Petronius: FRAGMENTA

Candida sidereis ardescunt lumina flammis,
Fundunt colla rosas, et cedit crinibus aurum,
Mellea purpureum depromunt ora ruborem,
Lactaneaque admixtus sublimat pectora sanguis,
Ac totus tibi seruit honor, formaque dearum
Fulges, et Venerem coelesti corpore vincis.
Argento stat facta manus, dugutusque tenellis
Serica fila trahens, pretioso stamine ludis.
Planta decens modicos nescit calcare lapillos,
Et dura laedi scelus est vestigia terra:
Ipsa tuos cum ferre velis per lilia gressus,
Nulli sternuatur leuiori pondere flores.

With a bright, starry radiance your eyes blaze with fire,
They pour roses from your neck, and gold yields to your hair,
A honeyed purple brings forth a rosy hue to your mouth,
Milk-mingled blood uplifts your bosom on high,
And all honour serves you, and of the goddesses in form
You shine, and with a celestial body you conquer Venus.
A hand made of silver stands, and with delicate fingers
Drawing silk threads you play upon a precious warp.
The graceful sole knows not to press the modest pebbles,
And it is a crime that the hard earth be harmed by your footprints:
When you yourself would bear your steps over the lilies,
No flower is laid low by an any lighter weight of yours.

Guttura nunc aliae magnis monilibus ornent,
Aut gemmas aptent capiti: tu sola placere,
Vel spoliata, potes. Nulli laudabile totum,
In te cuncta probat, si quisquam cernere possit.
Sireneum cantus, et dulcia plectra Thaliae
Ad vocem tacuisse, reor, quae mella propagas
Dulcia, et in miseros telum iacularis amoris.

Now other throats may adorn themselves with great monils,
Or set gems upon the head: you alone can please,
Even stripped, you can. Nothing wholly laudable to anyone,
He finds all things proved in you, if anyone is able to behold.
Sirenean song, and the sweet plectra of Thalia
I think have been silenced at your voice, you who propagate sweet honeys,
And hurl the weapon of love into pitiable men.

Cor graue vulnus alit, nullo sanabile ferro,
Sed tua labra meo saeuum de corde dolorem
Depellant, morbumque animae medicaminis huius
Cura fuget, nec tanta putres violentia neruos
Dificiet, atque tuae moriar pro crimine caussae.
Sed, si hoc grande putas, saltem concede precanti,
Vt iam defuncturum niueis ambire lacertis
Digneris, vitamque mihi post fata reducas.

A grave wound nourishes my heart, healable by no iron,
but may your lips drive the savage sorrow from my breast,
and the disease of my soul flee from this remedy;
nor will so great violence rot my sinews away,
and I shall die for the crime of your cause.
But if you deem this too much, at least grant the suppliant,
that you deign now to embrace one about to die with snowy arms,
and restore life to me after my fate.

Frag II.

Fragment 2.

Albutia.

Memphitides, puellae,
Sacris Deum paratae,
Tinctus colore noctis
Manu puer loquaci,
Aeguptias choreas —

Memphite girls,
prepared for the sacred rites of the gods,
dyed in the color of night
by the hand of a loquacious boy,
Egyptian dances —

Frag. III.

Frag. 3.

Balneatricem — Pollice vsque ad periculum roso.

The balneatrix — her thumb even to danger rose-red.

Frag. IV.

FRAGMENT 4.

Anus recocta vino,
Trementibus labellis.

An old woman, recocted in wine,
with trembling little lips.

Frag. V.

Frag. 5.

Iuuerunt segetes meum laborem.

The crops have helped my toil.

Frag. VI.

FRAGMENT 6.

Triplici vides, vt ortu
Triuiae rotetur ignis,
Volucrique Phoebus axe
Rapidum pererret orbem.

You see that, by a threefold rising,
the fire of Trivia is turned,
and Phoebus on his winged axle
traverses the swift orb.

Frag. VII.

Fragment 7.

Non bene olet, qui bene semper olet.

He who is always well‑scented does not smell well.

Frag. VIII.

Frag. 8.

Animam nostro amplexam in corpore.

A soul embraced in our body.

Frag. IX.

Frag. 9.

Qui vultur iecor intimum pererrat,
Et pectus trahit, intimasque fibras,
Non est, quem lepidi vocant poetae;
Sed cordis mala, liuor atque luctus.

He whom a vulture ranges through the inmost liver,
and plucks the breast and its inner fibres,
is not the man whom the charming poets call;
but the heart’s maladies: livor and grief.

Frag. X.

Frag. 10.

Ad libidinis incitamentum, myrrhinum se poculum bibisse — In armarium memet conieci — Obtorto valgiter labello — Totus fere mundus mimum videtur implere — Non duco contentonis funem, dum constet inter nos, quod fere totus mundus exerceat histrioniam.

As an incitement to lust, that he had drunk a myrrhine cup — I threw myself into a wardrobe — with my lip twisted awry — almost the whole world seems to fill the role of a mime — I do not reckon the rope of contention cut, so long as it stands between us that almost the whole world practices histrionics.

Frag. XI.

Fragment 11.

O maxima rerum,
Et merito pietas homini tutissima virtus!

O greatest of things,
And deservedly piety is for man the most secure virtue!

Frag. XII.

Frag. 12.

— Horrificoque infestant murmure tigres.

— And the tigers harass with a horrific murmur.

Frag. XIII.

Frag. 13.

Nam comtum me vernales alucitae molestabant — Postquam ferculum allatum est — Tot regum manubiae penes fugitiuum repertae — Satis constat, eos nisi inclinatos, non solere transire cryptam Neapolitanam — Petauroque iubente modo superior — Adfer nobis alabastrum Cosmianum — Suppes — Tullia.

For neat/vernal moths were troubling me — After the dish was brought in — So many bands of kings were found in the hands of fugitives — It is well established, they do not usually pass through the Neapolitan crypt unless inclined — And Petauros just now commanding from above — Bring us the Cosmian alabaster — Suppes — Tullia.

Frag. XIV.

Fragment 14.

— Ineluctabile fatum.

— Ineluctable fate.

Frag. XV.

Frag. 15.

— Tremebunda superuolat hasta.

— A trembling spear flies overhead.

Frag. XVI.

Fragment 16.

— Qui praeesse cupit, prodesse recusat.
Magnus in exemplo est, cui non suffecerat orbis.

— He who desires to preside, refuses to be of use.
Magnus is an example, for whom the world was not sufficient.

Frag. XVII.

Frag. 17.

— Exciso defossa marmore petra.

— A stone hollowed out, the marble excised.

Frag. XVIII.

Frag. 18.

Quinque pedum fabricata domus, qua nobile corpus
Exigua requieuit humo. —
Atque, vt araneoli, tenuem formauimus orsum.

A house built five feet high, in which the noble body
rested on scanty earth. —
And, like little spiders, we fashioned a slight beginning.

Frag. XIX.

Frag. 19.

Mille saporatam medicatis frugibus offam.

a morsel seasoned with a thousand medicated fruits.

Frag. XX.

Frag. 20.

Non est forma satis; nec, quae vult bella videri,
Debet vulgari more placere sibi.
Dicta, sales, lusus, sermonis gratia, risus,
Vindicunt naturae candidioris opus.
Condit enim formam, quidquid consumitur artis,
Et, nisi velle subest, gratia tota perit.

Form is not enough; nor should that which would seem beautiful
please itself in vulgar fashion.
Words, witticisms, play, for the sake of discourse, laughter,
vindicate the work of a fairer nature.
For whatever is consummated by art establishes form,
and, unless a willing purpose underlies it, all grace perishes.

Frag. XXI.

Fragment 21.

Non satis est, quod non mergis, furiosa iuuentus:
Transuersosque rapit fama sepulta probris?
Anne etiam famuli cognata faece sepulti,
In testa mersas luxuriantur opes?
Vilis seruus habet regni bona: cellaque capti
Deridet festram, Romuleamque casam.

Is it not enough, raging youth, that you are not drowned:
and does rumor snatch up things buried and overturned by reproach?
Or do even servants, kin by the dregs of the buried,
luxuriate in riches plunged in a pot?
A worthless slave holds the goods of a kingdom: and the cell of the captive
derides the feast, and Romulus’s little house.

Idcirco virtus medio iacet obruta coeno:
Nequitiae classes candida vela ferunt.

Therefore virtue lies in the midst, crushed beneath mire:
The squadrons of nequity carry gleaming white sails.

Frag. XXII.

Fragment 22.

Primus in orbe deos fecit timor: ardua coelo
Fulmina cum caderent, discussaque moenia flammis,
Atquew ictu flagraret Athos: Mox Phoebus ad ortus,
Lustrata deiectus humo: Lunaeque senectus,
Et reparatus honos: Hinc signa effusa per orbem,
Et permutatis didiunctus mensibus annus
Proiecit vitium hoc: atque error iussit inanis
Agricolas primos Cereri dare messis honores:
Palmitibus plenis Bacchum vincire: Palemque
Pastorum gaudere manu. Natat obrutus, omni
Neptunus demersis aqua: Pallasque tabernas
Vindicat. Et voti reus, et qui vendidit orbem,
Iam sibi quisque deos auido certamine fingit.

Fear first in the world made the gods: when thunderbolts
fell from the lofty heaven, and the walls were scattered by flames,
and Athos blazed from a single blow: then Phoebus at his rising,
after his purifications, was hurled down to the soil: and the moon’s old age,
and renewed honor: hence signs poured out across the orb,
and the year, its months having been rearranged and sundered,
cast off this vice: and foolish error commanded that
farmers first give the harvest’s honors to Ceres:
that Bacchus be bound with full palms: and that Pales
rejoice in the shepherds’ hand. Neptune swims, overwhelmed, with all
things plunged beneath the water: and Pallas vindicates the shops.
And the guilty of a vow, and he who sold the world,
now each, in a greedy contest, devises gods for himself.

Frag. XXIII.

FRAGMENT 23.

Nolo ego semper idem capiti suffundere costum,
Nec toto stomachum conciliare mero.
Taurus amat gramen mutata carpere velle,
Et fera mutatis sustinet ora cibis.
Ipse dies ideo nos grato perluit haustu,
Quod permutatis hora equis.

I do not wish always to pour the same sauce upon my head,
Nor to reconcile my whole stomach with the same wine.
The bull loves to graze on grass, desiring change,
And the wild beast endures its jaws on foods altered.
The day itself therefore bathes us with a pleasant draught,
Because the hours, like horses, are exchanged.

Frag. XXIV.

Frag. 24.

Vxor legitimus debet quasi census amari:
Nec censum vellem semper amare meum.

A lawful wife ought to be loved as if a possession;
Nor would I wish always to love my possession.

Frag. XXV.

Frag. 25.

Inuenias, quod quisque velit. Non omnibus vnum est,
Quod placet. Hic spinas colligit, ille rosas.

May you find whatever each one wishes. One thing is not one for all,
what pleases. This one gathers thorns, that one roses.

Frag. XXVI.

Frag. 26.

Nam nihil est, quod non mortalibus afferat vsum.
Rebus in aduersis, quae iacuere, iuuant.
Sic, rate demersa, fuluum deponderat aurum;
Remorum leuitas naufraga membra vehit.

For there is nothing that does not bring some use to mortals.
In adverse things, those which have lain low, they help.
Thus, a raft sunk set down its tawny gold;
the lightness of the oars bears the shipwrecked limbs.

Cum sonuere tubae; iugulo stat diuite ferrum;
Barbara contemtu praelia pannus habet.

When the trumpets sounded; at the throat the rich man’s sword stood;
the barbarian scorns battles as a mere rag.

Frag. XXVII.

Frag. 27.

Linque tuas sedes, alienaque littora quaere,
O iuuenis! maior rerum tibi nascitur ordo.
Ne succumbe malis: te nouerit ultimus Ister,
Te Boreas gelidus, securaque regna Canopi,
Quique renascentem Phoebum, cernuntque cadentem.

Leave your seats and seek alien shores,
O youth! a greater order of things is born for you.
Do not succumb to evils: the farthest Ister will know you,
the icy Boreas, and the secure realms of Canopus,
and those who behold Phoebus reborn, and who behold him falling.

Maior in externas Ithacus descendat arenas.

Let a greater Ithacan descend into foreign sands.

Frag. XXVIII.

Fragment 28.

Nam citius flammas mortales ore tenebunt,
Quam secreta tegant. Quidquid dimittis in aula,
Effluit, et subitis rumoribus oppida pulsat.
Nec satis est, vulgasse fidem: simulatius exit
Proditionis opus, famamque onerare laborat.

For mortal mouths will hold flames more quickly
Than they conceal secrets. Whatever you let slip in the hall
Flows out, and with sudden rumors strikes the towns.
Nor is it sufficient to have made confidence public: more promptly issues
The work of betrayal, and it labors to load down fame.

Sic commissa verens, auidus referare minister,
Fodit humum , regisque latentes prodidit aures.
Concepit nam terra sonos, calamique loquentes
Inuenere Midam, qualem narrauerat iudex.

Thus, fearing the charge committed, the eager minister to report,
dug the ground, and betrayed the king’s hidden ears.
For the earth conceived sounds, and the speaking reeds

Frag. XXIX.

Frag. 29.

Fallunt nos oculi, vagique sensus,
Oppressa ratione, mentiuntur.
Nam turris, prope quae quadrata surgit.
Attritis procul angulis rotatur.

Our eyes deceive us, and our wandering senses,
oppressed by reason, lie.
For the tower, near which a square one rises,
with its corners worn away is seen turned into a round from afar.

Hyblaeum refugit satur liquorem,
Et naris casiam frequenter odit.
Hoc illo magis, aut minus, placere

Sated, he shuns Hyblaean liquor,
And oft the nose loathes cassia.
This, to him, more or less, pleases

Non posset, nisi, lite destinata,
Pugnarent dubio tenore sensus.

It could not be, unless, the dispute having been determined,
the senses would fight with a doubtful tenor.

Frag. XXX.

Fragment 30.

Iam nunc ardentes auctumnus fregerat vmbras,
Atque hiemem tepidis spectabat Phoebus habenis:
Iam platanus iactare comas, iam coeperat vuas
Annumerare suas, defecto palmite, vitis:
Ante oculos stabat, quidquid promiserat annus.

Now already ardent autumn had broken the shades,
And Phoebus beheld winter with warm reins:
Now the plane-tree to toss its locks, now the vine had begun
To number its own grapes, its tendril having failed:
Before the eyes stood whatever the year had promised.

Frag. XXXI.

Frag. 31.

Sic et memba solent auras includere venis,
Quae penitus mersae, cum rursus abire laborant,
Verberibus rimantur iter: nec desinit ante,
Frigidus, adstrictis qui regnat in ossibus, horror,
Quam tepidus laxo manauit corpore sudor.

Thus limbs are wont to enclose airs in veins,
Which, plunged deep, when they strive to depart again,
Are beaten out a path by blows: nor does the cold
Horror, that reigns with bones drawn tight, cease before
A warm sweat has flowed down the body relaxed.

Frag. XXXII.

Frag. 32.

Sic, contra rerum naturae munera nota,
Coruus maturis frugibus oua refert:
Sic format lingua foetum, cum protulit, vrsa,
Et piscis, nullo iunctus amore, parit.
Sic Phoebeia chelys, vinclo resoluta parentis,
Lucinae tepidis naribus ora fouet.
Sic sine concubitu textis apis excita ceris
Feruet, et audaci milite castra replet.

Thus, against the known gifts of nature,
the raven bears back eggs among the ripened fruits:
Thus the she-bear fashions the foetus with her tongue, when she brings it forth,
and the fish, joined by no love, gives birth.
Thus the Phoebean chelys, loosed from the parent's bond,
the mouth of Lucina warms with her tepid nostrils.
Thus the bee, stirred without concubium, in woven waxes excited
boils, and fills her camp with bold warriors.

Non vno contenta valet natura tenore,
Sed permutatas gaudet habere vices.

Nature is not able to be content with one single tenor,
but delights to have vicissitudes exchanged.

Frag. XXXIII.

Frag. 33.

Naufragus, eiecta nudus rate, quaerit eodem
Percussum telo, cui sua fata legat.
Grandine qui segetes et totum perdidit annum,
In simili deflet tristia fata sinu.
Funera conciliant miseros, orbique parentes
Coniugunt gemitus, et facit hora pares.

The shipwrecked man, naked with his cast-off raft, seeks in the same place
one struck by a weapon, to whom to entrust his own fate.
He who by hail has lost his crops and the whole year,
in like wise laments his sad fates in his bosom.
Funerals bring together the wretched, and bereave parents;
they join their laments, and the hour makes all equal.

Nos quoque confusis feriemus sidera verbis,
Et fama est, iunctas fortius ire preces.

We too shall strike the stars with confused words,
And fame is that joined prayers go forth more strongly.

Frag. XXXIV.

Frag. 34.

Omnia, quae miseras possunt finire querelas,
In promtu voluit candidus esse Deus.
Vile olus, et duris haerentia mora rubetis,
Pugnantis stomachi composuere famem.
Flumine vicino, stultus sitit, et riget Euro,
Cum calidus tepido consonat igne rogus.

All things that can put an end to miserable complaints,
the bright God wished to have ready at hand.
A worthless herb, and delays clinging to hard radishes,
composed the hunger of the battling stomach.
By the neighboring river the fool is thirsty, and shivers from the East Wind,
when a warm pyre accords with a tepid fire.

Lex armata sedet circum fera limina nuptae,
Nil metuit licito fusa puella toro.
Quod satiare potest, diues natura ministrat,
Quod docet infrenis glorai, fine caret.

Armed law sits round the fierce thresholds of the bride,
the girl, poured upon the lawful bed, fears nothing.
What can sate her, wealthy Nature supplies,
what unbridled glory teaches, is without end.

Frag. XXXV.

Frag. 35.

Iudaeus licet et porcinum numen adoret,
Et coeli summas aduocet auriculas.
Ni tamen et ferro succiderit inguinis oram,
Et nisi nudatum soluerit arte caput,
Exemtus populo, Graiam migrabit ad vrbem,
Et non ieiuna sabbatha lege premet.
Vna est nobilitas, argumentumque coloris
Ingenui, timidas non habuisse manus.

Although a Jew may worship even a swineish divinity,
and summon the highest ears of heaven.
Yet unless he be cut down at the groin’s border by iron,
and unless he by art loosen the bared head,
taken from his people, he will migrate to a Greek city,
and will not observe the fasting Sabbaths by law.
There is one nobility, and the proof and color of free birth:
to have had hands that were not timid.