Seneca: FABULAE

         Hippolytvs Ite, umbrosas cingite siluas
summaque montis iuga Cecropii!
celeri planta lustrate uagi
quae saxoso loca Parnetho
         subiecta iacent,
quae Thriasiis uallibus amnis                    5
rapida currens uerberat unda;
scandite colles semper canos
         niue Riphaea.
Hac, hac alii qua nemus alta
texitur alno, qua prata patent                    10
quae rorifera mulcens aura
Zephyrus uernas euocat herbas,
ubi per graciles breuis Ilisos
labitur agros piger et steriles
amne maligno radit harenas.                    15

         Hippolytus Go, encircle the shadowy woods
and the highest ridges of the Cecropian mountain!
with swift foot, roving, range over
the places that lie beneath rocky Parnethus
         overhung,
which in the Thriasian valleys the river, running rapid, lashes with its wave;                    5
climb the hills ever hoary
         with Rhipaean snow.
This way, this way, others, where the grove is woven
with tall alder, where the meadows lie open,                    10
where, soothing with the dewy breeze,
Zephyrus summons the vernal herbs,
where through slender fields the short Ilissus
glides, sluggish, and with a grudging stream
skims the barren sands.                    15

Vos qua Marathon tramite laeuo
         saltus aperit,
qua comitatae gregibus paruis
nocturna petunt pabula fetae;
uos qua tepidis subditus austris                    20
frigora mollit durus Acharneus.
Alius rupem dulcis Hymetti,
~paruas alius calcet Aphidnas;
pars illa diu uacat immunis,
qua curuati litora ponti                    25
         Sunion urget.
si quem tangit gloria siluae,
         uocat hunc ~flius:
hic uersatur, metus agricolis,
uulnere multo iam notus aper.                    30

You, where Marathon by the left-hand path         opens the woodland glades,
where, attended by small herds,
the breeding females seek their nightly pasture;
you, where, subjected beneath tepid south winds,                    20
the harsh Acharnean softens the chills.
Let one range the crag of sweet Hymettus,
let another tread the little Aphidnae;
that region long lies empty, unmolested,
where Sunium presses the shores of the curved sea.                    25
         If anyone is touched by the glory of the forest,
this one the son summons:
here ranges about—the dread of farmers—
the boar already known by many a wound.                    30

         At uos laxas canibus tacitis
         mittite habenas;
teneant acres lora Molossos
et pugnaces tendant Cretes
fortia trito uincula collo.
at Spartanos (genus est audax                    35
auidumque ferae) nodo cautus
         propiore liga:
ueniet tempus, cum latratu
         caua saxa sonent.
nunc demissi nare sagaci
captent auras lustraque presso                    40
quaerant rostro, dum lux dubia est,
dum signa pedum roscida tellus
         impressa tenet.

         But you, give loose reins to the silent dogs;
         send forth the loosened halters;
let leashes restrain the keen Molossians,
and let the Cretans, pugnacious, draw tight strong bonds
upon the neck rubbed by wear.
but the Spartans (the breed is bold and avid of the wild beast) bind, cautious,
         with a closer knot:                    35
the time will come, when with barking
         the hollow rocks will resound.
now, with sagacious nostril lowered,
let them catch the airs and seek the lairs with the muzzle pressed low,                    40
while the light is doubtful,
         while the dewy earth holds the foot-marks impressed.

         Alius raras ceruice graui
         portare plagas,
alius teretes properet laqueos.                    45

Another to carry the sparse-meshed toils upon his heavy neck,
another let make haste with the terete nooses. 45

picta rubenti linea pinna
uano cludat terrore feras.
Tibi libretur missile telum,
tu graue dextra laeuaque simul
robur lato derige ferro;                    50
tu praecipites clamore feras
         subsessor ages;
tu iam uictor curuo solues
         uiscera cultro.
         Ades en comiti, diua uirago,
cuius regno pars terrarum                    55
         secreta uacat,
cuius certis petitur telis
fera quae gelidum potat Araxen
et quae stanti ludit in Histro.
tua Gaetulos dextra leones,                    60

let the line painted with a ruddy feather
shut in the beasts with empty terror.
Let the missile-weapon be poised for you,
you, with right and left together,
direct the weighty strength with broad iron;                    50
you, as ambusher, will drive the beasts headlong
         with a shout;
you now, as victor, will loose
         the entrails with a curved knife.
         Be present, lo, to your comrade, goddess virago,
by whose rule a part of the lands                    55
         the secluded places, is reserved,
by whose sure darts is sought
the wild creature that drinks the icy Araxes
and that plays in the standing (frozen) Hister.
your right hand [masters] Gaetulian lions,                    60

tua Cretaeas sequitur ceruas;
nunc ueloces figis dammas
         leuiore manu.
tibi dant uariae pectora tigres,
tibi uillosi terga bisontes
latisque feri cornibus uri.                    65
quidquid solis pascitur aruis,
siue illud Arabs diuite silua,
siue illud inops nouit Garamans
uacuisue uagus Sarmata campis,                    71
siue ferocis iuga Pyrenes                    69

yours pursues the Cretan hinds;
now you transfix the swift does
         with a lighter hand.
to you the variegated tigers give their breasts,
to you the shaggy bison their backs
and the wild aurochs with broad horns.                    65
whatever grazes on the sunlit fields,
whether the Arab, with rich woodland,
whether the needy Garamantian knows it
or the wandering Sarmatian on empty plains,                    71
or the ridges of the ferocious Pyrenees                    69

siue Hyrcani celant saltus,
arcus metuit, Diana, tuos.                    72
Tua si gratus numina cultor
         tulit in saltus,
retia uinctas tenuere feras,                    75
nulli laqueum rupere pedes:
fertur plaustro praeda gementi.
tum rostra canes sanguine multo
         rubicunda gerunt,
repetitque casas rustica longo
         turba triumpho.                    80

whether the Hyrcanian glades conceal them,
it fears your bows, Diana.                    72
If a grateful worshiper has brought your numen
         into the glades,
the nets have held the beasts fast bound,                    75
no feet have broken the noose:
the prey is borne on a groaning wagon.
then the dogs bear their snouts
         reddened with much blood,
and the rustic crowd returns to the cottages
         in a long triumph.                    80

En, diua, faue! signum arguti
misere canes: uocor in siluas.
hac, hac pergam qua uia longum
compensat iter.

Lo, goddess, favor! The sharp-voiced dogs have sent the signal:
I am called into the woods.
this way, this way I shall go where the road
compensates the long journey.

         Phaedra O magna uasti Creta dominatrix freti,                    85
cuius per omne litus innumerae rates
tenuere pontum, quidquid Assyria tenus
tellure Nereus peruium rostris secat,
cur me in penates obsidem inuisos datam
hostique nuptam degere aetatem in malis                    90
lacrimisque cogis? profugus en coniunx abest
praestatque nuptae quam solet Theseus fidem.
fortis per altas inuii retro lacus
uadit tenebras miles audacis proci,
solio ut reuulsam regis inferni abstrahat;                    95

         Phaedra O great Crete, mistress of the vast strait,                    85
whose innumerable ships along all your shore
have held the sea, whatever, as far as Assyria,
along the land Nereus makes passable and cleaves with prows,
why do you force me to live my life among hated household gods,
given as a hostage and a bride to an enemy, in miseries                    90
and in tears? Behold, my husband is away, a fugitive,
and Theseus pays to his bride the kind of faith he is wont to keep.
Brave, through the deep darknesses of the trackless lakes of no return
goes the soldier of a daring suitor,
to drag her, torn from the throne of the king of the Underworld, away;                    95

pergit furoris socius, haud illum timor
pudorue tenuit: stupra et illicitos toros
Acheronte in imo quaerit Hippolyti pater.
         Sed maior alius incubat maestae dolor.
non me quies nocturna, non altus sopor                    100
soluere curis: alitur et crescit malum
et ardet intus qualis Aetnaeo uapor
exundat antro. Palladis telae uacant
et inter ipsas pensa labuntur manus;
non colere donis templa uotiuis libet,                    105
non inter aras, Atthidum mixtam choris,
iactare tacitis conscias sacris faces,
nec adire castis precibus aut ritu pio
adiudicatae praesidem terrae deam:
iuuat excitatas consequi cursu feras                    110

he proceeds, a companion of frenzy; neither fear nor shame held him fast: Hippolytus’s father seeks outrages and illicit couches in the deepest Acheron.
But another, greater pain broods over the sorrowing one.
nightly rest does not, nor deep sleep, release me from cares: the ill is nourished and grows, 100
and it burns within, as vapor wells out from the Aetnaean cavern. Pallas’s looms are idle,
and amid the very tasks the hands slip; it pleases me not to tend the temples with votive gifts,
nor, among the altars, mingled with the choruses of the Attic maidens,
to brandish torches privy to the silent rites, nor to approach with chaste prayers or with pious ritual
the goddess who presides over the land adjudged to her: 105
it delights me to pursue with running the roused wild beasts.110

et rigida molli gaesa iaculari manu.
Quo tendis, anime? quid furens saltus amas?

and to hurl rigid gaesa with a soft hand.
Whither do you tend, O soul? why, frenzied, do you love the forest-glades?

fatale miserae matris agnosco malum:
peccare noster nouit in siluis amor.
genetrix, tui me miseret? infando malo 115
correpta pecoris efferum saeui ducem
audax amasti; toruus, impatiens iugi
adulter ille, ductor indomiti gregis--
sed amabat aliquid.

I recognize the fatal evil of the wretched mother:
our love knows how to sin in the woods.
genetrix, do I pity you? seized by unspeakable ill 115
you boldly loved the wild leader of a savage herd of cattle;
grim, impatient of the yoke, that adulterer, leader of an untamed herd--
but he loved something.

quis meas miserae deus
aut quis iuuare Daedalus flammas queat? 120
non si ille remeet, arte Mopsopia potens,
qui nostra caeca monstra conclusit domo,
promittat ullam casibus nostris opem.
stirpem perosa Solis inuisi Venus
per nos catenas uindicat Martis sui 125

what god for me, wretched,
or what Daedalus could be able to help my flames? 120
not even if he should come back, powerful in Mopsopian art,
he who enclosed our dark monsters in a house,
would he promise any aid to our misfortunes.
hating the stock of the hateful Sun, Venus
through us vindicates the chains of her own Mars 125

suasque, probris omne Phoebeum genus
onerat nefandis: nulla Minois leui
defuncta amore est, iungitur semper nefas.
         Nvtrix Thesea coniunx, clara progenies Iouis,
nefanda casto pectore exturba ocius,                    130
extingue flammas neue te dirae spei
praebe obsequentem: quisquis in primo obstitit
pepulitque amorem, tutus ac uictor fuit;
qui blandiendo dulce nutriuit malum,
sero recusat ferre quod subiit iugum.                    135
nec me fugit, quam durus et ueri insolens
ad recta flecti regius nolit tumor.
quemcumque dederit exitum casus feram:
fortem facit uicina libertas senem.

and she loads her own, the whole Phoebean race, with unspeakable reproaches:
no woman of Minos has been discharged from love on light terms; nefas is always yoked to it.
         Nurse, the consort of Theseus, illustrious progeny of Jove,
banish the unspeakable things from your chaste breast with all speed,                    130
extinguish the flames, and do not offer yourself obsequious to dread hope:
whoever at the first has withstood and repelled love, was safe and victor;
he who by blandishing has nourished the sweet evil,
too late refuses to bear the yoke which he has undergone.                    135
nor does it escape me how hard and unaccustomed to truth
royal pride refuses to be bent to the right.
whatever outcome chance will have given, I shall bear:
neighboring liberty makes the old man brave.

Honesta primum est uelle nec labi uia, 140

The honest way is, first, to will and not to slip, 140

pudor est secundus nosse peccandi modum.
quo, misera, pergis? quid domum infamem aggrauas
superasque matrem?

modesty is second: to know the measure of sinning.
whither, wretched woman, do you go? why do you aggravate the infamous house
and surpass your mother?

maius est monstro nefas:
nam monstra fato, moribus scelera imputes.
Si, quod maritus supera non cernit loca, 145
tutum esse facinus credis et uacuum metu,
erras; teneri crede Lethaeo abditum
Thesea profundo et ferre perpetuam Styga:
quid ille, lato maria qui regno premit
populisque reddit iura centenis, pater? 150
latere tantum facinus occultum sinet?
sagax parentum est cura.

the nefarious wrong is greater than a monster:
for monsters you may impute to fate, crimes to morals.
If, because your husband does not discern the supernal places, 145
you believe the criminal deed to be safe and empty of fear,
you err; believe that Theseus lies concealed, held in the Lethean deep,
and that he bears the perpetual Styx:
what of that Father, who with his broad realm presses the seas
and renders laws to the hundred peoples—will he allow so great a crime, father, 150
to lie hidden only?
the care of parents is sagacious.

Credamus tamen
astu doloque tegere nos tantum nefas:
quid ille rebus lumen infundens suum,
matris parens? quid ille, qui mundum quatit 155

Let us nevertheless believe
that by astuteness and by guile we can cover such a nefarious thing:
what of him who pours his own light into things,
the mother’s parent? what of him, who shakes the world 155

uibrans corusca fulmen Aetnaeum manu,
sator deorum? credis hoc posse effici,
inter uidentes omnia ut lateas auos?
Sed ut secundus numinum abscondat fauor
coitus nefandos utque contingat stupro 160
negata magnis sceleribus semper fides:
quid poena praesens, conscius mentis pauor
animusque culpa plenus et semet timens?

brandishing the flashing Aetnaean thunderbolt in his hand,
sower of the gods? do you believe this can be effected,
that among grandfathers who see all you might lie hidden?
But even if the propitious favor of the divinities should hide
the unspeakable couplings, and if by debauch it should come to pass— 160
credence is always denied to great crimes:
what of the present penalty, the fear of a mind conscious,
and a spirit full of guilt and fearing itself?

scelus aliqua tutum, nulla securum tulit.
Compesce amoris impii flammas, precor, 165
nefasque quod non ulla tellus barbara
commisit umquam, non uagi campis Getae
nec inhospitalis Taurus aut sparsus Scythes;
expelle facinus mente castifica horridum
memorque matris metue concubitus nouos. 170

some crime has been safe, none secure.
Restrain the flames of impious love, I pray, 165
and the nefas which no barbarian land
ever committed, not the roving Getae on their plains
nor inhospitable Tauris nor the scattered Scythian;
expel the horrid crime by a chastifying mind
and, mindful of your mother, fear new couplings. 170

miscere thalamos patris et gnati apparas
uteroque prolem capere confusam impio?
perge et nefandis uerte naturam ignibus.
cur monstra cessant?

are you preparing to mix the marriage-beds of father and son,
and to take in your womb a progeny confused by impiety?
proceed and with nefarious fires overturn nature.
why do the monsters delay?

aula cur fratris uacat?
prodigia totiens orbis insueta audiet, 175
natura totiens legibus cedet suis,
quotiens amabit Cressa? Ph. Quae memoras scio
uera esse, nutrix; sed furor cogit sequi
peiora.

why does the palace stand empty of the brother?
so often will the world hear prodigies unwonted, 175
will nature so often cede her own laws,
as often as the Cretan woman shall love? Ph. What you recount I know
to be true, nurse; but madness compels to follow
worse things.

uadit animus in praeceps sciens
remeatque frustra sana consilia appetens. 180
sic, cum grauatam nauita aduersa ratem
propellit unda, cedit in uanum labor
et uicta prono puppis aufertur uado.
quid ratio possit? uicit ac regnat furor,
potensque tota mente dominatur deus. 185

goes my mind headlong, though knowing,
and returns in vain, reaching after sane counsels. 180
thus, when the sailor, with an adverse wave against him, drives the burdened ship,
the effort yields to nothing,
and the ship, overborne, is swept away by the slanting shoal.
what can reason do? fury has conquered and reigns,
and a god, powerful, dominates the whole mind. 185

hic uolucer omni pollet in terra impotens
ipsumque flammis torret indomitis Iouem;
Gradiuus istas belliger sensit faces,
opifex trisulci fulminis sensit deus,
et qui furentis semper Aetnaeis iugis                    190
uersat caminos igne tam paruo calet;
ipsumque Phoebum, tela qui neruo regit,
figit sagitta certior missa puer
uolitatque caelo pariter et terris grauis.
Nvt. Deum esse amorem turpis et uitio fauens                    195
finxit libido, quoque liberior foret
titulum furori numinis falsi addidit.
natum per omnis scilicet terras uagum
Erycina mittit, ille per caelum uolans
proterua tenera tela molitur manu                    200

this winged one, uncontrolled, prevails in every land,
and with indomitable flames scorches Jove himself;
Gradivus, war-bearing, has felt those torches,
the artificer-god of the three-forked thunderbolt has felt them,
and he who ever turns the furnaces on Aetna’s frenzied ridges 190
grows hot by so small a fire; and Phoebus himself, who rules missiles by the bowstring,
the boy pierces with an arrow sent more sure,
and, flitting through heaven, he is grievous alike to the lands.
Nvt. Lust, base and favoring vice, fashioned Love to be a god,
and, that it might be the freer, added to its frenzy the title of a false divinity.
Erycina, forsooth, sends forth her son, wandering through all lands;
he, flying through heaven, with a tender hand wields insolent darts. 200

regnumque tantum minimus e superis habet:
uana ista demens animus asciuit sibi
Venerisque numen finxit atque arcus dei.
Quisquis secundis rebus exultat nimis
fluitque luxu, semper insolita appetit. 205
tunc illa magnae dira fortunae comes
subit libido: non placent suetae dapes,
non texta sani moris aut uilis scyphus.
cur in penates rarius tenues subit
haec delicatas eligens pestis domos? 210
cur sancta paruis habitat in tectis Venus
mediumque sanos uulgus affectus tenet
et se coercent modica, contra diuites
regnoque fulti plura quam fas est petunt?

and so great a kingdom the least from the gods above possesses:
a crazed mind has taken up those vain things for itself
and has fashioned the numen of Venus and the bow of the god.
Whoever exults too much in favorable circumstances
and flows in luxury, always seeks the unaccustomed. 205
then that dire companion of great fortune, lust, steals in:
the accustomed feasts do not please,
nor fabrics of sound custom or a cheap cup.
why into humble homes does this pest, choosing delicate houses, more rarely enter?
why does holy Venus dwell in small roofs, and the common crowd holds to the mean of healthy affections, 210
and those of moderate means restrain themselves, whereas the rich,
propped by dominion, seek more things than is right?

quod non potest uult posse qui nimium potest. 215

He who can too much wants to be able to do what he cannot. 215

quid deceat alto praeditam solio uide:
metue ac uerere sceptra remeantis uiri.
Ph. Amoris in me maximum regnum reor
reditusque nullos metuo: non umquam amplius
conuexa tetigit supera qui mersus semel 220
adiit silentem nocte perpetua domum.
Nvt. Ne crede Diti.

see what befits you, endowed with a lofty throne:
fear and revere the scepters of the returning man.
Ph. I deem that Love holds the greatest kingdom over me,
and I fear no returns: never again
will he who once was plunged touch the supernal vaults, 220
he has gone to the house silent with perpetual night.
Nvt. Do not trust Dis.

clauserit regnum licet,
canisque diras Stygius obseruet fores:
solus negatas inuenit Theseus uias.
Ph. Veniam ille amori forsitan nostro dabit. 225
Nvt. Immitis etiam coniugi castae fuit:
experta saeuam est barbara Antiope manum.
sed posse flecti coniugem iratum puta:
quis huius animum flectet intractabilem?

though he may have shut his realm,
and the Stygian one watch the dread doors with his hound:
Theseus alone found the ways denied.
Ph. He will perhaps grant pardon to our love. 225
Nvt. He was harsh even to his chaste spouse:
the barbarian Antiope has experienced his savage hand.
but suppose the angry husband can be bent:
who will bend this one’s intractable spirit?

exosus omne feminae nomen fugit, 230

abhorring every name of woman, he flees, 230

immitis annos caelibi uitae dicat,
conubia uitat: genus Amazonium scias.
Ph. Hunc in niuosi collis haerentem iugis,
et aspera agili saxa calcantem pede
sequi per alta nemora, per montes placet. 235
Nvt. Resistet ille seque mulcendum dabit
castosque ritus Venere non casta exuet?
tibi ponet odium, cuius odio forsitan
persequitur omnes?

let the relentless one devote the years to a celibate life,
he shuns connubial bonds: know him to be of Amazonian stock.
Ph. Him, clinging on the ridges of a snowy hill,
and treading the rough rocks with a nimble foot,
it pleases me to follow through lofty groves, over mountains. 235
Nvt. Will he yield, and give himself to be soothed,
and strip off his chaste rites for unchaste Venus?
Will he lay down his hatred for you, by whose hatred perhaps
he pursues all?

Ph. Precibus haud uinci potest?
Nvt. Ferus est. Ph. Amore didicimus uinci feros. 240
Nvt. Fugiet.

Ph. Can he not be vanquished by entreaties?
Nvt. He is fierce. Ph. By love we have learned the fierce are vanquished. 240
Nvt. He will flee.

Ph. Per ipsa maria si fugiat, sequar.
Nvt. Patris memento. Ph. Meminimus matris simul.

Ph. Through the very seas, if he should flee, I will follow.
Nvt. Remember your father. Ph. We remember our mother as well.

Nvt. Genus omne profugit. Ph. Paelicis careo metu.
Nvt. Aderit maritus.

Nvt. The whole breed has taken flight. Ph. I am free from fear of a rival mistress.
Nvt. The husband will be here.

Ph. Nempe Pirithoi comes?
Nvt. Aderitque genitor. Ph. Mitis Ariadnae pater. 245

Ph. Surely the comrade of Pirithous?
Nvt. And his father will be present. Ph. The gentle father of Ariadne. 245

Nvt. Per has senectae splendidas supplex comas
fessumque curis pectus et cara ubera
precor, furorem siste teque ipsa adiuua:
pars sanitatis uelle sanari fuit.
Ph. Non omnis animo cessit ingenuo pudor. 250
paremus, altrix. qui regi non uult amor,
uincatur.

Nvt. By these splendid locks of old age, as a suppliant,
and by a breast wearied with cares and by the dear breasts,
I pray, check your frenzy and aid your very self:
part of health was to be willing to be healed.
Ph. Not all modesty has yielded in my ingenuous spirit. 250
let us obey, nurse. The love that does not wish to be ruled,
let it be conquered.

haud te, fama, maculari sinam.
haec sola ratio est, unicum effugium mali:
uirum sequamur, morte praeuertam nefas.
Nvt. Moderare, alumna, mentis effrenae impetus, 255
animos coerce.

I will not allow you, reputation, to be stained.
this is the sole method, the single escape from the evil:
let us follow the man; by death I shall forestall the nefarious crime.
Nvt. Moderate, foster-child, the impulses of an unbridled mind, 255
restrain your spirits.

dignam ob hoc uita reor
quod esse temet autumas dignam nece.
Ph. Decreta mors est: quaeritur fati genus.
laqueone uitam finiam an ferro incubem?

I reckon you worthy of life for this very reason,
that you assert yourself worthy of death.
Ph. Death is decreed: the kind of fate is sought.
Shall I finish my life by a noose, or lie upon the steel?

an missa praeceps arce Palladia cadam? 260

or shall I, sent headlong, fall from the Palladian citadel? 260

Nvt. Sic te senectus nostra praecipiti sinat 262
perire leto? siste furibundum impetum.
[haud quisquam ad uitam facile reuocari potest]
Ph. Prohibere nulla ratio periturum potest, 265
ubi qui mori constituit et debet mori.

Nvt. Thus would our old age allow you to perish by a headlong death? Restrain your frenzied onrush. 262
[No one can be easily called back to life]
Ph. No reasoning can prevent one about to perish, 265
when he who has resolved to die also ought to die.

proin castitatis uindicem armemus manum. 261

accordingly let us arm the hand as the vindicator of chastity. 261

Nvt. Solamen annis unicum fessis, era,                    267
si tam proteruus incubat menti furor,
contemne famam: fama uix uero fauet,
peius merenti melior et peior bono.                    270
temptemus animum tristem et intractabilem.
meus iste labor est aggredi iuuenem ferum
mentemque saeuam flectere immitis uiri.
         Chorvs Diua non miti generata ponto,
quam uocat matrem geminus Cupido:                     275

Nvt. The sole solace for our weary years, mistress,                    267
if so insolent a frenzy broods upon your mind,
scorn fame: fame scarcely favors the true,
kinder to one deserving worse and harsher to the good.                    270
let us try the gloomy and intractable spirit.
that is my task: to approach the wild youth
and to bend the savage mind of the pitiless man.
         Chorvs The goddess not begotten from a gentle sea,
whom twin Cupid calls mother:                     275

impotens flammis simul et sagittis
iste lasciuus puer et renidens
tela quam certo moderatur arcu!
[labitur totas furor in medullas
igne furtiuo populante uenas.]                    280
non habet latam data plaga frontem,
sed uorat tectas penitus medullas.
nulla pax isti puero: per orbem
spargit effusas agilis sagittas;
quaeque nascentem uidet ora solem,                    285
quaeque ad Hesperias iacet ora metas,
si qua feruenti subiecta cancro est,
si qua Parrhasiae glacialis ursae
semper errantes patitur colonos,
nouit hos aestus: iuuenum feroces                    290

unrestrained with flames and with arrows at once
that lascivious and shining boy—
how surely he steers his missiles with his bow!
[the frenzy slips into all the marrows,
with furtive fire ravaging the veins.]                    280
the dealt wound has not a broad front,
but devours the hidden marrows deep within.
there is no peace for that boy: throughout the orb
the agile one scatters his poured‑out arrows;
and every shore that sees the nascent sun,                    285
and every shore that lies toward the Hesperian bounds,
if any is subject beneath the fervent Cancer,
if any endures colonists ever wandering under the Parrhasian glacial Bear,
knows these burnings: fierce in youths.                    290

concitat flammas senibusque fessis
rursus extinctos reuocat calores,
uirginum ignoto ferit igne pectus--
et iubet caelo superos relicto
uultibus falsis habitare terras.                    295
         Thessali Phoebus pecoris magister
egit armentum positoque plectro
impari tauros calamo uocauit.
Induit formas quotiens minores
ipse qui caelum nebulasque ducit!                    300
candidas ales modo mouit alas,
dulcior uocem moriente cygno;
fronte nunc torua petulans iuuencus
uirginum strauit sua terga ludo,
perque fraternos, noua regna, fluctus                     305

he rouses flames and, for the weary old men,
calls back again the quenched heats,
strikes the breast of maidens with unknown fire—
and bids the gods above, with heaven left behind,
to inhabit the lands with false faces.                    295
         Thessalian Phoebus, master of the flock,
drove the herd, and with the plectrum laid aside
called the bulls with an unequal reed.
How many times did he who leads the sky and the clouds
don lesser forms himself!                    300
just now the bright bird moved its white wings,
a voice sweeter than a dying swan;
now a wanton young bull, with grim brow,
laid his back low for the maidens’ sport,
and through fraternal—new-realm—waves

ungula lentos imitante remos
pectore aduerso domuit profundum,
pro sua uector timidus rapina.
Arsit obscuri dea clara mundi
nocte deserta nitidosque fratri                    310
tradidit currus aliter regendos:
ille nocturnas agitare bigas
discit et gyro breuiore flecti,
nec suum tempus tenuere noctes
et dies tardo remeauit ortu,                    315
dum tremunt axes grauiore curru.
         Natus Alcmena posuit pharetras
et minax uasti spolium leonis,
passus aptari digitis smaragdos
et dari legem rudibus capillis;                    320

with hoof imitating sluggish oars
with breast set against, he tamed the profound deep,
the bearer timid for his own rapine.
the bright goddess of the obscure world burned,
the night deserted, and handed to her brother the shining chariots to be governed otherwise:                    310
he learns to drive the nocturnal bigae
and to be turned in a shorter gyre,
nor did the nights hold their own time,
and day returned with a tardy rising,                    315
while the axles tremble with the heavier chariot.
         the son born of Alcmena set down his quivers
and the menacing spoil of the vast lion,
having allowed emeralds to be fitted to his fingers
and for a law to be given to his rough hair;                    320

crura distincto religauit auro,
luteo plantas cohibente socco;
et manu, clauam modo qua gerebat,
fila deduxit properante fuso.
         Vidit Persis ditique ferax                    325
         Lydia harena
deiecta feri terga leonis
umerisque, quibus sederat alti
         regia caeli,
tenuem Tyrio stamine pallam.
         Sacer est ignis (credite laesis)                    330
         nimiumque potens:
qua terra salo cingitur alto
quaque per ipsum candida mundum
         sidera currunt,
hac regna tenet puer immitis,
spicula cuius sentit in imis                    335

he bound his legs with inlaid gold,
with a saffron-yellow soccus restraining his soles;
and with the hand, with which just now he bore the club,
he drew out threads with the hastening spindle.
         Persia saw it, and Lydia, fertile with rich                    325
         sand:
the cast-aside hide of the fierce lion,
and on those shoulders, on which had sat the palace
         of high heaven,
a fine mantle with Tyrian weft.
         Sacred is the fire (believe the injured) 330
         and excessively potent:
wherever the earth is girdled by the deep sea,
and where through it the shining stars run
         across the world,
there the ruthless boy holds his realms,
whose darts are felt in the deepest parts.                    335

caerulus undis grex Nereidum
flammamque nequit releuare mari.
Ignes sentit genus aligerum;
Venere instinctus suscipit audax
grege pro toto bella iuuencus;                    340
si coniugio timuere suo,
poscunt timidi proelia cerui
et mugitu dant concepti
         signa furoris;
tunc uulnificos acuit dentes                    346
aper et toto est spumeus ore:
tunc silua gemit murmure saeuo.                    350

the sea-blue band of Nereids with its waves
and cannot relieve the flame with the sea.
The winged race feels the fires;
instigated by Venus, the bold young bull undertakes wars for the whole herd;                    340
if they have feared for their own consort,
the timid stags demand battles
and with bellowing they give the signs of conceived
         madness;
then the boar sharpens his wound-making teeth                    346
and is foamy over his whole mouth:
then the forest groans with a savage murmur.                    350

Poeni quatiunt colla leones,                    348
         cum mouit amor;
tunc uirgatas India tigres                    345
         decolor horret.
amat insani belua ponti                    351

Punic lions shake their necks,                    348
         when love has moved;
then at the striped tigers India                    345
         discolored shudders.
the beast of the insane sea loves                    351

Lucaeque boues: uindicat omnes
natura sibi, nihil immune est,
odiumque perit, cum iussit amor;
ueteres cedunt ignibus irae.                    355
quid plura canam? uincit saeuas
         cura nouercas.
         Altrix, profare quid feras; quonam in loco est
regina?

and the Lucanian oxen: Nature vindicates all for herself, nothing is immune,
and hatred perishes, when Love has commanded;
old wraths yield to the fires. 355
what more should I sing? affection conquers savage stepmothers.
Nurse, declare what you bear; in what place is
the queen?

saeuis ecquis est flammis modus?
Nvtrix Spes nulla tantum posse leniri malum, 360
finisque flammis nullus insanis erit.
torretur aestu tacito et inclusus quoque,
quamuis tegatur, proditur uultu furor;
erumpit oculis ignis et lassae genae
lucem recusant; nil idem dubiae placet, 365

Is there any limit to the savage flames?
Nurse No hope that so great an evil can be soothed, 360
and there will be no end to the insane flames.
She is scorched by a silent heat, and even when shut in,
although she be covered, fury is betrayed by her face;
fire bursts from the eyes, and the weary cheeks
refuse the light; nothing the same pleases the doubtful one, 365

artusque uarie iactat incertus dolor:
nunc ut soluto labitur marcens gradu
et uix labante sustinet collo caput,
nunc se quieti reddit et, somni immemor,
noctem querelis ducit; attolli iubet                    370
iterumque poni corpus et solui comas
rursusque fingi: semper impatiens sui
mutatur habitus. nulla iam Cereris subit
cura aut salutis; uadit incerto pede,
iam uiribus defecta: non idem uigor,                    375
non ora tinguens nitida purpureus rubor;
[populatur artus cura, iam gressus tremunt,
tenerque nitidi corporis cecidit decor.]
et qui ferebant signa Phoebeae facis
oculi nihil gentile nec patrium micant.                    380

and an uncertain pain tosses her limbs in various ways:
now, drooping, she slips with a loosened step,
and scarcely with a tottering neck does she support her head,
now she yields herself to quiet and, unmindful of sleep,
she leads the night with laments; she bids to be lifted up                    370
and again to be set down, the body, and her hair to be loosened
and fashioned anew: ever impatient of herself,
her appearance is changed. No care now of Ceres comes,
nor of health; she goes with an uncertain step,
now drained of strength: not the same vigor,                    375
nor the purple blush dyeing her shining face;
[care lays waste the limbs, now her steps tremble,
and the tender beauty of the shining body has fallen.]
and the eyes which used to bear the signs of the Phoebean torch
shine with nothing clan-born nor paternal.                    380

lacrimae cadunt per ora et assiduo genae
rore irrigantur, qualiter Tauri iugis
tepido madescunt imbre percussae niues.
         Sed en, patescunt regiae fastigia:
reclinis ipsa sedis auratae toro                    385
solitos amictus mente non sana abnuit.
         Phaedra Remouete, famulae, purpura atque auro inlitas
uestes, procul sit muricis Tyrii rubor,
quae fila ramis ultimi Seres legunt:
breuis expeditos zona constringat sinus,                    390
ceruix monili uacua, nec niueus lapis
deducat auris, Indici donum maris;
odore crinis sparsus Assyrio uacet.
sic temere iactae colla perfundant comae
umerosque summos, cursibus motae citis                    395

tears fall down the face and the cheeks are watered with constant dew, just as on the ridges of Taurus the snows, struck by warm rain, grow moist.
         But lo, the rooflines of the palace open: reclining herself upon the couch of the gilded seat                    385
she refuses her accustomed garments with an unsound mind.
         Phaedra Remove, handmaids, the garments imbued with purple and gold; let the redness of Tyrian murex be far away, and those threads which the farthest Seres gather from branches:
let a short girdle cinch unencumbered folds;                    390
let the neck be free of a necklace, and let not the snowy stone weigh down the ears, a gift of the Indian sea;
let the hair be free, unsprinkled with Assyrian fragrance.
thus let tresses, thrown at random, drench the neck and the uppermost shoulders, moved by swift running.                    395

uentos sequantur. laeua se pharetrae dabit,
hastile uibret dextra Thessalicum manus:
[talis seueri mater Hippolyti fuit.]
qualis relictis frigidi Ponti plagis
egit cateruas Atticum pulsans solum 400
Tanaitis aut Maeotis et nodo comas
coegit emisitque, lunata latus
protecta pelta, talis in siluas ferar.
Cho. Sepone questus: non leuat miseros dolor;
agreste placa uirginis numen deae. 405
Nvt. Regina nemorum, sola quae montes colis
et una solis montibus coleris dea,
conuerte tristes ominum in melius minas.

let them follow the winds. the left hand will give itself to the quiver,
let the right hand brandish the Thessalian shaft:
[such was the mother of austere Hippolytus.]
just as, the regions of chilly Pontus left behind,
a Tanais- or Maeotis-woman drove her squadrons, beating the Attic soil, 400
and in a knot she gathered her hair and sent it forth, her flank
protected by a crescent pelta—such may I be borne into the woods.
Cho. Set aside complaints: pain does not lighten the wretched;
appease the rustic numen of the maiden goddess. 405
Nvt. Queen of the groves, you who alone dwell in the mountains
and as the only goddess are worshiped in the lonely mountains,
turn the sad menaces of the omens into something better.

o magna siluas inter et lucos dea,
clarumque caeli sidus et noctis decus, 410

o great goddess among the woods and groves,
and the clear star of heaven and the ornament of night, 410

cuius relucet mundus alterna uice,
Hecate triformis, en ades coeptis fauens.
animum rigentem tristis Hippolyti doma:
det facilis aures; mitiga pectus ferum:
amare discat, mutuos ignes ferat. 415
innecte mentem: toruus auersus ferox
in iura Veneris redeat. huc uires tuas
intende: sic te lucidi uultus ferant
et nube rupta cornibus puris eas,
sic te regentem frena nocturni aetheris 420
detrahere numquam Thessali cantus queant
nullusque de te gloriam pastor ferat.

by whose alternate turn the world shines back,
Hecate three-formed, lo, be present, favoring my undertakings.
tame the rigid spirit of gloomy Hippolytus:
let him give willing ears; soften his savage breast:
let him learn to love, let him bear mutual fires. 415
entwine his mind: grim, averted, fierce,
let him return into the jurisdiction of Venus. To this
bend your powers: so may bright visages carry you
and, the cloud rent, may you go with pure horns,
so, as you govern the reins of the nocturnal aether, 420
may Thessalian chants never be able to drag you down,
and let no shepherd bear glory about you.

Ades inuocata, iam faue uotis, dea:
ipsum intuor sollemne uenerantem sacrum
nullo latus comitante--quid dubitas? dedit 425

Be present, invoked, now favor the vows, goddess:
I behold the very man venerating the solemn rite
with no companion attending his side—why do you hesitate? He has given 425

tempus locumque casus: utendum artibus.
trepidamus? haud est facile mandatum scelus
audere, uerum iusta qui reges timet
deponat, omne pellat ex animo decus:
malus est minister regii imperii pudor. 430
Hippolytvs Quid huc seniles fessa moliris gradus,
o fida nutrix, turbidam frontem gerens
et maesta uultu?

Chance has given time and place: our arts must be used.
Do we tremble? It is not easy to dare a commissioned crime;
but let whoever fears kings lay aside what is just,
drive all decorum out of his mind:
modesty is a bad minister of royal imperium. 430
Hippolytvs Why do you toil your aged, weary steps hither,
O faithful nurse, bearing a turbid brow
and sad in countenance?

sospes est certe parens
sospesque Phaedra stirpis et geminae iugum?
Nvt. Metus remitte, prospero regnum in statu est 435
domusque florens sorte felici uiget.
sed tu beatis mitior rebus ueni:
namque anxiam me cura sollicitat tui,
quod te ipse poenis grauibus infestus domas.

The parent is surely safe
and is Phaedra safe, the yoke of the twin stock?
Nvt. Lay aside fear, the realm is in a prosperous state 435
and the house, flourishing, thrives by a happy lot.
but you, come gentler to blessed circumstances:
for a care for you makes me anxious,
because you, hostile to yourself, subdue yourself with heavy punishments.

quem fata cogunt, ille cum uenia est miser; 440

he whom the fates compel, that one is wretched with pardon; 440

at si quis ultro se malis offert uolens
seque ipse torquet, perdere est dignus bona
quis nescit uti. potius annorum memor
mentem relaxa: noctibus festis facem
attolle, curas Bacchus exoneret graues; 445
aetate fruere: mobili cursu fugit.
nunc facile pectus, grata nunc iuueni Venus:
exultet animus.

but if anyone of his own accord offers himself to evils, willing,
and tortures himself, he is worthy to lose good things,
who does not know how to use them. Rather, mindful of your years,
relax your mind: on festive nights lift the torch;
let Bacchus exonerate your heavy cares; 445
enjoy your age: with a mobile course it flees.
now the heart is facile, now Venus is pleasing to the youth:
let the spirit exult.

cur toro uiduo iaces?
tristem iuuentam solue; nunc cursus rape,
effunde habenas, optimos uitae dies 450
effluere prohibe. propria descripsit deus
officia et aeuum per suos ducit gradus:
laetitia iuuenem, frons decet tristis senem.

Why do you lie on a widowed bed?
loosen your gloomy youth; now seize the course,
unloose the reins, forbid the best days of life 450
to flow away. god has marked out proper offices
and leads the age through its own steps:
joy befits the young man, a sad brow befits the old man.

Quid te coerces et necas rectam indolem?
seges illa magnum fenus agricolae dabit 455

Why do you restrain yourself and kill your upright natural disposition?
that crop will give the farmer great interest 455

quaecumque laetis tenera luxuriat satis,
arborque celso uertice euincet nemus
quam non maligna caedit aut resecat manus:
ingenia melius recta se in laudes ferunt,
si nobilem animum uegeta libertas alit.                    460
truculentus et siluester ac uitae inscius
tristem iuuentam Venere deserta coles?
hoc esse munus credis indictum uiris,
ut dura tolerent, cursibus domitent equos
et saeua bella Marte sanguineo gerant?                    465
         Prouidit ille maximus mundi parens,
cum tam rapaces cerneret Fati manus,
ut damna semper subole repararet noua.
excedat agedum rebus humanis Venus,
quae supplet ac restituit exhaustum genus:                     470

whatever tender thing luxuriates in rich plantings,
and a tree with its lofty summit will outdo the grove
which no spiteful hand cuts or trims:
minds, rightly directed, bear themselves into praises better,
if vigorous liberty nourishes the noble spirit.                    460
savage and woodland, and unknowing of life,
will you cultivate a gloomy youth with Venus deserted?
do you believe this to be the charge laid upon men,
that they should endure hardships, tame horses by racing,
and wage cruel wars under sanguine Mars?                    465
         That greatest parent of the world provided,
when he perceived the hands of Fate so ravenous,
that he might always repair losses with new offspring.
suppose, then, that Venus departs from human affairs,
she who replenishes and restores the exhausted race:                     470

orbis iacebit squalido turpis situ,
uacuum sine ullis piscibus stabit mare,
alesque caelo derit et siluis fera,
solis et aer peruius uentis erit.
quam uaria leti genera mortalem trahunt 475
carpuntque turbam, pontus et ferrum et doli!
sed fata credas desse: sic atram Styga
iam petimus ultro.

the world will lie foul with squalid mould,
the sea will stand empty without any fishes,
and the bird will be lacking from the sky and the wild beast from the forests,
and the air will be pervious to the winds alone.
how varied the kinds of death that drag the mortal and carp at the throng—the sea and iron and deceits! 475
and yet you would think the Fates to be absent: thus we now seek the black Styx unbidden.

caelibem uitam probet
sterilis iuuentus: hoc erit, quidquid uides,
unius aeui turba et in semet ruet. 480
proinde uitae sequere naturam ducem:
urbem frequenta, ciuium coetus cole.
Hi. Non alia magis est libera et uitio carens
ritusque melius uita quae priscos colat,
quam quae relictis moenibus siluas amat. 485

let a sterile youth approve a celibate life:
this will be, whatever you see, a throng of a single age, and it will rush down upon itself. 480
therefore follow Nature as the guide of life:
frequent the city, cultivate the concourses of citizens.
Hi. No other life is more free and lacking in vice, and better cultivates the ancient rites,
than that which, the walls left behind, loves the forests. 485

non illum auarae mentis inflammat furor
qui se dicauit montium insontem iugis,
non aura populi et uulgus infidum bonis,
non pestilens inuidia, non fragilis fauor;
non ille regno seruit aut regno imminens                    490
uanos honores sequitur aut fluxas opes,
spei metusque liber, haud illum niger
edaxque liuor dente degeneri petit;
nec scelera populos inter atque urbes sata
nouit nec omnes conscius strepitus pauet                    495
aut uerba fingit; mille non quaerit tegi
diues columnis nec trabes multo insolens
suffigit auro; non cruor largus pias
inundat aras, fruge nec sparsi sacra
centena niuei colla summittunt boues:                     500

no frenzy of an avaricious mind inflames him
who has dedicated himself, guiltless, to the ridges of the mountains,
nor the aura of the people and the vulgar throng faithless to the good,
nor pestilent envy, nor fragile favor;
he does not serve a kingdom nor, imminent over a kingdom,                    490
does he pursue vain honors or fluid wealth,
free of hope and fear, not him does black
and devouring malice assail with a degenerate tooth;
nor does he know the crimes sown among peoples and cities,
nor, with a guilty conscience, does he fear every clamor,                    495
or feign words; he, a rich man, does not seek to be roofed
by a thousand columns, nor, insolent, plate beams with much gold;
no lavish gore inundates the pious altars,
nor, the sacred rites sprinkled with grain,
do a hundred snowy oxen lower their necks.                    500

sed rure uacuo potitur et aperto aethere
innocuus errat. callidas tantum feris
struxisse fraudes nouit et fessus graui
labore niueo corpus Iliso fouet;
nunc ille ripam celeris Alphei legit, 505
nunc nemoris alti densa metatur loca,
ubi Lerna puro gelida perlucet uado,
solesque uitat. hinc aues querulae fremunt
ramique uentis lene percussi tremunt
* 509a
ueteresque fagi.

but he possesses the empty countryside and the open aether,
and wanders innocuous. He knows only to have constructed cunning snares
for wild beasts, and, weary with heavy labor, he soothes his body
in the snow-white Iliso; now he picks his way along the bank of swift Alpheus, 505
now he measures out the dense places of the deep grove,
where Lerna gleams through with a pure, gelid ford,
and he avoids the suns. From here the querulous birds make a din,
and the branches, lightly struck by the winds, tremble,
* 509a
and the ancient beeches.

iuuat <et> aut amnis uagi
pressisse ripas, caespite aut nudo leues
duxisse somnos, siue fons largus citas
defundit undas, siue per flores nouos
fugiente dulcis murmurat riuo sonus.
excussa siluis poma compescunt famem 515
et fraga paruis uulsa dumetis cibos
faciles ministrant. regios luxus procul
est impetus fugisse: sollicito bibunt
auro superbi; quam iuuat nuda manu
captasse fontem!

it delights <and> either to have pressed the banks of a wandering river,
or, on sod or bare ground, to have led light slumbers,
whether a bounteous spring pours out swift waters,
or through new flowers the sweet sound murmurs with the streamlet fleeing.
fruits shaken from the woods restrain hunger, 515
and strawberries plucked from little thickets serve easy foods.
there is an impetus to have fled royal luxuries far away: the proud drink
from solicitous gold; how it delights to have captured the spring with a bare hand!

certior somnus premit 520

a sounder sleep presses 520

secura duro membra laxantem toro.
non in recessu furta et obscuro improbus
quaerit cubili seque multiplici timens
domo recondit: aethera ac lucem petit
et teste caelo uiuit. Hoc equidem reor                    525
uixisse ritu prima quos mixtos deis
profudit aetas. nullus his auri fuit
caecus cupido, nullus in campo sacer
diuisit agros arbiter populis lapis;
nondum secabant credulae pontum rates:                    530
sua quisque norat maria; non uasto aggere
crebraque turre cinxerant urbes latus;
non arma saeua miles aptabat manu
nec torta clausas fregerat saxo graui
ballista portas, iussa nec dominum pati                    535

secure, relaxing the limbs on a hard couch.
not in a recess and in the dark does the wicked man
seek thefts in a bedchamber, and, fearing, hides himself
in a many‑chambered house: he seeks the upper air and the light
and lives with the sky as witness. This indeed I think                    525
lived the way of life of those whom the first age
poured forth, mingled with the gods. For them there was no
blind desire of gold, no sacred stone as umpire in the plain
divided the fields to peoples; not yet did trustful rafts cut the sea:                    530
each man knew his own seas; they had not with a vast rampart
and with frequent tower girded the side of cities;
nor was the soldier fitting savage arms to his hand,
nor had the twisted with a heavy stone broken closed
gates, the ballista; nor to endure a master’s orders                    535

iuncto ferebat terra seruitium boue:
sed arua per se feta poscentes nihil
pauere gentes, silua natiuas opes
et opaca dederant antra natiuas domos.
         Rupere foedus impius lucri furor                    540
et ira praeceps quaeque succensas agit
libido mentes; uenit imperii sitis
cruenta, factus praeda maiori minor:
pro iure uires esse. tum primum manu
bellare nuda saxaque et ramos rudes                    545
uertere in arma: non erat gracili leuis
armata ferro cornus aut longo latus
mucrone cingens ensis aut crista procul
galeae micantes: tela faciebat dolor.
inuenit artes bellicus Mauors nouas                    550

the land bore servitude to the yoked ox:
but the fields, teeming of themselves and demanding nothing,
the peoples did not tremble; the forest had given native wealth,
and the shaded caverns had given native homes.
They broke the pact—impious fury of lucre,540
and headlong wrath, and the lust that drives inflamed minds;
there came the bloody thirst of empire, the lesser made
prey for the greater: strength in place of right. Then first
to war with bare hand, and to turn stones and rough branches
into arms: not yet was the cornel-spear light, armed with slender545
iron, nor the sword girding the side with long point,
nor, from afar, crests of the helmet gleaming: pain made the missiles.
warlike Mavors found new arts.550

et mille formas mortis. hinc terras cruor
infecit omnis fusus et rubuit mare.
tum scelera dempto fine per cunctas domos
iere, nullum caruit exemplo nefas:
a fratre frater, dextera gnati parens 555
cecidit, maritus coniugis ferro iacet
perimuntque fetus impiae matres suos;
taceo nouercas: mitius nil est feris.

and a thousand forms of death. From here blood
stained all the lands, poured out, and the sea reddened.
Then crimes, with the limit removed, went through all homes,
no nefarious deed was without an example:
by a brother a brother, by the right hand of the son a parent fell, 555
the husband lies by the wife’s blade,
and impious mothers destroy their own offspring;
I am silent about stepmothers: nothing is gentler than wild beasts.

         Sed dux malorum femina: haec scelerum artifex
obsedit animos, huius incestae stupris                    560
fumant tot urbes, bella tot gentes gerunt
et uersa ab imo regna tot populos premunt.
sileantur aliae: sola coniunx Aegei,
Medea, reddet feminas dirum genus.
Nvt. Cur omnium fit culpa paucarum scelus?                    565

         But the leader of evils is a woman: this artificer of crimes
has besieged minds; by the debaucheries of this incestuous one                    560
so many cities smoke, so many nations wage wars,
and kingdoms, overturned from the very base, crush so many peoples.
Let others be silent: the spouse of Aegeus alone,
Medea, will render women a dire race.
Nvt. Why is the crime of a few made the fault of all?                    565

Hi. Detestor omnis, horreo fugio execror.
sit ratio, sit natura, sit dirus furor:
odisse placuit. ignibus iunges aquas
et amica ratibus ante promittet uada
incerta Syrtis, ante ab extremo sinu 570
Hesperia Tethys lucidum attollet diem
et ora dammis blanda praebebunt lupi,
quam uictus animum feminae mitem geram.

Hi. I detest all things; I shudder, I flee, I execrate.
let it be reason, let it be nature, let it be dire fury:
it has pleased me to hate. You will yoke waters to fires,
and the uncertain Syrtis will sooner promise shallows friendly to ships,
before from the farthest gulf Hesperian Tethys will lift the lucid day 570
and wolves will offer mouths gentle to deer,
than that, overcome, I should bear a gentle spirit toward a woman.

Nvt. Saepe obstinatis induit frenos Amor
et odia mutat. regna materna aspice: 575
illae feroces sentiunt Veneris iugum;
testaris istud unicus gentis puer.
Hi. Solamen unum matris amissae fero,
odisse quod iam feminas omnis licet.

Nvt. Often Love puts reins upon the obstinate
and changes hatreds. Look upon the maternal realms: 575
those ferocious ones feel the yoke of Venus;
you, the sole boy of the nation, bear witness to that.
Hi. I bear one solace for a mother lost,
that now it is permitted to hate all women.

Nvt. Vt dura cautes undique intractabilis 580

Nvt. As a hard crag, on every side intractable 580

resistit undis et lacessentes aquas
longe remittit, uerba sic spernit mea.
Sed Phaedra praeceps graditur, impatiens morae.
quo se dabit fortuna?

it resists the waves and sends the challenging waters far off;
thus she spurns my words.
But Phaedra goes headlong, impatient of delay.
where will Fortune give herself?

quo uerget furor?
terrae repente corpus exanimum accidit 585
et ora morti similis obduxit color.
attolle uultus, dimoue uocis moras:
tuus en, alumna, temet Hippolytus tenet.

whither does the fury verge?
suddenly the lifeless body falls to the earth 585
and a color like to death has drawn over his face.
raise your face, remove the delays of your voice:
behold, foster-daughter, your Hippolytus holds you.

Phaedra Quis me dolori reddit atque aestus graues
reponit animo? quam bene excideram mihi! 590
Hi. Cur dulce munus redditae lucis fugis?
Ph. Aude, anime, tempta, perage mandatum tuum.

Phaedra Who gives me back to pain and puts grave ardors
back into my mind? how well I had slipped from myself! 590
Hi. Why do you flee the sweet gift of returned light?
Ph. Dare, spirit, attempt, carry through your mandate.

intrepida constent uerba: qui timide rogat
docet negare. magna pars sceleris mei
olim peracta est; serus est nobis pudor: 595

let the words stand intrepid: he who asks timidly teaches to deny. a great part of my crime has long since been accomplished; shame is late for us. 595

admouimus nefanda. si coepta exequor,
forsan iugali crimen abscondam face:
honesta quaedam scelera successus facit.
en, incipe, anime!--Commodes paulum, precor,
secretus aures.

we have brought near unspeakable things. if I execute the things begun,
perhaps I shall hide the crime with the nuptial torch:
success makes certain crimes honorable.
lo, begin, my spirit!—Would you lend, for a little, I pray,
your ears in secret.

si quis est abeat comes. 600
Hi. En locus ab omni liber arbitrio uacat.
Ph. Sed ora coeptis transitum uerbis negant;
uis magna uocem mittit et maior tenet.
uos testor omnis, caelites, hoc quod uolo
me nolle. 605
Hi. Animusne cupiens aliquid effari nequit?

If anyone is present, let the attendant withdraw. 600
Hi. See, the place is free, empty of any oversight.
Ph. But my lips deny passage to the words I have begun;
a great force sends the voice forth and a greater holds it.
I call you all to witness, heaven-dwellers, that this thing which I want,
I do not want. 605
Hi. Can a longing mind not manage to speak?

Ph. Curae leues locuntur, ingentes stupent.
Hi. Committe curas auribus, mater, meis.
Ph. Matris superbum est nomen et nimium potens:
nostros humilius nomen affectus decet; 610

Ph. Light cares speak; ingent ones are stupefied.
Hi. Commit your cares to my ears, mother.
Ph. The name of mother is proud and too potent:
a humbler name befits our affections; 610

me uel sororem, Hippolyte, uel famulam uoca,
famulamque potius: omne seruitium feram.
non me per altas ire si iubeas niues
pigeat gelatis ingredi Pindi iugis;
non, si per ignes ire et infesta agmina, 615
cuncter paratis ensibus pectus dare.
mandata recipe sceptra, me famulam accipe:
[te imperia regere, me decet iussa exequi]
muliebre non est regna tutari urbium.

call me either sister, Hippolyte, or handmaid,
and rather a handmaid: I will bear every servitude.
if you should bid me to go through deep snows,
it would not irk me to tread the frozen ridges of Pindus;
nor, if to go through fires and hostile battle-lines, 615
would I hesitate to give my breast to ready swords.
resume the entrusted scepters, accept me as a handmaid:
[it befits you to wield command, me to carry out orders]
it is not womanly to safeguard the realms of cities.

tu qui iuuentae flore primaeuo uiges, 620
ciues paterno fortis imperio rege;
sinu receptam supplicem ac seruam tege:
miserere uiduae. Hi. Summus hoc omen deus
auertat. aderit sospes actutum parens.

you who flourish in the first bloom of youth, 620
rule the citizens, brave, with your father’s imperium;
protect, received into your bosom, a suppliant and a slave:
have pity on a widow. Hi. May the highest god avert this omen;
your father will be present safe forthwith.

Ph. Regni tenacis dominus et tacitae Stygis 625

Ph. Lord of the tenacious realm and of silent Styx 625

nullam relictos fecit ad superos uiam:
thalami remittet ille raptorem sui?
nisi forte amori placidus et Pluton sedet.
Hi. Illum quidem aequi caelites reducem dabunt.

nullam he has made no way for those left behind to the gods above:
will he release the ravisher of his own bridal-chamber?
unless perhaps even Pluto sits placid to Love.
Hi. Indeed the equitable celestials will give him back, returned.

sed dum tenebit uota in incerto deus, 630
pietate caros debita fratres colam,
et te merebor esse ne uiduam putes
ac tibi parentis ipse supplebo locum.
Ph. O spes amantum credula, o fallax Amor!
satisne dixi?--precibus admotis agam. 635
Miserere, pauidae mentis exaudi preces--
libet loqui pigetque.

but while the god will hold vows in uncertainty, 630
with the piety owed I will cherish my dear brothers,
and I will so merit that you do not think yourself a widow,
and I myself will supply the place of a parent for you.
Ph. O credulous hope of lovers, O deceitful Love!
have I said enough?--I will proceed with prayers brought near. 635
Have mercy, hear the prayers of a timorous mind--
I am eager to speak and I am ashamed as well.

Hi. Quodnam istud malum est?
Ph. Quod in nouercam cadere uix credas malum.
Hi. Ambigua uoce uerba perplexa iacis:
effare aperte.

Hi. What evil is that?
Ph. An evil which you would scarcely believe could befall a stepmother.
Hi. With an ambiguous voice you cast perplexed words:
speak out openly.

Ph. Pectus insanum uapor 640

Ph. A vapor maddens my breast 640

amorque torret. intimis saeuit ferus
[penitus medullas atque per uenas meat]
uisceribus ignis mersus et uenas latens
ut agilis altas flamma percurrit trabes.
Hi. Amore nempe Thesei casto furis? 645
Ph. Hippolyte, sic est: Thesei uultus amo
illos priores, quos tulit quondam puer,
cum prima puras barba signaret genas
monstrique caecam Gnosii uidit domum
et longa curua fila collegit uia. 650
quis tum ille fulsit!

and love scorches; savage it rages in my inmost parts,
[it goes deep within the marrows and through the veins];
the fire, plunged in the viscera and hiding in the veins,
runs through the lofty beams as an agile flame.
Hi. Are you, then, raging with chaste love of Theseus? 645
Ph. Hippolytus, so it is: I love the looks of Theseus—
those earlier ones, which he once bore as a boy,
when the first beard was marking his pure cheeks,
and he saw the blind house of the Gnosian monster,
and collected the long, curving threads along the way. 650
how he shone then!

presserant uittae comam
et ora flauus tenera tinguebat pudor;
inerant lacertis mollibus fortes tori,
tuaeque Phoebes uultus aut Phoebi mei,
tuusue potius--talis, en talis fuit 655

fillets had pressed the hair
and a golden modesty was tinging the tender face;
there were strong muscles in the soft upper arms,
and the features of your Phoebe or of my Phoebus,
or rather yours--such, lo, such he was 655

cum placuit hosti, sic tulit celsum caput.
in te magis refulget incomptus decor:
est genitor in te totus et toruae tamen
pars aliqua matris miscet ex aequo decus:
in ore Graio Scythicus apparet rigor. 660
si cum parente Creticum intrasses fretum,
tibi fila potius nostra neuisset soror.
Te te, soror, quacumque siderei poli
in parte fulges, inuoco ad causam parem:
domus sorores una corripuit duas, 665
te genitor, at me gnatus.--en supplex iacet
adlapsa genibus regiae proles domus.

when he pleased the foe, thus he bore his lofty head.
in you more refulges the unadorned comeliness:
your begetter is in you wholly, and yet of the grim
mother some part mixes grace on equal terms:
in a Greek face a Scythian rigor appears. 660
if with your parent you had entered the Cretan strait,
for you my sister would rather have spun our threads.
You—you, sister, in whatever part of the sidereal pole
you shine, I invoke to an equal cause:
one house has seized two sisters, 665
you the father, but me the son.—behold, as a suppliant lies
having glided to the knees, the offspring of the royal house.

respersa nulla labe et intacta, innocens
tibi mutor uni. certa descendi ad preces:
finem hic dolori faciet aut uitae dies. 670

besprinkled with no stain and intact, innocent
I am changed for you alone. Resolved, I have descended to prayers:
this day will make an end either to my grief or to my life. 670

miserere amantis.--Hi. Magne regnator deum,
tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus uides?
et quando saeua fulmen emittes manu,
si nunc serenum est?

pity the lover.—Hi. Great ruler of the gods,
are you so slow to hear crimes? so slow to see?
and when will you emit the thunderbolt with a savage hand,
if now it is serene?

omnis impulsus ruat
aether et atris nubibus condat diem, 675
ac uersa retro sidera obliquos agant
retorta cursus. tuque, sidereum caput,
radiate Titan, tu nefas stirpis tuae
speculare? lucem merge et in tenebras fuge.

let every impulse collapse
and let the aether bury the day in black clouds, 675
and, the stars turned backward, let them drive
their oblique courses reversed. And you, sidereal head,
radiant Titan, will you behold the nefarious wrong of your lineage?
gaze not—merge your light and flee into darkness.

cur dextra, diuum rector atque hominum, uacat 680
tua, nec trisulca mundus ardescit face?
in me tona, me fige, me uelox cremet
transactus ignis: sum nocens, merui mori:
placui nouercae. dignus en stupris ego?

why is the right hand, ruler of gods and men, idle 680
yours, and why does the world not blaze with the three-forked torch?
thunder upon me, pierce me, let the swift, shot-through fire consume me:
I am guilty, I have deserved to die:
I pleased my stepmother. Behold—am I worthy of defilements?

scelerique tanto uisus ego solus tibi 685

and for so great a crime have I alone seemed to you 685

materia facilis? hoc meus meruit rigor?
o scelere uincens omne femineum genus,
o maius ausa matre monstrifera malum
genetrice peior!

an easy material? Did my rigor merit this?
O, surpassing in crime the whole feminine race,
O, having dared a greater evil than a monster-bearing mother
worse than your genetrix!

illa se tantum stupro
contaminauit, et tamen tacitum diu 690
crimen biformi partus exhibuit nota,
scelusque matris arguit uultu truci
ambiguus infans--ille te uenter tulit.
o ter quaterque prospero fato dati
quos hausit et peremit et leto dedit 695
odium dolusque--genitor, inuideo tibi:
Colchide nouerca maius hoc, maius malum est.
Ph. Et ipsa nostrae fata cognosco domus:
fugienda petimus; sed mei non sum potens.

she alone defiled herself with rape,
and yet for a long time kept the crime silent, 690
the two-formed mark of her childbirth displayed it;
and the ambiguous infant, with a grim visage, accused the mother’s crime—
that womb bore you.
O thrice and four times those given by prosperous fate,
whom hatred and guile drained and destroyed and gave to death— 695
father, I envy you:
than a stepmother from Colchis, this is greater, a greater evil.
Ph. I too recognize the fates of our house:
we seek things that should be fled; but I am not master of myself.

te uel per ignes, per mare insanum sequar 700

I will follow you even through fires, through the mad sea 700

rupesque et amnes, unda quos torrens rapit;
quacumque gressus tuleris hac amens agar--
iterum, superbe, genibus aduoluor tuis.
Hi. Procul impudicos corpore a casto amoue
tactus--quid hoc est? etiam in amplexus ruit? 705
stringatur ensis, merita supplicia exigat.

crags and rivers, which the torrent wave snatches away;
whithersoever you carry your steps, mad I shall be driven there—
again, proud one, I roll myself to your knees.
Hi. Keep far away impudent touches from a chaste body—what is this? does she even rush into embraces? 705
let the sword be drawn, let it exact the merited punishments.

en impudicum crine contorto caput
laeua reflexi: iustior numquam focis
datus tuis est sanguis, arquitenens dea.
Ph. Hippolyte, nunc me compotem uoti facis; 710
sanas furentem. maius hoc uoto meo est,
saluo ut pudore manibus immoriar tuis.

lo, the impudent head with hair twisted I have bent back with my left hand:
never was blood more justly given to your hearths, bow-bearing goddess.
Ph. Hippolytus, now you make me possessor of my vow; 710
you make the furious sane. This is greater than my vow:
that, with modesty safe, I may die in your hands.

Hi. Abscede, uiue, ne quid exores, et hic
contactus ensis deserat castum latus.
quis eluet me Tanais aut quae barbaris 715

Hi. Withdraw, live; do not by entreaty win anything, and let this sword, by your contact, desert my chaste side.
what Tanais will wash me clean, or which among barbarian 715

Maeotis undis Pontico incumbens mari?
non ipse toto magnus Oceano pater
tantum expiarit sceleris. o siluae, o ferae!

Maeotis with its waves incumbent upon the Pontic sea?
not even great Father Ocean himself with the whole Ocean
could expiate so much of crime. O forests, O wild beasts!

Nvt. Deprensa culpa est. anime, quid segnis stupes?
regeramus ipsi crimen atque ultro impiam 720
Venerem arguamus: scelere uelandum est scelus;
tutissimum est inferre, cum timeas, gradum.

Nvt. The fault has been detected. My spirit, why, sluggish, do you stand stupefied?
let us ourselves turn back the charge and, moreover, arraign impious 720
Venus: crime must be veiled with crime;
the safest course is, when you fear, to advance a step.

ausae priores simus an passae nefas,
secreta cum sit culpa, quis testis sciet?
Adeste, Athenae! fida famulorum manus, 725
fer opem!

have we been the first to dare, or to have suffered the nefarious deed,
since the guilt is secret, what witness will know?
Come, Athenians! faithful band of servants, 725
bring aid!

nefandi raptor Hippolytus stupri
instat premitque, mortis intentat metum,
ferro pudicam terret--en praeceps abit
ensemque trepida liquit attonitus fuga.
pignus tenemus sceleris. hanc maestam prius 730

ravisher of nefarious defilement Hippolytus
presses on and bears down, and aims the fear of death,
with the steel he terrifies the chaste one--lo, headlong he goes,
and, thunderstruck, in trembling flight, he left his sword.
we hold a pledge of the crime. this sorrowful one first 730

recreate. crinis tractus et lacerae comae
ut sunt remaneant, facinoris tanti notae.
perferte in urbem!--Recipe iam sensus, era.

recover. let the hair dragged and the torn locks
remain as they are, marks of so great a crime.
carry her into the city!--Now recover your senses, mistress.

quid te ipsa lacerans omnium aspectus fugis?
mens impudicam facere, non casus, solet.                     735
         Chorvs Fugit insanae similis procellae,
ocior nubes glomerante Coro,
ocior cursum rapiente flamma,
stella cum uentis agitata longos
         porrigit ignes.                    740
Conferat tecum decus omne priscum
fama miratrix senioris aeui:
pulcrior tanto tua forma lucet,
clarior quanto micat orbe pleno
cum suos ignes coeunte cornu                    745

why, tearing yourself, do you flee the gaze of all?
it is the mind that is wont to make one unchaste, not chance.                    735
         Chorvs She flees like a squall of madness,
swifter than clouds with Corus agglomerating them,
swifter than a flame snatching its course,
when a star, driven by winds, stretches out long
         trails of fire.                    740
Let all ancient grace compare itself with you,
the fame, admirer of an elder age:
by so much the fairer your form shines,
the brighter, as much as it gleams with full orb,
when, its horns coalescing, it gathers its own fires.                    745

iunxit et curru properante pernox
exerit uultus rubicunda Phoebe
nec tenent stellae faciem minores;
talis est, primas referens tenebras,
nuntius noctis, modo lotus undis                    750
Hesperus, pulsis iterum tenebris
         Lucifer idem.
Et tu, thyrsigera Liber ab India,
intonsa iuuenis perpetuum coma,
tigres pampinea cuspide temperans                    755
ac mitra cohibens cornigerum caput,
non uinces rigidas Hippolyti comas.
ne uultus nimium suspicias tuos:
omnis per populos fabula distulit,
Phaedrae quem Bromio praetulerit soror.                    760

has yoked, and with her hastening chariot all‑night, the ruddy Phoebe displays her face,
nor do the lesser stars veil her countenance;
such is he, bringing back the first darknesses,
the messenger of night, Hesperus, just bathed in the waves,                    750
with the darkness driven off again, the same is Lucifer.
         And you too, thyrsus‑bearing Liber from India,
a youth unshorn, with perpetual hair,
taming tigers with a vine‑leafy spear‑point,                    755
and with a mitra restraining your horned head—
you will not surpass the rigid locks of Hippolytus.
do not gaze too much upon your own features:
the tale has spread through all peoples
whom the sister of Phaedra preferred to Bromius.                    760

         Anceps forma bonum mortalibus,
exigui donum breue temporis,
ut uelox celeri pede laberis!
non sic prata nouo uere decentia
aestatis calidae despoliat uapor                    765
(saeuit solstitio cum medius dies
et noctes breuibus praecipitat rotis),
languescunt folio lilia pallido
et gratae capiti deficiunt rosae,
ut fulgor teneris qui radiat genis                    770
momento rapitur nullaque non dies
formosi spolium corporis abstulit.
res est forma fugax: quis sapiens bono
confidat fragili?

         Beauty, a two-edged good for mortals,
a brief gift of scant time,
how swift you slip with speedy foot!
not thus are meadows, fair in the new spring,
despoiled by the vapor of hot summer,                    765
(it rages at the solstice when the mid-day
and with short wheels it hurls the nights),
lilies languish with a pallid leaf
and the roses, welcome to the head, fail,
just as the gleam which shines from tender cheeks                    770
in a moment is snatched, and there is no day
that has not taken plunder from a beautiful body.
beauty is a fugitive thing: what wise man would trust in a fragile good?

dum licet, utere.
tempus te tacitum subruit, horaque 775

while it is permitted, use it.
time tacitly undermines you, and the hour 775

semper praeterita deterior subit.
         Quid deserta petis? tutior auiis
non est forma locis: te nemore abdito,
cum Titan medium constituit diem,
cingent, turba licens, Naides improbae,                    780
formosos solitae claudere fontibus,
et somnis facient insidias tuis
         lasciuae nemorum deae
         montiuagiue Panes.

ever the worse succeeds what is past.
         Why do you seek deserted places? Beauty is not safer in pathless places:
not even in a hidden grove, when Titan has set the day at its midpoint,
will a wanton throng, the shameless Naiads, surround you,                    780
accustomed to shut in the fair at their fountains,
and they will lay ambushes for your slumbers—
         the lascivious goddesses of the groves
         and the mountain-roving Pans.

Aut te stellifero despiciens polo 785
sidus post ueteres Arcadas editum
currus non poterit flectere candidos.
en nuper rubuit, nullaque lucidis
nubes sordidior uultibus obstitit;
at nos solliciti numine turbido, 790

Or a star, looking down from the stelliferous pole, 785
set after the ancient Arcadians, will not be able to bend the bright chariots.
Look—just now it reddened, and no cloud, more sordid, stood against the shining faces;
but we, anxious, by a turbid numen, 790

tractam Thessalicis carminibus rati,
tinnitus dedimus: tu fueras labor
et tu causa morae, te dea noctium
dum spectat celeres sustinuit uias.
         Vexent hanc faciem frigora parcius,                    795
haec solem facies rarius appetat:
lucebit Pario marmore clarius.
quam grata est facies torua uiriliter
et pondus ueteris triste supercili!
Phoebo colla licet splendida compares:                    800
illum caesaries nescia colligi
perfundens umeros ornat et integit;
te frons hirta decet, te breuior coma
nulla lege iacens; tu licet asperos
pugnacesque deos uiribus audeas                    805

thinking her dragged by Thessalian charms,
we gave a ringing: you had been the toil,
and you the cause of delay; the goddess of nights,
while she gazes on you, held back her swift courses.
         Let frosts vex this face more sparingly,                    795
let this face seek the sun more rarely:
it will shine brighter than Parian marble.
how welcome is a grim face, manfully,
and the sad weight of an old-time brow!
though you may compare your splendid neck to Phoebus—                    800
his locks, unknowing to be gathered,
pouring over his shoulders adorn and cover him;
a shaggy forehead befits you, a shorter hair
lying by no rule; you, though, may dare the harsh
and pugnacious gods with your strength—                    805

et uasti spatio uincere corporis:
aequas Herculeos nam iuuenis toros,
Martis belligeri pectore latior.
si dorso libeat cornipedis uehi,
frenis Castorea mobilior manu 810
Spartanum poteris flectere Cyllaron.
Ammentum digitis tende prioribus
et totis iaculum derige uiribus:
tam longe, dociles spicula figere,
non mittent gracilem Cretes harundinem. 815
aut si tela modo spargere Parthico
in caelum placeat, nulla sine alite
descendent, tepido uiscere condita
praedam de mediis nubibus afferent.

and to conquer by the expanse of a vast body:
for, young man, you equal herculean muscles,
broader in chest than belligerent mars.
if it should please you to ride on the back of the hoof-footed steed,
with the reins more nimble than the castorean hand 810
you will be able to turn the spartan cyllarus.
stretch the throwing-thong with your forefingers
and aim the javelin with all your forces:
so far, those skilled to fix the darts,
the cretans will not send the slender reed. 815
or if it should please you now to scatter missiles in parthian fashion
into the sky, none will descend without a winged creature,
buried in warm viscera,
they will bring prey from the middle of the clouds.

Raris forma uiris (saecula perspice) 820

Beauty is rare in men (look through the ages) 820

impunita fuit. te melior deus
tutum praetereat formaque nobilis
deformis senii monstret imaginem.
Quid sinat inausum feminae praeceps furor?

it went unpunished. May a kinder god let you pass safe, and may noble beauty show the image of misshapen senility.
What will a woman’s headlong frenzy allow to go unattempted?

nefanda iuueni crimina insonti apparat.                    825
en scelera! quaerit crine lacerato fidem,
decus omne turbat capitis, umectat genas:
instruitur omni fraude feminea dolus.
         Sed iste quisnam est regium in uultu decus
gerens et alto uertice attollens caput?                    830
ut ora iuueni paria Pittheo gerit,
ni languido pallore canderent genae
staretque recta squalor incultus coma!

she prepares unspeakable crimes for the innocent youth.                    825
lo, the crimes! she seeks credibility with hair torn,
she throws into disorder every adornment of the head, she wets her cheeks:
the deceit is equipped with every feminine fraud.
         But who is that one, wearing royal splendor in his countenance
and raising his head with lofty vertex?                    830
how he bears a face equal to the Pitthean youth,
if only his cheeks were not white with languid pallor
and his unkempt hair, in squalor, did not stand straight!

en ipse Theseus redditus terris adest.
Thesevs Tandem profugi noctis aeternae plagam 835

behold, Theseus himself, returned to the lands, is here.
Theseus At last I have fled the region of eternal night 835

uastoque manes carcere umbrantem polum,
et uix cupitum sufferunt oculi diem.
iam quarta Eleusin dona Triptolemi secat
paremque totiens libra composuit diem,
ambiguus ut me sortis ignotae labor 840
detinuit inter mortis et uitae mala.
pars una uitae mansit extincto mihi,
sensus malorum; finis Alcides fuit,
qui cum reuulsum Tartaro abstraheret canem,
me quoque supernas pariter ad sedes tulit. 845
sed fessa uirtus robore antiquo caret
trepidantque gressus.

and the shades, in their vast prison, shadowing the sky,
and my eyes scarcely endure the longed-for day.
already for the fourth time one reaps the Eleusinian gifts of Triptolemus,
and just so many times has the Balance composed an equal day,
so that an ambiguous toil of an unknown lot held me 840
detained between the evils of death and of life.
one part of life remained to me, though extinguished: the sense of sufferings;
Alcides was the end,
who, when he was dragging the dog torn from Tartarus,
bore me too likewise to the seats above. 845
but my exhausted strength lacks its ancient vigor,
and my steps tremble.

heu, labor quantus fuit
Phlegethonte ab imo petere longinquum aethera
pariterque mortem fugere et Alciden sequi.
Quis fremitus aures flebilis pepulit meas? 850

alas, how great was the labor
to seek the far aether from the deepest Phlegethon,
and at the same time to flee death and to follow Alcides.
What mournful roaring has smitten my ears? 850

expromat aliquis. luctus et lacrimae et dolor,
in limine ipso maesta lamentatio?
hospitia digna prorsus inferno hospite.

let someone bring it forth. grief and tears and pain,
on the very threshold a mournful lamentation?
lodgings quite worthy of an infernal guest.

Nvtrix Tenet obstinatum Phaedra consilium necis
fletusque nostros spernit ac morti imminet. 855
Th. Quae causa leti? reduce cur moritur uiro?
Nvt. Haec ipsa letum causa maturum attulit.

Nvtrix Phaedra holds fast an obstinate counsel of murder,
and she spurns our tears and is on the verge of death. 855
Th. What is the cause of death? Why does she die with her husband returned?
Nvt. This very cause has brought an early death.

Th. Perplexa magnum uerba nescioquid tegunt.
effare aperte, quis grauet mentem dolor.
Nvt. Haut pandit ulli; maesta secretum occulit 860
statuitque secum ferre quo moritur malum.

Th. Perplexed words hide I-know-not-what great thing.
speak out openly, what grief burdens the mind.
Nvt. She reveals it to no one; sorrowful she conceals the secret 860
and has resolved to bear with herself into death the ill by which she dies.

iam perge, quaeso, perge: properato est opus.
Th. Reserate clausos regii postes laris.
O socia thalami, sicine aduentum uiri
et expetiti coniugis uultum excipis? 865

now go on, I beg, go on: there is need of hastening.
Th. Unbar the closed doorposts of the royal dwelling.
O partner of the bedchamber, is it thus you receive the arrival of your husband
and the visage of the much-desired spouse? 865

quin ense uiduas dexteram atque animum mihi
restituis et te quidquid e uita fugat
expromis? Ph. Eheu, per tui sceptrum imperi,
magnanime Theseu, perque natorum indolem
tuosque reditus perque iam cineres meos, 870
permitte mortem. Th. Causa quae cogit mori?

why not with the sword restore to me my widowed right hand and spirit,
and express whatever drives you from life? Ph. Alas, by the scepter of your empire,
magnanimous Theseus, and by the inborn nature of our sons,
and by your returns, and by my ashes already, 870
allow death. Th. What cause compels you to die?

Ph. Si causa leti dicitur, fructus perit.
Th. Nemo istud alius, me quidem excepto, audiet.
Ph. Aures pudica coniugis solas timet.

Ph. If the cause of death is spoken, the fruit perishes.
Th. No one else, myself indeed excepted, will hear this.
Ph. She fears only the ears of a modest spouse.

Th. Effare: fido pectore arcana occulam. 875
Ph. Alium silere quod uoles, primus sile.
Th. Leti facultas nulla continget tibi.

Th. Speak out: I will conceal your secrets in a faithful breast. 875
Ph. If you want another to be silent, be the first to be silent.
Th. No opportunity for death will befall you.

Ph. Mori uolenti desse mors numquam potest.
Th. Quod sit luendum morte delictum indica.
Ph. Quod uiuo.

Ph. Death can never fail one who wills to die.
Th. Point out what delict is to be expiated by death.
Ph. That I live.

Th. Lacrimae nonne te nostrae mouent? 880

Th. Do our tears not move you? 880

Ph. Mors optima est perire lacrimandum suis.
Th. Silere pergit.--uerbere ac uinclis anus
altrixque prodet quidquid haec fari abnuit.
Vincite ferro.

Ph. Death is best: to perish, to be wept for by one’s own.
Th. He continues to be silent.—By lash and by chains the old woman and the nurse will disclose whatever this one refuses to speak.
Bind with iron.

uerberum uis extrahat
secreta mentis. Ph. Ipsa iam fabor, mane. 885
Th. Quidnam ora maesta auertis et lacrimas genis
subito coortas ueste praetenta optegis?
Ph. Te te, creator caelitum, testem inuoco,
et te, coruscum lucis aetheriae iubar,
ex cuius ortu nostra dependet domus: 890
temptata precibus restiti; ferro ac minis
non cessit animus: uim tamen corpus tulit.

let the force of blows extract
the secrets of the mind. Ph. I myself will now speak; wait. 885
Th. Why do you turn your sad face away, and with your garment held before it do you cover the tears
that have suddenly sprung up upon your cheeks?
Ph. Thee, thee, creator of the celestials, I call as witness,
and thee, the coruscant beam of aetherial light,
on whose rising our house depends: 890
beset by entreaties I resisted; to steel and threats
my spirit did not yield: yet my body bore the force.

labem hanc pudoris eluet noster cruor.
Th. Quis, ede, nostri decoris euersor fuit?
Ph. Quem rere minime.

this stain upon modesty our blood will wash away.
Th. Who, tell, was the subverter of our decorum?
Ph. The one whom you would least suppose.

Th. Quis sit audire expeto. 895

Th. I long to hear who it is. 895

Ph. Hic dicet ensis, quem tumultu territus
liquit stuprator ciuium accursum timens.
Th. Quod facinus, heu me, cerno? quod monstrum intuor?

Ph. Here this sword will speak, which the violator, terrified by the tumult, left behind, fearing the onrush of the citizens.
liquit stuprator ciuium accursum timens.
Th. What crime—alas for me—do I see? what monster do I behold?

regale patriis asperum signis ebur
capulo refulget, gentis Actaeae decus. 900
sed ipse quonam euasit? Ph. Hi trepidum fuga
uidere famuli concitum celeri pede.
Th. Pro sancta Pietas, pro gubernator poli
et qui secundum fluctibus regnum moues,
unde ista uenit generis infandi lues? 905
hunc Graia tellus aluit an Taurus Scythes
Colchusque Phasis?

royal ivory, rough with ancestral signs, gleams on the hilt— the glory of the Actaean race. 900
but where has he himself escaped to? Ph. These servants saw the frightened man, spurred on in flight with swift foot.
Th. O holy Piety, O helmsman of the pole, and you who sway the second realm on the waves,
whence has this plague of an unspeakable lineage come? 905
did Greek earth nourish this man, or the Scythian Taurus and the Colchian Phasis?

redit ad auctores genus
stirpemque primam degener sanguis refert.
est prorsus iste gentis armiferae furor,
odisse Veneris foedera et castum diu 910

the race returns to its authors
and degenerate blood recalls the first stock.
this is outright the fury of the arms-bearing nation,
to hate the covenants of Venus and to be chaste for a long time 910

uulgare populis corpus. o taetrum genus
nullaque uictum lege melioris soli!
ferae quoque ipsae Veneris euitant nefas,
generisque leges inscius seruat pudor.

to make the body common to the peoples. o foul breed, and subdued by no law of a better soil!
even the beasts themselves shun the nefas of Venus,
and, unknowing, modesty keeps the laws of the race.

Vbi uultus ille et ficta maiestas uiri 915
atque habitus horrens, prisca et antiqua appetens,
morumque senium triste et affectus graues?
o uita fallax, abditos sensus geris
animisque pulcram turpibus faciem induis:
pudor impudentem celat, audacem quies, 920
pietas nefandum; uera fallaces probant
simulantque molles dura. siluarum incola
ille efferatus castus intactus rudis,
mihi te reseruas?

Where is that face and the feigned majesty of the man, 915
and the bristling bearing, aspiring to the pristine and antique,
and the sad senility of morals and grave affections?
O deceitful life, you carry hidden senses
and you put a beautiful face upon foul spirits:
shame hides the shameless, quiet the audacious, 920
piety [hides] the unspeakable; truths give credit to the deceitful,
and the soft simulate the hard. The dweller of the woods,
that wild one, chaste, untouched, unrefined—
do you reserve yourself for me?

a meo primum toro
et scelere tanto placuit ordiri uirum? 925

From my own bed first,
and with so great a crime, did it please to begin with the man? 925

iam iam superno numini grates ago,
quod icta nostra cecidit Antiope manu,
quod non ad antra Stygia descendens tibi
matrem reliqui. Profugus ignotas procul
percurre gentes: te licet terra ultimo                    930
summota mundo dirimat Oceani plagis
orbemque nostris pedibus obuersum colas,
licet in recessu penitus extremo abditus
horrifera celsi regna transieris poli
hiemesque supra positus et canas niues                    935
gelidi frementes liqueris Boreae minas
post te furentes, sceleribus poenas dabis.
profugum per omnis pertinax latebras premam:
longinqua clausa abstrusa diuersa inuia
emetiemur, nullus obstabit locus:                    940

now, now I give thanks to the supernal numen,
that Antiope, struck by my hand, fell,
that, descending to the Stygian caverns,
I did not leave to you a mother. As a fugitive, far off, run through unknown nations:
even if a land removed at the farthest limit of the world should sever you with the regions of Ocean,                    930
and you should dwell in an orb set opposite to our feet,
even if, hidden deep in the uttermost recess, you have crossed beyond
the dread realms of the lofty pole, and, placed above winters and hoary snows,
you should leave behind you the roaring threats of icy Boreas raging after you,                    935
for your crimes you will pay the penalties.
As a fugitive I, relentless, will press you through every hiding-place:
far-off, closed, concealed, diverse, trackless places
we shall traverse; no place will stand in the way.                    940

scis unde redeam. tela quo mitti haud queunt,
huc uota mittam: genitor aequoreus dedit
ut uota prono terna concipiam deo,
et inuocata munus hoc sanxit Styge.
En perage donum triste, regnator freti! 945
non cernat ultra lucidum Hippolytus diem
adeatque manes iuuenis iratos patri.

You know whence I return. Where missiles cannot be sent,
to this place I will send vows: my sea-born begetter granted
that I might conceive three vows to a propitious god,
and, the Styx invoked, he sanctioned this boon.
Lo, accomplish the grim gift, ruler of the strait! 945
let Hippolytus no longer behold the lucid day,
and let the youth approach the Manes, wrathful toward his father.

fer abominandam nunc opem gnato, parens:
numquam supremum numinis munus tui
consumeremus, magna ni premerent mala; 950
inter profunda Tartara et Ditem horridum
et imminentes regis inferni minas,
uoto peperci: redde nunc pactam fidem.--
genitor, moraris? cur adhuc undae silent?
nunc atra uentis nubila impellentibus 955

bear now the abominable aid to your son, father:
we would never consume the supreme boon of your divinity, if great evils were not pressing; 950
amid the deep Tartarus and horrid Dis
and the imminent menaces of the king of the underworld,
I spared my vow: now render the pledged faith.--
father, do you delay? why are the waves still silent?
now black clouds, the winds driving 955

subtexe noctem, sidera et caelum eripe,
effunde pontum, uulgus aequoreum cie
fluctusque ab ipso tumidus Oceano uoca.
         Chorvs O magna parens, Natura, deum
tuque igniferi rector Olympi,                     960
qui sparsa cito sidera mundo
cursusque uagos rapis astrorum
celerique polos cardine uersas,
cur tanta tibi cura perennes
agitare uices aetheris alti,                    965
ut nunc canae frigora brumae
         nudent siluas,
nunc arbustis redeant umbrae,
nunc aestiui colla leonis
Cererem magno feruore coquant                    970

underweave night, snatch away the stars and the sky,
pour out the deep, stir the sea-throng,
and call waves, swollen, from Ocean himself.
         Chorus O great parent, Nature, of the gods,
and you, ruler of fire-bearing Olympus,                     960
who swiftly sweep the stars scattered through the world
and seize the wandering courses of the stars,
and turn the poles on the swift axle,
why is such care yours to agitate the perennial vicissitudes of the high aether,                    965
that now the hoary chills of winter
         strip the forests,
now shades return to the orchards,
now the neck of the aestival lion
cooks Ceres with great fervor                    970

uiresque suas temperet annus?
sed cur idem qui tanta regis,
sub quo uasti pondera mundi
librata suos ducunt orbes,
hominum nimium securus abes,                    975
non sollicitus prodesse bonis,
         nocuisse malis?
         Res humanas ordine nullo
Fortuna regit sparsitque manu
munera caeca peiora fouens:                    980
uincit sanctos dira libido,
fraus sublimi regnat in aula;
tradere turpi fasces populus
gaudet, eosdem colit atque odit.
tristis uirtus peruersa tulit                    985

and may the year temper its powers?
but why do you, the same who rules such great things,
under whom the balanced weights of the vast world
lead their own orbits,
too unconcerned about men are you away, not anxious to profit the good,                    975
to have harmed the bad?
         Human affairs with no order
         Fortune governs, and with her blind hand
she has scattered gifts, fostering worse things:                     980
dread lust conquers the holy,
fraud reigns in the sublime hall;
the people rejoices to hand the fasces to the base,
and the same it worships and hates.
grim Virtue has borne perverse things                    985

         praemia recti:
castos sequitur mala paupertas
uitioque potens regnat adulter--
o uane pudor falsumque decus!
         Sed quid citato nuntius portat gradu
rigatque maestis lugubrem uultum genis?                    990
         Nvntivs O sors acerba et dura, famulatus grauis,
cur me ad nefandi nuntium casus uocas?
Th. Ne metue cladis fortiter fari asperas:
non imparatum pectus aerumnis gero.

         the rewards of rectitude:
evil poverty follows the chaste,
and the adulterer, powerful by vice, reigns—
O vain modesty and false honor!
         But what does the messenger bring at a hurried pace,
and why does he wet his gloomy countenance with mournful cheeks?                    990
         Messenger O bitter and hard fate, grievous servitude,
why do events call me to the message of an unspeakable disaster?
Th. Do not fear to speak boldly the harsh things of the disaster:
I bear a heart not unprepared for hardships.

Nvn. Vocem dolori lingua luctificam negat. 995
Th. Proloquere, quae sors aggrauet quassam domum.
Nvn. Hippolytus, heu me, flebili leto occubat.
Th. Gnatum parens obisse iam pridem scio:
nunc raptor obiit.

Nvn. The tongue denies to grief a mournful voice. 995
Th. Speak forth, what fate aggravates the shattered house.
Nvn. Hippolytus—alas for me—lies in lamentable death.
Th. A parent knows the son has died long since: now the ravisher has died.

mortis effare ordinem.
Nvn. Vt profugus urbem liquit infesto gradu 1000

Speak forth the order of the death.
Nvn. As, an exile, he left the city with a hostile step 1000

celerem citatis passibus cursum explicans,
celso sonipedes ocius subigit iugo
et ora frenis domita substrictis ligat.
tum multa secum effatus et patrium solum
abominatus saepe genitorem ciet 1005
acerque habenis lora permissis quatit:
cum subito uastum tonuit ex alto mare
creuitque in astra. nullus inspirat salo
uentus, quieti nulla pars caeli strepit
placidumque pelagus propria tempestas agit. 1010
non tantus Auster Sicula disturbat freta
nec tam furens Ionius exsurgit sinus
regnante Coro, saxa cum fluctu tremunt
et cana summum spuma Leucaten ferit.

unfolding a swift course with quickened steps,
he more swiftly brings the horse-footed steeds beneath the lofty yoke
and binds their mouths, tamed by tightened reins.
then, having said many things with himself and, detesting his native soil,
he often calls upon his begetter 1005
and fiercely, with the reins let loose, he shakes the straps:
when suddenly the vast sea thundered from the deep
and rose to the stars. no wind breathes upon the brine,
no part of the quiet sky makes a din,
and a storm of its own drives the placid sea. 1010
not so great a South Wind disturbs the Sicilian straits,
nor does the Ionian gulf rise up so raging with Corus reigning,
when the rocks tremble with the surge
and hoary foam strikes the top of Leucate.

consurgit ingens pontus in uastum aggerem, 1015

the mighty sea rises into a vast rampart, 1015

[tumidumque monstro pelagus in terras ruit]
nec ista ratibus tanta construitur lues:
terris minatur; fluctus haud cursu leui
prouoluitur; nescioquid onerato sinu
grauis unda portat. quae nouum tellus caput 1020
ostendet astris? Cyclas exoritur noua?

[and the swollen sea, as a prodigy, rushes onto the lands]
nor is so great a plague constructed for ships:
it threatens the lands; the billow is not rolled forward in a light course;
the heavy wave carries I-know-not-what in its burdened bosom. What new head will the earth 1020
show to the stars? Is a new Cyclad arising?

latuere rupes numine Epidauri dei
et scelere petrae nobiles Scironides
et quae duobus terra comprimitur fretis.
Haec dum stupentes sequimur, en totum mare 1025
immugit, omnes undique scopuli adstrepunt;
summum cacumen rorat expulso sale,
spumat uomitque uicibus alternis aquas
qualis per alta uehitur Oceani freta
fluctum refundens ore physeter capax. 1030

the cliffs lay hidden by the numen of the Epidaurian god
and the Scironian rocks, noble for crime,
and the land which is compressed by two straits.
While, astonished, we follow these, lo, the whole sea 1025
bellows, all the crags on every side resound;
the topmost summit drips with expelled salt,
it foams and, in alternating turns, vomits waters,
like a capacious physeter borne through the deep straits of Ocean,
pouring back a billow from its mouth. 1030

inhorruit concussus undarum globus
soluitque sese et litori inuexit malum
maius timore, pontus in terras ruit
suumque monstrum sequitur--os quassat tremor.
         Quis habitus ille corporis uasti fuit!                    1035
caerulea taurus colla sublimis gerens
erexit altam fronte uiridanti iubam;
stant hispidae aures, orbibus uarius color,
et quem feri dominator habuisset gregis
et quem sub undis natus: hinc flammam uomunt                    1040
oculi, hinc relucent caerula insignes nota;
opima ceruix arduos tollit toros
naresque hiulcis haustibus patulae fremunt;
musco tenaci pectus ac palear uiret,
longum rubenti spargitur fuco latus;                    1045

the concussed globe of the waves bristled
and loosed itself and carried to the shore an evil
greater than fear; the sea rushes onto the lands
and follows its own monster—my mouth a tremor shakes.
         What was that aspect of the vast body!                    1035
a bull, lofty, bearing cerulean necks,
he raised a high mane with a verdant brow;
bristly ears stand; the color variegated in orbs,
both such as the dominator of a savage herd would have had,
and such as one born beneath the waves: on this side the eyes vomit flame,                    1040
on that the cerulean parts re-lucent, distinguished by a mark;
the opulent neck lifts up steep muscle-knots,
and the wide nostrils roar with gaping draughts;
the chest and dewlap are green with clinging moss,
the long flank is sprinkled with ruddy fucus;                    1045

tum pone tergus ultima in monstrum coit
facies et ingens belua immensam trahit
squamosa partem. talis extremo mari
pistrix citatas sorbet aut frangit rates.
Tremuere terrae, fugit attonitum pecus 1050
passim per agros, nec suos pastor sequi
meminit iuuencos; omnis e saltu fera
diffugit, omnis frigido exsanguis metu
uenator horret.

then at the back the last form coalesces into the monster,
and the huge beast drags along an immense scaly part.
such, in the farthest sea, a pistrix swallows or breaks sped ships.
The lands trembled, the thunderstruck herd flees 1050
everywhere through the fields, nor does the shepherd remember to follow
his own steers; every wild creature flees from the woodland,
every huntsman, bloodless with icy fear, shudders.

solus immunis metu
Hippolytus artis continet frenis equos 1055
pauidosque notae uocis hortatu ciet.
Est alta ad Argos collibus ruptis uia,
uicina tangens spatia suppositi maris;
hic se illa moles acuit atque iras parat.
ut cepit animos seque praetemptans satis 1060

alone immune from fear
Hippolytus with art holds the horses in with reins 1055
and, by the hortation of a known voice, rouses the fearful.
There is a high road to Argos, with hills broken,
skirting the near spaces of the sea set beneath;
here that mass sharpens itself and prepares its wraths.
when it has seized their spirits and, pre-testing itself enough, 1060

prolusit irae, praepeti cursu euolat,
summam citato uix gradu tangens humum,
et torua currus ante trepidantis stetit.
contra feroci gnatus insurgens minax
uultu nec ora mutat et magnum intonat:                     1065
'haud frangit animum uanus hic terror meum:
nam mihi paternus uincere est tauros labor.'
         Inobsequentes protinus frenis equi
rapuere cursum iamque derrantes uia,
quacumque rabidos pauidus euexit furor,                    1070
hac ire pergunt seque per scopulos agunt.
at ille, qualis turbido rector mari
ratem retentat, ne det obliquum latus,
et arte fluctum fallit, haud aliter citos
currus gubernat: ora nunc pressis trahit                    1075

it made a prelude to wrath, it flies out with a precipitate course,
scarcely touching the surface of the ground with a quickened pace,
and stood grim before the quivering chariot.
in reply the son, rising up with a menacing, ferocious countenance,
does not change his features and thunders a great speech:                    1065
‘this vain terror does not break my spirit:
for me, a paternal labor is to conquer bulls.’
         Straightway the horses, disobedient to the reins,
snatched into a run, and now wandering from the road,
wherever fearful frenzy has carried the rabid beasts, by that way they press to go and drive themselves over crags;                    1070
but he, just as a pilot on a turbulent sea
keeps the ship in hand, lest it present its side askew,
and by art deceives the wave—no otherwise he governs
the swift chariot: now he draws in their mouths with the bits pressed tight,                    1075

constricta frenis, terga nunc torto frequens
uerbere coercet. sequitur adsiduus comes,
nunc aequa carpens spatia, nunc contra obuius
oberrat, omni parte terrorem mouens.
non licuit ultra fugere: nam toto obuius 1080
incurrit ore corniger ponti horridus.

their mouths constrained by the reins, now with a twisted lash he frequently restrains
their backs. An assiduous companion follows,
now traversing equal stretches, now, contrariwise, meeting him in his path,
he roves about, moving terror on every side.
it was not permitted to flee further: for, full-front to meet him 1080
there charges, with gaping mouth, the horn-bearing, horrid one of the sea.

tum uero pauida sonipedes mente exciti
imperia soluunt seque luctantur iugo
eripere rectique in pedes iactant onus.
Praeceps in ora fusus implicuit cadens 1085
laqueo tenaci corpus et quanto magis
pugnat, sequaces hoc magis nodos ligat.
sensere pecudes facinus--et curru leui,
dominante nullo, qua timor iussit ruunt.

then indeed the steeds, roused with a fearful mind,
loosen the commands and struggle to tear themselves from the yoke,
and, upright upon their feet, they toss the burden.
Headlong, spilled upon their mouths, falling he entwined 1085
his body in the tenacious noose, and the more
he fights, so much the more he binds the pursuing knots.
the beasts sensed the deed—and with the light chariot,
with no one controlling, they rush where fear ordered.

talis per auras non suum agnoscens onus 1090

such through the airs, not recognizing its own burden 1090

Solique falso creditum indignans diem
Phaethonta currus deuium excussit polo.
Late cruentat arua et inlisum caput
scopulis resultat; auferunt dumi comas,
et ora durus pulcra populatur lapis 1095
peritque multo uulnere infelix decor.
moribunda celeres membra peruoluunt rotae;
tandemque raptum truncus ambusta sude
medium per inguen stipite ingesto tenet;
[paulumque domino currus affixo stetit] 1100
haesere biiuges uulnere--et pariter moram
dominumque rumpunt.

Indignant that the day had been falsely entrusted to the Sun,
the chariot, wandering from the pole, shook Phaethon off.
Widely it bloodies the fields, and his head, dashed against rocks,
rebounds; brambles carry off his hair,
and the hard stone ravages his fair face, 1095
and his unhappy beauty perishes by many a wound.
The swift wheels roll over his dying limbs;
and at last a tree-trunk holds the snatched-up man, with a charred stake
thrust through the middle at the groin;
[and the chariot stood for a little with its master affixed] 1100
the two-horse team stuck fast by the wound—and together they break
both the hindrance and their master.

inde semianimem secant
uirgulta, acutis asperi uepres rubis
omnisque ruscus corporis partem tulit.
Errant per agros funebris famuli manus, 1105

then the thickets cut the half-alive
the brambles of the harsh briar with sharp thorns
and every ruscus carried off a part of the body.
Funereal servants’ hands wander through the fields, 1105

per illa qua distractus Hippolytus loca
longum cruenta tramitem signat nota,
maestaeque domini membra uestigant canes.
necdum dolentum sedulus potuit labor
explere corpus--hocine est formae decus? 1110
qui modo paterni clarus imperii comes
et certus heres siderum fulsit modo,
passim ad supremos ille colligitur rogos
et funeri confertur. Th. O nimium potens
quanto parentes sanguinis uinclo tenes 1115
natura!

through those places where Hippolytus, torn asunder,
marks a long track with a blood-stained sign,
and the sorrowful dogs track the limbs of their master.
nor yet has the assiduous labor of the grieving been able
to complete the body--is this the beauty of his form? 1110
he who but now, illustrious companion of paternal empire,
and sure heir of the stars, did shine but now,
everywhere he is gathered to the last pyres
and is brought together for the funeral. Th. O too powerful,
how greatly you hold parents by the bond of blood, Nature! 1115

quam te colimus inuiti quoque!
occidere uolui noxium, amissum fleo.
Nvn. Haud flere honeste quisque quod uoluit potest.

how we honor you even unwilling!
I wanted to kill the noxious one, I weep for him lost.
Nvn. Not everyone can honorably weep for what he wanted.

Th. Equidem malorum maximum hunc cumulum reor,
si abominanda casus optanda efficit. 1120

Th. Indeed I reckon this the greatest heap of evils,
if chance makes things to be abominated into things to be desired. 1120

Nvn. Et si odia seruas, cur madent fletu genae?
Th. Quod interemi, non quod amisi, fleo.
Chorvs Quanti casus, heu, magna rotant!

Nvn. And if you harbor hatreds, why are your cheeks wet with tears?
Th. I weep for what I have slain, not for what I have lost.
Chorvs How many disasters, alas, do great things whirl!

minor in paruis Fortuna furit
leuiusque ferit leuiora deus;                    1125
seruat placidos obscura quies
praebetque senes casa securos.
         Admota aetheriis culmina sedibus
Euros excipiunt, excipiunt Notos,
         insani Boreae minas                    1130
         imbriferumque Corum.
         Raros patitur fulminis ictus
         umida uallis:
tremuit telo Iouis altisoni
Caucasus ingens Phrygiumque nemus                    1135

Fortune rages less among small things,
and the god strikes the lighter things more lightly;                    1125
obscure quiet preserves the placid,
and the cottage provides the old men secure.
         Roofs brought near to the aetherial seats
receive Eurus, receive Notus,
         the threats of raging Boreas                    1130
         and rainy Corus.
         The moist valley suffers rare strokes
         of lightning:
the huge Caucasus and the Phrygian grove
have trembled at the weapon of high-thundering Jove.                    1135

matris Cybeles: metuens caelo
Iuppiter alto uicina petit;
non capit umquam magnos motus
humilis tecti plebeia domus.
         [circa regna tonat]                    1140
         Volat ambiguis mobilis alis
hora, nec ulli praestat uelox
         Fortuna fidem:
hic qui clari sidera mundi
nitidumque diem * * * morte relicta                    1145
luget maestos tristis reditus
ipsoque magis flebile Auerno
sedis patriae uidet hospitium.
         Pallas Actaeae ueneranda genti,
quod tuus caelum superosque Theseus                    1150

of mother Cybele: fearful, from the high heaven
Jupiter seeks what lies near;
never does the plebeian house of a humble roof
contain great commotions.
         [he thunders around the realms]                    1140
         The mobile hour flies on ambiguous wings,
and swift Fortune keeps faith with no one:
         here he who [beholds] the stars of the bright world
and the shining day * * * with death left behind                    1145
mourns sad returns,
and, more weep-worthy than Avernus itself,
as a guest he sees the dwelling of his fatherland.
         Pallas, venerable to the Actaean race,
because your Theseus [has] the sky and the gods above                    1150

spectat et fugit Stygias paludes,
casta nil debes patruo rapaci:
constat inferno numerus tyranno.
         Quae uox ab altis flebilis tectis sonat
strictoque uecors Phaedra quid ferro parat?                    1155
         Thesevs Quis te dolore percitam instigat furor?
quid ensis iste quidue uociferatio
planctusque supra corpus inuisum uolunt?

she looks upon and flees the Stygian marshes,
chaste one, you owe nothing to your rapacious uncle:
the tally stands fixed for the infernal tyrant.
         What plaintive voice sounds from the lofty roofs,
and what is mad Phaedra preparing with drawn steel?                    1155
         Theseus What madness instigates you, smitten with grief?
what do that sword, and what does the vociferation,
and the breast-beating over the detested body, intend?

         Phaedra Me me, profundi saeue dominator freti,
inuade et in me monstra caerulei maris                    1160
emitte, quidquid intimo Tethys sinu
extrema gestat, quidquid Oceanus uagis
complexus undis ultimo fluctu tegit.
O dure Theseu semper, o numquam tuis
tuto reuerse: gnatus et genitor nece                    1165

         Phaedra Me, me, cruel dominator of the deep sea,
invade, and against me send forth the monsters of the cerulean sea,                    1160
whatever Tethys bears in her inmost bosom at the furthest bounds,
whatever Ocean, having encompassed with wandering waves,
covers with its utmost billow.
O hard Theseus always, O never safely returned to your own:
a son and a father by death                    1165

reditus tuos luere; peruertis domum
amore semper coniugum aut odio nocens.
Hippolyte, tales intuor uultus tuos
talesque feci? membra quis saeuus Sinis
aut quis Procrustes sparsit aut quis Cresius, 1170
Daedalea uasto claustra mugitu replens,
taurus biformis ore cornigero ferox
diuulsit?

to pay for your returns; you pervert the house,
harmful always by the love of wives or by their hate.
Hippolytus, do I behold such your features—
and have I made them such? What savage Sinis
or what Procrustes scattered your limbs, or what Cretan, 1170
filling the Daedalean enclosures with vast bellowing—
the two-formed bull, fierce with horn-bearing mouth,
tore you asunder?

heu me, quo tuus fugit decor
oculique nostrum sidus? exanimis iaces?
ades parumper uerbaque exaudi mea. 1175
nil turpe loquimur: hac manu poenas tibi
soluam et nefando pectori ferrum inseram,
animaque Phaedram pariter ac scelere exuam.

alas for me, where has your grace fled,
and the star of my eyes? do you lie lifeless?
be present for a little while and hear my words. 1175
we speak nothing shameful: with this hand I will pay you the penalties,
and into my nefarious breast I will drive the steel,
and I will strip Phaedra alike of life and of crime.

[et te per undas perque Tartareos lacus,
per Styga, per amnes igneos amens sequar] 1180

[and, mad, I will follow you through the waves and through the Tartarean lakes,
through the Styx, through the fiery rivers] 1180

placemus umbras: capitis exuuias cape
laceraeque frontis accipe abscisam comam.
non licuit animos iungere, at certe licet
iunxisse fata. morere, si casta es, uiro;
si incesta, amori.

let us appease the shades: take the spoils of the head;
and receive the shorn hair of the torn forehead.
it was not permitted to join spirits, yet surely it is permitted
to have joined fates. die, if you are chaste, for your husband;
if unchaste, for your love.

coniugis thalamos petam                    1185
tanto impiatos facinore? hoc derat nefas,
ut uindicato sancta fruereris toro.
o mors amoris una sedamen mali,
o mors pudoris maximum laesi decus,
confugimus ad te: pande placatos sinus.                    1190
         Audite, Athenae, tuque, funesta pater
peior nouerca: falsa memoraui et nefas,
quod ipsa demens pectore insano hauseram,
mentita finxi.

Shall I seek my husband’s bridal-chamber                    1185
fouled by so great a crime? Was this outrage all that was lacking,
that you might enjoy the sacred couch, once vengeance had been exacted?
O death, the sole assuagement of love’s evil,
O death, the greatest adornment of modesty once injured,
we flee to you: open your appeased bosom-folds.                    1190
         Hear, Athenians, and you, father more deadly than a stepmother:
I recounted falsehoods and an impiety,
which I myself, out of my senses, had drunk in with a maddened heart—
I fabricated it, feigning.

uana punisti pater,
iuuenisque castus crimine incesto iacet, 1195

Father, you punished vain things,
and the chaste youth lies under an incestuous crime, 1195

pudicus, insons--recipe iam mores tuos.
mucrone pectus impium iusto patet
cruorque sancto soluit inferias uiro.
Th. Quid facere rapto debeas gnato parens,
disce a nouerca: condere Acherontis plagis. 1200
Pallidi fauces Auerni uosque, Taenarii specus,
unda miseris grata Lethes uosque, torpentes lacus,
impium rapite atque mersum premite perpetuis malis.

chaste, guiltless—now reclaim your character.
by a just blade the impious breast lies open,
and the blood pays funeral offerings to the holy man.
Th. What you ought to do, parent, bereft of your son,
learn from the stepmother: to be buried in the regions of Acheron. 1200
Pale jaws of Avernus, and you, cavern of Taenarus,
wave of Lethe welcome to the wretched, and you, torpid lakes,
seize the impious man and, once submerged, press him down with perpetual evils.

nunc adeste, saeua ponti monstra, nunc uasti maris,
ultimo quodcumque Proteus aequorum abscondit sinu, 1205
meque ouantem scelere tanto rapite in altos gurgites.
Tuque semper, genitor, irae facilis assensor meae:
morte facili dignus haud sum qui noua natum nece
segregem sparsi per agros quique, dum falsum nefas
exsequor uindex seuerus, incidi in uerum scelus. 1210

now come, savage monsters of the deep, now of the vast sea,
whatever Proteus hides in the farthest bosom of the waters, 1205
and snatch me, exulting in so great a crime, into the deep whirlpools.
And you too, father, ever an easy assenter to my wrath:
I am by no means worthy of an easy death—I who with a novel death
scattered my only son over the fields, and who, while as a stern avenger
I was executing vengeance for a false abomination, fell into a true crime. 1210

sidera et manes et undas scelere compleui meo:
amplius sors nulla restat; regna me norunt tria.
In hoc redimus? patuit ad caelum uia,
bina ut uiderem funera et geminam necem,
caelebs et orbus funebres una face 1215
ut concremarem prolis ac thalami rogos?

i have filled the stars and the Manes and the waves with my crime:
no further lot remains; the three realms know me.
Do we come back to this? the way to heaven lay open,
that i might see a double funeral and a twin death,
celibate and bereft, with one torch 1215
that i might cremate together the funereal pyres of progeny and of the marriage-bed?

donator atrae lucis, Alcide, tuum
Diti remitte munus; ereptos mihi
restitue manes.--impius frustra inuoco
mortem relictam: crudus et leti artifex, 1220
exitia machinatus insolita effera,
nunc tibimet ipse iusta supplicia irroga.
pinus coacto uertice attingens humum
caelo remissum findat in geminas trabes,
mittarue praeceps saxa per Scironia? 1225

donor of black light, Alcides, remit your gift to Dis;
restore to me the Manes snatched away from me.--impious, I invoke
the death left behind in vain: crude and an artificer of death, 1220
having machinated unheard-of, feral destructions,
now upon yourself impose just punishments.
let a pine, with its compressed summit touching the ground,
when released back to the sky, split me into twin beams,
or let me be sent headlong over the Scironian rocks? 1225

grauiora uidi, quae pati clausos iubet
Phlegethon nocentes igneo cingens uado.
quae poena memet maneat et sedes, scio:
umbrae nocentes, cedite et ceruicibus
his, his repositum degrauet fessas manus                     1230
saxum, seni perennis Aeolio labor;
me ludat amnis ora uicina alluens;
uultur relicto transuolet Tityo ferus
meumque poenae semper accrescat iecur;
et tu mei requiesce Pirithoi pater:                    1235
haec incitatis membra turbinibus ferat
nusquam resistens orbe reuoluto rota.
Dehisce tellus, recipe me dirum chaos,
recipe, haec ad umbras iustior nobis uia est:
gnatum sequor--ne metue qui manes regis:                    1240

I have seen graver things, which Phlegethon, encircling with a fiery ford, bids the shut-in guilty to suffer.
I know what punishment and seat awaits me:
guilty shades, give way, and let the stone, set back, weigh down these necks, these weary hands                    1230
the perennial labor of the Aeolian old man;
let the river make sport of me, laving my lips close by;
let the fierce vulture, Tityos left behind, fly across to me,
and let my liver always increase for punishment;
and you, father of my Pirithous, take your rest:                    1235
let the wheel, nowhere resisting, with its orb rolled back, carry these limbs in quickened whirls.
Yawn open, earth; receive me, dread Chaos, receive; this way to the shades is more just for me:
I follow my son—do not fear, you who rule the Manes:                    1240

casti uenimus; recipe me aeterna domo
non exiturum.--non mouent diuos preces;
at, si rogarem scelera, quam proni forent!
Cho. Theseu, querelis tempus aeternum manet:
nunc iusta nato solue et absconde ocius 1245
dispersa foede membra laniatu effero.
Th. Huc, huc, reliquias uehite cari corporis
pondusque et artus temere congestos date.

we have come chaste; receive me into the eternal home, from which I shall not go out.--prayers do not move the gods; but if I were to ask for crimes, how ready they would be!
Cho. Theseus, for laments an eternal time remains: now render what is due to your son and quickly hide the limbs foully scattered by feral rending. 1245
Th. Here, here, carry the relics of the dear body, and hand over the weight and the limbs heedlessly heaped together.

Hippolytus hic est? crimen agnosco meum:
ego te peremi; neu nocens tantum semel 1250
solusue fierem, facinus ausurus parens
patrem aduocaui. munere en patrio fruor.

Is this Hippolytus? I acknowledge my crime:
I slew you; and, lest I be guilty only once 1250
or alone, a parent about to dare the deed, I called upon my father.
Behold, I enjoy the paternal boon.

o triste fractis orbitas annis malum!
complectere artus, quodque de nato est super,
miserande, maesto pectore incumbens, foue. 1255

o sad bereavement, evil to broken years!
embrace the limbs, and whatever of your son remains,
you pitiable one, leaning with a sorrowful breast, cherish. 1255

         Disiecta, genitor, membra laceri corporis
in ordinem dispone et errantes loco
restitue partes: fortis hic dextrae locus,
hic laeua frenis docta moderandis manus
ponenda: laeui lateris agnosco notas.                    1260
quam magna lacrimis pars adhuc nostris abest!
durate trepidae lugubri officio manus,
fletusque largos sistite, arentes genae,
dum membra nato genitor adnumerat suo
corpusque fingit. hoc quid est forma carens                    1265
et turpe, multo uulnere abruptum undique?

         Father, set in order the scattered limbs of the mangled body
and the parts straying from their place
restore: here is the place for the stout right hand,
here the left hand, skilled in managing the reins,
is to be set: I recognize the marks of the left side.                    1260
How great a part is still absent from our tears!
Endure, trembling hands, in your lugubrious office,
and, parched cheeks, check the copious weeping,
while the father enumerates the limbs to his son
and fashions the body. What is this, lacking form                    1265
and foul, torn off on every side by many a wound?

quae pars tui sit dubito; sed pars est tui:
hic, hic repone, non suo, at uacuo loco.
haecne illa facies igne sidereo nitens,
~inimica flectens lumina? huc cecidit decor? 1270

which part of you this is I doubt; but it is a part of you:
here, here set it, not in its own, but in a vacant place.
is this that face, shining with sidereal fire,
~turning unfriendly eyes? has beauty fallen to this? 1270

o dira fata, numinum o saeuus fauor!
sic ad parentem natus ex uoto redit?
en haec suprema dona genitoris cape,
saepe efferendus; interim haec ignes ferant.

O dire fates, O savage favor of the divinities!
Is this how, as vowed, the son returns to his parent?
Lo, take these last gifts of the father,
you, so often to be borne forth; meanwhile let the fires bear these away.

Patefacite acerbam caede funesta domum; 1275
Mopsopia claris tota lamentis sonet.
uos apparate regii flammam rogi;
at uos per agros corporis partes uagas
inquirite.--istam terra defossam premat,
grauisque tellus impio capiti incubet.

Open the house, bitter, funereal with slaughter; 1275
Let Mopsopia all resound with clear laments.
you, royal attendants, prepare the flame of the pyre;
but you, search through the fields for the wandering parts of the body;
--let the earth press her, dug down and buried,
and let heavy earth lie upon the impious head.