Ovid: FASTI

Quaeritis unde putem Maio data nomina mensi?
     non satis est liquido cognita causa mihi.
ut stat et incertus qua sit sibi nescit eundum,
     cum videt ex omni parte, viator, iter,
sic, quia posse datur diversas reddere causas,

You ask whence I suppose names were given to the month May?
     the cause is not known to me with clear certainty.
as one stands and, uncertain which way he should go, does not know,
     when, traveler, he sees a way on every side,
so, since it is permitted to render diverse causes,

     qua ferar ignoro, copiaque ipsa nocet.
dicite, quae fontes Aganippidos Hippocrenes,
     grata Medusaei signa, tenetis, equi.
dissensere deae; quarum Polyhymnia coepit
     prima (silent aliae, dictaque mente notant):

     I know not whither I should be borne, and abundance itself harms.
tell, you who hold the springs of Aganippian Hippocrene,
     you hold the welcome tokens of the Medusan horse.
the goddesses dissented; of whom Polyhymnia began
     first (the others are silent, and note the words in mind):

'post chaos ut primum data sunt tria corpora mundo
     inque novas species omne recessit opus,
pondere terra suo subsedit et aequora traxit:
     at caelum levitas in loca summa tulit;
sol quoque cum stellis nulla gravitate retentus

'after Chaos, when first three bodies were given to the world
     and the whole work withdrew into new species,
by its own weight the earth subsided and drew the seas:
     but lightness bore the sky into the highest places;
the sun also, together with the stars, held back by no gravity

     et vos, Lunares, exsiluistis, equi.
sed neque terra diu caelo, nec cetera Phoebo
     sidera cedebant: par erat omnis honos.
saepe aliquis solio, quod tu, Saturne, tenebas,
     ausus de media plebe sedere deus:

     and you too, Lunar horses, leapt forth.
but neither did earth for long yield to sky, nor did the other stars yield to Phoebus:
     every honor was equal.
often some god, from the very middle of the plebs, dared to sit on the throne which you, Saturn, held:

nec latus Oceano quisquam deus advena iunxit,
     et Themis extremo saepe recepta loco est,
donec Honor placidoque decens Reverentia voltu
     corpora legitimis imposuere toris.
hinc sata Maiestas, hos est dea censa parentes,

nor did any newcomer god join his side to Oceanus,
     and Themis was often received in the last place,
until Honor and Reverence, seemly with a placid countenance,
     placed bodies upon legitimate marriage-beds.
from this was Majesty begotten; the goddess was reckoned to have these as parents,

     quaque die partu est edita, magna fuit.
nec mora, consedit medio sublimis Olympo
     aurea, purpureo conspicienda sinu;
consedere simul Pudor et Metus. omne videres
     numen ad hanc voltus composuisse suos.

     and from the day she was brought forth by birth, she was great.
no delay, she sat in the middle of lofty Olympus
     golden, to be beheld with a purple bosom;
Modesty and Fear sat down at the same time. you could see
     every divinity compose their countenances for her.

protinus intravit mentes suspectus honorum:
     fit pretium dignis, nec sibi quisque placet.
hic status in caelo multos permansit in annos,
     dum senior fatis excidit arce deus.
Terra feros partus, immania monstra, Gigantas

straightway there entered minds a suspicion about honors:
     a premium is set for the worthy, and no one pleases himself.
this state in heaven remained for many years,
     until the elder god fell from the citadel by the Fates.
Earth brought forth fierce offspring, enormous monsters, the Giants

     edidit ausuros in Iovis ire domum.
mille manus illis dedit et pro cruribus angues,
     atque ait "in magnos arma movete deos."
exstruere hi montes ad sidera summa parabant
     et magnum bello sollicitare Iovem;

     she brought forth those who would dare to go into Jove’s house.
a thousand hands she gave to them, and in place of legs, snakes,
     and said, "move arms against the great gods."
they were preparing to pile up mountains to the highest stars
     and to trouble great Jove with war;

fulmina de caeli iaculatus Iuppiter arce
     vertit in auctores pondera vasta suos.
his bene Maiestas armis defensa deorum
     restat, et ex illo tempore culta manet.
assidet inde Iovi, Iovis est fidissima custos,

Jupiter, having hurled thunderbolts from the citadel of heaven
     turned the vast weights upon their own authors.
By these arms the Majesty of the gods is well defended
     and from that time remains honored.
thereafter she sits beside Jupiter, she is the most faithful guardian of Jupiter,

     et praestat sine vi sceptra timenda Iovi.
venit et in terras: coluerunt Romulus illam
     et Numa, mox alii, tempore quisque suo.
illa patres in honore pio matresque tuetur,
     illa comes pueris virginibusque venit;

     and she renders the scepters of Jupiter to be feared without force.
she comes too to the lands: Romulus worshipped her
     and Numa, soon others, each in his own time.
she protects fathers and mothers in pious honor,
     she comes as a companion to boys and to virgins;

illa datos fasces commendat eburque curule,
     illa coronatis alta triumphat equis.'
finierat voces Polyhymnia: dicta probarunt
     Clioque et curvae scita Thalia lyrae.
excipit Uranie: fecere silentia cunctae,

she commends the granted fasces and the curule ivory,
     she triumphs aloft with crowned horses.'
Polyhymnia had finished her words: the words were approved
     by Clio and by Thalia, skilled in the curved lyre.
Uranie takes it up: all made silence,

     et vox audiri nulla, nisi illa, potest.
'magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia cani,
     inque suo pretio ruga senilis erat.
Martis opus iuvenes animosaque bella gerebant,
     et pro dis aderant in statione suis;

     and no voice can be heard, except that one.
'great once was the reverence of the hoary head,
     and the wrinkle of old age was at its proper price.
the young men bore the work of Mars and waged spirited wars,
     and on behalf of their own gods they were present at their station;

viribus illa minor nec habendis utilis armis
     consilio patriae saepe ferebat opem;
nec nisi post annos patuit tunc curia seros,
     nomen et aetatis mite senatus habet.
iura dabat populo senior, finitaque certis

that age, lesser in strength and not useful for bearing arms,
     by counsel often brought aid to the fatherland;
nor did the curia then stand open except after late years,
     and the senate bears the gentle name of age.
the elder gave laws to the people, and [matters] finished by fixed terms

     legibus est aetas unde petatur honor,
et medius iuvenum, non indignantibus ipsis,
     ibat, et interior, si comes unus erat.
verba quis auderet coram sene digna rubore
     dicere? censuram longa senecta dabat.                70
Romulus hoc vidit selectaque pectora patres
     dixit: ad hos urbis summa relata novae.
hinc sua maiores tribuisse vocabula Maio
     tangor, et aetati consuluisse suae.
et Numitor dixisse potest "da, Romule, mensem

     by the laws there is an age whence honor may be sought,
and the middle one among the young men, the youths themselves not indignant,
     went, and on the inner side, if he was the sole companion.
who would dare, in an old man’s presence, words worthy of blushes
     to speak? Long senescence bestowed the censorship.                70
Romulus saw this and called selected hearts “fathers”:
     to these the highest authority of the new city was referred.
hence I am touched that the elders bestowed their own appellation upon May,
     and that they took counsel for their own age.
and Numitor can be said to have said, “Grant, Romulus, a month

     hunc senibus", nec avum sustinuisse nepos.
nec leve propositi pignus successor honoris
     Iunius, a iuvenum nomine dictus, habet.'
tunc sic, neglectos hedera redimita capillos,
     prima sui coepit Calliopea chori:

     "this one for the old men," nor did the grandson refuse to uphold the grandsire.
nor is the pledge of the purpose light; the successor in honor,
     June, called from the name of the young men, holds it.'
then thus, with her neglected hair wreathed with ivy,
     Calliope, first of her own chorus, began:

'duxerat Oceanus quondam Titanida Tethyn,
     qui terram liquidis, qua patet, ambit aquis;
hinc sata Pleione cum caelifero Atlante
     iungitur, ut fama est, Pleiadasque parit.
quarum Maia suas forma superasse sorores

'Once Oceanus had taken to wife the Titanid Tethys,
     who encircles the earth, wherever it extends, with liquid waters;
thence-born Pleione is joined with sky-bearing Atlas,
     as report has it, and gives birth to the Pleiades.
of whom Maia is said by her beauty to have surpassed her sisters

     traditur et summo concubuisse Iovi.
haec enixa iugo cupressiferae Cyllenes
     aetherium volucri qui pede carpit iter;
Arcades hunc Ladonque rapax et Maenalos ingens
     rite colunt, luna credita terra prior.

     it is handed down that she also lay with highest Jove.
she bore, on the ridge of cypress-bearing Cyllene,
     him who with winged foot carps the aetherial path;
the Arcadians, and rapacious Ladon and mighty Maenalus,
     duly worship him, their land believed older than the Moon.

exul ab Arcadia Latios Euander in agros
     venerat, impositos attuleratque deos.
hic, ubi nunc Roma est, orbis caput, arbor et herbae
     et paucae pecudes et casa rara fuit:
quo postquam ventum est, "consistite", praescia mater

an exile from Arcadia, Evander had come into the Latian fields
     had come, and had brought the gods he had set in place.
here, where now Rome is, the head of the world, there was a tree and grasses
     and a few flocks and a rare hut:
to which place after they had come, "Stand still," said the prescient mother

     "nam locus imperii rus erit istud" ait.
et matri et vati paret Nonacrius heros,
     inque peregrina constitit hospes humo;
sacraque multa quidem, sed Fauni prima bicornis
     has docuit gentes alipedisque dei.                100
semicaper, coleris cinctutis, Faune, Lupercis,
     cum lustrant celebres verbera secta vias;
at tu materno donasti nomine mensem,
     inventor curvae, furibus apte, fidis.
nec pietas haec prima tua est: septena putaris,

     "for the place of empire, that countryside will be," she says.
and the Nonacrian hero obeys both mother and prophet,
     and as a guest he stood on foreign soil;
and many rites indeed, but those of horned Faunus first
     these peoples were taught, and of the wing-footed god.                100
half-goat, you are worshiped, Faunus, by the girt-up Luperci,
     when with cut thongs they purify the famous streets;
but you bestowed on a month your mother’s name,
     inventor of the curved strings, fitting for thieves.
nor is this your first piety: you are thought to have made them seven,

105

     Pleiadum numerum, fila dedisse lyrae.'
haec quoque desierat: laudata est voce suarum.
     quid faciam? turbae pars habet omnis idem.
gratia Pieridum nobis aequaliter adsit,
     nullaque laudetur plusve minusve mihi.

     that she had given the lyre strings equal to the number of the Pleiads.'
She too had ceased: she was praised by the voices of her own.
     What shall I do? Every part of the crowd holds the same.
May the favor of the Pierides be equally present to us,
     and let none be lauded more or less by me.

110

1. A K : MAI : F

1. A KALENDS : MAY : F

Ab Iove surgat opus. prima mihi nocte videnda
     stella est in cunas officiosa Iovis:
nascitur Oleniae signum pluviale Capellae;
     illa dati caelum praemia lactis habet.
Nais Amalthea, Cretaea nobilis Ida,

Let the work rise from Jove. the first star for me to be seen at night
     is dutiful to the cradle of Jove:
there is born the pluvial sign of the Olenian She-Goat, Capella;
     she holds heaven as the reward for the milk that was given.
Naiad Amalthea, noble Cretan Ida,

115

     dicitur in silvis occuluisse Iovem.
huic fuit haedorum mater formosa duorum,
     inter Dictaeos conspicienda greges,
cornibus aeriis atque in sua terga recurvis,
     ubere, quod nutrix posset habere Iovis.

     she is said to have hidden Jupiter in the woods.
she had a beautiful mother of two kids,
     to be conspicuous among the Dictean flocks,
with brazen horns and curving back upon her own back,
     with an udder such as a nurse of Jove could have.

120

lac dabat illa deo; sed fregit in arbore cornu,
     truncaque dimidia parte decoris erat.
sustulit hoc nymphe cinxitque recentibus herbis,
     et plenum pomis ad Iovis ora tulit.
ille ubi res caeli tenuit solioque paterno

she gave milk to the god; but she broke a horn upon a tree,
     and was maimed, lacking half her comeliness.
a nymph lifted this and wreathed it with fresh herbs,
     and, full of fruits, carried it to Jove’s lips.
he, when he held the affairs of heaven and the paternal throne

125

     sedit, et invicto nil Iove maius erat,
sidera nutricem, nutricis fertile cornu
     fecit, quod dominae nunc quoque nomen habet.
Praestitibus Maiae Laribus videre Kalendae
     aram constitui parvaque signa deum:                130
voverat illa quidem Curius, sed multa vetustas
     destruit; et saxo longa senecta nocet.
causa tamen positi fuerat cognominis illis
     quod praestant oculis omnia tuta suis:
stant quoque pro nobis et praesunt moenibus Urbis,

     he sat, and nothing was greater than unconquered Jove;
the stars he made the nurse, and the nurse’s fertile horn,
     which even now bears its mistress’s name.
The Kalends saw an altar set up to the Lares Praestites of Maia
     and small effigies of the gods:                130
Curius had indeed vowed that, but Antiquity destroys many things;
     and long senescence harms even stone.
Yet the cause of the cognomen set upon them had been
     that they guarantee everything secure under their own eyes:
they also stand for us and preside over the walls of the City,

135

     et sunt praesentes auxiliumque ferunt.
at canis ante pedes saxo fabricatus eodem
     stabat: quae standi cum Lare causa fuit?
servat uterque domum, domino quoque fidus uterque:
     compita grata deo, compita grata cani.

     and they are present and bring aid.
but a dog, fashioned from the same stone, before the feet
     stood: what was the cause of standing with the Lar?
each guards the house, and each is faithful to the master as well:
     the crossroads are pleasing to the god, the crossroads pleasing to the dog.

140

exagitant et Lar et turba Diania fures:
     pervigilantque Lares, pervigilantque canes.
bina gemellorum quaerebam signa deorum
     viribus annosae facta caduca morae:
mille Lares Geniumque ducis, qui tradidit illos,

both the Lar and Diana’s throng drive off thieves:
     and the Lares keep all-night vigil, and the dogs keep all-night vigil.
I was seeking the twin signs of the twin gods,
     made tottering by the forces of time-worn delay:
a thousand Lares and the Genius of the leader, who delivered them,

145

     Urbs habet, et vici numina terna colunt.
quo feror? Augustus mensis mihi carminis huius
     ius dabit: interea Diva canenda Bona est.
est moles nativa, loco res nomina fecit:
     appellant Saxum; pars bona montis ea est.

     The City has them, and the neighborhoods worship triple divinities.
Whither am I carried? The August month will give me the right to this song;
     meanwhile the Good Goddess must be sung.
There is a native mass; the thing gave the place its name:
     they call it the Rock; it is a good portion of the hill.

150

huic Remus institerat frustra, quo tempore fratri
     prima Palatinae signa dedistis aves;
templa patres illic oculos exosa viriles
     leniter adclivi constituere iugo.
dedicat haec veteris Crassorum nominis heres,

Remus had stood upon this in vain, at the time when you birds gave his brother the first Palatine signs;
there the fathers set up temples, abhorring male eyes,
on a gently upsloping ridge.
these are dedicated by the heir of the ancient name of the Crassi,

155

virgineo nullum corpore passa virum:
Livia restituit, ne non imitata maritum
esset et ex omni parte secuta ~virum~.

who in her virginal body had suffered no man:
Livia restored it, so as not to fail to imitate her husband
and to follow ~the man~ in every part.

2. B F

Postera cum roseam pulsis Hyperionis astris
     in matutinis lampada tollet equis,
frigidus Argestes summas mulcebit aristas,
     candidaque a Calabris vela dabuntur aquis.
at simul inducent obscura crepuscula noctem,
     pars Hyadum toto de grege nulla latet.
ora micant Tauri septem radiantia flammis,

The next [day], when, the stars of Hyperion driven back,
     she will lift the rosy lamp with her morning horses,
the cold Argestes will soothe the topmost ears of grain,
     and white sails will be given to the Calabrian waters.
but as soon as the dim twilights bring on night,
     no part of the Hyades, from the whole flock, lies hidden.
the seven features of the Bull glitter, radiant with flames,

165

     navita quas Hyadas Graius ab imbre vocat;
pars Bacchum nutrisse putat, pars credidit esse
     Tethyos has neptes Oceanique senis.
nondum stabat Atlas umeros oneratus Olympo
     cum satus est forma conspiciendus Hyas:

     the Grecian mariner calls them the Hyades from rain;
some think they nursed Bacchus, some have believed them to be
     the granddaughters of Tethys and of the old man Oceanus.
Atlas did not yet stand with his shoulders burdened by Olympus
     when Hyas, remarkable to be beheld for beauty, was begotten:

170

hunc stirps Oceani maturis nixibus Aethra
     edidit et nymphas, sed prior ortus Hyas.
dum nova lanugo est, pavidos formidine cervos
     terret, et est illi praeda benigna lepus:
at postquam virtus annis adolevit, in apros

Aethra, of Oceanus’ stock, with mature birth-throes bore this one and the nymphs; but Hyas was earlier born.
while the new down is upon him, he frightens timid deer with dread, and the hare is to him a kindly prey:
but after his prowess has grown with the years, upon boars

175

     audet et hirsutas comminus ire leas;
dumque petit latebras fetae catulosque leaenae,
     ipse fuit Libycae praeda cruenta ferae.
mater Hyan et Hyan maestae flevere sorores
     cervicemque polo subpositurus Atlas.

     he also dares to go at close quarters against hirsute lionesses;
and while he seeks the hiding-places of a whelped lioness and her cubs,
     he himself was the bloody prey of a Libyan wild beast.
Hyas’s mother and his sorrowing sisters wept for Hyas,
     and Atlas, about to set his neck beneath the pole.

180

victus uterque parens tamen est pietate sororum:
     illa dedit caelum, nomina fecit Hyas.
'Mater, ades, florum, ludis celebranda iocosis:
     distuleram partes mense priore tuas.
incipis Aprili, transis in tempora Maii:

both parents, however, were overcome by the piety of the sisters:
     that gave the sky, Hyas made the names.
'Mother, be present, of flowers, to be celebrated with jocose games:
     I had deferred your rites in the previous month.
you begin in April, you pass into the times of May:

185

     alter te fugiens, cum venit alter habet.
cum tua sint cedantque tibi confinia mensum,
     convenit in laudes ille vel ille tuas.
Circus in hunc exit clamataque palma theatris;
     hoc quoque cum Circi munere carmen eat.

     the one flees you; when the other comes, the other holds you.
since the confines of the months are yours and yield to you,
     it is fitting that either this one or that attend to your lauds.
the Circus goes forth on this day, and the acclaimed palm in the theaters;
     let this song also go with the Circus’s gift.

190

ipsa doce quae sis: hominum sententia fallax;
     optima tu proprii nominis auctor eris.'
sic ego; sic nostris respondit diva rogatis
     (dum loquitur, vernas efflat ab ore rosas):
'Chloris eram quae Flora vocor: corrupta Latino

you yourself teach who you are: the sentiment of men is fallacious;
     you will be the best author of your own name.'
thus I; thus the goddess responded to our askings
     (while she speaks, she exhales homeborn roses from her mouth):
'I was Chloris, I who am called Flora: corrupted into Latin

195

     nominis est nostri littera Graeca sono.
Chloris eram, nymphe campi felicis, ubi audis
     rem fortunatis ante fuisse viris.
quae fuerit mihi forma, grave est narrare modestae;
     sed generum matri repperit illa deum.

     the letter of my name is Greek in sound.
I was Chloris, a nymph of the happy field, where you hear
     that the thing once belonged to fortunate men.
what my form was, it is weighty for a modest woman to tell;
     but that found for my mother a god as son-in-law.

200

ver erat, errabam; Zephyrus conspexit, abibam;
     insequitur, fugio: fortior ille fuit.
et dederat fratri Boreas ius omne rapinae,
     ausus Erecthea praemia ferre domo.
vim tamen emendat dando mihi nomina nuptae,

it was spring, I was wandering; Zephyr espied me, I was going away;
     he pursues, I flee: he was the stronger.
and Boreas had given to his brother the whole right of rapine,
     having dared to carry off prizes from Erechtheus’ house.
nevertheless he emends the violence by giving to me the names of a bride,

205

     inque meo non est ulla querella toro.
[vere fruor semper: semper nitidissimus annus,
     arbor habet frondes, pabula semper humus.]
est mihi fecundus dotalibus hortus in agris;
     aura fovet, liquidae fonte rigatur aquae:

     and on my bed there is no complaint at all.
[I enjoy spring always: always the year is most lustrous,
     the tree has fronds, the ground always fodder.]
I have a fecund garden in my dotal fields;
     the breeze fosters it, it is irrigated by a spring of limpid water:

210

hunc meus implevit generoso flore maritus,
     atque ait "arbitrium tu, dea, floris habe."
saepe ego digestos volui numerare colores,
     nec potui: numero copia maior erat.
roscida cum primum foliis excussa pruina est

this my husband filled with noble bloom,
     and said, "you, goddess, have the arbitrament of the flower."
often I wished to number the arranged colors,
     nor could I: the abundance was greater than number.
when the dewy rime is first shaken from the leaves

215

     et variae radiis intepuere comae,
conveniunt pictis incinctae vestibus Horae,
     inque leves calathos munera nostra legunt;
protinus accedunt Charites, nectuntque coronas
     sertaque caelestes implicitura comas.

     and the variegated tresses grew warm in the rays,
they assemble, the Hours girded with painted garments,
     and into light baskets they gather our gifts;
straightway the Graces draw near, and they weave crowns
     and wreaths to entwine celestial hair.

220

prima per immensas sparsi nova semina gentes:
     unius tellus ante coloris erat;
prima Therapnaeo feci de sanguine florem,
     et manet in folio scripta querella suo.
tu quoque nomen habes cultos, Narcisse, per hortos,

first I scattered new seeds among the immense nations:
     before, the earth was of a single color;
I first made a flower from Therapnaean blood,
     and the complaint remains written on its own leaf.
you too, Narcissus, have a name throughout cultivated gardens,

225

     infelix, quod non alter et alter eras.
quid Crocon aut Attin referam Cinyraque creatum,
     de quorum per me volnere surgit honor?
Mars quoque, si nescis, per nostras editus artes:
     Iuppiter hoc, ut adhuc, nesciat usque, precor.

     unhappy, because you were not another and yet another.
why should I recount Crocus or Attis and the one begotten of Cinyras,
     from whose wound, through me, their honor rises?
Mars too, if you do not know, was brought forth by my arts:
     may Jupiter, as hitherto, not know this ever, I pray.

230

sancta Iovem Iuno nata sine matre Minerva
     officio doluit non eguisse suo.
ibat ut Oceano quereretur facta mariti;
     restitit ad nostras fessa labore fores.
quam simul aspexi, "quid te, Saturnia", dixi

holy Juno grieved that Minerva, born from Jupiter without a mother,
     had not needed her own office.
she was going to Ocean to complain of her husband’s deeds;
     wearied with labor she halted at our doors.
as soon as I beheld her, “what is it with you, daughter of Saturn,” I said

235

     "attulit?" exponit, quem petat, illa, locum;
addidit et causam. verbis solabar amicis.
     "non" inquit "verbis cura levanda mea est.
si pater est factus neglecto coniugis usu
     Iuppiter, et solus nomen utrumque tenet,

     "has brought you?" she sets forth the place which she seeks;
she added the cause as well. I was consoling with friendly words.
     "not," she says, "is my care to be lightened by words.
if Jupiter has become a father with the consort’s use neglected
     Jupiter, and alone holds both names,

240

cur ego desperem fieri sine coniuge mater,
     et parere intacto, dummodo casta, viro?
omnia temptabo latis medicamina terris,
     et freta Tartareos excutiamque sinus."
vox erat in cursu: voltum dubitantis habebam.

why should I despair of becoming a mother without a spouse,
     and to bear, with the man untouched, provided I be chaste?
I will try all medicaments throughout the broad lands,
     and I will ransack the seas and the Tartarean gulfs."
my voice was in mid-course: I wore the face of one doubting.

245

     "nescioquid, nymphe, posse videris" ait.
ter volui promittere opem, ter lingua retenta est:
     ira Iovis magni causa timoris erat.
"fer, precor, auxilium" dixit, "celabitur auctor",
     et Stygiae numen testificatur aquae.

     "you seem able to do something, nymph," he said.
three times I wished to promise help, three times my tongue was held back:
     the wrath of great Jove was a cause of fear.
"bring, I pray, aid," he said, "the author will be concealed,"
     and he calls to witness the numen of Stygian water.

250

"quod petis, Oleniis" inquam "mihi missus ab arvis
     flos dabit: est hortis unicus ille meis.
qui dabat, 'hoc' dixit 'sterilem quoque tange iuvencam,
     mater erit': tetigi, nec mora, mater erat."
protinus haerentem decerpsi pollice florem;

"what you seek, sent to me from the Olenian fields," I say, "a flower will grant; that one alone is in my gardens.
He who gave it said, 'touch even a sterile heifer with this,
she will be a mother': I touched, and without delay, she was a mother."
Straightway I plucked with my thumb the flower that clung;

255

     tangitur, et tacto concipit illa sinu.
iamque gravis Thracen et laeva Propontidos intrat,
     fitque potens voti, Marsque creatus erat.
qui memor accepti per me natalis "habeto
     tu quoque Romulea" dixit "in urbe locum."

     she is touched, and, her bosom being touched, she conceives.
and now, heavy, she enters Thrace and the left of the Propontis,
     and becomes in possession of her vow, and Mars had been created.
who, mindful of his birthday obtained through me, said, "have you too a place in the Romulean city."

260

forsitan in teneris tantum mea regna coronis
     esse putes. tangit numen et arva meum.
si bene floruerint segetes, erit area dives:
     si bene floruerit vinea, Bacchus erit;
si bene floruerint oleae, nitidissimus annus,

perhaps you suppose my realms are only in tender crowns
     that my numen touches my fields as well.
If the crops have blossomed well, the threshing-floor will be rich:
     if the vineyard has blossomed well, Bacchus will be;
if the olive-trees have blossomed well, the most shining year,

265

     pomaque proventum temporis huius habent.
flore semel laeso pereunt viciaeque fabaeque,
     et pereunt lentes, advena Nile, tuae.
vina quoque in magnis operose condita cellis
     florent, et nebulae dolia summa tegunt.

     and the fruits have the yield of this season.
once the blossom is harmed, vetches and beans perish,
     and your lentils, stranger Nile, perish.
wines too, painstakingly stored in great cellars,
     flower, and mists cover the topmost casks.

270

mella meum munus: volucres ego mella daturas
     ad violam et cytisos et thyma cana voco.'
[nos quoque idem facimus tunc, cum iuvenalibus annis
     luxuriant animi, corporaque ipsa vigent.]
talia dicentem tacitus mirabar; at illa

“Honey, my gift: I call the winged ones that will give honey
     to the violet and the cytisi and the hoary thymes.’
[we too do the same then, when in juvenile years
     the spirits luxuriate, and the very bodies thrive.]
as she was saying such things, I silently marveled; but she

275

     'ius tibi discendi, siqua requiris' ait.
'dic, dea', respondi 'ludorum quae sit origo.'
     vix bene desieram, rettulit illa mihi:
'cetera luxuriae nondum instrumenta vigebant;
     aut pecus aut latam dives habebat humum

     'You have the right to learn, if you seek anything,' she said.
'Speak, goddess,' I replied, 'what is the origin of the games?'
     Scarcely had I finished, she replied to me:
'The other instruments of luxury were not yet flourishing;
     either livestock, or the wealthy man possessed broad ground

280

(hinc etiam locuples, hinc ipsa pecunia dicta est);
     sed iam de vetito quisque parabat opes.
venerat in morem populi depascere saltus,
     idque diu licuit, poenaque nulla fuit;
vindice servabat nullo sua publica volgus,

(hence also “land‑rich,” hence money itself, “pecuniary,” was named);
     but now from what was forbidden each man was preparing wealth.
it had come into the custom of the people to graze down the glades,
     and this was long permitted, and there was no penalty;
the populace, with no vindicator, kept their public things as their own,

285

     iamque in privato pascere inertis erat.
plebis ad aediles perducta licentia talis
     Publicios; animus defuit ante viris.
rem populus recipit, multam subiere nocentes:
     vindicibus laudi publica cura fuit.                290
multa data est ex parte mihi, magnoque favore
     victores ludos instituere novos;
parte locant clivum, qui tunc erat ardua rupes,
     utile nunc iter est, Publiciumque vocant.'
annua credideram spectacula facta: negavit,

     and now it was the habit of the inert to graze on private land.
the license of the plebs was brought to the aediles, the Publicii;     before, spirit failed the men.
the people takes back the matter, the guilty underwent a mulct:
     for the vindicators the public care was for praise.                290
much was given to me in part, and with great favor
     the victors instituted new games;
with part they let out on contract the slope, which then was a steep crag,
     now it is a useful way, and they call it the Publician.'
I had believed the spectacles were made annual: he denied it,

295

     addidit et dictis altera verba suis:
'nos quoque tangit honor: festis gaudemus et aris,
     turbaque caelestes ambitiosa sumus.
saepe deos aliquis peccando fecit iniquos,
     et pro delictis hostia blanda fuit;

     and another added words too to her own sayings:
'honor touches us as well: we rejoice in festivals and altars,
     and we, a crowd of celestials, are ambitious.
often by sinning someone has made the gods unpropitious,
     and, for delicts, a soothing sacrificial victim has been;'

300

saepe Iovem vidi, cum iam sua mittere vellet
     fulmina, ture dato sustinuisse manum.
at si neglegimur, magnis iniuria poenis
     solvitur, et iustum praeterit ira modum.
respice Thestiaden: flammis absentibus arsit;

I have often seen Jove, when he already wished to send his own thunderbolts,
     hold back his hand when incense was given.
But if we are neglected, the injury is paid with great penalties,
     and ire passes beyond the just measure.
Look to Thestiades: with the flames absent, he burned;

305

     causa est, quod Phoebes ara sine igne fuit.
respice Tantaliden: eadem dea vela tenebat;
     virgo est, et spretos bis tamen ulta focos.
Hippolyte infelix, velles coluisse Dionen,
     cum consternatis diripereris equis.

     the cause is that Phoebe’s altar was without fire.
look back to the Tantalid: the same goddess was holding the sails;
     she is a virgin, and yet twice she avenged altars despised.
unhappy Hippolytus, you would have wished to have cultivated Dione,
     when you were being torn to pieces by panic‑stricken horses.

310

longa referre mora est correcta oblivia damnis:
     me quoque Romani praeteriere patres.
quid facerem, per quod fierem manifesta doloris?
     exigerem nostrae qualia damna notae?
excidit officium tristi mihi: nulla tuebar

it is a long delay to relate forgetfulness corrected by penalties:
     me too the Roman Fathers passed by.
what was I to do, by which I might make my grief manifest?
     what sort of damages should I exact for my stigma?
duty slipped from me in sadness: I was guarding nothing

315

     rura, nec in pretio fertilis hortus erat;
lilia deciderant, violas arere videres,
     filaque punicei languida facta croci.
saepe mihi Zephyrus "dotes corrumpere noli
     ipsa tuas" dixit: dos mihi vilis erat.

     the fields, nor was the fertile garden held in esteem;
the lilies had fallen, you could see the violets withering,
     and the threads of the puniceous crocus had grown languid.
often to me Zephyrus said, "do not corrupt the dotal gifts
     that are your own"—so he said: my dowry was cheap to me.

320

florebant oleae, venti nocuere protervi:
     florebant segetes, grandine laesa seges.
in spe vitis erat, caelum nigrescit ab Austris
     et subita frondes decutiuntur aqua.
nec volui fieri nec sum crudelis in ira;

the olive trees were flowering, the insolent winds did harm:
     the crops were flowering; the crop was stricken by hail.
the vine was in hope, the sky blackens from the South winds
     and with sudden water the leaves are shaken down.
nor did I wish to be, nor am I, cruel in ire;

325

     cura repellendi sed mihi nulla fuit.
convenere patres, et, si bene floreat annus,
     numinibus nostris annua festa vovent.
adnuimus voto: consul cum consule ludos
     Postumio Laenas persoluere mihi.'

     but there was no care of repelling for me.
the Fathers assembled, and, if the year should flourish well,
     they vow annual feasts to our numina.
we assented to the vow: the consul together with the consul,
     Postumius Laenas, discharged the games to me.'

330

Quaerere conabar quare lascivia maior
     his foret in ludis liberiorque iocus;
sed mihi succurrit numen non esse severum,
     aptaque deliciis munera ferre deam.
tempora sutilibus cinguntur tota coronis,

I was trying to inquire why the lasciviousness was greater
     in these games and the jest freer;
but it occurs to me that the divinity is not severe,
     and that the goddess brings gifts apt for delights.
the temples are girded entirely with stitched garlands,

335

     et latet iniecta splendida mensa rosa;
ebrius incinctis philyra conviva capillis
     saltat, et imprudens utitur arte meri;
ebrius ad durum formosae limen amicae
     cantat, habent unctae mollia serta comae.

     and the splendid table lies hidden beneath a strewn rose;
a drunken guest, with hair girded with linden-bast,
     dances, and unwitting he employs the art of pure wine;
drunk, at the hard threshold of his beautiful girlfriend
     he sings; the oiled locks have soft garlands.

340

nulla coronata peraguntur seria fronte,
     nec liquidae vinctis flore bibuntur aquae;
donec eras mixtus nullis, Acheloe, racemis,
     gratia sumendae non erat ulla rosae.
Bacchus amat flores: Baccho placuisse coronam

no serious matters are carried through with a crowned brow,
     nor are liquid waters drunk with a flower bound on;
so long as you, Achelous, were mixed with no clusters,
     there was no grace for taking up the rose.
Bacchus loves flowers: for a garland to have pleased Bacchus

345

     ex Ariadnaeo sidere nosse potes.
scaena levis decet hanc: non est, mihi credite, non est
     illa cothurnatas inter habenda deas.
turba quidem cur hos celebret meretricia ludos
     non ex difficili causa petita subest.

     from the Ariadnean star you can know.
a light stage befits her: she is not, believe me, she is not
     to be counted among the buskined goddesses.
indeed why the courtesans’ throng celebrates these games
     there lies beneath a cause not sought from a difficult source.

350

non est de tetricis, non est de magna professis:
     volt sua plebeio sacra patere choro,
et monet aetatis specie, dum floreat, uti;
     contemni spinam, cum cecidere rosae.
Cur tamen, ut dantur vestes Cerialibus albae,

it is not for the austere, it is not for those professing grand things:
     she wills her rites to be open to a plebeian chorus,
and by the appearance of the season she admonishes to use it, while it flowers;
     to contemn the thorn, when the roses have fallen.
Why, however, as white garments are given to the Cerealia,

355

     sic haec est cultu versicolore decens?
an quia maturis albescit messis aristis,
     et color et species floribus omnis inest?
adnuit, et motis flores cecidere capillis,
     accidere in mensas ut rosa missa solet.

     thus is she becoming in versicolored attire?
or because the harvest whitens with ripe ears,
     and both color and aspect, all that belongs to flowers, are present?
she nodded, and, her hair having been shaken, the flowers fell,
     to drop upon the tables, as a rose when sent is wont.

360

lumina restabant, quorum me causa latebat,
     cum sic errores abstulit illa meos:
'vel quia purpureis conlucent floribus agri,
     lumina sunt nostros visa decere dies;
vel quia nec flos est hebeti nec flamma colore,

the lights remained, the cause of which lay hidden from me,
     when thus she removed my errors:
'either because the fields shine in concert with purple flowers,
     lights have seemed to befit our days;
or because neither flower nor flame is of a dull color,

365

     atque oculos in se splendor uterque trahit;
vel quia deliciis nocturna licentia nostris
     convenit: a vero tertia causa venit.'
'est breve praeterea, de quo mihi quaerere restat,
     si liceat' dixi: dixit et illa 'licet'.

     and each splendor draws eyes to itself;
or because the nocturnal license suits our delights,
     it suits: from truth a third cause comes.'
'there is something brief, moreover, about which it remains for me to ask,
     if it be permitted,' I said: and she said, 'it is permitted'.

370

'cur tibi pro Libycis clauduntur rete leaenis
     inbelles capreae sollicitusque lepus?'
non sibi respondit silvas cessisse, sed hortos
     arvaque pugnaci non adeunda ferae.
omnia finierat: tenues secessit in auras,

'why for you, in place of Libyan lionesses, are unwarlike roe-deer
     and the anxious hare enclosed by your net?'
she did not answer that the woods had yielded to her, but that gardens
     and fields are not to be approached by the pugnacious wild beast.
she had finished everything: she withdrew into thin airs,

375

mansit odor; posses scire fuisse deam.
floreat ut toto carmen Nasonis in aevo,
sparge, precor, donis pectora nostra tuis.

the scent remained; you could know that she had been a goddess.
that the song of Naso may flourish for all time,
strew, I pray, our hearts with your gifts.

3. C C

3. 100 100

Nocte minus quarta promet sua sidera Chiron
     semivir et flavi corpore mixtus equi.
Pelion Haemoniae mons est obversus in Austros:
     summa virent pinu, cetera quercus habet.
Phillyrides tenuit; saxo stant antra vetusto,
     quae iustum memorant incoluisse senem.
ille manus olim missuras Hectora leto

On the night less by four Chiron will bring forth his own stars,
     the half-man, with his body mingled with a tawny horse.
Pelion, a Haemonian mountain, is turned toward the South winds:
     its summits are green with pine; the rest it has with oak.
The Philyride held it; caverns stand in age-old rock,
     which they recall that a just old man inhabited.
he, the hands that once would send Hector to death

385

     creditur in lyricis detinuisse modis.
venerat Alcides exhausta parte laborum,
     iussaque restabant ultima paene viro.
stare simul casu Troiae duo fata videres:
     hinc puer Aeacides, hinc Iove natus erat.

     he is believed to have held back with lyric modes.
Alcides had come, with a part of his labors exhausted,
     and the almost ultimate tasks enjoined remained for the man.
you might see the two fates of Troy standing together at once:
     here the Aeacid boy, there the son born of Jove.

390

excipit hospitio iuvenem Philyreius heros,
     et causam adventus hic rogat, ille docet.
respicit interea clavam spoliumque leonis,
     'vir' que ait 'his armis, armaque digna viro!'
nec se, quin horrens auderent tangere saetis

the Philyrian hero receives the youth with hospitality,
     and this one asks the cause of his advent, that one informs.
he meanwhile looks back at the club and the lion’s spoil,
     'a man,' he says, 'with these arms, and arms worthy of a man!'
nor did they hold themselves back from daring to touch it, bristling with bristles

395

     vellus, Achilleae continuere manus.
dumque senex tractat squalentia tela venenis,
     excidit et laevo fixa sagitta pede est.
ingemuit Chiron, traxitque e corpore ferrum:
     adgemit Alcides Haemoniusque puer.

     the fleece held back Achilles' hands.
and while the old man handles the weapons foul with poisons,
     it slipped out, and an arrow was fixed in his left foot.
Chiron groaned, and drew the iron from his body:
     Alcides groans as well, and the Haemonian boy.

400

ipse tamen lectas Pagasaeis collibus herbas
     temperat et varia volnera mulcet ope;
virus edax superabat opem, penitusque recepta
     ossibus et toto corpore pestis erat:
sanguine Centauri Lernaeae sanguis echidnae

he himself, however, tempers selected herbs on the Pagasaean hills
     and soothes the various wounds with manifold aid;
the devouring venom was overcoming the aid, and, received deep within,
     the plague was in his bones and through the whole body:
the blood of the Lernaean viper in the blood of the Centaur

405

     mixtus ad auxilium tempora nulla dabat.
stabat, ut ante patrem, lacrimis perfusus Achilles:
     sic flendus Peleus, si moreretur, erat.
saepe manus aegras manibus fingebat amicis:
     morum, quos fecit, praemia doctor habet.

     mixed, it gave no time for aid.
he stood, as before his father, Achilles suffused with tears:
     thus was Peleus to be wept for, if he were dying.
often he was shaping the ailing hands with friendly hands:
     the teacher has the rewards of the morals he made.

410

oscula saepe dedit, dixit quoque saepe iacenti
'vive, precor, nec me, care, relinque, pater.'
nona dies aderat, cum tu, iustissime Chiron,
bis septem stellis corpora cinctus eras.

He often gave kisses, and often also said to the one lying down
'Live, I pray, and do not leave me, dear, father.'
The ninth day was at hand, when you, most just Chiron,
had your body girt with twice seven stars.

(4. D C) 5. E C

(4. 500 100) 5. E 100

Hunc Lyra curva sequi cuperet, sed idonea nondum
est via: nox aptum tertia tempus erit.

The curved Lyre would wish to follow him, but the way is not yet fit:
the third night will be the apt time.

6. F C

Scorpios in caelo, cum cras lucescere Nonas
dicimus, a media parte notandus erit.

Scorpio in the sky, when we say that tomorrow the Nones will grow light,
is to be noted from the middle part.

(7. G NON : N vel F)

(7. G NONES: N or F)

(8. H F) 9. A LEM : N

Hinc ubi protulerit formosa ter Hesperos ora,
     ter dederint Phoebo sidera victa locum,
ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri:
     inferias tacitis manibus illa dabunt.
annus erat brevior, nec adhuc pia februa norant,
     nec tu dux mensum, Iane biformis, eras:
iam tamen exstincto cineri sua dona ferebant,

Hence, when fair Hesperus shall have three times brought forth his face,
     thrice shall the stars, conquered, have given place to Phoebus,
there will be the rite of an old sacred observance, the nocturnal Lemuria:
     they will give funeral offerings to the silent Manes.
the year was shorter, nor as yet did they know the pious Februa,
     nor you, two-formed Janus, were the leader of the months:
yet already they were bearing their gifts to the extinguished ash,

425

     compositique nepos busta piabat avi.
mensis erat Maius, maiorum nomine dictus,
     qui partem prisci nunc quoque moris habet.
nox ubi iam media est somnoque silentia praebet,
     et canis et variae conticuistis aves,

     and the grandson appeased the tomb of his laid-out grandsire.
The month was May, named from the maiores (ancestors),
     which even now holds a part of the ancient custom.
when night is now at mid and offers silences to sleep,
     and both dogs and the various birds have fallen silent,

430

ille memor veteris ritus timidusque deorum
     surgit (habent gemini vincula nulla pedes),
signaque dat digitis medio cum pollice iunctis,
     occurrat tacito ne levis umbra sibi.
cumque manus puras fontana perluit unda,

he, mindful of the ancient rite and fearful of the gods
     rises (the twin feet have no bonds),
and he gives signs with his fingers, the thumb joined with the middle,
     lest a light shade meet him in silence;
and when he washes his pure hands in fountain water,

435

     vertitur et nigras accipit ante fabas,
aversusque iacit; sed dum iacit, 'haec ego mitto,
     his' inquit 'redimo meque meosque fabis.'
hoc novies dicit nec respicit: umbra putatur
     colligere et nullo terga vidente sequi.

     he turns and takes black beans beforehand,
and, with back turned, he throws them; but while he throws, 'these I send,'
     'with these beans,' he says, 'I redeem me and mine.'
this he says nine times and does not look back: the shade is thought
     to gather them and, with no one seeing, to follow behind.

440

rursus aquam tangit, Temesaeaque concrepat aera,
     et rogat ut tectis exeat umbra suis.
cum dixit novies 'manes exite paterni'
     respicit, et pure sacra peracta putat.
dicta sit unde dies, quae nominis exstet origo

again he touches the water, and he makes the Temesan bronzes clatter,
     and he asks that the shade go out from his own house.
when he has said nine times 'Ancestral Manes, go out'
     he looks back, and thinks the sacred rites have been duly completed.
let it be told whence the day is named, what origin of the name exists

445

     me fugit: ex aliquo est invenienda deo.
Pliade nate, mone, virga venerande potenti:
     saepe tibi est Stygii regia visa Iovis.
venit adoratus Caducifer. accipe causam
     nominis: ex ipso est cognita causa deo.                450
Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras,
     et male veloci iusta soluta Remo,
Faustulus infelix et passis Acca capillis
     spargebant lacrimis ossa perusta suis;
inde domum redeunt sub prima crepuscula maesti,

     it escapes me: it must be discovered from some god.
son of the Pleiad, advise, you to be venerated for your potent rod:
     often to you the palace of Stygian Jove has been seen.
Caducifer, adored, comes. Receive the cause
     of the name: from the god himself the cause has been known.                450
When Romulus laid the fraternal shades in the tomb,
     and the funeral dues paid all too swiftly to Remus,
unhappy Faustulus and Acca with hair disheveled
     were sprinkling the burned bones with their tears;
thence they return home at the first twilight, sad,

455

     utque erat, in duro procubuere toro.
umbra cruenta Remi visa est adsistere lecto,
     atque haec exiguo murmure verba loqui:
'en ego dimidium vestri parsque altera voti,
     cernite sim qualis, qui modo qualis eram!

     and just as they were, they fell forward upon the hard couch.
the bloody shade of Remus seemed to stand by the bed,
     and with a slight murmur to speak these words:
'lo, I, the half of you and the other part of your vow,
     see what I am like, I who but now was what I was!'

460

qui modo, si volucres habuissem regna iubentes,
     in populo potui maximus esse meo,
nunc sum elapsa rogi flammis et inanis imago:
     haec est ex illo forma relicta Remo.
heu ubi Mars pater est? si vos modo vera locuti,

who just now, if I had had birds bidding the kingdoms,
     could have been the greatest among my own people,
now I am a hollow image slipped from the pyre’s flames:
     this is the form left from that Remus.
alas, where is Father Mars? if you just now have spoken true,

465

     uberaque expositis ille ferina dedit.
quem lupa servavit, manus hunc temeraria civis
     perdidit. o quanto mitior illa fuit!
saeve Celer, crudelem animam per volnera reddas,
     utque ego, sub terras sanguinulentus eas.

and that one gave feral teats to the exposed.
he whom the she-wolf saved, the temerarious hand of a citizen destroyed this one. O how much gentler was she!
savage Celer, may you render up your cruel soul through wounds,
and, as I, go beneath the earth sanguinolent.

470

noluit hoc frater, pietas aequalis in illo est:
     quod potuit, lacrimas in mea fata dedit.
hunc vos per lacrimas, per vestra alimenta rogate
     ut celebrem nostro signet honore diem.'
mandantem amplecti cupiunt et bracchia tendunt:

my brother did not wish this; equal piety is in him:
     what he could, he gave—tears—to my fate.
him, you, by tears, by your nourishment, beseech
     that he may mark the day as celebrated with our honor.'
they long to embrace the one giving the mandate and stretch their arms:

475

     lubrica prensantes effugit umbra manus.
ut secum fugiens somnos abduxit imago,
     ad regem voces fratris uterque ferunt.
Romulus obsequitur, lucemque Remuria dicit
     illam, qua positis iusta feruntur avis.

     the slippery shade escapes the grasping hands.
As the fleeing image drew sleep away with itself,
     both carry the brother’s words to the king.
Romulus complies, and he calls that day Remuria,
     the one on which, with the ancestors laid to rest, the due rites are borne.

480

aspera mutata est in lenem tempore longo
     littera, quae toto nomine prima fuit;
mox etiam lemures animas dixere silentum:
     hic sensus verbi, vis ea vocis erat.
fana tamen veteres illis clausere diebus,

the harsh letter was changed into a smooth one over a long time
     the letter which was first in the whole name;
soon also they called the lemures the souls of the silent:
     this was the sense of the word, such was the force of the voice.
yet the ancients closed the fanes on those days,

485

     ut nunc ferali tempore operta vides;
nec viduae taedis eadem nec virginis apta
     tempora: quae nupsit, non diuturna fuit.
hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
     mense malas Maio nubere volgus ait.

     as now at the funereal time you see them shut;
nor are the same times apt for the torches of a widow nor of a virgin:
     she who married did not last long.
for this reason also, if proverbs touch you,
     the common folk say it is unlucky to wed in the month of May.

490

sed tamen haec tria sunt sub eodem tempore festa
inter se nulla continuata die.

but nevertheless these three are festivals under the same time,
linked among themselves by no continuous day.

10. B C 11. C LEM : N

Quorum si mediis Boeotum Oriona quaeres,
falsus eris: signi causa canenda mihi.
Iuppiter et lato qui regnat in aequore frater

Of which, if you seek Orion in the midst of the Boeotians,
you will be mistaken: the cause of the sign must be sung by me.
Jupiter and the brother who reigns in the broad sea

495

     carpebant socias Mercuriusque vias;
tempus erat quo versa iugo referuntur aratra,
     et pronus saturae lac bibit agnus ovis.
forte senex Hyrieus, angusti cultor agelli,
     hos videt, exiguam stabat ut ante casam,

     they were traversing the same roads, and Mercury as well;
it was the time when the ploughs, turned from the yoke, are borne back,
     and the lamb, leaning forward, drinks the milk of the sated ewe.
by chance the old man Hyrieus, cultivator of a narrow little plot,
     sees these men, as he was standing before a meager cottage,

500

atque ita 'longa via est, nec tempora longa supersunt',
     dixit 'et hospitibus ianua nostra patet.'
addidit et voltum verbis, iterumque rogavit:
     parent promissis dissimulantque deos.
tecta senis subeunt nigro deformia fumo;

and so, “the road is long, nor do long times remain,”
     he said, “and our door stands open for guests.”
he added his countenance to his words, and asked again:
     they obey the promises and dissimulate their godhood.
they go under the old man’s roof, deformed by black smoke;

505

     ignis in hesterno stipite parvus erat:
ipse genu nixus flammas exsuscitat aura,
     et promit quassas comminuitque faces.
stant calices; minor inde fabas, holus alter habebat,
     et spumat testo pressus uterque suo.

     on yesterday’s log the fire was small:
he himself, leaning on his knee, rouses the flames with his breath,
     and brings out firebrands, shakes them and crumbles them.
the cups stand; the smaller held beans, the other held greens,
     and each, pressed beneath its own earthenware cover, foams.

510

dumque mora est, tremula dat vina rubentia dextra:
     accipit aequoreus pocula prima deus.
quae simul exhausit, 'da nunc bibat ordine' dixit
     'Iuppiter.' audito palluit ille Iove.
ut rediit animus, cultorem pauperis agri

and while there is delay, with trembling right hand he gives ruddy wines:
     the sea-god receives the first cups.
which as soon as he drained, 'give now—let him drink in order,' he said
     'Jupiter.' on hearing Jove, he grew pale.
when his spirit returned, the cultivator of a poor field

515

     immolat et magno torret in igne bovem;
quaeque puer quondam primis diffuderat annis
     promit fumoso condita vina cado.
nec mora, flumineam lino celantibus ulvam,
     sic quoque non altis, incubuere toris.

     he immolates and roasts in a great fire a bull;
and the wines which as a boy once, in his earliest years, he had poured out,
     he brings forth, the wines stored in a smoky jar.
nor delay; with the river-sedge hidden by linen,
     thus too, on not-high couches, they reclined.

520

nunc dape, nunc posito mensae nituere Lyaeo;
     terra rubens crater, pocula fagus erant.
verba fuere Iovis: 'si quid fert impetus, opta:
     omne feres.' placidi verba fuere senis:
'cara fuit coniunx, primae mihi vere iuventae

now with the feast, now with Lyaeus set upon the table, they gleamed;
     the crater of ruddy clay, the cups were beechwood.
the words of Jove were: 'if any impetus bears you on, choose:
     you shall carry off everything.' the words of the gentle old man were:
'dear was my spouse, to me in the spring of my earliest youth

525

     cognita. nunc ubi sit quaeritis? urna tegit.
huic ego iuratus, vobis in verba vocatis,
     "coniugio" dixi "sola fruere meo."
et dixi et servo; sed enim diversa voluntas
     est mihi: nec coniunx et pater esse volo.'

     Known. Now you ask where she is? An urn covers her.
To her I, sworn, with you called to the words as witnesses,
     I said "enjoy alone my marriage."
And I said it and I keep it; but indeed a different will
     is mine: nor do I wish to be both husband and father.'

530

adnuerant omnes. omnes ad terga iuvenci
     constiterant—pudor est ulteriora loqui.
tum superiniecta texere madentia terra:
     iamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.
hunc Hyrieus, quia sic genitus, vocat Uriona:

All had assented. All had taken their stand with their backs to the young bull—modesty is ashamed to speak further.
Then, with earth thrown over, they covered the dripping hide:
and now ten months, and a boy had been born.
This one Hyrieus, because thus begotten, calls Urion:

535

     perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum.
creverat immensum: comitem sibi Delia sumpsit;
     ille deae custos, ille satelles erat.
verba movent iras non circumspecta deorum:
     'quam nequeam' dixit 'vincere nulla fera est.'

     the first letter lost its ancient sound.
he had grown immense: Delia took him as a companion for herself;
     he was the goddess’s guardian, he was her attendant.
uncircumspect words move the angers of the gods:
     'there is no beast that I cannot conquer,' he said.

540

scorpion immisit Tellus: fuit impetus illi
curva gemelliparae spicula ferre deae;
obstitit Orion. Latona nitentibus astris
addidit et 'meriti praemia' dixit 'habe.'

Tellus sent in a scorpion: its impulse was to carry the curved spicules to the gemelliparous goddess;
Orion stood in the way. Latona to the shining stars added as well and said, 'have the rewards of merit.'

12. D NP

Sed quid et Orion et cetera sidera mundo
     cedere festinant, noxque coartat iter?
quid solito citius liquido iubar aequore tollit
     candida, Lucifero praeveniente, dies?
fallor, an arma sonant? non fallimur, arma sonabant:
     Mars venit et veniens bellica signa dedit.

But why do Orion and the other constellations hasten to withdraw from the world,
     and why does night constrict the course?
Why does bright day, with Lucifer going before, lift its radiance from the liquid plain more swiftly than usual?
     Am I deceived, or do arms clang? We are not deceived, arms were clanging:
     Mars comes, and coming he gave martial signs.

550

Ultor ad ipse suos caelo descendit honores
     templaque in Augusto conspicienda foro.
et deus est ingens et opus: debebat in urbe
     non aliter nati Mars habitare sui.
digna Giganteis haec sunt delubra tropaeis:

The Avenger himself has descended from heaven to his own honors
     and the temples to be beheld in the Augustan Forum.
both the god is immense and the work: he owed it in the city—
     Mars to inhabit the city of his own son in no other way.
these shrines are worthy of Gigantean trophies:

555

     hinc fera Gradivum bella movere decet,
seu quis ab Eoo nos impius orbe lacesset,
     seu quis ab occiduo sole domandus erit.
perspicit Armipotens operis fastigia summi,
     et probat invictas summa tenere deas;

     hence it befits Gradivus to set fierce wars in motion,
whether some impious one from the Eoan orb provokes us,
     or someone from the Occidental sun will have to be subdued.
the Armipotent surveys the gables of the highest work,
     and approves that unconquered goddesses hold the summits;

560

perspicit in foribus diversae tela figurae,
     armaque terrarum milite victa suo.
hinc videt Aenean oneratum pondere caro
     et tot Iuleae nobilitatis avos;
hinc videt Iliaden umeris ducis arma ferentem,

he perceives on the doors weapons of diverse figure,
     and the arms of lands conquered by his own soldiery.
on this side he sees Aeneas laden with his dear weight
     and so many forefathers of Iulean nobility;
on that side he sees the Iliad-born one bearing the leader’s arms upon his shoulders,

565

     claraque dispositis acta subesse viris.
spectat et Augusto praetextum nomine templum,
     et visum lecto Caesare maius opus.
voverat hoc iuvenis tum cum pia sustulit arma:
     a tantis princeps incipiendus erat.

     and that illustrious deeds lie beneath the men set in array.
he beholds too a temple embellished with the name Augustus,
     and, Caesar having been read, the work seemed greater to the sight.
the young man had vowed this then, when he lifted pious arms:
     from such great things a princeps had to be begun.

570

ille manus tendens, hinc stanti milite iusto,
     hinc coniuratis, talia dicta dedit:
'si mihi bellandi pater est Vestaeque sacerdos
     auctor, et ulcisci numen utrumque paro,
Mars, ades et satia scelerato sanguine ferrum,

he, stretching out his hands, on this side with the just soldiery standing,
     on that, with the conspirators, gave such words:
'if for me to wage war my father and the priest of Vesta is the author,
     and I prepare to avenge the numen of both,
Mars, be present and sate the iron with wicked blood,

575

     stetque favor causa pro meliore tuus.
templa feres et, me victore, vocaberis Ultor.'
     voverat, et fuso laetus ab hoste redit.
nec satis est meruisse semel cognomina Marti:
     persequitur Parthi signa retenta manu.

     and let your favor stand for the better cause.
you will receive temples, and, with me as victor, you will be called the Avenger.'
     he had vowed it, and, with the foe routed, he returns rejoicing.
nor is it enough to have once earned the cognomina for Mars:
     he pursues the Parthian standards kept back in their hand.

580

gens fuit et campis et equis et tuta sagittis
     et circumfusis invia fluminibus;
addiderant animos Crassorum funera genti,
     cum periit miles signaque duxque simul.
signa, decus belli, Parthus Romana tenebat,

there was a nation both in plains and in horses and safe with arrows
     and, with rivers poured around, impassable;
the funerals of the Crassi had added spirit to the nation,
     when the soldiery and the standards and the general perished together.
the Parthian held the Roman standards, the ornament of war,

585

     Romanaeque aquilae signifer hostis erat;
isque pudor mansisset adhuc, nisi fortibus armis
     Caesaris Ausoniae protegerentur opes.
ille notas veteres et longi dedecus aevi
     sustulit: agnorunt signa recepta suos.

     and the enemy was the standard-bearer of the Roman eagles;
and that shame would have remained till now, unless by the stout arms
     of Caesar the resources of Ausonia were protected.
he removed the ancient marks and the disgrace of a long age:
     the standards, recovered, recognized their own.

590

quid tibi nunc solitae mitti post terga sagittae,
     quid loca, quid rapidi profuit usus equi?
Parthe, refers aquilas, victos quoque porrigis arcus:
     pignora iam nostri nulla pudoris habes.
rite deo templumque datum nomenque bis ulto,

what has it now profited you, your arrows accustomed to be sent behind the back,
     what the places, what the use of the rapid horse has profited?
Parthian, you return the eagles, you even proffer your bows as conquered:
     you now hold no pledges of our shame.
duly to the god both the temple has been given and the name to the twice-avenger,

595

et meritus voti debita solvit honor.
sollemnes ludos Circo celebrate, Quirites:
non visa est fortem scaena decere deum.

and, having merited the vow, he paid the honor due.
celebrate the solemn games in the Circus, Quirites:
the stage was not seen to befit the brave god.

13. E LEM : N

13. FROM THE LEMMA : N

Pliadas aspicies omnes totumque sororum
agmen, ubi ante Idus nox erit una super:
tum mihi non dubiis auctoribus incipit aestas,
et tepidi finem tempora veris habent.

You will behold all the Pleiades and the whole troop of sisters
when there will be one night left before the Ides:
then for me, on no dubious authorities, summer begins,
and the times of tepid spring have an end.

14. F C

Idibus ora prior stellantia tollere Taurum
indicat: huic signo fabula nota subest.
praebuit ut taurus Tyriae sua terga puellae

On the Ides it indicates that the Bull lifts his starry face earlier;
beneath this sign there lies a well-known fable:
how, as a bull, he offered his back to the Tyrian girl

605

     Iuppiter et falsa cornua fronte tulit,
illa iubam dextra, laeva retinebat amictus,
     et timor ipse novi causa decoris erat;
aura sinus implet, flavos movet aura capillos:
     Sidoni, sic fueras aspicienda Iovi.

     Jupiter too bore false horns on his forehead,
she held the mane with her right hand, with her left she kept her mantle,
     and fear itself was the cause of a new beauty;
the breeze fills her bosom, the breeze moves her blond hair:
     Sidonian maid, thus you were to be looked upon by Jupiter.

610

saepe puellares subduxit ab aequore plantas,
     et metuit tactus adsilientis aquae;
saepe deus prudens tergum demisit in undas,
     haereat ut collo fortius illa suo.
litoribus tactis stabat sine cornibus ullis

often she drew up her girl-like soles from the sea,
and

often she drew up her girl-like soles from the sea,
     and she feared the touches of the leaping water;
often the god, prudent, let his back sink into the waves,
     so that she might cling more firmly to his own neck.
with the shores touched he stood without any horns

615

     Iuppiter inque deum de bove versus erat.
taurus init caelum: te, Sidoni, Iuppiter implet,
     parsque tuum terrae tertia nomen habet.
hoc alii signum Phariam dixere iuvencam,
     quae bos ex homine est, ex bove facta dea.

     and Jupiter had been turned from a bull back into a god.
the bull enters the sky: you, Sidonian, Jupiter fills,
     and a third part of the earth holds your name.
others have called this sign the Pharian heifer,
     who is a cow from a human, a goddess made from a bovine.

620

Tum quoque priscorum Virgo simulacra virorum
     mittere roboreo scirpea ponte solet.
corpora post decies senos qui credidit annos
     missa neci, sceleris crimine damnat avos.
fama vetus, tum cum Saturnia terra vocata est,

Then too the Maiden is accustomed to send rush-made effigies of men of old
     from the oaken bridge.
whoever has believed that bodies, after sixty years, were sent to death
     condemns the ancestors on a charge of crime.
an old tradition, back when the land was called Saturnian,

625

     talia fatidici dicta fuisse Iovis:
'falcifero libata seni duo corpora gentis
     mittite, quae Tuscis excipiantur aquis';
donec in haec venit Tirynthius arva, quotannis
     tristia Leucadio sacra peracta modo;

     that such were the words of fatidic Jove:
'send two bodies of the people, offered as a libation to the sickle-bearing elder,
     to be received by the Tuscan waters';
until the Tirynthian came into these fields, while year by year
     the grim Leucadian sacra were carried out in like manner;

630

illum stramineos in aquam misisse Quirites,
     Herculis exemplo corpora falsa iaci.
pars putat, ut ferrent iuvenes suffragia soli,
     pontibus infirmos praecipitasse senes.
Thybri, doce verum: tua ripa vetustior Urbe est;

that he sent the straw-stuffed Quirites into the water,
     that, by Hercules’ example, false bodies are to be thrown.
part thinks that, so that the young men alone might bear the suffrages,
     they hurled the feeble old men headlong from the bridges.
Tiber, teach the truth: your bank is older than the City;

635

     principium ritus tu bene nosse potes.
Thybris harundiferum medio caput extulit alveo
     raucaque dimovit talibus ora sonis:
'haec loca desertas vidi sine moenibus herbas:
     pascebat sparsas utraque ripa boves,

     the beginning of the rite you can well know.
Thybris raised his reed-bearing head from the middle of the channel
     and moved his hoarse mouth with such sounds:
'I saw these places as deserted grasses without walls:
     either bank was pasturing scattered cattle,

640

et, quem nunc gentes Tiberim noruntque timentque,
     tunc etiam pecori despiciendus eram.
Arcadis Euandri nomen tibi saepe refertur:
     ille meas remis advena torsit aquas.
venit et Alcides, turba comitatus Achiva:

and I, whom peoples now know and fear as the Tiber,
     then was to be despised even by cattle.
the name of Arcadian Evander is often reported to you:
     that newcomer churned my waters with oars.
and Alcides came too, accompanied by an Achaean throng:

645

     Albula, si memini, tunc mihi nomen erat.
excipit hospitio iuvenem Pallantius heros,
     et tandem Caco debita poena venit.
victor abit, secumque boves, Erytheida praedam,
     abstrahit; at comites longius ire negant.

     Albula, if I remember, then was my name.
The Pallantian hero receives the youth with hospitality,
     and at last the penalty due to Cacus came.
He goes away the victor, and with him the cattle, the Erythean booty,
     he draws off; but the companions refuse to go farther.

650

magnaque pars horum desertis venerat Argis:
     montibus his ponunt spemque laremque suum.
saepe tamen patriae dulci tanguntur amore,
     atque aliquis moriens hoc breve mandat opus:
"mittite me in Tiberim, Tiberinis vectus ut undis

and a great part of these had come with Argos forsaken:
     on these mountains they place both their hope and their hearth.
often, however, they are touched by the sweet love of their fatherland,
     and someone, dying, entrusts this brief charge:
"send me into the Tiber, that I may be borne by Tiberine waves

655

     litus ad Inachium pulvis inanis eam."
displicet heredi mandati cura sepulcri:
     mortuus Ausonia conditur hospes humo;
scirpea pro domino Tiberi iactatur imago,
     ut repetat Graias per freta longa domos.'

     let my empty dust go to the Inachian shore."
the heir dislikes the care of the mandated sepulcher:
     the dead guest is laid to rest in Ausonian soil;
a rush-work image is tossed into the Tiber in place of its master,
     so that it may seek again the Greek homes across the long straits.'

660

hactenus, et subiit vivo rorantia saxo
antra; leves cursum sustinuistis aquae.

thus far, and he went beneath caverns dripping with living rock
antra; light waters, you have checked your course.

15. G EID : NP (16. H F)

(17. A C) (18. B C) (19. C C)

Clare nepos Atlantis, ades, quem montibus olim
edidit Arcadiis Pleias una Iovi:
pacis et armorum superis imisque deorum

Bright grandson of Atlas, be present, whom once
one Pleiad bore to Jove on the Arcadian mountains:
of peace and of arms for the supernal and the infernal gods

665

     arbiter, alato qui pede carpis iter,
laete lyrae pulsu, nitida quoque laete palaestra,
     quo didicit culte lingua docente loqui,
templa tibi posuere patres spectantia Circum
     Idibus; ex illo est haec tibi festa dies.

     arbiter, who with winged foot you take the road,
glad at the lyre’s beat, glad as well in the gleaming palaestra,
     by whose teaching, polished one, the tongue learned to speak,
the fathers set up temples for you overlooking the Circus
     on the Ides; from that time this feast-day is yours.

670

te, quicumque suas profitentur vendere merces,
     ture dato tribuas ut sibi lucra rogant.
est aqua Mercurii portae vicina Capenae;
     si iuvat expertis credere, numen habet.
huc venit incinctus tunica mercator et urna

you, whoever profess to sell their wares,
     with incense given, ask that you grant gains to themselves.
there is Mercury’s water near the Capene Gate;
     if it pleases to trust the experienced, it has a numen.
hither comes the merchant, his tunic girt up, and with an urn

675

     purus suffita, quam ferat, haurit aquam.
uda fit hinc laurus, lauro sparguntur ab uda
     omnia quae dominos sunt habitura novos.
spargit et ipse suos lauro rorante capillos,
     et peragit solita fallere voce preces:

     pure, fumigated with incense, he draws the water in the urn which he bears.
the laurel becomes wet from here; with the wet laurel are sprinkled
     all the things that are going to have new masters.
he too sprinkles his own hair with the dew-dripping laurel,
     and he performs his prayers with a voice accustomed to deceive:

680

'ablue praeteriti periuria temporis', inquit
     'ablue praeteritae perfida verba die.
sive ego te feci testem, falsove citavi
     non audituri numina vana Iovis,
sive deum prudens alium divamve fefelli,

'wash away the perjuries of time past,' he says
     'wash away the perfidious words of the bygone day.
whether I made you a witness, or falsely invoked
     the vain numina of Jove who would not listen,
or if, knowingly, I deceived some other god or goddess,

685

     abstulerint celeres improba dicta Noti:
et pateant veniente die periuria nobis,
     nec curent superi siqua locutus ero.
da modo lucra mihi, da facto gaudia lucro,
     et fac ut emptori verba dedisse iuvet.'                690
talia Mercurius poscenti ridet ab alto,
     se memor Ortygias subripuisse boves.

     may the swift South Winds carry off the shameless words;
and let the perjuries lie open to us as day comes,
     nor let the gods above care whatever I shall have spoken.
only grant me profits, grant joys from profit accomplished,
     and see to it that it pleases me to have given words to the buyer.'                690
Mercury laughs from on high at one asking such things,
     remembering that he himself had filched the Ortygian cattle.

20. D C

20. 500 100

At mihi pande, precor, tanto meliora petenti,
in Geminos ex quo tempore Phoebus eat.
'cum totidem de mense dies superesse videbis

But unfold to me, I pray, for one seeking far better things,
from what time Phoebus goes into the Twins.
'when you will see just as many days of the month to remain

695

     quot sunt Herculei facta laboris' ait.
'dic' ego respondi 'causam mihi sideris huius.'
     causam facundo reddidit ore deus:
'abstulerant raptas Phoeben Phoebesque sororem
     Tyndaridae fratres, hic eques, ille pugil.

     'as many as are the feats of Herculean labor,' he said.
'tell me,' I replied, 'the cause of this constellation for me.'
     the god rendered the cause with eloquent speech:
'they had carried off Phoebe and Phoebe’s sister, seized,
     the Tyndarid brothers, this one a horseman, that one a boxer.

700

bella parant repetuntque suas et frater et Idas,
     Leucippo fieri pactus uterque gener.
his amor ut repetant, illis ut reddere nolint,
     suadet; et ex causa pugnat uterque pari.
effugere Oebalidae cursu potuere sequentes,

they prepare for war, and both the brother and Idas seek to recover what is theirs,
     each had been pledged to become Leucippus’s son-in-law.
Love urges these to seek again, those to be unwilling to return,
     and each fights with an equal cause.
the Oebalids were able to escape the pursuers by running,

705

     sed visum celeri vincere turpe fuga.
liber ab arboribus locus est, apta area pugnae:
     constiterant illo (nomen Aphidna) loco.
pectora traiectus Lynceo Castor ab ense
     non exspectato volnere pressit humum;

     but to conquer by swift flight seemed shameful.
the place is free from trees, an apt area for battle:
     they had taken their stand in that place (name Aphidna).
Castor, his breast transfixed by Lynceus’s sword,
     with an unlooked-for wound, pressed the ground;

710

ultor adest Pollux, et Lyncea perforat hasta,
     qua cervix umeros continuata premit.
ibat in hunc Idas, vixque est Iovis igne repulsus;
     tela tamen dextrae fulmine rapta negant.
iamque tibi, Pollux, caelum sublime patebat,

the avenger Pollux is at hand, and he pierces Lynceus with a spear,
     at that spot where the neck, continuous with the shoulders, presses.
Idas was charging at him, and was scarcely driven back by Jove’s fire;
     yet the weapons of his right hand, snatched away by the thunderbolt, deny him.
and now for you, Pollux, the lofty heaven stood open,

715

     cum "mea" dixisti "percipe verba, pater:
quod mihi das uni caelum, partire duobus;
     dimidium toto munere maius erit."
dixit et alterna fratrem statione redemit:
     utile sollicitae sidus utrumque rati.'                720

     when you said "my" "receive my words, father:
what heaven you give to me alone, divide between the two;
     the half will be greater than the whole gift."
he spoke and by an alternate station ransomed his brother:
     thinking each a useful star for the troubled ship.'                720

21. E AGON : NP

21. FROM THE AGON : NP

Ad Ianum redeat, qui quaerit Agonia quid sint:
quae tamen in fastis hoc quoque tempus habent.

Let him return to Janus, who asks what the Agonia are:
which nevertheless in the fasti have this time as well.

22. F N

Nocte sequente diem canis Erigoneius exit:
est alio signi reddita causa loco.

On the night following the day the Erigonian dog rises:
the cause of the sign has been rendered in another place.

23. G TVB : NP

Proxima Volcani lux est, Tubilustria dicunt:
lustrantur purae, quas facit ille, tubae.

The next is the day of Vulcan; they call it the Tubilustria:
the trumpets, which he fashions, are purified to purity.

24. H Q : REX C : F

24. H Q : WHEN THE KING HAS HELD THE ASSEMBLY : LAWFUL

Quattuor inde notis locus est, quibus ordine lectis
vel mos sacrorum vel fuga regis inest.

Thence there is a place with four marks, in which, read in order,
either the custom of the sacred rites or the king’s flight is contained.

25. A C 26. B C 27. C C (28. D C) (29. E C) (30. F C) (31. G C)

Nec te praetereo, populi Fortuna potentis
     publica, cui templum luce sequente datum est.
hanc ubi dives aquis acceperit Amphitrite,
     grata Iovi fulvae rostra videbis avis.
auferet ex oculis veniens aurora Booten,
     continuaque die sidus Hyantis erit.

Nor do I pass you by, Public Fortune of the powerful people,     to whom a temple was given on the following light.
when Amphitrite, rich in waters, shall have received her,     you will see the beaks of the tawny bird pleasing to Jove.
the coming Dawn will remove Boötes from sight,     and throughout the continuous day the star of Hyas will be.