Propertius: ELEGIAE

"hoc, quodcumque uides, hospes, qua maxima Roma est,
    ante Phrygem Aenean collis et herba fuit;
atque ubi Nauali stant sacra Palatia Phoebo,
    Euandri profugae concubuere boues.
fictilibus creuere deis haec aurea templa,
    nec fuit opprobrio facta sine arte casa;
Tarpeiusque pater nuda de rupe tonabat,
    et Tiberis nostris aduena bubus erat.
qua gradibus domus ista Remi se sustulit, olim
    unus erat fratrum maxima regna focus.

"this, whatever you see, guest, where Rome is greatest,
    before Phrygian Aeneas it was a hill and grass;
and where the Palatine stands sacred to Phoebus of the Navalia,
    the oxen of exiled Evander lay down to rest.
for gods of clay these golden temples grew,
    nor was a house made without art a reproach;
and the Tarpeian father thundered from a naked crag,
    and the Tiber was a newcomer to our cattle.
where with steps that house of Remus has lifted itself, once
    the single hearth of the brothers was the greatest realm.

curia, praetexto quae nunc nitet alta senatu,
    pellitos habuit, rustica corda, Patres.
bucina cogebat priscos ad uerba Quiritis:
    centum illi in prato saepe senatus erat.
nec sinuosa cauo pendebant uela theatro,
    pulpita sollemnis non oluere crocos.

the Curia, which now shines lofty with a praetextate Senate,
    had fur-clad Fathers, rustic hearts.
the buccina drove the ancients to the words of the Quirite:
    for him, in the meadow, the senate was often a hundred.
nor did sinuous awnings hang from a hollow theater,
    the solemn stages did not smell of saffron.

nulli cura fuit externos quaerere diuos,
    cum tremeret patrio pendula turba sacro,
annuaque accenso celebrante Parilia faeno,
    qualia nunc curto lustra nouantur equo.
Vesta coronatis pauper gaudebat asellis,
    ducebant macrae uilia sacra boues.
parua saginati lustrabant compita porci,
    pastor et ad calamos exta litabat ouis.

no one had a care to seek foreign gods,
    when the swaying crowd trembled at the ancestral sacred rite,
and the annual Parilia, celebrating with hay set alight,
    such as now the lustrations are renewed with the dock-tailed horse.
Vesta rejoiced in poor little donkeys crowned with garlands,
    lean cattle led humble sacred rites.
little fattened pigs lustrated the crossroads,
    and the shepherd, at his reed-pipes, would propitiate with the entrails of a sheep.

uerbera pellitus saetosa mouebat arator,
    unde licens Fabius sacra Lupercus habet.
nec rudis infestis miles radiabat in armis:
    miscebant usta proelia nuda sude.
prima galeritus posuit praetoria Lycmon,
    magnaque pars Tatio rerum erat inter ouis.

the skin-clad plowman was wielding the bristly lash,
    whence the unbridled Fabius, as Lupercus, holds the sacred rites.
nor did the raw soldier gleam in hostile arms:
    they mingled battles with a charred naked stake.
the cap-wearing Lycmon set up the first praetorial headquarters,
    and a great part of Tatius’s affairs was among the sheep.

hinc Tities Ramnesque uiri Luceresque Soloni,
    quattuor hinc albos Romulus egit equos.
quippe suburbanae parua minus urbe Bouillae
    et, qui nunc nulli, maxima turba Gabi.
et stetit Alba potens, albae suis omine nata,
    ac tibi Fidenas longa erat isse uia.

from here the Tities and the Ramnes, men, and the Luceres, O Solon,
    and from here Romulus drove four white horses.
indeed the suburban Bovillae were a little short of a city,
    and Gabii, who now are no one, were a very great throng.
and mighty Alba stood, born by the omen of a white sow,
    and for you to have gone to Fidenae was a long road.

nil patrium nisi nomen habet Romanus alumnus:
    sanguinis altricem non pudet esse lupam.
huc melius profugos misisti, Troia, Penatis;
    heu quali uecta est Dardana puppis aue!
iam bene spondebant tunc omina, quod nihil illam
    laeserat abiegni uenter apertus equi,
cum pater in nati trepidus ceruice pependit,
    et uerita est umeros urere flamma pios.

The Roman nursling has nothing ancestral save the name:
    he is not ashamed that a she-wolf is the nurse of his blood.
Hither, Troy, you sent your fugitive Penates more fittingly;
    alas, under what bird-omen the Dardanian ship was borne!
Already even then the omens were promising well, because nothing had harmed her,
    the opened belly of the fir-wood horse,
when the father, trembling, hung upon his son’s neck,
    and the flame was afraid to scorch those pious shoulders.

tunc animi uenere Deci Brutique secures,
    uexit et ipsa sui Caesaris arma Venus,
arma resurgentis portans uictricia Troiae:
    felix terra tuos cepit, Iule, deos,
si modo Auernalis tremulae cortina Sibyllae
    dixit Auentino rura pianda Remo,
aut si Pergameae sero rata carmina uatis
    longaeuum ad Priami uera fuere caput:
"uertite equum, Danai! male uincitis! Ilia tellus
    uiuet, et huic cineri Iuppiter arma dabit."
optima nutricum nostris lupa Martia rebus,
    qualia creuerunt moenia lacte tuo!

then there came the spirits of the Decii and the axes of the Brutuses,
    and Venus herself conveyed the arms of her own Caesar,
carrying the victorious arms of Troy rising again:
    fortunate the land received, Iulus, your gods,
if only the Avernalian cortina of the trembling Sibyl
    said that the fields on the Aventine were to be expiated for Remus,
or if the songs of the Pergamene prophetess, ratified late,
    were true concerning the long‑lived head of Priam:
“turn the horse, Danaans! you win ill! the Ilian land
    will live, and to this ash Jupiter will give arms.”
best of nurses for our affairs, Martial she‑wolf,
    how great the walls have grown by your milk!

moenia namque pio coner disponere uersu:
    ei mihi, quod nostro est paruus in ore sonus!
sed tamen exiguo quodcumque e pectore riui
    fluxerit, hoc patriae seruiet omne meae.
Ennius hirsuta cingat sua dicta corona:
    mi folia ex hedera porrige, Bacche, tua,
ut nostris tumefacta superbiat Vmbria libris,
    Vmbria Romani patria Callimachi!

for I would attempt to set in order the walls with pious verse:
    alas for me, that the sound in my mouth is small!
but yet whatever streamlet shall have flowed from my meager breast,
    this shall all serve my fatherland.
let Ennius gird his sayings with a shaggy crown:
    to me, Bacchus, stretch forth leaves from your ivy,
so that Umbria, swollen with our books, may boast,
    Umbria, homeland of the Roman Callimachus!

scandentis quisquis cernit de uallibus arces,
    ingenio muros aestimet ille meo!
Roma, faue, tibi surgit opus, date candida ciues
    omina, et inceptis dextera cantet auis!
sacra diesque canam et cognomina prisca locorum:
    has meus ad metas sudet oportet equus."

Whoever sees the citadels climbing from the valleys,
    let him estimate the walls by my genius!
Rome, favor me; a work rises for you—grant, fair citizens,
    omens, and let the right-hand bird sing for these undertakings!
I shall sing the sacra and the days and the ancient cognomina of the places:
    to these goals my horse ought to sweat."

HOROS

"quo ruis imprudens, uage, dicere fata, Properti?
non sunt a dextro condita fila colo.
accersis lacrimas cantans, auersus Apollo:
poscis ab inuita uerba pigenda lyra.

"Where are you rushing, imprudent vagrant, to speak the fates, Propertius?
the threads are not spun from a right-hand distaff.
you summon tears by singing, Apollo averse:
you demand from an unwilling lyre words to make one blush.

certa feram certis auctoribus, aut ego uates
    nescius aerata signa mouere pila.
me creat Archytae suboles Babylonius Orops
    Horon, et a proauo ducta Conone domus.
di mihi sunt testes non degenerasse propinquos,
    inque meis libris nil prius esse fide.

I will bear sure things with sure authorities, or I am a vates
    unskilled to set the bronze signs in motion with the sphere.
The Babylonian Orops begot me, Horos, offspring of Archytas,
    and my house is drawn from my great-grandfather Conon.
the gods are my witnesses that I have not degenerated from my kinsmen,
    and that in my books nothing is prior to trustworthiness.

nunc pretium fecere deos et (fallitur auro
    Iuppiter) obliquae signa iterata rotae
felicesque Iouis stellas Martisque rapaces
    et graue Saturni sidus in omne caput;
quid moueant Pisces animosaque signa Leonis,
    lotus et Hesperia quid Capricornus aqua.
[dicam: "Troia cades, et Troica Roma, resurges;"
    et maris et terrae longa sepulcra canam.]
dixi ego, cum geminos produceret Arria natos
    (illa dabat natis arma uetante deo):
non posse ad patrios sua pila referre Penatis:
    nempe meam firmant nunc duo busta fidem.
quippe Lupercus, equi dum saucia protegit ora,
    heu sibi prolapso non bene cauit equo;
Gallus at, in castris dum credita signa tuetur,
    concidit ante aquilae rostra cruenta suae:
fatales pueri, duo funera matris auarae!

now they have set a price on the gods, and (Jupiter is deceived by gold)
    the repeated signs of the oblique wheel,
and the fortunate stars of Jove and the rapacious of Mars,
    and the grave sidus of Saturn upon every head;
what the Fishes move and the spirited signs of the Lion,
    and what Capricorn, bathed in Hesperian water, [effects].
[I will say: "Troy, you will fall, and Trojan Rome, you will rise again;"
    and I will sing the long tombs of sea and land.]
I said it, when Arria was leading forth her twin sons
    (she was giving arms to her sons, though the god forbade):
that they could not carry their javelins back to their fathers’ Penates:
    surely now two funeral mounds confirm my faith.
for Lupercus, while he shields the wounded mouth of his horse,
    alas, did not take good care for himself when the horse slipped down;
but Gallus, while in the camp he guards the entrusted standards,
    fell before the blood-stained beak of his own eagle:
fatal boys, two funerals of a greedy mother!

    uera, sed inuito, contigit ista fides.
idem ego, cum Cinarae traheret Lucina dolores,
    et facerent uteri pondera lenta moram,
"Iunonis facito uotum impetrabile" dixi:
    illa parit: libris est data palma meis!
hoc neque harenosum Libyae Iouis explicat antrum,
    aut sibi commissos fibra locuta deos,
aut si quis motas cornicis senserit alas,
    umbraue quae magicis mortua prodit aquis:
aspicienda uia est caeli uerusque per astra
    trames, et ab zonis quinque petenda fides.

    true, but against my will, this credence befell.
I likewise, when Lucina was drawing out Cinara’s pains,
    and the burdens of the womb were making a slow delay,
“Make to Juno an impetrable vow,” I said:
    she gives birth: the palm has been given to my books!
this neither does the sandy cavern of Libya’s Jove explicate,
    nor the fiber that has spoken the gods entrusted to it,
nor if anyone has sensed the stirred wings of a crow,
    or a shade of the dead which comes forth by magic waters:
the road of heaven and the true track through the stars must be looked upon,
    and from the five zones credence must be sought.

exemplum graue erit Calchas: namque Aulide soluit
    ille bene haerentis ad pia saxa ratis;
idem Agamemnoniae ferrum ceruice puellae
    tinxit, et Atrides uela cruenta dedit;
nec rediere tamen Danai: tu diruta fletum
    supprime et Euboicos respice, Troia, sinus!
Nauplius ultores sub noctem porrigit ignis,
    et natat exuuiis Graecia pressa suis.
uictor Oiliade, rape nunc et dilige uatem,
    quam uetat auelli ueste Minerua sua!

Calchas will be a weighty example: for at Aulis he loosed
    the ships that clung fast to the holy rocks;
the same man stained with steel the neck of the Agamemnonian girl,
    and the Atrides set bloody sails;
nor yet did the Danaans return: you, though overthrown,
    restrain your weeping and look back, Troy, to the Euboean bays!
Nauplius stretches forth avenging fires by night,
    and Greece swims, weighed down by her own spoils.
victorious Oiliades, seize now and “love” the seeress,
    whom Minerva forbids to be torn from her own robe!

hactenus historiae: nunc ad tua deuehar astra;
    incipe tu lacrimis aequus adesse nouis.
Vmbria te notis antiqua Penatibus edit --
    mentior? an patriae tangitur ora tuae?--
qua nebulosa cauo rorat Meuania campo,
    et lacus aestiuis intepet Vmber aquis,
scandentisque Asis consurgit uertice murus,
    murus ab ingenio notior ille tuo.

thus far of history: now let me be borne to your stars;
    do you begin, kindly, to be present to new tears.
Umbria, ancient, brought you forth for familiar Penates --
    do I lie? or is the border of your fatherland touched?--
where nebulous Mevania bedews the hollow plain,
    and the Umbrian lake grows tepid with summer waters,
and the wall of climbing Asis rises on its summit,
    a wall more noted by your genius.

ossaque legisti non illa aetate legenda
    patris et in tenuis cogeris ipse lares:
nam tua cum multi uersarent rura iuuenci,
    abstulit excultas pertica tristis opes.
mox ubi bulla rudi dimissa est aurea collo,
    matris et ante deos libera sumpta toga,
tum tibi pauca suo de carmine dictat Apollo
    et uetat insano uerba tonare Foro.
at tu finge elegos, fallax opus: haec tua castra!

and you gathered bones not to be gathered at that age,
    of your father, and you yourself are compelled into a meager household:
for when many young bullocks were working your fields,
    the grim surveying-rod carried off your cultivated wealth.
soon, when the golden bulla was removed from your unpolished neck,
    and, before your mother and the gods, the free toga was assumed,
then Apollo dictates to you a few things from his own song
    and forbids words to thunder in the insane Forum.
but you, fashion elegies, a fallacious craft: this is your camp!

-
    scribat ut exemplo cetera turba tuo.
militiam Veneris blandis patiere sub armis,
    et Veneris Pueris utilis hostis eris.
nam tibi uictrices quascumque labore parasti,
    eludit palmas una puella tuas:
et bene cum fixum mento discusseris uncum,
    nil erit hoc: rostro te premet ansa tuo.

-
    so that the rest of the crowd may write by your example.
you will endure the campaign of Venus beneath her coaxing arms,
    and you will be a useful enemy to the Boys of Venus.
for whatever victorious palms you have procured for yourself by toil,
    one girl eludes your palms:
and even when you have well shaken off the hook fixed to your chin,
    this will be nothing: the handle will press you by your own beak.

illius arbitrio noctem lucemque uidebis:
    gutta quoque ex oculis non nisi iussa cadet.
nec mille excubiae nec te signata iuuabunt
    limina: persuasae fallere rima sat est.
nunc tua uel mediis puppis luctetur in undis,
    uel licet armatis hostis inermis eas,
uel tremefacta cauo tellus diducat hiatum:
    octipedis Cancri terga sinistra time!"

at her discretion you will see night and light:
    even a drop from your eyes will not fall unless commanded.
neither a thousand sentries nor sealed thresholds will help you:
    a crevice is enough to trick one who has been persuaded.
now let your ship struggle in the midst of the waves,
    or you may go unarmed against an enemy in arms,
or let the trembling earth draw apart a hollow yawning:
    fear the left flanks of the eight-footed Crab!"

quid mirare meas tot in uno corpore formas,
    accipe Vertumni signa paterna dei.
Tuscus ego Tuscis orior, nec paenitet inter
    proelia Volsinios deseruisse focos.
haec me turba iuuat, nec templo laetor eburno:
    Romanum satis est posse uidere Forum.

why do you marvel at my so many forms in one body,
    receive the paternal insignia of the god Vertumnus.
I am Tuscan and I come from Tuscan stock, nor do I regret, amid
    battles, having deserted the Volsinian hearths.
this crowd delights me, nor do I rejoice in an ivory temple:
    it is enough to be able to see the Roman Forum.

hac quondam Tiberinus iter faciebat, et aiunt
    remorum auditos per uada pulsa sonos:
at postquam ille suis tantum concessit alumnis,
    Vertumnus uerso dicor ab amne deus.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
seu, quia uertentis fructum praecepimus anni,
    Vertumni rursus credidit esse sacrum.
prima mihi uariat liuentibus uua racemis,
    et coma lactenti spicea fruge tumet;
hic dulcis cerasos, hic autumnalia pruna
    cernis et aestiuo mora rubere die;
insitor hic soluit pomosa uota corona,
    cum pirus inuito stipite mala tulit.

along this way once Tiberinus was making his journey, and they say
    the sounds of oars, struck, were heard through the shallows:
but after he granted it only to his own fosterlings,
    I am said to be a god Vertumnus from the stream turned aside.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
or, because we anticipate the fruit of the turning year,
    they believed it again to be the sacred rite of Vertumnus.
first, for me the grape is variegated with livid-blue clusters,
    and the spicate tress swells with milky grain;
here you behold sweet cherries, here autumnal plums,
    and mulberries reddening on the estival day;
here the grafter pays his vows with a pomaceous garland,
    when a pear tree on an unwilling stock has borne apples.

mendax fama, noces: alius mihi nominis index:
    de se narranti tu modo crede deo.
opportuna mea est cunctis natura figuris:
    in quamcumque uoles uerte, decorus ero.
indue me Cois, fiam non dura puella:
    meque uirum sumpta quis neget esse toga?

mendacious rumor, you do harm: there is another index of my name:
    only believe the god telling of himself.
my nature is opportune for all figures:
    turn me into whatever you will, I shall be comely.
clothe me in Coan silk, I shall become a gentle girl:
    and who would deny that I am a man, the toga assumed?

da falcem et torto frontem mihi comprime faeno:
    iurabis nostra gramina secta manu.
arma tuli quondam et, memini, laudabar in illis:
    corbis et imposito pondere messor eram.
sobrius ad lites: at cum est imposta corona,
    clamabis capiti uina subisse meo.

give me the sickle and press my forehead with twisted hay:
    you will swear the grasses have been cut by my hand.
I once bore arms and, I remember, I was praised in them:
    a reaper, I carried a basket with its weight laid on.
sober for lawsuits: but when a crown has been set on,
    you will cry that wines have mounted to my head.

cinge caput mitra, speciem furabor Iacchi;
    furabor Phoebi, si modo plectra dabis.
cassibus impositis uenor: sed harundine sumpta
    fautor plumoso sum deus aucupio.
est etiam aurigae species Vertumnus et eius
    traicit alterno qui leue pondus equo.

gird my head with a mitra, I will steal the appearance of Iacchus;
    I will steal that of Phoebus, if only you give the plectra.
with nets set I hunt: but when the reed is taken up,
    I, as a patron god, am for feathery fowling.
Vertumnus too has the aspect of a charioteer, and he
    shifts his light weight from horse to horse in turn.

suppetat hic, piscis calamo praedabor, et ibo
    mundus demissis institor in tunicis.
pastorem ad baculum possum curuare uel idem
    sirpiculis medio puluere ferre rosam.
nam quid ego adiciam, de quo mihi maxima fama est,
    hortorum in manibus dona probata meis?

let this suffice here; I will prey on fish with a rod, and I will go
    a neat peddler with tunics let down.
I can curve the shepherd to his staff, or likewise
    with little pruning-hooks carry a rose through the middle dust.
for what should I add, that of which my greatest fame is,
    the garden-gifts approved by my hands?

caeruleus cucumis tumidoque cucurbita uentre
    me notat et iunco brassica uincta leui;
nec flos ullus hiat pratis, quin ille decenter
    impositus fronti langueat ante meae.
at mihi, quod formas unus uertebar in omnis,
    nomen ab euentu patria lingua dedit;
et tu, Roma, meis tribuisti praemia Tuscis,
    (unde hodie Vicus nomina Tuscus habet),
tempore quo sociis uenit Lycomedius armis
    atque Sabina feri contudit arma Tati.
uidi ego labentis acies et tela caduca,
    atque hostis turpi terga dedisse fugae.

a cerulean cucumber and a gourd with a swollen belly
    mark me, and a cabbage bound with light rush;
nor does any flower gape in the meadows, but that, becomingly
    set on my brow, it droops before my forehead.
but to me, because I alone was being turned into all forms,
    my native tongue gave a name from the outcome;
and you, Rome, have bestowed rewards on my Tuscans,
    (whence today the Vicus has the Tuscan name),
at the time when Lycomedius came with allied arms
    and crushed the Sabine arms of fierce Tatius.
I saw the battle-lines slipping and the missiles falling,
    and the enemy give their backs to shameful flight.

sed facias, diuum Sator, ut Romana per aeuum
    transeat ante meos turba togata pedes.
sex superant uersus: te, qui ad uadimonia curris,
    non moror: haec spatiis ultima creta meis.
stipes acernus eram, properanti falce dolatus,
    ante Numam grata pauper in urbe deus.

but do, Begetter of the gods, that the Roman togate throng through the ages
    may pass before my feet.
six verses remain: you, who run to your court recognizances,
    I do not delay: this is the final chalk-line for my laps.
a maple stock I was, carved by a hurrying blade,
    a god welcome in the poor city before Numa.

at tibi, Mamurri, formae caelator aenae,
tellus artifices ne terat Osca manus,
qui me tam docilis potuisti fundere in usus.
unum opus est, operi non datur unus honos.

but for you, Mamurrus, chaser of bronze form,
may the Oscan earth not wear down craftsman hands,
you who were able to cast me so docile for uses.
it is one work; to the work no single honor is given.

III

haec Arethusa suo mittit mandata Lycotae,
    cum totiens absis, si potes esse meus.
si qua tamen tibi lecturo pars oblita derit,
    haec erit e lacrimis facta litura meis:
aut si qua incerto fallet te littera tractu,
    signa meae dextrae iam morientis erunt.
te modo uiderunt iteratos Bactra per ortus,
    te modo munito Sericus hostis equo,
hibernique Getae, pictoque Britannia curru,
    ustus et Eoa decolor Indus aqua.

These mandates Arethusa sends to her own Lycotas,
    since you are so often away, if you can be mine.
if, however, as you read, any part forgotten is missing to you,
    this erasure will have been made from my tears:
or if any letter with an uncertain stroke should mislead you,
    they will be the signs of my right hand now dying.
just now Bactra saw you through repeated risings of the sun,
    just now the Seric foe with armored horse,
and the wintry Getae, and Britain with a painted chariot,
    and the Indian scorched and discolored by the Eastern water.

haecne marita fides et parce auia noctes,
    cum rudis urgenti bracchia uicta dedi?
quae mihi deductae fax omen praetulit, illa
    traxit ab euerso lumina nigra rogo;
et Stygio sum sparsa lacu, nec recta capillis
    uitta data est: nupsi non comitante deo.
omnibus heu portis pendent mea noxia uota:
    texitur haec castris quarta lacerna tuis.

Is this marital fidelity and nights sparing and trackless,
    when I, untrained, to your urgency gave up my arms, overcome?
The torch which, at my leading-home, presented an omen to me— that one
    drew its black lights from an overturned funeral pyre;
and I was sprinkled with a Stygian lake, nor was a straight fillet
    given to my hair: I married with no deity accompanying.
Alas, at all the gates hang my noxious vows:
    this fourth lacerna-cloak is being woven for your camp.

occidat, immerita qui carpsit ab arbore uallum
    et struxit querulas rauca per ossa tubas,
dignior obliquo funem qui torqueat Ocno,
    aeternusque tuam pascat, aselle, famem!
dic mihi, num teneros urit lorica lacertos?
    num grauis imbellis atterit hasta manus?

let him die, who plucked from an undeserving tree a palisade-stake,
    and built querulous trumpets, hoarse through bones;
more worthy is Ocnus to twist a rope on the slant,
    and forever feed, little donkey, your hunger!
tell me, does the cuirass scorch your tender upper arms?
    does the heavy spear bruise unwarlike hands?

haec noceant potius, quam dentibus ulla puella
    det mihi plorandas per tua colla notas!
diceris et macie uultum tenuasse: sed opto
    e desiderio sit color iste meo.
at mihi cum noctes induxit uesper amaras,
    si qua relicta iacent, osculor arma tua;
tum queror in toto non sidere pallia lecto,
    lucis et auctores non dare carmen auis.

let these do me harm rather, than that any girl with her teeth
    give me marks to be wept over upon your neck!
you are said also to have made your face thin with leanness: but I wish
    that that color be from my desire.
but for me, when evening has brought in bitter nights,
    if any of your arms lie left behind, I kiss them;
then I complain that the coverlets do not settle upon the whole bed,
    and that the authors of light, the birds, do not give song.

noctibus hibernis castrensia pensa laboro
    et Tyria in clauos uellera secta tuos;
et disco, qua parte fluat uincendus Araxes,
    quot sine aqua Parthus milia currat equus;
cogor et e tabula pictos ediscere mundos,
    qualis et haec docti sit positura dei,
quae tellus sit lenta gelu, quae putris ab aestu,
    uentus in Italiam qui bene uela ferat.
assidet una soror, curis et pallida nutrix
    peierat hiberni temporis esse moras.
felix Hippolyte!

on winter nights I labor at camp tasks,
    and Tyrian fleeces cut into clavi for you;
and I learn by what region the to‑be‑conquered Araxes flows,
    how many miles the Parthian horse can run without water;
I am compelled also from a tablet to learn by heart painted worlds,
    and what the positure of this world is by the learned god,
which land is slow with frost, which rotten from heat,
    what wind bears sails well to Italy.
one sister sits by, and the nurse, pale with cares,
    forswears herself that the delays are of the winter season.
happy Hippolyte!

nuda tulit arma papilla
    et texit galea barbara molle caput.
Romanis utinam patuissent castra puellis!
    essem militiae sarcina fida tuae,
nec me tardarent Scythiae iuga, cum Paper altas
    Africus in glaciem frigore nectit aquas.

with naked breast she bore arms
    and a barbarian helmet covered her soft head.
Would that the Roman camps had stood open to girls!
    I would have been the trusty baggage of your campaign,
nor would the ridges of Scythia delay me, when Paper’s high
    waters Africus binds into ice with cold.

omnis amor magnus, sed aperto in coniuge maior:
    hanc Venus, ut uiuat, uentilat ipsa facem.
nam mihi quo Poenis ter purpura fulgeat ostris
    crystallusque meas ornet aquosa manus?
omnia surda tacent, rarisque assueta kalendis
    uix aperit clausos una puella Lares,
Claugidos et catulae uox est mihi grata querentis:
    illa tui partem uindicat una tori.

every love is great, but greater in an openly-wedded spouse:
    this torch Venus herself fans, that it may live.
for me, to what end should purple gleam thrice with Punic dyes
    and watery crystal adorn my hands?
everything is deaf and silent, and, used to rare Kalends,
    a single girl scarcely opens the closed Lares,
and the voice of Claugis and of the little dog complaining is pleasing to me:
    she alone vindicates a share of your bed.

flore sacella tego, uerbenis compita uelo,
    et crepat ad ueteres herba Sabina focos.
siue in finitimo gemuit stans noctua tigno,
    seu uoluit tangi parca lucerna mero,
illa dies hornis caedem denuntiat agnis,
    succinctique calent ad noua lucra popae.
ne, precor, ascensis tanti sit gloria Bactris,
    raptaue odorato carbasa lina duci,
plumbea cum tortae sparguntur pondera fundae,
    subdolus et uersis increpat arcus equis!

I cover the sacella with blossom, I veil the crossways with verbena-twigs,
    and the Sabine herb crackles at the ancient hearths.
whether a screech-owl, standing, has moaned on a neighboring beam,
    or the scant lamp has wished to be touched by wine,
that day announces the slaughter of this-year lambs,
    and the popae, girt up, grow hot for new profits.
do not, I pray, let there be such glory for mounted Bactrians,
    or linen canvases carried off for a perfumed leader,
when the leaden weights of the twisted sling are scattered,
    and the crafty bow snaps with the horses turned!

sed (tua sic domitis Parthae telluris alumnis
    pura triumphantis hasta sequatur equos)
incorrupta mei conserua foedera lecti!
    hac ego te sola lege redisse uelim:
armaque cum tulero portae uotiua Capenae,
    subscribam: "saluo grata puella uiro."

but (so, Parthians, nurslings of a conquered land,
    may your pure spear of triumph follow your horses)
preserve uncorrupted the covenants of my bed!
    on this single law I would wish you to have returned:
and when I shall have borne votive arms to the Capena Gate,
    I will write beneath: "the girl, welcome, with her man safe."

Tarpeium nemus et Tarpeiae turpe sepulcrum
    fabor et antiqui limina capta Iouis.
lucus erat felix hederoso conditus antro,
    multaque natiuis obstrepit arbor aquis,
Siluani ramosa domus, quo dulcis ab aestu
    fistula poturas ire iubebat ouis.
hunc Tatius fontem uallo praecingit acerno,
    fidaque suggesta castra coronat humo.

I shall speak of the Tarpeian grove and the shameful tomb of Tarpeia,
    and of the captured thresholds of ancient Jove.
there was a blessed grove, hidden in an ivy‑clad cave,
    and a tree made loud over the native waters,
the branchy house of Silvanus, where from the heat the sweet
    reed‑pipe used to bid the sheep to go to drink.
Tatius girds this spring with a maple rampart,
    and crowns the camp with trusty heaped earth.

quid tum Roma fuit, tubicen uicina Curetis
    cum quateret lento murmure saxa Iouis?
atque ubi nunc terris dicuntur iura subactis,
    stabant Romano pila Sabina Foro.
murus erant montes: ubi nunc est curia saepta,
    bellicus ex illo fonte bibebat equus.

What then was Rome, when the trumpeter of neighboring Cures
    was shaking the rocks of Jove with a slow murmur?
And where now laws are declared to subjugated lands,
    Sabine spears stood in the Roman Forum.
Mountains were the wall: where now the Curia is enclosed,
    the war-horse was drinking from that spring.

hinc Tarpeia deae fontem libauit: at illi
    urgebat medium fictilis urna caput.
et satis una malae potuit mors esse puellae,
    quae uoluit flammas fallere, Vesta, tuas?
uidit harenosis Tatium proludere campis
    pictaque per flauas arma leuare iubas:
obstipuit regis facie et regalibus armis,
    interque oblitas excidit urna manus.

from here Tarpeia poured a libation to the goddess’s spring: but upon her
    an earthen urn was pressing the middle of her head.
and could a single death be enough for the wicked girl,
    who wished to deceive, Vesta, your flames?
she saw Tatius practicing on the arenose fields
    and lifting painted arms among the blond manes:
she was astonished at the king’s face and at his regal arms,
    and between forgetful hands the urn fell out.

saepe illa immeritae causata est omina lunae,
    et sibi tingendas dixit in amne comas:
saepe tulit blandis argentea lilia Nymphis,
    Romula ne faciem laederet hasta Tati.
dumque subit primo Capitolia nubila fumo,
    rettulit hirsutis bracchia secta rubis,
et sua Tarpeia residens ita fleuit ab arce
    uulnera, uicino non patienda Ioui:
"ignes castrorum et Tatiae praetoria turmae
    et formosa oculis arma Sabina meis,
o utinam ad uestros sedeam captiua Penatis,
    dum captiua mei conspicer ora Tati!
Romani montes, et montibus addita Roma,
    et ualeat probro Vesta pudenda meo:
ille equus, ille meos in castra reponet amores,
    cui Tatius dextras collocat ipse iubas!

often she pleaded as an excuse the omens of the unoffending Moon,
    and said that her hair must be dipped in the river for herself:
often she brought silver lilies to the charming Nymphs,
    lest the Romulean spear of Tatius mar her face.
and while the Capitoline was coming under the first clouded smoke,
    she brought back her arms gashed by bristly brambles,
and Tarpeia, sitting upon her own citadel, wept thus from the height
    her wounds, not to be endured with Jupiter so near:
"fires of the camp and the praetorian troop of Tatius,
    and the beautiful to my eyes Sabine arms,
O would that I might sit as a captive at your Penates,
    so long as, captive, I may behold the face of my Tatius!
Roman hills, and Rome added to the hills,
    and let Vesta, shamed by my disgrace, be gone:
that horse, that one will restore my loves into the camp,
    on whose right-hand mane Tatius himself places his hand!"

quid mirum in patrios Scyllam saeuisse capillos,
    candidaque in saeuos inguina uersa canis?
prodita quid mirum fraterni cornua monstri,
    cum patuit lecto stamine torta uia?
quantum ego sum Ausoniis crimen factura puellis,
    improba uirgineo lecta ministra foco!

what wonder that Scylla raged against her paternal locks,
    and that her candid loins were turned into savage dogs?
what wonder that the horns of the fraternal monster were betrayed,
    when the twisted way lay open by the bed-spun thread?
how great a crime am I about to make for Ausonian maidens,
    I, a wicked ministrant chosen for the virginal hearth!

Pallados exstinctos si quis mirabitur ignis,
    ignoscat: lacrimis spargitur ara meis.
cras, ut rumor ait, tota potabitur urbe:
    tu cape spinosi rorida terga iugi.
lubrica tota uia est et perfida: quippe tacentis
    fallaci celat limite semper aquas.

If anyone will marvel at the extinguished fires of Pallas,
    let him pardon: the altar is sprinkled with my tears.
tomorrow, as rumor says, there will be drinking through the whole city:
    you take to the dewy backs of the thorny ridge.
the whole way is slippery and perfidious: for it always
    with a fallacious track conceals the waters of the silent stream.

o utinam magicae nossem cantamina Musae!
haec quoque formoso lingua tulisset opem.
te toga picta decet, non quem sine matris honore
nutrit inhumanae dura papilla lupae.

O would that I knew the magical incantations of the Muse!
my tongue would also have brought aid in this for the handsome one.
You the painted toga befits, not him whom, bereft of a mother's honor,
the hard teat of an inhuman she-wolf nourishes.

hic, hospes, patria metuar regina sub aula?
dos tibi non humilis prodita Roma uenit.
si minus, at raptae ne sint impune Sabinae:
me rape et alterna lege repende uices!

Here, guest, am I to be feared as a queen beneath my native hall?
a dowry not humble comes to you—Rome betrayed.
If not, at least let the Sabine women, once snatched, not go unpunished:
seize me, and repay in kind, by the law of turn-and-turn-about!

commissas acies ego possum soluere: nuptae
    uos medium palla foedus inite mea.
adde Hymenaee modos, tubicen fera murmura conde:
    credite, uestra meus molliet arma torus.
et iam quarta canit uenturam bucina lucem,
    ipsaque in Oceanum sidera lapsa cadunt.

I can dissolve the engaged battle-lines: brides,
    you, enter a treaty with my mantle between.
add measures, Hymenaeus; trumpeter, bury the fierce murmurs:
    believe it, my couch will soften your arms.
and now the fourth bugle sings the coming light,
    and the stars themselves, slipping, fall into Ocean.

experiar somnum, de te mihi somnia quaeram:
    fac uenias oculis umbra benigna meis."
dixit, et incerto permisit bracchia somno,
    nescia se furiis accubuisse nouis.
nam Vesta, Iliacae felix tutela fauillae,
    culpam alit et plures condit in ossa faces.
illa ruit, qualis celerem prope Thermodonta
    Strymonis abscisso fertur aperta sinu.

I will try sleep; of you I will seek dreams:
    see that you come to my eyes, a kindly shade."
she said, and surrendered her arms to uncertain sleep,
    unaware that she had lain down to new furies.
for Vesta, the felicitous tutelage of the Iliac cinder,
    nurtures the fault and hides more torches in her bones.
she rushes, like Strymo near the swift Thermodon
    is said to ride with bosom laid open, the breast cut away.

urbi festus erat (dixere Parilia patres),
    hic primus coepit moenibus esse dies,
annua pastorum conuiuia, lusus in urbe,
    cum pagana madent fercula diuitiis,
cumque super raros faeni flammantis aceruos
    traicit immundos ebria turba pedes.
Romulus excubias decreuit in otia solui
    atque intermissa castra silere tuba.
hoc Tarpeia suum tempus rata conuenit hostem:
    pacta ligat, pactis ipsa futura comes.

There was a festival for the city (the fathers called it the Parilia),
    this day first began to be for the ramparts,
the annual banquets of shepherds, games in the city,
    when the country platters are drenched with riches,
and when over the scattered heaps of flaming hay
    the drunken crowd hurls its unclean feet across.
Romulus decreed that the watches be released into leisure
    and that the camp, the trumpet being suspended, be silent.
Tarpeia, deeming this her own time, meets the enemy:
    she binds the bargains, she herself to be companion to the terms.

mons erat ascensu dubius festoque remissus
    nec mora, uocalis occupat ense canis.
omnia praebebant somnos: sed Iuppiter unus
    decreuit poenis inuigilare suis.
prodiderat portaeque fidem patriamque iacentem,
    nubendique petit, quem uelit, ipsa diem.

The mount was dubious in ascent and slackened by the feast-day;
    and, without delay, the loud-voiced Hound takes action with his sword.
all things were furnishing sleeps: but Jupiter alone
    decreed to keep vigil over his own penalties.
she had betrayed both the good faith of the gate and her fatherland lying prostrate,
    and she herself asks the day of wedding, for whomever she wills.

at Tatius (neque enim sceleri dedit hostis honorem)
    "nube" ait "et regni scande cubile mei!"
dixit, et ingestis comitum super obruit armis.
    haec, uirgo, officiis dos erat apta tuis.
a duce Tarpeia mons est cognomen adeptus:
    o uigil, iniustae praemia sortis habes.

but Tatius (for the enemy did not bestow honor upon crime)
    "wed," he says, "and climb the couch of my kingdom!"
he spoke, and, with the arms of his comrades heaped upon her from above, overwhelmed her.
    this, maiden, was a dowry apt for your services.
from the leader Tarpeia the hill has acquired its cognomen:
    o watchman, you have the prizes of an unjust lot.

terra tuum spinis obducat, lena, sepulcrum,
    et tua, quod non uis, sentiat umbra sitim;
nec sedeant cineri Manes, et Cerberus ultor
    turpia ieiuno terreat ossa sono!
docta uel Hippolytum Veneri mollire negantem,
    concordique toro pessima semper auis,
Penelopen quoque neglecto rumore mariti
    nubere lasciuo cogeret Antinoo.
illa uelit, poterit magnes non ducere ferrum,
    et uolucris nidis esse nouerca suis.

may the earth overgrow your sepulcher with thorns, bawd,
    and may your shade, what you do not wish, feel thirst;
nor let the Manes sit at your ashes, and Cerberus the avenger
    frighten your foul bones with his hungry sound!
skilled even to soften Hippolytus denying Venus,
    and ever the worst bird-omen for the harmonious couch,
she would even compel Penelope, disregarding the report of her husband,
    to marry the lascivious Antinous.
if she should will it, then a magnet will be able not to draw iron,
    and a bird be a stepmother to her own nests.

quippe et, Collinas ad fossam mouerit herbas,
    stantia currenti diluerentur aqua:
audax cantatae leges imponere lunae
    et sua nocturno fallere terga lupo,
posset ut intentos astu caecare maritos,
    cornicum immeritas eruit ungue genas;
consuluitque striges nostro de sanguine, et in me
    hippomanes fetae semina legit equae.
exorabat opus uerbis, ceu blanda perure
    saxosamque ferat sedula culpa uiam:
"si te Eoa Dorozantum iuuat aurea ripa
    et quae sub Tyria concha superbit aqua,
Eurypylique placet Coae textura Mineruae,
    sectaque ab Attalicis putria signa toris,
seu quae palmiferae mittunt uenalia Thebae,
    murreaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis;
sperne fidem, prouolue deos, mendacia uincant,
    frange et damnosae iura pudicitiae!
et simulare uirum pretium facit: utere causis!

indeed even, if she should move herbs to the Colline ditch,
    the standing waters would be washed out into running water:
bold to impose laws upon the enchanted moon
    and to disguise her own back as a nocturnal wolf,
so that she might by craft blind watchful husbands,
    she gouged out with her nail the undeserving cheeks of crows;
and she took counsel with the striges about our blood, and upon me
    she gathered the hippomanes, the seeds of a pregnant mare.
she was coaxing the task with words, as though a wheedling guilt might sear
    and, assiduous, might carry a rocky road:
“if the Eastern golden shore of Dorozantum delights you
    and the water which prides itself beneath the Tyrian shell,
and the Coan texture of Minerva of Eurypylus pleases you,
    and the crumbling figures cut from Attalic couches,
or what palm-bearing Thebes sends for sale,
    and myrrhine cups fired in Parthian hearths;
spurn good faith, roll down the gods, let lies prevail,
    and break the laws of ruinous pudicity!
and to simulate the man pays: use pretexts!”

    maior dilata nocte recurret amor.
si tibi forte comas uexauerit, utilis ira:
    post modo mercata pace premendus erit.
denique ubi amplexu Venerem promiseris empto,
    fac simules puros Isidis esse dies.

    love, deferred for a night, will return greater.
if by chance he has vexed your tresses, useful ire:
    afterward, once peace has been bargained for, he must be allowed to press.
finally, when you have promised Venus for a purchased embrace,
    see that you feign that it is the pure days of Isis.

ingerat Aprilis Iole tibi, tundat Amycle
natalem Mais Idibus esse tuum.
supplex ille sedet ñ posita tu scribe cathedra
quidlibet! has artis si pauet ille, tenes!

let Iole insinuate April to you, let Amycle keep drumming
that your birthday is on the Ides of May.
he sits as a suppliant — with the chair set in place, write whatever you like!
if he dreads these arts, you have him!

semper habe morsus circa tua colla recentis,
    litibus alternis quos putet esse datos.
nec te Medeae delectent probra sequacis
    (nempe tulit fastus ausa rogare prior),
sed potius mundi Thais pretiosa Menandri,
    cum ferit astutos comica moecha Getas.
in mores te uerte uiri: si cantica iactat,
    i comes et uoces ebria iunge tuas.

always have fresh bite-marks around your neck,
    which he may suppose were given in alternating quarrels.
nor let the reproaches of the pursuing Medea delight you
    (indeed she suffered haughtiness, having dared to ask first),
but rather be Menander’s polished, precious Thais,
    when the comic adulteress strikes the crafty Getas.
turn yourself to the man’s manners: if he flaunts songs,
    go as a companion and, tipsy, join your voice to his.

ianitor ad dantis uigilet: si pulset inanis,
    surdus in obductam somniet usque seram.
nec tibi displiceat miles non factus amori,
    nauta nec attrita si ferat aera manu,
aut quorum titulus per barbara colla pependit,
    cretati medio cum saluere foro.
aurum spectato, non quae manus afferat aurum!

let the janitor keep vigil for those who give: if an empty-handed man knocks,
    let him dream himself deaf, right up to the drawn bolt.
nor let a soldier not made for love displease you,
    nor a sailor, if he brings bronze with a hand worn smooth,
or those whose title-placard has hung about barbarian necks,
    when, chalked, they said their greetings in the middle of the Forum.
look at the gold, not which hand brings the gold!

    uersibus auditis quid nisi uerba feres?
[quid iuuat ornato procedere, uita, capillo
    et tenuis Coa ueste mouere sinus?]
qui uersus, Coae dederit nec munera uestis,
    istius tibi sit surda sine arte lyra.
dum uernat sanguis, dum rugis integer annus,
    utere, ne quid cras libet ab ore dies!

    once the verses are heard, what except words will you carry off?
[what profit is it, my life, to proceed with adorned hair,
    and to stir the folds with a thin Coan garment?]
he who gives verses—and no gifts of a Coan dress—
    let that one’s lyre be deaf to you, without art.
while the blood is vernal, while your year is unbroken by wrinkles,
    use it, lest tomorrow the day remove from your face what pleases!

uidi ego odorati uictura rosaria Paesti
    sub matutino cocta iacere Noto."
sed (cape torquatae, Venus o regina, columbae
    ob meritum ante tuos guttura secta focos)
his animum nostrae dum uersat Acanthis amicae,
    per tenuem ossa sunt numerata cutem.
uidi ego rugoso tussim concrescere collo,
    sputaque per dentis ire cruenta cauos,
atque animam in tegetes putrem exspirare paternas:
    horruit algenti pergula curua foco.
exsequiae fuerint rari furtiua capilli
    uincula et immundo pallida mitra situ,
et canis, in nostros nimis experrecta dolores,
    cum fallenda meo pollice clatra forent.

I saw the fragrant rose-gardens of Paestum, destined to live, lying cooked beneath the morning Notus."
    but (take, O queen Venus, ring-necked doves, their throats slit before your hearths, in return for the merit)
while Acanthis was turning with these the mind of our girlfriend,
    through the thin skin the bones were counted out.
I saw a cough thicken in her wrinkled neck,
    and bloody spittle go through the hollow teeth,
and her putrid life-breath expire onto her father’s mats:
    the bent stall shuddered with an ice-cold hearth.
let the obsequies have been the scant stealthy bonds of hair
    and a headband pale with unclean mould,
and the dog, too wakeful against our pains,
    when the bars were to be tricked by my thumb.

sit tumulus lenae curto uetus amphora collo:
urgeat hunc supra uis, caprifice, tua.
quisquis amas, scabris hoc bustum caedite saxis,
mixtaque cum saxis addite uerba mala!

let the tumulus of the procuress be an old amphora with a short neck:
press upon this from above, wild fig-tree, with your force.
whoever loves, hack this bustum with rough stones,
and add evil words mixed with the stones!

sacra facit uates: sint ora fauentia sacris,
    et cadat ante meos icta iuuenca focos.
serta Philiteis certet Romana corymbis,
    et Cyrenaeas urna ministret aquas.
costum molle date et blandi mihi turis honores,
    terque focum circa laneus orbis eat.

the seer performs rites: let mouths be favorable to the rites,
    and let a heifer, smitten, fall before my altars.
let Roman garlands vie with Philitean corymbs,
    and let an urn minister Cyrenaean waters.
give soft costus and the coaxing honors of incense to me,
    and thrice let a woolen ring go around the hearth.

spargite me lymphis, carmenque recentibus aris
    tibia Mygdoniis libet eburna cadis.
ite procul fraudes, alio sint aere noxae:
    pura nouum uati laurea mollit iter.
Musa, Palatini referemus Apollinis aedem:
    res est, Calliope, digna fauore tuo.

sprinkle me with waters, and at the fresh altars
    let the ivory flute delight with Mygdonian casks.
go far away, frauds; let wrongs be in another air:
    a pure laurel smooths a new way for the vates.
Muse, we shall recount the temple of Palatine Apollo:
    the matter is, Calliope, worthy of your favor.

Caesaris in nomen ducuntur carmina: Caesar
    dum canitur, quaeso, Iuppiter ipse uaces!
est Phoebi fugiens Athamana ad litora portus,
    qua sinus Ioniae murmura condit aquae,
Actia Iuleae pelagus monumenta carinae,
    nautarum uotis non operosa uia.
huc mundi coiere manus: stetit aequore moles
    pinea, nec remis aequa fauebat auis.

Songs are led into Caesar’s name: Caesar
    while he is sung, I pray, may Jupiter himself be at leisure!
There is a harbor, fleeing Phoebus, toward the Athamanian shores,
    where a bay hides the murmurs of the Ionian water,
the Actian deep, memorials of the Iulean keel,
    a passage not toilsome for sailors’ vows.
Hither the bands of the world gathered together: a pine-wood mass
    stood on the sea, and the auspicious bird did not favor the oars equally.

altera classis erat Teucro damnata Quirino,
    pilaque feminea turpiter acta manu:
hinc Augusta ratis plenis Iouis omine uelis,
    signaque iam Patriae uincere docta suae.
tandem aciem geminos Nereus lunarat in arcus,
    armorum et radiis picta tremebat aqua,
cum Phoebus linquens stantem se uindice Delon
    (nam tulit iratos mobilis una Notos)
astitit Augusti puppim super, et noua flamma
    luxit in obliquam ter sinuata facem.
non ille attulerat crinis in colla solutos
    aut testudineae carmen inerme lyrae,
sed quali aspexit Pelopeum Agamemnona uultu,
    egessitque auidis Dorica castra rogis,
aut qualis flexos soluit Pythona per orbis
    serpentem, imbelles quem timuere lyrae.

the other fleet was doomed by Teucrian Quirinus,
    and javelins shamefully driven by a feminine hand:
on this side the Augustan raft, with sails full under Jupiter’s omen,
    and standards already taught to conquer for their own Fatherland.
at length Nereus had curved the battle-line into twin arcs,
    and the water, painted with the rays of armor, trembled,
when Phoebus, leaving Delos standing—he its vindicator—
    (for that single, once-movable isle endured the angry South Winds)
took his stand above Augustus’s stern, and a new flame
    shone, thrice-coiled, upon the slanting torch.
he had not brought hair loosened down upon his neck
    or the unarmed song of the tortoise-shell lyre,
but with the countenance with which he looked upon the Pelopid Agamemnon,
    and drove the Doric camp out to greedy pyres,
or as when he unbound Python, the serpent coiled round the circles
    of the world, whom the unwarlike lyres feared.

mox ait "o Longa mundi seruator ab Alba,
    Auguste, Hectoreis cognite maior auis,
uince mari: iam terra tua est: tibi militat arcus
    et fauet ex umeris hoc onus omne meis.
solue metu patriam, quae nunc te uindice freta
    imposuit prorae publica uota tuae.
quam nisi defendes, murorum Romulus augur
    ire Palatinas non bene uidit auis.

soon he says "O Preserver of the world from Alba Longa,
    Augustus, known as greater than Hectorean grandsires,
conquer on the sea: now the land is yours: the bow serves for you,
    and this whole burden from my shoulders is favorable.
release the fatherland from fear, which now, relying on you as Vindicator,
    has set the public vows upon your prow.
which, unless you defend, Romulus the augur
    did not well see the birds to go to the Palatine walls."

et nimium remis audent prope: turpe Latinis
    principe te fluctus regia uela pati.
nec te, quod classis centenis remiget alis,
    terreat: inuito labitur illa mari:
quodque uehunt prorae Centaurica saxa minantis,
    tigna caua et pictos experiere metus.
frangit et attollit uires in milite causa;
    quae nisi iusta subest, excutit arma pudor.

and they dare too near with oars: it is shameful for the Latins
    with you as princeps, that the waves should endure regal sails.
nor let it terrify you that the fleet rows with a hundred wings;
    against its will that sea bears them along.
and as for what the prows carry—Centaurian rocks that menace—
    you will find them hollow timbers and painted terrors.
it is the cause that both breaks and uplifts a soldier’s strength;
    and if a just one is not underlying, shame casts off the arms.

tempus adest, committe ratis! ego temporis auctor
    ducam laurigera Iulia rostra manu."
dixerat, et pharetrae pondus consumit in arcus:
    proxima post arcus Caesaris hasta fuit.
uincit Roma fide Phoebi: dat femina poenas:
    sceptra per Ionias fracta uehuntur aquas.

the time is at hand, commit the ship! I, the author of the time,
    shall lead the Julian prows with laurel-bearing hand."
he had spoken, and he consumes the weight of the quiver on the bow:
    next after the bows was Caesar’s spear.
Rome conquers by trust in Phoebus: the woman pays the penalty:
    broken scepters are carried through the Ionian waters.

at pater Idalio miratur Caesar ab astro:
    "sum deus; est nostri sanguinis ista fides."
prosequitur cantu Triton, omnesque marinae
    plauserunt circa libera signa deae.
illa petit Nilum cumba male nixa fugaci,
    hoc unum, iusso non moritura die.
di melius!

but father Caesar marvels from the Idalian star:
    "I am a god; that faith is of our blood."
Triton attends with song, and all the sea-maidens
    applauded around the free standards of the goddess.
she seeks the Nile, in a skiff ill-poised for flight,
    this one thing, not to die on the commanded day.
gods, may it be better!

quantus mulier foret una triumphus,
    ductus erat per quas ante Iugurtha uias!
Actius hinc traxit Phoebus monumenta, quod eius
    una decem uicit missa sagitta ratis.
bella satis cecini: citharam iam poscit Apollo
    uictor et ad placidos exuit arma choros.

how great a triumph a single woman would have been,
    the triumph would have been led along the ways where before Jugurtha had been!
Actian Phoebus from here drew his monuments, because
    a single ship of his, by a sent arrow, conquered ten.
I have sung enough of wars: Apollo now demands the cithara,
    victor, and doffs his arms for placid choruses.

candida nunc molli subeant conuiuia luco;
    blanditiaeque fluant per mea colla rosae,
uinaque fundantur prelis elisa Falernis,
    terque lauet nostras spica Cilissa comas.
ingenium positis irritet Musa poetis:
    Bacche, soles Phoebo fertilis esse tuo.
ille paludosos memoret seruire Sycambros,
    Cepheam hic Meroen fuscaque regna canat,
hic referat sero confessum foedere Parthum:
    "reddat signa Remi, mox dabit ipse sua:
siue aliquid pharetris Augustus parcet Eois,
    differat in pueros ista tropaea suos.

let gleaming banquets now come up beneath the soft grove;
    and let roses of blandishment flow down along my neck,
and let wines be poured out, crushed by Falernian presses,
    and thrice let the Cilician spike wash our locks.
let the Muse, with the poets laid aside, provoke my ingenium:
    Bacchus, you are wont to be fertile to your Phoebus.
let him recount the marsh-dwelling Sicambri made to serve,
    let this one sing of Cephean Meroë and the dusky realms,
let this one report the Parthian late confessing by treaty:
    "let him return Remus’s standards; soon he will give his own:
whether Augustus will spare something to the Eastern quivers,
    let him defer those trophies to his own boys.

gaude, Crasse, nigras si quid sapis inter harenas:
ire per Euphraten ad tua busta licet."
sic noctem patera, sic ducam carmine, donec
iniciat radios in mea uina dies!

Rejoice, Crassus, if you have any sapience among the black sands:
it is permitted to go along the Euphrates to your burial mounds."
Thus will I pass the night with a bowl, thus with song, until
day casts its rays into my wines!

VII

Sunt aliquid Manes: letum non omnia finit,
    luridaque euictos effugit umbra rogos.
Cynthia namque meo uisa est incumbere fulcro,
    murmur ad extremae nuper humata uiae,
cum mihi somnus ab exsequiis penderet amoris,
    et quererer lecti frigida regna mei.
eosdem habuit secum quibus est elata capillos,
    eosdem oculos; lateri uestis adusta fuit,
et solitum digito beryllon adederat ignis,
    summaque Lethaeus triuerat ora liquor.

The Manes are something: death does not finish all things,
    and a pallid shade flees the conquered pyres.
For Cynthia seemed to me to be leaning on my bolster,
    murmuring, she who was lately buried at the farthest road,
when sleep hung over me from the obsequies of love,
    and I was complaining of the chilly realms of my bed.
She had with her the same hair with which she was carried out,
    the same eyes; on her side the garment had been scorched,
and the fire had gnawed the accustomed beryl on her finger,
    and Lethean liquid had worn the top of her lips.

spirantisque animos et uocem misit: at illi
    pollicibus fragiles increpuere manus:
"perfide nec cuiquam melior sperande puellae,
    in te iam uires somnus habere potest?
iamne tibi exciderant uigilacis furta Suburae
    et mea nocturnis trita fenestra dolis?
per quam demisso quotiens tibi fune pependi,
    alterna ueniens in tua colla manu!

and she sent forth breathing spirits and a voice: but for her
    with the thumbs the fragile hands snapped:
"perfidious one, not to be hoped-for as better by any girl,
    can sleep already have power over you?
have the furtive thefts of the wakeful Subura already slipped from you,
    and my window worn by nocturnal stratagems?
through which, with a rope let down, how often I hung for you,
    coming, with alternate hand, to your neck!"

saepe Venus triuio commissa est, pectore mixto
    fecerunt tepidas pallia nostra uias.
foederis heu taciti, cuius fallacia uerba
    non audituri diripuere Noti.
at mihi non oculos quisquam inclamauit euntis:
    unum impetrassem te reuocante diem:
nec crepuit fissa me propter harundine custos,
    laesit et obiectum tegula curta caput.

Often Venus was joined at the crossroads; with mingled breast
    our cloaks made the ways tepid-warm.
Alas for the tacit compact, whose fallacious words
    the South Winds (Noti), not about to hear, tore to pieces.
But to me no one with their eyes cried out as I was going:
    I would have obtained one day, with you calling me back;
nor did the guard clatter a split reed near me,
    and a shortened tile, thrown in my way, wounded my head.

denique quis nostro curuum te funere uidit,
atram quis lacrimis incaluisse togam?
si piguit portas ultra procedere, at illuc
iussisses lectum lentius ire meum.
cur uentos non ipse rogis, ingrate, petisti?

at last, who saw you bent at my funeral, who saw the black toga
to have grown warm with tears?
if it irked you to proceed beyond the gates, at least to that place
you should have ordered my bier to go more slowly.
why did you not yourself, ungrateful one, seek winds for the pyres?

    cur nardo flammae non oluere meae?
hoc etiam graue erat, nulla mercede hyacinthos
    inicere et fracto busta piare cado.
Lygdamus uratur ñ candescat lamina uernae -
    sensi ego, cum insidiis pallida uina bibi ñ
at Nomas ñ arcanas tollat uersuta saliuas;
    dicet damnatas ignea testa manus.

    why did my flames not smell of nard?
this too was grievous: to cast hyacinths with no fee,
    and to appease the pyre with a broken jar.
Lygdamus shall be burned ñ let the plate of the homeborn slave grow white-hot -
    I sensed it, when I drank pale wines with insidious treachery ñ
but Nomas ñ let the wily woman lift up arcane saliva;
    a fiery potsherd will declare the condemned hands.

quae modo per uilis inspecta est publica noctes,
    haec nunc aurata cyclade signat humum;
et grauiora rependit iniquis pensa quasillis,
    garrula de facie si qua locuta mea est;
nostraque quod Petale tulit ad monumenta coronas,
    codicis immundi uincula sentit anus;
caeditur et Lalage tortis suspensa capillis,
    per nomen quoniam est ausa rogare meum.
te patiente meae conflauit imaginis aurum,
    ardente e nostro dotem habitura rogo.
non tamen insector, quamuis mereare, Properti:
    longa mea in libris regna fuere tuis.

she who but now was inspected through base public nights,
    this one now with a gilded cyclas marks the ground;
and she pays back heavier tasks to the unfair work-baskets,
    if any garrulous one has spoken about my face;
and because Petale bore garlands to my monuments,
    the old woman feels the bonds of a filthy ledger;
and Lalage is beaten, hung up by twisted hair,
    since she dared to beg in my name.
with you permitting it, she smelted the gold of my image,
    intending to have a dowry from our blazing pyre.
nevertheless I do not pursue you, though you deserve it, Propertius:
    long were my reigns in your books.

iuro ego Fatorum nulli reuolubile carmen,
    tergeminusque canis sic mihi molle sonet,
me seruasse fidem. si fallo, uipera nostris
    sibilet in tumulis et super ossa cubet.
nam gemina est sedes turpem sortita per amnem,
    turbaque diuersa remigat omnis aqua.

I swear the song of the Fates is irrevocable,
    and may the threefold dog thus sound gentle to me,
that I have kept faith. If I deceive, let a viper
    hiss upon my tombs and lie above my bones.
for there is a twin abode allotted by a foul river,
    and the throng, diverse, rows upon different water.

unda Clytaemestrae stuprum uehit altera, Cressae
    portat mentitae lignea monstra bouis.
ecce coronato pars altera rapta phaselo,
    mulcet ubi Elysias aura beata rosas,
qua numerosa fides, quaque aera rotunda Cybebes
    mitratisque sonant Lydia plectra choris.
Andromedeque et Hypermestre sine fraude maritae
    narrant historiae tempora nota suae:
haec sua maternis queritur liuere catenis
    bracchia nec meritas frigida saxa manus;
narrat Hypermestre magnum ausas esse sorores,
    in scelus hoc animum non ualuisse suum.

one wave bears Clytaemestra’s defilement, another of the Cretan
    lying cow carries the wooden monsters.
behold, another part, snatched away by a garlanded skiff,
    where a blessed breeze soothes the Elysian roses,
where the many-stringed lyre, and where the rounded bronzes of Cybele
    and the Lydian plectra sound in mitred choirs.
and Andromeda and Hypermnestra, wives without fraud,
    recount the well-known times of their story:
this one laments that her arms are livid from her mother’s chains
    and that her hands did not deserve the chilly rocks;
Hypermnestra relates that her sisters dared a great crime,
    that for this wickedness her own spirit did not have the strength.

sic mortis lacrimis uitae sancimus amores:
    celo ego perfidiae crimina multa tuae.
sed tibi nunc mandata damus, si forte moueris,
    si te non totum Chloridos herba tenet:
nutrix in tremulis ne quid desideret annis
    Parthenie: potuit, nec tibi auara fuit.
deliciaeque meae Latris, cui nomen ab usu est,
    ne speculum dominae porrigat illa nouae.

thus with the tears of death we sanction the loves of life:
    I conceal the many crimes of your perfidy.
but now we give you instructions, if perchance you are moved,
    if the herb of Chloris does not hold you wholly:
let Nurse Parthenie lack nothing in her tremulous years—
    she did what she could, nor was she greedy toward you.
and my darling Latris, whose name is from her function,
    let her not proffer a mirror to a new mistress.

et quoscumque meo fecisti nomine uersus,
    ure mihi: laudes desine habere meas.
pelle hederam tumulo, mihi quae praegnante corymbo
    mollia contortis alligat ossa comis.
ramosis Anio qua pomifer incubat aruis,
    et numquam Herculeo numine pallet ebur,
hic carmen media dignum me scribe columna,
    sed breue, quod currens uector ab urbe legat:
"hic Tiburtina iacet aurea Cynthia terra:
    accessit ripae laus, Aniene, tuae."
nec tu sperne piis uenientia somnia portis:
    cum pia uenerunt somnia, pondus habent.

and whatever verses you made in my name,
    burn them for me: cease to possess my praises.
drive the ivy from the tomb, which with pregnant corymb
    binds my soft bones with twisted locks.
where the Anio, fruit-bearing, broods over ramose fields,
    and ivory never grows pale beneath the Herculean numen,
here write an inscription worthy of me on a middle column,
    but brief, which a traveler running from the city may read:
"here golden Cynthia lies in Tiburtine earth:
    praise has been added to your bank, O Anio."
nor spurn dreams that come through pious gates:
    when pious dreams have come, they carry weight.

nocte uagae ferimur, nox clausas liberat umbras,
    errat et abiecta Cerberus ipse sera.
luce iubent leges Lethaea ad stagna reuerti:
    nos uehimur, uectum nauta recenset onus.
nunc te possideant aliae: mox sola tenebo:
    mecum eris, et mixtis ossibus ossa teram."
haec postquam querula mecum sub lite peregit,
    inter complexus excidit umbra meos.

we are borne by the wandering night, the night frees the enclosed shades,
    and Cerberus himself strays with the bolt cast down.
in the daylight the Lethean laws bid [us] return to the pools:
    we are conveyed, the sailor recounts the freight he has carried.
now let others possess you; soon I alone shall hold you:
    you will be with me, and with bones mingled I shall grind bone on bone."
after she, querulous, finished these things with me under a quarrel,
    the shade slipped from my embraces.

VIII

disce, quid Esquilias hac nocte fugarit aquosas,
    cum uicina nouis turba cucurrit agris.
Lanuuium annosi uetus est tutela draconis,
    hic, ubi tam rarae non perit hora morae,
qua sacer abripitur caeco descensus hiatu,
    qua penetrat (uirgo, tale iter omne caue!)
ieiuni serpentis honos, cum pabula poscit
    annua et ex ima sibila torquet humo.
talia demissae pallent ad sacra puellae,
    cum temere anguino creditur ore manus.

learn what has put to flight the watery Esquiline this night,
    when the neighboring throng ran to the new fields.
Lanuvium has as its ancient tutelage an aged dragon,
    here, where not a single hour of so rare a delay is wasted,
where the sacred descent is snatched away by a blind chasm,
    where there penetrates (virgin, beware every such journey!)
the honor due of the fasting serpent, when it demands
    its annual fodder, and twists hisses from the deepest soil.
at such things the girls let down to the sacred rites grow pale,
    when the hand is rashly entrusted to the serpentine mouth.

ille sibi admotas a uirgine corripit escas:
    uirginis in palmis ipsa canistra tremunt.
si fuerint castae, redeunt in colla parentum,
    clamantque agricolae "fertilis annus erit."
huc mea detonsis auecta est Cynthia mannis:
    causa fuit Iuno, sed mage causa Venus.
Appia, dic quaeso, quantum te teste triumphum
    egerit effusis per tua saxa rotis!

he snatches the baits set near him by the maiden:
    in the maiden’s palms the canisters themselves tremble.
if they shall have been chaste, they return to their parents’ necks,
    and the farmers shout, "the year will be fertile."
hither my Cynthia was conveyed by shorn ponies:
    Juno was the cause, but more the cause was Venus.
Appia, say, I pray, how great a triumph, with you as witness,
    he has driven over your stones with wheels let loose!

[turpis in arcana sonuit cum rixa taberna;
    si sine me, famae non sine labe meae.]
spectaclum ipsa sedens primo temone pependit,
    ausa per impuros frena mouere locos.
serica nam taceo uulsi carpenta nepotis
    atque armillatos colla Molossa canis,
qui dabit immundae uenalia fata saginae,
    uincet ubi erasas barba pudenda genas.
cum fieret nostro totiens iniuria lecto,
    mutato uolui castra mouere toro.

[when an ugly brawl resounded in a secret tavern;
    if without me, yet not without a blot on my fame.]
she herself, seated, hung as a spectacle from the foremost pole,
    daring to move the reins through impure places.
for I am silent about the silken coaches of the shorn grandson
    and the Molossian dog’s neck bracelet-bedecked,
who will give destinies for sale to filthy fattening,
    where a shameful beard will conquer the shaven cheeks.
since so often injury was being done to our bed,
    I wished, with the couch changed, to move my camp.

Phyllis Auentinae quaedam est uicina Dianae,
    sobria grata parum: cum bibit, omne decet.
altera Tarpeios est inter Teia lucos,
    candida, sed potae non satis unus erit.
his ego constitui noctem lenire uocatis,
    et Venere ignota furta nouare mea.

There is a certain Phyllis, neighbor to Aventine Diana,
    sober she pleases too little: when she drinks, everything becomes becoming.
another, a Teian, is among the Tarpeian groves,
    fair, but when drunk one will not be enough.
with these invited I resolved to soothe the night,
    and with an unknown Venus to renew my thefts.

unus erat tribus in secreta lectulus herba.
quaeris concubitus? inter utramque fui.

one little couch for three was on the secluded grass.
do you ask about the coitus? I was between them both.

Lygdamus ad cyathos, uitrique aestiua supellex
    et Methymnaei Graeca saliua meri.
Nile, tuus tibicen erat, crotalistria phillis,
    haec facilis spargi munda sine arte rosa,
nanus et ipse suos breuiter concretus in artus
    iactabat truncas ad caua buxa manus.
sed neque suppletis constabat flamma lucernis,
    reccidit inque suos mensa supina pedes.

Lygdamus at the cups, and the summertime household-gear of glass,
    and the Greek savor of Methymnaean neat wine.
Nile, your piper was there, Phyllis the castanet-girl—
    this one a tidy rose, clean and without art, easy to scatter—,
and a dwarf too, himself briefly compacted into his limbs,
    was tossing his truncated hands toward the hollow boxwood.
but neither, with the lamps replenished, did the flame keep steady;
    the table, lying supine, fell back onto its own feet.

me quoque per talos Venerem quaerente secundos
    semper damnosi subsiluere canes.
cantabant surdo, nudabant pectora caeco:
    Lanuuii ad portas, ei mihi, solus eram;
cum subito rauci sonuerunt cardine postes,
    et leuia ad primos murmura facta Laris.
nec mora, cum totas resupinat Cynthia ualuas,
    non operosa comis, sed furibunda decens.

as I too, seeking favorable Venus by the knucklebones,
    the always ruinous “dogs” leapt up.
they were singing to a deaf man, baring breasts to a blind one:
    at Lanuvium’s gates, alas, I was alone;
when suddenly the doorposts sounded on the hoarse hinge,
    and slight murmurs arose at the Lar’s foremost threshold.
no delay, when Cynthia flung back the whole folding-doors,
    not laborious in her hair, but frenzied and becoming.

pocula mi digitos inter cecidere remissos,
    palluerantque ipso labra soluta mero.
fulminat illa oculis et quantum femina saeuit,
    spectaclum capta nec minus urbe fuit.
Phyllidos iratos in uultum conicit unguis:
    territa uicinas Teia clamat aquas.

the goblets fell between my slackened fingers,
    and my lips, loosened by the very unmixed wine, had grown pale.
she flashes lightning with her eyes, and rages as far as a woman rages;
    nor was the spectacle less than a captured city.
she hurls Phyllis’s angry nails into my face:
    the Teian, terrified, cries for nearby water.

lumina sopitos turbant elata Quiritis,
    omnis et insana semita nocte sonat.
illas direptisque comis tunicisque solutis
    excipit obscurae prima taberna uiae.
Cynthia gaudet in exuuiis uictrixque recurrit
    et mea peruersa sauciat ora manu,
imponitque notam collo morsuque cruentat,
    praecipueque oculos, qui meruere, ferit.

the raised lights disturb the slumbering Quirites,
    and every footpath resounds in a mad night.
them, with hair torn and tunics loosened,
    the first tavern of the dark street receives.
Cynthia rejoices in the spoils and, as victress, runs back
    and wounds my face with her perverse hand,
and she sets a mark on my neck and with a bite makes it bloody,
    and especially she strikes my eyes, which deserved it.

atque ubi iam nostris lassauit bracchia plagis,
    Lygdamus ad plutei fulcra sinistra latens
eruitur, geniumque meum protractus adorat.
    Lygdame,nil potui: tecum ego captus eram.
supplicibus palmis tum demum ad foedera ueni,
    cum uix tangendos praebuit illa pedes,
atque ait "admissae si uis me ignoscere culpae,
    accipe, quae nostrae formula legis erit.

and when now she had wearied my arms with our blows,
    Lygdamus, hiding by the left supports of the couch, is dragged out,
and, hauled forth, he adores my Genius.
    "Lygdamus, I could do nothing: I was captured with you."
with suppliant palms then at last I came to treaties,
    when she offered her feet scarcely to be touched,
and she says, "if you want me to forgive the admitted fault,
    receive what will be the formula of our law."

tu neque Pompeia spatiabere cultus in umbra,
    nec cum lasciuum sternet harena Forum.
colla caue inflectas ad summum obliqua theatrum,
    aut lectica tuae se det aperta morae.
Lygdamus in primis, omnis mihi causa querelae,
    ueneat et pedibus uincula bina trahat."
indixit leges: respondi ego "legibus utar".
    riserat imperio facta superba dato.

you shall neither stroll, arrayed, in the Pompeian shade,
    nor when lascivious sand will carpet the Forum.
beware you bend your neck obliquely toward the theatre’s topmost tier,
    nor let an open litter present itself to your delay.
Lygdamus first of all, to me the whole cause of complaint—
    let him be sold and drag twin fetters on his feet."
she proclaimed the laws: I replied, "I will use the laws."
    she smiled, made proud by the command given.

dein, quemcumque locum externae tetigere puellae,
    suffiit, at pura limina tergit aqua,
imperat et totas iterum mutare lucernas,
    terque meum tetigit sulpuris igne caput.
atque ita mutato per singula pallia lecto
    respondi, et toto soluimus arma toro.

then, whatever place the foreign girls had touched,
    she fumigates it, and she wipes the thresholds with pure water,
and she orders that all the lamps be changed again,
    and three times she touched my head with the fire of sulfur.
and thus, with the bed changed, coverlet by coverlet,
    I replied, and we laid down arms over the whole couch.

Amphitryoniades qua tempestate iuuencos
    egerat a stabulis, o Erythea, tuis,
uenit ad inuictos pecorosa Palatia montis,
    et statuit fessos fessus et ipse boues,
qua Velabra suo stagnabant flumine quoque
    nauta per urbanas uelificabat aquas.
sed non infido manserunt hospite Caco
    incolumes: furto polluit ille Iouem.
incola Cacus erat, metuendo raptor ab antro,
    per tria partitos qui dabat ora sonos.

Amphitryoniad, at the time when he had driven the young bulls
    from your stalls, O Erythea,
he came to the unconquered, cattle-rich Palatia of the hill,
    and, weary himself, he set down the weary oxen,
where the Velabrum too was stagnating with its own stream,
    and a sailor was making sail through the urban waters.
but they did not remain unharmed with the faithless host Cacus:
    by theft he polluted Jove.
the inhabitant was Cacus, a robber from a dread cave,
    who gave sounds parceled through three mouths.

hic, ne certa forent manifestae signa rapinae,
    auersos cauda traxit in antra boues,
nec sine teste deo: furem sonuere iuuenci,
    furis et implacidas diruit ira fores.
Maenalio iacuit pulsus tria tempora ramo
    Cacus, et Alcides sic ait: "ite, boues,
Herculis ite boues, nostrae labor ultime clauae,
    bis mihi quaesitae, bis mea praeda, boues,
aruaque mugitu sancite Bouaria longo:
    nobile erit Romae pascua uestra Forum."
dixerat, et sicco torquet sitis ora palato,
    terraque non ullas feta ministrat aquas.
sed procul inclusas audit ridere puellas,
    lucus ubi umbroso fecerat orbe nemus,
femineae loca clausa deae fontesque piandos
    impune et nullis sacra retecta uiris.

here, lest the clear signs of the manifest rapine should be certain,
    he dragged the cattle backward by the tail into the caves,
nor without a god as witness: the young bulls sounded out the thief,
    and wrath implacable smashed the thief’s doors.
Cacus lay, beaten by a Maenalian branch, for three spans of time,
    and Alcides thus says: “go, cattle,
go, cattle of Hercules, ultimate labor of our club,
    twice sought by me, twice my booty, cattle,
and with long lowing hallow the Bovarian fields:
    your pasture will be the noble Forum at Rome.”
he had spoken, and thirst twists his lips with the palate dry,
    and the fecund earth supplies no waters at all.
but far off he hears enclosed girls laughing,
    where a grove had made a woodland with a shady circle,
places closed of a feminine goddess and springs to be propitiated,
    sacred, unveiled to no men with impunity.

deuia puniceae uelabant limina uittae,
    putris odorato luxerat igne casa,
populus et longis ornabat frondibus aedem,
    multaque cantantis umbra tegebat auis.
huc ruit in siccam congesta puluere barbam,
    et iacit ante fores uerba minora deo:
"uos precor, o luci sacro quae luditis antro,
    pandite defessis hospita fana uiris.
fontis egens erro circaque sonantia lymphis;
    et caua succepto flumine palma sat est.

off the path, crimson fillets were veiling the thresholds,
    the crumbling cottage had gleamed with a fragrant fire,
the poplar too with long fronds was adorning the shrine,
    and much shade of singing birds was covering it.
hither he rushes, his beard dry and heaped with dust,
    and he casts before the doors words lesser than for a god:
"you I pray, O you who play in the sacred grove’s cavern,
    open hospitable fanes to men worn out.
in need of a spring I wander, and around places resounding with waters;
    and a hollow palm, once it has received the stream, is enough.

audistisne aliquem, tergo qui sustulit orbem?
ille ego sum: Alciden terra recepta uocat.
quis facta Herculeae non audit fortia clauae
et numquam ad uastas irrita tela feras,
atque uni Stygias homini luxisse tenebras?

Have you heard of someone who lifted the orb upon his back?
I am he: with the earth taken up, they call me Alcides.
Who does not hear of the brave deeds of the Herculean club
and of weapons never vain against the vast beasts,
and that for a single man the Stygian darknesses have shone with light?

    [accipit: haec fesso uix mihi terra patet.]
quodsi Iunoni sacrum faceretis amarae,
    non clausisset aquas ipsa nouerca suas.
sin aliquem uultusque meus saetaeque leonis
    terrent et Libyco sole perusta coma,
idem ego Sidonia feci seruilia palla
    officia et Lydo pensa diurna colo,
mollis et hirsutum cepit mihi fascia pectus,
    et manibus duris apta puella fui."
talibus Alcides; at talibus alma sacerdos
    puniceo canas stamine uincta comas:
"parce oculis, hospes, lucoque abscede uerendo;
    cede agedum et tuta limina linque fuga.
interdicta uiris metuenda lege piatur
    quae se summota uindicat ara casa.

    [she admits: this land hardly lies open to me, weary.]
but if you were making a sacred rite to bitter Juno,
    the stepmother herself would not have shut up her waters.
but if my countenance and the lion’s bristles
    and my hair seared by the Libyan sun frighten someone,
I too did servile offices in a Sidonian mantle,
    and daily weights with a Lydian distaff,
and a soft band bound my shaggy chest,
    and with rough hands I was a girl fit for the task."
with such words Alcides; but with such words the kindly priestess,
    her gray locks bound with a crimson thread:
"spare our eyes, guest, and withdraw from the reverend grove;
    come now, yield, and leave the thresholds safe by flight.
what is interdicted to men is propitiated by a law to be feared—
    the altar which, set apart in a hut, vindicates itself.

magno Tiresias aspexit Pallada uates,
    fortia dum posita Gorgone membra lauat.
di tibi dent alios fontis: haec lympha puellis
    auia secreti limitis unda fluit."
sic anus: ille umeris postis concussit opacos,
    nec tulit iratam ianua clausa sitim.
at postquam exhausto iam flumine uicerat aestum,
    ponit uix siccis tristia iura labris:
"angulus hic mundi nunc me mea fata trahentem
    accipit: haec fesso uix mihi terra patet.

the great seer Tiresias beheld Pallas,
    while she was washing her stout limbs, the Gorgon set aside.
may the gods grant you other springs: this water
    flows, a wave of a secret boundary, remote for maidens."
so spoke the old woman: he shook the shadowy doorposts with his shoulders,
    nor did the closed doorway bear his angry thirst.
but after, with the stream now drained, he had overcome his heat,
    he sets grim laws upon his scarcely dry lips:
"this corner of the world now receives me, me whom my fates drag along;
    this land scarcely lies open for me, weary.

Maxima quae gregibus deuota est Ara repertis,
    ara per has" inquit "maxima facta manus,
haec nullis umquam pateat ueneranda puellis,
    Herculis aeternum nec sit inulta sitis."
hunc, quoniam manibus purgatum sanxerat orbem,
    sic Sanctum Tatiae composuere Cures.
Sancte pater salue, cui iam fauet aspera Iuno:
    Sancte, uelis libro dexter inesse meo.

The Altar Greatest, which is devoted for the herds recovered,
    "an altar made greatest by these hands," he says,
let this revered thing ever be open to no maidens,
    nor let the thirst of Hercules be eternally unavenged."
him, since he had sanctioned the world purified by his hands,
    thus the Cures of Tatius established as Holy.
Holy father, hail, to whom now harsh Juno shows favor:
    Holy one, be dexter and present in my book.

nunc Iouis incipiam causas aperire Feretri
    armaque de ducibus trina recepta tribus.
magnum iter ascendo, sed dat mihi gloria uires:
    non iuuat e facili lecta corona iugo.
imbuis exemplum primae tu, Romule, palmae
    huius, et exuuio plenus ab hoste redis,
tempore quo portas Caeninum Acrona petentem
    uictor in euersum cuspide fundis equum.

now I shall begin to lay open the causes of Jupiter Feretrius
    and the arms thrice recovered from three leaders.
I climb a great path, but glory gives me strength:
    a crown gathered from an easy ridge does not delight.
you, Romulus, you initiate the example of this first palm,
    and, full with the spoil from the foe, you return,
at the time when, at the gates, Acron of Caenina seeking the gates
    you, as victor, cast his horse headlong with your spear.

Acron Herculeus Caenina ductor ab arce,
    Roma, tuis quondam finibus horror erat.
hic spolia ex umeris ausus sperare Quirini
    ipse dedit, sed non sanguine sicca suo.
hunc uidet ante cauas librantem spicula turris
    Romulus et uotis occupat ante ratis:
"Iuppiter, haec hodie tibi uictima corruet Acron."
    uouerat, et spolium corruit ille Ioui.

Acron, Herculean, leader of Caenina from its citadel, Rome, once was a terror to your borders.
    this man, having dared to hope for the spoils from Quirinus’s shoulders, himself gave them—but not dry with his own blood.
him Romulus sees before the hollow towers poising his javelins, and forestalls, with vows, before the deed is ratified:
    “Jupiter, today this victim Acron shall fall to you.”
he had vowed, and the spoil fell to Jupiter.

urbis uirtutisque parens sic uincere sueuit,
    qui tulit a parco frigida castra lare.
idem eques et frenis, idem fuit aptus aratris,
    et galea hirsuta compta lupina iuba.
picta neque inducto fulgebat parma pyropo:
    praebebant caesi baltea lenta boues.

the father of the city and of valor was thus accustomed to conquer,
    he who bore the chilly camp from a thrifty hearth.
the same man was a horseman fit for the reins, the same was apt for the ploughs,
    and a helmet adorned with a shaggy wolf’s mane.
nor did his painted buckler gleam with overlaid fiery-bronze:
    slain oxen supplied the supple baldrics.

necdum ultra Tiberim belli sonus, ultima praeda
    Nomentum et captae iugera terna Corae.
Cossus at insequitur Veientis caede Tolumni,
    uincere cum Veios posse laboris erat;
heu Veii ueteres! et uos tum regna fuistis,
    et uestro posita est aurea sella foro:
nunc intra muros pastoris bucina lenti
    cantat, et in uestris ossibus arua metunt.

nor yet beyond the Tiber was the sound of war; the farthest booty
    was Nomentum and three acres of captured Cora.
but Cossus follows on with the slaughter of Tolumnius of Veii,
    when to conquer Veii was a labor;
alas, ancient Veii! you too then were kingdoms,
    and in your forum a golden seat was set:
now within the walls the slow shepherd’s buccina
    sings, and upon your bones they reap the fields.

forte super portae dux Veiens astitit arcem
    colloquiumque sua fretus ab urbe dedit:
dumque aries murum cornu pulsabat aeno,
    uinea qua ductum longa tegebat opus,
Cossus ait "forti melius concurrere campo."
    nec mora fit, plano sistit uterque gradum.
di Latias iuuere manus, desecta Tolumni
    ceruix Romanos sanguine lauit equos.
Claudius a Rheno traiectos arcuit hostis,
    Belgica cum uasti parma relata ducis
Virdomari.

by chance above the gate’s citadel the Veientine leader stood,
    and, relying on his own city, offered a colloquy:
while the ram was beating the wall with its bronze horn,
    where a long vinea was covering the protracted work,
Cossus says “better to meet in combat on the stout field.”
    No delay is made; each sets his step on the level ground.
the gods aided the Latin hands; Tolumnius’s neck, cut off,
    bathed the Roman horses with blood.
Claudius warded off the enemies trajected from the Rhine,
    when the Belgic parma of the vast leader
Virdomarus was carried back.

genus hic Rheno iactabat ab ipso,
    mobilis e rectis fundere gaesa rotis.
illi ut uirgatis iaculans it ab agmine bracis
    torquis ab incisa decidit unca gula.
nunc spolia in templo tria condita: causa Feretri,
    omine quod certo dux ferit ense ducem;
seu quia uicta suis umeris haec arma ferebant,
    hinc Feretri dicta est ara superba Iouis.

he was boasting his lineage from the Rhine itself,
    nimble to pour forth gaesa from straight-running wheels.
as he, hurling, goes from the line in striped breeches,
    the hooked torc falls from his gashed throat.
now three spoils have been stored in the temple: the cause of Feretrius—
    that, with a sure omen, a leader strikes a leader with the sword;
or because, conquered, they used to carry these arms on their own shoulders,
    hence the proud altar of Jupiter Feretrius has been named.

desine, Paulle, meum lacrimis urgere sepulcrum:
    panditur ad nullas ianua nigra preces;
cum semel infernas intrarunt funera leges,
    non exorato stant adamante uiae.
te licet orantem fuscae deus audiat aulae:
    nempe tuas lacrimas litora surda bibent.
uota mouent superos: ubi portitor aera recepit,
    obserat herbosos lurida porta rogos.

Cease, Paullus, to press my sepulcher with tears:
    the black door is opened to no prayers;
when once the funerals have entered the infernal laws,
    the ways stand fast with adamant that cannot be entreated.
Though the god of the dusky hall may hear you praying:
    surely the deaf shores will drink your tears.
Vows move the gods above: when the ferryman has received the bronze,
    the lurid gate locks the grass-grown pyres.

sic maestae cecinere tubae, cum subdita nostrum
    detraheret lecto fax inimica caput.
quid mihi coniugium Paulli, quid currus auorum
    profuit aut famae pignora tanta meae?
non minus immitis habuit Cornelia Parcas:
    et sum, quod digitis quinque legatur, onus.

thus the mournful trumpets sang, when the hostile torch set beneath
    dragged my head down from the couch.
what did my marriage with Paullus, what the chariots of my forefathers
    profit me, or such great pledges of my fame?
Cornelia found the Fates no less cruel:
    and I am a burden that can be lifted by five fingers.

damnatae noctes et uos, uada lenta, paludes,
    et quaecumque meos implicat unda pedes,
immatura licet, tamen huc non noxia ueni:
    det Pater hic umbrae mollia iura meae.
aut si quis posita iudex sedet Aeacus urna,
    in mea sortita uindicet ossa pila:
assideant fratres, iuxta et Minoida sellam
    Eumenidum intento turba seuera foro:
Sisyphe, mole uaces; taceant Ixionis orbes,
    fallax Tantaleus corripiare liquor;
Cerberus et nullas hodie petat improbus umbras;
    et iaceat tacita laxa catena sera.
ipsa loquor pro me: si fallo, poena sororum
    infelix umeros urgeat urna meos.

damned nights, and you, slow shallows, marshes,
    and whatever wave entangles my feet,
although untimely, yet hither I have come not noxious:
    let the Father here grant gentle laws to my shade.
or if Aeacus sits as judge with the urn set down,
    by the allotted ballot let him vindicate my bones:
let the brothers sit beside, and next to the Minos-seat
    the stern throng of the Eumenides in an intent court:
Sisyphus, have respite from your mass; let Ixion’s wheels fall silent,
    let the deceitful Tantalus-liquid be snatched away;
and let Cerberus, impudent, seek no shades today;
    and let the slack chain lie with its bolt silent.
I myself speak for me: if I deceive, let the urn—the sisters’ punishment—
    press upon my unhappy shoulders.

si cui fama fuit per auita tropaea decori,
    Afra Numantinos regna loquuntur auos:
altera maternos exaequat turba Libones,
    et domus est titulis utraque fulta suis.
mox, ubi iam facibus cessit praetexta maritis,
    uinxit et acceptas altera uitta comas,
iungor, Paulle, tuo sic discessura cubili:
    in lapide hoc uni nupta fuisse legar.
testor maiorum cineres tibi, Roma, colendos,
    sub quorum titulis, Africa, tunsa iaces,
et Persen proauo stimulantem pectus Achille,
    quique tuas proauo fregit Achille domos,
me neque censurae legem mollisse nec ulla
    labe mea uestros erubuisse focos.

if to anyone renown was an adornment through ancestral trophies,
    African realms speak of Numantine grandsires:
another throng equals the maternal Libones,
    and each house is propped by its own titles.
soon, when the praetexta yielded now to bridal torches,
    and another vitta bound the hair that had been received,
I am joined, Paullus, to your couch thus to depart from it:
    on this stone I shall be read to have been wedded to one man.
I call to witness, Rome, the ashes of my ancestors, to be venerated by you,
    under whose titles, Africa, beaten, you lie,
and Perseus, goading his breast against my great‑grandfather Achilles,
    and he who broke your homes for my great‑grandfather Achilles,
that I neither softened the law of the censors nor made your hearths
    blush at any stain of mine.

non fuit exuuiis tantis Cornelia damnum:
    quin et erat magnae pars imitanda domus.
nec mea mutata est aetas, sine crimine tota est:
    uiximus insignes inter utramque facem.
mi natura dedit leges a sanguine ductas,
    nec possis melior iudicis esse metu.

Cornelia was no loss to such trophies:
    nay rather, she was a part of the great house to be imitated.
nor was my lifetime altered; it is wholly without crime:
    we lived distinguished between both torches.
Nature gave to me laws drawn from my blood,
    nor could you be better by fear of a judge.

quaelibet austeras de me ferat urna tabellas:
    turpior assessu non erit ulla meo,
uel tu, quae tardam mouisti fune Cybeben,
    Claudia, turritae rara ministra deae,
uel cuius rasos cum Vesta reposceret ignis,
    exhibuit uiuos carbasus alba focos.
nec te, dulce caput, mater Scribonia, laesi:
    in me mutatum quid nisi fata uelis?
maternis laudor lacrimis urbisque querelis,
    defensa et gemitu Caesaris ossa mea.

let any ballot-urn bear austere tablets against me:
    none will be more shameful when set beside me;
or you, who moved the tardy Cybele with a rope,
    Claudia, rare ministra of the turreted goddess,
or she, when Vesta was demanding back the scraped-away fire,
    white linen exhibited living hearths.
nor did I, sweet head, mother Scribonia, harm you:
    what would you wish changed in me, if not the fates?
I am praised by a mother’s tears and by the city’s laments,
    and my bones were defended even by Caesar’s groan.

ille sua nata dignam uixisse sororem
    increpat, et lacrimas uidimus ire deo.
et tamen emerui generosos uestis honores
    nec mea de sterili facta rapina domo.
tu, Lepide, et tu, Paulle, meum post fata leuamen:
    condita sunt uestro lumina nostra sinu.

he reproaches that his sister lived worthy of his own daughter,
    and we saw tears come to the god.
and yet I merited the noble honors of the garment,
    nor was my rapine made from a barren house.
you, Lepidus, and you, Paullus, my solace after my death:
    my eyes were laid to rest in your bosom.

uidimus et fratrem sellam geminasse curulem,
    consule quo, festo tempore, rapta soror.
filia, tu specimen censurae nata paternae,
    fac teneas unum nos imitata uirum.
et serie fulcite genus: mihi cumba uolenti
    soluitur aucturis tot mea facta meis.

we have seen also a brother double the curule chair,
    in whose consulship, at a festal time, the sister was rapt.
daughter, you, a specimen of your father’s censorship born,
    see that, imitating us, you keep to one man.
and with a series support the stock: for me, willing, the skiff
    is loosed, my deeds to be increased by my own.

haec est feminei merces extrema triumphi,
    laudat ubi emeritum libera fama rogum.
nunc tibi commendo communia pignora natos:
    haec cura et cineri spirat inusta meo.
fungere maternis uicibus, pater: illa meorum
    omnis erit collo turba ferenda tuo.

this is the ultimate reward of feminine triumph,
    where free fame praises the well-earned pyre.
now to you I commend our common pledges, the children:
    this care, seared into my ashes, still breathes.
fulfill the maternal offices, father: that whole throng of my little ones
    will be to be borne on your neck.

oscula cum dederis tua flentibus, adice matris:
tota domus coepit nunc onus esse tuum.
et si quid doliturus eris, sine testibus illis!
cum uenient, siccis oscula falle genis!

when you have given your kisses to the weeping ones, add their mother’s:
the whole house has now begun to be your burden.
and if you are going to grieve at all, do it without those witnesses!
when they come, with dry cheeks beguile their kisses!

sat tibi sint noctes, quas de me, Paulle, fatiges,
    somniaque in faciem credita saepe meam:
atque ubi secreto nostra ad simulacra loqueris,
    ut responsurae singula uerba iace.
seu tamen aduersum mutarit ianua lectum,
    sederit et nostro cauta nouerca toro,
coniugium, pueri, laudate et ferte paternum:
    capta dabit uestris moribus illa manus;
nec matrem laudate nimis: collata priori
    uertet in offensas libera uerba suas.
seu memor ille mea contentus manserit umbra
    et tanti cineres duxerit esse meos,
discite uenturam iam nunc sentire senectam,
    caelibis ad curas nec uacet ulla uia.

Let the nights be enough for you, Paullus, which you weary out on my account,
    and dreams often credited to my very face:
and whenever in secret you speak to my simulacra,
    cast your words one by one as if to one about to answer.
or if, however, the doorway should change the bed to the opposite,
    and a cautious stepmother should sit upon our couch,
boys, praise and bear the paternal conjugal union:
    the captured woman will yield her hand to your manners;
nor praise mother too much: when compared to the former
    she will turn her free words into offenses of her own.
or if he, mindful of me, shall remain content with my shade
    and shall have deemed my ashes to be of such weight,
learn even now to feel old age coming,
    nor lies any way open for the cares of a celibate.

quod mihi detractum est, uestros accedat ad annos:
prole mea Paullum sic iuuet esse senem.
et bene habet: numquam mater lugubria sumpsi;
uenit in exsequias tota caterua meas.
causa perorata est.

let what has been subtracted from me accrue to your years:
so may my progeny help Paullus to be an old man.
and it is well: never, as a mother, did I put on mourning garments;
a whole throng came to my exequies.
the case has been perorated.

flentes me surgite, testes,
dum pretium uitae grata rependit humus.
moribus et caelum patuit: sim digna merendo,
cuius honoratis ossa uehantur auis.

weeping, rise for me, witnesses,
while the grateful soil repays the price of life.
and by my mores even heaven stood open: may I be worthy by my deserving,
she whose bones are borne with honored ancestors.