Ovid: EX PONTO

Huc quoque Caesarei peruenit fama triumphi,
     languida quo fessi uix uenit aura Noti.
Nil fore dulce mihi Scythica regione putaui:
     iam minus hic odio est quam fuit ante locus.
Tandem aliquid pulsa curarum nube serenum

Hither too the fame of Caesar’s triumph has arrived,
     where the languid breeze of the weary South Wind scarcely comes.
I thought nothing would be sweet for me in the Scythian region:
     now this place is less hateful here than it was before.
At last, with the cloud of cares dispelled, something serene

     uidi fortunae uerba dedique meae.
Nolit ut ulla mihi contingere gaudia Caesar,
     uelle potest cuiuis haec tamen una dari.
Di quoque, ut a cunctis hilari pietate colantur,
     tristitiam poni per sua festa iubent.

     I saw the words of my Fortune and gave myself over.
Though Caesar may not wish any joys to befall me,
     yet he can will that at least this one be given to anyone.
The gods also, in order that they be worshiped by all with cheerful piety,
     bid that sadness be set aside during their feasts.

Denique, quod certus furor est audere fateri,
     hac ego laetitia, si uetet ipse, fruar.
Iuppiter utilibus quotiens iuuat imbribus agros,
     mixta tenax segeti crescere lappa solet.
Nos quoque frugiferum sentimus inutilis herba

Finally—since it is a settled madness to dare to confess—
     this joy I, even if he himself should forbid, will enjoy.
Whenever Jupiter helps the fields with useful showers,
     the clinging bur, mingled with the crop, is wont to grow.
We too, a useless weed, feel the fruit-bearing shower

     numen et inuita saepe iuuamur ope.
Gaudia Caesareae mentis pro parte uirili
     sunt mea: priuati nil habet illa domus.
Gratia, Fama, tibi per quam spectata triumphi
     incluso mediis est mihi pompa Getis!

     by divine numen and by unwilling aid we are often helped.
The joys of Caesar’s mind, so far as my virile part goes,
     are mine: that house has nothing private.
Thanks, Fame, to you, through whom the beheld pomp of a triumph
     with the Getae enclosed in the midst, is mine!

Indice te didici nuper uisenda coisse
     innumeras gentes ad ducis ora sui,
quaeque capit uastis inmensum moenibus orbem,
     hospitiis Romam uix habuisse locum.
Tu mihi narrasti, cum multis lucibus ante

By your indication I learned recently that countless peoples had come together to view
     at the countenance of their leader,
and that Rome, which with its vast walls contains the immense orb,
     scarcely had a place for lodgings.
You told me, when many days before

     fuderit adsiduas nubilus auster aquas,
numine caelesti solem fulsisse serenum
     cum populi uultu conueniente die
atque ita uictorem cum magnae uocis honore
     bellica laudatis dona dedisse uiris

     that cloudy Auster had poured continual waters,
that by heavenly numen the serene sun had shone
     with the day agreeing with the people’s countenance,
and thus the victor, with the honor of a great voice,
     gave martial gifts to lauded men

claraque sumpturum pictas insignia uestes
     tura prius sanctis inposuisse focis
Iustitiamque sui caste placasse parentis,
     illo quae templum pectore semper habet,
quaque ierit, felix adiectum plausibus omen

and that the illustrious one, about to don the painted‑insignia robes,
     had first placed incense upon the holy hearths,
and had chastely appeased Justice, his own parent,
     who always has a temple in that breast,
and wherever he shall have gone, a happy omen added with applause

     saxaque roratis erubuisse rosis;
protinus argento uersos imitantia muros
     barbara cum pictis oppida lata uiris
fluminaque et montes et in altis proelia siluis
     armaque cum telis in strue mixta sua

     and the rocks to have blushed with dew-wet roses;
straightway, imitating walls rendered in silver,
     barbarian towns broad with painted men,
and rivers and mountains and battles in lofty forests
     and arms with missiles mixed in their own heap

deque tropaeorum quod sol incenderet auro
     aurea Romani tecta fuisse fori
totque tulisse duces captiuos addita collis
     uincula paene hostis quot satis esse fuit.
Maxima pars horum uitam ueniamque tulerunt,

and about the trophies, that the sun kindled them with gold,
     that the roofs of the Roman Forum were golden,
and that they had borne so many captive leaders, with chains fastened to their necks,
     nearly as many enemies as was sufficient to be.
The greatest part of these obtained life and pardon,

     in quibus et belli summa caputque Bato.
Cur ego posse negem minui mihi numinis iram,
     cum uideam mitis hostibus esse deos?
Pertulit hic idem nobis, Germanice, rumor
     oppida sub titulo nominis isse tui

     among whom even Bato, both the sum and the head of the war.
Why should I deny that the wrath of the numen can be diminished for me,
     since I see the gods to be mild to enemies?
This same report has borne to us, Germanicus,
     that towns have gone under the title of your name

atque ea te contra nec muri mole nec armis
nec satis ingenio tuta fuisse loci.
Di tibi dent annos! A te nam cetera sumes,
sint modo uirtuti tempora longa tuae.

and that, against you, they were protected neither by the mass of their walls nor by arms
nor sufficiently by the ingenuity of the place. May the gods grant you years! From yourself you will take the rest,
only let there be long times for your virtue.

Quod precor eueniet—sunt quaedam oracula uatum—,                 55
     nam deus optanti prospera signa dedit.
Te quoque uictorem Tarpeias scandere in arces
     laeta coronatis Roma uidebit equis
maturosque pater nati spectabit honores
     gaudia percipiens quae dedit ipse suis.

What I pray will come to pass—there are certain oracles of the vates—,                 55
     for the god has given auspicious signs to the one desiring.
You too, as victor, to scale the Tarpeian citadels
     glad Rome will see, with her horses crowned,
and a father will behold the mature honors of his son,
     receiving the joys that he himself gave to his own.

Iam nunc haec a me, iuuenum belloque togaque
     maxime, dicta tibi uaticinante nota.
Hunc quoque carminibus referam fortasse triumphum,
     sufficiet nostris si modo uita malis,
inbuero Scythicas si non prius ipse sagittas

Even now let these things be known from me, in war and in the toga among youths
     most eminent, as I vaticinate, to you.
This triumph too perhaps I shall relate in my songs,
     if only life will suffice for our ills,
if I do not first myself imbue the Scythian arrows

abstuleritque ferox hoc caput ense Getes.
Quae si me saluo dabitur tua laurea templis,
omina bis dices uera fuisse mea.

and the fierce Getan may carry off this head with a sword.
And if, with me safe, your laurel will be given to the temples,
you will say that my omens have been true twice.

II. MESSALINO

2. TO MESSALINUS

Ille domus uestrae primis uenerator ab annis
     pulsus ad Euxini Naso Sinistra freti
mittit ab indomitis hanc, Messaline, salutem,
     quam solitus praesens est tibi ferre, Getis.
Ei mihi, si lecto uultus tibi nomine non est

He, a venerator of your house from his earliest years,
     Naso, driven to the left-hand (sinister) side of the Euxine strait,
sends from the indomitable Getae this salutation, Messaline,
     which, when present, he was wont to bear to you.
Alas for me, if, when the name is read, the visage is not to you

     qui fuit et dubitas cetera perlegere!
Perlege nec mecum pariter mea uerba relega:
     Vrbe licet uestra uersibus esse meis.
Non ego concepi, si Pelion Ossa tulisset,
     clara mea tangi sidera posse manu,

     who he was—and do you hesitate to read through the rest!
Read through, and do not together with me relegate my words:
     though it is permitted for my verses to be in your City.
I did not conceive, even if Pelion had borne Ossa,
     that my bright stars could be touched by my hand,

nec nos Enceladi dementia castra secuti
     in rerum dominos mouimus arma deos,
nec, quod Tydidae temeraria dextera fecit,
     numina sunt telis ulla petita meis.
Est mea culpa grauis, sed quae me perdere solum

nor did we, following the madness of Enceladus, raise arms against the gods,     lords of things;
nor, what the rash right hand of the Tydides did,
     have any numina been targeted by my missiles.
My fault is grave, but one which is to destroy me alone

     ausa sit et nullum maius adorta nefas.
Nil nisi non sapiens possum timidusque uocari:
     haec duo sunt animi nomina uera mei.
Esse quidem fateor meritam post Caesaris iram
     difficilem precibus te quoque iure meis,

     it has dared, and has attempted no greater nefarious deed.
Nothing except not-wise and timid can I be called:
     these two are the true names of my spirit.
I do indeed confess that after Caesar’s deserved wrath
     you too, by right, are difficult to my prayers.

quaeque tua est pietas in totum nomen Iuli,
     te laedi, cum quis laeditur inde, putas.
Sed licet arma feras et uulnera saeua mineris,
     non tamen efficies ut timeare mihi.
Puppis Achaemeniden Graium Troiana recepit,

and such as is your piety toward the whole Julian name,
     you think that you are harmed whenever someone from there is harmed.
But though you bear arms and threaten savage wounds,
     still you will not effect that you be feared by me.
A Trojan ship received Achaemenides, a Greek,

     profuit et Myso Pelias hasta duci.
Confugit interdum templi uiolator ad aram
     nec petere offensi numinis horret opem.
Dixerit hoc aliquis tutum non esse: fatemur,
     sed non per placidas it mea nauis aquas.

     and the Pelian spear profited the Mysian leader too.
Sometimes a violator of a temple flees to the altar
     nor does he shrink from seeking the aid of an offended divinity.
Someone may say this is not safe: we admit it,
     but my ship does not go through placid waters.

Tuta petant alii: fortuna miserrima tuta est;
     nam timor euentu deterioris abest.
Qui rapitur . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     porrigit <et> spinas duraque saxa . . . . .
accipitremque timens pennis trepidantibus ales

Let others seek the safe: the most wretched fortune is safe;
     for the fear of a worse event is absent.
He who is snatched . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     stretches out thorns and hard rocks . . . . .
and the bird, fearing the hawk, with trembling wings

     audet ad humanos fessa uenire sinus,
nec se uicino dubitat committere tecto
     quae fugit infestos territa cerua canes.
Da, precor, accessum lacrimis, mitissime, nostris
     nec rigidam timidis uocibus obde forem

     weary, she dares to come to human bosoms,
nor does she hesitate to commit herself to a neighboring roof,
     like a hind, terrified, that flees the hostile hounds.
Grant, I pray, access to our tears, most gentle one,
     and do not bar the rigid door against timid voices

uerbaque nostra fauens Romana ad numina perfer
     non tibi Tarpeio culta Tonante minus
mandatique mei legatus suscipe causam,
     nulla meo quamuis nomine causa bona est.
Iam prope depositus, certe iam frigidus, aeger

and, favoring, carry my words to the Roman numina
     not for you less revered than the Tarpeian Thunderer;
and, as the legate of my mandate, take up my cause,
     although no cause under my name is good.
Already nearly laid down, surely already cold, sick

     seruatus per te, si modo seruor, ero.
Nunc tua pro lassis nitatur gratia rebus
     principis aeterni quam tibi praestat amor,
nunc tibi et eloquii nitor ille domesticus adsit
     quo poteras trepidis utilis esse reis.

     preserved through you, if only i am preserved, i shall be.
now let your favor be exerted for my weary fortunes
     which the love of the eternal prince bestows upon you,
now let that native polish of eloquence be present to you as well
     by which you were able to be useful to trembling defendants.

Viuit enim in uobis facundi lingua parentis
     et res heredem repperit illa suum.
Hanc ego non ut me defendere temptet adoro:
     non est confessi causa tuenda rei.
Num tamen excuses erroris origine factum

For the tongue of your eloquent parent lives in you,
     and that estate has found its own heir.
This I do not implore so that she may attempt to defend me:
     the case of a confessed defendant is not to be defended.
Yet would you nevertheless excuse the deed by the origin of the error

an nihil expediat tale mouere uide.
Vulneris id genus est quod, cum sanabile non sit,
non contrectari tutius esse puto.
Lingua, sile!

or see whether it is expedient to move nothing of this sort.
It is a kind of wound which, since it is not curable,
I think it safer not to handle.
Tongue, be silent!

Non est ultra narrabile quicquam.
Posse uelim cineres obruere ipse meos.

There is nothing further narrable.
I would wish to be able to bury my own ashes myself.

Sic igitur, quasi me nullus deceperit error,
     uerba fac, ut uita quam dedit ipse fruar.
Cumque serenus erit uultusque remiserit illos
     qui secum terras imperiumque mouent,
exiguam ne me praedam sinat esse Getarum

Thus therefore, as if no error had deceived me,
     speak words, so that I may enjoy the life which he himself granted.
And when he is serene and his countenance has relaxed those
     who with him move the lands and the empire,
let him not allow me to be an exiguous prey of the Getae

detque solum miserae mite precare fugae.
Tempus adest aptum precibus. Valet ille uidetque
quas fecit uires, Roma, ualere tuas.

and pray that he may grant a gentle soil to my wretched flight.
The time is at hand, apt for prayers. He is well and sees
the forces he made—Rome—your forces, to be strong.

Incolumis coniunx sua puluinaria seruat,
promouet Ausonium filius imperium.

His consort, unharmed, preserves her sacred couches,
the son promotes the Ausonian empire.

Praeterit ipse suos animo Germanicus annos
     nec uigor est Drusi nobilitate minor.
Adde nurus neptesque pias natosque nepotum
     ceteraque Augustae membra ualere domus.
Adde triumphatos modo Paeonas, adde quietis

Germanicus himself surpasses his years in spirit,
     nor is Drusus’s vigor lesser in nobility.
Add pious daughters-in-law and granddaughters and the sons of grandchildren,
     and that the other members of the Augustan house are in health.
Add the Paeonians only just now triumphed over, add the blessings of peace

     subdita montanae brachia Dalmatiae.
Nec dedignata est abiectis Illyris armis
     Caesareum famulo uertice ferre pedem.
Ipse super currum placido spectabilis ore
     tempora Phoebea uirgine nexa tulit,

     the arms of mountainous Dalmatia subdued.
Nor did Illyria, her weapons cast down, disdain
     to bear the Caesarean foot upon a servile head.
He himself, above the chariot, notable with a placid countenance,
     bore his temples bound with the Phoebean maiden,

quem pia uobiscum proles comitauit euntem,
     digna parente suo nominibusque datis,
fratribus adsimilis quos proxima templa tenentis
     Diuus ab excelsa Iulius aede uidet.
His Messalinus quibus omnia cedere debent

whom, together with you, the pious progeny accompanied as he was going,
     worthy of his parent and of the names given,
like to his brothers whom the nearest temples hold,
     whom Divus Julius sees from his lofty shrine.
To these, before whom all things ought to yield, Messalinus

     primum laetitiae non negat esse locum.
Quicquid ab his superest uenit in certamen amoris,
     hac hominum nulli parte secundus erit.
Hanc colet ante diem qua, quae decreta merenti,
     uenit honoratis laurea digna comis.

     first he does not deny that there is room for joy.
Whatever beyond these remains comes into the contest of love,
     in this respect he will be second to no one among men.
He will cultivate this before the day on which,
     the laurel, which has been decreed to the deserving, worthy for honored locks, comes.

Felices quibus o licuit spectare triumphos
     et ducis ore deos aequiperante frui!
At mihi Sauromatae pro Caesaris ore uidendi
     terraque pacis inops undaque uincta gelu.
Si tamen haec audis et uox mea peruenit istuc,

Happy those to whom, O, it was permitted to behold the triumphs
     and to enjoy the leader’s visage, equaling the gods!
But for me, instead of Caesar’s face, the Sarmatians to be seen,
     and a land destitute of peace and water bound with frost.
If nevertheless you hear these things and my voice reaches thither,

     sit tua mutando gratia blanda loco.
Hoc pater ille tuus primo mihi cultus ab aeuo,
     si quid habet sensus umbra diserta, petit.
Hoc petit et frater, quamuis fortasse ueretur
     seruandi noceat ne tibi cura mei.

     may your grace be alluring in changing my place.
This that father of yours, long honored by me from earliest age,
     if his eloquent shade has any feeling, requests this.
This your brother also requests, although perhaps he fears
     lest the care of preserving me harm you.

100

Tota domus rogat hoc nec tu potes ipse negare
     et nos in turbae parte fuisse tuae.
Ingenii certe quo nos male sensimus usos
     Artibus exceptis saepe probator eras,
nec mea, si tantum peccata nouissima demas,

The whole house begs this, nor can you yourself deny
     that we too were in a part of your crowd.
As for genius, surely, by which we felt ourselves ill-used,
     with the Arts excepted, you were often an approver,
nor are my works, if only you take away the newest sins,

105

     esse potest domui uita pudenda tuae.
Sic igitur uestrae uigeant penetralia gentis
     curaque sit superis Caesaribusque tui.
Mite, sed iratum merito mihi numen adora,
     eximar ut Scythici de feritate loci.

     can be a shameful life to your house.
Thus then may the penetralia of your gens flourish
     and let there be care for you from the supernal gods and the Caesars.
Mild, yet justly angered at me, the numen adore,
     that I may be exempted from the ferocity of the Scythian place.

110

Difficile est, fateor, sed tendit in ardua uirtus
     et talis meriti gratia maior erit.
Nec tamen Aetnaeus uasto Polyphemus in antro
     accipiet uoces Antiphatesue tuas,
sed placidus facilisque parens ueniaeque paratus

It is difficult, I confess, but virtue tends toward the arduous
     and the grace of such merit will be greater.
Nor yet will the Aetnaean Polyphemus in his vast cavern
     receive your voices, nor Antiphates,
but a placid and easy father and prepared for pardon

115

     et qui fulmineo saepe sine igne tonat,
qui, cum triste aliquid statuit, fit tristis et ipse
     cuique fere poenam sumere poena sua est.
Victa tamen uitio est huius clementia nostro
     uenit et ad uires ira coacta suas.                 120
Qui quoniam patria toto sumus orbe remoti
     nec licet ante ipsos procubuisse deos,
quos colis ad superos haec fer mandata sacerdos,
     adde sed et proprias ad mea uerba preces.
Sic tamen haec tempta, si non nocitura putabis.

     and he who often thunders with the thunderbolt without fire,
who, when he decrees something sad, becomes sad himself,
     and to whom to exact a penalty is almost a penalty in itself.
Yet his clemency has been overcome by our fault,
     and his wrath, compelled, has come to its own strength.                 120
Since we are removed from our fatherland to the whole orb,
     nor is it permitted to have prostrated before the gods themselves,
priestess, carry these mandates to the gods above whom you worship,
     but also add your own prayers to my words.
Yet attempt these things thus, if you will think they will not be harmful.

125

Ignosces: timeo naufragus omne fretum.

You will pardon: shipwrecked, I fear every strait.

III. COTTAE MAXIMO

3. TO COTTA MAXIMUS

Maxime, qui claris nomen uirtutibus aequas
     nec sinis ingenium nobilitate premi,
culte mihi—quid enim status hic a funere differt?—
     supremum uitae tempus adusque meae,
rem facis adflictum non auersatus amicum

Maximus, you who match your name with illustrious virtues
     and do not allow talent to be oppressed by nobility,
courteous to me—for what does this status differ from a funeral?—
     to the very last term of my life,
you do the deed, not having turned away an afflicted friend

     qua non est aeuo rarior ulla tuo.
Turpe quidem dictu, sed—si modo uera fatemur—
     uulgus amicitias utilitate probat.
Cura quid expediat prius est quam quid sit honestum,
     et cum fortuna statque caditque fides.                 10
Nec facile inuenias multis in milibus unum,
     uirtutem pretium qui putet esse sui.

     than which in your age nothing is rarer.
Shameful indeed to say, but—if we confess the true—
     the common crowd approves friendships by utility.
Care for what is expedient comes earlier than what is honorable,
     and with Fortune faith both stands and falls.                 10
Nor would you easily find in many thousands a single one,
     who would think virtue’s price to be itself.

Ipse decor recte facti, si praemia desint,
non mouet et gratis paenitet esse probum.
Nil nisi quod prodest carum est, et detrahe menti

The very decorum of a right deed, if rewards are lacking,
does not move, and one regrets being upright when it is gratis.
Nothing except what profits is dear, and detract from the mind

     spem fructus auidae, nemo petendus erit.
At reditus iam quisque suos amat et sibi quid sit
     utile sollicitis subputat articulis.
Illud amicitiae quondam uenerabile nomen
     prostat et in quaestu pro meretrice sedet.

     the hope of profit for the greedy—no one will need to be courted.
But now each person already loves his own returns and for himself what may be
     useful he reckons up on anxious finger-joints.
That once venerable name of friendship
     is prostituted and, for profit, sits as a prostitute.

Quo magis admiror non ut torrentibus undis
     communis uitii te quoque labe trahi.
Diligitur nemo, nisi cui Fortuna secunda est.
     Quae simul intonuit, proxima quaeque fugat.
En ego non paucis quondam munitus amicis,

Wherefore I all the more marvel that you too are not being dragged, as by torrenting waves,
     by the stain of the common vice.
No one is esteemed, unless Fortune is favorable to him,
     who, as soon as she has thundered, puts to flight all that is nearest.
Lo, I, once fortified by not a few friends,

     dum flauit uelis aura secunda meis,
ut fera nimboso tumuerunt aequora uento,
     in mediis lacera naue relinquor aquis.
Cumque alii nolint etiam me nosse uideri,
     uix duo proiecto tresue tulistis opem.                 30
Quorum tu princeps: neque enim comes esse, sed auctor
     nec petere exemplum, sed dare dignus eras.
Te nihil exacto nisi nos peccasse fatentem,
     sponte sua probitas officiumque iuuat.

     while a favorable breeze blew for my sails,
as the wild levels swelled with a storm-clouded wind,
     in the midst of the waters I am left, my ship torn.
And while others do not even wish to seem to know me,
     scarcely two or three of you brought help to one cast out.                 30
Of whom you are chief: for you were worthy not to be a companion, but an author-leader,
     nor to seek an example, but to give one.
You, exacting nothing except that we confess to have sinned,
     are, of their own accord, aided by probity and by duty.

Iudice te mercede caret per seque petenda est

With you as judge, it lacks a wage, and must be sought for its own sake

     externis uirtus incomitata bonis.
Turpe putas abigi, quia sit miserandus, amicum,
     quodque sit infelix, desinere esse tuum.
Mitius est lasso digitum subponere mento
     mergere quam liquidis ora natandis aquis.

     virtue unaccompanied by external goods.
Do you think it shameful to drive away, because he is pitiable, a friend,
     and, because he is ill-fated, to cease to be yours.
It is gentler to place a finger beneath a weary chin
     than to submerge the face in liquid waters for swimming.

Cerne quid Aeacides post mortem praestet amico:
     instar et hanc uitam mortis habere puta.
Pirithoum Theseus Stygias comitauit ad undas:
     a Stygia quantum mors mea distat aqua?
Adfuit insano iuuenis Phoceus Orestae:

Discern what the Aeacid renders to a friend after death:
     and suppose that this life too has the likeness of death.
Theseus accompanied Pirithous to the Stygian waves:
     how far does my death differ from the Stygian water?
The Phocian youth was present to mad Orestes:

     et mea non minimum culpa furoris habet.
Tu quoque magnorum laudes admitte uirorum,
     ut facis, et lapso quam potes adfer opem.
Si bene te noui, si, qui prius esse solebas,
     nunc quoque es atque animi non cecidere tui,

     and my own culpability has not the least share of the fury.
You too admit the lauds of great men,
     as you do, and to the lapsed afford whatever aid you can.
If I know you well, if you, who were wont formerly to be,
     are now as well, and your spirit has not fallen,

quo Fortuna magis saeuit, magis ipse resistis,
     utque decet, ne te uicerit illa caues,
et, bene uti pugnes, bene pugnans efficit hostis:
     sic eadem prodest causa nocetque mihi.
Scilicet indignum, iuuenis carissime, ducis

the more Fortune rages, the more you yourself resist,
     and, as befits, you take care that she not conquer you,
and, so that you may fight well, the enemy, fighting well, effects it:
     thus the same cause both profits and harms me.
Doubtless you deem it unworthy, dearest young man,

     te fieri comitem stantis in orbe deae.
Firmus es et, quoniam non sunt ea qualia uelles,
     uela regis quassae qualiacumque ratis.
Quaeque ita concussa est ut iam casura putetur,
     restat adhuc umeris fulta ruina tuis.

     you to be made the companion of the goddess standing on the orb.
You are firm, and, since things are not such as you would wish,
     you govern the sails of whatever sort of battered raft.
And though it has been so shaken that it is now thought about to fall,
     the ruin still remains, propped upon your shoulders.

Ira quidem primo fuerat tua iusta nec ipso
     lenior offensus qui mihi iure fuit,
quique dolor pectus tetigisset Caesaris alti,
     illum iurabas protinus esse tuum.
Vt tamen audita est nostrae tibi cladis origo,

Your ire indeed at first had been just, nor was he himself     gentler, the one who by right had been offended at me,
and whatever dolor had touched the breast of lofty Caesar,
     you were swearing at once that that was yours.
Yet when the origin of our calamity had been heard by you,

     diceris erratis ingemuisse meis.
Tum tua me primum solari littera coepit
     et laesum flecti spem dare posse deum.
Mouit amicitiae tum te constantia longae
     ante tuos ortus quae mihi coepta fuit,

     you are said to have groaned at my errors.
Then your letter first began to console me
     and to be able to give hope that the offended god might be bent.
Then the constancy of long friendship moved you
     which had been begun for me before your birth,

et quod eras aliis factus, mihi natus amicus
     quodque tibi in cunis oscula prima dedi,
quod cum uestra domus teneris mihi semper ab annis
     culta sit, esse uetus me tibi cogit onus.
Me tuus ille pater, Latiae facundia linguae,

and that you had been made a friend to others, to me born a friend
     and that I gave to you the first kisses in the cradle,
and that since your house from my tender years has always
     been cherished by me, compels me to be an old onus to you.
Me your father, that eloquence of the Latian tongue,

     quae non inferior nobilitate fuit,
primus ut auderem committere carmina famae
     inpulit: ingenii dux fuit ille mei.
Nec quo sit primum nobis a tempore cultus
     contendo fratrem posse referre tuum.

     who was not inferior in nobility,
he first impelled me to dare to commit my songs to fame:     he was the leader of my genius.
Nor do I contend that your brother is able to recount     from what time he was first cherished by me.

Te tamen ante omnis ita sum complexus ut unus
     quolibet in casu gratia nostra fores.
Vltima me tecum uidit maestisque cadentes
     excepit lacrimas Aethalis Ilua genis,
cum tibi quaerenti num uerus nuntius esset

You, however, before all, I have so embraced that you alone
     in any case whatsoever would be the one of our grace.
Aethalian Ilva was the last to see me with you, and received
     upon sad cheeks the falling tears,
when, as you were asking whether the message was true

     adtulerat culpae quem mala fama meae,
inter confessum dubie dubieque negantem
     haerebam pauidas dante timore notas
exemploque niuis quam mollit aquaticus auster,
     gutta per attonitas ibat oborta genas.

     whom the ill report of my guilt had brought,
between one hesitantly confessing and hesitantly denying
     I lingered, fear giving timid signs,
and by the example of snow which the watery Auster softens,
     a droplet, sprung up, went down over my astonished cheeks.

Haec igitur referens et quod mea crimina primi
     erroris uenia posse latere uides,
respicis antiquum lassis in rebus amicum
     fomentisque iuuas uulnera nostra tuis.
Pro quibus, optandi si nobis copia fiat,

Thus, recounting these things, and that my crimes of the first
     error, by indulgence, you see can lie hidden,
you look back upon an ancient friend in weary affairs
     and with your fomentations you aid our wounds.
For which, if the opportunity of choosing be granted to us,

     tam bene promerito commoda mille precor.
Sed, si sola mihi dentur tua uota, precabor
     ut tibi sit saluo Caesare salua parens.
Haec ego, cum faceres altaria pinguia ture,
     te solitum memini prima rogare deos.

     for one so well deserving I pray a thousand advantages.
But, if only your vows be granted me, I shall pray
     that, with Caesar safe, your parent be safe for you.
These things I, when you made the altars rich with incense,
     remember you were wont to ask the gods first.

IV. ATTICO

4. TO ATTICUS

Accipe conloquium gelido Nasonis ab Histro,
     Attice iudicio non dubitande meo.
Ecquid adhuc remanes memor infelicis amici
     deserit an partis languida cura suas?
Non ita di mihi sint tristes ut credere possim

Receive a colloquy of Naso from the icy Ister,
     Atticus, in my judgment not to be doubted.
Do you still remain mindful at all of your unlucky friend,
     or does a languid concern forsake its own side?
May the gods not be so grim to me that I can believe

     fasque putem iam te non meminisse mei.
Ante oculos nostros posita est tua semper imago
     et uideor uultus mente uidere tuos.
Seria multa mihi tecum conlata recordor
     nec data iucundis tempora pauca iocis.

     nor could I think it right by divine law that you now do not remember me.
Before our eyes your image is always set
     and I seem to see your features with my mind.
I recall many serious matters conferred with you
     nor were the times given to pleasant jests few.

Saepe citae longis uisae sermonibus horae,
     saepe fuit breuior quam mea uerba dies.
Saepe tuas uenit factum modo carmen ad auris
     et noua iudicio subdita Musa tuo est.
Quod tu laudaras, populo placuisse putabam

Often the swift hours seemed long in long discourses,
     often the day was briefer than my words.
Often a poem, only just made, came to your ears,
     and a new Muse was submitted to your judgment.
What you had praised, I supposed had pleased the people.

     —hoc pretium curae dulce recentis erat—
utque meus lima rasus liber esset amici,
     non semel admonitu facta litura tuo est.
Nos fora uiderunt pariter, nos porticus omnis,
     nos uia, nos iunctis curua theatra locis.

     —this was the sweet reward of fresh care—
and that my book might be shaved by a friend’s file,
     more than once, at your admonition, an erasure was made.
The forums saw us together, every portico saw us,
     the road, the curved theaters with places joined, saw us.

Denique tantus amor nobis, carissime, semper
     quantus in Aeacide Nestorideque fuit.
Non ego, si biberes securae pocula Lethes,
     excidere haec credam pectore posse tuo.
Longa dies citius brumali sidere noxque

Finally, so great a love is ours, dearest, always
     as was between the Aeacid and the Nestorid.
Not I, if you should drink the cups of care-free Lethe,
     would believe that these things could slip from your breast.
A long day sooner beneath the brumal star and night

     tardior hiberna solstitialis erit
nec Babylon aestum nec frigora Pontus habebit
     caltaque Paestanas uincet odore rosas
quam tibi nostrarum ueniant obliuia rerum:
     non ita pars fati candida nulla mei est.

     the solstitial day will be slower than a winter one
nor will babylon have heat nor pontus cold
     and the marigold will surpass the paestan roses in scent
than that oblivion of our affairs should come to you:
     not so; the bright part of my fate is not nonexistent.

Ne tamen haec dici possit fiducia mendax
stultaque credulitas nostra fuisse caue
constantique fide ueterem tutare sodalem
qua licet et quantum non onerosus ero.

Lest, however, this confidence be able to be called mendacious,
and beware lest our foolish credulity prove to have been;
and with constant faith protect your old comrade,
in whatever way it is permitted and so far as I shall not be onerous.

V. SALANO

5. TO SALANUS

Condita disparibus numeris ego Naso Salano
     praeposita misi uerba salute meo.
Quae rata sit cupio rebusque ut comprobet omen,
     te precor a saluo possit, amice, legi.
Candor, in hoc aeuo res intermortua paene,

Having composed in unequal meters, I, Naso, to Salanus
     I sent words, my salutation set before.
I desire that it be ratified, and that realities may verify the omen,
     I pray, friend, that it may be able to be read by you safe and sound.
Candor, in this age a thing almost dead,

     exigit ut faciam talia uota tuus.
Nam fuerim quamuis modico tibi iunctus ab usu,
     diceris exiliis indoluisse meis,
missaque ab Euxino legeres cum carmina Ponto,
     illa tuus iuuit qualiacumque fauor

     your candor exacts that I make such vows.
For although I was joined to you by only a modest acquaintance,
     you are said to have grieved at my exiles,
and, when you read the songs sent from the Euxine Pontus,
     your favor aided them, whatever their quality

optastique breuem salui mihi Caesaris iram,
     quod tamen optari, si sciat, ipse sinat.
Moribus ista tuis tam mitia uota dedisti
     nec minus idcirco sunt ea grata mihi,
quoque magis moueare malis, doctissime, nostris,

and you have wished a brief anger of Caesar toward me, for my safety,
     which, however, if he knew it, he himself would allow to be wished.
By your morals you have offered such mild vows
     nor for that reason are they the less welcome to me,
and the more you are moved by my ills, most learned one,

     credibile est fieri condicione loci:
uix hac inuenies totum, mihi crede, per orbem
     quae minus Augusta pace fruatur humus.
Tu tamen hic structos inter fera proelia uersus
     et legis et lectos ore fauente probas

     it is credible that this comes about by the condition of the place:
hardly through the whole world will you find, believe me, a soil
     that enjoys less of the Augustan peace than this.
Yet here you, amid fierce battles, both read constructed verses
     and both read and, once read, approve them with a favoring mouth

ingenioque meo, uena quod paupere manat,
     plaudis et e riuo flumina magna facis.
Grata quidem sunt haec animo suffragia nostro,
     uix sibi cum miseros posse placere putes.
Dum tamen in rebus temptamus carmina paruis,

and as for my genius, since a poor vein trickles,
     you applaud and from a rivulet you make great rivers.
These suffrages are indeed welcome to our mind,
     since you might think the wretched can scarcely please themselves.
Yet while we attempt songs on small matters,

     materiae gracili sufficit ingenium.
Nuper, ut huc magni peruenit fama triumphi,
     ausus sum tantae sumere molis opus.
Obruit audentem rerum grauitasque nitorque
     nec potui coepti pondera ferre mei.

     my genius suffices for slender material.
Recently, when the fame of the great triumph arrived here,
     I dared to take up a work of so great a mass.
The gravity and the brilliance of the subject overwhelmed the daring one,
     nor could I bear the weights of my undertaking.

Illic quam laudes erit officiosa uoluntas,
     cetera materia debilitata iacent.
Qui si forte liber uestras peruenit ad aures,
     tutelam, mando, sentiat ille tuam.
Hoc tibi facturo, uel si non ipse rogarem,

There what you may praise will be a dutiful goodwill,
     the rest of the material lie debilitated.
If by chance this book reaches your ears,
     let it, I enjoin, feel your tutelage.
With you about to do this, or even if I myself were not asking,

     accedat cumulus gratia nostra leuis.
Non ego laudandus, sed sunt tua pectora lacte
     et non calcata candidiora niue,
mirarisque alios, cum sis mirabilis ipse,
     nec lateant artes eloquiumque tuum.                 40
Te iuuenum princeps, cui dat Germania nomen,
     participem studii Caesar habere solet.
Tu comes antiquus, tu primis iunctus ab annis
     ingenio mores aequiperante places.

     let a heap be added, our slight grace.
Not I am to be praised, but your heart is than milk
     and than untrodden snow more white,
and you marvel at others, though you yourself are marvelous,
     nor let your arts and your eloquence lie hidden.                 40
You, prince of the young, to whom Germany gives a name,
     Caesar is accustomed to have as a participant in his pursuit.
You, an old companion, you, joined from earliest years,
     you please, your character matching your genius.

Te dicente prius studii fuit impetus illi

With you speaking first, he had the impetus of study

     teque habet elicias qui sua uerba tuis.
Cum tu desisti mortaliaque ora quierunt
     tectaque non longa conticuere mora,
surgit Iuleo iuuenis cognomine dignus,
     qualis ab Eois Lucifer ortus aquis,

     and he has you, to elicit his own words with yours.
When you ceased and mortal mouths grew quiet
     and the roofs fell silent after no long delay,
a youth rises, worthy of the Julian cognomen,
     such as Lucifer risen from the Eastern waters,

dumque silens adstat, status est uultusque diserti
     spemque decens doctae uocis amictus habet.
Mox, ubi pulsa mora est atque os caeleste solutum,
     hoc superos iures more solere loqui
atque 'Haec est' dicas 'facundia principe digna':

and while he stands silent, there are the stance and countenance of an eloquent man,
     and his becoming garb holds the hope of a learned voice.
Soon, when delay has been driven off and his celestial mouth loosened,
     this is the manner in which, you would swear, the celestials are wont to speak,
and you would say, ‘This is eloquence worthy of a prince’:

     eloquio tantum nobilitatis inest.
Huic tu cum placeas et uertice sidera tangas,
     scripta tamen profugi uatis habenda putas.
Scilicet ingeniis aliqua est concordia iunctis,
     et seruat studii foedera quisque sui:

     so much nobility resides in eloquence.
To this man, though you are pleasing and touch the stars with your head,
     yet you think the writings of a fugitive vates ought to be held.
Surely there is some concord with wits joined,
     and each keeps the covenants of his own study:

rusticus agricolam, miles fera bella gerentem,
     rectorem dubiae nauita puppis amat.
Tu quoque Pieridum studio, studiose, teneris
     ingenioque faues, ingeniose, meo.
Distat opus nostrum, sed fontibus exit ab isdem

the rustic loves the farmer, the soldier waging fierce wars,
     the sailor loves the helmsman of a doubtful ship.
You too are held by the zeal of the Pierides, zealous one,
     and you favor my genius, ingenious one.
our work differs, but it issues from the same fountains

     artis et ingenuae cultor uterque sumus.
Thyrsus abest a te gustata et laurea nobis,
     sed tamen ambobus debet inesse calor,
utque meis numeris tua dat facundia neruos,
     sic uenit a nobis in tua uerba nitor.

     we both are cultivators of the liberal art.
The thyrsus is absent from you, and the laurel, once tasted, from us,
     but yet warmth ought to be present in both of us,
and as your facundity gives sinews to my numbers,
     so luster comes from us into your words.

Iure igitur studio confinia carmina uestro
     et commilitii sacra tuenda putas.
Pro quibus ut maneat de quo censeris amicus
     comprecor ad uitae tempora summa tuae
succedatque suis orbis moderator habenis:

Rightly therefore you think that, by your zeal, the confines of song
     and the sacred things of fellow-soldiery are to be guarded.
For which, that he of whom you are deemed a friend may remain
     to the utmost times of your life, I earnestly pray,
and that the moderator of the orb may take up his own reins:

quod mecum populi uota precantur idem.

which same thing the peoples’ vows pray together with me.

VI. GRAECINO

6. TO GRAECINUS

Carmine Graecinum, qui praesens uoce solebat,
     tristis ab Euxinis Naso salutat aquis.
Exulis haec uox est: praebet mihi littera linguam
     et, si non liceat scribere, mutus ero.
Corripis, ut debes, stulti peccata sodalis

By song, Graecinus—who, when present, was wont with his voice—
     sad Naso greets from the Euxine waters.
This is the voice of an exile: a letter provides me a tongue,
     and, if it were not permitted to write, I shall be mute.
You censure, as you ought, the sins of a foolish companion

     et mala me meritis ferre minora doces.
Vera facis, sed sera meae conuicia culpae:
     aspera confesso uerba remitte reo.
Cum poteram recto transire Ceraunia uelo,
     ut fera uitarem saxa monendus eram.

     and you teach me to bear lesser ills than I have merited.
You speak true, but the reproaches to my fault are late:
     remit harsh words to a confessing defendant.
When I could have passed the Ceraunians with a straight sail,
     I ought to have been warned, so that I might avoid the savage rocks.

Nunc mihi naufragio quid prodest discere facto
     qua mea debuerit currere cumba uia?
Brachia da lasso potius prendenda natanti
     nec pigeat mento subposuisse manum.
Idque facis faciasque precor: sic mater et uxor,

Now, with the shipwreck already done, what does it profit me to learn
     by what way my little boat ought to have run?
Rather give arms to the weary swimmer to be grasped,
     nor let it irk you to have placed a hand beneath my chin.
And this you do, and may you do, I pray: thus may my mother and my wife,

     sic tibi sint fratres totaque salua domus,
quodque soles animo semper, quod uoce precari,
     omnia Caesaribus sic tua facta probes.
Turpe erit in miseris ueteri tibi rebus amico
     auxilium nulla parte tulisse tuum,

     so may your brothers and your whole household be safe,
and what you are always wont to pray for in spirit, and what with your voice to pray for,
     so may you make all your deeds approved with the Caesars.
It will be disgraceful, in the case of your old friend in wretched affairs,
     to have brought your aid in no part,

turpe referre pedem nec passu stare tenaci,
     turpe laborantem deseruisse ratem,
turpe sequi casum et Fortunae accedere amicum
     et, nisi sit felix, esse negare suum.
Non ita uixerunt Strophio atque Agamemnone nati,

shameful to draw back the foot and not to stand with a tenacious step,
     shameful to have deserted the struggling ship,
shameful to follow a downfall and to approach a friend of Fortune
     and, unless he be fortunate, to deny him as one’s own.
not thus lived the sons of Strophius and of Agamemnon,

     non haec Aegidae Pirithoique fides.
Quos prior est mirata, sequens mirabitur aetas,
     in quorum plausus tota theatra sonant.
Tu quoque per durum seruato tempus amico
     dignus es in tantis nomen habere uiris,

     this is not the fidelity of the Aegid and of Pirithous.
Whom the prior age has admired, the following age will admire,
     in whose applause the whole theaters resound.
You also, through hard time, having kept your time for a friend,
     are worthy to have a name among such great men,

dignus es, et, quoniam laudem pietate mereris,
     non erit officii gratia surda tui.
Crede mihi, nostrum si non mortale futurum est
     carmen, in ore frequens posteritatis eris.
Fac modo permaneas lasso, Graecine, fidelis

you are worthy, and, since you merit praise by piety,
     the gratitude for your service will not be deaf to you.
Believe me, if our song will not be mortal,
     you will be frequent on the lips of posterity.
Only see that you remain faithful to the weary man, Graecinus,

duret et in longas impetus iste moras.
Quae tu cum praestes, remo tamen utor in aura,
nec nocet admisso subdere calcar equo.

may that impetus endure even through long delays.
Since you furnish these things, nevertheless I use an oar in the air,
nor does it harm to set the spur to a horse at full tilt.

VII. ATTICO

7. TO ATTICUS

Esse salutatum uult te mea littera primum
     a male pacatis, Attice, missa Getis,
proxima subsequitur quid agas audire uoluntas,
     et si, quicquid agis, sit tibi cura mei.
Nec dubito quin sit, sed me timor ipse malorum

My letter wants first that you be saluted,
     sent from the ill-pacified Getae, Atticus,
next there follows the desire to hear what you are doing,
     and whether, whatever you do, you have a care for me.
Nor do I doubt that it is so, but the very fear of evils

     saepe superuacuos cogit habere metus.
Da ueniam, quaeso, nimioque ignosce timori.
     Tranquillas etiam naufragus horret aquas.
Qui semel est laesus fallaci piscis ab hamo
     omnibus unca cibis aera subesse putat;

     often compels to have superfluous fears.
Grant pardon, I beg, and forgive the excessive fear.
     Even a shipwrecked man shudders at tranquil waters.
He who once has been hurt by a fish’s deceitful hook
     thinks that barbed bronze lies beneath every bait;

saepe canem longe uisum fugit agna lupumque
     credit et ipsa suam nescia uitat opem;
membra reformidant mollem quoque saucia tactum
     uanaque sollicitis incitat umbra metum.
Sic ego Fortunae telis confixus iniquis

often the lamb flees both the dog seen from afar and the wolf
     and, not knowing, she herself avoids her own help;
wounded limbs also dread even a gentle touch
     and a vain shadow rouses fear in the anxious.
Thus I, pierced by Fortune’s unjust darts

     pectore concipio nil nisi triste meo.
Iam mihi fata liquet coeptos seruantia cursus
     per sibi consuetas semper itura uias.
Obseruare deos ne quid mihi cedat amice
     uerbaque Fortunae uix puto posse dari.

     in my breast I conceive nothing but sad things.
Now it is clear to me that the fates, keeping the courses once undertaken,
     will always go along the ways accustomed to themselves.
The gods keep watch that nothing may turn out kindly for me,
     and I scarcely think that Fortune’s words can be granted.

Est illi curae me perdere, quaeque solebat
     esse leuis, constans et bene certa nocet.
Crede mihi, si sum ueri tibi cognitus oris—
     nec planis nostris casibus esse puter—
Cinyphiae segetis citius numerabis aristas

It is her care to destroy me, and what used to be light now harms, constant and well certain.
Believe me, if I am known to you as of a true mouth—
nor let me, I pray, be thought to speak plainly of my misfortunes—
you will more quickly count the ears of the Cinyphian harvest

     altaque quam multis floreat Hybla thymis
et quot aues motis nitantur in aere pennis
     quotque natent pisces aequore certus eris
quam tibi nostrorum statuatur summa laborum
     quos ego sum terra, quos ego passus aqua.

     and how lofty Hybla blooms with how many thymes,
and how many birds, with wings set in motion, are borne up in the air,
     and how many fish swim on the level sea, you will be certain;
how the sum of our labors is set for you—
     what I have borne on land, what I have suffered on water.

Nulla Getis toto gens est truculentior orbe,
     sed tamen hi nostris ingemuere malis.
Quae tibi si memori coner perscribere uersu,
     Ilias est fati longa futura mei.
Non igitur uerear quo te rear esse uerendum,

No nation in the whole world is more truculent than the Getae,
     yet nevertheless these men have groaned at our misfortunes.
Which, if I try to write out for you in a memorial verse,
     it will be a long Iliad of my fate.
I shall not, therefore, fear, wherefore I deem you to be venerable,

     cuius amor nobis pignora mille dedit,
sed quia res timida est omnis miser et quia longo est
     tempore laetitiae ianua clausa meae.
Iam dolor in morem uenit meus, utque caducis
     percussu crebro saxa cauantur aquis,

     whose love has given us a thousand pledges,
but because every wretch is a timid thing, and because for a long time
     the door of my joy has been closed.
Now my grief has become a habit, and as by the frequent percussion
     of falling waters the rocks are hollowed,

sic ego continuo Fortunae uulneror ictu
     uixque habet in nobis iam noua plaga locum.
Nec magis adsiduo uomer tenuatur ab usu
     nec magis est curuis Appia trita rotis
pectora quam mea sunt serie caecata malorum,

thus I am straightway wounded by Fortune’s blow
     and scarcely does a new blow now have room in me.
nor is the plowshare more attenuated by assiduous use
     nor is the Appian [Way] more worn by curved wheels
than my breast is blinded by a series of evils,

     et nihil inueni quod mihi ferret opem.
Artibus ingenuis quaesita est gloria multis,
     infelix perii dotibus ipse meis.
Vita prior uitio caret et sine labe peracta est:
     auxilii misero nil tulit illa mihi.                 50
Culpa grauis precibus donatur saepe suorum:
     omnis pro nobis gratia muta fuit.

     and I found nothing that would bring me help.
By the liberal arts glory has been sought by many,
     unhappy, I perished by my very endowments.
My earlier life is free from fault and was carried through without blemish:
     that brought no help to wretched me.                 50
A weighty guilt is often granted pardon by the prayers of one’s own:
     all favor on my behalf was mute.

Adiuuat in duris aliquos praesentia rebus:
obruit hoc absens uasta procella caput.
Quis non horruerit tacitam quoque Caesaris iram?

Presence aids some in hard affairs:
this being absent, a vast tempest overwhelms the head.
Who has not shuddered at even Caesar’s tacit wrath?

     Addita sunt poenis aspera uerba meis.
Fit fuga temporibus leuior: proiectus in aequor
     Arcturum subii Pleiadumque minas.
Saepe solent hiemem placidam sentire carinae:
     non Ithacae puppi saeuior unda fuit.

     Harsh words have been added to my penalties.
Flight is lighter in other seasons: cast forth upon the sea
     I underwent Arcturus and the menaces of the Pleiads.
Often the keels are wont to feel a placid winter:
     no wave was more savage to the stern of Ithaca.

Recta fides comitum poterat mala nostra leuare:
     ditata est spoliis perfida turba meis.
Mitius exilium faciunt loca: tristior ista
     terra sub ambobus non iacet ulla polis.
Est aliquid patriis uicinum finibus esse:

Straight faith of companions could have lightened my ills:
     the perfidious crowd was enriched with my spoils.
Places make exile gentler: more gloomy than that
     land, no land lies beneath both poles.
It is something to be near the fatherland’s boundaries:

     ultima me tellus, ultimus orbis habet.
Praestat et exulibus pacem tua laurea, Caesar:
     Pontica finitimo terra sub hoste iacet.
Tempus in agrorum cultu consumere dulce est:
     non patitur uerti barbarus hostis humum.

     the farthest land, the farthest circle of the world holds me.
Your laurel, Caesar, also affords peace to exiles:
     the Pontic land lies under a bordering enemy.
It is sweet to spend time in the cultivation of fields:
     the barbarian foe does not allow the soil to be turned.

Temperie caeli corpusque animusque iuuatur:
     frigore perpetuo Sarmatis ora riget.
Est in aqua dulci non inuidiosa uoluptas:
     aequoreo bibitur cum sale mixta palus.
Omnia deficiunt. Animus tamen omnia uincit;

By the temper of the sky both body and spirit are aided:
     the Sarmatian coast is rigid with perpetual cold.
There is in fresh water a pleasure not begrudged:
     a marsh, mixed with sea-salt, is drunk.
All things fail. Yet the spirit conquers all.

     ille etiam uires corpus habere facit.
Sustineas ut onus, nitendum uertice pleno est
     aut, flecti neruos si patiere, cades.
Spes quoque posse mora mitescere principis iram
     uiuere ne nolim deficiamque cauet.

     that one also makes the body have strength.
that you may sustain the burden, it is to be braced with the full crown (of the head),
     or, if you allow your sinews to be bent, you will fall.
Hope too, that by delay the Prince’s wrath can grow mild,
     lests I be unwilling to live and that I not fail, takes care.

Nec uos parua datis pauci solacia nobis,
quorum spectata est per mala nostra fides.
Coepta tene, quaeso, neque in aequore desere nauem
meque simul serua iudiciumque tuum.

Nor are the solaces you few give to us small,
whose faith has been proved through our misfortunes.
Hold to what you have begun, I pray, and do not desert the ship upon the sea,
and preserve me as well, and your judgment.

VIII. COTTAE MAXIMO

8. TO COTTA MAXIMUS

Redditus est nobis Caesar cum Caesare nuper,
     quos mihi misisti, Maxime Cotta, deos,
utque tuum munus numerum quem debet haberet,
     est ibi Caesaribus Liuia iuncta suis.
Argentum felix omnique beatius auro,                 5
     quod, fuerit pretium cum rude, numen habet!
Non mihi diuitias dando maiora dedisses
     caelitibus missis nostra sub ora tribus.

Caesar has been returned to us with Caesar lately,
     whom you sent to me, Maximus Cotta, as gods,
and, that your gift might have the number it ought to have,
     there Livia is joined to her Caesars.
Fortunate silver and more blessed than all gold,                 5
     which, though it was a rude price when raw, has numen!
You would not have given me greater things by giving riches
     than the three Celestials sent beneath our gaze.

Est aliquid spectare deos et adesse putare
et quasi cum uero numine posse loqui.

There is something in beholding the gods and thinking them present
and to be able to speak as if with the true numen.

Quantum ad te, redii, nec me tenet ultima tellus,
     utque prius, media sospes in Vrbe moror.
Caesareos uideo uultus, uelut ante uidebam:
     uix huius uoti spes fuit ulla mihi.
Vtque salutabam numen caeleste, saluto.

As for you, I have returned, nor does the farthest land hold me,
     and, as before, safe, I linger in the City’s midst.
I see the Caesarean visages, just as I used to see before:
     scarcely was there any hope of this wish for me.
And as I used to salute the celestial numen, I salute it.

Quod reduci tribuas, nil, puto, maius habes.
Quid nostris oculis nisi sola Palatia desunt?
Qui locus ablato Caesare uilis erit.

What you bestow upon me returned, I think you have nothing greater.
What is lacking to our eyes except only the Palatia?
Which place, with Caesar removed, will be worthless.

Hunc ego cum spectem, uideor mihi cernere Romam;
nam patriae faciem sustinet ille suae.

When I behold this man, I seem to discern Rome;
for he sustains the face of his own fatherland.

Fallor an irati mihi sunt in imagine uultus,
     toruaque nescio quid forma minantis habet?
Parce, uir inmenso maior uirtutibus orbe,
     iustaque uindictae supprime frena tuae.
Parce, precor, saecli decus indelebile nostri,

Am I mistaken, or are the looks at me in the image irate,
     and does the grim form have I-know-not-what of menacing?
Spare me, man greater in virtues than the immense orb,
     and check the reins of your just vengeance.
Spare, I pray, the indelible ornament of our age,

     terrarum dominum quem sua cura facit.
Per patriae numen, quae te tibi carior ipso est,
     per numquam surdos in tua uota deos
perque tori sociam, quae par tibi sola reperta est,
     et cui maiestas non onerosa tua est,

     the lord of the lands, whom his own care makes.
By the numen of the fatherland, which is dearer to you than yourself,
     by the gods never deaf to your vows
and by the partner of the marriage bed, who alone has been found equal to you,
     and to whom your majesty is not burdensome,

perque tibi similem uirtutis imagine natum,
     moribus adgnosci qui tuus esse potest,
perque tuos uel auo dignos uel patre nepotes
     qui ueniunt magno per tua iussa gradu,
parte leua minima nostras et contrahe poenas

and by the son like you in the image of virtue,
     who by his morals can be recognized to be yours,
and by your grandsons worthy either of grandsire or of father,
     who advance with a great stride at your behests,
by the least part lighten, and contract, our penalties

     daque procul Scythico qui sit ab hoste locum.
Et tua, si fas est, a Caesare proxime Caesar,
     numina sint precibus non inimica meis!
Sic fera quam primum pauido Germania uultu
     ante triumphantis serua feratur equos,

     and grant a place that shall be far from the Scythic foe.
And you, if it is licit, O Caesar, nearest to Caesar by descent,
     may your numina be not inimical to my prayers!
Thus may savage Germany, with timorous countenance, as soon as possible,
     be borne as a slave before the triumphant horses,

sic pater in Pylios, Cumaeos mater in annos
     uiuant et possis filius esse diu!
Tu quoque, conueniens ingenti nupta marito,
     accipe non dura supplicis aure preces!
Sic tibi uir sospes, sic sint cum prole nepotes,

Thus may your father live into Pylian years, your mother into Cumaean years,
     and may you be able to be a son for a long time!
You also, a bride fitting to your mighty husband,
     receive the prayers of a suppliant with a not-hard ear!
Thus may your husband be safe, thus may grandsons be together with progeny,

     cumque bonis nuribus quod peperere nurus!
Sic quem dira tibi rapuit Germania Drusum
     pars fuerit partus sola caduca tui!
Sic tibi mature fraterni funeris ultor
     purpureus niueis filius instet equis!

     and, together with good daughters-in-law, whatever daughters-in-law have borne!
Thus may the Drusus whom dread Germany snatched from you
     be the sole fallen part of your childbearing!
Thus may there soon press upon you, the avenger of a brother’s funeral,
     a purple(-clad) son with snowy horses!

Adnuite o! timidis, mitissima numina, uotis;
     praesentis aliquid prosit habere deos.
Caesaris aduentu tuta gladiator harena
     exit et auxilium non leue uultus habet.
Nos quoque uestra iuuat quod, qua licet, ora uidemus,

Grant assent, O most gentle divinities, to the timid prayers;
     may it be of some profit to have the gods present.
At Caesar’s advent the gladiator goes forth safe from the arena
     and has no slight aid from his countenance.
We also are helped in that, so far as it is permitted, we behold your faces,

     intrata est superis quod domus una tribus.
Felices illi qui non simulacra, sed ipsos
     quique deum coram corpora uera uident!
Quod quoniam nobis inuidit inutile fatum,
     quos dedit ars uultus effigiemque colo.

     that one house has been entered by the three gods above.
Happy those who behold not simulacra, but the gods themselves,
     and who see the true bodies of the gods face to face!
Since unhelpful fate has begrudged this to us,
     I honor the visages and the effigy which art has given.

Sic homines nouere deos, quos arduus aether
     occulit, et colitur pro Ioue forma Iouis.
Denique, quae mecum est et erit sine fine, cauete
     ne sit in inuiso uestra figura loco.
Nam caput e nostra citius ceruice recedet

Thus do men know the gods, whom the lofty aether hides,
     and in place of Jove the form of Jove is worshiped.
Finally, that which is with me and will be without end, beware
     lest your figure be in an unseen place.
For the head will sooner depart from our neck

     et patiar fossis lumen abire genis
quam caream raptis, o publica numina, uobis:
     uos eritis nostrae portus et ara fugae.
Vos ego complectar, Geticis si cingar ab armis,
     utque meas aquilas, <sic mea> signa sequar.

     and I would suffer the light to depart from my hollowed cheeks
than be without you, O public numina, you having been snatched away:
     you will be the port and altar of my flight.
You I will embrace, if I am girded by Getic arms,
     and as I follow my eagles, <so my> standards I shall follow.

Aut ego me fallo nimioque cupidine ludor
     aut spes exilii commodioris adest;
nam minus et minus est facies in imagine tristis
     uisaque sunt dictis adnuere ora meis.
Vera precor fiant timidae praesagia mentis

Either I deceive myself and am toyed with by too excessive desire
     or a hope of a more commodious exile is at hand;
for less and less is the face sad in the image,
     and the faces seemed to nod assent to my words.
May the presages of my timid mind, I pray, prove true

iustaque, quamuis est, sit minor ira dei.

and just, although it is, may the wrath of the god be lesser.

IX. COTYI REGI

9. TO KING COTYS

Regia progenies, cui nobilitatis origo
     nomen in Eumolpi peruenit usque, Coty,
Fama loquax uestras si iam peruenit ad aures
     me tibi finitimi parte iacere soli,
supplicis exaudi, iuuenum mitissime, uocem,

Royal progeny, to whom the origin of nobility
     has, in name, reached all the way to Eumolpus, Cotys,
Loquacious Fame, if already she has reached your ears,
     that I lie to you on a portion of contiguous soil,
hear the voice of a suppliant, most gentle of young men,

     quamque potes, profugo—nam potes—adfer opem.
Me fortuna tibi—de qua quod non queror hoc est—
     tradidit, hoc uno non inimica mihi.
Excipe naufragium non duro litore nostrum,
     ne fuerit terra tutior unda tua.

     as much as you can, bring aid to the exile—for you can.
Fortune has delivered me to you—about whom, that I do not complain, this is the reason—
     has delivered me, not unfriendly to me in this one respect.
Receive our shipwreck upon a shore not harsh,
     lest your wave be safer than the land.

Regia, crede mihi, res est succurrere lapsis
     conuenit et tanto quantus es ipse uiro.
Fortunam decet hoc istam, quae maxima cum sit,
     esse potest animo uix tamen aequa tuo.
Conspicitur numquam meliore potentia causa

Regal, believe me, is the thing, to succor the fallen;
     and it befits a man as great as you yourself are.
This befits that Fortune, who, although she is greatest,
     yet can scarcely be equal to your spirit.
Power is never seen with a better cause

     quam quotiens uanas non sinit esse preces.
Hoc nitor iste tui generis desiderat, hoc est
     a superis ortae nobilitatis opus.
Hoc tibi et Eumolpus, generis clarissimus auctor,
     et prior Eumolpo suadet Erichthonius.

     than whenever he does not allow prayers to be vain.
This the splendor of your lineage desires, this is
     the work of nobility sprung from the gods.
This to you both Eumolpus, the most illustrious founder of the lineage,
     and Erichthonius, prior to Eumolpus, urges.

Hoc tecum commune deo est quod uterque rogati
     supplicibus uestris ferre soletis opem.
Numquid erit quare solito dignemur honore
     numina, si demas uelle iuuare deos?
Iuppiter oranti surdas si praebeat auris,

This with you is common to a god: that you both, when asked,
     are accustomed to bring help to your suppliants.
Will there be any reason why we should deem the divinities worthy of the customary honor,
     if you take away from the gods the will to help?
If Jupiter should offer deaf ears to one praying,

     uictima pro templo cur cadat icta Iouis?
Si pacem nullam pontus mihi praestet eunti,
     inrita Neptuno cur ego tura feram?
Vana laborantis si fallat arua coloni,
     accipiat grauidae cur suis exta Ceres?

     why should a victim fall struck before the temple of Jove?
If the sea affords me no peace as I go,
     why should I bear incense to Neptune in vain?
If the fields prove vain and deceive the toiling farmer,
     why should Ceres receive the entrails from a pregnant sow?

Nec dabit intonso iugulum caper hostia Baccho,
     musta sub adducto si pede nulla fluent.
Caesar ut imperii moderetur frena precamur,
     tam bene quod patriae consulit ille suae.
Vtilitas igitur magnos hominesque deosque

Nor will the goat, an unshorn victim, offer its throat to Bacchus,
     if no musts flow beneath the brought-down foot.
We pray that Caesar may moderate the reins of empire,
     since he so well takes counsel for his own fatherland.
Utility, therefore, guides both great men and gods

     efficit auxiliis quoque fauente suis.
Tu quoque fac prosis intra tua castra iacenti,
     o Coty, progenies digna parente tuo.
Conueniens homini est hominem seruare uoluptas
     et melius nulla quaeritur arte fauor.

     she brings it to pass as well, with her own auxiliaries favoring.
You too, see to it that you help the one lying within your camp,
     O Coty, progeny worthy of your parent.
     A pleasure befitting a man is to preserve a man,
     and by no art is favor sought better.

Quis non Antiphaten Laestrygona deuouet aut quis
     munifici mores improbat Alcinoi?
Non tibi Cassandreus pater est gentisue Pheraeae
     quiue repertorem torruit arte sua,
sed quam Marte ferox et uinci nescius armis,

Who does not execrate Antiphates the Laestrygon, or who
     disapproves the manners of munificent Alcinous?
Not for you is the father of Cassander nor of the Pheraean race,
     or he who scorched the inventor by his own art,
but rather one, fierce in Mars and unacquainted with being conquered in arms,

     tam numquam facta pace cruoris amans.
Adde quod ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
     emollit mores nec sinit esse feros.
Nec regum quisquam magis est instructus ab illis
     mitibus aut studiis tempora plura dedit.

     so never, with peace concluded, a lover of gore.
Add that to have faithfully learned the liberal arts
     softens the mores and does not allow them to be feral.
Nor has any of the kings been more instructed by those
     mild pursuits, or devoted more time to studies.

Carmina testantur quae, si tua nomina demas,
     Threicium iuuenem composuisse negem.
Neue sub hoc tractu uates foret unicus Orpheus,
     Bistonis ingenio terra superba tuo est.
Vtque tibi est animus, cum res ita postulat, arma

The songs bear witness; which, if you remove your names, I would deny that a Thracian youth had composed.
Nor, within this region, would the bard be Orpheus alone,
the land of Bistonis is proud of your genius.
And, as your spirit is, when the matter thus requires, arms

     sumere et hostili tingere caede manum,
atque ut es excusso iaculum torquere lacerto
     collaque uelocis flectere doctus equi,
tempora sic data sunt studiis ubi iusta paternis
     atque suis humeris forte quieuit opus,

     to take up, and to stain your hand with hostile slaughter,
and, as you are, to hurl the javelin with your shaken upper arm,
     and skilled to bend the neck of a swift horse,
thus time has been given to studies when, what is due, the work has perhaps rested
     upon your father’s and your own shoulders,

ne tua marcescant per inertis otia somnos,
     lucida Pieria tendis in astra uia.
Haec quoque res aliquid tecum mihi foederis adfert:
     eiusdem sacri cultor uterque sumus.
Ad uatem uates orantia brachia tendo,

lest your leisure should wither through inert slumbers,
     you stretch a lucid Pierian way into the stars.
This matter too brings me some covenant with you:
     we are each a cultivator of the same sacred rite.
To a poet, as a poet, I stretch beseeching arms,

     terra sit exiliis ut tua fida meis.
Non ego caede nocens in Ponti litora ueni
     mixtaue sunt nostra dira uenena manu,
nec mea subiecta conuicta est gemma tabella
     mendacem linis inposuisse notam.

     may your land be faithful to my exiles.
I did not come guilty of slaughter to the shores of the Pontus
     nor were dire poisons mixed by my hand,
nor has my tablet, with a gem applied, been convicted
     of having set a mendacious mark upon linen threads.

Nec quicquam, quod lege uetor committere, feci:
     est tamen his grauior noxa fatenda mihi.
Neue roges quae sit, stultam conscripsimus Artem.
     Innocuas nobis haec uetat esse manus.
Ecquid praeterea peccarim quaerere noli,

Nor have I done anything which I am forbidden by law to commit:
     yet a heavier offense than these must be confessed by me.
And do not ask what it is: we composed the foolish Art.
     This forbids that our hands be innocent.
Do not seek whether besides this I have sinned at all,

     ut lateat sola culpa sub Arte mea.
Quicquid id est, habuit moderatam uindicis iram,
     qui nisi natalem nil mihi dempsit humum.
Hac quoniam careo, tua nunc uicinia praestet,
     inuiso possim tutus ut esse loco.

     so that the sole fault may lie hidden under my Art.
Whatever it is, it had the avenger’s ire moderate,
     who took from me nothing except my natal soil.
Since I lack this, let your vicinity now provide it,
     so that I may be able to be safe in an odious place.

X. MACRO

10. MACRO

Ecquid ab impressae cognoscis imagine cerae
     haec tibi Nasonem scribere uerba, Macer,
auctorisque sui si non est anulus index,
     cognitane est nostra littera facta manu?
An tibi notitiam mora temporis eripit horum

Do you recognize from the image impressed on the wax
     that Naso writes these words to you, Macer,
and, if the ring is not an index of its author,
     is our letter recognized as made by our hand?
Or does the delay of time snatch from you the recognition of these?

     nec repetunt oculi signa uetusta tui?
Sis licet oblitus pariter gemmaeque manusque,
     exciderit tantum ne tibi cura mei.
Quam tu uel longi debes conuictibus aeui,
     uel mea quod coniunx non aliena tibi est,

     nor do your eyes recall your ancient signs?
Even if you be forgetful alike of the gem and the hand,
     only let the care for me not slip from you.
Which you owe either to the companionships of a long age,
     or because my spouse is not alien to you,

uel studiis quibus es quam nos sapientius usus,
     utque decet, nulla factus es Arte nocens.
Tu canis aeterno quicquid restabat Homero,
     ne careant summa Troica bella manu.
Naso parum prudens Artem dum tradit amandi,

or by your studies, in which you have employed yourself more wisely than I,
     and, as is fitting, you have become harmful through no Art.
You sing whatever was left to everlasting Homer,
     lest the supreme Trojan wars lack the finishing hand.
Naso, too little prudent, while he hands down the Art of Loving,

     doctrinae pretium triste magister habet.
Sunt tamen inter se communia sacra poetis,
     diuersum quamuis quisque sequamur iter.
Quorum te memorem, quamquam procul absumus, esse
     suspicor et casus uelle leuare meos.

     the teacher bears the sad price of his doctrine.
Yet there are sacra in common among poets,
     although each of us follows a different path.
Of which I suspect you, although we are far away, to be mindful,
     and to wish to lighten my misfortunes.

Te duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes,
     Trinacris est oculis te duce uisa meis;
uidimus Aetnaea caelum splendescere flamma,
     subpositus monti quam uomit ore gigans
Hennaeosque lacus et olentia stagna Palici,

With you as leader we have surveyed the magnificent cities of Asia,
     Trinacria has been seen by my eyes with you as leader;
we saw the sky gleam with Aetnaean flame,
     which the giant, set beneath the mountain, vomits from his mouth
and the Hennaean lakes and the reeking pools of the Palici,

quamque suis Cyanen miscet Anapus aquis.
Nec procul hinc nympha est quae, dum fugit Elidis amnem,
tecta sub aequorea nunc quoque currit aqua.
Hic mihi labentis pars anni magna peracta est.

and the Anapus, which mixes the Cyane with its own waters.
Nor far from here is the nymph who, while she flees the river of Elis,
even now runs hidden beneath the sea-water.
Here for me a great part of the slipping year has been completed.

Eheu! quam dispar est locus ille Getis!

Alas! how disparate that place is from the Getae!

Et quota pars haec sunt rerum quas uidimus ambo,
     te mihi iucundas efficiente uias,
seu rate caeruleas picta sulcauimus undas,
     esseda nos agili siue tulere rota.
Saepe breuis nobis uicibus uia uisa loquendi

And what portion are these of the things which we both have seen,
     you making the ways pleasant for me,
whether with a painted boat we furrowed the cerulean waves,
     or the agile wheels of the chariot bore us.
Often the way seemed short to us, by turns of speaking

     pluraque, si numeres, uerba fuere gradu.
Saepe dies sermone minor fuit inque loquendum
     tarda per aestiuos defuit hora dies.
Est aliquid casus pariter timuisse marinos
     iunctaque ad aequoreos uota tulisse deos,

     and, if you count, there were more words than steps.
Often the day was lesser than our discourse, and for speaking
     a tardy hour was lacking throughout the estival days.
There is something in having feared maritime chances together
     and in having borne joined vows to the sea-gods,

et modo res egisse simul, modo rursus ab illis,
     quorum non pudeat, posse referre iocos.
Haec tibi cum subeant, absim licet, omnibus annis
     ante tuos oculos, ut modo uisus, ero.
Ipse quidem certe cum sim sub cardine mundi

and now that we have done affairs together, now again to be able to carry back jests from those of whom one need not be ashamed.
When these things come up for you, though I may be absent, in all the years
I shall be before your eyes, as if just seen.
I myself indeed, since I am beneath the hinge of the world,

     qui semper liquidis altior extat aquis,
te tamen intueor, quo solo pectore possum,
     et tecum gelido saepe sub axe loquor.
Hic es et ignoras et ades celeberrimus absens
     inque Getas media iussus ab Vrbe uenis.

     which always stands higher than the clear waters,
yet I gaze upon you, with the only heart by which I can,
     and with you I often speak beneath the gelid pole.
Here you are and you do not know it, and you are present, most renowned, though absent,
     and, bidden from the midst of the City, you come among the Getae.

Redde uicem et, quoniam regio felicior ista est,
istic me memori pectore semper habe.

Return the like, and, since that region is more fortunate,
there keep me in a mindful heart always.

XI. RVFO

11. TO RUFUS

Hoc tibi, Rufe, breui properatum tempore mittit
     Naso, parum faustae conditor Artis, opus,
ut, quamquam longe toto sumus orbe remoti,
     scire tamen possis nos meminisse tui.
Nominis ante mei uenient obliuia nobis

This to you, Rufus, in brief and hurried time sends
     Naso, founder of a not very auspicious Art, a work,
so that, although we are far removed across the whole world,
     you may nevertheless be able to know that we remember you.
Sooner will forgetfulness of my own name come to me

     pectore quam pietas sit tua pulsa meo,
et prius hanc animam uacuas reddemus in auras
     quam fiat meriti gratia uana tui.
Grande uoco lacrimas meritum quibus ora rigabas,
     cum mea concreto sicca dolore forent.

     than that your piety be driven from my breast,
and sooner will we render back this soul to empty airs
     than that the gratitude for your merit become vain.
I call great the merit—the tears with which you were wetting your features,
     when my own would be dry with congealed grief.

Grande uoco meritum maestae solacia mentis,
     cum pariter nobis illa tibique dares.
Sponte quidem per seque mea est laudabilis uxor,
     admonitu melior fit tamen illa tuo.
Namque, quod Hermionae Castor fuit, Hector Iuli,

I call a great merit the solaces of a sorrowful mind,
     when you would grant them equally to me and to yourself.
Of her own accord and by herself indeed my wife is laudable,
     yet she becomes better by your admonition.
For what Castor was to Hermione, Hector to Iulus,

     hoc ego te laetor coniugis esse meae.
Quae, ne dissimilis tibi sit probitate, laborat
     seque tui uita sanguinis esse probat.
Ergo, quod fuerat stimulis factura sine ullis,
     plenius auctorem te quoque nancta facit.

     this I rejoice that you are to my wife.
She, lest she be unlike you in probity, strives
     and by her life proves herself to be of your blood.
Therefore, what she was going to do without any spurs,
     more fully, having found you too as author, she does it.

Acer et ad palmae per se cursurus honores,
     si tamen horteris, fortius ibit equus.
Adde quod absentis cura mandata fideli
     perficis et nullum ferre grauaris onus.
O, referant grates, quoniam non possumus ipsi,

Keen and of himself about to run to the honors of the palm,
     yet if you urge him, the horse will go more bravely.
Add that, with faithful care, you complete the mandates of one absent
     and you do not begrudge bearing any burden.
O, let them render thanks, since we ourselves cannot,

di tibi, qui referent, si pia facta uident,
sufficiatque diu corpus quoque moribus istis,
maxima Fundani gloria, Rufe, soli!

may the gods, who repay, if they see pious deeds,
may your body also be long sufficient to those morals,
O Rufus, greatest glory of the Fundanian soil!