Ovid: EX PONTO

Naso Tomitanae iam non nouus incola terrae
       hoc tibi de Getico litore mittit opus.
Si uacat, hospitio peregrinos, Brute, libellos
       excipe dumque aliquo, quolibet abde modo.
Publica non audent intra monimenta uenire,

Naso, now no newcomer inhabitant of Tomitan land,
       sends you this work from the Getic shore.
If you have leisure, Brutus, receive the foreign little books with hospitality,
       and meanwhile hide them somewhere, in whatever way whatsoever.
They do not dare to come within the public monuments,

       ne suus hoc illis clauserit auctor iter.
A, quotiens dixi: 'Certe nil turpe docetis,
       ite, patet castis uersibus ille locus.'
Non tamen accedunt, sed, ut aspicis ipse, latere
       sub lare priuato tutius esse putant.

       lest by this their own author should have closed the way for them.
Ah, how often I said: 'Surely you teach nothing base;
       go; that place stands open for chaste verses.'
Yet they do not approach, but, as you yourself see, to lie hidden
       under a private roof they think is safer.

Quaeris ubi hos possis nullo componere laeso?
Qua steterant Artes, pars uacat illa tibi.
Quid ueniant nouitate roges fortasse sub ipsa.

You ask where you can place these with no one harmed?
Where the Arts had stood, that part lies vacant for you.
You may perhaps ask why they come—on account of the novelty itself.

Accipe quodcumque est, dummodo non sit amor.
Inuenies, quamuis non est miserabilis index,

Accept whatever it is, so long as it is not love.
You will find it, although it is not a miserable index,

       non minus hoc illo triste quod ante dedi.
Rebus idem titulo differt, et epistula cui sit
       non occultato nomine missa docet.
Nec uos hoc uultis, sed nec prohibere potestis
       Musaque ad inuitos officiosa uenit.

       this is no less sad than that which I sent before.
It is the same in subject-matter, it differs by the title, and the epistle, sent with the name not concealed, shows for whom it is.
       nor do you wish this, yet you cannot forbid it either;
Nor do you wish this, but neither can you forbid it,
       and the Muse, obliging, comes to the unwilling.

Quicquid id est, adiunge meis; nihil inpedit ortos
       exule seruatis legibus Vrbe frui.
Quod metuas non est: Antoni scripta leguntur
       doctus et in promptu scrinia Brutus habet.
Nec me nominibus furiosus confero tantis:

Whatever it is, add it to my own; nothing hinders those born from an exile,
       with the laws observed, from enjoying the City.
There is nothing for you to fear: the writings of Antony are read,
       and learned Brutus has his book-chests at the ready.
Nor do I, as a madman, compare myself with such great names:

       saeua deos contra non tamen arma tuli.
Denique Caesareo, quod non desiderat ipse,
       non caret e nostris ullus honore liber.
Si dubitas de me, laudes admitte deorum
       et carmen dempto nomine sume meum.

       I did not, however, take up savage arms against the gods.
Finally, with a Caesarean honor, which he himself does not desire,
       none of my books is lacking in honor.
If you doubt about me, admit the lauds of the gods
       and take my song, with the name removed.

Adiuuat in bello pacatae ramus oliuae
       proderit auctorem pacis habere nihil?
Cum foret Aeneae ceruix subiecta parenti,
       dicitur ipsa uiro flamma dedisse uiam.
Fert liber Aeneaden, et non iter omne patebit?

The branch of the pacified olive aids in war;
       will it profit nothing to have the author of peace?
When Aeneas’s neck was subjected beneath his parent,
       the flame itself is said to have given the man a way.
The book bears the Aenead, and will not the whole path be open?

       At patriae pater hic, ipsius ille fuit.
Ecquis ita est audax ut limine cogat abire
       iactantem Pharia tinnula sistra manu?
Ante deum Matrem cornu tibicen adunco
       cum canit, exiguae quis stipis aera negat?

       But this one is the father of the fatherland; that one was his father.
Is anyone so bold as to force from the threshold to depart
       one brandishing the tinkling sistra with an Egyptian hand?
Before the Mother of the Gods, when the piper with a hooked horn plays,
       who denies the bronze of a small alms?

Scimus ab imperio fieri nil tale Dianae;
       unde tamen uiuat uaticinator habet.
Ipsa mouent animos superorum numina nostros
       turpe nec est tali credulitate capi.
En, ego pro sistro Phrygiique foramine buxi

We know that nothing such is wrought by the command of Diana;
       whence, however, the vaticinator has his living.
The very numina of the supernal ones move our minds
       nor is it shameful to be taken by such credulity.
Lo, I, in place of the sistrum and the hole of Phrygian boxwood

       gentis Iuleae nomina sancta fero.
Vaticinor moneoque: locum date sacra ferenti;
       non mihi, sed magno poscitur ille deo,
nec, quia uel merui uel sensi principis iram,
       a nobis ipsum nolle putate coli.

       I bear the sacred names of the Julian race.
I vaticinate and admonish: give place to the one bearing the sacred rites;
       not for me, but for the great god is that place demanded,
nor, because I have either merited or felt the emperor’s wrath,
       do not think that he himself is unwilling to be worshiped by us.

Vidi ego linigerae numen uiolasse fatentem
       Isidis Isiacos ante sedere focos.
Alter ob huic similem priuatus lumine culpam
       clamabat media se meruisse uia.
Talia caelestes fieri praeconia gaudent,

I myself saw a man confessing he had violated the numen of linen-clad Isis
       sitting before the Isiac hearths.
Another, deprived of light because of a fault like this,
       was shouting that he had deserved it in the middle of the way.
Such proclamations the celestials rejoice to have made,

       ut sua quid ualeant numina teste probent.
Saepe leuant poenas ereptaque lumina reddunt,
       cum bene peccati paenituisse uident.
Paenitet, o! si quid miserorum creditur ulli,
       paenitet et facto torqueor ipse meo.

       so that they may prove by a witness what their numina can avail.
Often they alleviate penalties and restore eyes that were snatched away,
       when they see that one has well repented of the sin.
I repent, oh! if anything of the wretched is believed by anyone,
       I repent, and I myself am tortured by my own deed.

Cumque sit exilium, magis est mihi culpa dolori
       estque pati poenam quam meruisse minus.
Vt mihi di faueant, quibus est manifestior ipse,
       poena potest demi, culpa perennis erit.
Mors faciet certe ne sim, cum uenerit, exul;

And since it is exile, guilt is to me the heavier grief
       and to suffer the penalty is less than to have deserved it.
So that the gods may favor me, to whom I myself am more manifest,
       the penalty can be removed, the guilt will be perennial.
Death will surely make it that, when it has come, I am not an exile;

       ne non peccarim mors quoque non faciet.
Non igitur mirum, si mens mea tabida facta
       de niue manantis more liquescit aquae.
Estur ut occulta uitiata teredine nauis,
       aequorei scopulos ut cauat unda salis,

       death too will not make it so that I have not sinned.
Therefore it is no marvel, if my mind, made tabid,
       liquefies in the manner of water dripping from snow.
It is eaten away, as a ship vitiated by occult teredo-worm,
       as the briny sea’s wave hollows the sea-rocks,

roditur ut scabra positum rubigine ferrum,
       conditus ut tineae carpitur ore liber,
sic mea perpetuos curarum pectora morsus,
       fine quibus nullo conficiantur, habent.
Nec prius hi mentem stimuli quam uita relinquet

as iron set aside is gnawed by scabrous rust,
       as a book stored away is nibbled by the mouth of the moth,
so my breast bears the perpetual bites of cares,
       which wear it down without any end.
Nor will these goads leave my mind before life leaves it

       quique dolet citius quam dolor ipse cadet.
Hoc mihi si superi, quorum sumus omnia, credent,
       forsitan exigua dignus habebor ope,
inque locum Scythico uacuum mutabor ab arcu.
       Plus isto duri si precer oris ero.

       and he who suffers will fall sooner than the pain itself will fall.
If the gods above, to whom we are everything, will credit this to me,
       perhaps I shall be held worthy of slight aid,
and I shall be changed into a place free from the Scythian bow.
       If I pray for more than that, I shall be hard of mouth.

II. FABIO MAXIMO

2. TO FABIUS MAXIMUS

Maxime, qui tanti mensuram nominis inples
       et geminas animi nobilitate genus,
qui nasci ut posses, quamuis cecidere trecenti,
       non omnis Fabios abstulit una dies,
forsitan haec a quo mittatur epistula quaeras,

Maximus, you who fill the measure of so great a name
       and by the nobility of your mind double your lineage,
you, so that you might be born, although three hundred fell,
       one day did not carry off all the Fabii,
perhaps you ask by whom this epistle is sent,

quisque loquar tecum certior esse uelis.
Ei mihi! quid faciam?

whom I should speak with you about, you would wish to be more certain.
Alas for me! What am I to do?

Vereor ne nomine lecto
durus et auersa cetera mente legas!
Videris! Audebo tibi me scripsisse fateri
< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >

I fear lest, with the name read,
you may, harsh, read the rest with an averse mind!
As you will! I will dare to confess to you that I have written
< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >

qui, cum me poena dignum grauiore fuisse
       confiteor, possum uix grauiora pati.
Hostibus in mediis interque pericula uersor,
       tamquam cum patria pax sit adempta mihi.
Qui, mortis saeuo geminent ut uulnere causas,

I, who, although I confess that I have been worthy of a graver punishment,
       confess it, can scarcely suffer graver things.
I am in the midst of enemies and am turned among perils,
       as though peace with my fatherland were taken away from me.
They who, that they may geminate the causes of death with a savage wound,

       omnia uipereo spicula felle linunt.
His eques instructus perterrita moenia lustrat
       more lupi clausas circumeuntis oues,
at semel intentus neruo leuis arcus equino
       uincula semper habens inresoluta manet;

       they smear all the darts with viperine gall.
With these equipped the horseman ranges around the terrified walls
       in the manner of a wolf going around sheep that are shut in,
       but once the light bow is stretched with an equine sinew,
       he remains with the reins always unloosed;

tecta rigent fixis ueluti uelata sagittis
       portaque uix firma submouet arma sera.
Adde loci faciem nec fronde nec arbore tecti
       et quod iners hiemi continuatur hiems.
Hic me pugnantem cum frigore cumque sagittis

the roofs stand rigid, as if veiled with arrows fixed in them
       and the gate, scarcely firm, with its bolt hardly drives off the weapons.
Add the aspect of the place, covered neither with leaf nor with tree
       and that an inert winter is continued into winter.
Here me fighting with cold and with arrows

       cumque meo fato quarta fatigat hiems.
Fine carent lacrimae, nisi cum stupor obstitit illis
       et similis morti pectora torpor habet.
Felicem Nioben, quamuis tot funera uidit,
       quae posuit sensum saxea facta mali!

       and along with my fate the fourth winter wearies me.
Tears are without an end, unless when stupor has stood in their way
       and a torpor similar to death holds my breast.
Happy Niobe, although she saw so many funerals,
       who, made stony, put away the sense of misfortune!

Vos quoque felices, quarum clamantia fratrem
       cortice uelauit populus ora nouo!
Ille ego sum lignum qui non admittar in ullum;
       ille ego sum frustra qui lapis esse uelim.
Ipsa Medusa oculis ueniat licet obuia nostris,

You too, fortunate ones, whose mouths crying out for your brother
       the poplar veiled with new bark!
I am that timber who would be admitted nowhere;
       I am he who would wish in vain to be a stone.
Even if Medusa herself should come to meet our eyes,

       amittet uires ipsa Medusa suas.
Viuimus ut numquam sensu careamus amaro,
       et grauior longa fit mea poena mora.
Sic inconsumptum Tityi semperque renascens
       non perit, ut possit saepe perire, iecur.

       Medusa herself will lose her powers.
We live that we may never be without bitter sense,
       and my penalty becomes graver by the long delay.
Thus Tityus’s unconsumed and ever-reborn
       liver does not perish, so that it may be able to perish often.

At, puto, cum requies medicinaque publica curae
       somnus adest, solitis nox uenit orba malis.
Somnia me terrent ueros imitantia casus
       et uigilant sensus in mea damna mei.
Aut ego Sarmaticas uideor uitare sagittas

But, I suppose, when rest and the public medicine of care—sleep—is at hand,
       night comes bereft of its accustomed evils.
Dreams terrify me, imitating true events,
       and my senses are vigilant to my own damage.
Or I seem to avoid Sarmatian arrows

       aut dare captiuas ad fera uincla manus
aut, ubi decipior melioris imagine somni,
       aspicio patriae tecta relicta meae
et modo uobiscum, quos sum ueneratus, amici,
       et modo cum cara coniuge multa loquor.

       or to give my captive hands to savage fetters
or, when I am deceived by the image of a better dream,
       I look upon the roofs of my fatherland left behind
and now with you, friends whom I have venerated,
       and now I speak many things with my dear spouse.

Sic ubi percepta est breuis et non uera uoluptas,
       peior ab admonitu fit status iste boni.
Siue dies igitur caput hoc miserabile cernit,
       siue pruinosi Noctis aguntur equi,
sic mea perpetuis liquefiunt pectora curis,

Thus, when brief and not true pleasure has been perceived,
       this status of good becomes worse from the admonition.
Whether therefore day beholds this miserable head,
       or the horses of frosty Night are driven,
thus my breast liquefies with perpetual cares,

       ignibus admotis ut noua cera solet.
Saepe precor mortem, mortem quoque deprecor idem,
       ne mea Sarmaticum contegat ossa solum.
Cum subit, Augusti quae sit clementia, credo
       mollia naufragiis litora posse dari.

       as new wax is wont when fires are brought near.
Often I pray for death, and likewise I deprecate death,
       lest the Sarmatian soil cover my bones.
When it comes to mind what the clemency of Augustus is, I believe
       that soft shores can be given to the shipwrecked.

Cum uideo quam sint mea fata tenacia, frangor
       spesque leuis magno uicta timore cadit,
nec tamen ulterius quicquam speroue precorue
       quam male mutato posse carere loco.
Aut hoc aut nihil est pro me temptare modeste

When I see how tenacious my fates are, I am broken,
       and my light hope, conquered by great fear, falls,
nor yet do I either hope or pray for anything further
       than to be able to be free from the ill-changed place.
Either this, or nothing, is for me to attempt modestly.

       gratia quod saluo uestra pudore queat.
Suscipe, Romanae facundia, Maxime, linguae
       difficilis causae mite patrocinium.
Est mala, confiteor, sed te bona fiet agente:
       lenia pro misera fac modo uerba fuga.

       a favor that can be granted with your modesty safe.
Take up, O Maximus, eloquence of the Roman tongue,
       the gentle patronage of a difficult cause.
I confess it is bad, but with you acting it will become good:
       only make gentle words for my wretched flight.

Nescit enim Caesar, quamuis deus omnia norit,
       ultimus hic qua sit condicione locus.
Magna tenent illud numen molimina rerum,
       haec est caelesti pectore cura minor,
nec uacat in qua sint positi regione Tomitae

For Caesar does not know, although a god knows all things,
       what condition this uttermost place is in.
Great undertakings of affairs engage that numen,
       this is a lesser care in the celestial breast,
nor is there leisure as to the region in which the Tomitans are situated

       quaerere—finitimo uix loca nota Getae—
aut quid Sauromatae faciant, quid Iazyges acres
       cultaque Oresteae Taurica terra deae
quaeque aliae gentes, ubi frigore constitit Hister,
       dura meant celeri terga per amnis equo.

       to inquire—scarcely places known to the neighboring Getae—
or what the Sauromatae do, what the fierce Iazyges,
       and the Tauric land, where the Orestean goddess is worshipped,
and what other peoples, where the Hister has become fixed with frost,
       they pass over the hard backs of the river by swift horse.

Maxima pars hominum nec te, pulcherrima, curat,
       Roma, nec Ausonii militis arma timet.
Dant illis animos arcus plenaeque pharetrae
       quamque libet longis cursibus aptus equus
quodque sitim didicere diu tolerare famemque

The greatest part of humankind neither cares for you, most beautiful,
       Rome, nor fears the arms of the Ausonian soldier.
Bows and full quivers give them courage,
       and a horse fit for however long courses they please,
and the fact that they have learned to endure thirst and hunger for a long time

       quodque sequens nullas hostis habebit aquas.
Ira uiri mitis non me misisset in istam,
       si satis haec illi nota fuisset humus.
Nec me nec quemquam Romanum gaudet ab hoste
       meque minus, uitam cui dabat ipse, capi.

       and that, as he follows, the enemy will have no waters.
The wrath of the gentle man would not have sent me into this land,
       if this ground had been sufficiently known to him.
Nor does he rejoice that either I or any Roman be taken by the enemy
       and still less that I, to whom he himself was granting life, be taken.

Noluit, ut poterat, minimo me perdere nutu:
       nil opus est ullis in mea fata Getis.
Sed neque cur morerer quicquam mihi comperit actum,
       et minus infestus quam fuit esse potest.
Tunc quoque nil fecit, nisi quod facere ipse coegi;

He was unwilling, though he could, to destroy me with the slightest nod:
       there is no need of any Getae for my fate.
But he discovered nothing done by me for which I should die,
       and he can be less hostile than he was.
Then too he did nothing, except what I myself compelled him to do;

       paene etiam merito parcior ira meo est.
Di faciant igitur, quorum iustissimus ipse est,
       alma nihil maius Caesare terra ferat.
Vtque diu sub eo, sic sit sub Caesare terra
       perque manus huius tradita gentis eat.

       almost even deservedly, his wrath is more sparing than my deserts.
May the gods, therefore, of whom he himself is the most just, bring it to pass
       that the kindly earth bear nothing greater than Caesar.
And as long under him, so may the earth be under Caesar,
       and let the handed-down nation go through this man’s hands.

100

At tu tam placido quam nos quoque sensimus illum
       iudice pro lacrimis ora resolue meis.
Non petito ut bene sit, sed uti male tutius utque
       exilium saeuo distet ab hoste meum,
quamque dedere mihi praesentia numina uitam,

But you, with that judge as placid as we too have sensed him
       unloose your lips on behalf of my tears.
I do not ask that it be well, but that, if ill, it be safer, and that
       my exile be distant from a savage foe,
and that life which the present divinities have given to me,

105

       non adimat stricto squalidus ense Getes,
denique, si moriar, subeam pacatius aruum
       ossa nec a Scythica nostra premantur humo
nec male compositos, ut scilicet exule dignum,
       Bistonii cineres ungula pulset equi,

       let not the squalid Getan with a drawn sword take away my life,
finally, if I should die, may I go beneath the earth more peaceably,
       and let not my bones be pressed by Scythian soil,
nor let, as of course befitting an exile, my ashes, ill laid,
       be struck by the hoof of a Bistonian horse,

110

et ne, si superest aliquis post funera sensus,
       terreat et manes Sarmatis umbra meos.
Caesaris haec animum poterant audita mouere,
       Maxime, mouissent si tamen ante tuum.
Vox, precor, Augustas pro me tua molliat aures,

and lest, if any sense survives after funerals,
       a Sarmatian shade terrify even my Manes.
These things, once heard, could have moved Caesar’s mind,
       Maximus, they would have moved it, if only before your own.
May your voice, I pray, soften the August ears on my behalf,

115

       auxilio trepidis quae solet esse reis,
adsuetaque tibi doctae dulcedine linguae
       aequandi superis pectora flecte uiri.
Non tibi Theromedon crudusque rogabitur Atreus
       quique suis homines pabula fecit equis,

       which is wont to be an assistance to trembling defendants,
accustomed, too, by the dulcet sweetness of your learned tongue,
       bend the man’s heart toward equalling the gods.
Not to you will Theromedon and cruel Atreus be petitioned—
       he who made men fodder for his own horses,

120

sed piger ad poenas princeps, ad praemia uelox,
       quique dolet, quotiens cogitur, esse ferox,
qui uicit semper, uictis ut parcere posset,
       clausit et aeterna ciuica bella sera,
multa metu poenae, poena qui pauca coercet,

but a prince slow to punish, swift to rewards,
       and who grieves, whenever he is compelled, to be ferocious,
who has conquered always, that he might spare the conquered,
       and he shut the civic wars with an everlasting bar,
who achieves much by fear of penalty, who by penalty restrains few,

125

       et iacit inuita fulmina rara manu.
Ergo tam placidas orator missus ad aures
       ut propior patriae sit fuga nostra roga.
Ille ego sum qui te colui, quem festa solebat
       inter conuiuas mensa uidere tuos,

       and he hurls unwilling thunderbolts with a sparing hand.
Therefore, O orator sent to such placid ears,
       ask that our flight may be nearer to our fatherland.
I am he who cherished you, whom the festive table was accustomed
       to see among your convives.

130

ille ego qui duxi uestros Hymenaeon ad ignes
       et cecini fausto carmina digna toro,
cuius te solitum memini laudare libellos
       exceptis domino qui nocuere suo,
cui tua nonnumquam miranti scripta legebas,

I am he who led your Hymenaeus to the fires
       and I sang songs worthy of the auspicious marriage-bed,
I remember you as wont to praise my little books
       excepting those which harmed their own master,
to whom, as I marveled, you sometimes read your writings,

135

       ille ego de uestra cui data nupta domo est.
Hanc probat et primo dilectam semper ab aeuo
       est inter comites Marcia censa suas
inque suis habuit matertera Caesaris ante;
       quarum iudicio si quam probata, proba est.

       I am that man to whom from your house a bride was given.
She is approved, and loved always from her earliest age;
       she has been enrolled among her companions by Marcia,
and earlier the aunt of Caesar held her among her own;
       by whose judgment, if any woman is approved, she is upright.

140

Ipsa sua melior fama laudantibus istis
       Claudia diuina non eguisset ope.
Nos quoque praeteritos sine labe peregimus annos:
       proxima pars uitae transilienda meae.
Sed de me ut sileam, coniunx mea sarcina uestra est:

She herself, better by her own fame, with those men lauding,
       Claudia would not have needed divine aid.
We too have passed the past years without stain:
       the next part of my life must be leapt over.
But, that I may be silent about myself, my consort is your burden:

145

       non potes hanc salua dissimulare fide.
Confugit haec ad uos, uestras amplectitur aras—
       iure uenit cultos ad sibi quisque deos—
flensque rogat precibus lenito Caesare uestris
       busta sui fiant ut propiora uiri.

       you cannot, with your good faith intact, dissemble her.
She has fled to you, she embraces your altars—
       rightly does each person come to the gods he has worshiped—
and weeping she asks that, with Caesar softened by your prayers,
       the tomb of her husband may be made nearer.

III. RVFINO

3. TO RUFINUS

Hanc tibi Naso tuus mittit, Rufine, salutem,
       qui miser est, ulli si suus esse potest.
Reddita confusae nuper solacia menti
       auxilium nostris spemque tulere malis.
Vtque Machaoniis Poeantius artibus heros

This greeting your Naso sends to you, Rufinus,
       who is miserable, if one can be his own to anyone.
The consolations recently restored to my confounded mind
       have brought help and hope to my troubles.
And as the Poeantian hero by Machaonian arts

       lenito medicam uulnere sensit opem,
sic ego mente iacens et acerbo saucius ictu
       admonitu coepi fortior esse tuo
et iam deficiens sic ad tua uerba reuixi,
       ut solet infuso uena redire mero.

       with the wound soothed he sensed the medical aid,
so I, prostrate in mind and wounded by a bitter stroke,
       at your admonition I began to be stronger,
and now failing, thus I revived at your words,
       as a vein is wont to return when unmixed wine has been poured in.

Non tamen exhibuit tantas facundia uires
       ut mea sint dictis pectora sana tuis.
Vt multum demas nostrae de gurgite curae,
       non minus exhausto quod superabit erit.
Tempore ducetur longo fortasse cicatrix:

Nevertheless eloquence did not exhibit such powers
       as that my breast be made sound by your words.
Even if you take away much from the whirlpool of my care,
       what will remain will be no less, even when drained.
Perhaps with long time the scar will be drawn.

       horrent admotas uulnera cruda manus.
Non est in medico semper releuetur ut aeger:
       interdum docta plus ualet arte malum.
Cernis ut e molli sanguis pulmone remissus
       ad Stygias certo limite ducat aquas.

       raw wounds shudder at hands brought near.
It is not within the physician’s power that the sick man always be relieved:
       sometimes the malady has more strength than learned art.
You see how from the soft lung the blood, sent back,
       leads to the Stygian waters by a fixed path.

Adferat ipse licet sacras Epidaurius herbas,
       sanabit nulla uulnera cordis ope.
Tollere nodosam nescit medicina podagram
       nec formidatis auxiliatur aquis.
Cura quoque interdum nulla medicabilis arte

Even if the Epidaurian himself should bring sacred herbs,
       no aid will heal the wounds of the heart.
Medicine does not know how to remove the knotted gout,
       nor does it give help against the feared waters.
Care, too, is sometimes medicable by no art

       aut, ut sit, longa est extenuanda mora.
Cum bene firmarunt animum praecepta iacentem
       sumptaque sunt nobis pectoris arma tui,
rursus amor patriae ratione ualentior omni
       quod tua fecerunt scripta retexit opus.

       or, granted it be so, the long delay must be extenuated.
When the precepts have well firmed the prostrate mind
       and your breast’s arms have been assumed by us,
again love of the fatherland, stronger than every reason,
       unweaves the work which your writings have made.

Siue pium uis hoc, seu uis muliebre uocari,
       confiteor misero molle cor esse mihi.
Non dubia est Ithaci prudentia, sed tamen optat
       fumum de patriis posse uidere focis.
Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos

Whether you wish this to be called pious, or you wish it to be called womanly,
       I confess that for me, wretched, the heart is soft.
The prudence of the Ithacan is not in doubt, yet nevertheless he desires
       to be able to see the smoke from his native hearths.
I know not by what sweetness the native soil charms all

ducit et inmemores non sinit esse sui.
Quid melius Roma? Scythico quid frigore peius?

it draws them and does not allow them to be unmindful of itself.
What is better than Rome? What worse than Scythian cold?

Huc tamen ex ista barbarus urbe fugit.
Cum bene sit clausae cauea Pandione natae,
nititur in siluas illa redire suas.

Yet hither from that city the barbarian flees.
Although a cage be well-suited for the shut-in daughter of Pandion,
she strives to return to her woods.

Adsuetos tauri saltus, adsueta leones—
       nec feritas illos inpedit—antra petunt.
Tu tamen exilii morsus e pectore nostro
       fomentis speras cedere posse tuis.
Effice uos ipsi ne tam mihi sitis amandi,

Bulls seek their accustomed glades, lions their accustomed caves—
       nor does ferocity hinder them— they seek the caverns.
Yet you, however, hope that the bites of exile from my breast
       can yield to your fomentations.
Bring it about that you yourselves may not be so to be loved by me,

       talibus ut leuius sit caruisse malum.
At, puto, qua genitus fueram tellure carenti
       in tamen humano contigit esse loco:
orbis in extremi iaceo desertus harenis,
       fert ubi perpetuas obruta terra niues.

       so that to have been without such an evil may be lighter.
But, I suppose, although the land where I was born is lacking to me,
       yet it has befallen me to be in a human place:
I lie deserted on the sands of the farthest rim of the world,
       where the earth, buried, bears perpetual snows.

Non ager hic pomum, non dulces educat uuas,
       non salices ripa, robora monte uirent.
Neue fretum laudes terra magis, aequora semper
       uentorum rabie solibus orba tument.
Quocumque aspicias, campi cultore carentes

This field does not produce fruit, nor bring forth sweet grapes,
       nor do willows on the bank, oaks on the mountain, stand verdant.
Nor should you praise the sea more than the land; the waters always
       swell with the rage of winds, bereft of the sun.
Wherever you look, fields lacking a cultivator

       uastaque quae nemo uindicat arua iacent.
Hostis adest dextra laeuaque a parte timendus
       uicinoque metu terret utrumque latus:
altera Bistonias pars est sensura sarisas,
       altera Sarmatica spicula missa manu.

       and vast fields, which no one claims, lie fallow.
A host is at hand, to be feared on the right and on the left
       and with nearby dread he terrifies both flanks:
one side will feel Bistonian sarissae,
       the other, Sarmatian darts hurled by hand.

I nunc et ueterum nobis exempla uirorum
       qui forti casum mente tulere refer
et graue magnanimi robur mirare Rutili
       non usi reditus condicione dati.
Zmyrna uirum tenuit, non Pontus et hostica tellus,

Go now and for us recount the examples of men of old
       who with a brave mind bore misfortune;
and marvel at the weighty strength of magnanimous Rutilius,
       not availing himself of the condition of return that was given.
Smyrna held the man, not the Pontus and a hostile land,

       paene minus nullo Zmyrna petenda loco.
Non doluit patria Cynicus procul esse Sinopeus,
       legit enim sedes, Attica terra, tuas.
Arma Neoclides qui Persica contudit armis
       Argolica primam sensit in urbe fugam.

       Smyrna had to be sought, scarcely in any other place.
The Cynic of Sinope did not grieve to be far from his fatherland,
       for he chose your seats, Attic land.
The Neoclides, who with arms crushed the Persian arms,
       felt his first flight in an Argolic city.

Pulsus Aristides patria Lacedaemona fugit,
       inter quas dubium quae prior esset erat.
Caede puer facta Patroclus Opunta reliquit
       Thessalicamque adiit hospes Achillis humum.
Exul ab Haemonia Pirenida cessit ad undam

Driven from his fatherland, Aristides fled to Lacedaemon,
       between which it was doubtful which was prior.
With a slaughter done while a boy, Patroclus left Opus
       and came as a guest to the Thessalian soil of Achilles.
An exile from Haemonia, he withdrew to the Peirenean wave

       quo duce trabs Colcha sacra cucurrit aqua.
Liquit Agenorides Sidonia moenia Cadmus,
       poneret ut muros in meliore loco.
Venit ad Adrastum Tydeus Calydone fugatus
       et Teucrum Veneri grata recepit humus.

       under which leader the Colchian beam ran on sacred water.
Cadmus the Agenorid left the Sidonian walls,
       so that he might set walls in a better place.
Tydeus, driven from Calydon, came to Adrastus
       and the soil pleasing to Venus received Teucer.

Quid referam ueteres Romanae gentis, apud quos
       exulibus tellus ultima Tibur erat?
Persequar ut cunctos, nulli datus omnibus aeuis
       tam procul a patria est horridiorue locus.
Quo magis ignoscat sapientia uestra dolenti:

Why should I recount the ancients of the Roman race, among whom
       for exiles Tibur was the utmost land?
Even if I should pursue them all, granted to no one in all ages
       has there been a place so far from the fatherland or more horrid.
Wherefore let your sapience the more pardon the grieving one:

       quae facit ex dictis, non ita multa, tuis.
Nec tamen infitior, si possint nostra coire
       uulnera, praeceptis posse coire tuis.
Sed uereor, ne me frustra seruare labores
       nec iuuer admota perditus aeger ope,

       which your wisdom performs from your own sayings, not so many.
Nor, however, do I deny that, if our wounds can cohere,
       they can cohere by your precepts.
But I fear lest I keep the labors in vain,
       and that, a ruined sick man, I am not helped by aid brought near,

nec loquor hoc quia sit maior prudentia nobis,
sed sum quam medico notior ipse mihi.
Vt tamen hoc ita sit, munus tua grande uoluntas
ad me peruenit consuliturque boni.

nor do I say this because there is greater prudence in me,
but I am more acquainted with myself than the physician is.
Granted, however, that this is so, your goodwill, a great gift,
comes to me and is consulted for my good.

IV. VXORI

4. TO HIS WIFE

Iam mihi deterior canis aspergitur aetas
       iamque meos uultus ruga senilis arat,
iam uigor et quasso languent in corpore uires
       nec iuueni lusus qui placuere iuuant
nec, si me subito uideas, agnoscere possis,

Now a worse hoary age is sprinkled upon me
       and already a senile wrinkle plows my features,
now vigor and strength grow faint in my shaken body
       nor do the games which pleased me as a youth delight me,
nor, if you should see me suddenly, could you recognize me,

       aetatis facta est tanta ruina meae.
Confiteor facere hoc annos, sed et altera causa est,
       anxietas animi continuusque labor;
nam mea per longos si quis mala digerat annos,
       crede mihi, Pylio Nestore maior ero.

       so great a ruin has been wrought upon my age.
I confess that years do this, but there is another cause as well,
       anxiety of mind and continuous labor;
for if anyone should digest my ills through long years,
       believe me, I shall be older than Pylian Nestor.

Cernis ut in duris—et quid boue firmius?—aruis
       fortia taurorum corpora frangat opus.
Quae numquam uacuo solita est cessare nouali
       fructibus adsiduis lassa senescit humus.
Occidet, ad circi si quis certamina semper

You see how in hard fields—and what firmer than an ox?—the work breaks the strong bodies of bulls.
       The soil which has never been accustomed to rest on an empty fallow,
       wearied by assiduous fruits, grows old.
He will perish, if one is always at the Circus’s contests

       non intermissis cursibus ibit equus.
Firma sit illa licet, soluetur in aequore nauis
       quae numquam liquidis sicca carebit aquis.
Me quoque debilitat series inmensa malorum
       ante meum tempus cogit et esse senem.

       the horse will not go with courses not intermitted.
Though it be firm, the ship will be loosened on the sea
       which will never be dry of the liquid waters.
An immense series of evils also debilitates me
       and compels me to be an old man before my time.

Otia corpus alunt, animus quoque pascitur illis,
       inmodicus contra carpit utrumque labor.
Aspice, in has partis quod uenerit Aesone natus,
       quam laudem a sera posteritate ferat.
At labor illius nostro leuiorque minorque est,

Leisures nourish the body, the spirit also is pastured by them,
       immoderate labor, by contrast, consumes both.
Look, that the son of Aeson has come into these parts,
       what praise he bears from late posterity.
But the labor of that man is lighter and lesser than ours,

       si modo non uerum nomina magna premunt.
Ille est in Pontum Pelia mittente profectus
       qui uix Thessaliae fine timendus erat:
Caesaris ira mihi nocuit, quem solis ab ortu
       solis ad occasus utraque terra tremit.

       if only great names do not weigh down the truth.
He set out for Pontus at Pelias’s sending,
       who was scarcely to be feared at the border of Thessaly:
Caesar’s wrath has harmed me, at whom from the rising of the sun
       to the setting of the sun both lands tremble.

Iunctior Haemonia est Ponto quam Roma Sinistro
       et breuius quam nos ille peregit iter.
Ille habuit comites primos telluris Achiuae,
       at nostram cuncti destituere fugam.
Nos fragili ligno uastum sulcauimus aequor,

Haemonia is nearer to Pontus than Rome to the Left-hand,
       and he accomplished a shorter journey than we.
He had as companions the foremost of the Achaean land,
       but all deserted our flight.
We with fragile timber furrowed the vast expanse of the sea,

       quae tulit Aesoniden, densa carina fuit.
Nec mihi Tiphys erat rector nec Agenore natus
       quas fugerem docuit quas sequererque uias.
Illum tutata est cum Pallade regia Iuno:
       defendere meum numina nulla caput.

       the keel which bore the Aesonid was stout.
Nor had I Tiphys as helmsman, nor did the son of Agenor
       teach me which ways I should flee and which I should follow.
Him regal Juno, together with Pallas, protected:
       no divinities defended my head.

Illum furtiuae iuuere Cupidinis artes
       quas a me uellem non didicisset amor.
Ille domum rediit, nos his moriemur in aruis,
       perstiterit laesi si grauis ira dei.
Durius est igitur nostrum, fidissima coniunx,

The furtive arts of Cupid helped him,
       which I would that Love had not learned from me.
He returned home; we shall die in these fields,
       if the grave wrath of the offended god persists.
Harsher then is our lot, most faithful consort,

       illo quod subiit Aesone natus opus.
Te quoque, quam iuuenem discedens Vrbe reliqui,
       credibile est nostris insenuisse malis.
O! ego—di faciant!—talem te cernere possim,
       caraque mutatis oscula ferre comis

       than that work which the son of Aeson underwent.
You too, whom I left a young woman when departing from the City,
       it is believable have grown old through our misfortunes.
O! Would that I—may the gods grant it!—might be able to behold you such,
       and to give dear kisses to your altered locks

amplectique meis corpus non pingue lacertis
       et 'Gracile hoc fecit' dicere 'cura mei'
et narrare meos flenti flens ipse labores
       sperato numquam conloquioque frui
turaque Caesaribus cum coniuge Caesare digna,

and to clasp with my arms a body not plump
       and to say 'My care made this gracile'
and to narrate my labors, I myself weeping, to one weeping
       and to enjoy a never-hoped-for colloquy
and, with a spouse worthy of Caesar, to offer incense to the Caesars,

dis ueris, memori debita ferre manu!
Memnonis hanc utinam, lenito principe, mater
quam primum roseo prouocet ore diem!

to the true gods, to render the dues with a mindful hand!
Would that, the prince softened, the mother of Memnon
as soon as possible call forth this day with a roseate mouth!

V. COTTAE MAXIMO

TO V. COTTA MAXIMUS

Ille tuos quondam non ultimus inter amicos
       ut sua uerba legas, Maxime, Naso rogat,
in quibus ingenium desiste requirere nostrum,
       nescius exilii ne uideare mei.
Cernis ut ignauum corrumpant otia corpus,

He who once was not the last among your friends
       that you may read his own words, Maximus, Naso asks,
in which cease to seek our genius,
       lest you seem ignorant of my exile.
You discern how leisure corrupts a slothful body,

       ut capiant uitium, ni moueantur, aquae.
Et mihi si quis erat ducendi carminis usus,
       deficit estque minor factus inerte situ.
Haec quoque quae legitis, si quid mihi, Maxime, credis,
       scribimus inuita uixque coacta manu.

       so that waters take on a taint, unless they are moved.
And for me too, if there was any use of conducting song,
       it fails and has been made lesser by inert neglect.
These things too which you read, if you trust me in anything, Maximus,
       we write with an unwilling and scarcely compelled hand.

Non libet in talis animum contendere curas
       nec uenit ad duros Musa uocata Getas.
Vt tamen ipse uides, luctor deducere uersum,
       sed non fit fato mollior ille meo.
Cum relego, scripsisse pudet, quia plurima cerno

It does not delight me to contend my spirit toward such cares
       nor does the Muse, invoked, come to the harsh Getae.
Yet, as you yourself see, I wrestle to deduce the verse,
       but it is not made softer by my fate.
When I reread, I am ashamed to have written, because I discern very many

       me quoque, qui feci, iudice digna lini.
Nec tamen emendo; labor hic quam scribere maior
       mensque pati durum sustinet aegra nihil.
Scilicet incipiam lima mordacius uti
       et sub iudicium singula uerba uocem.

       worthy to be blotted, even with me—who made them—as judge.
Nor yet do I emend; this labor is greater than writing,
       and my ailing mind can sustain nothing hard to endure.
Of course I shall begin to use the file more mordaciously
       and summon every single word under judgment.

Torquet enim fortuna parum, nisi Lixus in Hebrum
       confluat et frondes Alpibus addat Atho.
Parcendum est animo miserabile uulnus habenti:
       subducunt oneri colla perusta boues.
At, puto, fructus adest, iustissima causa laborum,

For fortune torments too little, unless the Lixus flow together into the Hebrus
       and Athos add leaves to the Alps.
One must spare the mind that has a pitiable wound:
       oxen withdraw their scorched necks from the burden.
But, I think, the fruit is at hand, the most just cause of labors,

et sata cum multo fenore reddit ager.
Tempus ad hoc nobis, repetas licet omnia, nullum
profuit—atque utinam non nocuisset!—opus.
Cur igitur scribam miraris.

and the field returns the sowings with much interest.
Time for this, for us—though you may review everything—no
work has profited—and would that it had not harmed!—.
Why therefore I write, you wonder.

Miror et ipse
et tecum quaero saepe quid inde petam.

I too marvel
and with you I often ask what I should seek from it.

An populus uere sanos negat esse poetas
       sumque fides huius maxima uocis ego
qui, sterili totiens cum sim deceptus ab aruo,
       damnosa persto condere semen humo?
Scilicet est cupidus studiorum quisque suorum

Or do the people truly deny that poets are sane,
       and I am the greatest proof of this voice,
who, although I have so often been deceived by a sterile field,
       do I persist in committing seed to the ground to my ruin?
Naturally, each person is eager for his own studies

       tempus et adsueta ponere in arte iuuat.
Saucius eiurat pugnam gladiator et idem
       inmemor antiqui uulneris arma capit.
Nil sibi cum pelagi dicit fore naufragus undis
       et ducit remos qua modo nauit aqua.

       it is pleasing to spend time in the accustomed art.
The wounded gladiator forswears the fight, and the same man
       unmindful of the old wound, takes up arms.
The shipwrecked man says he will have nothing to do with the waves of the sea
       and he pulls the oars where just now he sailed on the water.

Sic ego constanter studium non utile seruo
       et repeto nollem quas coluisse deas.
Quid potius faciam? Non sum qui segnia ducam
       otia: mors nobis tempus habetur iners.
Nec iuuat in lucem nimio marcescere uino

Thus I constantly preserve a not-useful pursuit,
       and I return to goddesses whom I would not have wished to have cultivated.
What should I rather do? I am not one who leads sluggish leisures:
       death for us is held an inert time.
Nor does it delight to wither into the light with too much wine.

       nec tenet incertas alea blanda manus.
Cum dedimus somno quas corpus postulat horas,
       quo ponam uigilans tempora longa modo?
Moris an oblitus patrii contendere discam
       Sarmaticos arcus et trahar arte loci?

       nor does the blandishing dice hold my uncertain hands.
When we have given to sleep the hours which the body demands,
       in what way, awake, am I to spend the long hours?
Or, forgetful of the ancestral custom, shall I learn to strain
       Sarmatian bows and be drawn by the art of the place?

Hoc quoque me studium prohibent adsumere uires
       mensque magis gracili corpore nostra ualet.
Cum bene quaesieris quid agam, magis utile nil est
       artibus his quae nil utilitatis habent.
Consequor ex illis casus obliuia nostri:

This study also prevents me from assuming strength,
       and my mind prevails more than my slender body.
When you have well inquired what I do, nothing is more useful
       than these arts which have no utility.
From them I achieve oblivion of my misfortunes:

       hanc messem satis est si mea reddit humus.
Gloria uos acuat; uos, ut recitata probentur
       carmina, Pieriis inuigilate choris.
Quod uenit ex facili satis est componere nobis,
       et nimis intenti causa laboris abest.

       this harvest is enough if my soil gives it back.
Let glory whet you; you, that the songs, when recited, may be approved,
       keep vigil over the Pierian choirs.
What comes with ease is enough for me to compose,
       and, being too intent, the cause of labor is absent.

Cur ego sollicita poliam mea carmina cura?
       An uerear ne non adprobet illa Getes?
Forsitan audacter faciam, sed glorior Histrum
       ingenio nullum maius habere meo.
Hoc ubi uiuendum est, satis est, si consequor aruo,

Why should I polish my songs with anxious care?
       Or should I fear lest the Getae not approve them?
Perhaps I may act boldly, but I glory that the Hister
       has none greater in genius than mine.
Here where one must live, it is enough, if I attain in the field,

inter inhumanos esse poeta Getas.
Quo mihi diuersum fama contendere in orbem?
Quem fortuna dedit, Roma sit ille locus.

to be a poet among the inhuman Getae.
Why should fame strive for me into a different orb?
Let the place which Fortune has given be Rome.

Hoc mea contenta est infelix Musa theatro.
Hoc merui, magni sic uoluere dei.

With this theater my unhappy Muse is content.
This I have deserved; thus the great gods have willed.

Nec reor hinc istuc nostris iter esse libellis
       quo Boreas penna deficiente uenit.
Diuidimur caelo quaeque est procul urbe Quirini
       aspicit hirsutos comminus ursa Getas.
Per tantum terrae, tot aquas uix credere possum

Nor do I think there is a journey from here to there for my little books
       to where Boreas comes with his wing failing.
We are divided by the sky, and the Bear, which is far from the city of Quirinus,
       at close quarters looks upon the shaggy Getae.
Across so much land, so many waters, I can scarcely believe

       indicium studii transiluisse mei.
Finge legi, quodque est mirabile, finge placere:
       auctorem certe res iuuat ista nihil.
Quid tibi, si calidae, prosit, laudere Syenae
       aut ubi Taprobanen Indica tingit aqua?

       the indication of my zeal to have leapt across.
Imagine it to be read, and—what is marvelous—imagine it to please:
       certainly this matter helps the author not at all.
What would it profit you, to be praised at hot Syene
       or where the Indian water tinges Taprobane?

Altius ire libet? Si te distantia longe
       Pleiadum laudent signa, quid inde feras?
Sed neque peruenio scriptis mediocribus istuc
       famaque cum domino fugit ab Vrbe suo,
uosque, quibus perii, tunc cum mea fama sepulta est,

Is it pleasing to go higher? If the far-distant signs of the Pleiades praise you, what would you carry off from it?
But I do not arrive there with mediocre writings, and my fame fled from its own City with its master,
and you, by whom I perished, then when my fame was buried,

nunc quoque de nostra morte tacere reor.

even now, I reckon you should be silent about my death.

VI. GRAECINO

6. TO GRAECINUS

Ecquid, ut audisti—nam te diuersa tenebat
       terra—meos casus, cor tibi triste fuit?
Dissimules metuasque licet, Graecine, fateri,
       si bene te noui, triste fuisse liquet.
Non cadit in mores feritas inamabilis istos

Did your heart grow sad at all, when you heard—for a different land held you—of my misfortunes?
       You may dissemble and fear to confess it, Graecinus; if I know you well, it is clear your heart was sad.
Dissimulate and be afraid if you like, Graecinus, to admit it; if I know you well, it is clear it was sad.
       if I know you well, it is clear it was sad.
Non befits your manners that unamiable ferity

       nec minus a studiis dissidet illa tuis.
Artibus ingenuis, quarum tibi maxima cura est,
       pectora mollescunt asperitasque fugit;
nec quisquam meliore fide complectitur illas,
       qua sinit officium militiaeque labor.

       nor is that any less at variance with your studies.
By the liberal arts, for which your concern is greatest,
       hearts are softened, and asperity flees;
nor does anyone embrace them with better faith,
       so far as duty and the labor of military service allow.

Certe ego cum primum potui sentire quid essem,
       —nam fuit attonito mens mea nulla diu—
hoc quoque fortunam sensi quod amicus abesses,
       qui mihi praesidium grande futurus eras.
Tecum tunc aberant aegrae solacia mentis

Surely I, when first I could sense what I was,
       —for my mind, thunderstruck, was for a long time nothing—
I sensed this also as fortune: that you, a friend, were away,
       you who were going to be a great safeguard for me.
With you then were absent the solaces of my ailing mind

       magnaque pars animi consiliique mei.
At nunc, quod superest, fer opem, precor, eminus unam
       adloquioque iuua pectora nostra tuo,
quae, non mendaci si quicquam credis amico,
       stulta magis dici quam scelerata decet.

       and a great part of my mind and of my counsel.
But now, as for what remains, bring aid, I pray, from afar, a single one
       and with your address aid our hearts,
which, if you credit anything to a not-mendacious friend,
       it befits to be called rather foolish than criminal.

Nec breue nec tutum peccati quae sit origo
       scribere: tractari uulnera nostra timent.
Qualicumque modo mihi sunt ea facta, rogare
       desine; non agites, si qua coire uelis.
Quidquid id est, ut non facinus, sic culpa uocanda est:

It is neither brief nor safe to write what the origin of the sin is
       to be sure: our wounds are afraid to be handled.
However it came about for me, stop asking,
       do not stir it up, if you wish any coming-together.
Whatever it is, though not a crime, yet it must be called a fault:

       omnis an in magnos culpa deos scelus est?
Spes igitur menti poenae, Graecine, leuandae
       non est ex toto nulla relicta meae.
Haec dea, cum fugerent sceleratas numina terras,
       in dis inuisa sola remansit humo.

       or is all the culpability a crime against the great gods?
Hope, therefore, for my mind’s penalty to be alleviated, Graecinus,
       has not been left utterly none.
This goddess, when the divinities were fleeing the criminal lands,
       alone remained on the earth, hated by the gods.

Haec facit ut uiuat fossor quoque compede uinctus
       liberaque a ferro crura futura putet.
Haec facit ut, uideat cum terras undique nullas,
       naufragus in mediis brachia iactet aquis.
Saepe aliquem sollers medicorum cura reliquit

This makes it so that even the digger, bound with a fetter, lives,
       and thinks that his legs will be free from iron.
This makes it so that, when he sees no lands anywhere around,
       the shipwrecked man in the midst of the waters flings his arms.
Often the skillful care of the physicians has left someone

       nec spes huic uena deficiente cadit.
Carcere dicuntur clausi sperare salutem
       atque aliquis pendens in cruce uota facit.
Haec dea quam multos laqueo sua colla ligantis
       non est proposita passa perire nece.                     40
Me quoque conantem gladio finire dolorem
       arguit iniecta continuitque manu:
'Quid' que 'facis?

       nor does hope fall for him with the vein failing.
Those shut in prison are said to hope for salvation
       and someone hanging on a cross makes vows.
This goddess has not allowed—how many, binding their own necks with a noose—
       to perish by a death they had set before themselves.                     40
Me too, when I was trying to finish my pain with a sword,
       she rebuked me and, laying her hand upon me, held me back:
'And what are you doing?'

lacrimis opus est, non sanguine', dixit,
'saepe per has flecti principis ira solet'.
Quamuis est igitur meritis indebita nostris,

'there is need of tears, not of blood,' she said,
'often through these the anger of the prince is wont to be bent.'
Although therefore it is not due to our merits,

       magna tamen spes est in bonitate dei.
Qui ne difficilis mihi sit, Graecine, precare
       confer et in uotum tu quoque uerba meum.
Inque Tomitana iaceam tumulatus harena,
       si te non nobis ista uouere liquet.

       yet great hope is in the goodness of the god.
Pray, Graecinus, that he not be difficult toward me,
       and you too add words to my vow.
And let me lie entombed in the Tomitan sand,
       if it is not allowed for you to vow those things for us.

Nam prius incipient turris uitare columbae,
antra ferae, pecudes gramina, mergus aquas
quam male se praestet ueteri Graecinus amico.
Non ita sunt fatis omnia uersa meis.

For sooner will doves begin to shun the towers,
caves the wild beasts, flocks the grasses, the diver-bird the waters
than will Graecinus prove himself ill to an old friend.
Not so are all things turned by my fates.

VII. MESSALINO

7. TO MESSALINUS

Littera pro uerbis tibi, Messaline, salutem
quam legis a saeuis attulit usque Getis.
Indicat auctorem locus? An nisi nomine lecto
haec me Nasonem scribere uerba latet?

A letter, in place of words, to you, Messaline, has brought a greeting
which you read, all the way from the savage Getae.
Does the place indicate the author? Or, unless the name is read,
is it hidden that I, Naso, write these words?

Ecquis in extremo positus iacet orbe tuorum,                     5
       me tamen excepto, qui precor esse tuus?
Di procul a cunctis qui te uenerantur amantque
       huius notitiam gentis habere uelint.
Nos satis est inter glaciem Scythicasque sagittas
       uiuere, si uita est mortis habenda genus.

Is there anyone set at the farthest end of the world of your own—                     5
       me, however, excepted, I who pray to be yours?
May the gods will that all who venerate and love you
       be far from having acquaintance with this nation.
For us it is enough to live among the ice and the Scythian arrows,
       if life is to be considered a kind of death.

Nos premat aut bello tellus aut frigore caelum
       truxque Getes armis, grandine pugnet hiems,
nos habeat regio nec pomo feta nec uuis
       et cuius nullum cesset ab hoste latus.
Cetera sit sospes cultorum turba tuorum,

Let either the earth press us with war, or the sky with cold,
       and the grim Getae with arms; let winter do battle with hail,
let a region hold us not teeming with fruit nor with grapes,
       and one in which no flank is at rest from the foe.
Let the rest be safe and sound, the throng of your worshipers,

in quibus, ut populo, pars ego parua fui.
Me miserum, si tu uerbis offenderis istis
nosque negas ulla parte fuisse tuos!
Idque sit ut uerum, mentito ignoscere debes.

in which, as for the populace, I was a small part.
Me wretched, if you are offended by these words
and you deny that we in any part were yours!
And even if that be true, you ought to forgive the one who has lied.

Nil demit laudi gloria nostra tuae.

Our glory detracts nothing from your praise.

Quis se Caesaribus notus non fingit amicum?
       Da ueniam fasso, tu mihi Caesar eras.
Nec tamen inrumpo quo non licet ire satisque est
       atria si nobis non patuisse negas.
Vtque tibi fuerit mecum nihil amplius, uno

Who, known to the Caesars, does not feign himself a friend?
       Grant pardon to the one confessing; you were my Caesar.
Nor yet do I break in where it is not permitted to go, and it is enough
       if you deny that the atria have stood open to us.
And even if there was for you with me nothing further, than a single

       nempe salutaris quam prius ore minus.
Nec tuus est genitor nos infitiatus amicos,
       hortator studii causaque faxque mei,
cui nos et lacrimas, supremum in funere munus,
       et dedimus medio scripta canenda foro.                     30
Adde quod est frater, tanto tibi iunctus amore
       quantus in Atridis Tyndaridisque fuit:
is me nec comitem nec dedignatus amicum est,
       si tamen haec illi non nocitura putas;
si minus, hac quoque me mendacem parte fatebor:

       namely, a salutation, less by mouth than before.
Nor has your begetter denied us as friends,
       the encourager of my study, the cause and torch of mine,
to whom we both tears, the last gift at the funeral,
       and writings to be chanted in the middle of the forum we gave.                     30
Add that there is a brother, joined to you by so great a love
       as was among the Atreidae and the Tyndarids:
he has not disdained me either as companion or as friend,
       if, however, you think these things will not harm him;
if not, I will confess myself a liar also in this part:

       clausa mihi potius tota sit ista domus.
Sed neque claudenda est et nulla potentia uires
       praestandi ne quid peccet amicus habet.
Et tamen ut cuperem culpam quoque posse negari,
       sic facinus nemo nescit abesse mihi.

       rather let that whole house be closed to me.
But neither should it be closed, and no potency has the strength
       of guaranteeing that a friend commit no fault.
And yet, how I would wish that even the culpability could be denied,
       so no one is unaware that the crime is absent from me.

Quod nisi delicti pars excusabilis esset,
       parua relegari poena futura fuit.
Ipse sed hoc uidit, qui peruidet omnia, Caesar,
       stultitiam dici crimina posse mea.
Quaque ego permisi quaque est res passa pepercit

Which, unless a part of the offense were excusable,
       a small penalty, relegation, would have been in store.
But he himself saw this, who sees through all things, Caesar,
       that my crimes can be said to be stupidity.
And both where I permitted and where the matter has suffered he spared

usus et est modice fulminis igne sui.
Nec uitam nec opes nec ademit posse reuerti,
si sua per uestras uicta sit ira preces.
At grauiter cecidi.

and he has used moderately the fire of his own thunderbolt.
He has taken away neither life nor wealth nor the ability to return,
if his wrath be overcome through your prayers. But I have fallen grievously.

Quid enim mirabile, si quis
a Ioue percussus non leue uulnus habet?

For what indeed is marvelous, if anyone
struck by Jove has no light wound?

Ipse suas etiam uires inhiberet Achilles,
       missa grauis ictus Pelias hasta dabat.
Iudicium nobis igitur cum uindicis adsit,
       non est cur tua me ianua nosse neget.
Culta quidem, fateor, citra quam debuit illa est,

Achilles himself would even restrain his own strength,
       once hurled, the Pelian spear was dealing heavy strokes.
Therefore, since the judgment of the vindicator is with us,
       there is no reason your door should refuse to know me.
Cultivated indeed, I confess, she is short of what she owed,

       sed fuit in fatis hoc quoque, credo, meis.
Nec tamen officium sensit domus altera nostrum:
       hic illic uestro sub lare semper eram.
Quaeque tua est pietas, ut te non excolat ipsum,
       ius aliquod tecum fratris amicus habet.

       but this too, I believe, was in my fates.
Nor yet did another house feel our service:
       here and there I was always under your roof.
And such as your piety is, that it does not cultivate you yourself,
       a friend holds with you some right of a brother.

Quid quod, ut emeritis referenda est gratia semper,
       sic est fortunae promeruisse tuae?
Quod si permittis nobis suadere quid optes,
       ut des quam reddas plura precare deos.
Idque facis, quantumque licet meminisse, solebas

What moreover of this: that, just as thanks must always be rendered to those who have merited,
       so too is it a piece of fortune to have won your favor?
And if you permit us to advise what you should choose,
       pray the gods that you may give more than you repay.
And this you do, and—as far as it is permitted to remember—you were wont to do.

       officii causa pluribus esse dati.
Quo libet in numero me, Messaline, repone,
       sim modo pars uestrae non aliena domus,
et mala Nasonem, quoniam meruisse uidetur,
       si non ferre doles, at meruisse dole.

       to have been given to many for the sake of duty.
Put me, Messaline, in whatever number you please,
       only let me be a part not alien to your house,
and as for Naso’s evils, since he seems to have deserved them,
       if you do not grieve to bear them, at least grieve that he has deserved them.

VIII. SEVERO

8. TO SEVERUS

A tibi dilecto missam Nasone salutem
       accipe, pars animae magna, Seuere, meae.
Neue roga quid agam. Si persequar omnia, flebis:
       summa satis nostri si tibi nota mali.
Viuimus adsiduis expertes pacis in armis

A greeting sent by Naso to you, beloved, receive, great part of my soul, Severus.
       And do not ask what I am doing. If I go through everything, you will weep:
       the sum of our ill is enough, if it is known to you.
We live in continual arms, devoid of peace

       dura pharetrato bella mouente Geta.
Deque tot expulsis sum miles in exule solus:
       tuta—nec inuideo—cetera turba latet.
Quoque magis nostros uenia dignere libellos,
       haec in procinctu carmina facta leges.

       harsh wars, with the quiver-bearing Getan setting them in motion.
And out of so many driven forth, I am a soldier alone in exile:
       the rest of the crowd lies hidden safe—nor do I envy it.
And that you may the more deem our little books worthy of pardon,
       you will read these songs composed in battle-array.

Stat uetus urbs, ripae uicina binominis Histri,
       moenibus et positu uix adeunda loci.
Caspius Aegisos, de se si credimus ipsis,
       condidit et proprio nomine dixit opus.
Hanc ferus Odrysiis inopino Marte peremptis                     15
       cepit et in regem sustulit arma Getes.

An ancient city stands, near the bank of the two-named Hister,
       hardly to be approached because of its walls and the position of the place.
Caspius Aegisos, if we believe their own account about themselves,
       founded it and called the work by his own name.
This the fierce Getan, with the Odrysians slain by unexpected war                     15
       took, and raised arms against the king, the Getan.

Ille memor magni generis uirtute quod auget,
protinus innumero milite cinctus adest
nec prius abscessit merita quam caede nocentum
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

He, mindful of his great lineage, which he augments by virtue,
at once is present, girded with innumerable soldiery;
nor did he withdraw before the deserved slaughter of the guilty
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

At tibi, rex aeuo, detur, fortissime nostro,
       semper honorata sceptra tenere manu,
teque, quod et praestat—quid enim tibi plenius optem?—
       Martia cum magno Caesare Roma probet.
Sed memor unde abii, queror, o iucunde sodalis,

But may it be granted to you, king for the age, bravest of our own,
       always to hold the honored scepters in your hand,
and may you—which too is the better thing (for what fuller could I wish for you?)—
       be approved by Martial Rome with great Caesar.
But mindful whence I departed, I complain, O delightful companion,

       accedant nostris saeua quod arma malis.
Vt careo uobis, Stygias detrusus in oras,
       quattuor autumnos Pleias orta facit.
Nec tu credideris urbanae commoda uitae
       quaerere Nasonem: quaerit et illa tamen.

       let savage arms be added to our ills.
As I lack you, thrust down to the Stygian shores,
       the Pleiad risen makes four autumns.
Nor should you believe that Naso seeks the advantages of urban life;
       yet he seeks those as well.

Nam modo uos animo, dulces, reminiscor, amici,
       nunc mihi cum cara coniuge nata subit,
aque domo rursus pulchrae loca uertor ad Vrbis
       cunctaque mens oculis peruidet illa suis.
Nunc fora, nunc aedes, nunc marmore tecta theatra,

For now you, sweet friends, I reminisce in my mind,
       now there comes to me my daughter together with my dear spouse,
and also from the house again I am turned toward the places of the fair City
       and my mind thoroughly perceives those things with its own eyes.
Now the fora, now the temples, now the theaters roofed with marble,

       nunc subit aequata porticus omnis humo,
gramina nunc Campi pulchros spectantis in hortos
       stagnaque et euripi Virgineusque liquor.
At, puto, sic Vrbis misero est erepta uoluptas,
       quolibet ut saltem rure frui liceat!

       now there comes to mind every portico leveled with the ground,
gramina now of the Campus, gazing toward fair gardens,
       and the pools and the euripi and the Virgin water.
But, I suppose, thus the pleasure of the City has been snatched from the wretch,
       so that at least it may be permitted to enjoy any countryside whatsoever!

Non meus amissos animus desiderat agros
       ruraque Paeligno conspicienda solo
nec quos piniferis positos in collibus hortos
       spectat Flaminiae Clodia iuncta uiae,
quos ego nescio cui colui, quibus ipse solebam

My mind does not desire the fields I have lost
       and the countrysides to be beheld on Paelignian soil
nor the gardens set on pine-bearing hills
       which the Clodian, joined to the Flaminian Way, looks upon,
which I, for I know not whom, cultivated, in which I myself was accustomed

       ad sata fontanas, nec pudet, addere aquas,
sunt ubi, si uiuunt, nostra quoque consita quaedam,
       sed non et nostra poma legenda manu.
Pro quibus amissis utinam contingere possit
       hic saltem profugo glaeba colenda mihi!

       to the sown fields to add spring-waters, and I am not ashamed,
there are, where, if they still live, certain plantings of mine as well,
       but not my fruits to be gathered by my hand.
In exchange for these lost things, would that it might be possible
       here at least for me, a refugee, to have a clod to be tilled!

Ipse ego pendentis, liceat modo, rupe capellas,
       ipse uelim baculo pascere nixus oues.
Ipse ego, ne solitis insistant pectora curis,
       ducam ruricolas sub iuga curua boues
et discam Getici quae norunt uerba iuuenci

I myself, if only it be permitted, would pasture the she-goats on the overhanging crag,
       I myself would wish, leaning on my staff, to pasture the sheep.
I myself, lest my heart insist on its accustomed cares,
       will lead the rural-dwelling oxen beneath curved yokes
and I will learn the words that the Getic young bullocks know

       adsuetas illis adiciamque minas.
Ipse manu capulum pressi moderatus aratri
       experiar mota spargere semen humo.
Nec dubitem longis purgare ligonibus herbas
       et dare iam sitiens quas bibat hortus aquas.

       and add the threats accustomed to them.
I myself, my hand guiding the handle of the hard-pressed plow,
       will try to scatter seed upon the stirred soil.
Nor would I hesitate to purge the weeds with long hoes,
       and to give the waters which the garden, now thirsting, may drink.

Vnde sed hoc nobis minimum quos inter et hostem
       discrimen murus clausaque porta facit?
At tibi nascenti, quod toto pectore laetor,
       nerunt fatales fortia fila deae.
Te modo Campus habet, densa modo porticus umbra,

But whence is this, that for us, between us and the enemy,       a wall and a closed gate make the merest distinction?
But for you at your birth, at which I rejoice with all my heart,       the fatal goddesses spun stout threads.
Now the Campus holds you, now the portico’s dense shade,

       nunc in quo ponis tempora rara forum;
Vmbria nunc reuocat nec non Albana petentem
       Appia feruenti ducit in arua rota.
Forsitan hic optes ut iustam subprimat iram
       Caesar et hospitium sit tua uilla meum.

       now the Forum in which you set your scarce hours;
Umbria now calls you back, and likewise, as you seek the Alban [place],
       the Appian wheel leads you into the seething fields.
Perhaps here you would wish that Caesar suppress his just wrath
       and that your villa be my hospitality.

A! nimium est quod, amice, petis, moderatius opta
et uoti quaeso contrahe uela tui.
Terra uelim propior nullique obnoxia bello
detur: erit nostris pars bona dempta malis.

Ah! too much is what, friend, you ask; wish more moderately,
and, I beg, contract the sails of your vow.
I would wish that a land nearer and obnoxious to no war be granted:
a good part will be subtracted from our evils.

IX. COTTAE MAXIMO

9. TO COTTA MAXIMUS

Quae mihi de rapto tua uenit epistula Celso
       protinus est lacrimis umida facta meis,
quodque nefas dictu fieri nec posse putaui,
       inuitis oculis littera lecta tua est.
Nec quicquam ad nostras peruenit acerbius aures,

Your epistle, which came to me about Celsus having been snatched away,
       was at once made wet with my tears,
and what I thought nefarious to say and not able to happen,
       your letter was read by unwilling eyes.
Nor has anything more bitter reached our ears,

       ut sumus in Ponto, perueniatque precor.
Ante meos oculos tamquam praesentis imago
       haeret et extinctum uiuere fingit amor.
Saepe refert animus lusus grauitate carentes,
       seria cum liquida saepe peracta fide.

       so that, as we are in Pontus, it may reach, I pray.
Before my eyes the image as though of one present
       clings, and love feigns the extinguished to live.
Often my mind recalls amusements lacking gravity,
       along with serious things often accomplished with limpid faith.

Nulla tamen subeunt mihi tempora densius illis
       quae uellem uitae summa fuisse meae,
cum domus ingenti subito mea lapsa ruina
       concidit in domini procubuitque caput.
Adfuit ille mihi, cum me pars magna reliquit,

None, however, crowd upon me more thickly than those
       which I would wish to have been the sum of my life,
when my house, suddenly slipping with a huge ruin,
       collapsed onto its master’s head and fell forward.
He stood by me, when a great part forsook me,

       Maxime, Fortunae nec fuit ipse comes.
Illum ego non aliter flentem mea funera uidi
       ponendus quam si frater in igne foret.
Haesit in amplexu consolatusque iacentem est
       cumque meis lacrimis miscuit usque suas.

Maximus, nor was he himself a companion of Fortune.
I saw him weeping over my obsequies—I to be laid—no otherwise than if a brother were on the pyre.
He clung in embrace and consoled me lying there, and ever mingled his tears with mine.

O quotiens uitae custos inuisus amarae
       continuit promptas in mea fata manus!
O quotiens dixit: 'Placabilis ira deorum est:
       uiue nec ignosci tu tibi posse nega!'
Vox tamen illa fuit celeberrima: 'Respice quantum

O how often the odious guardian of my bitter life
       restrained the ready hands against my doom!
O how often he said: 'The wrath of the gods is placable:
       live, and do not deny that you yourself can be forgiven!'
Yet that utterance was most celebrated: 'Look back how much

       debeat auxilium Maximus esse tibi.
Maximus incumbet, quaque est pietate, rogabit
       ne sit ad extremum Caesaris ira tenax,
cumque suis fratris uires adhibebit et omnem,
       quo leuius doleas, experietur opem.'

       Maximus ought to be an aid to you.
Maximus will press on, and, with the piety that is in him, will entreat
       that Caesar’s wrath may not be tenacious to the end,
and, along with his own, he will apply his brother’s strength, and every,
       so that you may grieve the lighter, he will make trial of every aid.'

Haec mihi uerba malae minuerunt taedia uitae:
       quae tu ne fuerint, Maxime, uana caue.
Huc quoque uenturum mihi se iurare solebat
       non nisi te longae ius sibi dante uiae.
Nam tua non alio coluit penetralia ritu

These words lessened for me the tedium of an ill life:
       see to it, Maximus, that they not be vain.
He also was accustomed to swear to me that he would come here
       only if you granted him the right of a long journey.
For he honored your inner shrine by no other rite

       terrarum dominos quam colis ipse deos.
Crede mihi, multos habeas cum dignus amicos,
       non fuit e multis quolibet ille minor,
si modo non census nec clarum nomen auorum,
       sed probitas magnos ingeniumque facit.                     40
Iure igitur lacrimas Celso libamus adempto,
       cum fugerem, uiuo quas dedit ille mihi;
carmina iure damus raros testantia mores,
       ut tua uenturi nomina, Celse, legant.
Hoc est quod possum Geticis tibi mittere ab aruis;

       the masters of the lands as the gods whom you yourself worship.
Believe me, though you have many friends, as you are worthy,
       he was not out of the many inferior to just anyone,
if only not wealth nor the famed name of ancestors,
       but probity and ingenium make men great.                     40
Rightly therefore we pour libations of tears for Celsus taken away,
       which, when I fled, he, while alive, gave to me;
rightly we give songs attesting to his rare morals,
       so that the men to come may read your name, Celsus.
This is what I can send to you from the Getic fields;

       hoc solum est istic quod licet esse meum.
Funera non potui comitare nec ungere corpus
       atque tuis toto diuidor orbe rogis.
Qui potuit, quem tu pro numine uiuus habebas,
       praestitit officium Maximus omne tibi.

       this alone there is which it is permitted to be mine.
I could not accompany the funeral rites nor anoint the body
       and I am divided from your pyres by the whole world.
He who was able, whom you, alive, held as a numen,
       Maximus rendered every duty to you.

Ille tibi exequias et magni funus honoris
       fecit et in gelidos uertit amoma sinus
diluit et lacrimis maerens unguenta profusis
       ossaque uicina condita texit humo.
Qui quoniam extinctis quae debet praestat amicis,

He performed for you the obsequies and the funeral of great honor
       and poured amomum into the icy folds,
and, mourning, diluted the unguents with tears poured forth,
       and covered your interred bones with neighboring earth.
Who, since he renders what is owed to friends extinct,

et nos extinctis adnumerare potest.

and he can count us among the dead.

X. FLACCO

10. TO FLACCUS

Naso suo profugus mittit tibi, Flacce, salutem,
       mittere rem si quis qua caret ipse potest.
Longus enim curis uitiatum corpus amaris
       non patitur uires languor habere suas.
Nec dolor ullus adest nec febribus uror anhelis

Naso, your exile, sends you, Flaccus, greeting,
       if anyone can send the thing which he himself lacks.
For a long languor, with bitter cares, does not allow my vitiated body
       to have its own strength.
Nor is any pain present, nor a burning with panting fevers

       et peragit soliti uena tenoris iter.
Os hebes est positaeque mouent fastidia mensae
       et queror, inuisi cum uenit hora cibi.
Quod mare, quod tellus adpone, quod educat aer,
       nil ibi quod nobis esuriatur erit.

       and the vein of the accustomed tenor pursues its path.
The mouth is dull, and the set-out table stirs fastidiousness,
       and I complain, when the hour of hateful food comes.
Whatever the sea, whatever the land set forth, whatever the air brings forth,
       there will be nothing there that we grow hungry for.

Nectar et ambrosiam, latices epulasque deorum,
       det mihi formosa gnaua Iuuenta manu,
non tamen exacuet torpens sapor ille palatum
       stabit et in stomacho pondus inerte diu.
Haec ego non ausim, cum sint uerissima, cuiuis

Nectar and ambrosia, the liquids and banquets of the gods,
       let comely, diligent Youth give me with her hand,
not yet will that torpid flavor whet the palate,
       and it will remain in the stomach an inert weight for a long time.
These things, though most true, I would not dare to say to just anyone.

       scribere, delicias ne mala nostra uocet.
Scilicet is status est, ea rerum forma mearum
       deliciis etiam possit ut esse locus!
Delicias illi precor has contingere, si quis
       ne mihi sit leuior Caesaris ira timet.

       to write, lest he call my miseries “delicacies.”
Of course such is the status, such the form of my affairs
       that even for delicacies there could be a place!
I pray that these “delicacies” may befall him, if anyone
       fears lest Caesar’s ire toward me be lighter.

Is quoque qui gracili cibus est in corpore somnus
       non alit officio corpus inane suo,
sed uigilo uigilantque mei sine fine dolores,
       quorum materiam dat locus ipse mihi.
Vix igitur possis uisos agnoscere uultus

Sleep too, which is food in a slender body
       does not nourish the empty body by its own office,
but I keep vigil and my pains keep vigil without end,
       whose material the place itself gives to me.
Hardly therefore could you recognize the faces once seen

       quoque ierit quaeras qui fuit ante color.
Paruus in exiles sucus mihi peruenit artus
       membraque sunt cera pallidiora noua.
Non haec inmodico contraxi damna Lyaeo:
       scis mihi quam solae paene bibantur aquae.

       you may even ask where the color which was before has gone.
A scant sap reaches my meager limbs
       and my members are more pallid than new wax.
I have not contracted these losses through immoderate Lyaeus:
       you know how almost only waters are drunk by me.

Non epulis oneror, quarum si tangar amore,
       est tamen in Geticis copia nulla locis.
Nec uires adimit Veneris damnosa uoluptas:
       non solet in maestos illa uenire toros.
Vnda locusque nocent et causa ualentior istis,

I am not burdened by feasts; if I were touched by a love for them,
       yet in the Getic places there is no abundance.
Nor does the damaging pleasure of Venus take away my strength:
       she is not wont to come to mournful couches.
The wave and the place do harm, and a cause more powerful than these,

       anxietas animi, quae mihi semper adest.
Haec nisi tu pariter simili cum fratre leuares,
       uix mens tristitiae nostra tulisset onus.
Vos estis fracto tellus non dura phaselo
       quamque negant multi uos mihi fertis opem.

       anxiety of mind, which is always present to me.
Unless you together with your similar brother were lightening this,
       scarcely would my mind have borne the burden of our sadness.
You are land not harsh to a broken skiff,
       and the aid which many deny, you bring to me.

Ferte, precor, semper, quia semper egebimus illa,
Caesaris offensum dum mihi numen erit.
Qui meritam nobis minuat, non finiat iram,
suppliciter uestros quisque rogate deos.

Bring them, I pray, always, since we shall always be in need of them,
so long as Caesar’s divinity is offended at me.
Let each of you, supplicantly, ask your gods
for one who may diminish for us the deserved wrath, not finish it.