Seneca: FABULAE

Hercvles Sator deorum, cuius excussum manu
utraeque Phoebi sentiunt fulmen domus,
secure regna: protuli pacem tibi,
quacumque Nereus porrigi terras uetat.
non est tonandum; perfidi reges iacent, 5
saeui tyranni. fregimus quidquid fuit
tibi fulminandum.

Hercules Begetter of the gods, whose thunderbolt, shaken from your hand
both houses of Phoebus feel,
rule securely: I have brought forth peace for you,
wherever Nereus forbids the lands to be extended.
there is no need to thunder; perfidious kings lie low, 5
savage tyrants. We have broken whatever there was
for you to fulminate.

sed mihi caelum, parens,
adhuc negatur? parui certe Ioue
ubique dignus teque testata est meum
patrem nouerca. quid tamen nectis moras? 10
numquid timemur?

but is heaven for me, Father, still denied? I have surely obeyed Jove
everywhere worthy of you, and the stepmother has testified that you are my
father. Yet why do you weave delays? 10
are we perhaps feared?

numquid impositum sibi
non poterit Atlas ferre cum caelo Herculem?
quid astra, genitor, quid negas? mors me tibi
certe remisit, omne concessit malum
quod terra genuit, pontus aer inferi: 15

Is Atlas by any chance not able to bear, when imposed upon him, Hercules together with the sky?
What of the stars, father—what do you refuse? Death has surely remitted me to you, every evil has yielded which earth engendered, the sea, the air, and the realms below: 15

nullus per urbes errat Argolicas leo,
Stymphalis icta est, Maenali nulla est fera;
sparsit peremptus aureum serpens nemus
et hydra uires posuit et notos Hebro
cruore pingues hospitum fregi greges 20
hostique traxi spolia Thermodontiae.
uici regentem fata nec tantum redi,
sed trepidus atrum Cerberum uidit dies
et ille solem. nullus Antaeus Libys
animam resumit, cecidit ante aras suas 25
Busiris, una Geryon sparsus manu
taurusque populis horridus centum pauor.

no lion wanders through Argolic cities,
Stymphalus has been struck, on Maenalus there is no beast;
the slain serpent sprinkled the golden grove,
and the Hydra laid down its strengths, and by the Hebrus I broke the notorious herds,
fat with the blood of guests, and from the Thermodontian enemy I dragged the spoils. 20
I conquered him who governs fate, and I not only returned,
but the quaking day saw black Cerberus, and he saw the sun as well.
no Libyan Antaeus resumes his life; before his own altars
Busiris fell; Geryon was scattered by a single hand,
and the bull, dreadful to peoples, the terror of a hundred.25

quodcumque tellus genuit infesta occidit
meaque fusum est dextera: iratis deis
non licuit esse. si negat mundus feras, 30

Whatever hostile things the earth has engendered has perished
and has been laid low by my right hand: it was not permitted to be, with the gods wroth;
if the world denies me wild beasts, 30

animum nouerca, redde nunc nato patrem
uel astra forti. nec peto ut monstres iter;
permitte tantum, genitor: inueniam uiam.
Vel si times ne terra concipiat feras,
properet malum quodcumque, dum terra Herculem 35
habet uidetque: nam quis inuadet mala
aut quis per urbes rursus Argolicas erit
Iunonis odio dignus?

Stepmother, recover your mind now; give back to the son his father,
or to the brave man the stars. Nor do I ask that you show the way;
only permit it, Father: I shall find a way.
Or if you fear that the earth may conceive wild beasts,
let whatever evil be hastened, so long as the earth holds and beholds Hercules 35
for who will assail evils, or who through the Argolic cities will again be
worthy of Juno’s odium?

in tutum meas
laudes redegi, nulla me tellus silet:
me sensit ursae frigidum Scythicae genus 40
Indusque Phoebo subditus, cancro Libys;
te, clare Titan, testor: occurri tibi
quacumque fulges, nec meos lux prosequi
potuit triumphos, solis excessi uices
intraque nostras substitit metas dies. 45

into safety I have brought together my praises; no land is silent about me:
the Scythian genus, frigid beneath the Bear, has felt me, 40
and the Indian subject to Phoebus, the Libyan under Cancer;
you, bright Titan, I call to witness: I ran to meet you
wherever you shine, nor could the light pursue my triumphs,
I have exceeded the vicissitudes of the sun,
and the day stood still within our metes. 45

natura cessit, terra defecit gradum:
lassata prior est. nox et extremum chaos
in me incucurrit: inde ad hunc orbem redi,
nemo unde retro est. tulimus Oceani minas,
nec ulla ualuit quatere tempestas ratem 50
quamcumque pressi—pars quota est Perseus mei?

nature has yielded, the earth has failed in her stride:
she was tired first. night and the utmost Chaos
ran upon me: from there—whence no one goes back—I returned to this orb,
we bore the menaces of Ocean,
nor did any tempest have the power to shake the raft 50
whatever I weighed down—what portion is Perseus of me?

Iam uacuus aether non potest odio tuae
sufficere nuptae quasque deuincam feras
tellus timet concipere nec monstra inuenit.
ferae negantur: Hercules monstri loco 55
iam coepit esse; quanta non fregi mala,
quot scelera nudus? quidquid immane obstitit,
solae manus strauere; nec iuuenis feras
timui nec infans.

Now the empty ether cannot suffice for the odium of your bride,
and the earth fears to conceive the wild beasts which I would vanquish, nor does it find monsters.
beasts are denied: Hercules has already begun to be in the place of a monster 55
how great evils I have shattered,
how many crimes, naked? Whatever monstrous thing stood in the way,
my hands alone laid low; nor as a youth did I fear wild beasts,
nor as an infant.

quidquid est iussum leue est,
nec ulla nobis segnis illuxit dies. 60

whatever is commanded is light,
nor has any sluggish day dawned for us. 60

o quanta fudi monstra quae nullus mihi
rex imperauit! institit uirtus mihi
Iunone peior. Sed quid inpauidum genus
fecisse prodest?

O how many monsters I have routed which no king commanded me!
Valor, worse than Juno, pressed me hard.
But what does it profit that a fearless nature has done it?

non habent pacem dei:
purgata tellus omnis in caelo uidet                              65
quodcumque timuit: transtulit Iuno feras.
ambit peremptus cancer ardentem plagam
Libyaeque sidus fertur et messes alit;
annum fugacem tradit Astraeae leo,
at ille, iactans feruidam collo iubam,                              70
austrum madentem siccat et nimbos rapit.
inuasit omnis ecce iam caelum fera
meque antecessit: uictor e terris meos
specto labores, astra portentis prius
ferisque Iuno tribuit, ut caelum mihi                              75

they do not have the peace of the gods:
the whole cleansed earth sees in heaven                              65
whatever it feared: Juno has transferred the beasts.
the slain Cancer encircles the burning zone
and the Libyan star is borne and nourishes the harvests;
the Lion of Astraea delivers the fleeting year,
but he, tossing the burning mane on his neck,                              70
dries the dripping South Wind and snatches the clouds.
behold, now every beast has invaded the whole sky
and has gone before me: as victor from the earth I
behold my labors; Juno has granted the stars first
to portents and to beasts, so that the sky to me                              75

faceret timendum—sparserit mundum licet
caelumque terris peius ac peius Styge
irata faciat, dabitur Alcidae locus.
Si post feras, post bella, post Stygium canem
hauddum astra merui, Siculus Hesperium latus 80
tangat Pelorus, una iam tellus erit:
illinc fugabo maria; si iungi iubes,
committat undas Isthmos, et iuncto salo
noua ferantur Atticae puppes uia.
mutetur orbis, uallibus currat nouis 85
Hister nouasque Tanais accipiat uias.

let her make it fearsome—though she scatter the world
and, in anger, make the heaven and the lands worse and worse, worse than Styx,
a place will be given to Alcides.
if after beasts, after wars, after the Stygian dog
I have not yet deserved the stars, let Sicilian Pelorus touch the Hesperian side 80
there will now be one land:
from there I will put the seas to flight; if you bid them be joined,
let the Isthmus commit the waves, and with the sea joined
let Attic ships be borne along by a new way.
let the world be changed, let the Hister run in new valleys 85
and let the Tanais receive new courses.

Da, da tuendos, Iuppiter, saltem deos:
illa licebit fulmen a parte auferas,
ego quam tuebor. siue glacialem polum,
seu me tueri feruidam partem iubes, 90

Give, give, Jupiter, at least the gods to be guarded:
from that part you may remove the thunderbolt,
the part which I will guard. Whether the glacial pole,
or you bid me to protect the fervid part, 90

hac esse superos parte securos puta.
Cirrhaea Paean templa et aetheriam domum
serpente caeso meruit—o quotiens iacet
Python in hydra! Bacchus et Perseus deis
iam se intulere—sed quota est mundi plaga 95
oriens subactus aut quota est Gorgon fera?

think that in this quarter the gods above are secure.
Paean won the Cirrhaean temples and the aetherial home
with the serpent cut down—O how many times Python lies
as a Hydra! Bacchus and Perseus have already
borne themselves among the gods—but what portion of the world’s tract 95
is the Orient subdued, or what portion is the fierce Gorgon?

quis astra natus laudibus meruit suis
ex te et nouerca? quem tuli mundum peto.
Sed tu, comes laboris Herculei, Licha,
perfer triumphos, Euryti uictos lares 100
stratumque regnum.

who has merited the stars by his own praises
from you and a stepmother? I seek the world which I have carried.
But you, companion of Herculean labor, Lichas,
carry the triumphs, the conquered household of Eurytus 100
and the realm laid low.

uos pecus rapite ocius
qua templa tollens ora Cenaei Iouis
aestu timendum spectat Euboicum mare.
Chorvs Par ille est superis cui pariter dies
et fortuna fuit; mortis habet uices 105

you, drive the herd more quickly
where, lifting its temples, the shore of Cenaean Jove
looks upon the Euboean sea, to be feared for its surge.
Chorus He is equal to the gods for whom day and fortune were alike; the day has the vicissitudes of death 105

lente cum trahitur uita gementibus.
Quisquis sub pedibus fata rapacia
et puppem posuit fluminis ultimi,
non captiua dabit bracchia uinculis
nec pompae ueniet nobile ferculum: 110
numquam est ille miser cui facile est mori.
Illum si medio decipiat ratis
ponto, cum Borean expulit Africus
aut Eurus Zephyrum, cum mare diuidunt,
non puppis lacerae fragmina conligit, 115
ut litus medio speret in aequore:
uitam qui poterit reddere protinus,
solus non poterit naufragium pati.

when life is drawn out slowly for those who groan.
whoever has set beneath his feet the rapacious fates
and the ship of the final river,
will not, as a captive, give his arms to chains
nor will he come as a noble burden for the pomp: 110
never is he wretched for whom it is easy to die.
if in mid-sea a craft should betray him,
when the Africus has driven out the Boreas
or the Eurus the Zephyr, when they divide the sea,
he does not gather the fragments of a torn ship, 115
so that he may hope for a shore in the middle of the level sea:
he who will be able to render back life forthwith,
he alone cannot suffer shipwreck.

Nos turpis macies et lacrimae tenent
et crinis patrio puluere sordidus. 120

We are held by foul emaciation and tears,
and by hair filthy with fatherland dust. 120

nos non flamma rapax, non fragor obruit:
felices sequeris, mors, miseros fugis.
Stamus, sed patriae messibus heu locus
et siluis dabitur, lapsaque sordidae
fient templa casae; iam gelidus Dolops                              125
hac ducet pecudes qua tepet obrutus
stratae qui superest Oechaliae cinis.
illo Thessalicus pastor in oppido
indocta referens carmina fistula
cantu nostra canet tempora flebili;                              130
et dum pauca deus saecula contrahet,
quaeretur patriae quis fuerit locus.
Felix incolui non steriles focos
nec ieiuna soli iugera Thessali:
ad Trachina uocor, saxa rigentia                              135

we are not overwhelmed by ravening flame, not by the crash:
you follow the fortunate, Death, you flee the wretched.
We stand, but alas the place of the fatherland will be given to harvests
and to forests, and fallen the temples will become squalid huts;
now the chilly Dolops will drive flocks here, where grows warm, though buried,the ash which survives of leveled Oechalia.                              125
in that town the Thessalian shepherd,
voicing unlearned songs on his pipe,
will sing our times with a mournful chant;                              130
and while God will contract a few ages,
it will be asked what place the fatherland had been.
Happy, I dwelt not at barren hearths
nor on the starved acres of Thessalian soil:
I am called to Trachis, to the rigid rocks.                              135

et dumeta iugis horrida torridis,
uix gratum pecori montiuago nemus.
At si quas melior sors famulas uocat,
illas aut uolucer transferet Inachus
aut Dircaea colent moenia, qua fluit                              140
Ismenos tenui flumine languidus—
hic mater tumidi nupserat Herculis?
      Falsa est de geminis fabula noctibus,                              147
aether cum tenuit sidera longius
commisitque uices Lucifer Hespero
et Solem uetuit Delia tardior:                              150

and thickets rough on the torrid ridges,
a grove scarcely welcome to the mountain-wandering flock.
But if a better lot calls any handmaids,
either winged Inachus will carry them across
or they will dwell at the Dircaean walls, where flows                              140
Ismenus, languid with a thin river—
here had the mother of the swelling Hercules married?
      False is the tale about the twin nights,                              147
when the aether held the stars longer
and Lucifer joined his turns with Hesperus
and a slower Delia forbade the Sun:                              150

quae cautes Scythiae, quis genuit lapis?                              143
num Titana ferum te Rhodope tulit,
te praeruptus Athos, te fera Caspia,
quae uirgata tibi praebuit ubera?
nullis uulneribus peruia membra sunt:                              151
ferrum sentit hebes, lentior est chalybs;
in nudo gladius corpore frangitur
et saxum resilit, fataque neglegit
et mortem indomito pectore prouocat.                              155

what crag of Scythia, what stone begot you?                              143
did Rhodope bear you, a savage Titan, did
precipitous Athos, did the fierce Caspian,
which offered you striped teats?
your limbs are passable by no wounds:                              151
iron feels blunt; the Chalybian steel is more pliant;
on the naked body the sword is shattered,
and rock rebounds, and he disregards the Fates
and with an indomitable breast provokes death.                              155

Non illum poterant figere cuspides,
non arcus Scythica tensus harundine,
non quae tela gerit Sarmata frigidus
aut qui soliferae suppositus plagae
uicino Nabatae uulnera derigit                              160
Parthus Gnosiacis certior ictibus.
      Muros Oechaliae corpore propulit;
nil obstare ualet; uincere quod parat
iam uictum est—quota pars uulnere concidit?
pro fato potuit uultus iniquior                              165
et uidisse sat est Herculeas minas.

The spearheads could not pierce him,
nor a bow drawn with Scythian reed,
nor the weapons which the chilly Sarmatian bears,
or the Parthian, set beneath the sun-bearing zone,
who aims wounds at the neighboring Nabataean, surer than the Gnossian in his blows. 160
With his body he drove the walls of Oechalia;
nothing avails to stand in the way; what he prepares to conquer
is already conquered—what fraction has fallen by a wound?
in place of fate a harsher visage could suffice,
and merely to have seen the Herculean threats is enough.

quis uastus Briareus, quis tumidus Gyges,
supra Thessalicum cum stetit aggerem
caeloque insereret uipereas manus,
hoc uultu riguit? commoda cladibus 170

what vast Briareus, what swollen Gyges,
when he stood above the Thessalian rampart
and would insert his viperine hands into the sky,
grew rigid with this face? boons for disasters 170

magnis magna patent, nil superest mali:
iratum miserae uidimus Herculem.
      Iole At ego infelix non templa suis
conlapsa deis sparsosue focos,
natis mixtos arsisse patres                              175
hominique deos, templa sepulcris:
nullum querimur commune malum.
alio nostras fortuna uocat
lacrimas, alias flere ruinas
      mea fata iubent.                              180
quae prima querar?

for the mighty, mighty things stand open; nothing of evil remains:
we, wretched, have seen Hercules irate.
      Iole But I, ill-fated, have not seen temples
collapsed upon their own deities or hearths scattered,
fathers burned mingled with their sons,                              175
and deities with men, temples with sepulchres:
we complain of no common calamity.
to another thing Fortune calls
our tears; my Fates bid me weep other ruins                              180
what first shall I lament?

quae summa gemam?
pariter cunctas deflere iuuat,
nec plura dedit pectora Tellus,
ut digna sonent uerbera fatis.
Me uel Sipylum flebile saxum 185

What utmost shall I lament?
it pleases me to weep for all alike,
nor has Earth given more breasts,
so that the blows may sound worthy of my fates.
Let me be even the tearful stone of Sipylus 185

      fingite, superi,
uel in Eridani ponite ripis,
ubi maesta sonat Phaethontiadum
      silua sororum;
me uel Siculis addite saxis,
ubi fata gemam Thessala Siren,                              190
uel in Edonas tollite siluas,
qualis natum Daulias ales
solet Ismaria flere sub umbra:
formam lacrimis aptate meis
resonetque malis aspera Trachin.                              195
Cypria lacrimas Myrrha tuetur,
raptum coniunx Ceyca gemit,
sibi Tantalis est facta superstes;
fugit uultus Philomela suos
natumque sonat flebilis Atthis:                              200

      fashion me, high ones,
or place me on the banks of Eridanus,
where the mournful forest of the Phaethontiads
      sisters resounds;
add me to the Sicilian rocks,
where as a Thessalian Siren I may lament the fates,                              190
or lift me into the Edonian woods,
such as the Daulian bird is wont to weep her son
beneath the Ismarian shade:
fit a form to my tears,
and let rugged Trachin resound with my evils.                              195
the Cyprian Myrrha keeps her tears,
the spouse laments Ceyx, snatched away,
a Tantalid has been made a survivor to herself;
Philomela flees her own face,
and the mournful Attic woman sounds her son’s name.                              200

cur mea nondum capiunt uolucres
      bracchia plumas?
felix, felix, cum silua domus
      nostra feretur
patrioque sedens ales in agro
referam querulo murmure casus                              205
uolucremque Iolen fama loquetur.
      Vidi, uidi miseranda mei
      fata parentis,
cum letifero stipite pulsus
tota iacuit sparsus in aula:
pro, si tumulum fata dedissent,                              210
quotiens, genitor, quaerendus eras!

why do my arms not yet take on feathery plumes
      like the birds?
happy, happy, when as a forest our house
      will be borne,
and, sitting as a bird in my father’s field,
I shall recount with a querulous murmur my misfortunes,                              205
and Fame will speak of winged Iole.
      I saw, I saw the pitiable
      fates of my parent,
when, smitten by a lethal club,
he lay strewn across the whole hall:
ah, if the fates had granted a tomb,                              210
how often, father, you had to be sought!

potuine tuam spectare necem,
nondum teneras uestite genas
necdum forti sanguine, Toxeu?
Quid uestra queror fata, parentes, 215

Was I able to behold your slaughter,
your cheeks not yet clothed with tender down,
nor yet with sturdy blood, Toxeus?
Why do I bewail your fates, parents, 215

quos in tutum mors aequa tulit?
mea me lacrimas fortuna rogat:
iam iam dominae captiua colus
fusosque legam.
Pro, saeue decor formaque mortem
paritura mihi, 220
tibi cuncta domus concidit uni,
dum me genitor negat Alcidae
atque Herculeus socer esse timet.

whom into safety equal death has borne?
my fortune asks tears of me:
now now, captive to a mistress, the distaff
and the spindles I shall gather.
Ah, cruel beauty and form
about to bring forth death for me, 220
for you alone the whole house has collapsed,
while my father denies me to Alcides
and fears to be a Herculean father-in-law.

Sed iam dominae tecta petantur.
Chorvs Quid regna tui clara parentis 225
proauosque tuos respicis amens?
fugiat uultus fortuna prior.

But now let the mistress’s house be sought.
Chorus Why do you, mad, look back at the illustrious realms of your father 225
and your forefathers? Let your earlier fortune flee your gaze.

felix quisquis nouit famulum
regemque pati
uultusque suos uariare potest. 230

happy whoever knows how to endure a servant
and a king,
and can vary his own countenance. 230

rapuit uires pondusque mali
casus animo qui tulit aequo.
      Nvtrix O quam cruentus feminas stimulat furor,
cum patuit una paelici et nuptae domus!
Scylla et Charybdis Sicula contorquens freta                              235
minus est timenda, nulla non melior fera est.
Namque ut reluxit paelicis captae decus
et fulsit Iole qualis innubis dies
purisue clarum noctibus sidus micat,
stetit furenti similis ac toruum intuens                              240
Herculea coniunx; feta ut Armenia iacens
sub rupe tigris hoste conspecto exilit
aut iussa thyrsum quatere conceptum ferens
Maenas Lyaeum dubia quo gressus agat
haesit parumper; tum per Herculeos lares                              245

it has snatched away the strength and the weight of the ill
the mischance which one has borne with an even spirit.
      Nvtrix O how blood-stained a fury goads women,
when one house has stood open to both the concubine and the bride!
Scylla and Charybdis, wrenching the Sicilian straits,                              235
are less to be feared; every beast is better.
For when the beauty of the captured concubine re-shone,
and Iole gleamed like a cloudless day,
or as a bright star sparkles in pure nights,
the Herculean spouse stood like one raging and, with grim gaze,                              240
staring; as a pregnant Armenian tigress lying
beneath a crag, on spying the foe, leaps forth,
or a Maenad, bidden to shake the thyrsus, bearing the conceived Lyaeus,
paused a moment, unsure where to drive her steps;
then, by the Herculean Lares,                              245

lymphata rapitur, tota uix satis est domus:
incurrit, errat, sistit, in uultus dolor
processit omnis, pectori paene intimo
nihil est relictum; fletus insequitur minas.
nec unus habitus durat aut uno furit                              250
contenta uultu: nunc inardescunt genae,
pallor ruborem pellit et formas dolor
errat per omnes; queritur implorat gemit.
      Sonuere postes ecce praecipiti gradu,
secreta mentis ore confuso exerit.                              255
      Deianira Quamcumque partem sedis aetheriae premis,
coniunx Tonantis, mitte in Alciden feram
quae mihi satis sit.

distraught she is carried off, the whole house is scarcely enough:
she rushes in, wanders, halts; all sorrow has advanced into her face,
almost nothing is left to the inmost breast; weeping follows menaces.
nor does one aspect endure, nor does she rage                              250
content with one visage: now her cheeks in-flame,
pallor drives out redness, and grief wanders through all forms;
she laments, implores, groans.
      Behold, the doorposts sounded at her precipitate pace,
she brings forth the secrets of her mind with a confused mouth.                              255
      Deianira Whatever part of the aetherial seat you press,
consort of the Thunderer, send into Alcides a wild-beast
which may be enough for me.

si qua fecundum caput
palude tota uastior serpens mouet,
ignara uinci, si quid excessit feras 260

if any with a fecund head
serpent, vaster than the whole marsh, moves,
ignorant of being conquered, if anything has surpassed wild beasts 260

immane dirum horribile, quo uiso Hercules
auertat oculos, hoc specu immenso exeat.
Vel si ferae negantur, hanc animam, precor,
conuerte in aliquod—quodlibet possum malum
hac mente fieri. commoda effigiem mihi 265
parem dolori: non capit pectus minas.

something monstrous, dire, horrible, at the sight of which Hercules
would avert his eyes, let it come forth from this immense cavern.
Or if wild beasts are denied, this soul, I pray,
turn into something—I can become any evil
with this mind. Provide an effigy for me 265
equal to my grief: the breast does not contain menaces.

quid excutis telluris extremae sinus
orbemque uersas? quid rogas Ditem mala?
omnes in isto pectore inuenies feras
quas timuit; odiis accipe hoc telum tuis: 270
ego sum, nouerca, perdere Alciden potens:
perfer manus quocumque; quid cessas, dea?

why do you shake out the folds of the farthest earth
and turn the orb? why do you ask Dis for evils?
you will find all the beasts in that breast of yours
which he feared; receive this weapon for your hatreds: 270
I am, stepmother, powerful to destroy Alcides:
ply your hands wherever; why do you delay, goddess?

utere furente! quod iubes fieri nefas?
reperi, quid haeres?

Use the furious one! What nefarious thing do you bid to be done?
Devise it—why do you hesitate?

ipsa iam cesses licet,
haec ira satis est. Nvt. Pectoris sani parum, 275

even if you yourself now cease,
this ire is enough. Nvt. Too little of a sane heart, 275

alumna, questus comprime et flammas doma;
frena dolorem. coniugem ostende Herculis.
De. Iole meis captiua germanos dabit
natis Iouisque fiet ex famula nurus?

foster-child, compress your complaints and tame the flames;
bridle your grief. Show yourself the consort of Hercules.
De. Will captive Iole give brothers to my sons,
and will a daughter-in-law of Jove be made from a handmaid?

num flamma cursus pariter et torrens feret 280
et ursa pontum sicca caeruleum bibet?
non ibo inulta: gesseris caelum licet
totusque pacem debeat mundus tibi,
est aliquid hydra peius: iratae dolor
nuptae. quis ignis tantus in caelum furit 285
ardentis Aetnae?

Will flame and torrent alike carry their course 280
and will the Bear drink the cerulean sea dry?
I will not go unavenged: though you should bear the sky
and the whole world owe peace to you,
there is something worse than the Hydra: the grief of an irate
bride. What fire so great rages into heaven 285
of burning Etna?

quidquid est uictum tibi
hic uincet animus—capta praeripiet toros?
adhuc timebam monstra, iam nullum est malum:
cessere pestes, in locum uenit ferae
inuisa paelex. summe pro rector deum 290

whatever has been conquered for you
this spirit will conquer—will a captive snatch the marriage-beds?
up to now I feared monsters; now there is no evil:
the pests have yielded; into their place has come the hated
paramour of the beast. O highest, indeed, ruler of the gods 290

et clare Titan, Herculis tantum fui
coniunx timentis; uota quae superis tuli
cessere captae, paelici felix fui,
illi meas audistis, o superi, preces,
incolumis illi remeat—o nulla dolor                              295
contente poena, quaere supplicia horrida,
incogitata, infanda, Iunonem doce
quid odia ualeant: nescit irasci satis.
      Pro me gerebas bella, propter me uagas
Achelous undas sanguine infecit suo,                              300
cum lenta serpens fieret, in taurum trucem
nunc flecteret serpente deposita minas,
et mille in hoste uinceres uno feras.
iam displicemus, capta praelata est mihi—
non praeferetur: qui dies thalami ultimus                              305

and bright Titan, I was only the wife of Hercules when he was afraid;
the vows which I brought to the gods above have yielded to the captive, I was fortunate to the paramour;
to her you heard my prayers, O gods above, to her he returns unharmed—O pain content with no penalty,                              295
seek horrid punishments, unthought, unspeakable; teach Juno
what hatreds can do: she does not know how to be angry enough.
      For me you were waging wars, on my account Achelous
stained his wandering waves with his own blood,                              300
when he would become a pliant serpent, now— the serpent laid aside—
he would bend his threats into a savage bull,
and in one foe you would conquer a thousand beasts.
Now I displease, the captive has been preferred to me—
she shall not be preferred: the day which is the last of the marriage-bed                              305

nostri est futurus, hic erit uitae tuae.
Quid hoc? recedit animus et ponit minas;
iam cessat ira—quid miser langues dolor?

it is going to be ours, this will be the end of your life.
What is this? The spirit withdraws and lays down its menaces;
now anger ceases—why do you, wretched grief, languish?

perdis furorem, coniugis sanctae fidem
mihi reddis iterum. quid uetas flammas ali? 310
quid frangis ignes? hunc mihi serua impetum,
pares eamus—non erit uotis opus:
aderit nouerca quae manus nostras regat
nec inuocata.

you are losing your frenzy, you give back to me again the fidelity of a holy spouse.
why do you forbid the flames to be fed? why do you quench the fires? 310
keep for me this impetus, let us go as equals—there will be no need of vows:
the stepmother will be present to guide our hands, even uninvoked.

Nvt. Quod paras demens scelus?
perimes maritum, cuius extremus dies 315
primusque laudes nouit et caelo tenus
erecta terras fama suppositas habet?
iam tota in istos terra consurget lares
domusque soceri prima et Aetolum genus
sternetur omne, saxa iam dudum ac faces 320

Nvt. What mad crime are you preparing?
will you slay the husband, whose last day 315
and first have known praises, and whose fame, raised up to the sky,
holds the lands placed beneath?
already the whole land will rise against those Lares
and first the house of your father-in-law and the Aetolian race
will all be laid low, stones and firebrands already long since 320

in te ferentur, uindicem tellus suum
defendet omnis: una quot poenas dabis!
Effugere terras crede et humanum genus
te posse—fulmen genitor Alcidae gerit:
iam iam minaces ire per caelum faces 325
specta et tonantem fulmine excusso diem.
mortem quoque ipsam, quam putes tutam, time:
dominatur illic patruus Alcidae tui.

upon you they will be borne; every land will defend its own avenger:
alone, how many penalties you will pay!
Believe that you can flee the lands and the human race
you can—Alcides’ begetter bears the thunderbolt:
now, now the menacing torches go through heaven 325
look, and the day thundering with the thunderbolt flung forth.
fear even death itself, which you think safe:
there rules the paternal uncle of your Alcides.

quocumque perges, misera, cognatos deos
illi uidebis. De. Maximum fieri scelus 330
et ipsa fateor, sed dolor fieri iubet.
Nvt. Moriere.

wherever you go, wretched woman, kindred gods
of him you will see. De. The greatest crime to be done 330
I myself confess it, but pain orders it to be done.
Nvt. You will die.

De. Moriar Herculis nempe incluti
coniunx nec ullus nocte discussa dies
uiduam notabit nec meos paelex toros
captiua capiet. ante ab occasu dies 335

De. I shall die, indeed, the spouse of illustrious Hercules,
and no day, with night dispelled, will mark me a widow,
nor will a concubine, a captive, seize my marriage-bed.
before the day from its setting 335

nascetur, Indos ante glacialis polus
Scythasue tepida Phoebus inficiet rota,
quam me relictam Thessalae inspiciant nurus.
meo iugales sanguine extinguam faces.
aut pereat aut me perimat; elisis feris 340
et coniugem addat, inter Herculeos licet
me quoque labores numeret: Alcidae toros
moritura certe corpore amplectar meo.

will be born, sooner will the icy pole dye the Indians,
or Phoebus with his tepid wheel stain the Scythians,
than the Thessalian daughters-in-law gaze upon me abandoned.
I will extinguish the nuptial torches with my own blood.
Let him either perish or destroy me; with the wild beasts crushed 340
let him add his spouse as well; let him, among the Herculean labors, if he will,
count me too: the couches of Alcides
I, doomed to die, will surely embrace with my own body.

Ire, ire ad umbras Herculis nuptam libet,
sed non inultam: si quid ex nostro Hercule 345
concepit Iole, manibus euellam meis
ante et per ipsas paelicem inuadam faces.
me nuptiali uictimam feriat die
infestus, Iolen dum supra exanimem ruam:
felix iacet quicumque quos odit premit. 350

I long to go, to go to the shades as the bride of Hercules,
but not unavenged: if Iole has conceived anything from our Hercules 345
I will wrench it out with my own hands first, and through those very torches I will assail the mistress.
let him, hostile, strike me as a victim on the nuptial day,
while upon Iole lying lifeless I collapse:
blest lies whoever presses down those whom he hates. 350

Nvt. Quid ipsa flammas pascis et uastum foues
ultro dolorem? misera, quid cassum times?
dilexit Iolen: nempe cum staret parens
regisque natam peteret—in famulae locum
regina cecidit: perdidit uires amor 355
multumque ab illa traxit infelix status.

Nvt. Why do you yourself feed the flames and foster of your own accord the vast grief?
wretched one, why do you fear what is empty?
He loved Iole: indeed, when her father stood firm
and he sought the king’s daughter—into the place of a handmaid
the queen fell: love lost its strength 355
and the unlucky status drew much away from her.

illicita amantur, excidit quidquid licet.
De. Fortuna amorem peior inflammat magis:
amat uel ipsum quod caret patrio lare,
quod nudus auro crinis et gemma iacet, 360
ipsas misericors forsan aerumnas amat;
hoc usitatum est Herculi: captas amat.
Nvt. Dilecta Priami nempe Dardanii soror
concessa famula est; adice quot nuptas prius,
quot uirgines dilexit: errauit uagus. 365

The illicit is loved; whatever is licit falls away.
De. A worse Fortune inflames love the more:
he loves even that which lacks the ancestral hearth,
whose hair lies naked of gold and gem, 360
perhaps, compassionate, he loves the very hardships;
this is customary for Hercules: he loves the captured.
Nvt. The beloved sister of Priam the Dardanian, indeed,
was conceded as a handmaid; add how many wives before,
how many virgins he loved: he erred, a wanderer. 365

Arcadia nempe uirgo, Palladios choros
dum nectit, Auge, uim stupri passa excidit,
nullamque amoris Hercules retinet notam.
referam quid alias? nempe Thespiades uacant
breuique in illis arsit Alcides face. 370
hospes Timoli Lydiam fouit nurum
et amore captus ad leues sedit colos,
tenerum feroci stamen intorquens manu.

Arcadian maiden indeed, while she was weaving the Palladian choruses,
Auge, having suffered the force of rape, fell from honor,
and Hercules retains no mark of love.
Shall I relate others? indeed the Thespiads stand idle,
and in them Alcides burned with a brief torch. 370
as guest of Tmolus he cherished the Lydian daughter-in-law,
and, captured by love, he sat down at the light distaffs,
twisting the tender thread with a ferocious hand.

nempe illa ceruix spolia deposuit ferae
crinemque mitra pressit et famulus stetit, 375
hirtam Sabaea marcidus myrrha comam:
ubique caluit, sed leui caluit face.
De. Haerere amantes post uagos ignes solent.
Nvt. Famulamne et hostis praeferet gnatam tibi?

indeed that neck laid down the spoils of the wild beast
and pressed his hair with a mitra and stood as a servant, 375
his shaggy hair made languid with Sabaean myrrh:
he went bald everywhere, yet he went bald by a light torch.
De. Lovers are accustomed to cling after roving fires.
Nvt. Will he prefer a handmaid and the daughter of an enemy to you?

De. Vt laeta siluas forma uernantes habet, 380

De. As joyous beauty holds the vernal woods, 380

quas nemore nudo primus inuestit tepor,
at cum solutos expulit Boreas Notos
et saeua totas bruma decussit comas,
deforme solis aspicis truncis nemus:
sic nostra longum forma percurrens iter                              385
deperdit aliquid semper et fulget minus,
nec illa uenus est: quidquid in nobis fuit
olim petitum cecidit et periit labans,
aetas citato senior eripuit gradu                              390
materque multum rapuit ex illo mihi.                              389

which the warmth first clothes in the bare grove,
but when Boreas has driven out the loosened South Winds
and cruel winter has struck down all the tresses,
you behold the grove misshapen, with trunks alone:
thus our beauty, running its long course,                              385
always loses something and shines less,
nor is that Venus: whatever in us there was
once sought-after has fallen and, slipping, has perished,
age, older, has snatched it away with a hurried step                              390
and motherhood has seized much of that from me.                              389

Vides ut altum famula non perdat decus?                              391
cessere cultus penitus et paedor sedet;
tamen per ipsas fulget aerumnas decor
nihilque ab illa casus et fatum graue
nisi regna traxit. hic meum pectus timor,                              395
altrix, lacessit, hic rapit somnos pauor.
Praeclara totis gentibus coniunx eram
thalamosque nostros inuido uoto nurus
optabat omnis, quae nimis quicquam deos
orabat ullos: nuribus Argolicis fui                              400

Do you see how a handmaid does not lose her lofty grace?                              391
the adornments have wholly given way and squalor sits;
yet through the very hardships the decor shines,
and chance and grievous fate drew nothing from her
except the kingdoms. Here fear, nurse, goads my breast,                              395
here dread snatches sleep.
I was a preeminent wife among all nations,
and every daughter-in-law with an envious vow
would desire our bridal chamber, and whoever
would pray anything too much to any of the gods: I was, for the Argolic daughters-in-law,                              400

mensura uoti. quem Ioui socerum parem,
altrix, habebo? quis sub hoc mundo mihi
dabitur maritus?

the measure of the vow. whom as a father-in-law equal to Jove,
nurse, shall I have? who under this world will be given to me
as a husband?

ipse qui Alcidae imperat,
facibus suis me iungat Eurystheus licet,
minus est. toris caruisse regnantis leue est: 405
alte illa cecidit quae uiro caret Hercule.
Nvt. Conciliat animos coniugum partus fere.

even he who commands Alcides,
let Eurystheus join me by his own torches, it is less;
to have lacked the couches of a ruler is light: 405
she has fallen from on high who lacks Hercules as a husband.
Nurse. Childbirth generally conciliates the minds of spouses.

De. Hic ipse forsan diuidet partus toros.
Nvt. Famula illa trahitur interim donum tibi.
De. Hic quem per urbes ire praeclarum uides 410
et uiua tergo spolia gestantem ferae,
qui regna miseris donat et celsis rapit
uasta grauatus horridam claua manum,
cuius triumphos ultimi Seres canunt
et quisquis alius orbe consaepto iacet, 415

De. This very childbirth perhaps will divide the marriage-beds.
Nvt. That handmaid meanwhile is being dragged as a gift for you.
De. He whom you see going through the cities illustrious 410
and bearing upon his back the living spoils of a wild beast,
who donates kingdoms to the wretched and snatches them from the lofty,
his horrid hand weighed down with a vast club,
whose triumphs the farthest Seres sing,
and whoever else lies within the enclosed orb, 415

leuis est nec illum gloriae stimulat decor.
errat per orbem, non ut aequetur Ioui
nec ut per urbes magnus Argolicas eat:
quod amet requirit, uirginum thalamos petit.
si qua est negata, rapitur; in populos furit, 420
nuptas ruinis quaerit et uitium impotens
uirtus uocatur.

he is light, nor does the ornament of glory stimulate him.
he wanders through the orb, not that he may be equated to Jove
nor that, great, he may go through the Argolic cities:
he seeks something to love, he aims at virgins’ bridal-chambers.
if any is denied, she is snatched; he rages upon peoples, 420
he seeks married women with ruins, and unbridled vice is called virtue.

cecidit Oechalia inclita
unusque Titan uidit atque unus dies
stantem et cadentem; causa bellandi est amor.
totiens timebit Herculi natam parens                              425
quotiens negabit, hostis est quotiens socer
fieri recusat: si gener non est, ferit.
      Post haec quid istas innocens seruo manus,
donec furentem simulet ac saeua manu
intendat arcus meque natumque opprimat?                              430

famed Oechalia fell
and a single Titan saw, and a single day,
it standing and it falling; the cause for waging war is love.
so often will a parent fear a daughter for Hercules                              425
as often as he will refuse, he is an enemy; as often as he refuses to become a father-in-law,
if he is not a son-in-law, he strikes.
      After these things, why do I, innocent, keep these hands in servitude,
until he feigns being frenzied and with a savage hand
stretches his bows and crushes me and my son?                              430

sic coniuges expellit Alcides suas,
haec sunt repudia; nec potest fieri nocens:
terris uideri sceleribus causam suis
fecit nouercam. quid stupes segnis, furor?
scelus occupandum est: perage, dum feruet manus. 435
Nvt. Perimes maritum?

thus Alcides drives out his wives,
these are divorces; nor can he be made out guilty:
he has made his stepmother seem the cause of his crimes to the world.
why do you gape, sluggish frenzy?
the crime must be seized upon: carry it through, while the hand is hot. 435
Nvt. Will you slay your husband?

De. Paelicis certe meae.
Nvt. At Ioue creatum. De. Nempe et Alcmena satum.

De. Certainly my husband’s mistress.
Nvt. But one begotten of Jove. De. Indeed, and begotten by Alcmene.

Nvt. Ferrone? De. Ferro. Nvt. Si nequis?

Nvt. With iron? De. With iron. Nvt. If you cannot?

De. Perimam dolo.
Nvt. Quis iste furor est? De. Quem meus coniunx docet.

De. I shall destroy by deceit.
Nvt. What fury is this? De. The one my spouse teaches.

Nvt. Quem nec nouerca potuit, hunc perimes uirum? 440
De. Caelestis ira quos premit, miseros facit:
humana nullos. Nvt. Parce, miseranda, et time.
De. Contempsit omnes ille qui mortem prius;
libet ire in enses.

Nvt. The man whom not even a stepmother could slay—will you slay this man? 440
De. Celestial ire makes wretched those whom it presses; human anger makes none.
Nvt. Spare, pitiable one, and be afraid.
De. He who has contemned death beforehand has contemned all; I want to rush upon swords.

Nvt. Maior admisso tuus,
alumna, dolor est; culpa par odium exigat. 445

Nvt. Greater than the admitted offense is your grief, foster-child; let the fault exact equal odium. 445

cur saeua modicis statuis? ut laesa es, dole.
De. Leue esse credis paelicem nuptae malum?

why do you set savage penalties for modest offenses? as you are injured, grieve.
De. do you think a mistress is a slight evil for a wife?

quidquid dolorem pascit, hoc nimium puta.
Nvt. Amorne clari fugit Alcidae tibi?
De. Non fugit, altrix, remanet et penitus sedet 450
fixus medullis, crede; sed magnus dolor
iratus amor est.

Whatever feeds grief, deem this excessive.
Nvt. Has love of renowned Alcides fled you?
De. It has not fled, nurse; it remains and sits deep 450
fixed in my marrow, believe me; but great pain
is love irate.

Nvt. Artibus magicis fere
coniugia nuptae precibus admixtis ligant.
uernare iussi frigore in medio nemus
missumque fulmen stare; concussi fretum 455
cessante uento, turbidum explicui mare
et sicca tellus fontibus patuit nouis.
habuere motum saxa, discussi fores
umbrasque Ditis, et mea iussi prece
manes locuntur, siluit infernus canis; 460

Nvt. By magical arts, generally
wives bind conjugal unions, with prayers intermixed.
I have ordered a grove to green in the very midst of cold
and a hurled thunderbolt to stand still; I have shaken the strait 455
with the wind at a standstill; I have unfolded the turbid sea,
and the dry earth has stood open with new springs.
the rocks have had motion; I have burst open the doors
and the shades of Dis; and at my bidding by prayer
the Manes speak; the infernal dog has fallen silent; 460

nox media solem uidit et noctem dies:                              462
mare terra caelum et Tartarus seruit mihi                               461
nihilque leges ad meos cantus tenet:                              463

Midnight saw the sun and day saw night:                              462
the sea the earth the sky and Tartarus serve me                               461
and no laws hold in the face of my chants:                              463

flectemus illum, carmina inuenient iter.
De. Quas Pontus herbas generat aut quas Thessala
sub rupe Pindus aluit inueniam malum
cui cedat ille? carmine in terras mago
descendat astris Luna desertis licet
et bruma messes uideat et cantu fugax
stet deprehensum fulmen et uersa uice 470
medius coactis ferueat stellis dies:
non flectet illum.

we will bend him; charms will find a path.
De. What herbs does Pontus generate, or what Pindus, Thessalian beneath the crag, has nourished—shall I find a bane to which he will yield? by a magus’s song let the Moon descend to earth, the stars deserted if you will,
and let midwinter behold harvests, and by chant let the fleeing lightning stand, caught, and with the order reversed 470
let midday seethe with the stars compelled together:
it will not bend him.

Nvt. Vicit et superos Amor.
De. Vincetur uni forsan et spolium dabit
Amorque summus fiet Alcidae labor.
Sed te per omne caelitum numen precor, 475
per hunc timorem: quidquid arcani apparo
penitus recondas et fide tacita premas.

Nvt. Love has conquered even the gods above.
De. He will perhaps be conquered by one as well, and will give spoil,
and Love will become Alcides’ supreme labor.
But I implore you by every numen of the celestials, 475
by this fear: whatever arcana I prepare,
hide it deep and with tacit faith suppress it.

Nvt. Quid istud est quod esse secretum petis?
De. Non tela sunt, non arma, non ignis minax.
Nvt. Praestare fateor posse me tacitam fidem, 480

Nvt. What is this that you ask to be secret?
De. They are not missiles, not arms, not menacing fire.
Nvt. I admit I can keep a silent faith, 480

si scelere careat: interim scelus est fides.
De. Circumspice agedum, ne quis arcana occupet,
partemque in omnem uultus inquirens eat.
Nvt. En locus ab omni tutus arbitrio uacat.

if it be without crime: for now, faith is a crime.
De. Look around, come then, lest anyone seize upon the arcana,
and let your looks go inquiring into every part.
Nvt. Lo, the place is safe, free from every arbiter.

De. Est in remoto regiae sedis loco 485
arcana tacitus nostra defendens specus.
non ille primos accipit soles locus,
non ille seros, cum ferens Titan diem
lassam rubenti mergit Oceano rotam.
illic amoris pignus Herculei latet. 490
altrix, fatebor: auctor est Nessus mali
quem grauida Nephele Thessalo genuit duci,
qua gelidus astris inserit Pindus caput
ultraque nubes Othrys eductus riget.

De. There is, in a remote place of the royal seat, 485
a cave, silently defending our arcana.
That place does not receive the first suns,
nor the late ones, when Titan, bearing the day,
plunges his weary wheel into the ruddy Ocean.
There lies hidden the pledge of Herculean love. 490
Nurse, I will confess: Nessus is the author of the evil,
whom pregnant Nephele bore to the Thessalian chieftain,
where gelid Pindus inserts its head among the stars,
and Othrys, drawn up beyond the clouds, stands rigid.

Namque ut subactus Herculis claua horridi 495

For indeed, when subdued by the club of grim Hercules 495

Achelous omnis facilis in species dari
tandem peractis omnibus patuit feris
unoque turpe subdidit cornu caput,
me coniugem dum uictor Alcides habet,
repetebat Argos. forte per campos uagus                              500
Euenos altum gurgitem in pontum ferens
iam paene summis turbidus ripis erat.
transire Nessus uerticem solitus uadis
pretium poposcit; meque iam dorso ferens
qua iungit hominem spina deficiens equo,                              505
frangebat ipsas fluminis tumidi minas.
Iam totus undis Nessus exierat ferox
medioque adhuc errabat Alcides uado,
uasto rapacem uerticem scindens gradu;
at ille, ut esse uidit Alciden procul:                              510

Achelous, easy to be given into every species, at length, with all things completed, lay open to savage blows, and with one horn he shamefully bowed his head beneath, while the victor Alcides has me as spouse, he was making for Argos again. By chance, wandering across the plains, the Evenus, carrying its deep vortex into the sea, was now almost turbulent to the very tops of its banks. Nessus, accustomed to ferry across the whirlpool by shallows, demanded a price; and now bearing me upon his back, where the failing spine joins the man to the horse, he was breaking the very threats of the swollen river. Now ferocious Nessus had wholly gone out from the waves, and Alcides still was straying in the mid ford, cleaving the rapacious vortex with his vast stride; but he, when he saw that Alcides was far off: 500

'tu praeda nobis' inquit 'et coniunx eris;
prohibetur undis', meque complexu ferens
gressum citabat. non tenent undae Herculem:
'infide uector' inquit, 'immixti licet
Ganges et Hister uallibus iunctis eant, 515
uincemus ambos, consequar telo fugam.'
praecessit arcus uerba; tum longum ferens
harundo uulnus tenuit haerentem fugam
mortemque fixit. ille, iam quaerens diem,
tabem fluentis uulneris dextra excipit 520
traditque nobis ungulae insertam suae,
quam forte saeua sciderat auolsam manu.

'you will be prey for us,' he says, 'and a wife; he is kept off by the waves,' and, carrying me in an embrace,
he was urging his pace. The waves do not hold Hercules:
'faithless ferryman,' he says, 'though the Ganges and the Ister, with their valleys joined, go commingled, 515
we shall conquer both; I will overtake your flight with my weapon.'
The bow went before the words; then the reed, bearing a long wound,
checked the clinging flight and fastened death. He, now seeking the light,
catches in his right hand the corruption of the flowing wound
and hands to me, inserted in his own hoof, 520
that which by chance his savage hand had torn off, wrenched away.

tunc uerba moriens addit: 'hoc' inquit 'magae
dixere amorem posse defigi malo;
hoc docta Mycale Thessalas docuit nurus, 525

then, dying, he adds words: 'this,' he says, 'the mages
have said—that love can be fastened by an apple;
this the learned Mycale taught the Thessalian brides,' 525

unam inter omnis Luna quam sequitur magas
astris relictis. inlitas uestes dabis
hac' inquit 'ipsa tabe, si paelex tuos
inuisa thalamos tulerit et coniunx leuis
aliam parenti dederit altisono nurum. 530
hoc nulla lux conspiciat, hoc tenebrae tegant
tantum remotae: sic potens uires suas
sanguis tenebit.' uerba deprendit quies
mortemque lassis intulit membris sopor.
Tu, quam meis admittit arcanis fides, 535
perge ut nitentem uirus in uestem datum
mentem per artus adeat et tacitum intumas
intret medullas.

the one woman among all mages whom Luna follows,
the stars left behind. "You will give garments smeared
with this very corruption," she said, "if a mistress,
hated, has carried off your bridal-chambers, and a light
spouse has given another daughter-in-law to the loud‑thundering father. 530
Let no light espy this; let remote darkness cover this
only: thus the blood, potent, will hold its powers." Rest
caught his words, and sleep brought death to his weary limbs.
You, whom trust admits to my arcana, 535
go on, that the venom given into the shining garment
may approach the mind through his limbs, and, swelling silently,
may enter his marrow.

Nvt. Ocius iussa exsequar,
alumna, precibus tu deum inuictum aduoca,
qui certa tenera tela dimittit manu. 540

Nvt. More swiftly will I carry out the orders,
foster-daughter, do you with prayers invoke the unconquered god,
who lets fly sure darts with his tender hand. 540

De. Te te precor, quem mundus et superi timent
et aequor et qui fulmen Aetnaeum quatit,
timende matri teliger saeuae puer:
intende certa spiculum uelox manu,
non ex sagittis leuibus: e numero, precor, 545
grauiore prome quod tuae nondum manus
misere in aliquem; non leui telo est opus,
ut amare possit Hercules. rigidas manus
intende et arcum cornibus iunctis para.
nunc, nunc sagittam prome qua quondam horridus 550
Iouem petisti, fulmine abiecto deus
cum fronte subita tumuit et rabidum mare
taurus puellae uector Assyriae scidit;
immitte amorem, uincat exempla omnia:
amare discat coniuges.

De. Thee, thee I implore, whom the world and the gods above fear,
and the sea, and even he who shakes the Aetnaean thunderbolt—
boy weapon-bearing, formidable to thy cruel mother—
aim the little spear with a sure, swift hand,
not from thy light arrows: from the number, I pray, bring forth 545
a heavier one, one which thy hands have not yet
sent against anyone; there is no need of a light missile,
that Hercules may be able to love. Stretch thy rigid hands,
and prepare the bow with joined horns.
now, now bring forth the arrow with which once, grim, thou didst target 550
Jove: the god, his thunderbolt cast aside,
swelled with sudden brow, and as a bull, the bearer of the Assyrian maiden,
he clove the raging sea; send in love, let it conquer all examples:
let spouses learn to love.

si quas decor 555

if any whom beauty 555

Ioles inussit pectori Herculeo faces,
extingue totas, perbibat formam mei.
tu fulminantem saepe domuisti Iouem,
tu furua nigri sceptra gestantem poli,
turbae ducem maioris et dominum Stygis, 560
tuque, o nouerca grauior irata deus,
cape hunc triumphum: solus euince Herculem.
Nvt. Prolata uis est quaeque Palladia colu
lassauit omnem texta famularem manum.

Iole has branded the Herculean breast with torches;
extinguish them all—let him thoroughly drink in my form.
you have often tamed Jove as he thundered,
you the one bearing the dusky scepters of the black pole,
the leader of the greater throng and the lord of Styx; 560
and you, O god, more grievous when angered than a stepmother,
take this triumph: conquer Hercules alone.
Nvt. The exertion has been prolonged, and every serving hand
has been wearied by a web woven with a Pallasian distaff.

nunc ingeratur uirus et uestis bibat                              565
Herculea pestem; precibus augebo malum.
      In tempore ipso nauus occurrit Lichas:
celanda uis est dira, ne pateant doli.
De. O quod superbae non habent umquam domus,
fidele semper regibus nomen Licha,                               570

now let the poison be poured in and let the garment drink                              565
the Herculean plague; I will augment the evil by prayers.
      At that very moment the zealous Lichas runs up:
the dire force must be concealed, lest the wiles be laid bare.
De. O what proud houses never have ever,
the faithful name to kings, Lichas,                              570

cape hos amictus, nostra quos neuit manus,
dum uagus in orbe fertur et uictus mero
tenet feroci Lydiam gremio nurum,
dum poscit Iolen. sed iecur fors horridum
flectam merendo: merita uicerunt malos.                              575
non ante coniunx induat uestes iube
quam ture flammas pascat et placet deos,
cana rigentem populo cinctus comam.
ipsa ad penates regios gressus feram
precibusque Amoris horridi matrem colam.                              580
      Vos, quas paternis extuli comites focis,
Calydoniae, lugete deflendam uicem.

take these mantles, which my hand has woven,
while he, a wanderer in the world and conquered by wine,
holds the Lydian girl on his fierce lap,
while he demands Iole. But perhaps I shall bend his grim heart
by deserving: merits have conquered the wicked.                              575
do not let my husband put on the garments before
he feeds the flames with incense and pleases the gods,
wreathed with poplar about his hoary, stiff hair.
I myself will carry my steps to the royal Penates
and with prayers will honor the mother of dread Love.                              580
      You, whom I have brought forth as companions from my father’s hearths,
Calydonian women, lament a plight to be wept.

Chorvs Flemus casus, Oenei, tuos
comitum primos turba per annos,
flemus dubios, miseranda, toros. 585

Chorus We weep your misfortunes, Oeneus,
we, the throng of companions from the earliest years,
we weep the doubtful marriage-beds, O pitiable one. 585

nos Acheloi tecum solitae
pulsare uadum, cum iam tumidas
uere peracto poneret undas
gracilisque gradu serperet aequo
nec praecipitem uolueret amnem                              590
flauus rupto fonte Lycormas;
nos Palladias ire per aras
et uirgineos celebrare choros,
nos Cadmeis orgia ferre
tecum solitae condita cistis,                              595
cum iam pulso sidere brumae
tertia soles euocat aestas
et spiciferae concessa deae
Attica mystas cludit Eleusin.
nunc quoque casum quemcumque times,                              600

we, of Achelous, accustomed with you
to beat the ford, when, with spring completed,
he would set down his swollen waves
and, slender, would creep with even step,
nor would tawny Lycormas, its spring burst, roll a headlong stream;                              590
we, to go through the Palladian altars
and to celebrate maidenly choruses,
we, accustomed with you to bear the Cadmean
orgies, enclosed in chests,                              595
when now, with the star of winter beaten back,
the third summer calls forth the suns,
and Attic Eleusis, granted to the grain-bearing goddess,
shuts in the mystae.
now too, whatever mishap you fear,                              600

fidas comites accipe fatis:
nam rara fides ubi iam melior
      fortuna ruit.
      Tu quicumque es qui sceptra tenes,
licet omne tua uulgus in aula                              605
centum pariter limina pulset:
cum tot populis stipatus eas,
in tot populis uix una fides.
tenet auratum limen Erinys,
et quom magnae patuere fores,                              610
intrant fraudes cautique doli
ferrumque latens; cumque in populos
prodire paras, comes inuidia est:
noctem quotiens summouet Eos,
regem totiens credite nasci.                              615

accept faithful companions allotted by the Fates:
for loyalty is rare where now better
      fortune collapses.
      You, whoever you are who hold the scepters,
although all the common crowd in your hall                              605
knocks at a hundred thresholds at once:
as you go, packed with so many peoples,
in so many peoples scarcely a single faith.
The Erinys holds the gilded threshold,
and when the great doors have stood open,                              610
frauds and wary wiles enter,
and the hidden iron; and when you prepare
to go forth among the peoples, envy is companion:
as often as Eos removes the night,
believe that a king is born just so often.                              615

Pauci reges, non regna colunt:
plures fulgor concitat aulae.
Cupit hic regi proximus ipsi
clarus totas ire per urbes
(urit miserum gloria pectus),                              620
cupit hic gazis implere famem,
nec tamen omnis plaga gemmiferi
      sufficit Histri
nec tota sitim Lydia uincit
nec quae Zephyro subdita tellus                              625
stupet aurato flumine clarum
      radiare Tagum,
nec si totus seruiat Hebrus
ruraque diues iungat Hydaspes
intraque suos currere fines
spectet toto flumine Gangen:                              630

Few kings tend their kingdoms; more are stirred by the splendor of the hall.
This one, nearest to the king himself, longs, illustrious, to go through all the cities
(glory burns the wretched breast);                              620
this one longs to fill his hunger with treasures,
and yet not every region of the gem-bearing Hister suffices,
      nor does all Lydia conquer his thirst,
nor does the land subject to the West Wind,
which marvels that the bright Tagus gleams to radiate with a gilded river,                              625
      nor, if the whole Hebrus were at his service
and the Hydaspes, rich in farmlands, were yoked,
and he should behold the Ganges run within his own borders
with its whole stream:                              630

auidis, auidis natura parum est.
Colit hic reges regumque lares,
non ut presso uomere semper
numquam cesset curuus arator
uel mille secent arua coloni: 635
solas optat quas ponat opes.
colit hic reges, calcet ut omnes
perdatque aliquos nullumque leuet:
tantum ut noceat cupit esse potens.

for the greedy, for the greedy, nature is too little.
He courts kings and the household gods of kings,
not so that, with the pressed ploughshare, the bent plowman
may never cease, or that a thousand farmers cut the fields: 635
he longs only for the wealth he can lay down.
he courts kings, so that he may trample all
and ruin some and raise none:
he desires to be powerful only so that he may harm.

Quota pars moritur tempore fati! 640
rarum est felix idemque senex: 643

What portion dies at fate’s time! 640
Rare is he who is both felicitous and likewise old: 643

quos felices Cynthia uidit,                              641
uidit miseros enata dies,
nec sibi felix pauper habetur,                              673
nisi felices cecidisse uidet.
O si pateant pectora ditum!                              648

those whom Cynthia saw happy,                              641
the day, once born, saw wretched,
nor is the poor man accounted happy in his own eyes,                              673
unless he sees the happy have fallen.
O if the hearts of the rich might lie open!                              648

quantos intus sublimis agit
      fortuna metus!
Bruttia Coro pulsante fretum
      lenior unda est.
pectora pauper secura gerit:
carpit faciles uilesque cibos,                              655
sed non strictos respicit enses;
tenet e patula pocula fago,                              653
sed non trepida tenet illa manu:
aurea miscet pocula sanguis.                              657

how great fears within lofty Fortune agitates!
      when the Bruttian Corus is beating the strait,
      the wave is gentler.
the poor man bears a care-free heart:
he picks easy and cheap foods,                              655
but he does not look upon drawn swords;
he holds cups from the spreading beech,                              653
but he does not hold them with a trembling hand:
blood mixes the golden cups.                              657

caespes Tyrio mollior ostro                              644
solet inpauidos ducere somnos;
aurea rumpunt texta quietem
uigilesque trahit purpura noctes.
Coniunx modico nupta marito                              658
non disposito clara monili
gestat pelagi dona rubentis,
nec gemmiferas detrahit aures
lapis Eoa lectus in unda,
nec Sidonio mollis aeno
repetita bibit lana rubores,
nec Maeonia distinguit acu                              665

the turf, softer than Tyrian purple,                              644
is wont to lead unafraid slumbers;
golden textiles break repose,
and purple draws wakeful nights.
a consort wedded to a modest husband                              658
does not wear, in a set necklace,
the gifts of the ruddy sea,
nor does a stone chosen in the Eoan wave
drag down gem-bearing ears,
nor does soft wool drink repeated blushes
in a Sidonian bronze,
nor does she distinguish with a Maeonian needle                              665

quae Phoebeis subditus euris
legit Eois Ser arboribus:
quaelibet herbae tinxere colus
quas indoctae neuere manus,
sed non dubios fouet illa toros.                              670
sequitur dira lampade Erinys
quarum populi coluere diem.
      Quisquis medium defugit iter                              675
stabili numquam tramite curret:
dum petit unum praebere diem
patrioque puer constitit axe
nec per solitum decurrit iter,
sed Phoebeis ignota petens                              680

which, beneath Phoebean Eurus-winds,
the Ser gathers from Eastern trees:
every sort of herb has tinged the distaffs
which untrained hands have spun,
but she does not cherish doubtful couches.                              670
a dread Erinys with torch follows—
whose day peoples have revered.
      Whoever flees the middle course                              675
will never run on a steady track:
while he sought to grant a single day
and the boy stood in his father’s axle
and did not run through the accustomed path,
but, seeking unknown things with Phoebean fires,                              680

sidera flammis errante rota,
secum pariter perdidit orbem.
medium caeli dum sulcat iter,
tenuit placidas Daedalus oras
nullique dedit nomina ponto;                              685
sed dum uolucres uincere ueras
      Icarus audet
patriasque puer despicit alas
Phoeboque uolat proxumus ipsi,
dedit ignoto nomina ponto:                              690
male pensantur magna ruinis.
Felix alius magnusque sonet,
me nulla uocet turba potentem.
stringat tenuis litora puppis
nec magna meas aura phaselos                              695

the stars, with flames, as the wheel wandered,
he lost the orb along with it.
while he furrows a path through the middle of the sky,
Daedalus held to placid shores
and gave his name to no sea;                              685
but while to conquer true birds
      Icarus dares
and the boy looks down on his fatherland wings
and flies nearest to Phoebus himself,
he gave his name to an unknown sea:                              690
great things are ill weighed by ruins.
Let another resound as happy and great;
let no crowd call me potent.
let a slender skiff hug the shores,
nor let a great breeze drive my skiffs.                              695

iubeat medium scindere pontum:
transit tutos Fortuna sinus
medioque rates quaerit in alto,
quarum feriunt sipara nubes.
      Sed quid pauido territa uultu,                              700
qualis Baccho saucia Thyias,
fertur rapido regina gradu?
quae te rursus fortuna rotat,
      miseranda, refer:
licet ipsa neges, uultus loquitur                              705
      quodcumque tegis.

let her bid to cleave the mid-sea:
Fortune crosses safe bays
and in the middle deep seeks the ships,
whose sails strike the clouds.
      But why, with a fearful, terrified visage,                              700
like a Thyias wounded by Bacchus,
is the queen borne at a rapid pace?
what Fortune whirls you again,
      pitiable one, tell:
although you yourself deny it, your face speaks                              705
      whatever you conceal.

Deianira Vagus per artus errat excussos tremor,
erectus horret crinis, impulsis adhuc
stat terror animis et cor attonitum salit
pauidumque trepidis palpitat uenis iecur.
ut fractus austro pontus etiamnum tumet, 710

Deianira A vagrant tremor wanders through the shaken limbs,
the hair bristles erect; with the spirits still impelled,
terror stands, and the thunderstruck heart leaps,
and the fearful liver palpitates in trembling veins.
as the sea, shattered by the South wind, even now swells, 710

quamuis quiescat languidis uentis dies,
ita mens adhuc uexatur excusso metu.
semel profecto premere felices deus
cum coepit, urget. hos habent magna exitus.

although the day lies quiet with languid winds,
thus the mind is still vexed, though fear has been shaken out.
once indeed the god has begun to press the fortunate, he urges on.
such are the endings that great fortunes have.

Chorvs Quis tam impotens, miseranda, te casus rotat? 715
De. Vt missa palla est tabe Nessea inlita
thalamisque maerens intuli gressum meis,
nescioquid animus timuit * * *
* * * * * et fraudem struit.
libet experiri. solibus uirus ferum
flammisque Nessus sanguinem ostendi arcuit: 720
hic ipse fraudes esse praemonuit dolus.

Chorus What fortune so unbridled, pitiable one, whirls you? 715
De. When the mantle, smeared with Nessian corruption, was sent,
and mourning I brought my step into my bridal chambers,
my spirit feared I-know-not-what * * *
* * * * * and it plots a fraud.
I am inclined to make trial. To the suns
and to flames Nessus forbade his blood, a savage virus, to be shown: 720
this very guile itself premonished there were frauds.

et forte, nulla nube respersus iubar,
laxabat ardens feruidum Titan diem
(uix ora solui patitur etiamnunc timor):
medios in ignes solis et claram facem, 725

and by chance, the radiance, besprinkled by no cloud,
the ardent Titan was loosening the fervid day
(fear even now scarcely allows my lips to be loosened):
into the midst of the fires of the sun and the bright torch, 725

quo tincta fuerat palla uestisque inlita,
abiectus horret uillus et Phoebi coma
tepefactus arsit (uix queo monstrum eloqui).
niues ut Eurus soluit aut tepidus Notus,
quas uere primo lucidus perdit Mimas,                              730
utque euolutos frangit Ionio salo
opposita fluctus Leucas et lassus tumor
in litore ipso spumat, aut caelestibus
aspersa tepidis tura laxantur focis,
sic languet omne uellus et perdit comas.                              735
dumque ista miror, causa mirandi perit;
quin ipsa tellus spumeos motus agit
et quidquid illa tabe contactum est labat
tumensque tacita * * * *
* * * * quassat caput
natum pauentem cerno et ardenti pede                              740

wherewith the mantle had been dyed and the garment smeared,
the cast-off pile shudders, and Phoebus’s hair,
warmed, blazed (I scarcely can utter the monstrous prodigy).
as Eurus loosens snows or the tepid Notus,
which at earliest spring bright Mimas loses,                              730
and as Leucas, set opposite, breaks the unrolled waves
on the Ionian brine, and the weary swell
foams on the very shore; or as incenses, sprinkled,
are relaxed on heavenly warm hearths,
so every fleece droops and loses its locks.                              735
and while I marvel at these things, the cause of marveling perishes;
nay, the earth itself stirs foamy motions,
and whatever has been touched by that taint gives way,
and, swelling in silence, * * * *
* * * * shakes its head—
I behold my son, in terror, and with a burning foot.                              740

gressus ferentem. prome quid portes noui.
Hyllvs I, profuge, quaere si quid ulterius patet
terris freto sideribus Oceano inferis:
ultra labores, mater, Alcidae fuge.

bearing his steps. bring forth what new you carry.
Hyllvs Go, fugitive, seek whether anything lies further open
than lands, the sea, the stars, Ocean, the Underworld:
beyond the labors of Alcides, mother, flee.

De. Nescioquod animus grande praesagit malum. 745
Hy. Plenae triumphi templa Iunonis pete:
haec tibi patent, delubra praeclusa omnia.
De. Effare quis me casus insontem premat.
Hy. Decus illud orbis atque praesidium unicum,
quem fata terris in locum dederant Iouis, 750
o mater, abiit: membra et Herculeos toros
urit lues nescioqua; qui domuit feras,
ille ille uictor uincitur maeret dolet.

De. Some I-know-not-what great evil my spirit forebodes. 745
Hy. Seek Juno’s temples, full of triumph: these stand open to you; all shrines are shut.
De. Speak out what mischance presses me, though innocent.
Hy. That ornament of the world and sole safeguard, whom the Fates had given to the lands in place of Jove, 750
O mother, has departed: some unknown plague burns his limbs and Herculean thews; he who tamed the beasts—yes, that very victor—is vanquished; he mourns, he grieves.

quid quaeris ultra? De. Miserias properant suas
audire miseri; fare, quo posita in statu 755

what do you seek beyond? De. the wretched hasten to hear their own miseries;
speak, in what status is he placed 755

iam nostra domus est? o lares, miseri lares!
nunc uidua, nunc expulsa, nunc ferar obruta.

is it now our home? O Lares, wretched Lares!
now widowed, now expelled, now shall I be borne crushed.

Hy. Non sola maeres Herculem: toto iacet
mundo gemendus; fata nec, mater, tua
priuata credas: iam genus totum obstrepit. 760
hunc ecce luctum quem gemis cuncti gemunt;
commune terris omnibus pateris malum.
luctum occupasti: prima, non sola Herculem,
miseranda, maeres. De. Quam prope a leto tamen
ede, ede quaeso iaceat Alcides meus. 765
Hy. Mors refugit illum uicta quae in regno suo
semel est nec audent fata tam uastum nefas
admittere.

Hy. You do not alone mourn Hercules: he lies to be lamented by the whole world; nor, mother, should you believe the fates are yours privately: already the whole race is clamoring. 760
behold, this grief which you lament all lament; a common evil you suffer for all lands.
you have forestalled the mourning: first, not the only one, pitiable woman, you mourn Hercules. De. Yet tell, tell, I pray, how near to death my Alcides lies. 765
Hy. Death, conquered, flees from him who once was in her own kingdom, and the fates do not dare to admit so vast a nefarious outrage.

ipsa forsitan trepida colus
Clotho manu proiecit et fata Herculis
timet peragere. pro diem, infandum diem! 770

Clotho herself, perhaps trembling, cast the distaff from her hand
and fears to carry through the fates of Hercules.
O day, unspeakable day! 770

hocne ille summo magnus Alcides erit?
De. Ad fata et umbras atque peiorem polum
praecedere illum dicis? an possum prior
mortem occupare?

Is this that great Alcides at his summit?
De. Do you say that he goes on ahead to the fates and the shades and the worse pole? Or can I seize on death first?

fare, si nondum occidit.
Hy. Euboica tellus uertice immenso tumens 775
pulsatur omni latere: Phrixeum mare
scindit Caphereus, seruit hoc Austro latus;
at qua niuosi patitur Aquilonis minas,
Euripus undas flectit instabilis uagas
septemque cursus uoluit et totidem refert, 780
dum lassa Titan mergit Oceano iuga.
hic rupe celsa, nulla quam nubes ferit,
annosa fulgent templa Cenaei Iouis.

speak, if he has not yet perished.
Hy. The Euboean land, swelling with an immense summit 775
is buffeted on every side: the Phrixean sea
Caphereus cleaves; this flank is subject to Auster;
but where it endures the threats of snowy Aquilo,
the Euripus, unstable, bends its wandering waves
and rolls seven courses and returns just so many, 780
while weary Titan dips his yokes into Ocean.
Here, on a lofty crag, which no cloud strikes,
the age-old temples of Cenaean Jove gleam.

Vt stetit ad aras omne uotiuum pecus
totumque tauris gemuit auratis nemus, 785

As soon as the whole votive herd stood at the altars
and the whole grove groaned with gilded bulls, 785

spolium leonis sordidum tabo exuit
posuitque clauae pondus et pharetra grauis
laxauit umeros. ueste tunc fulgens tua,
cana reuinctus populo horrentem comam,
succendit aras: 'accipe has' inquit 'focis                              790
non false messis genitor et largo sacer
splendescat ignis ture, quod Phoebum colens
diues Sabaeis colligit truncis Arabs.
pacata tellus' inquit 'et caelum et freta,
feris subactis omnibus uictor redi:                               795
depone fulmen'—gemitus in medias preces
stupente et ipso cecidit; hinc caelum horrido
clamore complet: qualis impressa fugax
taurus bipenni uolnus et telum ferens
delubra uasto trepida mugitu replet,                              800

he stripped off the spoil of the lion, foul with gore,
and set down the weight of the club and, the heavy quiver, loosened his shoulders.
then, shining in your vesture,
his bristling hair bound with hoary poplar,
he kindled the altars: 'receive these,' he says, 'for the hearths                              790
no false harvest, father, and let the sacred
fire glow with lavish incense, which, worshiping Phoebus,
the wealthy Arab gathers from Sabaean trunks.
"let the earth be pacified," he says, "and the sky and the straits,
return a victor, with all wild beasts subdued;                               795
lay down the thunderbolt"—a groan fell into the midst of the prayers,
he himself even astonished; from there he fills the sky with a horrid
cry: such as, struck by a double-axe,
the fleeing bull, bearing the wound and the weapon,
fills the shrines with a vast, trembling bellow,                              800

aut quale mundo fulmen emissum tonat,
sic ille gemitu sidera et pontum ferit,
et uasta Chalcis sonuit et uoces Cyclas
excepit omnis; hinc petrae Capherides,
hinc omne uoces reddit Herculeas nemus. 805
flentem uidemus. uulgus antiquam putat
rabiem redisse; tunc fugam famuli petunt.
At ille uoltus ignea torquens face
unum inter omnes sequitur et quaerit Lichan.

or as, when a thunderbolt emitted into the world thunders,
so he with a groan smites the stars and the sea,
and vast Chalcis resounded and the Cyclades all
took up the voices; from here the Capherean rocks,
from there the whole Herculean grove gives back the voices. 805
we see him weeping. the crowd thinks the ancient
rabies has returned; then the household-servants seek flight.
But he, twisting his features with a fiery torch,
singles out one among all and seeks Lichas.

complexus aras ille tremibunda manu 810
mortem metu consumpsit et paruum sui
poenae reliquit. dumque tremibundum manu
tenuit cadauer: 'hac manu, hac' inquit 'ferar,
o fata, uictus? Herculem uicit Lichas?

embracing the altars with a trembling hand he 810
consumed death by fear and left a small part of himself
for punishment. and while with his hand he held the trembling cadaver:
'by this hand, this,' he says, 'am I to be borne, o fates, vanquished?
did Lichas conquer Hercules?'

ecce alia clades: Hercules perimit Lichan. 815

behold another calamity: Hercules slays Lichas. 815

facta inquinentur: fiat hic summus labor.'
in astra missus fertur et nubes uago
spargit cruore; talis in caelum exilit
harundo Getica iussa dimitti manu
aut quam Cydon excussit: inferius tamen                              820
et tela fugient. truncus in pontum cadit,
in saxa ceruix: unus ambobus iacet.
      'Resistite' inquit, 'non furor mentem abstulit,
furore grauius istud atque ira malum est:
in me iuuat saeuire.' uix pestem indicat                              825
et saeuit: artus ipse dilacerat suos
et membra uasta carpit auellens manu.

‘let deeds be stained: let this be the supreme labor.’
to the stars sent he is borne, and the clouds with drifting
gore he sprinkles; such into the sky leaps
a Getic arrow, bidden to be let fly from the hand,
or one which Cydon shot: yet lower                              820
even the missiles will flee. The trunk falls into the sea,
upon the rocks the neck: one lies for both.
      ‘Hold back,’ he says, ‘madness has not snatched my mind;
this evil is graver than frenzy and than anger:
it delights me to rage against myself.’ Hardly does he point out the plague                              825
and he rages: he himself tears apart his own limbs
and his vast members he plucks, rending with his hand.

exuere amictus quaerit: hoc solum Herculem
non posse uidi; trahere conatus tamen
et membra traxit: corporis palla horridi 830

he seeks to strip off his garments: this alone I saw Hercules
not able to do; yet having tried to drag them,
he dragged even his limbs: the pall of his horrid body 830

pars est et ipsa—uestis immiscet cutem.
nec causa dirae cladis in medio patet,
sed causa tamen est; uixque sufficiens malo
nunc ore terram languidus prono premit,
nunc poscit undas—unda non uincit malum; 835
fluctisona quaerit litora et pontum occupat:
famularis illum retinet errantem manus—
o sortem acerbam! fuimus Alcidae pares.

it too is part—the garment commingles with the skin.
nor does the cause of the dire calamity lie open in the midst,
yet there is a cause; and scarcely adequate to the ill
now, languid, he presses the earth with face bent down,
now he demands the waters—the wave does not conquer the evil; 835
he seeks the wave-sounding shores and occupies the sea:
a servant’s hand holds him back as he wanders—
O bitter lot! we were equals to Alcides.

Nunc puppis illum litore Euboico refert
Austerque lenis pondus Herculeum rapit; 840
destituit animus membra, nox oculos premit.
De. Quid, anime, cessas? quid stupes?

Now the ship carries him back from the Euboean shore
and the gentle South Wind bears the Herculean burden along; 840
the spirit deserts his limbs, night presses upon his eyes.
De. Why, my soul, do you delay? Why do you stand stupefied?

factum est scelus:
natum reposcit Iuppiter, Iuno aemulum;
* 843a
reddendus orbi est—quod potest reddi, exhibe:
eat per artus ensis exactus meos.
sic, sic agendum est—tam leuis poenas manus
tantas reposcit? perde fulminibus, socer,
nurum scelestam.

a crime has been done:
Jupiter demands his son, Juno her rival;
* 843a
he must be given back to the world—what can be given back, exhibit;
let a sword, driven, go through my limbs.
thus, thus it must be done—does so light a hand
demand such great penalties? destroy with thunderbolts, father-in-law,
your criminal daughter-in-law.

nec leui telo manus
armetur: illud fulmen exiliat polo,
quo, nisi fuisset genitus Alcides tibi, 850

nor let the hand be armed with a light weapon:
let that thunderbolt leap from the pole,
by which, unless Alcides had been begotten for you, 850

hydram cremasses: pestem ut insolitam feri
et ut nouerca peius irata malum.
emitte telum quale in errantem prius
Phaethonta missum est: perdidi in solo Hercule
et ipsa populos.—quid rogas telum deos?                              855
iam parce socero: coniugem Alcidae necem
optare pudeat: haec erit uoto manus,
a me petatur; occupa ferrum ocius—
cur deinde ferrum? quidquid ad mortem trahit
telum est abunde: rupe ab aetheria ferar.                              860
haec, haec renatum prima quae noscit diem
Oeta eligatur; corpus hinc mitti placet.—
leuis una mors est—leuis, at extendi potest:                              865

you should have burned the Hydra: strike the pest as unusual,
and an evil worse than a stepmother enraged.
send forth a missile such as was sent before
at wandering Phaethon: upon Hercules alone I have destroyed
even peoples myself.—why do you ask the gods for a weapon?                              855
now spare the father-in-law: let it shame you to wish
the death of Alcides’ spouse: this hand shall be for the vow,
let it be sought from me; seize the iron more swiftly—
why then the iron? whatever draws toward death
is a missile enough: let me be borne from an aetherial crag.                              860
this, this Oeta, which first knows the reborn day,
let it be chosen; it pleases that the body be sent from here.—
a single death is light—light, but it can be extended:                              865

abrupta cautes scindat et partem mei                              863
ferat omne saxum, pendeant lacerae manus
totumque rubeat asperi montis latus.—
eligere nescis, anime, cui telo incubes!                              867
utinam esset, utinam fixus in thalamis meis
Herculeus ensis: huic decet ferro inmori.—
una perire dextera nobis sat est?                              870

let a broken-off crag split me, and let every stone carry off a part of me                              863
let my torn hands hang, and let the whole flank of the rough mountain grow red.—
you do not know, my soul, to choose upon which weapon to lie!                              867
would that there were, would that the Herculean sword were fixed in my chambers: upon this iron it befits to die.—
is it enough for us that a single right hand perish?                              870

coite, gentes, saxa et immensas faces
iaculetur orbis, nulla nunc cesset manus,
corripite tela, uindicem uestrum abstuli:
impune saeui sceptra iam reges gerent,
impune iam nascetur indomitum malum; 875
reddentur arae cernere assuetae hostiam
similem colenti: sceleribus feci uiam;
ego uos tyrannis regibus monstris feris
saeuisque rapto uindice opposui deis.—
cessas, Tonantis socia? non spargis facem 880
imitata fratrem et mittis ereptam Ioui
meque ipsa perdis? laus tibi erepta incluta est,
ingens triumphus: aemuli, Iuno, tui
mortem occupaui.

come together, peoples, let the world hurl stones and immense torches,
let no hand now be idle, seize your weapons, I have taken away your avenger:
cruel kings will now bear scepters with impunity,
with impunity now an untamed evil will be born; 875
altars, accustomed to behold a victim similar to the worshiper, will be restored;
I have made a way for crimes;
I have set you against tyrants, kings, wild monsters, and the savage gods,
with the avenger snatched away.—
do you delay, partner of the Thunderer? do you not scatter the torch,
having imitated your brother, and do you send what was snatched from Jove
and do you yourself destroy me? the glory snatched away from you is illustrious,
a mighty triumph: I, Juno, have forestalled the death of your rival.

Nvtrix Quid domum impulsam trahis?
erroris istic omne quodcumque est nefas. 885

Nurse Why do you drag in the shaken house?
there lies every nefarious wrong of error, whatever it is. 885

haut est nocens quicumque non sponte est nocens.
De. Quicumque fato ignoscit et parcit sibi,
errare meruit: morte damnari placet.
Nvt. Nocens uideri, qui mori quaerit, cupit.

he is not guilty, whoever is not guilty of his own accord.
De. Whoever excuses fate and spares himself has deserved to err: it pleases that he be condemned to death.
Nvt. He who seeks to die desires to seem guilty.

De. Mors innocentes sola deceptos facit. 890
Nvt. Titana fugies? De. Ipse me Titan fugit.
Nvt. Vitam relinques?

De. Death alone makes the innocent deceived. 890
Nvt. Will you flee Titan? De. Titan himself flees me.
Nvt. Will you relinquish life?

De. Miseram, ut Alciden sequar.
Nvt. Superest et auras ille caelestes trahit.
De. Vinci Hercules cum potuit, hinc coepit mori.

De. Wretched me, that I should follow Alcides.
Nvt. He still remains and draws the celestial airs.
De. Once Hercules could be conquered, from that point he began to die.

Nvt. Natum relinques fataque abrumpes tua? 895
De. Quamcumque natus sepelit haec uixit diu.
Nvt. Virum sequeris. De. Praegredi castae solent.

Nvt. Will you leave your son and cut short your fates? 895
De. Whomsoever a son buries, she has lived long.
Nvt. You follow your husband. De. Chaste women are accustomed to go before.

Nvt. Si te ipsa damnas, scelere te misera arguis.
De. Nemo nocens sibi ipse poenas inrogat.
Nvt. Multis remissa est uita quorum error nocens, 900

Nvt. If you yourself condemn yourself, wretched one, you accuse yourself of crime.
De. No guilty person imposes penalties upon himself.
Nvt. To many life has been remitted, whose error was culpable, 900

non dextra fuerat. fata quis damnat sua?
De. Quicumque fata iniqua sortitus fuit.

it was not the right hand. who condemns his own fates?
De. Whoever has been allotted iniquitous fates.

Nvt. Hic ipse Megaram nempe confixam suis
strauit sagittis atque natorum indolem
Lernaea figens tela furibunda manu; 905
ter parricida factus ignouit tamen
sibi, nam furoris fonte Cinyphio scelus
sub axe Libyco tersit et dextram abluit.
quo, misera, pergis? cur tuas damnas manus?

Nvt. This very man indeed laid low Megara, transfixed by his own
arrows, and the progeny of his children, fixing Lernaean darts with a frenzied hand; 905
thrice made a parricide, yet he forgave himself,
for he wiped off the crime in the Cinyphian fount of madness
beneath the Libyan axis and washed his right hand.
whither, wretched one, do you go? why do you condemn your hands?

De. Damnat meas deuictus Alcides manus: 910
placet scelus punire. Nvt. Si noui Herculem,
aderit cruenti forsitan uictor mali
dolorque fractus cedet Alcidae tuo.
De. Exedit artus uirus, ut fama est, hydrae;
immensa pestis coniugis membra abstulit. 915

De. The vanquished Alcides condemns my hands: 910
it pleases to punish the crime. Nvt. If I know Hercules,
perhaps the victor over bloody evil will be present,
and the broken pain will yield to your Alcides.
De. The Hydra’s venom, as the report goes, has eaten away his limbs;
an immense pestilence has carried off the limbs of my husband. 915

Nvt. Serpentis illi uirus enectae autumas
haut posse uinci, qui malum uiuum tulit?
elisit hydram, dente cum fixo stetit
media palude uictor effuso obrutus
artus ueneno. sanguis hunc Nessi opprimet, 920
qui uicit ipsas horridi Nessi manus?

Nvt. Do you suppose the venom of that slain serpent
not able to be vanquished—he who bore a living evil?
He dashed down the Hydra; with the fang fixed he stood
in the middle marsh, a victor, though overwhelmed,
his limbs with outpoured venom. Nessus’s blood will crush him, 920
who conquered the very hands of horrid Nessus?

De. Frustra tenetur ille qui statuit mori:
proinde lucem fugere decretum est mihi.
uixit satis quicumque cum Alcide occidit.
Nvt. Per has aniles ecce te supplex comas 925
atque ubera ista paene materna obsecro:
depone tumidas pectoris laesi minas
mortisque dirae expelle decretum horridum.

De. In vain is he held who has resolved to die:
accordingly, to flee the light is decreed for me.
whoever has fallen with Alcides has lived enough.
Nvt. By these anile locks behold I as a suppliant beseech you 925
and by that breast almost maternal:
lay down the tumid menaces of your injured breast
and expel the horrid decree of dire death.

De. Quicumque misero forte dissuadet mori,
crudelis ille est: interim poena est mori, 930

De. Whoever by chance dissuades a miserable man from dying
he is cruel: meanwhile to die is a punishment, 930

sed saepe donum; pluribus uenia obfuit.
Nvt. Defende saltem dexteram, infelix, tuam
fraudisque facinus esse, non nuptae, sciat.
De. Defendar illic: inferi absoluent ream,
a me ipsa damnor; purget has Pluton manus. 935
stabo ante ripas, immemor Lethe, tuas
et umbra tristis coniugem excipiam meum.

but often a boon; to more, pardon has been harmful.
Nvt. Defend at least your right hand, unhappy one,
and let him know that it is the deed of fraud, not of the bride.
De. I shall be defended there: the underworld will acquit the accused;
by myself I am condemned; let Pluto purge these hands. 935
I shall stand before your banks, unmindful of Lethe,
and as a sad shade I will receive my husband.

      Sed tu, nigrantis regna qui torques poli,
para laborem (scelera quae quisque ausus est,
hic uincit error: Iuno non ausa Herculem est                              940
eripere terris), horridam poenam para.
Sisyphia ceruix cesset et nostros lapis
impellat umeros; me uagus fugiat latex
meamque fallax unda deludat sitim;
merui manus praebere turbinibus tuis,                              945

But you, who sway the realms of the darkling pole,
prepare a labor (the crimes which each man has dared,
this error prevails: Juno was940 not bold to snatch Hercules from the lands), prepare a horrid punishment.
Let the Sisyphian neck fall idle and let the stone drive my shoulders;
let the wandering water flee me and the deceitful wave mock my thirst;
I have deserved to offer my hands to your whirlwinds, 945

quaecumque regem Thessalum torques rota;
effodiat auidus hinc et hinc uultur fibras;
uacat una Danais: has ego explebo uices.
Laxate, manes; recipe me comitem tibi,
Phasiaca coniunx: peior haec, peior tuo                              950
utroque dextra est scelere, seu mater nocens
seu dira soror es; adde me comitem tuis,
Threicia coniunx, sceleribus; natam tuam,
Althaea mater, recipe, nunc ueram tui
agnosce prolem—quid tamen tantum manus                              955
uestrae abstulerunt? claudite Elysium mihi,
quaecumque fidae coniuges nemoris sacri
lucos tenetis; si qua respersit manus
uiri cruore nec memor castae facis
stricto cruenta Belias ferro stetit,                              960

whatever wheel you twist for the Thessalian king;
let the greedy vulture dig out the entrails here and there;
one place is vacant for the Danaids: I will fill these turns.
loosen, shades; receive me as a companion to you,
Phasian spouse: this one is worse, her right hand is worse in crime than both your deeds, 950
whether you are a guilty mother or a dreadful sister; add me as a companion to your
crimes, Thracian wife; receive your daughter,
mother Althaea; now acknowledge a true offspring
of yourself—yet what so great have your hands taken away?
shut Elysium to me, you whatever faithful wives who hold the groves of the sacred wood; 955
if any hand has been spattered with a husband’s blood and, unmindful of the chaste torch,
a Belias stood blood-stained with drawn steel,

in me suas agnoscat et laudet manus:
in hanc abire coniugum turbam libet—
sed et illa fugiet turba tam diras manus.
Inuicte coniunx, innocens animus mihi,
scelesta manus est. pro nimis mens credula, 965
pro Nesse fallax atque semiferi doli!

let her recognize in me and praise her own hands:
it pleases me to pass over into this throng of spouses—
but even that throng will flee such dire hands.
Unconquered husband, my spirit is innocent,
the hand is criminal. ah, too credulous a mind, 965
ah for deceitful Nessus and the guiles of the half-beast!

auferre cupiens paelici eripui mihi.
recede, Titan, tuque quae blanda tenes
in luce miseros uita: cariturae Hercule
lux uilis ista est. exigat poenas sibi 970
reddamque uitam—fata an extendo mea
mortemque, coniunx, ad tuas seruo manus?

desiring to take him away for the paramour, I snatched him from myself.
recede, Titan, and you too, Life, who with blandishment hold
the wretched in the light: for one about to be bereft of Hercules
that light is cheap. Let it exact its penalties, and I will give back my life 970
—or am I extending my fates
and, husband, reserving death for your hands?

uirtusne superest aliqua et armatae manus
intendere arcum tela missurum ualent?
an arma cessant teque languenti manu 975

does any valor remain, and do armed hands
have the strength to draw the bow to send the missile?
or do the arms fall idle, and you with a languishing hand 975

non audit arcus? si potes letum dare,
animosa coniunx dexteram expecto tuam.
mors differatur: frange ut insontem Lichan,
alias in urbes sparge et ignotum tibi
inmitte in orbem; perde ut Arcadiae nefas 980
et quidquid aliud cessit—at ab illis tamen,
coniunx, redisti.

does the bow not heed? if you can give death,
bold wife, I await your right hand.
let death be deferred: shatter, as you shattered the innocent Lichas,
scatter into other cities and hurl into a world unknown to you;
destroy, as you destroyed the Arcadian abomination, 980
and whatever else has yielded—but from those, however,
wife, you returned.

Hyllvs Parce iam, mater, precor,
ignosce fatis; error a culpa uacat.
De. Si uera pietas, Hylle, quaerenda est tibi,
iam perime matrem—pauida quid tremuit manus? 985
quid ora flectis? haec erit pietas scelus.

Hyllvs Spare now, mother, I pray, forgive the Fates; error is free from fault.
De. If true piety, Hyllus, is to be sought by you, now slay your mother—why did your timorous hand tremble? 985
why do you turn your face? this will be piety—a crime.

ignaue dubitas? Herculem eripui tibi:
haec, haec peremit dextra, cui debes patri
auum Tonantem. maius eripui decus,
quam luce tribui.

Coward, do you hesitate? I have snatched Hercules from you: this, this right hand slew him—you, for whom your father has the Thunderer as grandsire. I have snatched away a greater glory than I bestowed by light.

si tibi ignotum est nefas, 990

if the nefarious is unknown to you, 990

a matre disce. seu tibi iugulo placet
mersisse ferrum siue maternum libet
inuadere uterum, mater intrepidum tibi
praebebit animum. non erit tantum scelus
a te peractum: dextera sternar tua, 995
sed mente nostra.

learn from your mother. whether it pleases you to have plunged the iron
into your throat, or it is your pleasure to invade the maternal uterus,
your mother will provide you an intrepid spirit. the crime will not be
accomplished by you alone: by your right hand I shall be laid low, 995
but by our mind.

natus Alcidae times?
ita nulla peragas iussa, nec frangens mala
erres per orbem, si qua nascetur fera
referas parentem: dexteram intrepidam para.
patet ecce plenum pectus aerumnis: feri.— 1000
scelus remitto, dexterae parcent tuae
Eumenides ipsae: uerberum crepuit sonus.

born of Alcides, do you fear?
thus you would accomplish no commands, nor, shattering evils,
would you wander through the world; if any wild beast shall be born,
you may mirror your parent: prepare an unflinching right hand.
behold, a breast full of hardships lies open: strike.— 1000
I remit the crime; the Eumenides themselves will spare your
right hand: the crack of lashes has sounded.

quaenam ista torquens angue uibrato comam
temporibus atras squalidis pinnas quatit?
quid me flagranti, dira, persequeris face, 1005

who is this, twisting her hair with a brandished serpent,
on her squalid temples she shakes black pinions?
why do you, dread one, pursue me with a flaming torch, 1005

Megaera? poenas poscis Alcidae? dabo.

Megaera? Do you demand penalties from Alcides? I will give.

iamne inferorum, diua, sedere arbitri?
Sed ecce laxas carceris uideo fores.
quis iste saxum immane detritis gerit
iam senior umeris?

Are the arbiters of the Underworld already seated, goddess?
But behold, I see the doors of the prison loosened.
Who is that who bears the immense stone upon his worn‑down shoulders,
now older?

ecce iam uictus lapis 1010
quaerit relabi. membra quis praebet rotae?
hic ecce pallens dira Tisiphone stetit,
causam reposcit; parce uerberibus, precor,
Megaera, parce, sustine Stygias faces:
scelus est amoris.

behold now the vanquished stone 1010
seeks to slip back. who offers limbs to the wheel?
here, behold, pallid dread Tisiphone stood,
she demands the charge; spare the lashings, I pray,
Megaera, spare, hold back the Stygian torches:
the crime is of love.

Sed quid hoc? tellus labat 1015
et aula tectis crepuit excussis—minax
unde iste coetus? totus in uultus meos
decurrit orbis, hinc et hinc populi fremunt
totusque poscit uindicem mundus suum.

But what is this? the earth totters 1015
and the hall creaked with its roofs shaken out—menacing,
whence is that assembly? the whole orb rushes down against my face,
on this side and that the peoples roar, and the whole world demands its own avenger.

iam parcite, urbes. quo fugam praeceps agam? 1020

now spare me, cities. where shall I drive my headlong flight? 1020

mors sola portus dabitur aerumnis meis.
testor nitentis flammeam Phoebi rotam
superosque testor: Herculem in terris adhuc
moritura linquo. Hy. Fugit attonita, ei mihi.

death alone will be given as a haven to my afflictions.
I call to witness the flaming wheel of shining Phoebus,
and I call the gods above to witness: about to die, I leave Hercules still on earth. Hy. She flees, thunderstruck—ah me.

peracta iam pars matris est: statuit mori;                              1025
nunc nostra superest, mortis auferre impetum.
o misera pietas: si mori matrem uetas,
patri es scelestus; si mori pateris, tamen
in matre peccas—urget hinc illinc scelus.
inhibenda tamen est: pergam et eripiam neci.                              1030
      Chorvs Verum est quod cecinit sacer
Thressae sub Rhodopes iugis
aptans Pieriam chelyn
Orpheus, Calliopae genus,
aeternum fieri nihil.                              1035

the mother’s part is already accomplished: she has resolved to die;                              1025
now ours remains, to take away the impulse of death.
O wretched pietas: if you forbid your mother to die,
you are criminal to your father; if you allow her to die, nevertheless
you sin against your mother—on this side and that the crime presses.
yet it must be checked: I will go and snatch her from death.                              1030
      Chorvs It is true what the sacred
Orpheus, the offspring of Calliope, sang beneath the ridges of Thracian Rhodope,
attuning the Pierian lyre:
that nothing becomes eternal.                              1035

      Illius stetit ad modos
torrentis rapidi fragor,
oblitusque sequi fugam
amisit liquor impetum;
et dum fluminibus mora est,                              1040
defecisse putant Getae
Hebrum Bistones ultimi.
Aduexit uolucrem nemus
et silua residens uenit;
aut si qua aera peruolat                              1045
auditis uaga cantibus
ales deficiens cadit.
Abrumpit scopulos Athos
Centauros obiter ferens
et iuxta Rhodopen stetit                              1050

      At his measures stood
the roar of the rapid torrent,
and, forgetful to follow its flight,
the liquid lost its impetus;
and while there is a delay upon the rivers,                              1040
the Getae think the Hebrus
has failed, the farthest Bistones.
The grove carried in the winged one,
and the forest, settling, came;
or if any through the airs flies,                              1045
with the roving songs heard
the bird, failing, falls.
Athos tears off crags,
carrying Centaurs on the way,
and stood beside Rhodope.                              1050

laxata niue cantibus;
et quercum fugiens suam
ad uatem properat Dryas.
Ad cantus ueniunt tuos
ipsis cum latebris ferae                              1055
iuxtaque inpauidum pecus
sedit Marmaricus leo
nec dammae trepidant lupos
et serpens latebras fugit
      tunc oblita ueneni.                              1060
      Quin per Taenarias fores
manes cum tacitos adit
maerentem feriens chelyn,
cantu Tartara flebili
et tristes Erebi deos                              1065

with the snow loosened by songs;
and the Dryad, fleeing her own oak,
hastens to the bard.
To your songs there come
the wild beasts with their very lairs                              1055
and next to the fearless flock
the Marmaric lion sat,
nor do the does tremble at wolves,
and the serpent flees its lairs,
      then forgetful of its venom.                              1060
      Nay, even through the Taenarian gates,
when he approaches the silent shades,
striking his mournful lyre,
with a tearful song he moves Tartarus
and the gloomy gods of Erebus.                              1065

uicit nec timuit Stygis
iuratos superis lacus.
Haesit non stabilis rota
uicto languida turbine,
increuit Tityi iecur,                              1070
dum cantus uolucres tenet;
tunc primum Phrygius senex                              1075
undis stantibus immemor
excussit rabidam sitim
nec pomis adhibet manus,
et uinci lapis improbus                              1081

he conquered and did not fear the lakes of Styx,
sworn to by the gods above.
the unstable wheel stuck fast,
its whirl conquered and languid,
Tityus’s liver grew again,                              1070
while the song held the birds;
then for the first time the Phrygian old man                              1075
with the waters standing, unmindful,
shook off his rabid thirst,
nor does he apply his hands to the fruits,
and the relentless stone is overcome                              1081

et uatem potuit sequi.
audis tu quoque, nauita:                              1072
inferni ratis aequoris
nullo remigio uenit.
Sic cum uinceret inferos                              1079
Orpheus carmine funditus,
consumptos iterum deae                              1083

and could follow the bard.
you too hear, boatman:                              1072
the raft of the infernal sea
came with no rowing-crew.
thus, when he was conquering the shades                              1079
Orpheus, by song, utterly,
the goddess’s consumed ones again                              1083

supplent Eurydices colus.
sed dum respicit immemor
nec credens sibi redditam
Orpheus Eurydicen sequi,
cantus praemia perdidit:
quae nata est iterum perit.
      Tunc solamina cantibus                              1090
quaerens flebilibus modis
haec Orpheus cecinit Getis:
' * * *                              1092a
leges in superos datas
et qui tempora digerens
quattuor praecipitis deus                              1095
anni disposuit uices;
nulli non auidi colus
Parcas stamina nectere:
quod natum est properat mori.'
      Vati credere Thracio                              1100

Eurydice’s distaffs make amends.
but while, forgetful, he looks back,
and not believing that she had been returned to him
that Eurydice was following, Orpheus
lost the rewards of his song:
she who was born again perishes.
      Then, seeking consolations with songs                              1090
in tearful modes,
Orpheus sang these things to the Getae:
' * * *                              1092a
laws laid upon the supernal gods,
and the god who, distributing the times,
arranged the changes of the four-rushing                              1095
year;
the distaffs eager that the Parcae
weave the threads for everyone:
what has been born hastens to die.'
      To believe the Thracian bard                              1100

deuictus iubet Hercules.
      Iam, iam legibus obrutis
mundo cum ueniet dies,
australis polus obruet
quidquid per Libyam iacet                              1105
et sparsus Garamas tenet;
arctous polus obruet
quidquid subiacet axibus
et siccus Boreas ferit.
amisso trepidus polo                              1110
Titan excutiet diem.
Caeli regia concidens
ortus atque obitus trahet
atque omnis pariter deos
perdet mors aliqua et chaos,                              1115

Hercules, overcome, commands.
      Now, now, with the laws overwhelmed,
when the day comes upon the world,
the austral pole will overwhelm
whatever lies through Libya                              1105
and the scattered Garamans hold;
the arctic pole will overwhelm
whatever lies beneath the axes
and dry Boreas strikes.
with the pole lost, trembling
Titan will shake off the day.
the palace of heaven, collapsing,
will drag down risings and settings,
and death of some sort and Chaos alike
will destroy all the gods.                              1115

et mors fata nouissima
in se constituet sibi.
Quis mundum capiet locus?
discedet uia Tartari,
fractis ut pateat polis? 1120
an quod diuidit aethera
a terris spatium sat est
et mundi nimium malis?

and death will establish the newest fates for itself within itself.
What place will contain the world?
will the way of Tartarus part,
so that, the poles broken, it may lie open? 1120
or is the space that divides the aether
from the lands enough—and too much—for the world’s evils?

Quis tantum capiet nefas
fati, quis, superi, locus                              1125
pontum Tartara sidera
regna unus capiet tria?
      Sed quis non modicus fragor
aures attonitas mouet?
est est Herculeus sonus.                              1130

Who will contain so great a nefarious crime
of fate, what place, gods above,                               1125
the sea, Tartarus, the stars—
will one contain the three realms?
      But what immoderate din
moves my thunderstruck ears?
it is, it is a Herculean sound.                              1130

Hercvles Conuerte, Titan clare, anhelantes equos,
emitte noctem: pereat hic mundo dies
quo morior, atra nube inhorrescat polus;
obsta nouercae. nunc, pater, caecum chaos
reddi decebat, hinc et hinc compagibus 1135
ruptis uterque debuit frangi polus;
quid parcis astris? Herculem amittis, pater.

Hercules Turn back, bright Titan, your panting horses,
send forth night: let this day perish for the world
on which I die; let the sky shudder with a black cloud;
oppose my stepmother. Now, father, it were fitting that blind Chaos
be restored, and on this side and that in their fastenings 1135
broken, both poles ought to have been shattered;
why do you spare the stars? You are losing Hercules, father.

      Nunc partem in omnem, Iuppiter, specta poli,
ne quis Gyges Thessalica iaculetur iuga
et fiat Othrys pondus Encelado leue.                              1140
laxabit atri carceris iam iam fores
Pluton superbus, uincula excutiet patri
caelumque reddet. ille qui pro fulmine
tuisque facibus natus in terris eram,
ad Styga reuertor: surget Enceladus ferox                              1145

      Now, Jupiter, look to every quarter of the sky,
lest any Gyges hurl the Thessalian yokes,
and Othrys become a light weight upon Enceladus.                              1140
Proud Pluto will now, now loosen the doors
of the black prison, he will shake off the chains for his father
and will give back the sky. I, who on earth was born
in place of the thunderbolt and your torches,
return to the Styx: fierce Enceladus will rise.                              1145

mittetque quo nunc premitur in superos onus.
regnum omne, genitor, aetheris dubium tibi
mors nostra faciet—antequam spolium tui
caelum omne fiat, conde me tota, pater,
mundi ruina, frange quem perdis polum.                              1150
Cho. Non uana times, gnate Tonantis:
nunc Thessalicam Pelion Ossam
premet et Pindo congestus Athos
nemus aetheriis inseret astris;
uincet scopulos inde Typhoeus                              1155
et Tyrrhenam feret Inarimen;
feret Aetnaeos inde caminos
scindetque latus montis aperti
nondum Enceladus fulmine uictus:
iam te caeli regna secuntur.                              1160

and will send aloft into the upper airs the burden by which he is now pressed.
all the realm of aether, father, our death will make doubtful for you
—before the whole heaven becomes plunder taken from you,
entomb me, father, in the total ruin of the world,
break the pole you are losing.                              1150
Cho. Not vainly do you fear, son of the Thunderer:
now Pelion will press Thessalian Ossa
and Athos, heaped upon Pindus,
will insert its grove among the aetherial stars;
then Typhoeus will overtop the crags                              1155
and will carry Tyrrhenian Inarime;
then he will carry the Aetnaean furnaces
and will split the side of the opened mountain,
Enceladus not yet conquered by the thunderbolt:
already the realms of heaven follow you.                              1160

He. Ego qui relicta morte, contempta Styge,
per media Lethes stagna cum spolio redi
quo paene lapsis excidit Titan equis,
ego quem deorum regna senserunt tria,
morior nec ullus per meum stridet latus                              1165
transmissus ensis, haut meae telum necis
saxum est nec instar montis abrupti lapis
aut totus Othrys, non truci rictu gigas
Pindo cadauer obruit toto meum:
sine hoste uincor, quodque me torquet magis                              1170
(o misera uirtus!) summus Alcidae dies
nullum malum prosternit; inpendo, ei mihi,
in nulla uitam facta. pro mundi arbiter
superique quondam dexterae testes meae,
pro cuncta tellus, Herculis uestri placet                              1175

He. I—I who, with death left behind, with Styx scorned,
returned through the midmost pools of Lethe with spoil,
where the Titan almost was cast down from his slipping horses,
I, whom the three realms of the gods have felt,
am dying, and no sword, sent through, whistles along my flank;                              1165
the weapon of my death is by no means a stone, nor a rock in the likeness of a sheer mountain,
nor all Othrys; no giant, with savage gape,
buries my cadaver beneath the whole Pindus:
I am conquered without an enemy; and what torments me more
(O wretched valor!), Alcides’ final day lays low no evil; I expend—alas for me—                              1170
my life on no deeds. By the arbiter of the world,
and you gods above, once witnesses of my right hand,
by all the earth, it pleases your Hercules—                              1175

mortem perire? dirus o nobis pudor,
o turpe fatum: femina Herculeae necis
auctor feretur! morior Alcides quibus
!Inuicta si me cadere feminea manu
uoluere fata perque tam turpes colus 1180
mea mors cucurrit, cadere placuisset mihi
Iunonis odio: feminae caderem manu,
sed caelum habentis.

to die a death? O dire shame for me, O foul fate: a woman will be said to be the author of Herculean slaying! I, Alcides, die—
!Unconquered Fates, if you have willed that I fall by a female hand and that my death has run through such base distaffs, 1180
it would have pleased me to fall by Juno’s hatred: I would fall by a woman’s hand, but one holding heaven.

si nimis superis fuit,
Scythico sub axe genita domuisset meas
uires Amazon—feminae cuius manu 1185
Iunonis hostis uincor! hinc grauior tui,
nouerca, pudor est. quid diem hunc laetum uocas?

if it was too much for the gods above,
the Amazon born beneath the Scythian axis would have tamed my powers—by a woman by whose hand I, the foe of Juno, am vanquished! 1185
hence the shame of you, stepmother, is the heavier. why do you call this day happy?

quid tale tellus genuit iratae tibi?
mortalis odia femina excessit tua.
adhuc furebas esse te Alcidae imparem: 1190

What such a thing has the earth, angered at you, brought forth?
A mortal woman has exceeded your hatreds.
Even now you were raging that you were not a match for Alcides: 1190

uicta es duobus—pudeat irarum deos.
      Vtinam meo cruore satiasset suos
Nemeaea rictus pestis aut centum anguibus
uallatus hydram tabe pauissem mea,
utinam fuissem praeda Centauris datus                              1195
aut inter umbras uinctus aeterno miser
saxo sederem! spolia nunc traxi ultima
Fato stupente, nunc ab inferna Styge
lucem recepi, Ditis euici moras—
ubique mors me fugit, ut titulo inclitae                              1200
mortis carerem.

you are conquered by two—let the gods be ashamed of their wrath.
      Would that the Nemean pest had sated its own jaws with my blood,
or, walled about with a hundred serpents, I had made the Hydra quake with my gore,
would that I had been given as prey to the Centaurs                              1195
or, among the shades, wretched, bound to an eternal rock,
I were sitting! Now I have dragged the final spoils,
with Fate astounded; now from infernal Styx
I have received back the light, I have overcome the delays of Dis—
everywhere death flees me, so that I might lack the title of illustrious                              1200
death.

pro ferae, uictae ferae!
non me triformis sole conspecto canis
ad Styga reuexit, non sub Hesperio polo
Hibera uicit turba pastoris feri,
non gemina serpens—perdidi mortem, ei mihi, 1205

ah, wild beast, conquered wild beast!
the three-formed dog, with the sun beheld, did not carry me back to Styx,
nor beneath the Hesperian pole did the Iberian throng of the fierce shepherd defeat me,
nor the twin serpent— I have lost death, alas for me, 1205

totiens honestam: titulus extremus quis est!
Cho. Viden ut laudis conscia uirtus
non Lethaeos horreat amnes?
pudet auctoris, non morte dolet:
cupit extremum finire diem 1210
uasta tumidi mole gigantis
et montiferum Titana pati
rabidaeue necem debere ferae.

so often honorable: what is the ultimate title!
Cho. Do you see how virtue, conscious of laud, does not shudder at the Lethean streams?
it makes the author ashamed, it does not grieve at death:
it longs to finish the last day 1210
by the vast mass of a swollen giant,
and to endure the mountain-bearing Titan,
and to owe death to a rabid beast.

sed tua causa est, miserande, manus,
quod nulla fera est nullusque gigas: 1215
iam quis dignus necis Herculeae
superest auctor nisi dextra tui?
He. Eheu quis intus scorpios, quis feruida
plaga reuulsus cancer infixus meas
urit medullas? sanguinis quondam capax 1220

but your hand, pitiable one, is the cause,
since there is no beast and no giant: 1215
now who, worthy of a Herculean death,
remains the author, unless it be your right hand?
He. Alas, what scorpion within, what crab,
torn from the fervid zone, fixed, burns my marrows?
once capable of blood 1220

tumidi uigor pulmonis arentes fibras
distendit, ardet felle siccato iecur
totumque lentus sanguinem auexit uapor.
primam cutem consumpsit, hinc aditum nefas
in membra fecit, abstulit pestis latus,                              1225
exedit artus penitus et totas malum
hausit medullas: ossibus uacuis sedet;
nec ossa durant ipsa, sed compagibus
discussa ruptis mole conlapsa fluunt.
defecit ingens corpus et pesti satis                              1230
Herculea non sunt membra—pro, quantum est malum
quod esse uastum fateor, o dirum nefas
      !En cernite, urbes, cernite ex illo Hercule
quid iam supersit.

the vigor of the swollen lung distends the parched fibers;
the liver burns with the bile dried, and a sluggish vapor has carried off all the blood.
it consumed the outer skin first; thence the unspeakable made an entrance
into the limbs; the pestilence has borne away the flank,                              1225
it has eaten the joints deep within, and the evil
has drained all the marrows: it sits, the bones empty;
nor do the bones themselves endure, but, their fastenings
shaken and broken, collapsed in mass they flow.
the huge body has failed, and the Herculean limbs are not enough
                              1230
for the pest—ah, how great is the evil
which I confess to be vast—O dreadful abomination!
      !Lo, behold, you cities, behold what now remains
from that Hercules.

Herculem agnoscis, pater?
hisne ego lacertis colla Nemeaei mali 1235

Do you recognize Hercules, father?
Was it with these upper arms that I throttled the neck of the Nemean monster 1235

elisa pressi? tensus hac arcus manu
astris ab ipsis detulit Stymphalidas?
his ego citatam gressibus uici feram
radiante clarum fronte gestantem caput?

did I crush them, pounded flat? was the bow, stretched by this hand,
brought down the Stymphalides from the very stars?
with these did I conquer the beast sped in its steps,
bearing a head bright with a radiant brow?

his fracta Calpe manibus emisit fretum? 1240
his tot ferae, tot scelera, tot reges iacent?
his mundus umeris sedit? haec moles mei est,
haecne illa ceruix?

with these hands was Calpe broken—did he let out the strait? 1240
with these do so many wild beasts, so many crimes, so many kings lie?
on these shoulders did the world sit? is this the mass of me,
is this that neck?

has ego opposui manus
caelo ruenti? quis mea custos manu
trahetur ultra Stygius? ubi uires prius 1245
memet sepultae?

Did I oppose these hands to the heaven rushing down?
What Stygian warder will be dragged beyond by my hand?
Where are the powers once 1245
buried in myself?

quid patrem appello Iouem?
quid per Tonantem uindico caelum mihi?
iam, iam meus credetur Amphitryon pater.

Why do I call Jove father?
Why do I, by the Thunderer, claim heaven for myself?
Now, now Amphitryon will be believed my father.

Quaecumque pestis uiscere in nostro lates,
procede—quid me uulnere occulto petis? 1250

Whatever pest lies hidden in my viscera,
come forth—why do you assail me with a hidden wound? 1250

quis te sub axe frigido pontus Scythes,
quae pigra Tethys genuit aut Maurum premens
Hibera Calpe litus? o dirum malum!
utrumne serpens squalidum crista caput
uibrans an aliquod et mihi ignotum malum? 1255
numquid cruore es genita Lernaeae ferae
an te reliquit Stygius in terris canis?

what Scythian sea beneath the frigid axis bore you,
what sluggish Tethys begot you, or Iberian Calpe pressing upon the Moorish shore?
O dire evil!
is it a serpent brandishing its scaly-crested head,
or some evil even unknown to me? 1255
are you perhaps begotten from the gore of the Lernaean beast,
or did the Stygian dog leave you upon the lands?

omne es malum nullumque—quis uoltus tibi est?
concede saltem scire quo peream malo;
quaecumque pestis siue quaecumque es fera, 1260
palam timere. quis tibi in medias locum
fecit medullas?

you are every evil and none—what visage have you?
grant at least that I may know by what evil I perish;
whatever pest or whatever wild beast you are, 1260
to fear openly. who has made for you a place into my inmost marrows?

ecce direpta cute
uiscera manus detexit; ulterior tamen
inuenta latebra est—o malum simile Herculi
!Vnde iste fletus? unde in has lacrimae genas? 1265

behold, with the skin torn off
the hand uncovered the viscera; nevertheless a further hiding-place was found—o evil similar to that of Hercules
!Whence this lamentation? whence tears upon these cheeks? 1265

inuictus olim uoltus et numquam malis
lacrimas suis praebere consuetus (pudet)
iam flere didicit. quis dies fletum Herculis,
quae terra uidit? siccus aerumnas tuli.

the once invincible visage and never to his own evils
accustomed to proffer tears (I am ashamed)
has now learned to weep. What day has seen the weeping of Hercules,
what land has seen it? Dry-eyed I have borne tribulations.

tibi illa uirtus, quae tot elisit mala, 1270
tibi cessit uni; prima et ante omnis mihi
fletum abstulisti: durior saxo horrido
et chalybe uoltus et uaga Symplegade
uictus minas infregit et lacrimam expulit.
flentem, gementem, summe pro rector poli, 1275
me terra uidit, quodque me torquet magis,
nouerca uidit.—urit ecce iterum fibras,
incaluit ardor: unde nunc fulmen mihi?
Cho. Quid non possit superare dolor?

to you that virtue, which dashed aside so many ills, 1270
yielded to you alone; you first and before all wrenched tears from me: a face harder than rugged rock and steel and the wandering Symplegade, once conquered, broke its menaces and expelled a tear.
weeping, groaning, O highest ruler of the pole, the earth has seen me, and what torments me more, my stepmother has seen.—Look, see, again it scorches my fibers, the ardor has heated up: whence now a thunderbolt for me?
Cho. What can pain not overcome?

quondam Getico durior Haemo 1280

once harder than Getic Haemus 1280

nec Parrhasio lentior axe
saeuo cessit membra dolori
fessumque mouens per colla caput
latus alterno pondere flectit.
fletum uirtus saepe resorbet:                              1285
sic arctoas laxare niues
quamuis tepido sidere Titan
non tamen audet uincitque nefas
solis adulti glaciale iubar.
He. Conuerte uoltus ad meas clades, pater:                              1290
numquam ad tuas confugit Alcides manus,
non cum per artus hydra fecundum meos
caput explicaret; inter infernos lacus
possessus atra nocte cum Fato steti
nec inuocaui; tot feras uici horridas,                              1295

nor, slower than the Parrhasian axle,
did he yield his limbs to savage dolor,
and, moving his weary head along his neck,
he bends his flank with alternating weight.
courage often swallows back weeping:                              1285
thus Titan, though with a tepid star,
does not yet dare to loosen the Arctic snows,
and—an outrage—the icy radiance
of the full-grown sun prevails.
He. Turn your face to my disasters, father:                              1290
never has Alcides fled to your hands,
not when the Hydra was uncoiling through my limbs
its fertile head; among the infernal lakes,
possessed by black night, with Fate I stood
and did not invoke you; so many horrid beasts I conquered,                              1295

reges, tyrannos, non tamen uoltus meos
in astra torsi: semper haec nobis manus
uotum spopondit; nulla propter me sacro
micuere caelo fulmina—hic aliquid dies
optare iussit. primus audierit preces                              1300
idemque summus: unicum fulmen peto;
giganta crede (non minus caelum mihi
asserere potui—dum patrem uerum imputo,
caelo peperci). siue crudelis, pater,
siue es misericors, commoda nato manum                              1305
properante morte et occupa hanc laudem tibi.
uel si piget manusque detrectat nefas,
emitte Siculo uertice ardentes, pater,
Titanas, in me qui manu Pindum ferant
Ossaque qui me monte proiecto opprimant.                              1310

kings, tyrants—yet I did not turn my face
to the stars: this hand has always for me
pledged the vow; on my account no thunderbolts
have flickered in the sacred heaven—this day
has bidden me to ask for something. Let him who is first                              1300
and the same who is supreme hear my prayers: I seek a single thunderbolt;
believe a Giant (I could no less have claimed
the sky for myself—while I impute a true father,
I have spared heaven). Whether cruel, father,
or whether you are merciful, lend your hand to your son                              1305
with death hastening, and seize this praise for yourself.
Or if it irks you and your hand shrinks from the impiety,
send forth from the Sicilian peak, father,
the burning Titans, who may with their hand bring Pindus
down upon me, and who may crush me with Ossa hurled as a mountain.                              1310

abrumpat Erebi claustra, me stricto petat
Bellona ferro; mitte Gradiuum trucem,
armetur in me dirus: est frater quidem,
sed ex nouerca. Tu quoque, Alcidae soror
tantum ex parente, cuspidem in fratrem tuum 1315
iaculare, Pallas. Supplices tendo manus
ad te, nouerca: sparge tu saltem, precor,
telum: perire feminae possum manu.

let the bars of Erebus be broken; let Bellona attack me with drawn iron;
send Grim Gradivus; let a dire one be armed against me: he is indeed a brother,
but from a stepmother. You too, sister of Alcides only on the father’s side,
hurl your spear-point at your brother, Pallas. 1315
As a suppliant I stretch forth my hands to you, stepmother: you at least, I pray, cast
the weapon: I can perish by a woman’s hand.

iam fracta, iam satiata quid pascis minas?
quid quaeris ultra? supplicem Alciden uides, 1320
et nulla tellus, nulla me uidit fera
te deprecantem.

now broken, now satiated, why do you feed your menaces?
what do you seek beyond? you see Alcides a suppliant, 1320
and no land, no wild beast has seen me imploring you
to relent.

nunc mihi irata satis
opus est nouerca—nunc tuus cessat dolor?
nunc odia ponis? parcis ubi uotum est mori.

now I need a stepmother angry enough—
does your dolor cease now?
now do you set aside your hatreds? do you spare where it is vowed to die.

O terra et urbes, non facem quisquam Herculi, 1325

O earth and cities, let no one bring a torch to Hercules, 1325

non arma tradet? tela subtrahitis mihi?
ita nulla saeuas terra concipiat feras
post me sepultum, nec meas umquam manus
imploret orbis, si qua nascentur mala
nascatur alius: undique infelix caput 1330
mactate saxis, uincite aerumnas meas.

will he not hand over arms? are you withdrawing weapons from me?
so may no land conceive savage beasts after i am buried, nor may the world ever implore my hands; if any evils are born, let another be born: from every side, my wretched head 1330
smite with stones, overcome my afflictions.

ingrate cessas orbis? excidimus tibi?
adhuc malis ferisque suppositus fores,
ni me tulisses.

O ingrate world, do you delay? Have we fallen from your memory?
You would still be subjected to evils and to feral beasts,
unless you had borne me.

uindicem uestrum malis
eripite, populi: tempus hoc uobis datur 1335
pensare merita—mors erit pretium omnium.
Alcmene Quas misera terras mater Alcidae petam?
ubi natus, ubinam est?

Rescue your vindicator from evils, people: this time is given to you 1335
to recompense deserts—death will be the price of all.
Alcmene What lands shall I, the wretched mother of Alcides, seek?
where is my son, where indeed is he?

certa si uisus notat,
reclinis ecce corde anhelante aestuat;
gemit: peractum est. membra complecti ultima, 1340

if vision notes certainties,
behold, reclined he seethes with a panting heart;
he groans: it is accomplished. to embrace the limbs for the last time, 1340

o nate, liceat; spiritus fugiens meo
legatur ore: bracchia, amplexus cape.
ubi membra sunt? ubi illa quae mundum tulit
stelligera ceruix?

o son, let it be permitted; let the fleeing spirit be gathered by my mouth:
take my arms, an embrace. where are the limbs? where is that star-bearing neck
which bore the world?

quis tibi exiguam tui
partem reliquit? He. Herculem spectas quidem, 1345
mater, sed umbram et uile nescioquid mei.
agnosce, mater—ora quid flectis retro
uultumque mergis?

Who has left you a meager portion of yourself? He. You do indeed behold Hercules, mother, but a shadow and some vile I-know-not-what of me. 1345
recognize me, mother—why do you bend your face backward and bury your countenance?

Herculem dici tuum
partum erubescis? Al. Quis feram mundus nouam,
quae terra genuit? quodue tam dirum nefas 1350
de te triumphat?

Do you blush to have Hercules called your offspring? Al. What world will bear the new wild beast which the earth has begotten? And what so dread a nefas is it that is triumphing over you? 1350

uictor Herculeus quis est?
He. Nuptae iacentem cernis Alciden dolis.
Al. Quis tantus est qui uincat Alciden dolus?

Who is the Herculean victor?
He. You see Alcides lying low by a bride’s wiles.
Al. What deceit is so great as to conquer Alcides?

He. Quicumque, mater, feminae iratae sat est.
Al. Et unde in artus pestis aut ossa incidit? 1355

He. Whoever it be, mother, an irate woman suffices.
Al. And whence did the plague fall into your limbs or bones? 1355

He. Aditum uenenis palla femineis dedit.
Al. Vbinam ista palla est? membra nudata intuor.

He. The robe gave entrance to feminine poisons.
Al. Where then is that robe? I behold your limbs laid bare.

He. Consumpta mecum est. Al. Tantane inuenta est lues?
He. Errare mediis crede uisceribus meis,
o mater, hydram et mille cum Lerna feras. 1360
quae tanta nubes flamma Sicanias secans,
quae Lemnos ardens, quae plaga igniferi poli
uetans flagranti currere in zona diem?

He. It has been consumed along with me. Al. Was so great a plague discovered?
He. Believe, O mother, that in my very viscera there roves the Hydra, and, together with Lerna, a thousand beasts. 1360
what cloud so great, cleaving the Sicilian flames,
what burning Lemnos, what tract of the fire-bearing pole
forbidding the day to run in a blazing zone?

in ipsa me iactate, pro comites, freta
mediosque in amnes—quis sat est Hister mihi? 1365
non ipse terris maior Oceanus meos
franget uapores, omnis in nostris malis
deficiet umor, omnis arescet latex.
Quid, rector Erebi, me remittebas Ioui?

Hurl me, ah comrades, into the very straits
and into the midst of rivers—what Hister is sufficient for me? 1365
not Ocean himself, vaster than the lands,
will shatter my vapors, all in our ills
moisture will fail, every liquid will dry up.
Why, ruler of Erebus, were you sending me back to Jove?

decuit tenere: redde me tenebris tuis, 1370

it was seemly to hold me: give me back to your tenebrous gloom, 1370

talem subactis Herculem ostende inferis.
nil inde ducam, quid times iterum Herculem?
inuade, mors, non trepida: iam possum mori.

Show such a Hercules to the conquered Underworld.
I will lead nothing from there; why do you fear Hercules again?
Assail, Death, without trembling: now I can die.

Al. Compesce lacrimas saltem et aerumnas doma
malisque tantis Herculem indomitum refer                              1375
mortemque differ: quos soles uince inferos.
He. Si me catenis horridus uinctum suis
praeberet auidae Caucasus uolucri dapem,
Scythia gemente flebilis gemitus mihi
non excidisset; si uagae Symplegades                              1380
utraque premerent rupe, redeuntis minas
ferrem ruinae; Pindus incumbat mihi
atque Haemus et qui Thracios fluctus Athos
frangit Iouisque fulmen excipiens Mimas:
non ipse si in me, mater, hic mundus ruat                              1385

Al. Restrain your tears at least and tame your hardships
and in such great evils bring back indomitable Hercules                              1375
and defer death: vanquish the infernals as you are wont.
He. If rugged Caucasus with its chains should offer me, bound in them,
as a feast to the ravenous bird, with Scythia groaning,
a tearful groan would not have escaped me; if the wandering Symplegades                              1380
were pressing with both rocks, I would bear the threats
of returning ruin; let Pindus lean upon me,
and Haemus, and Athos which breaks the Thracian billows,
and Mimas receiving Jove’s thunderbolt:
not even if this world itself, mother, should fall upon me                              1385

superque nostros flagret incensus toros
Phoebeus axis, degener mentem Herculis
clamor domaret; mille decurrant ferae
pariterque lacerent, hinc feris clangoribus
aetheria me Stymphalis, hinc taurus minax 1390
ceruice tota pulset et quidquid fuit
solum quoque ingens; surgat hinc illinc nemus
artusque nostros dirus immittat Sinis:
sparsus silebo—non ferae excutient mihi,
non arma gemitus, nil quod impelli potest. 1395
Al. Non uirus artus, nate, femineum coquit,
sed dura series operis et longus tibi
pauit cruentos forsitan morbos labor.
He. Vbi morbus, ubinam est? estne adhuc aliquid mali
in orbe mecum?

and let the Phoebean axle blaze, kindled, over our couches;
a degenerate clamor would tame the mind of Hercules; let a thousand wild beasts run down
and tear me all at once, and on this side with wild clangors the aetherial Stymphalian [bird] at me,
on that side a menacing bull with his whole neck batter me, and whatever there was,
huge too in the very ground; let a grove rise here and there, and let dire Sinis launch against my limbs:
spattered I will be silent—the beasts will not shake from me,
nor the arms, a groan, nothing that can be driven. 1390
Al. Not a feminine virus cooks, my son, your limbs,
but the hard sequence of toil and long labor has perhaps
fed bloody diseases for you. He. Where is the disease, where is it, then? Is there still any evil
in the world together with me?1395

ueniat huc—aliquis mihi 1400

let someone come here—someone to me 1400

intendat arcus: nuda sufficiet manus.
procedat agedum * * * *
* * * Al. Ei mihi, sensus quoque
excussit illi nimius impulsos dolor.
dolor iste furor est: Herculem solus domat. 1407
Remouete quaeso tela et infestas, precor, 1404
rapite hinc sagittas: igne suffuso genae
scelus minantur.

let him aim the bow: the bare hand will suffice.
let him come forward, come then * * * *
* * * Al. Alas for me, too great pain has shaken even his already-shaken senses out of him.
that pain is frenzy: it alone tames Hercules. 1407
Remove, I beg, the weapons, and seize away, I pray, 1404
the arrows from here: the cheeks, with fire suffused,
threaten crime.

quas petam latebras anus?—
cur deinde latebras aut fugam uecors petam? 1408

What hiding-places shall I, an old woman, seek?—
why then should I, witless, seek hiding-places or flight? 1408

obire forti meruit Alcmene manu:
uel scelere pereat, antequam letum mihi
ignauus aliquis mandat ac turpis manus
de me triumphat.—ecce lassatus malis
sopore fessas alligat uenas dolor
grauique anhelum pectus impulsu quatit.
fauete, superi. si mihi gnatum inclutum 1415
miserae negastis, uindicem saltem, precor,
seruate terris.

Alcmene deserved to meet death by a brave hand:
or let some coward perish by crime, before he sends death to me
and a foul hand triumphs over me.—behold, wearied by evils
pain binds my weary veins with sleep
and shakes my gasping breast with a heavy impulse.
favor me, gods above. If to me, wretched, the renowned son 1415
you have denied, preserve the avenger at least, I pray,
for the lands.

abeat excussus dolor
corpusque uires reparet Herculeum nouas.
Hyllvs Pro lux acerba, pro capax scelerum dies!
nurus Tonantis occidit, natus iacet, 1420
nepos supersum; scelere materno hic perit,
fraude illa capta est—quis per annorum uices
totoque in aeuo poterit aerumnas senex
referre tantas?

let the shaken-off pain depart,
and let the Herculean body repair new strengths.
Hyllus O bitter light, O day capacious of crimes!
the Thunderer’s daughter-in-law has fallen, the son lies low, 1420
I, the grandson, survive; this one perishes by maternal crime,
that one was captured by fraud—who, through the vicissitudes of years
and through the whole aeon, will be able, an old man, to recount such great hardships?

unus eripuit dies
parentem utrumque; cetera ut sileam mala 1425

one day snatched away
both parents; to pass over the other ills in silence 1425

parcamque fatis, Herculem amitto patrem.
Al. Compesce uoces, inclutum Alcidae genus
miseraeque fato similis Alcmenae nepos:
longus dolorem forsitan uincet sopor.
Sed ecce, lassam deserit mentem quies 1430
redditque morbo corpus et luctum mihi.

and I will spare the Fates; I lose Hercules my father.
Al. Restrain your words, illustrious offspring of Alcides,
and grandson like in fate to wretched Alcmene:
a long sleep perhaps will conquer pain.
But lo, rest deserts my weary mind 1430
and returns the body to sickness and, to me, lamentation.

He. Quid hoc? rigenti cernitur Trachin iugo
an inter astra positus euasi genus
mortale tandem? quis mihi caelum parat?

He. What is this? Is Trachis seen on its rigid ridge,
or, placed among the stars, have I at last escaped the mortal race?
who prepares heaven for me?

te te, pater, iam uideo, placatam quoque 1435
specto nouercam. quis sonus nostras ferit
caelestis aures? Iuno me generum uocat.

you, you, father, now I see; and I behold my stepmother placated as well 1435
what heavenly sound strikes our ears?
Juno calls me son-in-law.

uideo nitentem regiam clari aetheris
Phoebique tritam flammea zonam rota.
cubile uideo Noctis; hinc tenebras uocat. 1440

I see the shining palace of bright aether
and the zone worn by Phoebus’ flaming wheel.
I see Night’s couch; from here she calls the darkness. 1440

Quid hoc? quis axem cludit et ab ipsis, pater,
deducit astris? ora Phoebeus modo
afflabat axis, tam prope a caelo fui—
Trachina uideo; quis mihi terras dedit?

What is this? who shuts the axle and, father,
draws it down from the very stars? just now Phoebus
was breathing upon the rims of the axle, so near to heaven was I—
I see Trachina; who has given me the lands?

Oete modo infra steterat ac totus fuit 1445
suppositus orbis; tam bene excideras, dolor!
cogis fateri—parce et hanc uocem occupa.
Haec, Hylle, dona matris?

Oeta just now stood below, and the whole orb was wholly set beneath; 1445
you had slipped away so well, pain!
you force me to confess—spare me and seize even this voice.
Are these, Hyllus, a mother’s gifts?

hoc munus parat?
utinam liceret stipite ingesto impiam
effringere animam quale Amazonium malum 1450
circa niualis Caucasi domui latus.
o cara Megara, tune cum furerem mihi
coniunx fuisti?

Is this the gift she prepares?
Would that it were permitted, with a stake thrust in, to shatter the impious
soul, like an Amazonian mast around the side of snowy Caucasus’s house. 1450
O dear Megara, were you then, when I was raving, my wife to me?

stipitem atque arcus date,
dextra inquinetur, laudibus maculam imprimam,
summus legatur femina Herculeus labor. 1455

give me the club and the bow,
let my right hand be defiled; upon my praises I will imprint a stain,
let a woman be chosen as the highest Herculean labor. 1455

Hy. Compesce diras, genitor, irarum minas;
habet, peractum est, quas petis poenas dedit:
sua perempta dextera mater iacet.
He. Cecidit dolose: manibus irati Herculis
occidere meruit; perdidit comitem Lichas. 1460
saeuire in ipsum corpus exanime impetus
atque ira cogit. cur minis nostris caret
ipsum cadauer?

Hy. Restrain, father, the dire threats of wrath;
she has it; it is done; she has given the penalties you seek:
the mother lies slain by her own right hand.
He. She fell by guile: she deserved to die by the hands of angry Hercules;
she has destroyed the comrade Lichas. 1460
impulse and wrath compel to rage against the very exanimate body
itself. Why does the very corpse lack our menaces?

pabulum accipiant ferae.
Hy. Plus misera laeso doluit, hinc aliquid quoque
detrahere uelles: occidit dextra sua, 1465
tuo dolore; plura quam poscis tulit.
Sed non cruentae sceleribus nuptae iaces
nec fraude matris: Nessus hos struxit dolos
ictus sagittis qui tuis uitam expulit.

let the wild beasts receive fodder.
Hy. The wretched woman has grieved more than the one harmed; from this too you would wish to detract something: she perished by her own right hand, to your grief; she has borne more than you demand. 1465
But you do not lie by the crimes of a blood-stained bride nor by a mother’s fraud: Nessus constructed these deceits—he, struck by your arrows, expelled life.

cruore tincta est palla semiferi, pater, 1470

the cloak of the half-beast is stained with gore, father, 1470

Nessusque nunc has exigit poenas sibi.
He. Bene est, peractum est, fata se nostra explicant;
lux ista summa est: quercus hanc sortem mihi
fatidica quondam dederat et Parnassio
Cirrhaea quatiens templa mugitu nemus:                              1475
'dextra perempti uictor, Alcide, uiri
olim iacebis; hic tibi emenso freta
terrasque et umbras finis extremus datur.'
nil querimur ultra: decuit hunc finem dari,
ne quis superstes Herculis uictor foret.                              1480
      Nunc mors legatur clara memoranda incluta,
me digna prorsus: nobilem hunc faciam diem.
caedatur omnis silua et Oetaeum nemus
succumbat: ingens Herculem accipiat rogus,
sed ante mortem.

Nessus too now exacts these penalties for himself.
He. It is well, it is accomplished, our fates unroll themselves;
this is the final light: the prophetic oak once gave me
this lot, and the grove, shaking the Cirrhaean temples
of Parnassus with a bellowing:                                     1475
‘victor by the right hand of a slain man, Alcides, you will one day lie;
here for you, after you have crossed the seas
and the lands and the shades, the farthest end is given.’
we complain no further: it was fitting that this end be given,
lest anyone surviving should be a victor over Hercules.                                     1480
      Now let a death be chosen—bright, to be remembered, renowned—
altogether worthy of me: I will make this day noble.
let every forest be felled and the Oetaean grove
give way: let a vast pyre receive Hercules,
but before death.

Tu, genus Poeantium, 1485

You, Poeantian stock, 1485

hoc triste nobis, iuuenis, officium appara:
Herculea totum flamma succendat diem.
Ad te preces nunc, Hylle, supremas fero:
est clara captas inter, in uoltu genus
regnumque referens, Euryto uirgo edita 1490
Iole: tuis hanc facibus et thalamis para.
uictor cruentus abstuli patriam lares
nihilque miserae praeter Alciden dedi—
et ipse rapitur.

Prepare for us, young man, this sad duty:
let a Herculean flame set the whole day ablaze.
To you, Hyllus, now I bear my last prayers:
there is, among the captives, a renowned one, in her face displaying lineage
and kingship, a maiden born of Eurytus, 1490
Iole: prepare her for your torches and bridal-chamber.
as a bloodstained victor I carried off her fatherland and household Lares
and I gave to the wretched girl nothing except Alcides—
and he himself is being snatched away.

penset aerumnas suas,
Iouis nepotem foueat et natum Herculis;                              1495
tibi illa pariat quidquid ex nobis habet.
      Tuque ipsa planctus pone funereos, precor,
o clara genetrix: uiuet Alcides tibi.
uirtute nostra paelicem feci tuam
credi nouercam, siue nascenti Herculi                              1500

let her balance her hardships,
let her foster the grandson of Jove and the son of Hercules;                              1495
let her bear to you whatever she has from us.
      And do you yourself lay aside funereal lamentations, I pray,
O renowned mother: Alcides will live for you.
by our virtue I have made your concubine be believed a stepmother,
whether to the newborn Hercules                              1500

nox illa certa est siue mortalis meus
pater est. licet sit falsa progenies mei,
materna culpa cesset et crimen Iouis,
merui parentem: contuli caelo decus,
natura me concepit in laudes Iouis. 1505
quin ipse, quamquam Iuppiter, credi meus
pater esse gaudet; parce iam lacrimis, parens:
superba matres inter Argolicas eris.
quid tale Iuno genuit aetherium gerens
sceptrum et Tonanti nupta?

that night is certain, whether my father is mortal,
though my progeny be false; let maternal fault cease, and the crime of Jove;
I have merited a parent: I have conferred to heaven an adornment,
nature conceived me for the praises of Jove. 1505
nay, he himself, although Jupiter, rejoices to be believed
my father; spare now the tears, parent:
you will be proud among the Argolic mothers.
What such a thing has Juno begotten, bearing the aetherial
scepter and wedded to the Thunderer?

mortali tamen 1510
caelum tenens inuidit, Alciden suum
dici esse uoluit. Perage nunc, Titan, uices
solus relictus: ille qui uester comes
ubique fueram, Tartara et manes peto.
hanc tamen ad imos perferam laudem inclutam, 1515

yet a mortal, however, 1510
holding the sky, envied; he wished that Alcides should be said to be his own.
Complete now, Titan, your cycles,
left alone: I, who had been your companion everywhere,
seek Tartarus and the Manes.
nevertheless I will carry this illustrious praise down to the lowest depths, 1515

quod nulla pestis fudit Alciden palam
omnemque pestem uicit Alcides palam.
      Chorvs O decus mundi, radiate Titan,
cuius ad primos Hecate uapores
lassa nocturnae leuat ora bigae:                              1520
dic sub Aurora positis Sabaeis,
dic sub occasu positis Hiberis,
quique feruenti quatiuntur axe,
quique sub plaustro patiuntur ursae,
dic ad aeternos properare manes                              1525
Herculem et regnum canis inquieti,
unde non umquam remeabit ille.
sume quos nubes radios sequantur,
pallidus maestas speculare terras
et caput turpes nebulae pererrent.                              1530

since no pest has poured out Alcides in the open,
and Alcides has conquered every pest in the open.
      Chorus O ornament of the world, radiant Titan,
at whose first vapors Hecate lifts the weary mouths
of the nocturnal biga:                              1520
tell to the Sabaeans placed under Dawn,
tell to the Iberians placed under Sunset,
and those who are shaken beneath the fervent axle,
and those who suffer beneath the wagon of the Bear,
tell that Hercules hastens to the eternal shades                              1525
and to the realm of the restless dog,
whence he will never return.
assume rays which the clouds may follow,
pale, look out upon the mournful lands
and let foul mists wander over your head.                              1530

      Quando, pro Titan, ubi, quo sub axe
Herculem in terris alium sequeris?
quas manus orbis miser inuocabit,
si qua sub Lerna numerosa pestis
sparget in centum rabiem dracones,                              1535
Arcadum si quis, populi uetusti,
fecerit siluas aper inquietas,
Thraciae si quis Rhodopes alumnus
durior terris Helices niuosae
sparget humano stabulum cruore?                              1540
quis dabit pacem populo timenti,
si quid irati superi per urbes
iusserint nasci? iacet omnibus par,
quem parem tellus genuit Tonanti.

When, O Titan, where, beneath what axis
will you follow on earth another Hercules?
what hands will the wretched orb invoke,
if some numerous pest under Lerna
shall scatter its frenzy into a hundred dragons, 1535
if some boar of the Arcadians, an ancient people,
shall make the forests unquiet,
if some alumnus of Rhodope in Thrace,
harder than the lands of snowy Helice,
shall spatter the stable with human gore?
who will give peace to the fearing people,
if the wrathful supernals through the cities
shall have ordered anything to be born? He lies equal with all,
whom the earth begot equal to the Thunderer.

Planctus immensas resonet per urbes 1545

Let lamentation resound through the immense cities 1545

et comas nullo cohibente nodo
femina exertos feriat lacertos,
solaque obductis foribus deorum
templa securae pateant nouercae.
      Vadis ad Lethen Stygiumque litus,                              1550
unde te nullae referent carinae;
uadis ad manes miserandus, unde
Morte deuicta tuleras triumphum;
umbra nudatis uenies lacertis
languido uultu tenuique collo,                              1555
teque non solum feret illa puppis,
      *                              1556a
non tamen uilis eris inter umbras:
Aeacon iuxta geminosque Cretas
facta discernes feriens tyrannos.
Parcite, o dites, inhibete dextras:                              1560

and with hair checked by no knot
let the woman beat her bared upper arms,
and let the temples of the gods, with their doors drawn shut,
stand open only for the stepmother secure.
      You go to Lethe and the Stygian shore,                              1550
whence no keels will bring you back;
you go to the shades, pitiable one, whence,
with Death conquered, you had borne off a triumph;
as a shade you will come with bared upper arms,
with languid countenance and a slender neck,                              1555
and not you alone will that stern-bark carry,
      *                              1556a
yet you will not be vile among the shades:
beside Aeacus and the twin Cretans
you will sift deeds, smiting tyrants.
Spare, O Dites, restrain your right hands:                              1560

laudis est purum tenuisse ferrum,
dumque regnabas, minimum procellis
in tuas urbes licuisse Fati.
Sed locum uirtus habet inter astra.
sedis arctoae spatium tenebis 1565
an grauis Titan ubi promit aestus?

it is a matter of praise to have held the iron pure,
and while you were reigning, the least was permitted by Fate
to the storms against your cities.
But virtue has a place among the stars.
will you hold the space of the Arctic seat 1565
or where the heavy Titan puts forth ardors?

an sub occasu tepido nitebis,
unde commisso resonare ponto
audies Calpen? loca quae sereni
deprimes caeli? quis erit recepto 1570
tutus Alcide locus inter astra?

or will you shine under the tepid west,
whence, with the sea conjoined, you will hear Calpe resound?
what places of the serene sky will you press?
what safe place among the stars will there be, with Alcides received? 1570

horrido tantum procul a leone
det pater sedes calidoque cancro,
ne tuo uultu tremefacta leges
astra conturbent trepidetque Titan. 1575

only let the Father grant a seat far from the horrid Lion
and from the hot Crab, lest, made to tremble at your countenance, the stars
confound their laws and let Titan tremble. 1575

      Vere dum flores uenient tepenti
et comam siluis reuocabit aestas                              1578
pomaque autumno fugiente cedent
et comam siluis hiemes recident,                              1577
tu comes Phoebo, comes ibis astris.                              1581

      While in tepid spring the flowers will come
and summer will recall the foliage to the woods                              1578
and the fruits will yield as autumn flees and winters will cut back the foliage from the woods,                              1577
you, companion to Phoebus, as companion will go to the stars.                              1581

nulla te terris rapiet uetustas:                              1580
ante nascetur seges in profundo                              1582
uel fretum dulci resonabit unda,
ante descendet glacialis ursae
sidus et ponto uetito fruetur,                              1585

no antiquity will snatch you from the earth:                              1580
sooner will a crop be born in the deep                              1582
or the strait will resonate with a sweet wave,
sooner will the constellation of the glacial Ursa descend
and enjoy the forbidden sea,                              1585

quam tuas laudes populi quiescant.
      Te, pater rerum, miseri precamur:
nulla nascatur fera, nulla pestis,
non duces saeuos miseranda tellus
horreat, nulla dominetur aula                              1590
qui putet solum decus esse regni
semper intensum tenuisse ferrum;
si quid in terris iterum timetur,
uindicem terrae petimus relictae.
      Heu quid hoc?

than that peoples fall silent about your praises.
      You, father of all things, we wretched beseech:
let no wild beast be born, no pestilence,
let the pitiable earth not shudder at savage leaders,
let no palace dominate                              1590
who thinks the only glory of kingship is to have always held ever-drawn steel;
if anything on earth is again feared,
we seek a vindicator of the forsaken earth.
      Alas, what is this?

mundus sonat ecce caecum. 1595
maeret Alciden pater? an deorum
clamor, an uox est timidae nouercae
Hercule et uiso fugit astra Iuno?
passus an pondus titubauit Atlas?

Behold, the world gives out a muffled sound. 1595
Does the father mourn Alcides? Or the clamor of the gods,
or is it the voice of the timid stepmother—
and, with Hercules seen, does Juno flee the stars?
or did Atlas totter under the burden in his stride?

an magis diri tremuere manes 1600

or have the dire shades trembled more 1600

Herculem et uisum canis inferorum
fugit abruptis trepidus catenis?
fallimur: laeto uenit ecce uultu
quem tulit Poeans umerisque tela
gestat et notas populis pharetras,                              1605
      Herculis heres.
      Effare casus, iuuenis, Herculeos precor
uoltuue quonam tulerit Alcides necem.

And has the dog of the underworld, trembling, fled even at the sight of Hercules, with his chains torn apart?
we are mistaken: behold, he comes with a glad countenance,
whom Paean has brought, and on his shoulders he bears the weapons
and the quivers known to the peoples,                              1605
      the heir of Hercules.
      Speak out, I pray, young man, the Herculean fortunes,
and with what countenance Alcides bore death.

Philoctetes Quo nemo uitam. Cho. Laetus adeone ultimos
inuasit ignes? Ph. Esse iam flammas nihil 1610
ostendit ille.

Philoctetes Whither no one keeps his life. Cho. Glad, did he thus invade the ultimate
fires? Ph. That flames now are nothing 1610
that man showed.

quid sub hoc mundo Hercules
immune uinci liquit? en domita omnia.
Cho. Inter uapores quis fuit forti locus?

what under this world did Hercules
leave immune to being conquered? lo, all things are subdued.
Cho. Amid the vapors, what place was there for the brave?

Ph. Quod unum in orbe uicerat nondum malum,
et flamma uicta est; haec quoque accessit feris: 1615

Ph. The one evil in the world he had not yet overcome,
and even flame is conquered; this too has been added to the beasts: 1615

inter labores ignis Herculeos abit.
Cho. Edissere agedum, flamma quo uicta est modo?
Ph. Vt omnis Oeten maesta corripuit manus,
huic fagus umbras perdit et toto iacet
succisa trunco, flectit hic pinum ferox 1620
astris minantem et nube de media uocat:
ruitura cautem mouit et siluam tulit
secum minorem.

among the Herculean labors the fire goes.
Cho. Explain now, in what manner was the flame conquered?
Ph. As a mournful band seized all of Oeta,
for this the beech loses its shades and lies
felled at the whole trunk; here a fierce man bends a pine 1620
menacing the stars and calls it down from the midst of the cloud:
it set a crag, ready to crash, in motion and carried off
with itself a lesser forest.

Chaonis quondam loquax
stat uasta late quercus et Phoebum uetat
ultraque totos porrigit ramos nemus; 1625
gemit illa multo uulnere impresso minax
frangitque cuneos, resilit incussus chalybs
uolnusque ferrum patitur et rigidum est parum.
commota tandem cum cadens latam sui
duxit ruinam, protinus radios locus 1630

Once the talkative Chaonian oak
stands vast, far and wide, and forbids Phoebus,
and the grove stretches its branches beyond on every side; 1625
the menacing thing groans with many a wound impressed,
and it breaks the wedges; the steel, when struck, rebounds,
and the iron suffers the wound and is too little rigid.
at last, when set in motion, as it fell, it drew a broad ruin of itself,
forthwith the place admits the rays 1630

admisit omnis: sedibus pulsae suis
uolucres pererrant nemore succiso diem
quaeruntque lassis garrulae pinnis domus.
iamque omnis arbor sonuit et sacrae quoque
sensere quercus horridam ferro manum 1635
nullique priscum profuit luco nemus.
Aggeritur omnis silua et alternae trabes
in astra tollunt Herculi angustum rogum:
raptura flammas pinus et robur tenax
et breuior ilex.

admitted all the rays:
driven from their seats,
the birds, with the grove cut down, wander through the day
and with tired, garrulous pinions seek homes.
and now every tree resounded, and the sacred oaks too
felt the horrid hand of iron, 1635
and the ancient wood profited no sacred grove.
All the forest is heaped up, and alternate beams
raise to the stars for Hercules a narrow pyre:
pine ready to snatch flames, and the tenacious oak,
and the shorter holm-oak.

summa sed complet rogum                              1640
populea silua, frondis Herculeae nemus.
      At ille, ut ingens nemore sub Nasamonio
aegro reclinis pectore immugit leo,
fertur—quis illum credat ad flammas rapi?
uoltus petentis astra, non ignes erat.                              1645

but the poplar wood completes the pyre at the top, the grove of Herculean foliage.                              1640
poplar woodland, the grove of Hercules’ leaf.
      But he, as a huge lion beneath a Nasamonian grove
with ailing breast reclining, bellows,
is borne—who would believe him to be snatched to the flames?
his face was that of one seeking the stars, not the fires.                              1645

Vt pressit Oeten ac suis oculis rogum
lustrauit omnem, fregit impositus trabes.
* 1647a
arcumque poscit. 'accipe haec' inquit, 'sate
Poeante, dona, et munus Alcidae cape.

When he trod Oeta and with his own eyes surveyed the whole pyre,
set upon it he broke the beams.
* 1647a
and he asks for the bow. ‘Receive these,’ he says, ‘son of Poeas,
the gifts, and take Alcides’ gift.’

has hydra sensit, his iacent Stymphalides                              1650
et quidquid aliud eminus uici manu
uictrice. felix iuuenis has numquam irritas
mittes in hostem, siue de media uoles
auferre uolucres nube, descendent aues
et certa praedae tela de caelo fluent,                              1655
nec fallet umquam dexteram hic arcus tuam:
librare telum didicit et certam dare
fugam sagittis, ipsa non fallunt iter
emissa neruo tela; tu tantum, precor,
accommoda ignes et facem extremam mihi.                              1660

these the Hydra has felt; by these the Stymphalids lie low,                              1650
and whatever else I conquered from afar with a conquering hand.
      Fortunate young man, these you will never send in vain
against the enemy; whether you will to snatch birds from the midst
of a cloud, the birds will descend and shafts, sure for prey, will stream from heaven,                              1655
nor will this bow ever deceive your right hand:
it has learned to poise the missile and to give a sure
flight to arrows; the missiles themselves, sent from the string, do not miss their path;
do you only, I pray, supply the fires and the final torch for me.                              1660

hic nodus' inquit, 'nulla quem cepit manus,
mecum per ignes flagret; hoc telum Herculem
tantum sequetur. hoc quoque acciperes' ait
'si ferre posses. adiuuet domini rogum.'
tum rigida secum spolia Nemeaei mali 1665
arsura poscit; latuit in spolio rogus.

'this knot,' he says, 'which no hand has seized, let it blaze with me through the fires; this weapon will follow Hercules only. This too you would receive,' he says, 'if you were able to bear it. Let it aid its master's pyre.'
then he asks for the rigid spoils of the Nemean evil, to burn with him; 1665
the pyre lay hidden in the spoil.

      Ingemuit omnis turba nec lacrimas dolor
cuiquam remisit. mater in luctum furens
diduxit auidum pectus atque utero tenus
exerta uastos ubera in planctus ferit,                              1670
superosque et ipsum uocibus pulsans Iouem
impleuit omnem uoce feminea locum.
'Deforme letum, mater, Herculeum facis,
compesce lacrimas' inquit, 'introrsus dolor
femineus abeat; Iuno cur laetum diem                              1675

      The whole crowd groaned, nor did grief remit tears to anyone;
the mother, raging in mourning,
tore open her eager breast, and, bared down to the womb,
she strikes her vast breasts in lamentation,                              1670
and, with her cries beating the gods above and Jupiter himself,
she filled every place with a feminine voice.
'You make the death of Hercules deformed, mother;
restrain your tears,' he says; 'let womanish grief go away inward;
why should Juno have a joyful day                              1675

te flente ducat? paelicis gaudet suae
spectare lacrimas. comprime infirmum iecur,
mater: nefas est ubera atque uterum tibi
laniare, qui me genuit.' et dirum fremens,
qualis per urbes duxit Argolicas canem, 1680
cum uictor Erebi Dite contempto redit
tremente fato, talis incubuit rogo.

Should he conduct you weeping? Juno rejoices to behold the tears of her rival.
stifle your feeble liver,
mother: it is a nefas to lacerate the breasts and the womb
that begot me.' And, growling direly,
such as when he led the hound through the Argolic cities, 1680
when, victor of Erebus, with Dis scorned, he returns
with Fate trembling, so he lay upon the pyre.

quis sic triumphans laetus in curru stetit
uictor? quis illo gentibus uultu dedit
leges tyrannus? quanta pax habitum tulit! 1685
haesere lacrimae, cecidit impulsus dolor
nobis quoque ipsis, nemo periturum ingemit:
iam flere pudor est; ipsa quam sexus iubet
maerere, siccis haesit Alcmene genis
stetitque nato paene iam similis parens. 1690

who stood thus, triumphant, glad, in a chariot, a victor?
what tyrant with a face like his gave laws to nations?
how great a peace his habit/bearing brought! 1685
the tears stuck fast, grief, driven back, fell away
even for us ourselves; no one groans that he is about to perish:
now it is a shame to weep; she whom her sex bids
to mourn, Alcmena, with dry cheeks held fast,
and the parent stood almost now similar to her son. 1690

Cho. Nullasne in astra misit ad superos preces
arsurus aut in uota respexit Iouem?
Ph. Iacuit sui securus et caelum intuens
quaesiuit oculis, arce an ex aliqua pater
despiceret illum. tum manus tendens ait: 1695
'quacumque parte prospicis natum, pater,
te te precor, cui nocte commissa dies
quieuit unus, si meas laudes canit
utrumque Phoebi litus et Scythiae genus
et omnis ardens ora quam torret dies, 1700
si pace tellus plena, si nullae gemunt
urbes nec aras impias quisquam inquinat,
si scelera desunt, spiritum admitte hunc, precor,
in astra.

Cho. Did he send no prayers up to the stars to the gods above,
about to burn, or look toward Jove in vows?
Ph. He lay, secure in himself, and, gazing at the sky,
he sought with his eyes whether his Father was looking down on him
from some citadel. Then, stretching out his hands, he said: 1695
“From whatever quarter you look forth upon your son, Father,
you, you I pray—yea, you to whom, when day is entrusted to night,
the single day has taken its rest—if both shores of Phoebus sing
my praises, and the Scythian race, and every burning border
which the day scorches; if the earth is full of peace, if no cities groan, 1700
nor does anyone befoul the altars with impiety; if crimes are lacking—admit this spirit, I pray, into the stars.”

non me noctis infernae locus
nec maesta nigri regna conterrent Iouis, 1705

the place of the infernal night does not terrify me
nor the mournful realms of black Jove, 1705

sed ire ad illos umbra, quos uici, deos,
pater, erubesco. nube discussa diem
pande, ut deorum coetus ardentem Herculem
spectet; licet tu sidera et mundum neges
ultro, pater, cogere: si uoces dolor 1710
abstulerit ullas, pande tunc Stygios lacus
et redde fatis; approba natum prius:
ut dignus astris uidear, hic faciet dies.
leue est quod actum est; Herculem hic, genitor, dies
inueniet aut damnabit.' Haec postquam edidit, 1715
flammas poposcit.

but to go as a shade to those gods whom I have conquered, father, I am ashamed. with the cloud dispelled, lay open the day, that the concourse of the gods may behold blazing Hercules; though you, father, may refuse of your own accord to compel the stars and the world, if pain has taken away any voice, then lay open the Stygian lakes and give me back to the Fates; first approve your son: that I may seem worthy of the stars, this day will make it so. light is what has been done; this day, father, will find or will condemn Hercules.' After he uttered these things, 1710
he demanded the flames. 1715

'hoc age, Alcidae comes, 1717

'Do this, companion of Alcides, 1717

non segnis' inquit 'corripe Oetaeam facem.
quid dextra tremuit? num manus pauida impium
scelus refugit?

'not sluggish,' he says, 'seize the Oetaean torch.
why did the right hand tremble? did the timid hand shrink from the impious crime?

redde iam pharetras mihi, 1720
ignaue iners eneruis—en nostros manus
quae tendat arcus! quid sedet pallor genis?
animo faces inuade quo Alciden uides
uoltu iacere.

give back now the quivers to me, 1720
coward, inert, nerveless—look, our hand to draw the bows! why does pallor sit upon your cheeks?
with spirit, assault the torches, with the countenance with which you see Alcides lying.

respice arsurum, miser:
nouerca cernat quo feram flammas modo. 1715
uocat ecce iam me genitor et pandit polos; 1725

look upon me, about to burn, wretch:
let my stepmother see whither I will bear flames now. 1715
lo, behold, already my begetter calls me and opens the poles; 1725

uenio, pater'—uultusque non idem fuit.
Tremente pinum dextera ardentem intuli.
refugit ignis et reluctantur faces
et membra uitant, sed recedentem Hercules
insequitur ignem.

‘I come, father’—and the countenance was not the same.
With a trembling right hand I brought in the blazing pine.
The fire flees and the torches are reluctant,
and they avoid the limbs, but Hercules pursues the receding fire.

Caucasum aut Pindum aut Athon                              1730
ardere credas: nullus erumpit sonus,
tantum ingemiscit ignis. o durum iecur!
Typhon in illo positus immanis rogo
gemuisset ipse quique conuulsam solo
imposuit umeris Ossan Enceladus ferox.                              1735
      At ille medias inter exurgens faces,
semiustus ac laniatus, intrepidum tuens:
'nunc es parens Herculea: sic stare ad rogum
te, mater' inquit, 'sic decet fleri Herculem.'
inter uapores positus et flammae minas                               1740

You would believe Caucasus or Pindus or Athos to be burning:                              1730
no sound bursts forth,
only the fire groans. O hard heart!
Typhon, set upon that monstrous pyre,
would himself have groaned, and fierce Enceladus, who placed
Ossa, torn from the soil, upon his shoulders.                              1735
      But he, rising up in the midst of the flames,
half-burned and torn, gazing unafraid:
'now you are a parent of Hercules: thus to stand at the pyre,
you, mother,' he says, 'thus is it fitting that Hercules be wept.'
positioned amid the vapors and the threats of the flame                              1740

immotus, inconcussus, in neutrum latus
correpta torquens membra adhortatur, monet,
gerit aliquid ardens. omnibus fortem addidit
animum ministris; urere ardentem putes.
Stupet omne uulgus, uix habent flammae fidem: 1745
tam placida frons est, tanta maiestas uiro.

unmoved, unshaken, to neither side
twisting his seized limbs he exhorts, he warns,
aflame, he carries something through. to all the attendants he added
brave spirit; you would think him, burning, to be burning.
all the crowd is astounded; the flames scarcely win credence: 1745
so placid is his brow, so great the majesty in the man.

nec properat uri; cumque iam forti datum
leto satis pensauit, igniferas trabes
hinc inde traxit, minima quas flamma occupat
totas in ignes uertit et quis plurimus 1750
exundat ignis repetit intrepidus ferox.
tunc ora flammis implet: ast illi graues
luxere barbae; cumque iam uultum minax
appeteret ignis, lamberent flammae caput,
non pressit oculos. Sed quid hoc?

nor does he hasten to be burned; and when he had now sufficiently weighed that it is given to the brave to meet death,
he dragged igniferous beams from here and there, which the slightest flame seizes;
he turned them wholly into fires, and where the fire most overflows 1750
he returns, intrepid, ferocious.
then he fills his mouth with flames: but his thick
beard shone; and when the menacing fire now
was approaching his face, when the lambent flames were licking his head,
he did not press his eyes shut. But what is this?

maestam intuor 1755

I behold the sorrowful one 1755

sinu gerentem reliquias magni Herculis,
crinemque iactans squalidum Alcmene gemit.
      Alcmene Timete, superi, fata: tam paruus cinis
Herculeus, huc huc ille decreuit gigas!
o quanta, Titan, in nihil moles abit;                               1760
anilis, heu me, recipit Alciden sinus,
hic cumulus ille est: ecce uix totam Hercules
compleuit urnam; quam leue est pondus mihi,
cui totus aether pondus incubuit leue
      !Ad Tartara olim regnaque, o nate, ultima                              1765
rediturus ibas—quando ab inferna Styge
remeabis iterum?

carrying in her bosom the relics of great Hercules,
and tossing her squalid hair, Alcmene groans.
      Alcmene Fear, gods above, the fates: so small a Herculean ash—
to this, to this the giant has dwindled!
O how great a mass, Titan, passes into nothing;                              1760
an old woman’s bosom, alas for me, receives Alcides;
this heap is that hero: behold, Hercules has scarcely filled
the whole urn; how light is the weight to me,
on whom the whole aether laid its weight—light.
      !To Tartarus once and to the furthest realms, O son,                              1765
you went to return—when from infernal Styx
will you come back again?

non ut et spolium trahas
rursusque Theseus debeat lucem tibi—
sed quando solus? mundus impositus tuas
compescet umbras teque Tartareus canis 1770

not so that you also may drag the spoil
and that Theseus again should owe the light to you—
but when alone? the world imposed will restrain your shades,
and the Tartarean dog you 1770

inhibere poterit? quando Taenarias fores
pulsabis? aut quas mater ad fauces agar
qua mors aditur?

will be able to inhibit? when will you knock at the Taenarian doors?
or to what jaws should I, a mother, be driven, where death is approached?

uadis ad manes iter
habiturus unum. quid diem questu tero?
quid misera duras uita?

You go to the Manes, a journey
to have but one. Why do I wear away the day with lament?
why, wretched one, do you endure life?

quid lucem hanc tenes? 1775
quem parere rursus Herculem possum Ioui?
quis me parentem natus Alcmenen suam
tantus uocabit? o nimis felix, nimis,
Thebane coniunx, Tartari intrasti loca
florente nato teque uenientem inferi 1780
timuere forsan, quod pater tanti Herculis,
uel falsus, aderas.

why do you hold this light? 1775
what Hercules can I again bear to Jove?
what son so great will call me his parent, his own Alcmena?
O too happy, too happy, Theban spouse, you entered the places of Tartarus
with your son flourishing, and the infernal ones feared you as you came 1780
perhaps, because the father of so great a Hercules,
even if false, was present.

Quas petam terras anus,
inuisa saeuis regibus (si quis tamen
rex est relictus saeuus)? ei miserae mihi!
quicumque caesos ingemunt nati patres, 1785

What lands shall I seek, an old woman,
hated by savage kings (if any savage king, however, is left)? alas for miserable me!
whoever fathers lament their slain sons, 1785

a me petent supplicia, me cuncti obruent:
si quis minor Busiris aut si quis minor
Antaeus urbes feruidae terret plagae,
ego praeda ducar; si quis Ismarius greges
Thracis cruenti uindicat, carpent greges 1790
mea membra diri; forsitan poenas petet
irata Iuno: totus exurget dolor;
secura uicto tandem ab Alcide uacat,
paelex supersum—quanta supplicia expetet
ne parere possim! fecit hic natus mihi 1795
uterum timendum. Quae petam Alcmene loca?

from me they will seek punishments, all will overwhelm me:
if any lesser Busiris or if any lesser
Antaeus terrifies the cities of the fervid zone,
I shall be led as prey; if some Ismarian vindicates the herds
of the bloody Thracian, the herds will tear 1790
my limbs in their dreadfulness; perhaps penalties will be sought
by wrathful Juno: all her pain will surge up;
safe, with Alcides conquered at last, she has leisure,
I, the paramour, am left—how great punishments will she demand
lest I be able to bring forth! this son has made for me 1795
a womb to be feared. What places shall Alcmena seek?

quis me locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga
defendet aut quas mater in latebras agar
ubique per te nota? si patriam petam
laresque miseros, Argos Eurystheus tenet; 1800

what place for me, what region, what quarter of the world
will defend me, or into what hiding-places shall I, a mother,
be driven, noted everywhere through you? if I seek my fatherland
and my wretched Lares, Eurystheus holds Argos; 1800

marita Thebas regna et Ismenon petam
thalamosque nostros, in quibus quondam Iouem
dilecta uidi? pro nimis felix, nimis,
si fulminantem et ipsa sensissem Iouem!
utinam meis uisceribus Alcides foret 1805
exsectus infans!

shall I seek the wedded Theban realms and the Ismenus,
and our bridal chambers, in which once, beloved, I saw Jove?
ah, too fortunate, too,
if I myself had felt Jove fulminating!
would that from my own viscera Alcides had been 1805
excised as an infant!

nunc datum est tempus, datum est
uidere natum laude certantem Ioui,
ut hoc daretur, scire quid fatum mihi
eripere posset. quis memor uiuit tui,
o nate, populus? omne iam ingratum est genus. 1810
Petam Cleonas?

now time has been given, it has been given
to see my son vying in praise with Jove,
that this might be granted, to know what fate could
snatch from me. what people lives mindful of you,
o son? the whole race is now ungrateful. 1810
shall i seek Cleonae?

Arcadum an populos petam
meritisque terram nobilem quaeram tuis?
hic dira serpens cecidit, hic ales fera,
hic sus cruentus, hic tua fractus manu
qui te sepulto possidet caelum leo: 1815

Shall I seek the Arcadian peoples,
and search for a land made noble by your merits?
here the dire serpent fell, here the savage bird,
here the blood-stained boar, here, broken by your hand,
the lion who, with you entombed, possesses the sky: 1815

si grata terra est, populus Alcmenen tuam
defendat omnis. Thracias gentes petam
Hebrique populos? haec quoque est meritis tuis
defensa tellus: stabula cum regno iacent.

If the land is grateful, let all the people defend your Alcmene.
Shall I seek the Thracian nations and the peoples of the Hebrus?
This land too has been defended by your merits: the stables lie low along with the kingdom.

hic pax cruento rege prostrato data est: 1820
ubi enim negata est? Quod tibi infelix anus
quaeram sepulcrum? de tuis totus rogis
contendat orbis.

here peace was granted with the bloody king prostrated: 1820
where indeed has it been denied? What sepulcher am I, unlucky old woman, to seek for you?
let the whole world contend for your pyres.

reliquias magni Herculis
quis populus aut quae templa, quae gentes rogant?
quis, quis petit, quis poscit Alcmenes onus? 1825
quae tibi sepulcra, nate, quis tumulus sat est?
hic totus orbis: fama erit titulus tibi.

the relics of great Hercules
what people or what temples, what nations ask?
who, who seeks, who demands Alcmena’s burden? 1825
what sepulchers for you, son, what tumulus is enough?
here is the whole world: fame will be your title.

Quid, anime, trepidas? Herculis cineres tenes;
complectere ossa: reliquiae auxilium dabunt,
erunt satis praesidia, terrebunt tuae 1830

Why, soul, do you tremble? You hold the ashes of Hercules;
embrace the bones: the relics will give aid,
the presidia will be enough, they will terrify your 1830

reges uel umbrae. Cho. Debitos nato quidem
compesce fletus, mater Alcidae incluti.
non est gemendus nec graui urgendus prece,
uirtute quisquis abstulit fatis iter:
aeterna uirtus Herculem fleri uetat: 1835
fortes uetant maerere, degeneres iubent.

kings or shades. Cho. Indeed restrain the due tears for your son, mother of illustrious Alcides.
he is not to be lamented nor pressed with grave entreaty,
whoever by virtue has taken away the road for the Fates:
eternal virtue forbids Hercules to be wept: 1835
the brave forbid to mourn, the degenerate bid it.

Al. Sedabo questus uindice amisso parens
terrae atque pelagi * * * *
* * * * quaque purpureus dies
utrumque clara spectat Oceanum rota?
quot misera in uno condidi natos parens! 1840
regno carebam, regna sed poteram dare.
una inter omnes terra quas matres gerit
uotis peperci, nil ego a superis peti,
incolume nato: quid dare Herculeus mihi
non poterat ardor, quod deus quisquam mihi 1845

Al. I, a parent, will soothe my laments with my avenger lost,
of earth and of the sea * * * *
* * * * and wherever the purple day’s
bright wheel looks upon both Oceans? How many sons have I,
a wretched parent, laid to rest in one! 1840
I lacked a kingdom, yet I could give kingdoms.
Alone among all the earth that bears mothers
I spared vows; I asked nothing from the gods above,
my son being unhurt: what could Herculean ardor
not grant me, that any god could grant me? 1845

negare poterat? uota in hac fuerant manu:
quidquid negaret Iuppiter, daret Hercules.
quid tale genetrix ulla mortalis tulit?

could he deny? my vows were in this hand:
whatever Jove denied, Hercules would grant.
what mortal genetrix ever bore such a one?

deriguit aliqua mater, ut toto stetit
succisa fetu, bisque septenos gregem 1850
deplanxit una: gregibus aequari meus
quot ille poterat! matribus miseris adhuc
exemplar ingens derat: Alcmene dabo.
cessate, matres, pertinax si quas dolor
adhuc iubet lugere, quas luctus grauis 1855
in saxa uertit; cedite his cunctae malis.

Some mother grew rigid, as she stood with her whole brood cut down,
and one alone bewailed a twice‑seven flock: 1850
to flocks, my one—how many could that one be equated! For wretched mothers as yet
a vast exemplar was lacking: I will give Alcmene.
cease, mothers, if pertinacious pain still bids any to mourn,
those whom grave grief has turned into stones; yield, all of you, to these ills. 1855

Agedum senile pectus, o miserae manus,
pulsate—et una funeri tanto sat est
grandaeua anus defecta, quod totus breui
iam quaeret orbis? expedi in planctus tamen 1860

Come then, senile breast, O wretched hands,
beat— and a single aged old woman, exhausted, is enough
for so great a funeral, a thing which the whole
world will soon be seeking? Unfold into lamentations, nevertheless 1860

defessa quamquam bracchia: inuidiam ut deis
lugendo facias, aduoca in planctus genus.
      Flete, Alcmenae magnique Iouis
      plangite natum,
cui concepto lux una perit                              1865
noctesque duas contulit Eos:
ipsa quiddam plus luce perit.
Totae pariter plangite gentes,
quarum saeuos ille tyrannos
iussit Stygias penetrare domos                              1870
populisque madens ponere ferrum.

although your arms are wearied: so that by lamenting you may make invidia in the gods, call your race into the beating of the breast.
      Weep, for Alcmena’s and great Jove’s
      bewail the son,
at whose conception one light/day perished,                              1865
and Eos conferred two nights:
she herself perished somewhat more than the light.
All peoples alike, bewail together,
whose savage tyrants he ordered
to penetrate the Stygian homes and, drenched with peoples, to set down the iron/steel.                              1870

fletum meritis reddite tantis,
totus, totus personet orbis.
Fleat Alciden caerula Crete,
magno tellus cara Tonanti: 1875

render weeping to such great merits,
let the whole, the whole world resound.
let sea-blue Crete weep for Alcides,
the land dear to the great Thunderer: 1875

centum populi bracchia pulsent.
nunc Curetes, nunc Corybantes
arma Idaea quassate manu:
armis illum lugere decet.
nunc, nunc funus plangite uerum: 1880
iacet Alcides non minor ipso,
Creta, Tonante.

let a hundred peoples beat their arms.
now the Curetes, now the Corybants
shake the Idaean arms with your hand:
it is fitting to mourn him with arms.
now, now lament the true funeral: 1880
Alcides lies, not lesser than the Thunderer himself,
O Crete, O Thunderer.

      Flete Herculeos, Arcades, obitus,
nondum Phoebe nascente genus:
iuga Parthenii ~Nemeaeque sonent                              1885
feriatque grauis Maenala planctus:
magno Alcidae poscit gemitum
stratus uestris saetiger agris
alesque sequi iussa sagittas
totum pinnis furata diem.                              1890

      Weep, Arcadians, the Herculean death,
a race before Phoebe was born:
let the ridges of Parthenius ~and of Nemea resound                              1885
and let a weighty lament strike Maenalus:
calls for a groan for great Alcides
the bristly one laid low in your fields,
and the bird commanded to pursue the arrows,
having stolen the whole day with wings.                              1890

Flete, Argolicae, flete, Cleonae:
hic terrentem moenia quondam
      uestra leonem
fregit nostri dextera nati.
Date, Bistoniae, uerbera, matres
gelidusque sonet planctibus Hebrus:                              1895
flete Alciden, quod non stabulis
      nascitur infans
nec uestra greges uiscera carpunt.
Fleat Antaeo libera tellus
et rapta fero plaga Geryonae:                              1900
mecum, miserae, plangite, gentes,
audiat ictus utraque Tethys.
      Vos quoque, mundi turba citati,
flete Herculeos, numina, casus:
uestrum Alcides ceruice meus                              1905

Weep, Argolic women, weep, Cleonae:
here the lion once terrifying the walls
      your lion
the right hand of our son broke.
Give, Bistonian mothers, the blows,
and let the icy Hebrus resound with lamentations:                              1895
weep for Alcides, because not in the stables
      is an infant born
nor do your herds tear your entrails.
Let the land freed from Antaeus weep
and the region wrested from fierce Geryon:                              1900
lament with me, wretched nations,
let both Tethys hear the blows.
      You also, hastened throng of the world,
weep, divinities, the Herculean misfortunes:
your Alcides, mine with his neck                              1905

mundum, superi, caelumque tulit,
dum stelligeri uector Olympi
pondere liber spirauit Atlans.
Vbi nunc uestrae, Iuppiter, arces?
ubi promissi regia mundi?                              1910
nempe Alcides mortalis obit,
      nempe sepultus:
totiens telis facibusque tuis
      ille pepercit,
quotiens ignis spargendus erat.

he bore the world, gods above, and the sky,
while Atlas, the bearer of starry Olympus,
breathed free from the burden. Where now are your citadels, Jupiter?
where the promised royal palace of the world?                              1910
indeed Alcides, mortal, dies,
      indeed he is buried:
so often with your darts and your torches
      he forbore,
whenever fire had to be scattered.

in me saltem iaculare facem                              1915
      Semelenque puta.
      Iamne Elysias, o nate, domus,
      iam litus habes,
ad quod populos natura uocat?
an post raptum Styx atra canem                              1920

at least hurl the torch at me,                              1915
      and suppose me Semele.
      Have you now, O son, the Elysian homes,
      now the shore
to which nature summons the peoples?
or, after the snatching, does black Styx have the hound                              1920

praeclusit iter teque in primo
limine Ditis fata morantur?
quis nunc umbras, nate, tumultus
      manesque tenet?
fugit abducta nauita cumba
et Centauris Thessala motis                              1925
ferit attonitos ungula manes
anguesque suos hydra sub undas
      territa mergit
teque labores, o nate, timent?
      Fallor, fallor uesana furens,                              1930
nec te manes umbraeque timent,
non Argolico rapta leoni
fulua pellis contecta iuba
laeuos operit dira lacertos
uallantque feri tempora dentes:                               1935

has the path been shut, and do the fates delay you at the very
threshold of Dis?
what tumult now, son, holds the shades
      and the Manes?
the boatman flees with the skiff carried off,
and with the Thessalian Centaurs set in motion                              1925
the hoof strikes the astonished shades,
and the Hydra, terrified, plunges her own snakes beneath the waves,
      and do the labors fear you, O son?
      I am wrong, I am wrong, insane, raging,                              1930
nor do the Manes and shades fear you,
nor does the tawny pelt, despoiled from the Argolic lion,
covered with its mane, cover your left arms,
nor do the fierce beast’s teeth wall your temples:                              1935

donum pharetrae cessere tuae
telaque mittet iam dextra minor.
uadis inermis, nate, per umbras,
ad quas semper mansurus eris.
Hercvles Quid me tenentem regna siderei poli 1940
caeloque tandem redditum planctu iubes
sentire fatum?

the gift of your quiver has withdrawn
and a right hand, now lesser, will send its weapons.
you go unarmed, son, through the shades,
to which you will be ever destined to remain.
Hercvles Why do you bid me, holding the realms of the sidereal pole 1940
and at last returned to heaven, to feel fate by lamentation?

parce: iam uirtus mihi
in astra et ipsos fecit ad superos iter.
Al. Vnde sonus trepidas aures ferit?
unde meas inhibet lacrimas fragor? 1945
agnosco agnosco uictum est chaos.

spare: already my virtue has made for me a path into the stars and to the very gods above.
Al. Whence does a sound strike my trembling ears?
whence does the crash restrain my tears? 1945
I recognize, I recognize: Chaos is conquered.

a Styge, nate, redis iterum mihi
fractaque non semel est mors horrida?
uicisti rursus noctis loca
puppis et infernae uada tristia? 1950

from the Styx, son, do you return to me again
and has horrid death been shattered not once?
have you conquered again the places of night
the bark and the gloomy shallows of the underworld? 1950

peruius est Acheron iam languidus
et remeare licet soli tibi,
nec te fata tenent post funera?
an tibi praeclusit Pluton iter
et pauidus regni metuit sibi? 1955
certe ego te uidi flagrantibus
impositum siluis, cum plurimus
in caelum fureret flammae metus:
arsisti certe, cur ultima
non tenuere tuas umbras loca? 1960
quid timuere tui manes, precor?
umbra quoque es Diti nimis horrida?

Acheron is passable now, languid,
and to return is allowed to you alone,
and do the Fates not hold you after the funerals?
or has Pluto shut the path to you
and, fearful for his kingdom, does he fear for himself? 1955
surely I saw you set upon blazing
woods, when a very great fear of the flames
raved to the sky:
you surely burned—why did the furthest
places not hold your shades? 1960
what did your Manes fear, I pray?
are you even to Dis a shade too horrid?

He. Non me gementis stagna Cocyti tenent
nec puppis umbras furua transuexit meas;
iam parce, mater, questibus: manes semel 1965

He. The pools of groaning Cocytus do not hold me
nor has a dusky ship ferried my shades across;
now spare, mother, the laments: the manes once 1965

umbrasque uidi; quidquid in nobis tui
mortale fuerat, ignis euictum tulit:
paterna caelo, pars data est flammis tua.
proinde planctus pone, quos nato paret
genetrix inerti; luctus in turpes eat: 1970
uirtus in astra tendit, in mortem timor.
praesens ab astris, mater, Alcides cano:
poenas cruentus iam tibi Eurystheus dabit;
curru superbum uecta transcendes caput.

and I have seen the shades; whatever of you in me
had been mortal, the conquering fire has borne away:
the father’s part to heaven, your part has been given to the flames.
therefore set aside the beatings of lamentation, which a mother prepares
for a lifeless son; let grief go to the base: 1970
virtue strains toward the stars, fear toward death.
present from the stars, mother, I, Alcides, sing:
now bloody Eurystheus will pay penalties to you;
borne in a chariot, you will ride over the proud head.

Me iam decet subire caelestem plagam: 1975
inferna uici rursus Alcides loca.
Al. Mane parumper—cessit ex oculis, abit,
in astra fertur. fallor an uultus putat
uidisse natum?

It now befits me to ascend the celestial region: 1975
I, Alcides, have conquered the infernal places again.
Al. Wait a little—he has withdrawn from my eyes, he goes away,
he is borne into the stars. Am I deceived, or does my face think it has seen my son?

misera mens incredula est.
es numen et te mundus aeternum tenet: 1980

my wretched mind is incredulous.
you are a numen, and the world holds you eternal: 1980

credo triumphis.—regna Thebarum petam
nouumque templis additum numen canam.
      Chorvs Numquam Stygias fertur ad umbras
inclita uirtus: uiuite fortes
nec Lethaeos saeua per amnes                              1985
      uos fata trahent,
sed cum summas exiget horas
      consumpta dies,
iter ad superos gloria pandet.
      Sed tu, domitor magne ferarum
orbisque simul pacator, ades:                              1990
nunc quoque nostras aspice terras,
et si qua nouo belua uultu
quatiet populos terrore graui,
tu fulminibus frange trisulcis:
fortius ipso genitore tuo                              1995

I trust in triumphs.—I shall seek the realms of Thebes
and I shall sing a new numen added to the temples.
      Chorus Never is renowned virtue borne to the Stygian shades:
live on, you brave,
nor will savage fates drag you through the Lethean rivers                              1985
      but you
when the spent day shall exact its utmost hours,
      glory will open a way to the supernal ones.
But you, great tamer of beasts
      and at once pacifier of the world, be present:                              1990
now too look upon our lands,
and if any beast with a new visage
shall shake the peoples with grave terror,
break it with your three-forked thunderbolts:
more mightily than your very genitor.                              1995

fulmina mitte.

send the thunderbolts.