Rutilius Namatianus: DE REDITU SUO

Velocem potius reditum mirabere, lector,
tam cito Romuleis posse carere bonis.
Quid longum toto Romam venerantibus aevo!
Nil umquam longum est, quod sine fine placet.

You will rather marvel at the swift return, reader,
that one can so quickly do without the Romulean boons.
What is long to those who have venerated Rome for a whole age!
Nothing is ever long that pleases without end.

O quantum et quotiens possum numerare beatos,               5
   nasci felici qui meruere solo,
qui Romanorum procerum generosa propago
   ingenitum cumulant urbis honore decus!
Semina virtutum demissa et tradita caelo
    non potuere aliis dignius esse locis.               10
Felices etiam, qui proxima munera primis
   sortiti Latias obtinuere domos!
Religiosa patet peregrinae curia laudi
   nec putat externos, quos decet esse suos;
ordinis imperio collegarumque fruuntur               15

O how many and how often can I number as blessed,               5
   those who have merited to be born on a felicitous soil,
who, the noble progeny of the Roman nobles,
   accumulate an inborn glory with the honor of the City!
The seeds of virtues let down and handed down from heaven
   could not have been in places more worthy.               10
Happy also are they who, allotted gifts next to the first,
   have obtained Latian homes!
The curia, religious, lies open to foreign praise
   nor does it deem external those whom it befits to be its own;
they enjoy the authority of the order and of their colleagues               15

   et partem genii, quem venerantur, habent:
Quale per aetherios mundani verticis axes
   concilium summi credimus esse dei.
At mea dilectis fortuna revellitur oris
   indigenamque suum Gallica rura vocant.               20
Illa quidem longis nimium deformia bellis,
   sed quam grata minus, tam miseranda magis.
Securos levius crimen contemnere cives:
   Privatam repetunt publica damna fidem.

   and they have a share of the Genius whom they venerate:
Such as along the aetherial axes of the world’s vertex
   we believe the council of the highest god to be.
But my fortune is torn away from beloved shores
   and the Gallic fields call me, their own native.               20
Those indeed too disfigured by long wars,
   but the less pleasing they are, the more pitiable.
For citizens in safety, to contemn is the lighter offense:
   they reclaim private good faith for public losses.

Praesentes lacrimas tectis debemus avitis;               25
   prodest admonitus saepe dolore labor;
nec fas ulterius longas nescire ruinas,
   quas mora suspensae multiplicavit opis.
Iam tempus laceris post saeva incendia fundis
    vel pastorales aedificare casas.               30

We owe present tears to our ancestral roofs;               25
   labor, often admonished by pain, is profitable;
nor is it right any longer to be ignorant of the long devastations,
   which the delay of suspended aid has multiplied.
Now it is time, after savage conflagrations, on the torn estates
   even to build shepherds’ houses.               30

Ipsi quin etiam fontes si mittere vocem
   ipsaque si possent arbuta nostra loqui,
cessantem iustis poterant urgere querelis
   et desideriis addere vela meis.
Iamiam laxatis carae complexibus urbis               35
   vincimur - et serum vix toleramus iter.
Electum pelagus, quoniam terrena viarum
   plana madent fluviis, cautibus alta rigent.

Nay, even the springs themselves, if they could send forth a voice,
   and the very arbutus-trees of ours, if they could speak,
could have pressed me, as I linger, with just complaints,
   and could have added sails to my desires.
Right now, with the dear city's embraces loosened,               35
   we are overcome - and we scarcely endure the belated journey.
The sea has been chosen, since the terrene plains of the roads
   are sodden with streams, the high ones are stiff with crags.

Postquam Tuscus ager postquamque Aurelius agger
    perpessus Geticas ense vel igne manus               40
non silvas domibus, non flumina ponte cohercet;
   incerto satius credere vela mari.
Crebra reliquendis infigimus oscula portis;
   inviti superant limina sacra pedes.
Oramus veniam lacrimis et laude litamus,               45

After the Tuscan field and the Aurelian rampart
    having endured Getic hands by sword or by fire               40
does not confine the woods with houses, nor the rivers with a bridge;
   it is better to entrust the sails to an uncertain sea.
We fasten frequent kisses upon the gates to be left behind;
   unwilling, our feet overstep the sacred thresholds.
We pray for pardon with tears, and we propitiate with praise,               45

   in quantum fletus currere verba sinit:
«Exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi,
   inter sidereos, Roma, recepta polos;
exaudi, genetrix hominum genetrixque deorum:
    Non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus.               50
Te canimus semperque, sinent dum fata, canemus:
   Sospes nemo potest immemor esse tui.
Obruerint citius scelerata oblivia solem
   quam tuus e nostro corde recedat honos.
Nam solis radiis aequalia munera tendis,               55
   qua circumfusus fluctuat Oceanus;
volitur ipse tibi, qui continet omnia, Phoebus
   eque tuis ortos in tua condit equos.

   insofar as weeping allows the words to run:
«Hear, O queen most beautiful of your world,
   received among the starry poles, O Rome;
hear, Genetrix of men and Genetrix of gods:
    We are not far from heaven through your temples.               50
We sing of you and, so long as the Fates permit, we shall sing:
   No one, safe, can be unmindful of you.
Sooner will accursed oblivion overwhelm the sun
   than your honor should recede from our heart.
For you extend gifts equal to the sun’s rays,               55
   where the Ocean, poured around, surges;
Phoebus himself, who contains all things, wheels for you
   and, risen from you, sets his horses within you.»

Te non flammigeris Libye tardavit arenis;
non armata suo reppulit ursa gelu: 60

Libya did not delay you with her flame-bearing sands;
nor did the Bear, armed with its own frost, drive you back: 60

Quantum vitalis natura tetendit in axes,
   tantum virtuti pervia terrae tuae.
Fecisti patriam diversis gentibus unam;
   profuit iniustis te dominante capi;
dumque offers victis proprii consortia iuris,               65
   Urbem fecisti, quod prius orbis erat.
Auctores generis Venerem Martemque fatemur,
   Aeneadum matrem Romulidumque patrem;
mitigat armatas victrix clementia vires,
    convenit in mores nomen utrumque tuos.               70
Hinc tibi certandi bona parcendique voluptas:
   Quos timuit superat, quos superavit amat.

As far as vital nature has stretched to the axes,
   so far are your lands pervious to your virtue.
You have made one fatherland for diverse peoples;
   it has profited the unjust, under you dominating, to be captured;
and while you offer to the conquered the fellowship of your own law,               65
   you made a City of what before was a world.
We acknowledge as authors of the race Venus and Mars,
   the mother of the Aeneads and the father of the Romulids;
victorious clemency mitigates armed might,
    it accords with your morals, each name of the two.               70
Hence for you the goods of contending and the delight of sparing:
   She overcomes those whom she feared; those whom she has overcome she loves.

Inventrix oleae colitur vinique repertor
et qui primus humo pressit aratra puer;
aras Paeoniam meruit medicina per artem, 75

The inventress of the olive is venerated and the discoverer of wine
and the boy who first pressed the ploughs into the soil;
Medicine by its art has deserved Paeonian altars, 75

   factus et Alcides nobilitate deus:
Tu quoque, legiferis mundum complexa triumphis,
   foedere communi vivere cuncta facis.
Te, dea, te celebrat Romanus ubique resessus
    pacificoque gerit libera colla iugo.               80
Omnia perpetuos quae servant sidera motus
   nullum viderunt pulchrius imperium.
Quid simile Assyriis connectere contigit armis?

   and Alcides too was made a god by nobility:
You too, having encompassed the world with law-bearing triumphs,
   you make all things live by a common covenant.
You, goddess, you are celebrated by every Roman recess
    and bears free necks beneath a pacific yoke.               80
All the stars that keep perpetual motions
   have seen no more beautiful empire.
What comparable thing has it befallen Assyrian arms to connect?

   Medi finitimos condomuere suos;
magni Parthorum reges Macetumque tyranni               85
   mutua per varias iura dedere vices.
Nec tibi nascenti plures animaeque manusque,
   sed plus consilii iudiciique fuit.
Iustis bellorum causis nec pace superba
    nobilis ad summas gloria venit opes.               90

   The Medes thoroughly subdued their neighbors;
the great kings of the Parthians and the tyrants of the Macedons               85
   bestowed reciprocal rights through various turns.
Nor at your birth did you have more souls and hands,
   but you had more counsel and judgment.
By just causes of wars and not by haughty peace
    noble glory came to the utmost riches.               90

Quod regnas minus est quam quod regnare mereris:
   Excedis factis grandia fata tuis.
Percensere labor densis decora alta trophaeis,
   ut si quis stellas pernumerare velit,
confunduntque vagos delubra micantia visus:               95
   Ipsos crediderim sic habitare deos.
Quid loquar aerio pendentes fornice rivos,
   qua vix imbriferas tolleret Iris aquas;
Hos potius dicas crevisse in sidera montes;
    tale giganteum Graecia laudat opus?               100
Intercepta tuis conduntur flumina muris;
   consumunt totos celsa lavacra lacus.

What you reign is less than what you deserve to reign:
   you exceed with your deeds your grand destinies.
To reckon the lofty honors thick with trophies is a labor,
   as if someone should wish to count the stars,
and the glittering shrines confound the wandering gaze:               95
   I could believe that the gods themselves dwell thus.
What shall I say of the streams hanging from the airy arch,
   where scarcely Iris would lift the rain-bearing waters;
You would rather say that mountains have grown into the stars;
   does Greece praise such a gigantic work?               100
Rivers, intercepted, are enclosed within your walls;
   lofty baths consume entire lakes.

Nec minus et propriis celebrantur roscida venis
totaque nativo moenia fonte sonant.
Frigidus aestivas hinc temperat halitus auras 105

No less, too, are the dewy waters celebrated for their own veins
and all the walls resound with a native fountain.
A cold breath from here tempers the estival breezes 105

   innocuamque levat purior unda sitim.
Nempe tibi subitus calidarum gurges aquarum
   rupit Tarpeias hoste premente vias.
Si foret aeternus, casum fortasse putarem:
    Auxilio fluxit qui rediturus erat.               110
Quid loquar inclusas inter laquearia silvas,
   vernula qua vario carmine ludit avis.

   and a purer wave alleviates innocent thirst.
Indeed for you a sudden torrent of hot waters
   broke the Tarpeian ways while the foe was pressing.
If it were eternal, I would perhaps think it chance:
    It flowed for aid, which was to return.               110
What shall I say of woods enclosed beneath coffered ceilings,
   where the home-bred bird plays with variegated song.

Vere tuo numquam mulceri desinit annus;
   deliciasque tuas victa tuetur hiems.
Erige crinales lauros seniumque sacrati               115
   verticis in virides, Roma, refinge comas.
Aurea turrigero radient diademata cono
   perpetuosque ignes aureus umbo vomat.

By your spring the year never ceases to be soothed;
   and conquered winter watches over your delights.
Raise the hair-like laurels and the senility of the consecrated               115
   vertex into green locks, Rome, refashion.
Let golden diadems radiate on the tower-bearing cone
   and let the golden boss vomit perpetual fires.

Abscondat tristem deleta iniuria casum;
contemptus solidet vulnera clausa dolor. 120

Let the effaced injury hide the sad mischance;
let despised pain make firm the closed wounds. 120

Adversis solemne tuis sperare secunda:
   Exemplo caeli ditia damna subis.
Astrorum flammae renovant occasibus ortus;
   Lunam finiri cernis, ut incipiat.
Victoris Brenni non distulit Allia poenam;               1255
   Samnis servitio foedera saeva luit;
Post multas Pyrrhum clades superata fugasti;
   flevit successus Hannibal ipse suos.

It is your solemn custom, in adversities, to hope for prosperous things:
   by heaven’s example you undergo rich losses.
The flames of the stars renew risings by their settings;
   you see the moon be finished, so that it may begin.
The Allia did not defer the penalty of the victorious Brennus;               1255
   the Samnite paid for savage treaties with servitude;
After many defeats, though overcome, you put Pyrrhus to flight;
   Hannibal himself wept his own successes.

Quae mergi nequeunt, nisu maiore resurgunt
    exiliuntque imis altius acta vadis;               130
utque novas vires fax inclinata resumit,
   clarior ex humili sorte superna petis.
Porrige victuras Romana in saecula leges
   solaque fatales non vereare colos,
quamvis sedecies denis et mille peractis               135

Things which cannot be submerged, with greater effort they resurge
   and, driven from the deepest shallows, they leap forth higher;               130
and as a torch, when inclined, resumes new forces,
   you, more brilliant, from a humble lot seek the things above.
Stretch forth, Roman, laws that will live through the ages
   and, alone, do not fear the fatal distaffs,
although, with sixteen tens and a thousand completed               135

   annus praeterea iam tibi nonus eat.
Quae restant, nullis obnoxia tempora metis,
   dum stabunt terrae, dum polus astra feret.
Illud te reperat, quod cetera regna resolvit:
    Ordo renascendi est crescere posse malis.               140
Ergo age, sacrilegae tandem cadat hostia gentis:
   Submittant trepidi perfida colla Getae.

   furthermore, now let the ninth year advance for you.
The times that remain, subject to no metes,
   while the lands shall stand, while the pole bears the stars.
Let that find you which dissolves the other realms:
   the order of being reborn is to be able to grow through evils.               140
Therefore come, let at last the victim of the sacrilegious nation fall:
   let the perfidious Getae, trembling, submit their necks.

Ditia pacatae dent vectigalia terrae;
   impleat augustos barbara praeda sinus.
Aeternum tibi Rhenus aret, tibi Nilus inundet,               145
   altricemque suam fertilis orbis alat;
Quin et fecundas tibi conferat Africa messes,
   sole suo dives, sed magis imbre tuo.
Interea et Latiis consurgant horrea sulcis
    pinguiaque Hesperio nectare prela fluant.               150

Let the rich revenues of the pacified lands yield;
   let barbarian booty fill the august folds.
May the Rhine dry for you forever, may the Nile overflow for you,               145
   and let the fertile world nourish its own nurse;
Nay, let Africa too confer fecund harvests upon you,
   rich in its own sun, but more in your rain.
Meanwhile let granaries rise from Latin furrows
   and let the presses flow with rich Hesperian nectar.               150

Ipse triumphali redimitus arundine Tibris
   Romuleis famulas usibus aptet aquas;
atque opulenta tibi placidis commercia ripis
   devehat hinc ruris, subvehat inde maris.
Pande, precor, gemino pacatum Castore pontum;               155
   temperet aequoream dux Cytherea viam,
si non displicui, regerem cum iura Quirini,
   si colui sanctos consuluique patres.
Nam quod nulla meum strinxerunt crimina ferrum,
    non sit praefecti gloria, sed populi.               160
Sive datur patriis vitam componere terris,
   sive oculis umquam restituere meis,
fortunatus agam votoque beatior omni,
   semper digneris si meminisse mei.»
His dictis iter rripimus; comitantur amici.               165

The Tiber himself, wreathed with triumphal reed,
   let him fit his waters to Romulean, serviceable uses;
and let opulent commerce to your placid banks
   carry down from here the things of the countryside, and bring up from there the things of the sea.
Unfold, I pray, the sea pacified by twin Castor;               155
   let the Cytherean leader temper the aqueous way,
if I have not displeased, when I administered the laws of Quirinus,
   if I cherished the sacred Fathers and consulted them.
For that no accusations drew steel against me,
    let it be not the glory of the prefect, but of the people.               160
Whether it is granted to settle my life in my fatherland’s lands,
   or ever to restore them to my eyes,
I shall live fortunate and happier than every wish,
   if you deign always to remember me.»
With these words we seize the road; friends accompany.               165

   Dicere non possunt lumina sicca «vale».
Iamque aliis Romam redeuntibus haeret eunti
   Rufius, Albini gloria viva patris,
qui Volusi antiquo derivat stemmate nomen
    et reges Rutulos teste Marone refert.               170
Huius facundae commissa palatia linguae;
   primaevus meruit principis ore loqui.
Rexerat ante puer populos pro consule Poenos:
   Aequalis Tyriis terror amorque fuit.
Sedula promisit summos instantia fasces:               175
   Si fas est meritis fidere, consul erit.

   Dry eyes cannot say «farewell».
And now, as others are returning to Rome, to the one going there clings
   Rufius, the living glory of his father Albinus,
who derives his name from the ancient lineage of Volusus
   and, Maro being witness, refers it to the Rutulian kings.               170
To his eloquent tongue the palaces have been entrusted;
   in early youth he earned to speak through the prince’s mouth.
Before, a boy, he had ruled peoples, the Punic folk, as proconsul:
   to the Tyrians he was equally terror and love.
Assiduous urgency has promised the highest fasces:               175
   if it is lawful to trust in merits, he will be consul.

Invitum tristis tandem remeare coegi;
corpore divisos mens tamen una tenet.
Tum demum ad naves gradior, qua fronte bicorni
dividuus Tiberis dexteriora secat. 180

At last, sad, I compelled the unwilling one to return;
yet, though divided in body, one mind nevertheless holds us.
Then at last I go to the ships, where at the two-horned front
the dividing Tiber cuts the right-hand parts. 180

Laevus inaccessis fluvius vitatur arenis;
   hospitis Aeneae gloria sola manet.
Et iam nocturnis spatium laxaverat horis
   Phoebus Chelarum palliodore polo.
Cunctamur tentare salum portuque sedemus;               185
   nec piget oppositis otia ferre moris,
occidua infido dum saevit gurgite Plias
   dumque procellosi temporis ira cadit.

The left-hand river is avoided, with its inaccessible sands;
   the glory of Aeneas the guest alone remains.
And now he had relaxed space to the nocturnal hours,
   Phoebus, with pallid face, in the heaven of the Claws.
We hesitate to try the open sea and we sit in the harbor;               185
   nor does it irk us to bear leisure with opposed delays,
while the Pleiad rages in the occidental, treacherous gulf,
   and while the wrath of tempestuous weather subsides.

Respectare iuvat vicinam saepius urbem
    et montes visu deficiente sequi;               190
quaque duces oculi grata regione fruuntur,
   dum se quod cupiunt cernere posse putant.
Nec locus ille mihi cognoscitur indice fumo,
   qui dominas arces et caput orbis habet
(quamquam signa levis fumi commendat Homerus,               195

It pleases me to look back more often at the neighboring city
    and to follow the hills with sight failing;               190
and wherever the eyes as guides enjoy the pleasing region,
    while they think that they can discern what they desire.
Nor is that place known to me by the index of smoke,
    which holds the ruling citadels and the head of the world
(although Homer commends the signs of light smoke,               195

   dilecto quotiens surgit in astra solo),
sed caeli plaga candidior tractusque serenus
   signat septenis culmina clara iugis.
Illic perpetui soles atque ipse videtur,
    quem sibi Roma facit, purior esse dies.               200
Saepius attonitae resonant circensibus aures;
   nuntiat accensus plena theatra favor;
pulsato notae redduntur ab aethere voces,
   vel quia perveniunt vel quia fingit amor.
Explorata fides pelagi ter quinque diebus               205
   dum melior lunae fideret aura novae.

   whenever it rises into the stars from the beloved soil),
but a brighter region of the sky and a serene tract
   marks out the bright summits by seven ridges.
There the perpetual suns and even the day itself seems,
   which Rome makes for herself, to be purer.               200
More often the astonied ears resound with circus-games;
   enkindled favor announces full theaters;
with the ether struck, familiar voices are returned,
   either because they reach us or because love feigns it.
The sea’s reliability, proved in thrice five days,               205
   while a better breeze put its trust in the new moon.

Tum discessurus studiis urbique remitto
Palladium, generis spemque decusque mei;
facundus iuvenis Gallorum nuper ab arvis
missus Romani discere iura fori. 210

Then, about to depart, I send back to studies and to the City
Palladius, the hope and ornament of my lineage;
an eloquent youth, recently from the fields of the Gauls,
sent to learn the laws of the Roman forum. 210

Ille meae secum dulcissima vincula curae,
   filius affectu, stirpe propinquus habet.
Cuius Aremoricas pater Exuperantius oras
   nunc postliminium pacis amare docet;
leges restituit libertatemque reducit               215
   et servos famulis non sinit esse suis.
Solvimus aurorae dubio, quo tempore primum
   agnosci patitur redditus arva color.

He bears with him the sweetest bonds of my care,
   a son by affection, a kinsman by lineage, he has.
Whose father Exuperantius now teaches the Armorican shores
   to love the restoration of peace;
he restores the laws and brings back liberty               215
   and he does not allow slaves to be among his attendants.
We cast off at the doubtful dawn, at the time when first
   the returning color allows the fields to be recognized.

Progredimur parvis per littora proxima cymbis,
    quorum perfugio crebra pateret humus.               220
Aestivos penetrent oneraria carbasa fluctus:
   Tutior autumnus mobilitate fugae.
Alsia praelegitur tellus Pyrgique recedunt,
   nunc villae grandes, oppida parva prius.
Iam Caeretanos demonstrat navita fines:               225

We advance along the nearest shores in small skiffs,
    by whose refuge the ground would lie open for frequent landings.               220
Let the canvases of cargo-ships penetrate the summer billows:
   Autumn is safer by the mobility of flight.
The land of Alsium is coasted past, and Pyrgi recedes,
   now great villas, towns formerly small.
Already the boatman points out the Caeretan boundaries:               225

   Aevo deposuit nomen Agylla vetus.
Stringimus +expugnatum+ et fluctu et tempore Castrum:
   Index semiruti porta vetusta loci.
Praesidet exigui formatus imagine saxi,
    qui pastorali cornua fronte gerit.               230
Multa licet priscum nomen deleverit aetas,
   hoc Inui Castrum fama fuisse putat,
seu Pan Tyrrhenis mutavit Maenala silvis,
   sive sinus patrios incola Faunus init;
dum renovat largo mortalia semina fetu,               235
   fingitur in Venerem pronior esse deus.

   By the lapse of age the old Agylla has laid down its name.
We draw near the Fort, +expugnatum+ both by wave and by time:
   the ancient gate is the index of the half-ruined place.
There presides, fashioned as an image in small stone,
   he who bears horns upon a pastoral brow.               230
Although age has effaced much of the ancient name,
   fame supposes this to have been the Fort of Inuus,
whether Pan has exchanged Maenalus for Tyrrhenian woods,
   or the dweller Faunus has entered his native haunts;
while he renews mortal seeds with abundant offspring,               235
   the god is fashioned as more inclined toward Venus.

Ad Centumcellas forti defleximus austro;
tranquilla puppes in statione sedent.
Molibus aequoreum concluditur amphitheatrum
angustosque aditus insula facta tegit; 240

To Centumcellae we veered with a strong south wind;
the ships sit in a tranquil anchorage.
With breakwaters the sea amphitheater is enclosed
and a man-made island covers the narrow approaches; 240

attollit geminas turres bifidoque meatu
   faucibus artatis pandit utrumque latus.
Nec posuisse satis laxo navalia portu:
   Ne vaga vel tutas ventilet aura rates,
interior medias sinus invitatus in aedes               245
   instabilem fixis aera nescit aquis;
qualis in Euboicis captiva natatibus unda
   sustinet alterno brachia lenta sono.
Nosse iuvat Tauri dictas de nomine Thermas,
    nec mora difficilis milibus ire tribus.               250
Non illic gustu latices vitiantur amaro
   Lymphaque fumifico sulphure tincta calet:
Purus odor mollisque sapor dubitare lavantem
   cogit, qua melius parte petantur aquae.

it lifts twin towers and with a bifid course
   with narrowed throats it opens either flank.
Nor was it enough to have set dockyards in a roomy port:
   lest a wandering breeze fan even safe ships,
the inner bay, invited into the central halls,               245
   does not know unsteady air, the waters being fixed;
such as in Euboean swim-baths the captive wave
   supports the languid arms with alternating sound.
It pleases to get to know the Baths called from the name of Taurus,
   and there is no difficult delay to go three miles.               250
There the waters are not marred by a bitter taste
   nor is the water, tinged with smoky sulfur, hot:
a pure odor and a soft savor compel the bather to doubt
   in which respect the waters are better sought.

Credere si dignum famae, flagrantia taurus 255

If it is worthy to credit fame, a bull discovered the burning springs 255

   investigato fonte lavacra dedit,
ut solet excussis pugnam praeludere glebis,
   stipite cum rigido cornua prona terit:
Sive deus faciem mentitus et arma iuvenci,
    noluit ardentis dona latere soli;               260
qualis Agenorei rapturus gaudia furti
   per freta virgineum sollicitavit onus.
Ardua non solos deceant miracula Graios.
   Auctorem pecudem fons Heliconis habet:
Elicitas simili credamus origine nymphas,               265
   Musarum latices ungula fodit equi:
Haec quoque Pieriis spiracula comparat antris
   carmine Messalae nobilitatus ager;
intrantemque capit discedentemque moratur
    postibus adfixum dulce poema sacris.               270

   with the spring investigated he gave baths,
as he is wont to prelude the fight by shaken-off clods,
   when with a rigid stake he rubs his down-bent horns:
Or whether a god, having feigned the face and armament of a young bull,
   did not wish the gifts of the burning soil to lie hidden;               260
such as, about to seize the joys of the Agenorean theft,
   he urged across the straits his maiden burden.
Lofty marvels do not befit the Greeks alone.
   The fountain of Helicon has a beast as author:
Let us believe the nymphs drawn forth to have a similar origin,               265
   the waters of the Muses a horse’s hoof dug out:
This field too provides vents for the Pierian caves,
   ennobled by Messala’s song;
and it receives the entrant and delays the departing,
   by a sweet poem affixed to the sacred doorposts.               270

Hic est qui primo seriem de consule ducit,
   usque ad Publicolas si redeamus avos;
hic et praefecti nutu praetoria rexit,
   sed menti et linguae gloria maior inest;
hic docuit, qualem poscat facundia sedem:               275
   Ut bonus esse velit, quisque disertus erit.
Roscida puniceo fulsere crepuscula caelo:
   Pandimus obliquo lintea flexa sinu.
Paulisper litus fugimus Munione vadosum:
    Suspecto trepidant ostia parva salo.               280
Inde Graviscarum fastigia rara videmus,
   quas premit aestivae saepe paludis odor;
sed nemorosa viret densis vicinia lucis
   pineaque extremis fluctuat umbra fretis.

This is he who from a consul at the beginning draws his line,
   if we go back as far as the Publicolas, his grandsires;
he too, at the nod of the Prefect, governed the Praetorium,
   but a greater glory resides in his mind and tongue;
he taught what seat eloquence demands:               275
   that whoever would be eloquent should wish to be good.
Dewy twilights shone with a crimson sky:
   we spread our sails, arched to a slanting belly.
For a little we flee the shore, shallow at the Munio:
   the little mouths tremble at the mistrusted swell.               280
Thence we see the sparse rooflines of Graviscae,
   which the reek of the summer marsh often oppresses;
but the wooded vicinity is green with dense groves,
   and a piney shadow ripples over the farthest straits.

Cernimus antiquas nullo custode ruinas 285

We discern ancient ruins with no custodian 285

   et desolatae moenia foeda Cosae.
Ridiculam cladis pudet inter seria causam
   promere, sed risum dissimulare piget:
Dicuntur cives quondam migare coacti
    muribus infestos deseruisse lares;               290
Credere maluerim Pygmaeae damna cohortis
   et coniuratos in sua bella grues.
Haud procul hinc petitur signatus ab Hercule portus;
   vergentem sequitur mollior aura diem.

   and the foul walls of desolated Cosa.
I am ashamed, among serious matters, of the ridiculous cause of the calamity
   to bring it forth; but it irks me to dissemble laughter:
Its citizens are said once to have been compelled to migrate
   and to have abandoned their household hearths, infested by mice;               290
I would rather believe the losses of the Pygmy cohort
   and cranes conspired into their own wars.
Not far from here is sought the harbor marked by Hercules;
   a gentler breeze follows the day as it inclines.

Inter castrorum vestigia sermo retexit               295
   Sardoam Lepido praecipitante fugam.
Littore namque Cosae cognatos depulit hostes
   virtutem Catuli Roma secuta ducis.
Ille tamen Lepidus peior, civilibus armis
    qui gessit sociis impia bella tribus,               300

Among the traces of the camps the talk unwove               295
   the Sardinian flight, with Lepidus precipitating the escape.
For on the shore of Cosa he drove off kindred enemies,
   Rome having followed the valor of the leader Catulus.
Yet that Lepidus, the worse, with civil arms
    who waged impious wars with three associates,               300

qui libertatem Mutinensi Marte receptam
   obruit auxiliis urbe pavente novis.
Insidias paci moliri tertius ausus
   tristibus excepit congrua facta reis.
Quartus Caesareo dum vult inrepere regno,               305
   incesti poenam solvit adulterii.

who overwhelmed the liberty recovered by the Mutinan War
   with new auxiliaries, the city trembling.
The third, having dared to contrive ambushes against peace,
   received deeds fitting for the guilty, grim.
The fourth, while he wishes to creep into the Caesarean realm,               305
   paid the penalty of incestuous adultery.

Nunc quoque - sed melius de nostris fama queretur:
   Iudex posteritas semina dira notet.
Nominibus certos credam decurrere mores?
    Moribus an potius nomina certa dari?               310
Quidquid id est, mirus Latiis annalibus ordo,
   quod Lepidum totiens reccidit ense malum.

Now too—but better will report lament about our own:
   Let posterity, the judge, mark the dire seeds.
Shall I believe that fixed mores descend with names?
   Or rather that fixed names are given by mores?               310
Whatever it is, a wondrous order in the Latin annals,
   that so often the evil fell back upon Lepidus by the sword.

Necdum decessis pelago permittimur umbris;
natus vicino vertice ventus adest.
Tenditur in medias mons Argentarius undas 315

Not yet are we permitted to the deep, the shadows not yet withdrawn;
a wind born on a neighboring summit is at hand.
Mount Argentarius is stretched out into the midst of the waves 315

   ancipitique iugo caerula curva premit.
Transversos colles bis ternis milibus artat;
   circuitu ponti ter duodena patet:
Qualis per geminos fluctus Ephyreius Isthmos
    Ionias bimari littore findit aquas.               320
Vix circumvehimur sparsae dispendia rupis,
   nec sinuosa gravi cura labore caret;
mutantur totiens vario spiramina flexu:
   quae modo profuerant vela, repente nocent.
Eminus Igilii silvosa cacumina miror,               325
   quam fraudare nefas laudis honore suae.

   and with a two-headed ridge it presses the blue with a curve.
It constricts the crosswise hills to six miles;
   by a circuit along the deep it lies open for thrice twelve:
Such as, through twin waves, the Ephyrean Isthmus
   splits the Ionian waters with a shore between two seas.               320
We scarcely sail around the hazards of the scattered rock,
   nor does the sinuous course lack grave care with toil;
the breezes are changed so often by the varied bend:
   the sails which just now had profited, suddenly harm.
From afar I marvel at the wooded summits of Igilium,               325
   which it is wrong to defraud of the honor of its own praise.

Haec proprios nuper tutata est insula saltus
sive loci ingenio seu domini genio,
gurgite cum modico victricibus obstitit armis
tamquam longinquo dissociata mari. 330

This island has recently protected its own woodland-preserves
whether by the genius of the place or the genius of its lord,
with only a modest expanse of water it withstood victorious arms
as though sundered by a far-off sea. 330

Haec multos lacera suscepit ab urbe fugatos,
   hic fessis posito certa timore salus.
Plurima terreno populaverat aequora bello
   contra naturam classe timendus eques:
Unum mira fides vario discrimine portum               335
   tam prope Romanis, tam procul esse Getis.
Tangimus Umbronem; non est ignobile flumen,
   quod tuto trepidas excipit ore rates:
Tam facilis pronis semper patet alveus undis,
    in pontum quotiens saeva procella ruit.               340
Hic ego tranquillae volui succedere ripae,
   sed nautas avidos longius ire sequor.

This island has taken in many fugitives, tattered, from the city,
   here, for the weary, with fear set aside, sure safety.
He had laid waste very many expanses of sea by land-warfare,
   contrary to nature, a horseman to be feared with a fleet:
A marvel to believe: that one harbor, amid various peril,               335
   was so near to the Romans, so far from the Getae.
We touch the Umbron; it is no ignoble river,
   which with its mouth safely receives trembling ships:
So easy does its channel always lie open with the waves slanting down,
    into the sea whenever a savage squall rushes.               340
Here I wished to reach a tranquil bank,
   but I follow the sailors eager to go farther.

Sic festinantem ventusque diesque reliquit;
nec proferre pedem nec revocare licet.
Littorea noctis requiem metamur arena; 345

Thus, as I was hastening, both the wind and the day left me;
nor is it permitted to advance a foot nor to recall it.
On the littoral sand we measure out the repose of night; 345

   dat vespertinos myrtea silva focos.
Parvula subiectis facimus tentoria remis,
   transversus subito culmine contus erat.
Lux aderat: Tonsis progressi stare videmur,
    sed cursum prorae terra relicta probat.               350
Occurrit Chalybum memorabilis Ilva metallis,
   qua nihil uberius Norica gleba tulit;
non Biturix largo potior strictura camino,
   nec quae Sardonico cespite massa fluit.

   the myrtle-wood gives vespertine hearths.
We make little tents with oars set beneath,
   crosswise the pole was the sudden ridgepole.
Light was at hand: having advanced with the oars we seem to stand still,
   but the course of the prow, the land left behind, proves it.               350
Ilva meets us, memorable for the Chalybian metals,
   than which no Norican soil has borne anything more abundant;
not is the Biturigan tempering superior with a lavish furnace,
   nor the ingot which flows from Sardinian turf.

Plus confert populis ferri fecunda creatrix               355
   quam Tartesiaci glarea fulva Tagi.
Materies vitiis aurum letale parandis,
   auri caecus amor ducit in omne nefas:
Aurea legitimas expugnant munera taedas
    virgineosque sinus aureus imber emit,               360

The fruitful creatress of iron confers more upon peoples               355
   than the tawny gravel of the Tartessian Tagus.
Gold is the material for preparing lethal vices,
   the blind love of gold leads into every nefarious act:
Golden gifts assault legitimate wedding-torches,
    and a golden shower purchases maidenly bosoms,               360

auro victa fides munitas decipit urbes,
   auri flagitiis ambitus ipse furit.
At contra ferro squalentia rura coluntur,
   ferro vivendi prima reperta via est;
saecula semideum, ferrati nescia Martis,               365
   ferro crudeles sustinuere feras:
Humanis manibus non sufficit usus inermis,
   si non sint aliae ferrea tela manus.
His mecum pigri solabar taedia venti,
dum resonat variis vile celeuma modis.               370
Lassatum cohibet vicina Faleria cursum,
   quamquam vix medium Phoebus haberet iter.

faith, conquered by gold, betrays fortified cities,
   and by the outrages of gold ambition itself rages. But, on the contrary, with iron the squalid fields are tilled,
   by iron the first way of living was discovered;
the ages of the demigods, unacquainted with iron-bearing Mars,               365
   with iron withstood cruel wild beasts.
The unarmed use of human hands does not suffice,
   unless there be other iron hands as weapons. With these thoughts I consoled myself for the tedium of the sluggish wind,
while the cheap celeusma resounded in various modes.               370
Nearby Faleria holds in the wearied course,
   although Phoebus had scarcely reached mid-course.

Et tum forte hilares per compita rustica pagi
mulcebant sacris pectora fessa iocis.
Illo quippe die tandem revocatus Osiris 375

And then by chance, cheerful, through the rustic cross-roads of the village
they soothed their weary hearts with sacred jests.
Indeed, on that very day Osiris at last was recalled 375

   excitat in fruges germina laeta novas.
Egressi villam petimus lucoque vagamur:
   Stagna placent saepto deliciosa vado.
Ludere lascivos intra vivaria pisces
    gurgitis inclusi laxior unda sinit.               380
Sed male pensavit requiem stationis amoenae
   hospite conductor durior Antiphate.

   he rouses the glad seedlings into new crops.
Having gone out, we make for the villa and we wander in the grove:
   The pools please, delightful with their enclosed shallows.
To sport the wanton fish within the vivaria (fish-ponds)
   enclosed by the pool, the looser water allows.               380
But the respite of the pleasant station was badly offset
   by the conductor, harsher than our host Antiphates.

Namque loci querulus curam Iudaeus agebat,
   humanis animal dissociale cibis.
Vexatos frutices, pulsatas imputat algas               385
   damnaque libatae grandia clamat aquae.
Reddimus obscenae convicia debita genti,
   quae genitale caput propudiosa metit,
radix stultitiae, cui frigida sabbata cordi
   sed cor frigidius religione sua.               390

For indeed a querulous Jew was acting as caretaker of the place,
   an animal dissocial to human foods.
He imputes the shrubs as vexed, the algae as beaten,               385
   and cries out great damages of the sampled water.
We repay the insults due to the obscene people,
   who shamefully reaps the genital head,
root of stupidity, to whom cold sabbaths are dear at heart
   but a heart colder than his own religion.               390

Septima quaeque dies turpi damnata veterno,
   tamquam lassati mollis imago dei.
Cetera mendacis deliramenta catastae
   nec pueros omnes credere posse reor.
Atque utinam numquam Iudaea subacta fuisset               395
   Pompeii bellis imperioque Titi!

Every seventh day condemned by shameful torpor,
   as though a soft image of a tired god. The rest are the ravings of a mendacious auction-platform,
   nor do I suppose that even all boys can believe them. And would that Judea had never been subjugated               395
   by the wars of Pompey and the imperium of Titus!

Latius excisae pestis contagia serpunt
   victoresque suos natio victa premit.
Adversus surgit Boreas, sed nos quoque remis
    surgere certamus, cum tegit astra dies.               400
Proxima securum reserat Populonia litus,
   qua naturalem ducit in arva sinum.
Non illic positas extollit in aethera moles
   lumine nocturno conspicienda Pharos,
sed speculam validae rupis sortita vetustas,               405

More broadly the contagions of the hewn-down pestilence creep,
   and the conquered nation presses its victors.
The North Wind rises against us, but we too with oars
   strive to rise, when day veils the stars.               400
Next Populonia unbars a safe shore,
   where it draws a natural bay into the fields.
There no mass set in place lifts into the aether
   a Pharos to be seen by nocturnal light,
but antiquity, having obtained the watchtower of a strong crag,               405

   qua fluctus domitos arduus urget apex,
castellum geminos hominum fundavit in usus,
   praesidium terris indiciumque fretis.
Agnosci nequeunt aevi monumenta prioris:
   Grandia consumpsit moenia tempus edax.               410
Sola manent interceptis vestigia muris,
   ruderibus latis tecta sepulta iacent.
Non indignemur mortalia corpora solvi:
   Cernimus exemplis oppida posse mori.

   where a lofty summit presses upon the mastered waves,
a castle founded for the twin uses of men,
   a protection for the lands and a sign to the straits.
The monuments of a former age cannot be recognized:
   devouring time has consumed the grand walls.               410
Only traces remain, the walls intercepted,
   the roofs lie buried beneath broad rubble.
Let us not be indignant that mortal bodies are dissolved:
   we discern from examples that towns can die.

Laetior hic nostras crebrescit fama per aures:               415
   Consilium Romam paene redire fuit.
Hic praefecturam sacrae cognoscimus urbis
   delatam meritis, dulcis amice, tuis.
Optarem verum complecti carmine nomen,
   sed quosdam refugit regula dura pedes:               420

Here a happier rumor grows frequent through our ears:               415
   It was almost the plan to return to Rome.
Here we learn that the prefecture of the Sacred City
   has been conferred upon your merits, sweet friend.
I would wish to embrace the true name in song,
   but the hard rule shuns certain feet:               420

Cognomen versu neris, carissime Rufi;
   illo te dudum pagina nostra canit.
Festa dies pridemque meos dignata penates
   poste coronato vota secunda colat.
Exornent virides communia gaudia rami:               425
   Provecta est animae portio magna meae.

You bear the cognomen in verse, dearest Rufus;
   by that our page has long sung of you.
May the festive day that once deemed my household gods worthy
   with a garlanded doorpost observe the favorable vows.
Let green branches adorn our shared joys:               425
   a great portion of my soul has been advanced.

Sic mihi, sic potius placeat geminata potestas;
   per quem malueram, rursus honore fruor.
Currere curamus velis Aquilone reverso,
   cum primum roseo fulsit Eous equo.               430
Incipit obscuros ostendere Corsica montes
   nubiferumque caput concolor umbra levat:
Sic dubitanda solet gracili vanescere cornu
   defessisque oculis luna reperta latet.
Haec ponti brevitas auxit mendacia famae:               435

Thus, thus rather let a doubled power please me;
   through him by whom I had preferred it, I enjoy honor again.
We make it our care to run with sails, the North Wind reversed,
   when first the Dawn shone with her rosy steed.               430
Corsica begins to show her dusky mountains
   and, of one color with the shadow, lifts her cloud-bearing head:
Thus the moon, scarcely to be trusted, is wont to vanish in a slender horn
   and, though discovered by weary eyes, lies hidden.
This shortness of the sea has augmented the mendacities of fame:               435

   Armentale ferunt quippe natasse pecus,
tempore Cyrnaeas quo primum venit in oras
   forte secuta vagum femina Corsa bovem.
Processu pelagi iam se Capraria tollit;
   squalet lucifugis insula plena viris.               440
Ipsi se monachos Graio cognomine dicunt,
   quod soli nullo vivere teste volunt.
Munera fortunae metuunt, dum damna verentur.

   They relate, in fact, that a cattle herd swam,
at the time when first there came to the Cyrnean (Corsican) shores
   by chance, following a wandering bull, a Corsican cow.
As the voyage over the deep advances, Capraria now lifts itself;
   the island is squalid, full of light-shunning men.               440
They themselves call themselves monks by a Greek cognomen,
   because they wish to live alone, with no witness.
They fear the gifts of Fortune, while they dread losses.

   Quisquam sponte miser, ne miser esse queat?
Quaenam pervasi rabies tam stulta cerebri,               445
   dum mala formides, nec bona posse pati?
Sive suas repetunt factorum ergastula poenas,
   tristia seu nigro viscera felle tument.

   Would anyone of his own accord be wretched, so that he might not be able to be wretched?
What madness, of a brain overrun, is so foolish,               445
   while you dread evils, and cannot endure good things?
Whether the prison-houses of deeds exact their own penalties,
   or the gloomy entrails swell with black bile.

Sic nimiae bilis morbum assignavit Homerus
Bellerophonteis sollicitudinibus; 450

Thus Homer assigned the disease to excessive bile
in the Bellerophontic solicitudes; 450

nam iuveni offenso saevi post tela doloris
   dicitur humanum displicuisse genus.
In Volaterranum, vero Vada nomine, tractum
   ingressus dubii tramitis alta lego.
Despectat prorae custos clavumque sequentem               455
   dirigit et puppim voce monente regit.

for the youth, once offended, after the darts of savage dolor
   it is said the human race displeased him.
Into the Volaterran tract, indeed by the name Vada,
   having entered, I skim the deeps of a doubtful course.
The guardian of the prow looks down, and the following helm               455
   he directs, and with an admonishing voice he steers the stern.

Incertas gemina discriminat arbore fauces
   defixasque offert limes uterque sudes.
Illis proceras mos est adnectere lauros
   conspicuas ramis et fruticante coma,               460
ut praebente viam densi symplegade limi
   servet inoffensas semita clara notas.
Illic me rapidus consistere corus adegit,
   qualis silvarum frangere lustra solet.

A twin row of trees discriminates the uncertain narrows,
   and on each side the boundary-path offers driven-in stakes.
To these it is the custom to fasten tall laurels,
   conspicuous with branches and with bushy foliage,               460
so that, with the way furnishing a dense symplegade of slime,
   the clear footpath may keep its marks unharmed.
There the swift Corus compelled me to halt,
   such as is wont to shatter the lairs of the forests.

Vix tuti domibus saevos toleravimus imbres: 465

Scarcely safe in our houses did we endure the savage rains: 465

   Albini patuit proxima villa mei.
Namque meus, quem Roma meo subiunxit honori,
   per quem iura meae continuata togae.
Non exspectatos pensavit laudibus annos,
   vitae flore puer, sed gravitate senex.               470
Mutua germanos iunxit reverentia mores
   et favor alternis crevit amicitiis.

   The nearest villa of my Albinus lay open.
For my own, whom Rome subjoined to my honor,
   through whom the rights of my toga were continued.
He compensated with praises for years not yet expected,
   a boy in the flower of life, but an old man in gravitas.               470
Mutual reverence joined brotherly dispositions
   and favor grew by reciprocal friendships.

Praetulit ille meas, cum vincere posset, habenas,
   at decessoris maior amore fuit.
Subiectas villae vacat aspectare salinas;               475
   Namque hoc censetur nomine salsa palus,
qua mare terrenis declive canalibus intrat
   multifidosque lacus parvula fossa rigat.
Ast ubi flagrantes admonuit Sirius ignes,
    cum pallent herbae, cum sitit omnis ager,               480

He preferred my reins, though he could have won them,
   but he was greater in love for his predecessor.
He has leisure to gaze upon the salt-works lying beneath the villa;               475
   for the salty marsh is assessed by this name,
where the sea enters by earth-made sloping channels
   and a tiny ditch irrigates the many-cleft pools.
But when Sirius has admonished with blazing fires,
    when the grasses grow pale, when every field thirsts,               480

tum cataractarum claustris excluditur aequor,
   ut fixos latices torrida duret humus.
Concipiunt acrem nativa coagula Phoebum
   et gravis aestivo crusta calore coit;
haud aliter quam cum glacie riget horridus Hister               485
   grandiaque adstricto flumine plaustra vehit.
Rimetur solitus naturae expendere causas
   inque pari dispar fomite quaerat opus:
iuncta fluenta gelu conspecto sole liquescunt
    et rursus liquidae sole gelantur aquae.               490
O quam saepe malis generatur origo bonorum!

then by the bars of the sluices the water-plain is shut out,
   so that the parched ground may harden the fixed waters.
The native coagula receive the keen Phoebus,
   and a heavy crust coalesces with summer heat;
not otherwise than when the rough Hister stiffens with ice               485
   and carries massive wagons on the river bound tight.
Let him probe, who is wont to weigh the causes of nature,
   and in like yet disparate fuel let him seek the work:
the joined streams, their frost at the sun’s sight, melt,
    and in turn liquid waters are frozen by the sun.               490
O how often from evils the origin of goods is generated!

   Tempestas dulcem fecit amara moram:
Victurinus enim, nostrae pars maxima mentis,
   congressu explevit mutua vota suo.
Errantem Tuscis considere compulit agris               495

   A bitter tempest made a sweet delay:
Victurinus, indeed, the greatest part of our mind,
   by his meeting fulfilled our mutual vows.
He compelled me, wandering, to settle in the Tuscan fields               495

   et colere externos capta Tolosa lares.
Nec tantum duris nituit sapientia rebus:
   Pectore non alio prosperiora tulit.
Conscius Oceanus virtutum, conscia Thule
   et quaecumque ferox arva Britannus arat,               500
qua praefectorum vicibus frenata potestas
   perpetuum magni foenus amoris habet.

   and to tend foreign Lares with Toulouse captured.
Nor did wisdom shine only in harsh affairs:
   with no other heart did he bear the more prosperous things.
The Ocean conscious of his virtues, Thule conscious,
   and whatever fields the fierce Briton plows,               500
where power, bridled by the turns of prefects,
   holds the perpetual interest of great love.

Extremum pars illa quidem discessit in orbem,
   sed tamquam media rector in urbe fuit.
Plus palmae est illos inter voluisse placere,               505
   inter quos minor est displicuisse pudor.
Illustris nuper sacrae comes additus aulae
   contempsit summos ruris amore gradus.

Indeed that part withdrew to the extremity of the world,
   but he was as a rector in the city’s midst.
There is more palm in having wished to please those,               505
   among whom there is less shame at having displeased.
A distinguished companion lately added to the sacred court
   contemned the highest ranks for love of the countryside.

Hunc ego complexus ventorum adversa fefelli,
dum videor patriae iam mihi parte frui. 510

Embracing him, I outwitted the adverse winds,
while I seem to myself now to enjoy a part of my fatherland. 510

Lutea protulerat sudos Aurora iugales:
   Antemnas tendi littoris aura iubet.
Inconcussa vehit tranquillus aplustria flatus,
   mollia securo vela rudente tremunt.
Adsurgit ponti medio circumflua Gorgon               515
   inter Pisanum Cyrnaicumque latus.

Saffron-hued Aurora had put forth her yoked spears:
   the breeze of the shore bids the yardarms be stretched.
A tranquil breath bears the stern-ornaments unshaken,
   the soft sails tremble on the carefree sheet.
The wave-surrounded Gorgon rises in the midst of the sea               515
   between the Pisane and the Cyrnaean side.

Adversus scopulos, damni monumenta recentis:
   Perdius hic vivo funere civis erat.
Noster enim nuper iuvenis maioribus amplis,
   nec censu inferior coniugiove minor,               520
impulsus furiis homines terrasque reliquit
   et turpem latebram credulus exul agit.
Infelix putat illuvie caelestia pasci
   seque premit laesis saevior ipse deis.

Opposite the crags, monuments of the recent loss:
   here by day a citizen was in a living funeral.
For our young man, only recently, with eminent ancestors,
   nor inferior in census nor lesser in his consort,               520
driven by furies he left men and lands
   and, credulous, an exile, he keeps a shameful hiding-place.
Unhappy, he thinks the celestials are fed by filth
   and presses himself down, himself more savage than the gods when offended.

Num, rogo, deterior Circaeis secta venenis? 525

Is the sect, I ask, worse than the Circean poisons? 525

   Tunc mutabuntur corpora, nunc animi.
Inde Triturritam petimus: Sic villa vocatur,
   quae latet expulsis insula paene fretis;
namque manu iunctis procedit in aequora saxis,
   quique domum posuit, condidit ante solum.               530
Contiguum stupui portum, quem fama frequentat
   Pisarum emporio divitiisque maris.
Mira loci facies: Pelago pulsatur aperto,
   inque omnes ventos littora nuda patent;
non ullus tegitur per bracchia tuta recessus,               535
   Aeolias possit qui prohibere minas,
sed procera suo praetexitur alga profundo
   molliter offensae non nocitura rati,
et tamen insanas cedendo interrigat undas
    nec sinit ex alto grande volumen agi.               540

   Then the bodies will be changed; now, the minds.
Thence we make for Triturrita: thus the villa is called,
   which lies hidden, the straits driven back, almost an island;
for with hand-joined stones it advances into the level waters,
   and he who set the house first founded the ground.               530
I marveled at the adjoining harbor, which report makes busy
   as the emporium of the Pisans and with the riches of the sea.
Wondrous is the aspect of the place: it is beaten by the open deep,
   and the bare shores lie open to all the winds;
no recess is covered by protecting arms,               535
   which could forbid Aeolian threats,
but it is fringed with tall seaweed from its own deep,
   which, softly met, will not harm the raft,
and yet by yielding it breaks up the frenzied waves
   and does not allow a great rolling mass to be driven in from the deep.               540

Tempora navigii clarus reparaverat Eurus,
   sed mihi Protadium visere cura fuit.
Quem qui forte velit certis cognoscere signis,
   virtutis speciem corde vidente petat.
Nec magis efficiet similem pictura colore               545
   quam quae de meritis mixta figura venit.

Bright Eurus had restored the season of navigation,
   but my concern was to visit Protadius.
Whoever by chance should wish to recognize him by sure signs,
   let him seek the aspect of virtue, with a seeing heart.
Nor will a painting with its color make a more similar likeness               545
   than the figure which comes mixed from his merits.

Aspicienda procul certo prudentia vultu
   formaque iustitiae suspicienda micat.
Sit fortasse minus, si laudet Gallia civem:
   Testis Roma sui praesulis esse potest.               550
Substituit patriis mediocres Umbria sedes:
   Virtus fortunam fecis utramque parem.
Mens invicta viri pro magis parva tuetur,
   pro parvis animo magna fuere suo.

Prudence, to be viewed from afar with a sure countenance,
   and the form of Justice, to be looked up to, gleams.
Perhaps it counts for less, if Gaul praises the citizen:
   Rome can be witness of her own prelate.               550
Umbria supplied modest seats in his fatherland:
   Virtue made each fortune equal.
The man’s unconquered mind regards the lesser in place of the greater,
   and, in place of the lesser, great things were to his spirit.

Exiguus regum rectores cespes habebat 555

A small turf held the rulers of kings 555

   et Cincinnatos iugera pauca dabant:
Haec etiam nobis non inferiora feruntur
   vomere Serrani Fabriciique foco.
Puppibus ergo meis fida in statione locatis
    ipse vehor Pisas, qua solet ire pedes.               560
Praebet equos, offert etiam carpenta tribunus,
   ex commilitio carus et ipse mihi,
officiis regerem cum regia tecta magister
   armigerasque pii principis excubias.
Alpheae veterem contemplor originis urbem,               565
   quam cingunt geminis Arnus et Ausur aquis.

   and a few acres gave Cincinnatuses:
These too are reported to us as no inferior,
   to the ploughshare of Serranus and the hearth of Fabricius.
Therefore, with my ships placed in trusty anchorage,
   I myself am conveyed to Pisa, by the way where one is wont to go on foot.               560
The tribune provides horses, even offers carriages,
   himself dear to me from comradeship,
when, as Magister of the Offices, I governed the royal halls
   and the arms-bearing sentries of the pious prince.
I behold the ancient city of Alpheus’s origin,               565
   which Arno and Auser gird with twin waters.

Conum pyramidis coeuntia flumina ducunt:
Intratur modico frons patefacta solo.
Sed proprium retinet communi in gurgite nomen
et pontum solus scilicet Arnus adit. 570

The converging rivers draw a pyramid’s cone:
the front, opened by a modest bit of soil, is entered.
But in the common surge it retains its proper name,
and to the sea, of course, the Arno alone goes. 570

Ante diu quam Troiugenas fortuna penates
   Laurentinorum regibus insereret,
Elide deductas suscepit Etruria Pisas
   nominis indicio testificata genus.
Hic oblata mihi sancti genitoris imago,               575
   Pisano proprio quam posuere foro.
Laudibus amissi cogor lacrimare parentis;
   fluxerunt madidis gaudia maesta genis.

Long before fortune grafted the Trojan Penates
   into the kings of the Laurentines,
Etruria received Pisa, led down from Elis,
   attesting its lineage by the indication of the name.
Here the image of my holy father was presented to me,               575
   which they set in the proper Pisan forum.
I am compelled to weep with praises of my lost parent;
   sad joys flowed over my wet cheeks.

Namque pater quondam Tyrrhenis praefuit arvis,
    fascibus et senis credita iura dedit.               580
Narrabat, memini, multos emensus honores,
   Tuscorum regimen plus placuisse sibi;
nam neque opum curam, quamvis sit magna, sacrarum
   nec ius quaesturae grata fuisse magis;
ipsam, si fas est, postponere praefecturam               585

For indeed my father once presided over the Tyrrhenian fields,
    and with the six fasces he gave the laws entrusted to him.               580
He used to tell, I recall, having traversed many honors,
   that the governance of the Tuscans had pleased him more;
for neither the care of sacred wealth, although it be great,
   nor the right of the quaestorship had been more welcome;
that he would even, if it is lawful to say, postpone the prefecture itself.               585

   pronior in Tuscos non dubitat amor.
Nec fallebatur, tam carus et ipse probatis:
   Aeternas grates mutua cura canit,
constantemque sibi pariter mitemque fuisse
    insinuant natis, qui meminere, senes.               590
Ipsum me gradibus non degenerasse parentis
   gaudent et duplici sedulitate fovent.
Haec eadem, cum Flaminiae regionibus irem,
   splendoris patrii saepe reperta fides:
Famam Lachanii veneratur numinis instar               595
   inter terrigenas Lydia tota suos.

   more inclined toward the Tuscans does not hesitate my love.
Nor was he deceived, so dear himself too to the approved:
   mutual care sings eternal thanks,
and the elders, who remember, insinuate to their sons that he had been
   to them both constant and gentle alike.               590
They rejoice that I myself have not degenerated from my father’s standing
   and they cherish me with twofold assiduity.
These same attestations, when I was going through the regions of the Flaminia,
   were often found as a proof of paternal splendor:
the whole Lydia venerates the fame of Lachanius, like the likeness of a numen,595
   among her native-born.

Grata bonis priscos retinet provinicia mores
dignaque rectores semper habere bonos,
qualis nunc Decius, Lucilli nobile pignus,
per Corythi populos arva beata regit. 600

Welcome to the good, the province retains ancient customs
and is worthy always to have good governors,
such as now Decius, the noble pledge of Lucillus,
through the peoples of Corythus he rules the blessed fields. 600

Nec mirum, magni si redditus indole nati
   felix tam simili posteritate pater.
Huius vulnificis satira ludente Camenis
   nec Turnus potior nec Iuvenalis erit;
restituit veterem censoria lima pudorem,               605
   dumque malos carpit, praecipit esse bonos.
Non olim sacri iustissimus arbiter auri
   circumsistenses reppulit Harpyias?

Nor is it a wonder, if the father, returned in the disposition of his great son,
   is happy with such a similar posterity.
Of this man, with his satire as the wound-dealing Camenae play,
   neither Turnus nor Juvenal will be the better;
the censorial file restores ancient modesty,               605
   and while he carps at the wicked, he enjoins them to be good.
Did not once the most just arbiter of sacred gold
   repel the Harpies standing around?

Harpyias, quarum discerpitur unguibus orbis,
    quae pede glutineo quod tetigere trahunt,               610
quae luscum faciunt Argum, quae Lyncea caecum:
   Inter custodes publica furta volant.
Sed non Lucillum Briareia praeda fefellit
   totque simul manibus restitit una manus.
Iamque Triturritam Pisaea ex urbe reversus               615

Harpies, by whose talons the world is torn to pieces,
   who with a glutinous foot drag along whatever they have touched,               610
who make Argus half-blind, who make Lynceus blind:
   among the guardians, public thefts fly.
But the Briarean prey did not deceive Lucillus
   and to so many hands at once one hand stood opposed.
And now, returned from the Pisaean city to the Triple-towered               615

   aptabam nitido pendula vela Noto,
cum subitis tectus nimbis insorduit aether;
   sparserunt radios nubila rupta vagos.
Substitimus. Quis enim sub tempestate maligna
   insanituris audeat ire fretis?               620
Otia vicinis terimus navalia silvis
   sectandisque iuvat membra movere feris.

   I was fitting the hanging sails to the shining Notus,
when the aether, veiled in sudden rain-clouds, grew murky;
   the burst clouds scattered stray rays.
We halted. For who, under a malign tempest,
   would dare to go upon seas that are about to run mad?               620
We wear away our leisure at the naval yards by the neighboring woods
   and it pleases us to move our limbs by pursuing wild beasts.

Instrumenta parat venandi villicus hospes
   atque olidum doctas nosse cubile canes.
Funditur insidiis et rara fraude plagarum               625
   terribilisque cadit fulmine dentis aper,
quem Meleagrei vereantur adire lacerti,
   qui laxet nodos Amphitryonidae.
Tum responsuros persultat bucina colles
    fitque reportando carmine praeda levis.               630

The farm-steward host prepares the instruments of hunting
   and the dogs trained to know the rank lair.
Is brought down by ambush and the fine-spun guile of the nets               625
   and the terrible boar falls by the lightning of a tooth,
whom the muscles of Meleager would fear to approach,
   those that would loosen the knots of the Amphitryonid.
Then the bugle bounds over hills ready to answer
   and by carrying back with song the prey becomes light.               630

Interea madidis non desinit Africus alis
   continuos picea nube negare dies.
Iam matutinis Hyades occasibus udae;
   iam latet hiberno conditus imbre Lepus,
exiguum radiis, sed magnis fluctibus, astrum,               635
   quo madidam nullus navita linquat humum;
namque procelloso subiungitur Orioni
   aestiferumque Canem roscida praeda fugit.
Vidimus excitis pontum favescere arenis
    atque eructato vertice rura tegi,               640
qualiter Oceanus mediis infunditur agris,
   destituenda vago cum premit arva salo,
sive alio refluus nostro conliditur orbe,
   sive corusca suis sidera pascit aquis.

Meanwhile the Africus, with dripping wings, does not cease
   to deny continuous days with a pitch-black cloud.
Now the Hyades are wet at their morning settings;
   now the Lepus lies hidden, buried by winter rain—
a star scant in rays, but with great billows,               635
   under which no sailor leaves the sodden ground;
for it is yoked to stormy Orion,
   and the dew-damp prey flees the heat-bearing Dog.
We have seen the deep grow honey-hued with sands stirred up
   and, its crest belched forth, the fields be covered,               640
just as Ocean pours into the middle of the fields,
   when he presses the plowlands with wandering brine, to be left behind,
whether, flowing back, he collides with another orb than ours,
   or feeds the twinkling stars upon his own waters.

Liber Secundus

Book Two

Nondum longus erat nec multa volumina passus,
   iure suo poterat longior esse liber;
taedia continuo timuit cessura labori,
   sumere ne lector iuge paveret opus.
Saepe cibis affert serus fastidia finis,               5
   gratior est modicis haustibus unda siti;
intervalla viae fessis praestare videtur
   qui notat inscriptus milia crebra lapis.
Partimur trepidum per opuscula bina ruborem,
    quem satius fuerat sustinuisse semel.               10
Tandem nimbosa maris obsidione solutis
   Pisano portu contigit alta sequi.

It was not yet long, nor had it run through many volumes;
   by its own right the book could have been longer;
he feared that weariness, coming at once, would make the labor give way,
   lest the reader grow pale at taking up a continual work.
Often a late end brings distaste to foods,               5
   water is more welcome to thirst in modest draughts;
the intervals of the road seem to provide for the weary
   the stone, inscribed, that marks the frequent miles.
We divide our anxious blush across two little works,
   which it had been better to have borne once for all.               10
At last, with the stormy siege of the sea released,
   from the Pisan harbor it befell to pursue the deep.

Arridet placidum radiis crispantibus aequor
et sulcata levi murmurat unda sono.
Incipiunt Appennini devexa videri, 15

The placid level of the sea smiles with crisping rays
and the furrowed wave murmurs with a light sound.
The declivities of the Apennines begin to be seen, 15

   qua fremit aerio monte repulsa Thetis.
Italiam rerum dominam qui cingere visu
   et totam pariter cernere mente velit,
inveniet quernae similem procedere frondi
    artatam laterum conveniente sinu.               20
Milia per longum decies centena teruntur
   a Ligurum terris ad freta Sicaniae;
in latum variis damnosa amfractibus intrat
   Tyrrheni rabies Hadriacique salis.
Qua tamen est iuncti maris angustissima tellus,               25
   triginta et centum milia sola patet.

   where Thetis, driven back by the airy mountain, roars.
Whoever would encircle with his gaze Italy, mistress of affairs,
   and would wish to behold the whole alike with his mind,
will find it to advance similar to an oaken leaf,
    constricted by the fitting curve of the sides.               20
A thousand miles are traversed along its length
   from the lands of the Ligurians to the straits of Sicily;
into its breadth, ruinous with various windings, there enters
   the fury of the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic brine.
Yet where the land of the joined seas is narrowest,               25
   it lies open only 130 miles.

Diversas medius mons obliquatur in undas,
qua fert atque refert Phoebus uterque diem:
Urget Dalmaticos Eoo vertice fluctus
caerulaque occiduis frangit Etrusca iugis. 30

A middle mountain slants toward different waters,
where on either side Phoebus both bears and bears back the day:
With its Eoan summit it presses the Dalmatian billows,
and with its western Etruscan ridges it breaks the cerulean waters. 30

Si factum certa mundum ratione fatemur
   consiliumque dei machina tanta fuit,
excubiis Latiis praetexuit Appenninum
   claustraque montanis vix adeunda viis.
Invidiam timuit natura parumque putavit               35
   Arctois Alpes opposuisse minis,
sicut vallavit multis vitalia membris
   nec semel inclusit quae pretiosa tulit.
Iam tum multiplici meruit munimine cingi
    sollicitosque habuit Roma futura deos.               40
Quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis acerbum,
   proditor arcani quod fuit imperii.

If we admit that the world was made by a sure reason,
   and that so great a machine was the counsel of God,
he fringed the Apennine with Latin sentries
   and with barriers scarcely to be approached by mountain roads.
Nature feared envy and thought it too little               35
   to have opposed the Alps to the Arctic threats,
just as she walled the vital parts with many members
   and did not with a single enclosure confine the precious things she bore.
Already then she deserved to be girded with manifold bulwark
   and kept anxious the gods that were to be Rome’s.               40
Wherefore the crime of dire Stilicho is the more bitter,
   in that he was the betrayer of the secret of the empire.

Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes,
crudelis summis miscuit ima furor,
dumque timet, quidquid se fecerat ipse timeri, 45

While he strives to be a survivor over the Roman race,
cruel fury mixed the lowest with the highest,
and, while he fears whatever he himself had made himself feared for, 45

   immisit Latiae barbara tela neci.
Visceribus nudis armatum condidit hostem
   illatae cladis liberiore dolo.
Ipsa satellitibus pellitis Roma patebat
    et captiva prius quam caperetur erat.               50
Nec tantum Geticis grassatus proditor armis:
   Ante Sibyllinae fata cremavit opis.

   he unleashed barbarian weapons for Latian slaughter.
He planted an armed enemy in bared vitals
   with freer guile of the calamity he had brought in.
Rome herself lay open to fur-clad satellites
    and was captive before she was captured.               50
Nor did the traitor rampage only with Getic arms:
   Before the fates, he burned the Sibylline aid.

Odimus Althaeam consumpti funere torris,
   Nisaeum crinem flere putantur aves;
at Stilicho aeterni fatalia pignora regni               55
   et plenas voluit praecipitare colos.
Omnia Tartarei cessent tormenta Neronis;
   consumat Stygias tristior umbra faces;
hic immortalem, mortalem perculit ille,
    hic mundi matrem perculit, ille suam.               60

We detest Althaea for the funeral of the consumed firebrand,
   the birds are thought to weep the Nisaean lock;
but Stilicho the fatal pledges of the eternal realm               55
   even the full distaffs he wished to precipitate.
Let all the torments of Tartarean Nero fall silent;
   let a gloomier shade consume the Stygian torches;
this one struck the immortal, that one the mortal,
    here this one struck the mother of the world; that one, his own.               60

Sed diverticulo fuimus fortasse loquaces:
   Carmine propositum iam repetamus iter.
Advehimur celeri candentia moenia lapsu;
   nominis est auctor sole corusca soror.
Indigenis superat ridentia lilia saxis               65
   et levi radiat picta nitore silex;
dives marmoribus telus, quae luce coloris
   provocat intactas luxuriosa nives.

But by a diversion we were perhaps loquacious:
   Let us now with song resume the proposed journey.
We are borne to the gleaming walls with a swift glide;
   the author of the name is the sun’s coruscant sister.
Indigenously it surpasses laughing lilies with its stones               65
   and the flint, painted, radiates with a smooth luster;
the land rich in marbles, which with the light of its color
   in luxuriance challenges untouched snows.