio squalidus, setis insurgentibus spinae hispidus, dentibus attritu sonaci spumeus, oculis aspectu minaci flammeus, impetu saevo frementis oris totus fulmineus.

[4] One day Tlepolemus, having taken Thrasyllus with him, went out to hunt to trace wild beasts, which, however, is in caprine ferocity; for Charite would not allow her husband to seek beasts armed with tooth or horn. And now by a leafy tomb, shaded by the thick coverings of branches and blocked from the sight of trackers by the goats, the hunting dogs of noble chase, lying by their lairs at command, are let loose and at once, remembering the cunning of their training, encompass all approaches with prepared skill and, their previous stealth kept by silent whispering, when a sudden signal is returned, they mix everything with hot and discordant baying. Nor does any she-goat nor the timid hind nor any deer milder than the others spring up, but a savage boar, huge and iron-clad, rises up from his lairs, fat with tough hide, bristling with standing hairs, rough with spines rising on his back, frothing with his grinding teeth that make a sounding, his eyes fiery with a menacing aspect, all thunderous with the furious onrush and the snorting of his jaws.

Et primum quidem canum procaciores, quae comminus contulerant vestigium, genis hac illac iactatis consectas interficit, dein calcata retiola, qua primos impetus reduxerat, transabiit.

And first indeed he slew the more audacious of the dogs, which had pressed the track at close quarters, slaughtering those that had pursued with their cheeks tossed this way and that; then, vaulting over the little net which, when trodden, had checked the first onrush, he sprang across it.

[5] Et nos quidem cuncti pavore deterriti et alioquin innoxiis venationibus consueti, tunc etiam inermes atque inmuniti tegumentis frondis vel arboribus latenter abscondimus, Thrasyllus vero nactus fraudium opportunum decipulum sic Tlepolemum captiose compellat: "Quid stupore confusi vel etiam cassa formidine similes humilitati servorum istorum vel in modum pavoris feminei deiecti tam opimam praedam mediis manibus amittimus? Quin equos inscendimus? Quin ocius indipiscimur?

[5] And we all, indeed, terrified with fear and otherwise accustomed to harmless hunts, then unarmed and unshielded hid ourselves covertly beneath coverings of leafage or in trees; Thrasyllus, however, having seized an opportune little fraud, thus craftily addresses Tlepolemus: "Why, confounded by stupefaction or even by empty apprehension, like unto the lowliness of those servants or cast down as by a feminine panic, do we lose so rich a prey from our very hands? Why do we not mount the horses? Why do we not more swiftly obtain it?

En cape venabulum et ego sumo lanceam." Nec tantillum morati protinus insiliunt equos ex summo studio bestiam insequentes. Nec tamen illa genuini vigoris oblita retorquet impetum et incendio feritatis ardescens dentium compulsu quem primum insiliat cunctabunda rimatur. Sed prior Tlepolemus iaculum quod gerebat insuper dorsum bestiae contorsit.

"Behold, take the venabulum and I will take the lance." Not delaying even a little, they immediately leap onto their horses, pursuing the beast with the utmost zeal. Nor, however, forgetting her native vigor does she turn aside the onslaught; blazing with the incendio of ferity, with the clench of her teeth she searches out which hesitating one she will first spring upon. But foremost Tlepolemus hurled the javelin he bore into the beast's back.

At Thrasyllus ferae quidem pepercit, set equi quo vehebatur Tlepolemus postremos poplites lancea feriens amputat. Quadrupes reccidens, qua sanguis effluxerat, toto tergo supinatus invitus dominum suum devolvit ad terram. Nec diu, sed eum furens aper invadit iacentem ac primo lacinias eius, mox ipsum resurgentem multo dente laniavit.

But Thrasyllus spared the beast; yet he severed the hind poplites of the horse that bore Tlepolemus, striking them with his lance. The quadruped, falling back where the blood had flowed, rolled supine across its whole back and unwillingly flung its master to the ground. Not for long, however, for a raging boar fell upon him as he lay, first tearing at his lacinias, and soon, as he rose, lacerating the man himself with many a tooth.

Nec coepti nefarii bonum piguit amicum vel suae saevitiae litatum saltem tanto periculo cernens potuit expleri, sed percito atque plagoso ac frustra vulnera contegenti suumque auxilium miseriter roganti per femus dexterum dimisit lanceam tanto ille quidem fidentius quanto crederet ferri vulnera similia futura prosectu dentium. Nec non tamen ipsam quoque bestiam facili manu transadigit.

Nor did the nefarious enterprise feel compunction to spare their friend, nor could their savagery, even seeing so great a peril, be thus at least appeased; but strikingly and with blows, and vainly covering the wounds and miserably begging his aid, they sent the lance through his right thigh — he indeed the more confidently, insofar as he believed that similar wounds would be borne from the teeth’s mauling. And furthermore he likewise transfixes the very beast with an easy hand.

[6] Ad hunc modum definito iuvene exciti latibulo suo quisque familia maesta concurrimus. At ille quanquam perfecti voto prostrato inimico laetus ageret, vultu tamen gaudium tegit et frontem adseverat et dolorem simulat et cadaver, quod ipse fecerat, avide circumplexus omnia quidem lugentium officia sollerter adfinxit, sed solae lacrimae procedere noluerunt. Sic ad nostri similitudinem, qui vere lamentabamur, conformatus manus suae culpam bestiae dabat.

[6] In this manner, the youth having been discovered, roused from his lair, each sad member of the household ran together. But he, although joyful at the enemy’s overthrow and his vow fulfilled, yet hid his joy in his countenance and set his brow and feigned grief, and eagerly embracing the corpse which he himself had made, he skillfully appended all the rites of mourners, but tears alone would not flow. Thus, made like one of us who truly lamented, his hands laid the blame upon the beast.

Necdum satis scelere transacto fama dilabitur et cursus primos ad domum Tlepolemi detorquet et aures infelicis nuptae percutit. Quae quidem simul percepit tale nuntium quale non audiet aliud, amens et vecordia percita cursuque bacchata furibundo per plateas populosas et arva rurestria fertur insana voce casum mariti quiritans. Confluunt civium maestae catervae, secuntur obvii dolore sociato, civitas cuncta vacuatur studio visionis.

Not yet, the crime fully consummated, does the rumor dissolve: it turns its first courses toward the house of Tlepolemus and strikes the ears of the unhappy bride. She, who at once perceived such a message as she will hear never another, maddened and struck with frenzy and Bacchic in her running, is borne through populous streets and rustic fields with a frantic voice crying out her husband's fall. Sad throngs of citizens flock together; those they meet follow with grief joined; the whole city is emptied by the eagerness to see.

Et ecce mariti cadaver accurrit labantique spiritu totam se super corpus effudit ac paenissime ibidem, quam devoverat, ei reddidit animam. Sed aegre manibus erepta suorum invita remansit in vita, funus vero toto feralem pompam prosequente populo deducitur ad sepulturam.

And behold the husband's corpse — she ran to it, and with her spirit failing poured herself wholly over the body and most sorrowfully there, as she had vowed, restored his soul to him. But, scarcely wrested from the hands of her kin, she remained alive against her will, while the funeral, the whole people following the funereal pomp, was led away to the burial.

[7] Sed Thrasyllus nimium nimius clamare, plangere et quas in primo maerore lacrimas non habebat iam scilicet crescente gaudio reddere et multis caritatis nominibus Veritatem ipsam fallere. Illum amicum, coaetaneum, contubernalem, fratrem denique addito nomine lugubri ciere, nec non interdum manus Charites a pulsandis uberibus amovere, luctum sedare, heiulatum cohercere, verbis palpantibus stimulum doloris obtundere, variis exemplis multivagi casus solacia nectere, cunctis tamen mentitae pietatis officiis studium contrectandae mulieris adhibere odiosumque amorem suum perperam delectando nutrire.

[7] But Thrasyllus, too excessive and overmuch, cried aloud and beat his breast and returned those tears which in the first grief he no longer had, now, clearly, giving them back with growing joy, and by many names of affection deceived Truth itself. He stirred up that friend, his coeval, his contubernal companion, finally his brother, adding the lugubrious title, and at times withdrew the Charites’ hands from beating their breasts, to calm the mourning, to curb the lamenting, to blunt the sting of pain with touching words, to weave consolations for wayward fortune by various examples; yet with all the acts of feigned piety he applied a zeal for handling the woman to be touched and wrongly nourished his hateful love by delighting her.

Sed officiis inferialibus statim exactis puella protinus festinat ad maritum suum demeare cunctasque prosus pertemptat vias, certe illam lenem otiosamque nec telis ullis indigentem sed placidae quieti consimilem: inedia denique misera et incuria squalida, tenebris imis abscondita, iam cum luce transegerat. Sed Thrasyllus instantia pervicaci partim per semet ipsum, partim per ceteros familiares ac necessarios, ipso denique puellare parentes extorquet tandem iam lurore et inluvie paene conlapsa membra lavacro, cibo denique confoveret. At illa, parentum suorum alioquin reverens, invita quidem, verum religiosae necessitati subcumbens, vultu non quidem hilaro, verum paulo sereniore obiens, ut iubebatur, viventium munia, prorsus in pectore, immo vero penitus in medullis luctu a maerore carpebat animum; diesque totos totasque noctes insumebat luctuoso desiderio, et imaginem defuncti, quas ad habitum dei Liberi formaverat, adfixo servito divinis percolens honoribus ipso se solacio cruciabat.

But with the funeral rites immediately performed, the girl hastens straightaway to go and dwell with her husband and tries thoroughly all the roads; certainly she seemed gentle and idle, in no need of any weapons, but like one inclined to placid quiet: in short she had passed through wretched hunger and sordid neglect, hidden in the deepest darkness, now even into the light. Yet Thrasyllus, by a perverse insistence partly upon himself, partly through the other household and necessary attendants, at last compels even the girl’s parents — she herself by now almost collapsed with filth and uncleanness — to a bath, and finally cherishes her with food. But she, otherwise reverent toward her parents, indeed unwilling yet yielding to a religious necessity, with a countenance not cheerful but a little more serene, went to perform, as she was ordered, the duties of the living, while inwardly, indeed down to her very marrow, she was devouring her spirit with grief; and whole days and countless nights she consumed in mournful longing, and tortured herself with that image of the deceased, which she had fashioned from the habit of the god Liber, and by binding it to her remembered divine honors she made it her only solace.

[8] Sed Thrasyllus, praeceps alioquin et de ipso nomine temerarium, priusquam dolorem lacrimae satiarent et percitae mentis resideret furor et in sese nimietatis senio lassesceret luctus, adhuc flentem maritum, adhuc vestes lacerantem, adhuc capillos distrahentem non dubitavit de nuptiis convenire et imprudentiae labe tacita pectoris sui secreta fraudesque ineffabiles detegere. Sed Charite vocem nefandam et horruit et detestata est et velut gravi tonitru procellaque sideris vel etiam ipso diali fulmine percussa corruit corpus et obnubilavit animam. Sed intervallo revalescente paulatim spiritu, ferinos mugitus iterans et iam scaenam pessimi Thrasylli perspiciens, ad limam consili desiderium petitoris distulit. Tunc inter moras umbra illa misere trucidati Tlepolemi sanie cruentam et pallore deformem attollens faciem quietem pudicam interpellat uxoris:

[8] But Thrasyllus, rash by nature and reckless even in his very name, before tears had sated grief and the frenzy stirred within subsided and the senility of excess in itself wearied the lament, while still the husband wept, while still she tore her garments, while still she rent her hair, did not hesitate to convene about the marriage and to disclose the secrets and ineffable frauds of his tacit heart’s folly and imprudence. But Charite recoiled and abhorred the wicked voice, and, as if struck by a heavy thunderbolt or a storm of the heavens or even by the very bolt of the day-god, her body collapsed and her soul was clouded. Yet with the interval of breath gradually recovering, repeating savage bellowings and now discerning the scene of the worst Thrasyllus, she postponed the desired purpose of the suitor to the threshold of counsel. Then, amid the delays, that shadow of the miserably slaughtered Tlepolemus, raising a face bloodstained with gore and deformed with pallor, and calm and modest, interrupts the wife:

"Mi coniux, quod tibi prorsus ab alio dici iam licebit: etsi in pectore tuo non permanet nostri memoria vel acerbae mortis meae casus foedus caritatis intercidit. — quovis alio felicius maritare, modo ne in Thrasylli manum sacrilegam conveniam neve sermonem conferas nec mensam accumbas nec toro adquiescas. Fuge mei percussoris cruentam dexteram.

"My spouse, which may now properly be said to you by another: although in your breast the memory of me does not remain, or the pact of affection has been broken by the event of my cruel death. — Wed more happily to any other, provided only that you do not join sacrilegious hand to Thrasyllus nor hold discourse with him, nor sit at his table nor lie upon his couch. Flee the bloody right hand of my slayer.

Noli parricidio nuptias auspicari. Vulnera illa, quorum sanguinem tuae lacrimae perluerunt, non sunt tota dentium vulnera: lancea mali Thrasylli me tibi fecit alienum" et addidit cetera omnemque scaenam sceleris inluminavit.

Do not auspicate nuptials with parricide. Those wounds, whose blood your tears have washed, are not wounds only of the teeth: "the spear of wicked Thrasyllus made me alien to you" and he added the rest and illumined the whole scene of the crime.

[9] At illa, ut primum maesta quieverat, toro faciem impressa, etiamnunc dormiens,lacrimis emanantibus genas cohumidat et velut quodam tormento inquieta quiete excussa luctu redintegrato prolixum heiulat discissaque interula decora brachia saevientibus palmulis converberat. Nec tamen cum quoquam participatis nocturnis imaginibus, sed indicio facinoris prorsus dissimulato, et nequissimum percussorem punire et aerumnabili vitate sese subtrahere tacita decernit, Ecce rursus inprovidae voluptatis detestabilis petitor aures obseratas de nuptiis obtundens aderat. Sed illa clementer aspernata sermonem Thrasylli astuque miro personata instanter garrienti summisseque deprecanti:

[9] But she, as soon as her sorrow had subsided, her face pressed to the couch, still sleeping, moistens her cheeks with streaming tears and, as if by some torment shaken from sleep, with grief renewed wails at length; her fair sleeves torn away, she beats her arms with furious palms. Yet not sharing any nocturnal visions with anyone, but with the evidence of the crime wholly concealed, and resolving both to punish the most wicked assailant and to withdraw herself by wretched flight, she decides all this in silence. Behold again the detestable suitor of heedless pleasure, dulling ears closed to the marriage, was present. But she, having gently rejected Thrasyllus’ speech and his cunning, wondrously personated, spoke urgently and humbly entreating:

"Adhuc" inquit "tui fratris meique carissimi mariti facies pulchra illa in meius deversatur oculis, adhuc odor cinnameus ambrosei corporis per nares meas percurrit, adhuc formonsus Tlepolemus in meo vivit pectore. Boni ergo et optimi consules, si luctui legitimo miserrimae feminae necessarium concesserit tempus, quoad residuis mensibus spatium reliquum compleatur anni, quae res cum meum pudorem, tum etiam tuum salutare commodum respicit, ne forte inmaturitate nuptiarum indignatione iusta manes acerbos mariti ad exitium salutis tuae suscitemus."

"Still," she said, "that beautiful face of your brother and of my most dear husband still presents itself to my eyes, still the cinnamon-like odor of his ambrosial body runs through my nostrils, still the handsome Tlepolemus lives in my heart. Therefore, good and most excellent consuls, if the necessary time has been granted to the lawful mourning of a most miserable woman, until the remaining months, the leftover span of the year is completed—this matter regards both my modesty and also your salutary advantage—lest perhaps by the untimeliness of nuptials and by the just indignation of the man we rouse the bitter manes of the husband to the ruin of your safety."

[10] Nec isto sermone Thrasyllus sobriefactum vel saltem tempestiva pollicitatione recreatus identidem pergit lingua satianti susurros improbos inurgere, quoad simulanter revicta Charite suscipit: "Istud equidem certe magnopere deprecanti concedas necesse est mihi, Thrasylle, ut interdum taciti clandestinos coitus obeamus nec quisquam persentiscat familiarium, quoad reliquos dies metiatur annus."

[10] Nor by that speech, Thrasyllus, sobered or at least revived by a timely promise, ceases but continually with his tongue presses immodest whispers upon the sated man, until Charis, feigning to be overcome, simultaneously takes him up: "That thing indeed you must grant me, pleading greatly, Thrasyllus, that sometimes in silence we undertake clandestine coitus and that none of the familiars perceive, until the remaining days measure out the year."

Promissioni fallaciosae mulieris oppressus subcubuit Thrasyllus et prolixe consentit de furtivo concubitu noctemque et opertas exoptat ultro tenebras uno potiundi studio postponens omnia. "Sed heus tu," inquit Charite, quam prope vestre contectus omnique comite viduatus prima vigilia tacitus fores meas accedas unoque sibilo contentus nutricem istam meam opperiare, quae claustris adhaerens excubabit adventui tuo. Nec setius patefactis aedibus acceptum te nullo lumine conscio ad meum perducet cubiculum."

Oppressed by the deceitful promise of the woman, Thrasyllus yielded and at length consented to a furtive concubitus, and eagerly desired the night and its covered shadows, voluntarily postponing all things for the single passion of enjoying one. "But hush you," said Charite, whom, nearly covered by your cloak and bereft of every attendant, at the first watch silently approach my doors and with one whisper be content to await my nurse, who, clinging to the inner chambers, will keep watch for your coming. Nor less, with the house opened, will she, accepted with no light conscious, conduct you to my bedchamber."

[11] Placuit Thrasyllo scaena feralium nuptiarum. Nec sequius aliquid suspicatus sed exspectatione turbidus de diei tantum spatio et vesperae mora querebatur. Sed ubi sol tandem nocti decessit, ex imperio Charites adest ornatus et nutricis captiosa vigilia deceptus inrepit cubiculum pronus spei.

[11] The spectacle of the funeral nuptials pleased Thrasyllus. Nor did he suspect anything further, but, troubled by expectation, he complained of the mere span of day and the delay of evening. But when at last the sun withdrew into night, by Charite’s command she arrived adorned, and, deceived by the nurse’s crafty wakefulness, he stealthily crept into the chamber, prone with hope.

Tunc anus de iussu dominae blandiens ei furtim depromptis calcibus et oenophoro, quod inmixtum vino soporiferum gerebat venenum, crebris potionibus avide ac secure haurientem mentita dominae tarditatem, quasi parentem adsideret aegrotum, facile sepelivit ad somnum. Iamque eo ad omnes iniurias exposito ac supinato introvocata Charite masculis animis impetumque duro fremens invadit ac supersistit sicarium.

Then the old woman, by her mistress’s command, cajoling him, having stealthily drawn aside his heels and the oenophorion, which, mixed with wine, contained a soporific poison, with frequent draughts eagerly and securely swallowing, feigning her mistress’s delay as if she were sitting beside a sick parent, easily buried him in sleep. And now, with him exposed to every injury and lying supine, Charite, unbidden, with masculine spirits and roaring a fierce assault, attacked, and the sicarius stood over him.

[12] "En" inquit "fidus coniugis mei comes, en venator egregius, en carus maritus. Haec est illa dextera quae meum sanguinem fudit, hoc pectus quod fraudulentas ambages in meum concinnavit exitium, oculi isti quibus male placui, qui quodam modo tamen iam futuras tenebras auspicantes venientes poenas antecedunt. Quiesce securus, beate somniare.

[12] "Behold," she said, "the faithful companion of my husband, behold the excellent hunter, behold the dear spouse. This is that right hand which poured out my blood, this the breast which contrived deceitful windings for my destruction, those eyes by which I displeased, which in some manner already, presaging future darkness, anticipate the coming penalties. Rest secure, sleep blessèdly.

Non ego gladio, non ferro petam; absit ut simili mortis genere cum marito meo coaequeris: vivo tibi morientur oculi nec quicquam videbis nisi dormiens. Faxo feliciorem necem inimici tui quam vitam tuam sentias. Lucem certe non tenebis, nuptias non frueris, nec mortis quiete recreaberis nec vitae voluptate laetaberis, sed incertum simulacrum errabis inter Orcum et solem, et diu quaeres dexteram quae tuas expugnavit pupulas, quodque est in aerumna miserrimum, nescies de quo queraris.

I will not strike you with sword, nor with iron; far be it that you be made equal to my husband by a like kind of death: while I live your eyes shall die for you and you will see nothing except in sleep. I will make you feel the death of your enemy happier than your own life. Certainly you will not hold the light, you will not enjoy nuptials, nor will you be refreshed by the quiet of death nor rejoice in the delights of life, but you will wander an uncertain simulacrum between Orcus and the sun, and for a long time you will seek the right hand that assailed your pupils, and what is most wretched in your anguish, you will not know against whom you complain.

At ego sepulchrum mei Tlepolemi tuo luminum cruore libato et sanctis manibus eius istis oculis parentabo. Sed quid mora temporis dignum cruciatum lucraris et meos forsitan tibi pestiferos imaginaris amplexus? Relictis somnulentis tenebris ad aliam poenalem evigila caliginem.

But I will propitiate the tomb of my Tlepolemus, your blood poured as a libation of lights, and with his holy hands and these eyes I will pay homage. But what do you gain by the delay of time—a torment worthy—and do you perhaps imagine my embraces to be pestiferous to you? Leaving behind the drowsy shadows, awaken to another penal gloom.

Attolle vacuam faciem, vindictam recognosce, infortunium intellege, aerumnas computa. Sic pudicae mulieri tui placuerunt oculi, sic faces nuptiales tuos illuminarunt thalamos. Vltrices habebis pronubas et orbitatem comitem et perpetuae conscientiae stimulum."

Lift your vacant face, recognize vindicta, perceive your misfortune, compute your hardships. Thus did your eyes please your chaste wife, thus did your nuptial torches illumine your bridal chamber. You shall have avenging pronubae and orbitas as companion and the spur of perpetual conscience.

[13] Ad hunc modum vaticinata mulier acu crinali capite deprompta Thrasylli convulnerat tota lumina eumque prorsus exosculatum relinquens, dum dolore nescio crapulam cum somno discutit, arrepto nudo gladio, quo se Tlepolemus solebat incingere, per mediam civitatem cursu furioso proripit se procul dubio nescio quod scelus gestiens et recta monimentum mariti contendit. At nos et omnis populus, nudatis totis aedibus, studiose consequimur hortati mutuo ferrum vesanis extorquere manibus. Sed Charite capulum Tlepolemi propter assistens gladioque fulgenti singulos abigens, ubi fletus uberes et lamentationes varias cunctorum intuetur, "Abicite" inquit "importunas lacrimas, abicite luctum meis virtutibus alienum.

[13] To this effect the prophesying woman, a needle plucked from her hair, pierced Thrasyllus and wounded his whole sight, and, having left him thoroughly kissed, while, shaken by grief and by some nameless stupor of sleep he shook himself off, seizing the naked sword with which Tlepolemus was wont to gird himself, rushed through the middle of the city in a furious course, bearing, far beyond doubt, some crime I know not what, and made straight for the husband’s monument. But we and all the people, with whole houses laid bare, eagerly followed, exhorting one another to wrench the sword from the madman’s hands. Yet Charite, because she stood near and grasping the hilt of Tlepolemus’ gleaming sword drove off the bystanders, when she beheld the abundant weeping and the various lamentations of all, said, "Cast away troublesome tears, cast away a mourning alien to my virtues."

Vindicavi in mei mariti cruentum peremptorem, punita sum funestum mearum [mearum] nuptiarum praedonem. Iam tempus est ut isto gladio deorsus ad meum Tlepolemum viam quaeram."

I avenged the bloodstained slayer of my husband; I have been punished, the fatal plunderer of my [my] nuptials. Now the time has come that with that very sword I should seek downward the way to my Tlepolemum.

[14] Et enarratis ordine singulis quae sibi per somnium nuntiaverat maritus quoque astu Thrasyllum inductum petisset, ferro sub papillam dexteram transadacto corruit et in suo sibi pervolutata sanguine postremo balbuttiens incerto sermone proflavit animam virilem. Tunc propere familiares miserae Charites accuratissime corpus ablutum unita sepultura ibidem marito perpetuam coniugem reddidere.

[14] And, having related in order to each what through the dream had been announced to her, her husband also, led on by the guile of Thrasyllus, fell when a sword was thrust beneath his right pap, and, having rolled about in his own blood, at last stammering with uncertain speech breathed forth his manly soul. Then the household attendants, hastening, most carefully washed the body and, with a joint burial, there restored to the husband his perpetual wife.

Thrasyllus vero cognitis omnibus, nequiens idoneum exitum praesenti (cladi nisi nova) clade reddere certusque tanto facinori nec gladium sufficere, sponte delatus ibidem ad sepulchrum "Vltronea vobis, infesti Manes, en adest victima" saepe clamitans, valvis super sese diligenter obseratis inedia statuit elidere sua sententia damnatum spiritum."

Thrasyllus, however, when he had learned everything, unable to render a fitting end to the present calamity (unless by a new) calamity, and convinced that even a sword would not suffice for so great an outrage, of his own accord carried himself thither to the tomb, often crying out "Vltronea vobis, infesti Manes, en adest victima" — "willingly to you, hostile Manes, behold a victim is at hand" — and, the doors carefully closed upon himself, resolved to consume by fasting the spirit condemned by his own sentence.

[15] Haec ille longos trahens suspiritus et nonnumquam inlacrimans graviter adfectis rusticis adnuntiabat. Tunc illi mutati dominii novitatem metuentes et infortunium domus erilis altius miserantes fugere conparant. Sed equorum magister, qui me curandum magna ille quidem commendatione susceperat, quidquid in casula pretiosum conditumque servabat meo atque aliorum iumentorum dorso repositum asportans sedes pristinas deserit.

[15] He, drawing long sighs and sometimes weeping, gravely announced these things to the afflicted rustics. Then those, fearing the novelty of the changed dominion and pitying more deeply the misfortune of their lord’s house, prepare to flee. But the master of the horses, who had taken me in to be cared for with great commendation, carrying off whatever precious thing was stored in the little coffer and whatever was deposited on the backs of my and the others’ beasts of burden, abandons his former seat.

Gerebamus infantulos et mulieres, gerebamus pullos, passeres, aedos, catellos, et quidquid infirmo gradu fugam morabatur, nostris quoque pedibus ambulabat. Nec me pondus sarcinae, quanquam enormis, urguebat, quippe gaudiali fuga detestabilem illum exsectorem virilitatis meae relinquentem.

We bore infants and women, we bore chicks, sparrows, little songbirds, puppies, and whatever, weak in condition, delayed the flight, also walked along on our feet. Nor did the weight of the pack, although enormous, press upon me, for in that glad flight it left behind that detestable exsector, the cutter-away of my virility.

Silvosi montis asperum permensi iugum rursusque reposita camporum spatia pervecti, iam vespera semitam tenebrante, pervenimus ad quoddam castellum frequens et opulens, unde nos incolae nocturna immo vero matutina etiam prohibebant egressione: lupos enim numerosos grandes et vastis corporibus sarcinosos ac nimia ferocitate saevientes passim rapinis adsuetos infestare cunctam illam regionem iamque ipsas vias obsidere et in modum latronum praetereuntes adgredi, immo etiam vaesana fame rabidos finitimas expugnare villas, exitiumque inertissimarum pecudum ipsis iam humanis capitibus imminere. Denique ob iter illud qua nobis erat commeadum iacere semesa hominum corpora suisque visceribus nudatis ossibus cuncta candere ac per hoc nos quoque summa cautione viam aggredi debere, idque vel in primis observitare ut luce clara et die iam provecto et sole florido vitantes undique latentes insidias, cum et ipso lumine dirarum bestiarum repigratur impetus, non laciniatim disperso, sed cuneatim spirato commeatu difficultates illa transabiremus.

Having traversed the harsh ridge of Silvosi Mountain and again conveyed across the replenished spaces of the plains, and now with evening darkening the path, we came to a certain castle populous and opulent, whence the inhabitants forbade our egress by night, nay even by morning: for numerous wolves, large and of vast bodies, laden with packs and raging with excessive ferocity, accustomed everywhere to plunder, infest that whole region and already beset the very ways and, passing like bandits, attack wayfarers; indeed, maddened by ravenous hunger they even fall upon neighboring villages, and the destruction of the most sluggish flocks already threatens even human heads. Finally, because along that route lay half-eaten bodies of men, their viscera stripped and their bones laid bare, all exposed, we were compelled to undertake the road with the greatest caution, and above all to observe that, with the light clear and the day now advanced and the sun bright, avoiding ambushes lurking on every side — for at the very light the onrush of those dire beasts is checked, not scattering in ragged fashion but driving forward in wedge-like array when urged by hunger — we might pass over those difficulties.

[16] Sed nequissimi fugitivi ductores illi nostri caecae festinationis temeritate ac metu incertae insecutionis spreta salubri monitione nec exspectata luce proxuma circa tertiam ferme vigiliam noctis onustos nos ad viam propellunt. Tunc ego metu praedicti periculi, quantum pote, iam turbae medius et inter conferta iumenta latenter absconditus clunibus meis ab adgressionibus ferinis consulebam iamque me cursu celeri ceteros equos antecellentem mirabantur omnes. Sed illa pernicitas non erat alacritatis meae, sed formidinis indicium; denique meum ipse reputabam Pegasum inclutum illum metu magis volaticum ac per hoc merito pinnatum proditum, dum in altum at adusque caelum sussilit ac resultat, formidans scilicet igniferae morsum Chimaerae.

[16] But those most wicked leaders of the fugitives, scorning a salutary warning and the unexpected light by the blind rashness of haste and the fear of uncertain pursuit, drove us, heavily laden, onto the road at about the third watch of the night. Then I, through fear of the forementioned peril, as far as I could, hidden secretly amid the crowd and among the packed beasts, with my haunches guarded against assaults of the wild animals, and now running swiftly and outstripping the other horses, was wondered at by all. Yet that swiftness was not of my alacrity but a token of dread; indeed I myself reckoned my famous Pegasus to be made more winged by fear and therefore justly betrayed as winged, when it springs up on high even toward the sky and bounds back, fearing, to be sure, the fiery bite of the Chimaera.

Nam et illi pastores qui nos agebant in speciem proelii manus obarmaverant: hic lanceam, ille venabulum, alius gerebat spicula, fustem alius, sed et saxa, quae salebrosa semita largiter subministrabat; erant qui sudes praeacutas attollerent; plerique tamen ardentibus facibus proterrebant feras. Nec quicquam praeter unicam tubam deerat quin acies esset proeliaris. Sed necquicquam frustra timorem illum satis inanem perfuncti longe peiores inhaesimus laqueos.

For even those shepherds who herded us, under the guise of battle, had armed their hands: this one a lance, that one a javelin, another bore spikes, another a club, and also stones, which the rough path liberally supplied; there were some who lifted up sharpened stakes; most, however, drove off the beasts with burning torches. Nor was anything lacking except a single trumpet by which a battle line might be formed. But in vain, and to no purpose, having gone through that rather hollow fear, we fell into snares far worse.

Nam lupi, forsitan confertae iuventutis strepitu vel certe nimia luce flammarum deterriti vel etiam aliorsum grassantes, nulli contra nos aditum tulerunt ac ne procul saltem ulli comparverant.

For the wolves, perhaps scared by the din of the thronging youth, or certainly deterred by the excessive light of the flames, or else prowling elsewhere, allowed no approach against us, and not even at a distance did any show themselves.

[17] Villae vero, quam tunc forte praeteribamus, coloni multitudinem nostram latrones rati, satis agentes rerum suarum eximieque trepidi, canes rabidos et immanes et quibusuis lupis et ursis saeviores, quos ad tutelae praesidia curiose fuerant alumnati, iubilationibus solitis et cuiusce modi vocibus nobis inhortantur, qui praeter genuinam ferocitatem tumultum suorum exasperati contra nos ruunt et undique laterum circumfusi passim insiliunt ac sine ullo dilectu iumenta simul et homines lacerant diuque grassati plerosque prosternunt. Cerneres non tam hercules memorandum quam miserandum etiam spectaculum: canes copiosos ardentibus animis alios fugientes arripere, alios stantibus inhaerere, quosdam iacentes inscendere, et per omnem nostrum commeatum morsibus ambulare.

[17] As for the villa which we then by chance were passing, the coloni, thinking our multitude were brigands, careful enough of their own affairs and exceedingly alarmed, had rabid and monstrous dogs, fiercer than any wolves or bears, which had been carefully fostered as bulwarks of protection; with their customary howlings and with voices of every sort they set upon us, who, beyond their native ferocity, maddened by the tumult of their own, rushed against us and, poured around on all sides, sprang upon us everywhere and without any choice tore both beasts of burden and men together and, ranging about for a long time, overthrew many. One would have seen a sight not so much for Hercules to remember as for pity: dogs plentiful with ardent spirits seizing some who fled, clinging to others who stood, springing on some who lay down, and going through our whole convoy with their bites.

Ecce tanto periculo malum maius insequitur. De summis enim tectis ac de proxumo colle rusticani illi saxa super nos raptim devolvunt, ut discernere prorsus nequiremus qua potissimum caveremus clade, comminus canum an eminus lapidum. Quorum quidem unus caput mulieris, quae meum dorsum residebat repente percussit.

Behold, after so great a danger a greater evil pursues. For from the highest roofs and from the neighboring hill those rustics swiftly roll stones down upon us, so that we were utterly unable to discern which disaster we should most guard against, the close attack of dogs or the ranged assault of stones. One of these suddenly struck the head of the woman who sat upon my back.

Quo dolore commota statim fletu cum clamore sublato maritum suum pastorem illum suppetiatum ciet.

Moved by that grief she immediately, with weeping and with a raised cry, rouses her husband, that shepherd, as a ready succor.

[18] At ille deum fidem clamitans et cruorem uxoris abstergens altius quiritabat: "Quid miseros homines et laboriosos viatores tam crudelibus animis invaditis atque obteritis? Quas praedas inhiatis? Quae damna vindicatis?

[18] But he, crying out to the gods' faith and wiping away his wife's blood, called more loudly: "Why do you assail and crush miserable men and industrious travelers with such cruel minds? What spoils do you gape for? What losses do you vindicate?

At non speluncas ferarum vel cautes incolitis barbarorum, ut humano sanguine profuso gaudeatis." Vix haec dicta et statim lapidum congestus cessavit imber et infestorum canum revocata conquievit procella. Vnus illinc denique de summo cupressus cacumine: "At nos" inquit "non vestrorum spoliorum cupidine latrocinamur, sed hanc ipsam cladem de vestris protelamus manibus. Iam denique pace tranquilla securi potestis incedere."

But not the caves of wild beasts nor the crags inhabited by barbarians, so that you might rejoice at the shedding of human blood." Scarcely had these words been spoken and immediately the rain upon the piled stones ceased, and the tempest, its host of savage dogs recalled, fell quiet. Then one from the topmost summit of a cypress said: "But we," he said, "are not engaged in brigandage from desire of your spoils, but we drive this very calamity from your hands. Now at last you can walk forward secure in peaceful tranquillity."

Sic ille, sed nos plurifariam vulnerati reliquam viam capessimus alius lapidis, alius morsus vulnera referentes, universi tamen saucii. Aliquanto denique viae permenso spatio pervenimus ad nemus quoddam proceris arboribus consitum et pratentibus virectis amoenum, ubi placuit illis ductoribus nostris refectui paululum conquiescere corporaque sua diverse laniata sedulo recurare. Ergo passim prostrati solo primum fatigatos animos recuperare ac dehinc vulneribus medelas varias adhibere festinant, hic cruorem praeterfluentis aquae rore deluere, ille spongeis inacidatis tumores comprimere, alius fasciolis hiantes vincire plagas.

Thus he, but we, wounded in many ways, set about the remaining road, some bearing wounds from stones, others from bites, yet all wounded. After a considerable stretch of road we came to a grove planted with tall trees and pleasant green swards, where it pleased our leaders to rest a little for refreshment and diligently to cure their bodies torn in diverse ways. Therefore everywhere prostrate on the ground they first hasten to recover their weary spirits and then to apply various remedies to the wounds: one to wash away the blood with the dew of overflowing water, another to compress swellings with acidified sponges, another to bind gaping wounds with small bandages.

Ad istum modum saluti suae quisque consulebat.

In that manner each one looked out for his own safety.

[19] Interea quidam senex de summo colle prospectat, quem circum capellae pascentes opilionem esse profecto clamabant. Eum rogavit unus e nostris, haberetne venui lactem vel adhuc liquidum vel in caseum recentem inchoatum. At ille diu capite quassanti: "Vos autem" inquit "de cibo vel poculo vel omnino ulla refectione nunc cogitatis?

[19] Meanwhile a certain old man was looking out from the summit of the hill, which the goats feeding around were loudly declaring to be a little fortress (opilionem). One of our men asked him whether he had fawn’s milk, either still liquid or already begun into fresh cheese. But he, shaking his head for a long time, said, "And you—are you now thinking of food or drink or any refreshment at all?"

an nulli scitis quo loco consederitis?", et cum dicto conductis oviculis conversus longe recessit. Quae vox eius et fuga pastoribus nostris non mediocrem pavorem incussit. Ac dum perterriti de loci qualitate sciscitari gestiunt nec est qui doceat, senex alius, magnum ille quidem, gravatus annis, totus in baculum pronus et lassum trahens vestigium ubertim lacrimans per viam proximat visisque nobis cum fletu maximo singulorum iuvenum genua contingens sic adorabat:

"Do you not at all know where you have sat down?" and with that, having driven off the hired little sheep, he turned and went far away. That voice of his and his flight put no small fear into our shepherds. And while, terrified, they were eager to inquire about the character of the place and there was no one to inform them, another old man, a great one indeed, weighed down with years, wholly bent upon his staff and dragging a weary step, weeping abundantly, approaches along the road; and having seen us, with the greatest lamentation touching the knees of each of the young men, thus besought:

[20] "Per Fortunas vestrosque Genios, sic ad meae senectutis spatia validi laetique veniatis, decepto seni subsistite meumque parvulum ab inferis ereptum canis meis reddite. Nepos namque meus et itineris huius suavis comes, dum forte passerem incantantem sepiculae consectatur arripere, delapsus in proximam foveam, quae fruticibus imis subpatet, in extremo iam vitae consistit periculo, quippe cum de fletu ac voce ipsius avum sibi saepicule clamitantis vivere illum quidem sentiam, sed per corporis, ut videtis, mei defectam valetudinem opitulari nequeam. At vobis aetatis et robori beneficio facile est subpetiari miserrimo seni puerumque illum novissimum successionis meae atque unicam stirpem sospitem mihi facere."

[20] "By your Fortunes and your Genii, may you thus come strong and joyful to the spans of my old age; having deceived the old man, cease, and restore my little one, snatched from the underworld, to my dogs. For my grandson, and the sweet companion of this journey, while by chance he pursued to seize a little bird charming with song, having slipped into a nearby pit, which yawns beneath the lowest bushes, now stands in extreme peril of life; for from his weeping and his voice, with the grandfather crying to him from the hedge, I indeed perceive that he lives, but by reason of my body’s failed health, as you see, I am unable to help him. But by the benefit of your age and strength it is easy for you to be entreated by a most miserable old man and to make that boy the last heir of my succession and the sole scion to keep me safe."

[21] Sic deprecantis suamque canitiem distrahentis totos quidem miseruit. Sed unus prae ceteris et animo fortior et aetate iuvenior et corpore validior, quique solus praeter alios incolumis proelium superius evaserat, exsurgit alacer et percontatus quonam loci puer ille decidisset monstrantem digito non longe frutices horridos senem illum inpigre comitatur. Ac dum pabulo nostro suaque cura refecti sarcinulis quisque sumptis suis viam capessunt, clamore primum nominatim cientes illum iuvenem frequenter inclamant, mox mora diutina commoti mittunt e suis arcessitorem unum, qui requisitum comitem tempestivae viae commonefactum reduceret.

[21] Thus he pitied him wholly, the suppliant and his tugged white hair. But one, preeminent among the others—stronger in spirit, younger in years, and more robust in body, and who alone besides the others had escaped unharmed from the battle above—leaps up briskly, and having asked in what part of the place that boy had fallen, and pointing with his finger to the bristly bushes not far off, he promptly accompanies that old man. And while, refreshed by our fodder and by their own care, each having taken up his packs, they set out on the road, at first by shouting and calling him by name they often cry to that young man; soon, moved by the long delay, they send one of their number as a summons, admonished about the timely route, to bring back the sought companion.

At ille modicum commoratum refert sese: buxanti pallore trepidus mira super conservo suo renuntiat: conspicatum se quippe supinato illi et iam ex maxima parte consumpto immanem draconem mandentem insistere nec ullum usquam miserrimum senem comparere illum. Qua re cognita et cum pastoris sermone conlata, qui saevum prorsus hunc illum nec alium locorum inquilinum praeminabatur, pestilenti deserta regione velociori se fuga proripiunt nosque pellunt crebris tundentes fustibus.

But he, having delayed a little, returns: trembling with a boxwood-like pallor he alarmingly reports to his fellow: for he had seen, as the man lay on his back and was already for the most part consumed, a monstrous dragon standing and gnawing, and that nowhere did he behold any miserable old man like him. This thing having been learned and compared with the shepherd’s account, who had warned that this one was utterly savage and not another inhabitant of the place, they snatch themselves away in a swifter flight from the pestilential deserted region and drive us off, striking us repeatedly with clubs.

[22] Celerrime denique longo itinere confecto pagum quendam accedimus ibique totam perquiescimus noctem. Ibi coeptum facinus oppido memorabile narrare cupio.

[22] Very swiftly at last, the long journey having been completed, we came up to a certain village and there we rested the whole night. There I desire to relate a deed begun which is memorable to the town.

Servus quidam, cui cunctam familiae tutelam dominus permiserat, suus quique possessionem maximam illam, in quam deverteramus, vilicabat, habens ex eodem famulitio conservam coniugam, liberae cuiusdam extrariaeque mulieris flagrabat cupidine. Quo dolore paelicatus uxor eius instricta cunctas mariti rationes et quicquid horreo reconditum continebatur admoto combussit igne. Nec tali damno tori sui contumeliam vindicasse contenta, iam contra sua saeviens viscera laqueum sibi nectit, infantulumque, quem de eodem marito iam dudum susceperat, eodem funiculo nectit seque per altissimum puteum adpendicem parvulum trahens praecipitat.

A certain slave, to whom the master had entrusted the entire guardianship of the household, was stewarding that greatest possession into which we had turned, and he had from the same servitude a fellow‑servant wife, while he burned with desire for a certain free and foreign woman. At this grief the cuckolded wife, inflamed, bound up all her husband’s accounts and, whatever was stored away in the granary, brought it near and consumed it with fire. Not content to have thus avenged the insult to her bed by that damage, now, raging against her own entrails, she ties a noose for herself, and she also ties the little infant, whom long before she had borne from the same husband, with the same cord, and, making the little one a pendant, hurls herself down through the deepest well, dragging the infant with her.

Quam mortem dominus eorum aegerrime sustinens adreptum servulum, qui causam tanti sceleris luxurie sua praestiterat, nudum ac totum melle perlitum firmiter alligavit arbori ficulneae, cuius in ipso carioso stipite inhabitantium formicarum nidificia bulliebant et ultro citro commeabant multiiuga scaturrigine. Quae simul dulcem ac mellitum corporis nidorem persentiscunt, parvis quidem sed numerosis et continuis morsiunculis penitus inhaerentes, per longi temporis cruciatum ita, carnibus atque ipsis visceribus adesis, homine consumpto membra nudarunt, ut ossa tantum viduata pulpis nitore nimio candentia funestae cohaererent arbori.

Their lord, enduring that death most grievously, seized the little slave who had been the cause of so great a crime by his own lust, and bound him naked and altogether anointed with honey fast to a fig-tree, on whose very rotten trunk the nests of ants that lived there swelled and, to and fro, multiplied in a multiiuga scaturience of filth. When these perceive the sweet and honeyed odor of the body, small indeed but numerous and clinging with continual little bites, they, through the torture of long time and having eaten into flesh and even the very entrails, consumed the man and laid bare his limbs, so that only the bones, bereft of pulps, gleaming with excessive whiteness, sorrowfully adhered to the tree.

[23] Hac quoque detestabili deserta mansione, paganos in summo luctu relinquentes, rursum pergimus dieque tota campestres emensi vias civitatem quandam populosam et nobilem iam fessi pervenimus. Inibi larem sedesque perpetuas pastores illi statuere decernunt, quod et longe quaesituris firmae latebrae viderentur et annonae copiosae beata celebritas invitabat. Triduo denique iumentorum refectis corporibus, quo vendibiliores videremur, ad mercatum producimur magnaque voce praeconis pretia singulis nuntiantis equi atque alii asini opulentis emptoribus praestinantur; at me relictum solum ac subsicivum cum fastidio plerique praeteribant.

[23] With that detestable abandoned lodging likewise, leaving the pagans in deepest luctus, we proceeded again, and having measured the country vias the whole day, we arrived, now tired, at a certain populous and noble civitas. There those pastores resolved to establish a lar and perpetual sedes, because they seemed to seekers from far to be firm latebrae, and the blessed celebritas of abundant annona invited. After three days, the iumenta’ bodies refecti, that we might seem more vendible, we were led out to the mercatum, and with the praeco loudly announcing prices to each, equi and other asini were reserved for opulent emptors; but I, left alone and subsicivum, most people passed by with fastidium.

Iamque taedio contrectationis eorum, qui de dentibus meis aetatem computabant, manum cuiusdam faetore sordentem, qui gingivas identidem meas putidis scalpebat digitis, mordicus adreptam plenissime conterrui. Quae res circumstantium ab emptione mea utpote ferocissimi deterruit animos. Tunc praeco dirruptis faucibus et rauca voce saucius in meas fortunas ridiculos construebat iocos: "Quem ad finem cantherium istum venui frustra subiciemus et vetulum et extritis ungulis debilem et dolore deformem et in hebeti pigritia ferocem nec quicquam amplius quam ruderarium cribrum?

And now, sick of the handling of those who were reckoning my age from my teeth, I utterly terrified the hand of a certain man, foul with stench, who kept scraping my gums with his rotten fingers, having seized him firmly by the bite. This thing deterred the spirits of the bystanders from my sale, they thinking me a very fierce beast. Then the auctioneer, his throat torn and his voice hoarse, wounded, was making ridiculous jests at my fortunes: "To what end shall we bring this hackney? Shall we present him in vain — both old and weakened by worn hooves, deformed by pain, fierce in dull sluggishness, and no more than a sieve for trash?"

Atque adeo vel donemus eum cuipiam, si qui tamen faenum suum perdere non gravatur."

And indeed let us even give him away to someone, if anyone, however, is not averse to losing his hay."

[24] Ad istum modum praeco ille cachinnos circumstantibus commovebat. Sed illa Fortuna mea saevissima, quam per tot regiones iam fugiens effugere vel praecedentibus malis placare non potui, rursum in me caecos detorsit oculos et emptorem aptissimum duris meis casibus mire repertum obiecit. Scitote qualem: cinaedum, calvum quidem sed cincinnis semicanis et pendulis capillatum, unum de triviali popularium faece, qui per plateas et oppida cymbalis et crotalis personantes deamque Syriam circumferentes mendicare compellunt.

[24] In that way the herald set off those laughs among the bystanders. But that most savage Fortuna of mine, whom, fleeing through so many regions, I could neither escape nor appease by preceding misfortunes, turned her blind eyes upon me again and presented me with a purchaser most fittingly discovered for my harsh calamities. Know what sort: a cinaedus, bald indeed but with half-coiled locks and pendent hair, one of the trivial dregs of the populace, who through streets and towns, cymbals and crotals sounding, bearing about the Syrian goddess, force men to beg.

Is nimio praestinandi studio praeconem rogat cuiatis essem; at ille Cappadocum me et satis forticulum denuntiat. Rursum requirit annos aetatis meae; sed praeco lasciviens: "Mathematicus quidem, qui stellas eius disposuit, quintum ei numeravit annum, sed ipse scilicet melius istud de suis novit professionibus. Quanquam enim prudens crimen Corneliae legis incurram, si civem Romanum pro servo tibi vendidero, quin emis bonum et frugi mancipium, quod te et foris et domi poterit iuvare?" Sed exinde odiosus emptor aliud de alio non desinit quaerere, denique de mansuetudine etiam mea percontatur anxie.

He, with an excessive zeal for setting me up to be sold, asks the auctioneer who I am; but the man proclaims me a Cappadocian and rather sturdy. Again he inquires the years of my age; but the auctioneer, lascivious, says: "The mathematician indeed, who arranged his stars, reckoned his fifth year for him, but he himself, of course, knows that better about his professions. For why, prudent as I am, should I incur the charge of the Cornelian law if I were to sell a Roman citizen to you as a slave? Rather buy a good and frugal mancipium, which will be able to help you both abroad and at home." But from that point the hateful buyer does not cease to ask one thing after another, and at last even anxiously inquires about my mansuetude.

[25] At praeco: "Vervecem" inquit "non asinum vides, ad usus omnes quietum, non mordacem nec calcitronem quidem, sed prorsus ut in asini corio modestum hominem inhabitare credas. Quae res cognitu non ardua. Nam si faciem tuam mediis eius feminibus immiseris, facile periclitaberis quam grandem tibi demonstret patientiam."

[25] But the auctioneer: "You do not see a vervecem, not an ass; fit for all uses, quiet, neither biting nor even a kicker, but altogether such that by an ass's hide you would believe a modest man to dwell. A thing not hard to discern. For if you thrust your face amid his women, you will easily test how great patience he shows you."

Sic praeco lurchonem tractabat dicacule, sed ille cognito cavillatu similis indignanti: "At te" inquit "cadaver surdum et mutum delirumque praeconem omnipotens et omniparens dea Syria et sanctus Sabazius et Bellona et mater Idaea cum (suo Attide et cum) suo Adone Venus domina caecum reddant, qui scurrilibus iam dudum contra me velitaris iocis. An me putas, inepte, iumento fero posse deam committere, ut turbatum repente divinum deiciat simulacrum egoque miseria cogar crinibus solutis discurrere et deae meae humi iacenti aliquem medicum quaerere?"

Thus the herald handled Lurcho with a taunting quip, but he, having perceived the jibe, like one indignant, said: "But may the almighty and all‑nurturing Syrian goddess and holy Sabazius and Bellona and mother Idaea and Venus, mistress, with (her Attis and with) her Adonis, render you blind, you corpse, deaf and mute and delirious herald, who for a long time now skirmish against me with scurrilous jests. Do you think, fool, that I, borne upon a beast, can commit a goddess, so that the disturbed divine image should suddenly be cast down and I, by misery, be forced to run about with my hair unbound and to seek some physician for my goddess lying on the ground?"

Accepto tali sermone cogitabam subito velut lymphaticus exsilire, ut me ferocitate cernens exasperatum emptionem desineret. Sed praevenit cogitatum meum emptor anxius pretio depenso statim, quod quidem gaudens dominus scilicet taedio mei facile suscepit, septemdecim denarium, et illico me stomida spartea deligatum tradidit Philebo: hoc enim nomine censebatur iam meus dominus.

Having received such a speech I was suddenly thinking to leap up like a lymphatic, so that, seeing me enraged with ferocity, he would cease the purchase. But my thought was anticipated by the buyer, anxious, the price having at once been paid — which indeed the master, rejoicing, that is, easily accepting through his weariness of me — seventeen denarii; and immediately he handed me over bound with a straw esparto strap to Philebus: for by this name my master was already accounted.

[26] At ille susceptum novicium famulum trahebat ad domum statimque illinc de primo limine proclamat: "Puellae, servum vobis pulchellum en ecce mercata perduxi." Sed illae puellae chorum erat cinaedorum, quae statim exsultantes in gaudium fracta et rauca et effeminata voce clamores absonos intollunt, rati scilicet vere quempiam hominem servulum ministerio suo paratum. Sed postquam non cervam pro virgine sed asinum pro homine succidaneum videre, nare detorta magistrum suum varie cavillantur: non enim servum, sed maritum illum scilicet sibi perduxisse. Et "heus," aiunt "cave ne solus exedas tam bellum scilicet pullulum, sed nobis quoque tuis palumbulis nonnumquam inpertias."

[26] But he was leading the newly acquired novice-servant to the house and immediately from the first threshold proclaimed: "Girls, behold—I have bought you a pretty little servant." But those girls were a chorus of cinaedi, who at once, exulting with broken, hoarse, and effeminate voices raised discordant cries, thinking, to be sure, that they had verily some little man ready for their service. Yet when they saw not a hind for a maiden but an ass as a substitute for a man, with noses turned up they jeer their master in various ways: for they say he had brought them not a servant but, plainly, a husband. And "hey," they say, "beware that you alone consume so fair a chick, but sometimes bestow upon us your palumbulas as well."

Haec et huius modi mutuo blaterantes praesepio me proximum deligant. Erat quidam iuvenis satis corpulentus, choraula doctissimus, conlaticia stipe de mensa paratus, qui foris quidem circumgestantibus deam cornu canens adambulabat, domi vero promiscuis operis partiarius agebat concubinus. Hic me simul domi conspexit, libenter adpositis largiter cibariis gaudens adloquitur: "Venisti tamen miserrimi laboris vicarius.

Baying to one another like these and of such sort, they fastened me to the nearest manger. There was a certain youth rather corpulent, most learned as a choraula, provided with a conlatic stipend from the table, who outside, to the bystanders, walked about singing to the goddess with a horn, but at home acted as a concubine, a partner in promiscuous work. He at once espied me at home; gladly, with plentiful provisions set beside me, rejoicing, he speaks: "You have come then, vicar of most miserable toil."

Sed diu vivas et dominis placeas et meis defectis iam lateribus consulas." Haec audiens iam meas futuras novas cogitabam aerumnas.

"But may you live long and please your masters, and may you now attend to my defects at my sides." Hearing these words I was already meditating on the new hardships about to befall me.

[27] Die sequenti variis coloribus indusiati et deformiter quisque formati facie caenoso pigmento delita et oculis obunctis graphice prodeunt, mitellis et crocotis et carbasinis et bombycinis iniecti, quidam tunicas albas, in modum lanciolarum quoquoversum fluente purpura depictas, cingulo subligati, pedes luteis induti calceis; deamque serico contectam amiculo mihi gerendam imponunt bracchiisque suis umero tenus renudatis, adtollentes immanes gladios ac secures, evantes exsiliunt incitante tibiae cantu lymphaticum tripudium. Nec paucis pererratis casulis ad quandam villam possessoris beati perveniunt et ab ingressu primo statim absonis ululatibus constrepentes fanatice provolant diuque capite demisso cervices lubricis intorquentes motibus crinesque pendulos in circulum rotantes et nonnumquam morsibus suos incursantes musculos ad postremum ancipiti ferro, quod gerebant, sua quisque brachia dissicant. Inter haec unus ex illis bacchatur effusius ac de imis praecordiis anhelitus crebros referens velut numinis divino spiritu repletus simulabat sauciam vecordiam, prorsus quasi deum praesentia soleant homines non sui fieri meliores, sed debiles effici vel aegroti.

[27] On the following day, clad in various colors and each defigured—face smeared with muddy pigment and eyes bandaged with paint—having been arrayed in mitellas and crocot (saffron) and carbasin and bombycin garments, some wearing white tunics painted here and there with purple flowing in lanceolate fashion, girded with a subligaculum, their feet shod in yellow shoes; and they place before me a goddess covered with a silken little cloth to be carried, and with their arms bared to the shoulder, raising monstrous swords and axes, they leap up and spring forth, urged on by the piping of the tibia in a lymphatic tripudium. After wandering through many little huts they at last reach a certain villa of the fortunate owner, and at the very entrance immediately, with harsh ululations clamoring, they fling themselves down fanatically and for a long time, head bowed, wrench their necks in slippery motions and whirl their pendent hair in a circle, and sometimes, biting their own arms, they tear at their muscles with the two‑edged iron they carry, each severing his own arms at the end. Amid these things one of them raves more wildly and, drawing repeated gasps from the deepest breast, pretending as if filled with the divine breath of a numen, feigns a wounded frenzy—just as men, by the presence of a god, are wont not to become better of themselves but rather to be rendered weak or sick.

[28] Specta denique, quale caelesti providentia meritum reportaverit. Infit vaticinatione clamosa conficto mendacio semet ipsum incessere atque criminari, quasi contra fas sanctae religionis dissignasset aliquid, et insuper iustas poenas noxii facinoris ipse de se suis manibus exposcere. Arrepto denique flagro, quod semiviris illis proprium gestamen est, contortis taenis lanosi velleris prolixe fimbriatum et multiiugis talis ovium tesseratum, indidem sese multinodis commulcat ictibus mire contra plagarum dolores praesumptione munitus.

[28] Behold at last what reward heavenly providence has brought back. With his clamorous vaticination confuted and the lie exposed, he proclaims that he himself advances and accuses himself, as though he had set aside something against the sacred law of religion, and moreover he himself demands just penalties for the guilty deed from his own hands. Finally, having seized a scourge — that manly gear proper to those half-men — woven with twisted thongs of woolly fleece, lavishly fringed and tessellated with many-yoked patches of such sheep, he therewith swathes himself with many-knotted lashes, wondrously fortified by presumption against the pains of the blows.

Cerneres prosectu gladiorum ictuque flagrorum solum spurcitia sanguinis effeminati madescere. Quae res incutiebat mihi non parvam sollicitudinem videnti tot vulneribus largiter profusum cruorem, ne quo casu deae peregrinae stomachus, ut quorundam hominum lactem, sic illa sanguinem concupisceret asininum. Sed ubi tandem fatigati vel certe suo laniatus satiati pausam carnificinae dedere, stipes aereas immo vero et argenteas multis certatim offerentibus sinu recepere patulo nec non et siliginis aliquid, et nonnullis hordeum deae gerulo donantibus, avidis animis conradentes omnia et in sacculos huic quaestui de industria praeparatos farcientes dorso meo congerunt, ut duplici scilicet sarcinae pondere gravatus et horreum simul et templum incederem.

You would see, in the slaughter of swords and by the strokes of whips, the ground grow wet with the filth of effeminate blood. This sight struck me with no small solicitude, seeing so many wounds and the blood poured forth lavishly, lest by some chance the maw of the foreign goddess, as the stomachs of certain men long for milk, so desire asinine blood. But when at last, wearied or at least sated by their own lacerations, they gave a pause to the butchery, they received into my open fold bronze—and indeed silver—coins, many contending to offer them, and also something of wheat, and some barley given into the goddess’s little sack; with eager minds piling up all things and stuffing into little purses prepared for this traffic on purpose, they heaped them upon my back, so that, weighed by the double burden of the pack, I walked on as both granary and temple.

[29] Ad istum modum palantes omnem illam depraedabantur regionem. Sed in quodam castello copia laetati largioris quaesticuli gaudiales instruunt dapes. A quodam colono fictae vaticinationis mendacio pinguissimum deposcunt arietem, qui deam Syriam esurientem suo satiaret sacrificio, probeque disposita cenula balneas obeunt, ac dehinc lauti quendam fortissimum rusticanum industria laterum atque imis ventris bene praeparatum comitem cenae secum adducunt paucisque admodum praegustatis olusculis ante ipsam mensam spurcissima illa propudia ad inlicitae libidinis extrema flagitia infandis uriginibus efferantur, passimque circumfusi nudatum supinatumque iuvenem exsecrandis oribus flagitabant.

[29] In this manner the wanderers plundered that entire region. But in a certain castle a throng, rejoicing at the prospect of a larger gain, set out a festive banquet. From a certain peasant, by the false lie of a fabricated prophecy, they exact a very fat ram, which by its sacrifice would sate the hungry goddess Syria; with a neatly arranged little repast they go to the baths, and afterward, being merry, they bring with them to the supper a certain very stout rustic, well prepared by the industry of his loins and lowest belly as a companion for the meal, and with very few vegetables sampled beforehand they set before the table those most filthy spoils, carried forth to the utmost crimes of illicit lust with unspeakable stenches, and, scattered about, they clamored for a youth stripped and laid back supine, with accursed mouths demanding him.

Nec diu tale facinus mei oculis tolerantibus "Porro Quirites" proclamare gestivi, sed viduatum ceteris syllabis ac litteris processit "O" tantum sane clarum ac validum et asino proprium, sed inopportuno plane tempore. Namque de pago proximo complures iuvenes abactum sibi noctu perquirentes asellum nimioque studio cuncta devorsoria scrutantes, intus aedium audito ruditu meo, praedam absconditam latibulis aedium rati, coram rem invasuri suam improvisi conferto gradu se penetrant palamque illos exsecrandas foeditates obeuntes deprehendunt; iamiamque vicinos undique percientes turpissimam scaenam patefaciunt, insuper ridicule sacerdotum purissimam laudantes castimoniam.

Nor for long, my eyes enduring such a deed did I desire to cry out "Porro Quirites," but the rest of the syllables and letters falling away, only the "O" came forth—certainly clear and strong and proper to a donkey, yet plainly at an inopportune time. For from the neighboring village several youths, having lost a little ass by night and searching for it with excessive zeal, diligently ransacking every devouring nook, hearing my bray inside the house and, thinking a hidden booty concealed in the house's hiding-places, unexpectedly, about to invade the place in person, they burst in with a compact step and openly caught them performing those execrable pollutions before the very table; and already, searching the neighbors on every side, they revealed the most shameful scene, moreover mockingly lauding the priests' most pure chastity.

[30] Hac infamia consternati, quae per ora populi facile dilapsa merito invisos ac detestabiles eos cunctis effecerat, noctem ferme circa mediam collectis omnibus furtim castello facessunt bonaque itineris parte ante iubaris exortum transacta iam die claro solitudines avias nancti, nulla secum prius conlocuti, accingunt se meo funeri deaque vehiculo meo sublata et humi reposita cunctis stramentis me renudatum ac de quadam quercu destinatum flagro illo pecuinis ossibus catenato verberantes paene ad extremam confecerant mortem; fuit unus, qui poplites meos enervare secure sua comminaretur, quod de pudore illo candido scilicet suo tam deformiter triumphassem: sed ceteri non meae salutis, sed simulacri iacentis contemplatione in vita me retinendum censuere. Rursum itaque me refertum sarcinis planis gladiis minantes perveniunt ad quandam nobilem civitatem, Inibi vir principalis, et alias religiosus et eximie deum reverens, tinnitu cymbalorum et sonu tympanorum cantusque Phrygii mulcentibus modulis excitus procurrit obviam deamque votivo suscipiens hospitio nos omnis intra conseptum domus amplissimae constituit numenque summa veneratione atque hostiis opimis placare contendit.

[30] Struck down by this infamy, which, having easily spread through the mouths of the people, had justly made them hateful and detestable to all, about midnight they secretly muster everyone at the castle; and, having passed that part of the journey after dawn when the torchlight has already arisen, they find remote and lonely tracks, without having first agreed among themselves, they prepare themselves for my death and, having taken my chariot and placed it on the ground, with all the straw they strip me naked and, tied with chains about with money and bones, they scourge me beneath a certain oak as if destined for the stake, almost to the point of consuming me with death; there was one who threatened to sever my hamstrings with an axe, because, he said, I had so shamefully triumphed over that white modesty of his; but the others judged that I ought to be kept alive, not for my own safety, but for the contemplation of the idol lying there. Again, then, they bring me, carried on plain packs and menacing with swords, to a certain noble city; there a leading man, both devout in other respects and remarkably reverent of the gods, roused by the ringing of cymbals and the sound of tambours and the soothing modulations of Phrygian songs, runs out to meet the goddess and, taking her in vowed hospitality, places us all within the enclosure of a very spacious house and endeavors to placate the divinity with the greatest veneration and with rich sacrifices.

[31] Hic ego me potissimum capitis periclitatum memini. Nam quidam colonus partem venationis immanis cervi pinguissimum femus domino illi suo numeri miserat, quod incuriose pone culinae fores non altiuscule suspensum canis adaeque venaticus latenter invaserat, laetusque praeda propere custodientes oculos evaserat. Quo damno cognito suaque reprehensa neglegentia cocus diu lamentatus lacrimis inefficacibus iamiamque domino cenam flagitante maerens et utcumque metuens altius, filio parvulo suo consalutato adreptoque funiculo, mortem sibi nexu laquei comparabat.

[31] Here I especially remember that my head was endangered. For a certain colonus had sent to that dominus as part of the hunt the very fat femur of a huge stag, because, heedless, he had hung it a little behind the kitchen doorway and the dog, and likewise the hunting-dog, had secretly assailed it, and, glad, had slipped past the eyes of those hastily guarding the booty. When this loss was discovered and his negligence was blamed, the cook lamented long with ineffectual tears, and now, the dominus demanding his dinner and grieving and in some way more fearful, after greeting his little son and having seized a rope, he prepared death for himself by the knot of a noose.

Nec tamen latuit fidam uxorem eius casus extremus mariti, sed funestum nodum violenter invadens manibus ambabus: "Adeone" inquit "praesenti malo perterritus mente excidisti tua nec fortuitum istud remedium, quod deum providentia subministrat, intueris? Nam si quid in ultimo fortunae turbine resipiscis, expergite me ausculta et advenam insitum asinum remoto quodam loco deductum iugula femusque eius ad similitudinem perditi detractum et accuratius in protrimentis sapidissime percoctum adpone domino cervini vicem." Nequissimo verberoni sua placuit salus de mea morte et multum conservae laudata sagacitate destinatae iam lanienae cultros acuebat.

Yet the final mishap of her husband did not lie hidden from his faithful wife, but violently seizing the fatal knot with both hands she cried: "Have you, terrified by the present evil, so lost your wits and do you not behold that not altogether accidental remedy which divine providence supplies? For if in the last whirl of fortune you recover yourself at all, rouse me, listen, and set before the master an ass reared by a stranger, brought down from some remote place, its throat and thigh cut away to the likeness of the lost one and more carefully roasted most savory upon the spits, in place of venison." Her own salvation — procured by the basest violence against me — pleased her, and, much lauded for the housekeeper's sagacity, she was already sharpening the knives of the butcher destined for the task.