Ovid: FASTI

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

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

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

       lest their own author should have closed this path to them.
Ah, how often I said: 'Surely you teach nothing shameful,
       go, that place lies open to chaste verses.'
Yet they do not approach, but, as you yourself see,
       they think it safer to hide beneath a private roof.

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

You ask where you could place these with no one injured?
Where the Arts had stood, that part is vacant for you.
You might perhaps ask why they come: because of the novelty itself.

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

Accept whatever it is, provided that it is not love.
You will find, although it is not a lamentable index,

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

       this is no less sad than that which I gave before.
In substance it is the same, it differs in the title, and the letter, sent with the name not hidden, makes known to whom it is.
       nor do you wish this, but neither can you forbid it,
nor can you, and the Muse, obliging, comes to the unwilling.

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

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

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

       yet I did not bear savage arms against the gods.
Finally, as for Caesar’s—something he himself does not desire—
       no book of mine is without an honor.
If you doubt me, admit the praises of the gods,
       and take my poem with the name removed.

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

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

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

But this man is Father of the Fatherland; that one was its very own.
Is anyone so bold as to force from the threshold one brandishing with a Pharian hand the tinkling sistra?
Before the Mother of the gods, when the piper plays with the hooked horn, who refuses the coppers of a scant alms?

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

We know that nothing of this kind is done by the command of Diana;
       yet the vaticinator nevertheless has whence he lives.
The very numina of the gods above move our minds
       nor is it disgraceful to be taken by such credulity.
Lo, I, in place of the sistrum and the bore of Phrygian boxwood

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

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

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

I saw one, confessing that he had violated the numen of linen-clad Isis,       to sit before the Isiac hearths.
Another, deprived of light on account of a fault similar to this,       was crying out that he had merited it in the middle of the road.
The celestials rejoice that such proclamations be made,

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

       that they may prove by a witness what their numina can avail.
Often they lighten penalties and give back the snatched-away light of the eyes,
       when they see that one has truly repented of the sin.
I repent, oh! if anything of the wretched is believed by anyone,
       I repent, and I am myself tormented by my own deed.

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

Although it is exile, my fault is more to me than my dolor
       and to suffer the penalty is less than to have merited it.
Granted that the gods favor me, to whom he himself is more manifest,
       the penalty can be removed, the fault will be perennial.
Death will surely make it that I am not, when it comes, an exile;

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

       nor will death even make it that I have not sinned.
Not, therefore, a marvel, if my mind, made wasting,
       melts in the manner of water dripping from snow.
As a ship, spoiled by hidden wood-worm, is eaten away,
       as the wave of salt sea hollows the sea-rocks,

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

as laid-aside iron is gnawed by scabrous rust,
       as a book stored away is consumed by the mouth of the moth,
so my breast has the perpetual bites of cares,
       by which, with no end, it is undone.
nor will these goads leave my mind before life will

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

       and he who grieves will fall sooner than the pain itself will fall.
If the gods above, of whom we are all things, will believe this for me,
       perhaps I shall be held worthy of exiguous aid,
and I shall be changed into a place empty of the Scythian bow.
       If I pray for more than that, I shall be hard-mouthed.

II. FABIO MAXIMO

2. TO FABIUS MAXIMUS

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

Maximus, you who fulfill the measure of so great a name
       and, by the nobility of your spirit, complete a twin lineage,
who, that you might be born, although three hundred fell,
       one day did not take away all the Fabii,
perhaps you ask by whom this letter is sent,

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

you may wish to be more certain about whom I am speaking with you.
Alas for me! What am I to do?

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

I fear lest, when my name is read
you read the rest harsh and with an averse mind!
See to it! I will dare to confess to you that I have written to you
< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >

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

who, although I confess that I have been worthy of a graver penalty,
       I can scarcely suffer graver things.
Hostile in the midst of enemies and among perils I am engaged,
       as though peace with my fatherland has been taken from me.
Who, that they may double the causes of death with a savage wound,

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

       they smear all the darts with viperine bile.
With these equipped the horseman patrols the terror-struck walls
       in the manner of a wolf circling penned sheep,
but the light bow, once strained with an equine sinew,
       remains, ever having its bindings unloosened;

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

the roofs stand rigid, as if veiled with arrows fixed
       and the gate with a firm bolt scarcely drives back the weapons.
Add the aspect of the place covered by neither frond nor tree,
       and that inert winter is continued into winter.
Here I am fighting with cold and with arrows

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

       and when, by my fate, a fourth winter fatigues me.
Tears lack an end, unless when stupor has obstructed them
       and a torpor like to death holds my breast.
Fortunate Niobe, although she saw so many funerals,
       who, made stone, laid aside the sense of ill!

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

You too, happy ones, whose mouths crying out “brother”
       the poplar veiled with new bark!
I am that wood which would be admitted nowhere;
       I am he who in vain would wish to be a stone.
Let Medusa herself come to meet our eyes, even so,

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

       even Medusa herself will lose her own powers.
We live so that we may never be without a bitter sensation,
       and my punishment becomes heavier by a long delay.
Thus, Tityus’s inconsumed and ever-renascent
       liver does not perish, so that it may be able to perish often.

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

But, I suppose, when rest and the common medicine of care—
       sleep—is present, night comes deprived of its accustomed ills.
Dreams terrify me, imitating true events,
       and my senses keep vigil to my own harm.
Or I seem to evade Sarmatian arrows

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

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

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

Thus, when a brief and not true pleasure has been perceived,
       this good condition becomes worse from the admonition.
Whether therefore Day beholds this miserable head,
       or the horses of frosty Night are driven,
thus my breast is liquefied by perpetual cares.

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

       as fresh wax is wont, when fires are applied.
Often I pray for death; I also deprecate the same death,
       lest the Sarmatian soil cover my bones.
When there comes to mind what the clemency of the Augustus is, I believe
       that gentle shores can be granted to the shipwrecked.

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

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

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

       a favor that can be done with your modesty intact.
Receive, Maximus, eloquence of the Roman tongue,
       the gentle patronage of a difficult cause.
It is bad, I confess, but with you acting it will become good:
       only make gentle words on behalf of my wretched exile.

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

For Caesar does not know, although as a god he knows all things,
       in what condition this farthest place is.
Great workings of the world occupy that divinity,
       this is a lesser care in the celestial breast,
nor has he leisure as to the region in which the Tomitans are set

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

       to inquire—the Getae, though neighboring, scarcely know the places—
or what the Sarmatians do, what the fierce Iazyges,
       and the Tauric land that worships the Orestean goddess,
and what other nations, where Hister has stood fast with cold,
       traverse the hard backs of the river on a swift horse.

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

The greatest part of humankind neither cares for you, most beautiful,
       Rome, nor fears the arms of the Ausonian soldier.
Bows and full quivers give them spirit,
       and a horse apt for long courses as one pleases,
and that they have learned to tolerate thirst and hunger for a long time.

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

       and that the pursuing enemy will have no waters.
The anger of a mild man would not have sent me into that place,
       if this soil had been sufficiently known to him.
Nor does he rejoice that either I or any Roman be taken by the enemy—
       and me still less, to whom he himself was giving life, to be captured.

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

He would not, though he could, destroy me with the slightest nod:
       there is no need of any Getae for my fate.
But neither did he discover anything done by me for which I should die,
       and he can be less hostile than he was.
Then too he did nothing, except what I myself compelled him to do;

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

       almost even deservedly, his ire is more sparing to me.
Let the gods, therefore, bring it to pass, of whom he himself is the most just,
       may the nourishing earth bear nothing greater than Caesar.
And as it has long been under him, so let the earth be under Caesar
       and, handed down, let it pass through the hands of this race.

100

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

But you, as placid as we too have felt him
       a judge, open your lips on behalf of my tears.
Do not ask that it be well, but that, though ill, it be safer, and that
       my exile be distant from a savage enemy,
and the life which the present divinities have given me,

105

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

       let not the squalid Getan with a drawn sword take my life away,
denique, if I should die, let me go down more peaceably to the field,
       and let not our bones be pressed by Scythian earth
nor, poorly laid to rest—as of course befits an exile—,
       should the Bistonian horse’s hoof batter my ashes,

110

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

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

115

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

       which is wont to be a help to trembling defendants,
accustomed as you are to the sweetness of a learned tongue,
       bend the breast of the man to be equated with the gods.
Not for you will Theromedon and ruthless Atreus be asked,
       and he who made men fodder for his own horses,

120

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

but a prince slow to punishments, swift to rewards,
       and who grieves, whenever he is compelled, to be fierce,
who always conquered, so that he could spare the conquered,
       and closed the everlasting civil wars with a bar,
much by fear of punishment, he who coerces few by punishment,

125

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

       and he casts reluctant thunderbolts with a sparing hand.
Therefore, an orator sent to ears so placid,
       ask that my flight be nearer to my fatherland.
I am that man who honored you, whom the festive table was accustomed
       to see among your guests,

130

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

I am he who led your Hymenaeon to the bridal fires
       and sang songs worthy of the auspicious couch,
whose little books I remember you used to praise
       except those which harmed their own master,
to whom you sometimes, while I marveled, you would read your writings,

135

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

       that man am I to whom a bride from your house has been given.
Marcia approves her, and, loved from her earliest age, has always
       been counted among her companions, Marcia;
and earlier Caesar’s maternal aunt had her among her own;
       by whose judgment, if any woman has been approved, she is a woman of probity.

140

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

Claudia, better by her own fame, would not have needed divine aid,
       with such praisers as these.
We too have passed our bygone years without blemish:
       the next part of my life must be leapt over.
But, that I may be silent about myself, my wife is your burden:

145

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

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

III. RVFINO

3. TO RUFINUS

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

This greeting your Naso sends to you, Rufinus,
       who is wretched, if he can be anyone’s own.
Recently the solaces restored to my confounded mind
       have brought assistance and hope to my troubles.
And as the Poeantian hero by the Machaonian arts

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

       with his wound softened, he felt the medicinal aid,
so I, lying in mind and wounded by a bitter blow,
       by your admonition began to be stronger,
and now, failing, thus at your words I revived,
       as a vein is wont to return when pure wine is poured in.

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

Yet eloquence did not exhibit such great powers
       as to make my heart sound by your words.
Granted that you subtract much from the whirlpool of my care,
       nonetheless, even when exhausted, what remains will still be.
Perhaps, in a long time, the scar will be drawn.

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

       raw wounds shudder at hands brought near.
It is not in the physician that the patient is always relieved:
       sometimes the malady is stronger than the learned art.
You see how, when blood is released from the soft lung,
       it leads to the Stygian waters along a sure course.

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

Even if the Epidaurian himself should bring the sacred herbs,
       no aid will heal the wounds of the heart.
Medicine does not know how to lift knotted gout
       nor do the dreaded waters give assistance.
Care too is sometimes curable by no art

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

       or, if it be so, the long delay must be extenuated.
When the precepts have well strengthened my prostrate mind
       and the arms of your heart have been taken up by me,
again the love of country, stronger than every reason,
       unweaves the work that your writings have made.

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

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

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

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

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

Hither, however, from that city the barbarian flees.
Although the cage may be well enough for the shut-in daughter of Pandion,
she strives to return to her own woods.

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

Accustomed pastures the bulls, accustomed the lions—
       nor does ferocity hinder them— they make for the caves.
Yet you, however, hope that the bites of exile from our breast
       can yield to your fomentations.
Bring it about, you yourselves, that you not be so much to be loved by me,

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

       by such means, that the ill of having been deprived may be lighter.
But, I suppose, in the land where I had been born, though lacking in soil,
       yet it befell me to be in a human place:
I lie deserted on the sands of the edge of the world,
       where the earth, buried over, bears perpetual snows.

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

Here no field brings forth fruit, nor raises sweet grapes,
       no willows are green on the bank, nor oaks on the mountain.
And do not praise the strait more than the land: the waters always
       swell, sun-bereft, at the rage of the winds.
Wherever you look, plains lacking a cultivator

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

       and vast fields, which no one claims, lie waste.
The enemy is at hand, to be feared, on the right and on the left,
       and with neighboring fear he terrifies each flank:
the one side is destined to feel the Bistonian sarissas,
       the other the Sarmatian darts hurled by hand.

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

Go now and bring back to us the examples of men of old
       who bore misfortune with a brave mind;
and admire the grave strength of magnanimous Rutilius,
       not making use of the condition of return that was given.
Smyrna held the man, not Pontus and hostile soil,

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

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

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

Driven from his fatherland, Aristides fled to Lacedaemon,
       between which it was doubtful which was the earlier.
With a slaying done by the boy, Patroclus left Opus
       and went as a guest to Achilles’ Thessalian ground.
An exile from Haemonia, he withdrew to the Pirenian wave

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

       under whose leadership the Colchian beam sped on sacred water.
The Agenorid, Cadmus, left the Sidonian walls,
       so that he might set walls in a better place.
Tydeus, banished from Calydon, came to Adrastus
       and the soil pleasing to Venus received Teucer.

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

What shall I recount of the ancients of the Roman race, among whom
       for exiles the farthest land was Tibur?
Shall I pursue them all? To no one, in all ages,
       has a place so far from the fatherland or more horrid been given.
Wherefore may your wisdom the more pardon the grieving one:

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

       which she effects from your sayings—not so very many.
Nor yet do I deny that, if our wounds can cohere,
       they can cohere by your precepts.
But I fear lest the labors to save me be in vain,
       and that, ruined and sick, the aid applied may not help.

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

nor do I say this because there is greater prudence in me,
but I am myself better known to myself than to the physician.
Yet, granted this is so, your goodwill—a great gift—
has reached me and is consulted for my good.

IV. VXORI

4. TO HIS WIFE

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

Now a greyer age is being sprinkled upon me
       and already a senile wrinkle plows my features,
now both vigor and strength languish in my battered body
       nor do the games that pleased me when I was young give pleasure,
nor, if you should see me suddenly, could you recognize me,

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

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

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

You see how in hard fields—and what is more firm than an ox?—the work breaks the strong bodies of bulls.
The soil which has never been accustomed to rest in vacant fallow,
weary with assiduous fruits, grows old.
He will perish, if one is always at the circus’ contests.

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

       the horse will not go, its courses not intermitted.
Even if that be firm, the ship will be unloosed on the sea
       which will never be dry of limpid waters.
An immense series of evils debilitates me also
       and compels me to be an old man before my time.

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

Leisure nourishes the body; the mind too is fed by it,
       whereas immoderate labor, contrariwise, consumes them both.
Behold, that the son of Aeson has come into these parts,
       what praise he will bear from late posterity.
But his labor is lighter and lesser than ours,

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

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

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

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

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

the vessel that bore the Aesonid was a dense, stout-hulled ship.
nor was Tiphys my helmsman, nor did the son of Agenor teach me which ways to flee and which to follow.
him queenly Juno, together with Pallas, protected:
no divinities defended my head.

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

Him the furtive arts of Cupid aided,
       which I would wish love had not learned from me.
He returned home; we will die in these fields,
       if the grievous wrath of the offended god persists.
Therefore harsher is our lot, most faithful spouse,

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

       that work which the son of Aeson undertook.
You too, whom as a young woman I left when departing the City,
       it is credible have grown old through our misfortunes.
O! may the gods grant that I might behold you such,
       and give dear kisses to your changed locks

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

and to embrace with my arms a body not fat
       and to say, 'My care made this slender'
and to recount my labors—she weeping, I myself weeping—
       and to enjoy a conversation never hoped for,
and incense to the Caesars, with a consort worthy of a Caesar,

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

to the true gods, to bring what is owed with a mindful hand!
Would that Memnon’s mother, with the prince appeased,
would as soon as possible call forth this day with her roseate mouth!

V. COTTAE MAXIMO

5. TO COTTA MAXIMUS

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

He who once was not the least among your friends
       that you may read his own words, Maximus, Naso asks,
in which cease to look for my genius,
       lest you seem unknowing of my exile.
You see how idleness corrupts a sluggish body,

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

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

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

It does not please me to strain my mind into such cares
       nor does the Muse, though invoked, come to the harsh Getae.
Yet, as you yourself see, I wrestle to draw down a verse,
       but it is not made softer by my fate.
When I reread, I am ashamed to have written, because I perceive very many

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

       even to me, who made them, as judge, worthy of the linen-cloth.
Nor yet do I amend; this labor is greater than to write
       and my sick mind endures to suffer nothing harsh.
of course I shall begin to use the file more mordaciously
       and call each single word under judgment.

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

For fortune torments too little, unless the Lixus flow into the Hebrus
       and Athos add fronds to the Alps.
One must spare the spirit bearing a miserable wound:
       sun-scorched oxen withdraw their necks from the burden.
But, I suppose, the fruit is at hand, the most just cause of labors,

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

and the field returns the plantings with much interest.
Time for this to us, though you may review everything, none
has profited—and would that it had not harmed!—our work.
You wonder, therefore, why I write.

Miror et ipse
et tecum quaero saepe quid inde petam.

I myself marvel
and with you I often inquire what I should seek thence.

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

Do the people truly deny that poets are sane,
       and I myself am the greatest evidence of this utterance,
who, though I have so often been deceived by a sterile field,
       do I persist in planting seed in ruinous soil?
Of course each person is eager for his own studies

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

       it pleases, for a time, to lay aside the accustomed art.
The wounded gladiator abjures the fight, and the same man
       forgetful of the former wound, takes up arms.
The shipwrecked man says he will have nothing to do with the sea’s waves
       and he plies the oars on the water where he just now sailed.

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

Thus I constantly keep a pursuit not useful,
       and I return to the goddesses whom I would not wish to have cultivated.
What should I rather do? I am not one to lead sluggish leisure:
       death for us is accounted an inert time.
Nor does it delight to wither into the light with excessive wine.

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

       nor does beguiling dice hold my unsteady hands.
When we have given to sleep the hours which the body demands,
       how shall I, awake, spend the long hours now?
Or, forgetful of my ancestral custom, shall I learn to contend,
       to use Sarmatian bows and be drawn along by the art of the place?

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

This pursuit too prevents me from mustering strength,
       and my mind prevails more than my gracile body.
When you have inquired well what I am doing, nothing is more useful
       than these arts which have no utility.
From them I obtain oblivion of my misfortune:

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

       it is enough if my soil yields this harvest.
May glory sharpen you; you, that the recited
       songs be approved, keep vigil over the Pierian choirs.
It is enough for us to compose what comes easily,
       and for one too intent, the cause of labor is absent.

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

Why should I polish my songs with solicitous care?
       Or should I fear lest the Getae not approve them?
Perhaps I may act boldly, but I boast that the Hister
       has no one greater in genius than my own.
Since this is where I must live, it is enough, if I attain in the field,

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

to be a poet among the inhuman Getae.
Why should my fame strive to a different world?
Let the place which fortune has given be Rome.

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

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

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

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

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

       that the indication of my zeal has leapt across.
Imagine it is read, and—what is marvelous—imagine it pleases:
       certainly this matter assists the author nothing.
What does it profit you, if you are praised at hot Syene
       or where the Indian water tinges Taprobane?

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

Do I desire to go higher? If the far-distant constellations of the Pleiades praise you, what do you carry away from that?
But I do not arrive there with mediocre writings,
and Fame, along with its master, fled from the City,
and you, by whom I perished, then when my fame was buried,

nunc quoque de nostra morte tacere reor.

now too I think I should be silent about my death.

VI. GRAECINO

6. TO GRAECINUS

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

Did it at all, as you heard—for a different land held you—
       of my misfortunes, was your heart sad?
Though you may dissemble and fear to confess, Graecinus,
       if I know you well, it is clear it was sad.
That unamiable ferity does not befit those morals

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

       nor is that any less at odds with your studies.
By the liberal arts, for which you have the utmost care,
       hearts are softened and roughness flees;
nor does anyone embrace them with better faith,
       so far as duty and the toil of military service permits.

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

Surely I, when first I could perceive what I was,
       —for my mind, thunderstruck, was for a long time no mind—
I felt this too as fortune: that you, a friend, were away,
       you who were going to be a great bulwark for me.
With you, then, the solaces of my ailing mind were absent

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

       and a great part of my spirit and of my counsel.
But now, as to what remains, bring aid, I pray, from afar—one thing—
       and with your address help our hearts,
which, if you trust at all a friend not mendacious,
       it is fitting to be called more foolish than criminal.

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

Neither brief nor safe is it to write what the origin of the sin is:
       our wounds fear to be handled.
However they were brought about for me, cease to ask;
       do not agitate, if you wish any coming-together.
Whatever it is, though not a crime, yet it must be called a fault:

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

       or is the whole fault a crime against the mighty gods?
Therefore, Graecinus, hope for my mind’s penalty to be lightened
       is not, in all, left utterly none.
This goddess, when the divinities were fleeing the criminal lands,
       alone remained on the ground, unwelcome among the gods.

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

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

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

       nor does Hope fall for him when the pulse is failing.
They say those shut in prison hope for salvation,
       and someone hanging on the cross makes vows.
This goddess has not allowed many, who were binding their necks with a noose,
       to perish by the intended death.                     40
Me too, when I was trying to finish my pain with a sword,
       she reproved and restrained by laying her hand on me:
'What' and 'are you doing?'

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

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

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

       yet great hope is in the goodness of the deity.
Do you pray, Graecinus, that he not be difficult to me,
       and you too contribute words to my vow.
And may I lie entombed in the Tomitan sand,
       if it is not permitted for you to vow these things for us.

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

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

VII. MESSALINO

7. TO MESSALINUS

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

A letter in place of words to you, Messalinus, brings the greeting
which you are reading, all the way from the savage Getae.
Does the place indicate the author? Or, unless the name be read,
is it hidden that I, Nason, write these words?

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

Is there anyone lying at the farthest edge of the world among your own,                     5
       save me, who pray to be yours?
May the gods will that none of all who venerate and love you
       should have acquaintance with this nation.
For us it is enough to live amid ice and Scythian arrows—
       if life is to be held a kind of death.

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

Let the earth press us with war or the sky with cold,
       and let the savage Getae assail with arms, let winter fight with hail,
let a region hold us not teeming with apples nor with grapes,
       and one whose no flank is at rest from the enemy.
Let the rest be safe, the throng of your worshipers,

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

in which, as among the people, I was a small part.
Wretched me, if you are offended by those words
and you deny that we were yours in any part!
And even if that be true, you ought to pardon the one who has lied.

Nil demit laudi gloria nostra tuae.

Our glory detracts nothing from your praise.

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

Who, known to the Caesars, does not feign himself a friend?
       Grant pardon to one who has confessed: you were my Caesar.
Nor yet do I burst in where it is not permitted to go; and it is enough
       if you deny that your atria were not open to us.
And although there was with me for you nothing further, with a single

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

       surely you proffer salutations with your mouth less than before.
Nor has your genitor denied us as friends,
       an encourager of my studium, both cause and torch of it,
to whom we both gave tears, the last gift at a funeral,
       and writings to be chanted in the middle of the forum.                     30
Add that there is a brother, joined to you by so great a love
       as was among the Atridae and the Tyndarids:
he has not disdained me either as companion nor as friend,
       if, however, you think these things will not be harmful to him;
if not, I will confess myself a liar also in this part:

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

       let that whole house rather be closed to me.
But neither is it to be closed, and no power has the strength
       of guaranteeing that a friend not sin in any way.
And yet, though I could wish that fault too might be denied,
       so a crime—no one is unaware—is absent from me.

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

But unless a part of the delict were excusable,
       the penalty of relegation would have been too small.
Caesar himself saw this, who sees through everything,
       that my crimes could be called stupidity.
And he spared both what I permitted and what the affair endured

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

he has used the fire of his own lightning with moderation.
Nor did he take away life, nor wealth, nor the power to revert,
if his ire should be conquered through your prayers.
But gravely I fell.

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

For what is marvelous, if someone
struck by Jove has no slight wound?

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

Achilles himself would even inhibit his own forces,
       once the Pelian spear was sent, it was giving a heavy stroke.
Judgment therefore, together with an avenger, let it be present for me,
       there is no reason why your doorway should deny me acquaintance.
Polished indeed, I confess, she is short of what she owed,

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

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

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

What of the fact that, as gratitude must always be rendered to the deserving,
       so too it is to have merited your Fortune?
But if you permit us to advise what you should wish for,
       pray the gods that you may give more than you repay.
And you do this, and—so far as it is permitted to remember—you were wont to do so.

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

       to have been granted to many for duty’s sake.
Set me, Messalinus, in whatever number you please,
       only let me be no alien part of your house,
and as for the ills, since Naso seems to have deserved them,
       if you do not grieve at his bearing them, at least grieve that he deserved them.

VIII. SEVERO

8. TO SEVERUS

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

From Naso, your beloved, accept the greeting sent to you
       accept it, great part of my soul, Severus.
And do not ask what I am doing. If I recount everything, you will weep:
       the sum of my misfortune is enough for you to know.
We live, devoid of peace, in continual arms

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

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

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

There stands an old city, near the bank of the two-named Hister,
       by reason of its walls and the position of the place scarcely to be approached.
Caspius Aegisos, if we trust their own report,
       founded it and named the work with his own name.
This the fierce Getan, the Odrysians slain by unexpected Mars,                     15
       seized, and raised arms against the king.

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

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

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

But to you, O king of our age, may it be granted, bravest of our time,
       always to hold honored scepters in your hand,
and—what is preferable—for what indeed could I wish more fully for you?—
       may Martial Rome, together with great Caesar, approve you.
But, remembering whence I have departed, I lament, O pleasant comrade,

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

       that cruel arms are being added to my misfortunes.
Since I am without you, thrust down to Stygian shores,
       the rising Pleiad makes it four autumns.
Nor should you believe that Naso seeks the conveniences of urban life;
       yet those, too, seek him nevertheless.

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

For now I recall you, sweet friends, in my mind,
       now my daughter, together with my dear wife, comes to mind,
and from home again I turn toward the places of the fair City
       and my mind with its own eyes clearly surveys them all.
Now the fora, now the temples, now the theaters roofed with marble,

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

       now every portico, leveled with the ground, comes to mind,
now the grasses of the Campus, looking out toward the beautiful gardens,
       and the pools and the Euripi and the Virgin water.
But, I think, thus the pleasure of the City has been snatched away from the wretch,
       so that at least it may be permitted to enjoy any countryside whatsoever!

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

My spirit does not long for the lost fields
       and the rural lands to be viewed in the Paelignian soil,
nor the gardens set on pine-bearing hills
       which the Clodian Way, joined to the Flaminian Way, looks upon,
which I cultivated for I know not whom, with which I myself used to

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

       to the sown fields to add spring-waters, nor am I ashamed,
there are places where, if they still live, some plantings of mine too,
       but my fruits are not to be gathered by my hand.
For the loss of which, would that it might be possible
       here at least for me, an exile, a glebe to be tilled!

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

I myself, if only it be allowed, would tend the she-goats on a hanging crag,
       I myself would wish to pasture the sheep, leaning on a staff.
I myself, lest my breast insist on its accustomed cares,
       would lead the country-dwelling oxen beneath curved yokes
and would learn the Getic words which the young bullocks know

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

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

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

But whence is this, that for us, between ourselves and the foe,
       a very slight separation is made by a wall and a closed gate?
But for you at your birth, which I rejoice in with all my heart,
       the fatal goddesses spin strong threads.
Now the Campus holds you, now the portico’s dense shade,

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

       now in what forum do you place your rare hours;
Umbria now calls you back, and likewise, while you seek the Alban
       country, the Appian Way with a fervent wheel leads into the fields.
Perhaps here you would wish that Caesar suppress his just ire
       and that your villa be my hospitality.

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

Ah! too much is what you ask, friend; wish more moderately,
and, I pray, reef the sails of your desire.
I would wish that a land nearer and subject to no war be granted:
a good portion will be taken away from our ills.

IX. COTTAE MAXIMO

9. TO COTTA MAXIMUS

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

The letter of yours that came to me about Celsus’s abduction
       was at once made moist with my tears,
and a thing which I thought unspeakable to say and impossible to happen
       was your letter read by unwilling eyes.
Nor has anything more bitter reached my ears,

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

       since I am in Pontus, and may it, I pray, reach me.
Before my eyes the image, as though of one present, clings
       and love makes the extinguished seem to live.
Often the mind recalls pastimes lacking gravity,
       and often serious things, accomplished in clear good faith.

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

No times, however, come upon me more thickly than those
       which I would wish to have been the sum of my life,
when my house, collapsed with a vast and sudden ruin,
       fell down and laid low the head of its master.
He was present to me, when a great part abandoned me,

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

       Maximus, nor was he himself a companion of Fortune.
I saw him weeping over my funeral rites, to be laid no otherwise
       than if a brother were on the pyre.
He clung in embrace, and, consoling me as I lay,
       he continually mingled his own tears with mine.

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

O how often the hated guardian of my bitter life
       held back the ready hands aimed at my fate!
O how often he said: 'The wrath of the gods is placable:
       live, and do not deny that you yourself can be forgiven!'
Yet that saying was most celebrated: 'Consider how much

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

       Maximus ought to be an aid to you.
Maximus will press on, and, with the piety that is his, will ask
       that to the last Caesar’s wrath be not tenacious,
and, together with his own, he will bring to bear his brother’s strength, and every,
       aid he will try, so that you may grieve more lightly.'

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

These words lessened for me the tedium of my ill life:
       see to it, Maximus, that they not prove vain.
He was also wont to swear to me that he would come here
       only if you granted him the right of the long road.
For he cultivated your inner shrine with no other rite

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

       than the gods, lords of the lands, whom you yourself worship.
Believe me, though you have many friends, as you are worthy,
       he was not, out of the many, inferior to just anyone,
if indeed it is not wealth nor the illustrious name of ancestors,
       but probity and genius make men great.                     40
Rightly therefore we pour tears as a libation for Celsus taken away,
       as I was fleeing, which he, alive, gave to me;
we rightly give songs attesting rare character,
       so that those to come may read your name, Celsus.
This is what I can send to you from the Getic fields;

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

       this alone is there that it is permitted to be mine.
Funeral rites I could not accompany nor anoint the body
       and I am sundered from your pyres by the whole world.
He who could, whom you, while living, held as a divinity,
       Maximus performed every office for you.

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

He made for you the exequies and the funeral of great honor
       and turned the amomum into your icy bosom;
and, mourning, he diluted the unguents with tears poured out,
       and he covered the buried bones with neighboring earth.
Who, since he renders what is owed to friends now extinct,

et nos extinctis adnumerare potest.

and he can number us among the dead.

X. FLACCO

10. TO FLACCUS

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

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

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

       and the vein carries through the course of its accustomed tenor.
The mouth is dull, and the set-out table rouses fastidiousness,
       and I complain, when the hour of hateful food comes.
Whatever the sea, whatever the earth may set before me, whatever the air rears,
       nothing there will be that is hungered for by me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       you might also ask where the color that was before has gone.
Little sap has reached my slender limbs
       and my limbs are paler than fresh wax.
I have not incurred these losses from immoderate Lyaeus:
       you know that for me almost only waters are drunk.

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

I am not weighed down by banquets; if I am touched by desire for them,
       there is, however, no supply in the Getic places.
Nor does the ruinous pleasure of Venus take away my strength:
       she is not wont to come to mournful couches.
The water and the place do harm, and a cause stronger than these,

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

       the anxiety of mind, which is always with me.
These, unless you likewise, together with your similar brother, were lightening,
       scarcely would my mind have borne the burden of our sadness.
You are, for a broken skiff, a shore not hard
       and, which many deny, you bring me aid.

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

Bear them, I pray, always, since we shall always need them,
so long as the godhead of Caesar is offended with me.
Let each of you suppliantly ask your gods
that he may lessen for us the deserved wrath, if not end it.