Statius: SILVAE

Tibi certe, Polli dulcissime et hac cui tam fideliter inhaeres quiete dignissime, non habeo diu probandam libellorum istorum temeritatem, cum scias multos ex illis in sinu tuo subito natos et hanc audaciam stili nostri frequenter expaveris, quotiens in illius facundiae tuae penetrali seductus altius litteras intro et in omnis a te studiorum sinus ducor. securus itaque tertius hic Silvarum nostrarum liber ad te mittitur. habuerat quidem et secundus te testem, sed hic habet auctorem.

To you surely, sweetest Pollio, and you who are most worthy of this repose to which you so faithfully cling, I have not long to justify the temerity of these little books, since you know that many of them were suddenly born in your lap, and you have often taken fright at this audacity of our style, whenever, lured into the penetral of your eloquence, I go deeper into letters and I am led by you into every recess of studies. Unanxious therefore this third book of our Silvae is sent to you. The second indeed had you as a witness, but this one has an author.

nam primum limen eius Hercules Surrentinus aperit, quem in litore tuo consecratum, statim ut videram, his versibus adoravi. sequitur libellus quo splendidissimum et mihi iucundissimum iuvenem Maecium Celerem, a sacratissimo imperatore missum ad legionem Syriacam, quia sequi non poteram, sic prosecutus sum. merebatur et Claudi Etrusci mei pietas aliquod ex studiis nostris solacium, cum lugeret veris (quod iam rarissimum est) lacrimis senem patrem.

for first the threshold of it is opened by the Surrentine Hercules, whom, consecrated on your shore, as soon as I had seen, I adored with these verses. next there follows a little book by which the most splendid and to me most delightful young man, Maecius Celer, sent by the most sacred emperor to the Syrian legion, because I could not follow, I thus escorted. the pietas of my Claudius Etruscus also deserved some solace from our studies, since he was mourning with true (which now is very rare) tears his aged father.

Earinus praeterea, Germanici nostri libertus scis quamdiu desiderium eius moratus sim, cum petisset ut capillos suos quos cum gemmata pyxide et speculo ad Pergamenum Asclepium mittebat, versibus dedicarem. summa est ecloga qua mecum secedere Neapolim Claudiam meam exhortor. hic, si verum dicimus, sermo est, et quidem securus ut cum uxore et qui persuadere malit quam placere.

Earinus, moreover, the freedman of our Germanicus—you know how long I have delayed his desire—when he had requested that I dedicate in verses his hair, which he was sending, together with a gem-studded pyxis and a mirror, to the Pergamene Asclepius. The crown-piece is an eclogue in which I exhort my Claudia to withdraw with me to Naples. Here, if we speak truly, it is conversation—and indeed unafraid, as with a wife—and one that would rather persuade than please.

huic praecipue libello favebis cum scias hanc destinationem quietis meae tibi maxime intendere meque non tam in patriam quam ad te secedere. vale.

To this little book in particular you will show favor, since you know that this plan of my repose is intended chiefly for you, and that I withdraw not so much to my fatherland as to you. Farewell.

I. HERCVLES SVRRENTINVS POLLII FELICIS

1. SORRENTINE HERCULES OF POLLIUS FELIX

Intermissa tibi renovat, Tirynthie, sacra
Pollius et causas designat desidis anni,
quod coleris maiore tholo nec litora pauper
nuda tenes tectumque vagis habitabile nautis,
sed nitidos postes Graisque effulta metallis, 5
culmina, ceu taedis iterum lustratus honesti
ignis ab Oetaea conscenderis aethera flamma.
Vix oculis animoque fides. tune ille reclusi
liminis et parvae custos inglorius arae?

Pollius renews for you, Tirynthian, the rites that were intermitted,
and designates the causes of the idle year,
because you are worshipped with a greater dome and do not hold poor
bare shores nor a roof habitable for wandering sailors,
but gleaming doorposts and roofs upheld by Greek metals, 5
as if, lustrated anew by the torches of honorable
fire, you were ascending the ether from the Oetaean flame.
Scarcely is there faith for eyes and mind. Are you then that inglorious
guardian of an opened threshold and a small altar?

unde haec aula recens fulgorque inopinus agresti, 10
Alcidae? sunt fata deum, sunt fata locorum.
o velox pietas!

whence this fresh hall and unforeseen splendor, 10
to the rustic Alcides? there are fates of the gods, there are fates of places.
o swift piety!

steriles hic nuper harenas
ad sparsum pelago montis latus hirtaque dumis
saxa nec ulla pati faciles vestigia terras
cernere erat. quaenam subito fortuna rigentes, 15
ditavit scopulos? Tyrione haec moenia plectro
an Getica venere lyra?

here recently barren sands
the mountain’s side strewn by the sea, and rocks rough with brambles,
and no lands easy to admit footprints,
were to be seen. what sudden fortune has enriched the rigid crags, 15
the crags? have these walls come by a Tyrian plectrum
or by a Getic lyre?

stupet ipse labores
annus, et angusti bis seno limite menses
longaevum mirantur opus. deus attulit arces
erexitque suas, atque obluctantia saxa,          20
summovit nitens et magno pectore montem
reppulit: immitem credas iussisse novercam.
    Ergo age, seu patrios liber iam legibus Argos
incolis et mersum tumulis Eurysthea calcas,
sive tui solium Iovis et virtute parata,          25
astra tenes, haustumque tibi succincta beati
nectaris excluso melior Phryge porrigit Hebe:
huc ades et genium templis nascentibus infer.

even the year itself stands astonished at the labors,
and the months, within their narrow limit of twice six,
marvel at the age-long work. The god brought the citadels
and raised up his own, and the resisting rocks,20
he removed by straining, and with his mighty breast he pushed back the mountain:
you would think a harsh stepmother had commanded it.
Therefore come, whether, free now from laws, you inhabit
your ancestral Argos and tread upon Eurystheus sunk beneath barrows,
or whether you hold the throne of your Jove and the stars won by valor, 25
and girded Hebe offers to you a draught of blessed
nectar, better with the Phrygian excluded: come hither and bring the Genius to the temples being born.

non te Lerna nocens nec pauperis arva Molorchi
nec formidatus Nemees ager antraque poscunt, 30

not the noxious Lerna nor the fields of poor Molorchus
nor the formidable Nemean field and caves demand you, 30

Thracia nec Pharii polluta altaria regis,
sed felix simplexque domus fraudumque malarum
inscia et hospitibus superis dignissima sedes.
pone truces arcus agmenque immite pharetrae
et regum multo perfusum sanguine robur, 35
instratumque umeris dimitte gerentibus hostem.
hic tibi Sidonio celsum pulvinar acantho
texitur et signis crescit torus asper eburnis.

Neither Thrace nor the altars of the Pharian king defiled,
but a happy and simple house, and unknowing of evil frauds,
and a seat most worthy of heavenly guests.
put down your grim bows and the savage array of the quiver,
and the might steeped with much blood of kings, 35
and release the enemy spread upon the shoulders of its bearer.
here for you a lofty cushion is woven with Sidonian acanthus,
and the couch grows rough with ivory figures.

pacatus mitisque veni nec turbidus ira
nec famulare timens, sed quem te Maenalis Auge,          40
confectum thiasis et multo fratre madentem
detinuit, qualemque vagae post crimina noctis
Thespius obstupuit, totiens socer. hic tibi festa
gymnas, et insontes iuvenum sine caestibus irae
annua veloci peragunt certamina lustro.,          45
hic templis inscriptus avo gaudente sacerdos
parvus adhuc similisque tui cum prima novercae
monstra manu premeres atque exanimata doleres.
    Sed quaenam subiti, veneranda, exordia templi
dic age, Calliope; socius tibi grande sonabit,          50
Alcides tensoque modos imitabitur arcu.

come pacified and gentle, neither turbid with ire
nor fearing as a menial, but such as Maenalian Auge,          40
worn out by thiases and soaked with much of your brother,
detained you; and such as, after the crimes of the wandering night,
Thespius stood amazed, so often a father-in-law. Here for you the festive
gymnasia, and the blameless angers of youths without the caestuses’ wrath,
carry through yearly contests in a swift lustrum.,          45
here the priest enrolled to the temples, with his grandsire rejoicing,
still small and like to you, when with your first hand you pressed
the stepmother’s monsters and grieved over them when lifeless.
    But what beginnings of the sudden temple, venerable one,
say, come, Calliope; your comrade will sound grandly for you,          50
Alcides, and with his bow stretched he will imitate the modes.

    Tempus erat caeli cum torrentissimus axis
incumbit terris ictusque Hyperione multo
acer anhelantis incendit Sirius agros.
iamque dies aderat profugis cum regibus aptum,          55
fumat Aricinum Triviae nemus et face multa
conscius Hippolyti splendet lacus; ipsa coronat
emeritos Diana canes et spicula terget
et tutas sinit ire feras, omnisque pudicis
Itala terra focis Hecateidas excolit idus. ,          60

    It was the time when the sky’s most torrential axis
leans upon the lands, and Sirius, smitten by much Hyperion,
keen, sets ablaze the panting fields.
and now the day had come, suitable for fugitive kings,          55
the Arician grove of Trivia smokes, and with many a torch
the lake, conscious of Hippolytus, gleams; she herself, Diana, crowns
the veteran hounds and wipes the spears,
and allows the beasts to go safe, and all the Italian land at chaste
hearths observes the Hecatean Ides. ,          60

ast ego, Dardaniae quamvis sub collibus Albae
rus proprium magnique ducis mihi munere currens
unda domi curas mulcere aestusque levare
sufficerent, notas Sirenum nomine rupes
facundique larem Polli non hospes habebam,          65
assidue moresque viri pacemque novosque
Pieridum flores intactaque carmina discens.
forte diem Triviae dum litore ducimus udo
angustasque fores adsuetaque tecta gravati
frondibus et patula defendimus arbore soles,          70
delituit caelum et subitis lux candida cessit
nubibus ac tenuis graviore favonius austro
immaduit; qualem Libyae Saturnia nimbum
attulit, Iliaco dum dives Elissa marito
donatur testesque ululant per devia nymphae.,          75
diffugimus, festasque dapes redimitaque vina
abripiunt famuli; nec quo convivia migrent,
quamvis innumerae gaudentia rura superne
insedere domus et multo culmine dives
mons nitet: instantes sed proxima quaerere nimbi,          80
suadebant laesique fides reditura sereni.
stabat dicta sacri tenuis casa nomine templi
et magnum Alciden humili lare parva premebat,
fluctivagos nautas scrutatoresque profundi
vix operire capax.

but I, although beneath the hills of Alba of Dardania
I had my own countryside, and a running wave by the gift of a great leader to me
would suffice at home to soothe cares and lighten the heats,
I was no stranger to the rocks known by the name of the Sirens
and to the hearth of eloquent Pollio, continually learning the character of the man and peace and the new          65
flowers of the Pierides and untouched songs.
by chance, while we spend the day of Trivia on the wet shore
and, burdened, we defend the narrow doorways and accustomed roofs
with leaves and with a wide-spreading tree from the suns,          70
the sky hid itself and the bright light yielded to sudden
clouds, and the slight Favonius grew sodden by a heavier Auster;
such a cloud as Saturnia brought to Libya, while wealthy Elissa
is endowed with a Trojan husband, and the nymphs howl as witnesses through the byways.,          75
we scatter, and the servants snatch away the festal feasts and wreathed wines;
nor where the banquets might migrate,
although countless houses rejoicing have sat above the fields
and the mountain, rich with many a summit, shines: but the pressing clouds were advising us to seek what was nearest,          80
and the assurances of a serenity to return were damaged.
there stood a slender hut, called a temple by the sacred name,
and a small house, with a humble hearth, weighed upon great Alcides,
scarcely capacious to cover wave-wandering sailors
and searchers of the deep.

huc omnis turba coimus, 85
huc epulae ditesque tori coetusque ministrum
stipantur nitidaeque cohors gratissima Pollae.
non cepere fores, angustaque deficit aedes.
erubuit risitque deus dilectaque Polli
corda subit blandisque virum complectitur ulnis., 90

hither all the throng we come together, 85
hither the feasts and rich couches and the gathering of attendants
are packed, and the most welcome cohort of shining Polla.
the doors did not contain them, and the narrow dwelling fails.
the god blushed and smiled, and he enters the hearts beloved of Pollus
and with soothing arms he embraces the man., 90

'tune,' inquit 'largitor opum, qui mente profusa
tecta Dicarchei pariter iuvenemque replesti
Parthenopen? nostro qui tot fastigia monti,
tot virides lucos, tot saxa imitantia vultus
aeraque, tot scripto viventes lumine ceras , 95
fixisti? quid enim ista domus, quid terra, priusquam
te gauderet, erant?

'is it you,' he says 'bestower of wealth, who with a prodigal mind
have filled alike the roofs of Dicarchei and the youthful
Parthenope? who to our mountain have fixed so many gables,
so many green groves, so many stones imitating faces
and bronzes, so many waxes living with written light , 95
have you set? For what indeed were that house, what the land, before
it rejoiced in you?'

longo tu tramite nudos
texisti scopulos, fueratque ubi semita tantum,
nunc tibi distinctis stat porticus alta columnis,
ne sorderet iter. curvi tu litoris ora, 100
clausisti calidas gemina testudine nymphas.
vix opera enumerem; mihi pauper et indigus uni
Pollius?

with a long roadway you have covered the naked
crags, and where there had been only a footpath,
now for you a high portico stands with distinct columns,
lest the way be sordid. the borders of the curved littoral you,
have enclosed the warm Nymphs with a twin vault. 100
I can scarcely enumerate the works; is Pollius for me alone,
poor and in need?

et talis hilaris tamen intro penates
et litus quod pandis, amo. sed proxima sedem
despicit et tacite ridet mea limina Iuno., 105
da templum dignasque tuis conatibus aras,
quas puppes velis nolint transire secundis,
quo Pater aetherius mensisque accita deorum
turba et ab excelso veniat soror hospita templo.
nec te, quod solidus contra riget umbo maligni, 110
montis et immenso non umquam exesus ab aevo,
terreat: ipse adero et conamina tanta iuvabo
asperaque invitae perfringam viscera terrae.

and such, cheerful, nevertheless I enter to the Penates,
and I love the shore which you spread. But Juno, next-door, looks down upon the seat
and silently laughs at my thresholds, Juno., 105
grant a temple and altars worthy of your undertakings,
which ships would not wish to pass even with favorable sails,
where the ethereal Father and the throng of gods summoned to their tables
and the sister-guest may come from her lofty temple.
nor let it frighten you, that the solid boss of the spiteful 110
mountain stands rigid opposite and not ever gnawed by immense age,
I myself will be present and will aid such great endeavors,
and I will break through the rough entrails of the unwilling earth.

incipe et Herculeis fidens hortatibus aude.
non Amphioniae steterint velocius arces, 115
Pergameusve labor.' dixit mentemque reliquit.
Nec mora, cum scripta formatur imagine tela.

begin, and trusting in Herculean exhortations, dare.
not would the Amphionian citadels have stood more swiftly, 115
nor the Pergamean labor.' he said and left my mind.
No delay, when the web is formed with an inscribed image.

innumerae coiere manus: his caedere silvas
et levare trabes, illis immergere curae
fundamenta solo. coquitur pars umida terrae, 120

innumerable hands assembled: to these, to fell the woods
and to lighten the timbers, to those falls the care to sink
the foundations into the soil. a portion of the moist earth is baked, 120

protectura hiemes atque exclusura pruinas,
indomitusque silex curva fornace liquescit.
praecipuus sed enim labor est excindere dextra
oppositas rupes et saxa negantia ferro.
hic pater ipse loci positis Tirynthius armis, 125
insudat validaque solum deforme bipenni,
cum grave nocturna caelum subtexitur umbra,
ipse fodit, ditesque Caprae viridesque resultant
Taurubulae, et terris ingens redit aequoris echo.

that will protect against winters and shut out hoarfrosts,
and untamed flint liquefies in the curved furnace.
but the principal labor indeed is to cut out with the right hand
the opposing cliffs and the stones denying the iron.
here the Tirynthian, the very father of the place, his arms set aside, 125
sweats, and with a sturdy double-axe he works the misshapen soil,
when the sky is veiled with heavy nocturnal shadow,
he himself digs, and rich Caprae and green
Taurubulae resound, and to the lands the vast echo of the sea returns.

non tam grande sonat motis incudibus Aetne , 130
cum Brontes Steropesque ferit, nec maior ab antris
Lemniacis fragor est ubi flammeus aegida caelat
Mulciber et castis exornat Pallada donis.
decrescunt scopuli, et rosea sub luce reversi
artifices mirantur opus. vix annus anhelat, 135
alter, et ingenti dives Tirynthius arce
despectat fluctus et iunctae tecta novercae
provocat et dignis invitat Pallada templis.

not so great a sound is made on Etna with anvils set in motion, 130
when Brontes and Steropes strike; nor is the din greater from the Lemnian caverns,
where fiery Mulciber embosses the aegis and adorns Pallas with chaste gifts.
the crags diminish, and, returned under the rosy light,
the craftsmen marvel at the work. scarcely does a year, a second, draw breath, 135
and the wealthy Tirynthian from a vast citadel looks down upon the waves,
and he challenges the roofs of his father’s consort, the stepmother,
and invites Pallas to temples worthy of her.

iam placidae dant signa tubae, iam fortibus ardens
fumat harena sacris. hos nec Pisaeus honores, 140
Iuppiter aut Cirrhae pater aspernetur opacae.
nil his triste locis; cedat lacrimabilis Isthmos,
cedat atrox Nemee: litat hic felicior infans.

Now the placid trumpets give the signals, now the arena, ardent, smokes with brave sacred rites. Neither Pisaean Jupiter nor the father of shadowy Cirrha will spurn these honors. 140
Nothing is sad in these places; let the tearful Isthmus yield, let grim Nemea yield: here a more fortunate infant makes a favorable offering.

ipsae puniceis virides Nereides antris
exsiliunt ultro, scopulis umentibus haerent, 145
nec pudet occulte nudas spectare palaestras.
spectat et Icario nemorosus palmite Gaurus,
silvaque quae fixam pelago Nesida coronat,
et placidus Limon, omenque Euploea carinis,
et Lucrina Venus, Phrygioque e vertice Graias, 150

the green Nereids themselves leap forth unbidden from Tyrian-red caves
they cling to the dripping rocks, 145
nor are they ashamed, in secret, to watch the nude palaestrae.
leafy Gaurus too, with the Icarius vine-shoot, looks on,
and the wood that crowns Nesida fastened in the sea,
and placid Limon, and Euploea, an omen for ships,
and the Lucrine Venus, and from a Phrygian summit the Greek— 150

addisces, Misene, tubas, ridetque benigna
Parthenope gentile sacrum nudosque virorum
certatus et parva suae simulacra coronae.
    Quin age et ipse libens proprii certaminis actus
invicta dignare manu; seu nubila disco,          155
findere seu volucres Zephyros praecedere telo
seu tibi dulce manu Libycas nodare palaestras,
indulge sacris et, si tibi poma supersunt
Hesperidum, gremio venerabilis ingere Pollae;
nam capit et tantum non degenerabit honorem.,          160
quod si dulce decus viridesque resumeret annos,
(da veniam, Alcide,) fors hic et pensa tulisses.
    Haec ego nascentes laetus bacchatus ad aras
libamenta tuli.

You will learn, Misenus, the trumpets, and kindly Parthenope smiles upon the tribal sacred rite and the nude contests of men, and the small likenesses of her own crown.
    Nay come, do you yourself too, willingly, deign to perform the acts of your own contest with an unconquered hand; whether to cleave the clouds with the discus,          155
or to split and outpace the winged Zephyrs with the spear, or if it is sweet to you with your hand to knot the Libyan palaestras, indulge the rites, and, if apples of the Hesperides remain to you, pile them into the lap of venerable Polla; for she receives it and will almost not fall short of so great an honor.,          160
but if she were to resume her sweet grace and her green years, (grant pardon, Alcides,) perhaps here too you would have borne your tasks.
    These libations I, joyful, Bacchic, brought to the nascent altars.

nunc ipse in limine—cerno
solventem voces et talia dicta ferentem:,          165
'macte animis opibusque meos imitate labores,
qui rigidas rupes infecundaeque pudenda
naturae deserta domas et vertis in usum
lustra habitata feris, foedeque latentia profers
numina. quae tibi nunc meritorum praemia solvam?,          170
quas referam grates? Parcarum fila tenebo
extendamque colus (duram scio vincere Mortem);
avertam luctus et tristia damna vetabo
teque nihil laesum viridi renovabo senecta
concedamque diu iuvenes spectare nepotes,          175
donec et hic sponsae maturus et illa marito,
rursus et ex illis soboles nova grexque protervus
nunc umeris inreptet avi nunc agmine blando
certatim placidae concurrat ad oscula Pollae.

now he himself on the threshold—I discern
unloosing voices and bearing such words:,          165
'Well done in courage and in resources, you who imitate my labors,
you who tame the rigid rocks and the shameful deserts of infertile
nature, and turn to use the lairs inhabited by wild beasts, and bring forth
the numina that lie hidden foully. What rewards of your merits shall I pay you now?,          170
what thanks shall I return? I shall hold the threads of the Fates
and I shall extend the distaffs (I know how to conquer harsh Death);
I shall avert griefs and I shall forbid doleful losses,
and you, harmed in nothing, I will renew with green old age,
and I will grant you to behold your grandsons long as youths,          175
until both this one is mature for a bride and that one for a husband,
and again from them may a new offspring and a saucy brood
now creep onto the grandsire’s shoulders, now with a coaxing throng
run together in rivalry to the kisses of placid Polla.

nam templis numquam statuetur terminus aevi, 180

for no terminus of age will ever be set to the temples, 180

dum me flammigeri portabit machina caeli.
nec mihi plus Nemee priscumque habitabitur Argos
nec Tiburna domus solisque cubilia Gades.'
Sic ait; et tangens surgentem altaribus ignem
populeaque movens albentia tempora silva, 185
et Styga et aetherii iuravit fulmina Patris.

so long as the machine of the flame-bearing heaven will carry me.
nor for me any more will Nemea and ancient Argos be inhabited,
nor the Tiburnan house nor Gades, the bedchambers of the Sun.'
Thus he speaks; and touching the fire rising on the altars,
and shaking his temples white with poplar-wood, 185
he swore by the Styx and by the thunderbolts of the ethereal Father.

II. PROPEMPTICON MAECIO CELERI

2. PROPEMPTICON FOR MAECIUS CELER

     'Di quibus audaces amor est servare carinas,
saevaque ventosi mulcere pericula ponti,
sternite molle fretum placidumque advertite votis
concilium, et lenis non obstrepat unda precanti:
grande tuo rarumque damus, Neptune, profundo,          5
depositum; iuvenis dubio committitur alto
Maecius atque animae partem super aequora nostrae
maiorem transferre parat. proferte benigna
sidera et antemnae gemino considite cornu,
Oebalii fratres; vobis pontusque polusque,          10
luceat; Iliacae longe nimbosa sororis
astra fugate, precor, totoque excludite caelo.
vos quoque caeruleum ponti, Nereides, agmen,
quis honor et regni cessit fortuna secundi,
(dicere quae magni fas sit mihi sidera ponti),          15
surgite de vitreis spumosae Doridos antris
Baianosque sinus et feta tepentibus undis
litora tranquillo certatim ambite natatu,
quaerentes ubi celsa ratis, quam scandere gaudet
nobilis Ausoniae Celer armipotentis alumnus.,          20
nec quaerenda diu; modo nam trans aequora terris
prima Dicarcheis Pharium gravis intulit annum,
prima salutavit Capreas et margine dextro
sparsit Tyrrhenae Mareotica vina Minervae.

     'O gods whose love it is to keep bold keels safe,
and to soothe the savage dangers of the windy sea,
lay the strait smooth and turn a placid council to our vows,
and let the gentle wave not clamor against the suppliant:
we give to your deep, Neptune, a great and rare deposit,          5
a youth is entrusted to the doubtful deep—
Maecius—and he prepares to carry across our seas
the greater part of our soul. Bring forth kindly
stars and take your seat on each twin horn of the yard,
Oebalian brothers; for you let both sea and sky          10
shine; drive far away, I pray, the cloudy stars
of your Iliac sister, and shut them wholly from the sky.
You too, the cerulean host of the sea, Nereids,
to whom the honor and fortune of a secondary realm has fallen
(whom it is lawful for me to call the stars of the great sea),          15
rise from the glassy caverns of foamy Doris
and with tranquil swimming vie to encircle the Baian bays
and the shores teeming with warm waters,
seeking where the lofty ship is, which to mount rejoices
Celer, the noble fosterling of war-mighty Ausonia;          20
nor will she have to be sought long; for just now across the seas to the lands
of Dicarchea she first has brought in the weighty Pharian vintage,
she first saluted Capri and on the right margin
sprinkled the Mareotic wines of Tyrrhenian Minerva.'

huius utrumque latus molli praecingite gyro, 25
partitaeque vices vos stuppea tendite mali
vincula, vos summis adnectite sipara velis,
vos Zephyris aperite sinus; pars transtra reponat,
pars demittat aquis curvae moderamina puppis;
sint quibus exploret primos gravis artemo flatus, 30

gird both its flanks with a soft circuit, 25
and you, with duties divided, stretch the hempen bonds of the mast,
you, fasten the sipara to the topmost sails,
you, open the hollows to the Zephyrs; let one part set the thwarts back,
let another lower into the waters the steering-gear of the curved stern;
let there be those by whom the weighty artemon may test the first breaths,30

quaeque secuturam religent post terga phaselon
uncaque summersae penitus retinacula vellant;
temperet haec aestus pelagusque inclinet ad ortus:
officio careat glaucarum nulla sororum.
hinc multo Proteus geminoque hinc corpore Triton, 35
praenatet, et subitis qui perdidit inguina monstris
Glaucus, adhuc patriis quotiens adlabitur oris
litoream blanda feriens Anthedona cauda.
tu tamen ante omnes diva cum matre, Palaemon,
annue, si vestras amor est mihi pandere Thebas, 40
nec cano degeneri Phoebeum Amphiona plectro.

and those who fasten astern the skiff that is to follow,
and haul on the hooked cables of the deeply submerged anchor;
let this one moderate the tides, and bend the sea toward the east:
let none of the glaucous sisters be wanting in duty.
here manifold Proteus, and there Triton with twofold body, 35
swim before, and Glaucus, who lost his loins to sudden monsters,
Glaucus, whenever he still glides to his fatherland’s shores,
striking littoral Anthedon with his coaxing tail.
you, however, before all, Palaemon, with your goddess-mother,
grant assent, if it is your love that I unfold your Thebes, 40
nor do I sing Phoebean Amphion with a degenerate plectrum.

et pater Aeolio frangit qui carcere ventos,
cui varii flatus omnisque per aequora mundi
spiritus atque hiemes nimbosaque nubila parent,
artius obiecto Borean Eurumque Notumque, 45
monte premat: soli Zephyro sit copia caeli,
solus agat puppes summasque supernatet undas
assiduus pelago; donec tua turbine nullo
laeta Paraetoniis adsignet carbasa ripis.'
Audimur. vocat ipse ratem nautasque morantes, 50
increpat. ecce meum timido iam frigore pectus
labitur et nequeo, quamvis movet ominis horror,
claudere suspensos oculorum in margine fletus.

and the father who breaks the winds in the Aeolian prison,
to whom various breaths and every spirit over the seas of the world,
and winters and nimbous clouds, obey,
let him press more tightly, with a mountain interposed, Boreas and Eurus and Notus, 45
let there be freedom of the sky for Zephyr alone,
let him alone drive the ships and, constant on the sea, swim above the topmost waves;
until, with no whirlwind, he assigns your glad canvases
to the Paraetonian shores.'
We are heard. He himself calls the ship and the lingering sailors, 50
rebukes. Behold, my breast now slips with timid chill,
and I cannot, although the horror of the omen moves me,
close the tears hanging on the margin of my eyes.

iamque ratem terris divisit fune soluto
navita et angustum deiecit in aequora pontem., 55
saevus et e puppi longo clamore magister
dissipat amplexus atque oscula fida revellit,
nec longum cara licet in cervice morari.
attamen in terras e plebe novissimus omni
ibo, nec egrediar nisi iam currente carina., 60

and now the sailor, the rope loosened, has parted the ship from the lands
and has cast down the narrow gangway into the waters., 55
and, savage, from the stern the master with a long shout
scatters embraces and wrenches away faithful kisses,
nor is it permitted to linger long upon a dear neck.
nevertheless onto land, the very last of the whole crowd,
I shall go, nor shall I step out unless the keel is already running., 60

Quis rude et abscissum miseris animantibus aequor
fecit iter, solidaeque pios telluris alumnos
expulit in fluctus pelagoque immisit hianti,
audax ingenii? nec enim temeraria virtus
illa magis, summae gelidum quae Pelion Ossae, 65
iunxit anhelantemque iugis bis pressit Olympum.
usque adeone parum lentas transire paludes
stagnaque et angustos summittere pontibus amnes?

Who made a path through the rough and riven sea for wretched living creatures,
and drove the pious nurslings of solid earth into the waves and let them into the yawning deep,
audacious in ingenuity? for neither was that a more reckless valor,
which joined chilly Pelion to the summit of Ossa, 65
and twice pressed panting Olympus with ridges.
was it then so small a thing to cross sluggish marshes
and pools and to submit narrow rivers with bridges?

imus in abruptum gentilesque undique terras
fugimus exigua clausi trabe et aere nudo., 70
inde furor ventis indignataeque procellae
et caeli fremitus et fulmina plura Tonanti.
ante rates pigro torpebant aequora somno,
nec spumare Thetis nec spargere nubila fluctus
audebant. visis tumuerunt puppibus undae, , 75
inque hominem surrexit hiems.

we go into the abyss, and from our kindred lands on every side
we flee, shut in by a meager beam and with naked bronze., 70
then fury with winds and outraged squalls
and the sky’s rumbling and more bolts for the Thunderer.
before the ships the waters were torpid with sluggish sleep,
nor did Thetis dare to foam nor the waves to scatter clouds
dare. with the ships seen, the waves swelled, , 75
and the storm rose up against man.

tunc nubila Plias
Oleniumque pecus, solito tunc peior Orion.
Iusta queror. fugit ecce vagas ratis acta per undas
paulatim minor et longe servantia vincit
lumina, tot gracili ligno complexa timores, 80
quaeque super reliquos te, nostri pignus amoris
portatura, Celer.

then the cloud-dark Pleiad,
and the Olenian flock, and Orion then worse than his wont.
I justly complain. Behold, the raft, driven through the vagrant waves, flees,
little by little smaller, and it overcomes the eyes that keep watch from far away,
having enfolded so many fears on a slender piece of timber, 80
and which, above the rest, is going to carry you, Celer, the pledge of our love.

quos nunc ego pectore somnos
quosve queam perferre dies? quis cuncta paventi
nuntius an facili te praetermiserit unda
Lucani rabida ora maris, num torta Charybdis, 85
fluctuet aut Siculi populatrix virgo profundi,
quos tibi currenti praeceps gerat Hadria mores,
quae pax Carpathio, quali te subvehat aura
Doris Agenorei furtis blandita iuvenci?
sed merui questus.

what slumbers now can I in my breast,
or what days can I endure? who, to one fearing everything,
as a messenger will tell whether the easy wave has let you pass by
the rabid mouths of the Lucanian sea, whether the twisted Charybdis, 85
is heaving, or the ravaging maiden of the Sicilian deep;
what headlong moods the Hadria (Adriatic) bears for you as you run,
what pax to the Carpathian, by what aura Doris,
coaxed by the thefts of the Agenorean young bull, may bear you up?
but I have merited laments.

quid enim te castra petente, 90

what, indeed, with you seeking the camp, 90

non vel ad ignotos ibam comes impiger Indos
Cimmeriumque chaos? starem prope bellica regis
signa mei, seu tela manu seu frena teneres,
armatis seu iura dares; operumque tuorum
etsi non socius, certe mirator adessem.,          95
si quondam magno Phoenix reverendus Achilli
litus ad Iliacum Thymbraeaque Pergama venit
imbellis tumidoque nihil iuratus Atridae,
cur nobis ignavus amor? sed pectore fido
numquam abero longisque sequar tua carbasa votis.,          100
    Isi, Phoroneis olim stabulata sub antris,
nunc regina Phari numenque Orientis anheli,
excipe multisono puppem Mareotida sistro;
ac iuvenem egregium, Latius cui ductor Eoa
signa Palaestinasque dedit frenare cohortes,          105
ipsa manu placida per limina festa sacrosque
duc portus urbesque tuas.

would I not go as an indefatigable companion even to the unknown Indians,
and to the Cimmerian chaos? I would stand near the warlike standards of my king, whether you held
weapons in hand or the reins, whether you gave laws to the armed; and of your works,
even if not a partner, surely I would be present as an admirer.,          95
if once Phoenix, to-be-revered, came to great Achilles
to the Iliac shore and to Thymbraean Pergama,
unwarlike and sworn to nothing of the puffed-up Atrides,
why is love slothful for us? but with a faithful breast
I will never be absent and I shall follow your sails with long prayers.,          100
    Isis, once stabled beneath the Phoronean caverns,
now queen of Pharos and the numen of the panting East,
receive the Mareotic ship with your many-sounding sistrum;
and the excellent youth, to whom, as a Latin leader, was given to rein in the Eoan
standards and the Palestinian cohorts,          105
with your own gentle hand lead through the festal thresholds and the sacred
harbors and your cities.

te praeside noscat
unde paludosi fecunda licentia Nili,
cur vada desidant et ripa coerceat undas
Cecropio stagnata luto, cur invida Memphis, ,          110
curve Therapnaei lasciviat ora Canopi,
cur servet Pharias Lethaeus ianitor aras,
vilia cur magnos aequent animalia divos;
quae sibi praesternat vivax altaria Phoenix,
quos dignetur agros aut quo se gurgite Nili,          115
mergat adoratus trepidis pastoribus Apis.
duc et ad Emathios manes ubi belliger urbis
conditor Hyblaeo perfusus nectare durat,
anguiferamque domum blando qua mersa veneno
Actias Ausonias fugit Cleopatra catenas.,          120

let it, with you as presider, learn
whence the fertile licence of the marshy Nile,
why the shallows subside and a bank restrains the waves,
stagnated with Cecropian mud, why envious Memphis, ,          110
or why the shore of Therapnaean Canopus frolics,
why the Lethean janitor guards the Pharian altars,
why cheap creatures make equal the great gods;
what altars the long-lived Phoenix should strew for itself,
what fields it deigns, or in what eddy of the Nile,          115
the adored Apis sinks himself, with the shepherds trembling.
and lead also to the Emathian shades, where the warlike founder of the city,
drenched with Hyblaean nectar, endures,
and to the serpent-bearing house where, immersed by the soothing poison,
the Actian Cleopatra fled Ausonian chains.,          120

usque et in Assyrias sedes mandataque castra
prosequere et Marti iuvenem, dea, trade Latino.
nec novus hospes erit: puer his sudavit in arvis
notus adhuc tantum maioris lumine clavi,
iam tamen et turmas facili praevertere gyro,          125
fortis et Eoas iaculo damnare sagittas.
    Ergo erit illa dies, qua te maiora daturus
Caesar ab emerito iubeat discedere bello,
at nos hoc iterum stantes in litore vastos
cernemus fluctus aliasque rogabimus auras.,          130
o tum quantus ego aut quanta votiva movebo
plectra lyra, cum me magna cervice ligatum
attolles umeris atque in mea pectora primum
incumbes e puppe novus, servataque reddes
colloquia inque vicem medios narrabimus annos;,          135
tu rapidum Euphraten et regia Bactra sacrasque
antiquae Babylonis opes et Zeuma, Latinae
pacis iter, qua dulce nemus florentis Idymes,
qua pretiosa Tyros rubeat, qua purpura suco
Sidoniis iterata cadis, ubi germine primum,          140
candida felices sudent opobalsama virgae;
ast ego, devictis dederim quae busta Pelasgis
quaeve laboratas claudat mihi pagina Thebas.

escort even to the Assyrian seats and the assigned camps,
and, goddess, hand over the youth to Latin Mars.
nor will he be a new guest: the boy has sweated in these fields,
known thus far only by the radiance of the greater stripe,
now, however, both to outstrip squadrons with an easy wheel,          125
and, brave, to doom the Eastern arrows with his javelin.
    Therefore there will be that day, on which Caesar, about to grant you greater things,
will bid you depart from the completed campaign,
but we, standing again on this shore, shall behold the vast
waves and shall ask for other breezes.,          130
o then how great I, or what votive plectra I shall move
on the lyre, when you will lift me, bound in a great neck-embrace,
upon your shoulders, and for the first time you, new from the stern,
will lean upon my breast, and you will render back our saved
conversations, and in turn we shall tell the intervening years;,          135
you [will tell of] the swift Euphrates and royal Bactra and the sacred
riches of ancient Babylon, and Zeugma, the route of Latin
peace, where the sweet grove of flowering Idymes,
where precious Tyre grows ruddy, where the purple, with its juice,
is redipped in Sidonian jars, where first, from the shoot,          140
the shining white rods sweat the happy opobalsams;
but I, I shall have told what burial-mounds I gave to the conquered Pelasgians,
and what page may close for me the toilsome Thebes.

III. CONSOLATIO AD CLAVDIVM ETRVSCVM

3. CONSOLATION TO CLAUDIUS ETRUSCUS

     Summa deum, Pietas, cuius gratissima caelo,
rara profanatas inspectant numina terras,
huc vittata comam niveoque insignis amictu,
qualis adhuc praesens nullaque expulsa nocentum
fraude rudes populos atque aurea regna colebas,          5
mitibus exsequiis ades et lugentis Etrusci
cerne pios fletus laudataque lumina terge.
nam quis inexpleto rumpentem pectora questu
complexumque rogos incumbentemque favillis
aspiciens non aut primaevae funera plangi,          10
coniugis aut nati modo pubescentia credat
ora rapi flammis? pater est qui fletur.

     Piety, highest of the gods, whose favor is most welcome to heaven,
the divinities rarely gaze upon profaned lands,
come hither, with hair bound with a fillet and distinguished by a snowy mantle,
such as you once, present and not yet driven out by any deceit of the guilty,
were tending the rude peoples and the golden kingdoms,          5
be present to the gentle obsequies and behold the pious tears of the mourning Etruscus,
and wipe his celebrated eyes. For who, seeing him bursting his breast with an insatiate lament,
and clasping the pyres and leaning upon the ashes,
would not think either the funerals of a very youthful spouse are being lamented,
or that the just-now pubescent features of a son are being snatched by the flames?          10
It is a father who is wept.

adeste
dique hominesque sacris. procul hinc, procul ite nocentes,
si cui corde nefas tacitum fessique senectus
longa patris, si quis pulsatae conscius umquam, 15
matris et inferna rigidum timet Aeacon urna:
insontes castosque voco. tenet ecce seniles
leniter implicitos vultus sanctamque parentis
canitiem spargit lacrimis animaeque supremum
frigus amat; celeres genitoris filius annos, 20
(mira fides!) nigrasque putat properasse sorores.

be present
both gods and men to the sacred rites. Far from here, far go, you guilty ones,
if anyone has in his heart a silent nefarious wrong, and if the long
senectude of a father has wearied him; if anyone ever conscious of a struck 15
mother, and he fears rigid Aeacus of the infernal urn:
I call the innocent and the chaste. Behold, he holds the aged
features gently entwined, and sprinkles with tears the holy
grayness of his parent, and he loves the last chill of the soul;
the son deems the swift years of his begetter, 20
(marvelous to believe!) and thinks the black sisters have hastened.

Exsultent placidi Lethaea ad flumina manes,
Elysiae gaudete domus, date serta per aras,
festaque pallentes hilarent altaria lucos.
felix a!, nimium felix plorataque nato, 25
umbra venit. longe Furiarum sibila, longe
tergeminus custos, penitus via longa patescat
manibus egregiis.

Let the placid shades exult by the Lethean rivers,
Elysian homes, rejoice; give garlands upon the altars,
and let the festal altars gladden the pallid groves.
happy—ah!, too happy, and wept by her son, 25
the shade comes. far away the hisses of the Furies, far away
the threefold guardian; deep within let the long road lie open
for the distinguished Manes.

eat horrendumque silentis
accedat domini solium, gratesque supremas
perferat, et totidem iuveni roget anxius annos., 30

let him go and let him accede to the horrendous throne of the silent lord, and bear supreme thanks, and anxiously ask just as many years for the youth., 30

Macte pio gemitu! dabimus solacia dignis
luctibus Aoniasque tuo sacrabimus ultro
inferias, Etrusce, seni! tu largus Eoa
germina, tu messes Cilicumque Arabumque superbas
merge rogis; ferat ignis opes heredis et alto, 35
aggere missuri nitido pia nubila caelo
stipentur cineres: nos non arsura feremus
munera, venturosque tuus durabit in annos
me monstrante dolor.

Be honored for your pious groan! we shall give solaces to worthy griefs and we shall of our own accord consecrate Aonian inferiae to you, Etruscan, old man! you, lavish, plunge Eastern shoots, you the proud harvests of the Cilicians and the Arabs, into the pyres; let the fire carry the heir’s wealth as well, and with a high, 35
mound about to send pious clouds toward the shining sky
let the ashes be packed: we shall bring gifts not destined to burn,
and your grief will endure into the years to come,
I showing the way.

neque enim mihi flere parentem
ignotum; similis gemui proiectus ad ignem.,          40
ille mihi tua damna dies compescere cantu
suadet: et ipse tuli quos nunc tibi confero questus.
    Non tibi clara quidem, senior placidissime, gentis
linea nec proavis demissum stemma, sed ingens
supplevit fortuna genus culpamque parentum,          45
occuluit. nec enim dominos de plebe tulisti,
sed quibus occasus pariter famulantur et ortus.

nor indeed is it unknown to me to weep for a parent;
I groaned in like manner, cast down by the fire.,          40
that day urges me to check your losses with song:
and I too have borne the complaints which I now proffer to you.
    Not for you, most placid elder, indeed a bright line of race
nor a pedigree transmitted from forefathers, but mighty Fortune
supplied the stock and hid the fault of parents,          45
for you did not bear lords from the plebs,
but those to whom settings and risings alike are in service.

nec pudor iste tibi: quid enim terrisque poloque
parendi sine lege manet? vice cuncta reguntur
alternisque premunt. propriis sub regibus omnis, 50
terra; premit felix regum diademata Roma;
hanc ducibus frenare datum; mox crescit in illos
imperium superis.

nor is that a shame to you: for what, on earth and in the sky, of obeying remains without law?
by vicissitude all things are governed, and they press by alternations. under their own kings, every, 50
land; happy Rome presses the diadems of kings; to bridle her has been granted to leaders; presently imperial power, from the supernal gods, grows over them.

sed habent et numina legem:
servit et astrorum velox chorus et vaga servit
luna, nec iniussae totiens redit orbita luci.,          55
et (modo si fas est aequare iacentia summis)
pertulit et saevi Tirynthius horrida regis
pacta, nec erubuit famulantis fistula Phoebi.
    Sed neque barbaricis Latio transmissus ab oris:
Smyrna tibi gentile solum potusque verendo,          60

but the divine powers too have a law:
the swift chorus of the stars serves, and the wandering moon serves, nor does the orbit of light so often return unbidden.,          55
and (provided that it is lawful to equal the lowly with the highest)
the Tirynthian too endured the horrid terms of a savage king,
nor did the pipe of a serving Phoebus blush.
    But neither sent across to Latium from barbarian shores:
Smyrna is your native soil, and a draught from the revered source,          60

fonte Meles Hermique vadum, quo Lydius intrat
Bacchus et aurato reficit sua cornua limo.
laeta dehinc series variisque ex ordine curis
auctus honos; semperque gradi prope numina, semper
Caesareum coluisse latus sacrisque deorum,          65
arcanis haerere datum. Tibereia primum
aula tibi vixdum ora nova mutante iuventa
panditur (hic annis multa super indole victis
libertas oblata venit) nec proximus heres,
immitis quamquam et Furiis agitatus, abegit.,          70
hinc et in Arctoas tenuis comes usque pruinas
terribilem affatu passus visuque tyrannum
immanemque suis, ut qui metuenda ferarum
corda domant mersasque iubent iam sanguine tacto
reddere ab ore manus et nulla vivere praeda.,          75
praecipuos sed enim merito surrexit in actus
nondum stelligerum senior dimissus in axem
Claudius et longo transmittit habere nepoti.

the spring of Meles and the ford of the Hermus, where the Lydian Bacchus enters
and renews his horns with gilded mud.
thereafter a glad sequence and, with various cares in order,
augmented honor; and ever to step near the numina, ever
to have cherished the Caesarean side and to cling to the gods’ sacred arcana 65
was granted. First the Tiberian court
is opened to you, with youth scarcely yet altering your fresh face;
(here, with years—many, over and above your native disposition—conquered,
freedom, once proffered, came) nor did the next heir,
though cruel and driven by the Furies, drive you away.70
thence too, a humble companion all the way into Arctic frosts,
having endured a tyrant terrible to hear and to behold, and monstrous to his own,
like those who tame the hearts of fearsome beasts
and bid, once the mouth has been touched with blood, to give back the hands
already plunged, and to live with no prey.75
but indeed, and deservedly, he rose to preeminent deeds—
Claudius, not yet an elder dismissed to the star-bearing axis—
and he transmits the possession to a far-descended grandson.

quis superos metuens pariter tot templa, tot aras
promeruisse datur? summi Iovis aliger Arcas, 80
nuntius; imbrifera potitur Thaumantide Iuno;
stat celer obsequio iussa ad Neptunia Triton:
tu totiens mutata ducum iuga rite tulisti
integer, inque omni felix tua cumba profundo.
Iamque piam lux alta domum praecelsaque toto, 85
intravit Fortuna gradu; iam creditur uni
sanctarum digestus opum partaeque per omnis
divitiae populos magnique impendia mundi.

who, fearing the gods above alike, is granted to have merited so many temples, so many altars?
the Arcadian wing-bearer of highest Jove, the messenger; 80
Juno commands the rain-bearing Thaumantid;
Triton stands swift in obedience at the Neptunian commands:
you so often have duly borne the changed yokes of leaders unscathed, and your skiff is fortunate on every deep.
And now the high light has entered the pious house, and Fortune, towering, has entered with full stride; 85
now it is believed that to one are allotted the sacred stores of wealth, and riches acquired for all peoples, and the expenditures of the great world.

quicquid ab auriferis eiectat Hiberia fossis,
Dalmatico quod monte nitet, quod messibus Afris, 90

whatever Iberia casts out from her gold-bearing mines,
what shines from the Dalmatian mountain, what from African harvests, 90

verritur, aestiferi quicquid terit area Nili,
quodque legit mersus pelagi scrutator Eoi,
et Lacedaemonii pecuaria culta Galesi
perspicuaeque nives Massylaque robora et Indi
dentis honos: uni parent commissa ministro,          95
quae Boreas quaeque Eurus atrox, quae nubilus Auster
invehit: hibernos citius numeraveris imbres
silvarumque comas. vigil iste animique sagacis
et citus evolvit quantum Romana sub omni
pila die quantumque tribus, quid templa, quid alti,          100
undarum cursus, quid propugnacula poscant
aequoris aut longe series porrecta viarum;
quod domini celsis niteat laquearibus aurum,
quae divum in vultus igni formanda liquescat
massa, quid Ausoniae scriptum crepet igne Monetae.,          105
    Hinc tibi rara quies animoque exclusa voluptas,
exiguaeque dapes et numquam laesa profundo
cura mero; sed iura tamen genialia cordi
et mentem vincire toris ac iungere festa
conubia et fidos domino genuisse clientes.,          110
quis sublime genus formamque insignis Etruscae
nesciat? haudquaquam proprio mihi cognita visu,
sed decus eximium famae par reddit imago,
et sibimet similis natorum gratia monstrat.

is swept together, whatever the threshing-floor of the heat-bearing Nile wears down,
and what the diver, searcher of the Eastern sea, gathers,
and the pastoral tilths of Lacedaemonian Galesus,
and the limpid snows (crystal) and the Massylian oaks, and the honor of the Indian tooth;
to one single minister the entrusted things obey,          95
what Boreas, and what grim Eurus, and what the cloud-bringing Auster
brings in: you would more quickly count the winter rains
and the leaves of the woods. That wakeful, keen-souled, and swift man
unrolls how much under every Roman toll-pillar in a day,
and how much under the tribes; what the temples, what the high          100
running of the waves, what the bastions of the level sea may require,
or the far-extended series of roads;
what gold may shine on the master’s lofty coffered ceilings,
what mass should melt by fire to be formed into the faces of the gods,
what, inscribed, the Mint of Ausonia should make rattle with fire.,          105
    Hence for you rare rest and pleasure shut out from your spirit,
meager banquets and care never wounded by deep draughts of unmixed wine;
but nevertheless nuptial rights are at your heart,
and to bind your mind to the marriage-beds and to join festal
wedlocks, and to have begotten faithful clients for your lord.,          110
who does not know the lofty lineage and the form of the distinguished Etruscan lady?
By no means known to me by my own sight,
but an image renders a surpassing glory equal to her fame,
and the grace of the children shows one like herself.

nec vulgare genus; fasces summamque curulem, 115
frater et Ausonios enses mandataque fidus
signa tulit, cum prima truces amentia Dacos
impulit et magno gens est damnata triumpho.
sic quicquid patrio cessatum a sanguine, mater
reddidit, obscurumque latus clarescere vidit, 120

nor a common lineage; the fasces and the highest curule authority, 115
her brother too bore the Ausonian swords and, faithful, the entrusted
standards, when first madness drove the fierce Dacians
and the nation was condemned to a great triumph.
thus whatever was lacking from the paternal blood, the mother
paid back, and she saw the obscure branch grow bright, 120

conubio gavisa domus. nec pignora longe;
quippe bis ad partus venit Lucina manuque
ipsa levi gravidos tetigit fecunda labores.
felix a! si longa dies, si cernere vultus
natorum viridisque genas tibi iusta dedissent, 125
stamina.

the house rejoiced in the connubial bond. nor were the pledges far off;
indeed twice did Lucina come to the births, and with her own light hand
the fruitful goddess herself touched the burdened labors.
happy—ah! if a long day, if to behold the faces
of your sons and their fresh-green cheeks the due threads had granted you, 125
threads.

sed media cecidere abrupta iuventa
gaudia, florentesque manu scidit Atropos annos;
qualia pallentes declinant lilia culmos
pubentesque rosae primos moriuntur ad austros,
aut ubi verna novis exspirat purpura pratis.,          130
illa, sagittiferi, circumvolitastis, Amores,
funera maternoque rogos unxistis amomo;
nec modus aut pennis laceris aut crinibus ignem
spargere, collectaeque pyram struxere pharetrae.
quas tunc inferias aut quae lamenta dedisses ,          135
maternis, Etrusce, rogis, qui funera patris
haud matura putas atque hos pius ingemis annos!
    Illum et qui nutu superas nunc temperat arces,
progeniem claram terris partitus et astris,
laetus Idymaei donavit honore triumphi,          140
dignatusque loco victricis et ordine pompae
non vetuit, tenuesque nihil minuere parentes.

but in mid-youth the joys fell, broken off,
and Atropos tore the blossoming years with her hand;
just as pale lilies bend down their stalks
and downy roses die at the first south winds,
or when vernal purple breathes out on new meadows.,          130
you, arrow-bearing Loves, fluttered around that one,
and you anointed the funerals and pyres with maternal amomum;
nor was there measure, either with torn wings or hair, to scatter
the fire, and gathered quivers built the pyre.
what inferiae then or what laments would you have given ,          135
to the maternal pyres, Etruscus, you who deem your father’s
funeral not timely and piously groan over these years!
    Him too the one who now with a nod governs the heights above,
having allotted illustrious offspring to lands and to stars,
gladly he endowed with the Idymaean honor of triumph,          140
and, deeming worthy of the place of the victress and the order of the pomp,
he did not forbid, and the tenuous parents diminished nothing.

atque idem in cuneos populo deduxit equestres
mutavitque genus laevaeque ignobile ferrum
exuit et celso natorum aequavit honorem., 145
dextra bis octonis fluxerunt saecula lustris,
atque aevi sine nube tenor. quam dives in usus
natorum totoque volens excedere censu,
testis adhuc largi nitor inde assuetus Etrusci,
cui tua non humilis dedit indulgentia mores:, 150

and likewise he led out into wedges for the people the equestrian [ranks],
and he changed his kind and stripped off the ignoble iron of the left hand,
and matched the lofty honor of his sons., 145
with the right hand the ages flowed for twice eight lustrums,
and the tenor of a life without cloud. how rich for the uses
of his sons and willing to go beyond his whole census,
witness even now is the accustomed sheen from there of the lavish Etruscus,
to whom your not-humble indulgence gave manners:, 150

hunc siquidem amplexu semper revocante tenebas
blandus et imperio numquam pater; huius honori
pronior ipse etiam gaudebat cedere frater.
    Quas tibi devoti iuvenes pro patre renato,
summe ducum, grates, aut quae pia vota rependunt!,          155
tu (seu tarda situ rebusque exhausta senectus
erravit, seu blanda diu Fortuna regressum
maluit) attonitum et venturi fulminis ictus
horrentem tonitru tantum lenique procella
contentus monuisse senem; cumque horrida supra,          160
aequora curarum socius procul Itala rura
linqueret, hic molles Campani litoris oras
et Diomedeas concedere iussus in arces,
atque hospes, non exsul, erat. nec longa moratus
Romuleum reseras iterum, Germanice, limen,          165
maerentemque foves inclinatosque penates
erigis.

This one indeed you held, with an embrace always calling him back, kindly and never a father by command; to this one’s honor his brother himself too rejoiced to yield.
What thanks to you do the devoted young men, for a father reborn, O highest of leaders, or what dutiful vows repay!, 155
you—whether slow old age, worn out by circumstances and decay, went astray, or kindly-for-long Fortune preferred his return—content to have only warned with thunder and a gentle squall the old man, thunderstruck and shuddering at the blows of the coming lightning;
and when, with grim seas above, a companion of cares, he was leaving far off the Italian fields,here he was ordered to withdraw to the soft shores of the Campanian coast and to the Diomedean citadels,
and he was a guest, not an exile. Nor long delaying do you unbar again, Germanicus, the Romulean threshold, 165
and you cherish the mourning household and you raise up the bowed Penates.

haut mirum, ductor placidissime, quando
haec est quae victis parcentia foedera Cattis
quaeque suum Dacis donat clementia montem,
quae modo Marcomanos post horrida bella vagosque ,          170
Sauromatas Latio non est dignata triumpho.
    Iamque in fine dies, et inexorabile pensum
deficit. hic maesti pietas me poscit Etrusci
qualia nec Siculae moderantur carmina rupes
nec fati iam certus olor saevique marita,          175
Tereos.

not at all a wonder, most placid leader, since
this is the clemency which grants sparing treaties to the conquered Chatti,
and whose clemency gives to the Dacians their own mountain,
which but now, after horrid wars, did not deign the Marcomanni and the wandering ,          170
Sarmatians to a triumph at Latium.
    And now the day is at its end, and the inexorable task
fails. Here the pietas of the sorrowful Etruscan demands of me
songs such as neither the Sicilian cliffs modulate,
nor the swan now certain of his fate, nor the wife of savage,          175
Tereus.

heu quantis lassantem brachia vidi
planctibus et prono fusum super oscula vultu!
vix famuli comitesque tenent, vix arduus ignis
summovet. haud aliter gemuit periuria Theseus
litore, qui falsis deceperat Aegea velis., 180

alas, with how great beatings I saw him wearying his arms
and, with face prone, sprawled over the lips!
scarcely do the servants and comrades hold him, scarcely does the lofty fire
drive him back. Not otherwise did perjurious Theseus groan
on the shore, who had deceived Aegeus with false sails., 180

tunc immane gemens foedatusque ora tepentes
affatur cineres: 'cur nos, fidissime, linquis
Fortuna redeunte, pater? modo numina magni
praesidis atque breves superum placavimus iras,
nec frueris; tantique orbatus muneris usu, 185
ad manes, ingrate, fugis. nec flectere Parcas
aut placare malae datur aspera numina Lethes?

then, groaning immensely and with his warm features defiled,
he addresses the ashes: 'why do you, most faithful one, leave us,
with Fortune returning, father? only now the numina of the great
governor and the brief wraths of the gods above we appeased,
and you do not enjoy it; deprived of the use of so great a gift, 185
to the shades, ungrateful one, you flee. nor is it granted to bend the Parcae
or to placate the harsh numina of baleful Lethe?'

felix, cui magna patrem cervice vehenti
sacra Mycenaeae patuit reverentia flammae,
quique tener saevis genitorem Scipio Poenis, 190
abstulit, et Lydi pietas temeraria Lausi.
ergo et Thessalici coniunx pensare mariti
funus et immitem potuit Styga vincere supplex
Thracius? hoc quanto melius pro patre liceret!

fortunate he, to whom, as he bore his father upon his great neck,
the sacred reverence of the Mycenaean flame stood revealed,
and the tender Scipio who snatched his begetter from the savage Punics, 190
and the temerarious piety of Lydian Lausus.
therefore even the Thessalian wife could compensate for her husband’s
death, and could the Thracian suppliant overcome the immitigable Styx?
how much better if this were permitted on behalf of a father!

non totus rapiere tamen, nec funera mittam,          195
longius; hic manes, hic intra tecta tenebo:
tu custos dominusque laris, tibi cuncta tuorum
parebunt; ego rite minor semperque secundus
assiduas libabo dapes et pocula sacris
manibus effigiesque colam: te lucida saxa,          200
te similem doctae referet mihi linea cerae;
nunc ebur et fulvum vultus imitabitur aurum.
inde viam morum longaeque examina vitae
adfatusque pios monituraque somnia poscam.'
    Talia dicentem genitor dulcedine laeta,          205
audit, et immites lente descendit ad umbras
verbaque dilectae fert narraturus Etruscae.
    Salve supremum, senior mitissime patrum,
supremumque vale, qui numquam sospite nato
triste chaos maestique situs patiere sepulcri.,          210

yet you will not be snatched away whole, nor will I send the funeral rites          195
farther; here I will hold your shades, here within the house:
you the guardian and lord of the hearth, to you all of your household
will obey; I, duly the junior and ever the second,
will libate continual banquets and cups to the sacred Manes
and will honor the effigies: you to me the shining stones,          200
you the likeness the skillful line of wax will render;
now ivory and tawny gold will imitate your face.
thence I shall ask for the path of morals and the touchstones of a long life
and pious addresses and dreams that give admonition.'
    As he says such things, the father, with gladsome sweetness,          205
hears, and slowly descends to the pitiless shades
and bears the words to tell to his beloved Etruscan woman.
    Hail for the last time, most gentle elder of fathers,
and for the last time farewell, you who, with your son safe,
will never suffer the sad chaos and the mournful condition of the sepulcher.,          210

semper odoratis spirabunt floribus arae,
semper et Assyrios felix bibet urna liquores
et lacrimas, qui maior honos. hic sacra litabit
manibus eque tua tumulum tellure levabit.
nostra quoque exemplo meritus tibi carmina sancit, 215
hoc etiam gaudens cinerem donasse sepulcro.

the altars will always breathe with fragrant flowers,
and always too the happy urn will drink Assyrian liquors
and tears, which is the greater honor. Here he will offer sacred rites
to the Manes, and from your earth he will raise the tumulus.
our song also, by example, consecrates for you the verses you have merited, 215
rejoicing even in this, to have bestowed the ash upon the sepulcher.

IV. CAPILLI FLAVI EARINI

4. BLOND HAIR OF EARINUS

     Ite, comae, facilemque precor transcurrite pontum,
ite coronato recubantes molliter auro;
ite, dabit cursus mitis Cytherea secundos
placabitque notos, fors et de puppe timenda
transferet inque sua ducet super aequora concha.,          5
    Accipe laudatos, iuvenis Phoebeie, crines
quos tibi Caesareus donat puer, accipe laetus
intonsoque ostende patri. sine dulce nitentes
comparet atque diu fratris putet esse Lyaei.
forsan et ipse comae numquam labentis honorem,          10
praemetet atque alio clusum tibi ponet in auro.

     Go, locks, and I pray, run across the easy sea,
go, reclining softly, crowned with gold;
go, Cytherea will grant gentle courses favorable and will appease the Noti, perchance too from the feared stern
she will transfer you and lead you upon her own waters in her shell.,          5
    Receive the praised tresses, Phoebeian youth,
which the Caesarean boy gives to you; receive them gladly
and show them to your unshorn father. Allow him sweetly, as they shine,
to compare them and for a long time to think them to be of his brother Lyaeus.
perhaps he himself too the honor of hair never-slipping,10
will pre-harvest and set it for you, enclosed in a different gold.

    Pergame, pinifera multum felicior Ida,
illa licet sacrae placeat sibi nube rapinae
(nempe dedit superis illum quem turbida semper
Iuno videt refugitque manum nectarque recusat),          15
at tu grata deis pulchroque insignis alumno
misisti Latio, placida quem fronte ministrum
Iuppiter Ausonius pariter Romanaque Iuno
aspiciunt et uterque probant. nec tanta potenti
terrarum domino divum sine mente voluptas.,          20
    Dicitur Idalios Erycis de vertice lucos
dum petit et molles agitat Venus aurea cygnos,
Pergameas intrasse domos ubi maximus aegris
auxiliator adest et festinantia sistens
fata salutifero mitis deus incubat angui.,          25
hic puerum egregiae praeclarum sidere formae
ipsius ante dei ludentem conspicit aras.
ac primum subita paulum decepta figura
natorum de plebe putat; sed non erat illi
arcus et ex umeris nullae fulgentibus umbrae.,          30

    Pergamum, far happier than pine-bearing Ida,
although that one may please itself with the sacred abduction in a cloud
(indeed it gave to the gods him whom ever-troubled
Juno sees and shrinks from his hand and refuses the nectar),          15
but you, welcome to the gods and distinguished by a fair fosterling,
have sent him to Latium, whom as a minister with placid brow
Ausonian Jupiter and Roman Juno alike
behold and both approve. Nor is so great a pleasure
to the mighty lord of lands without the mind of the gods.,          20
    It is said that, while from the height of Eryx she seeks the Idalian groves
and golden Venus urges on her soft swans,
she entered the Pergamene houses, where the greatest helper
for the sick is present, and, staying hastening fates,
the gentle god reclines with a health-bringing serpent.,          25
here she beholds a boy, outstanding, illustrious with a starry beauty,
playing before the altars of the god himself.
and at first, somewhat deceived by the sudden appearance,
she thinks him of the common rank of her sons; but he had not
a bow, and from his gleaming shoulders there were no shadows.,          30

miratur puerile decus, vultumque comasque
aspiciens 'tune Ausonias' ait 'ibis ad arces,
neglectus Veneri? tu sordida tecta iugumque
servitii vulgare feres? procul absit: ego isti
quem meruit formae dominum dabo.

marvels at the boyish grace, and the countenance and the locks
gazing, 'will you go to the Ausonian citadels,
neglected by Venus? you will bear sordid roofs and the yoke
of vulgar servitude? far be it: i to that one
will give the lord whom his beauty has merited.

vade age mecum, 35
vade, puer: ducam volucri per sidera curru
donum immane duci; nec te plebeia manebunt
iura: Palatino famulus deberis amori.
nil ego, nil, fateor, toto tam dulce sub orbe
aut vidi aut genui. cedet tibi Latmius ultro, 40
Sangariusque puer, quemque irrita fontis imago
et sterilis consumpsit amor.

come now with me, 35
come, boy: I will lead you through the stars by a winged chariot
as an immense gift to the leader; nor will plebeian laws await you:
to Palatine love you are owed as a servant.
nothing I, nothing, I confess, beneath the whole orb so sweet
have I either seen or begotten. the Latmian will yield to you of his own accord, 40
and the Sangarian boy, and him whom the vain image of a fountain
and sterile love consumed.

te caerula Nais
mallet et adprensa traxisset fortius urna.
tu puer ante omnis; solus formosior ille
cui daberis.' sic orsa leves secum ipsa per auras, 45
tollit olorinaque iubet considere biga.
nec mora.

the cerulean Naiad would prefer you, and, with her urn grasped, would have dragged you more forcefully.
you, boy, before all; the only one more handsome is he to whom you will be given.' thus begun, she takes him up with herself through the light airs, 45
she lifts and bids him take his seat in the swan-drawn two-horse chariot.
no delay.

iam Latii montes veterisque penates
Evandri, quos mole nova pater inclitus orbis
excolit et summis aequat Germanicus astris.
tunc propior iam cura deae, quae forma capillis, 50
optima, quae vestis roseos accendere vultus
apta, quod in digitis, collo quod dignius aurum.
norat caelestis oculos ducis ipsaque taedas
iunxerat et plena dederat conubia dextra.

now the mountains of Latium and the ancient Penates of Evander,
which the Germanicus, the illustrious father of the world, adorns with a new structure
and matches to the highest stars. then nearer now was the goddess’s care: what fashion for the hair, 50
best, what garment apt to kindle the rosy looks,
what on the fingers, what gold more worthy for the neck.
the celestial one knew the leader’s eyes and she herself had yoked the torches
and had bestowed the nuptials with a full right hand.

sic ornat crines, Tyrios sic fundit amictus, 55
dat radios ignemque suum. cessere priores
deliciae famulumque greges; hic pocula magno
prima duci murrasque graves crystallaque portat
candidiore manu: crescit nova gratia Baccho.
Care puer superis, qui praelibare verendum, 60

thus she adorns his tresses, thus she pours forth Tyrian garments, 55
she gives rays and her own fire. the former darlings and servant throngs have yielded;
this one bears to the great leader the first cups, and heavy murrhine-vessels and crystals,
with a whiter hand: a new grace grows for Bacchus.
Dear boy to the gods above, you who sip beforehand what is to be revered, 60

nectar et ingentem totiens contingere dextram
electus quam nosse Getae, quam tangere Persae
Armeniique Indique petunt! o sidere dextro
edite, multa tibi divum indulgentia favit.
olim etiam, ne prima genas lanugo nitentes, 65
carperet et pulchrae fuscaret gratia formae,
ipse deus patriae celsam trans aequora liquit
Pergamon.

chosen to touch the nectar and that enormous right hand so often,
which the Getae seek to know, which the Persians
and the Armenians and the Indians seek to touch! O you born under a propitious star,
much indulgence of the gods has favored you.
once even, lest the first down should pluck at your shining cheeks, 65
and dim the grace of your beautiful form,
the god himself left across the seas the lofty Pergamum of his fatherland.
Pergamum.

haud ulli puerum mollire potestas
credita, sed tacita iuvenis Phoebeius arte
leniter haud ullo concussum vulnere corpus, 70
de sexu transire iubet. tamen anxia curis
mordetur puerique timet Cytherea dolores.
nondum pulchra ducis clementia coeperat ortu
intactos servare mares; nunc frangere sexum
atque hominem mutare nefas, gavisaque solos, 75
quos genuit natura videt, nec lege sinistra
ferre timent famulae natorum pondera matres.

no power to mollify the boy was entrusted to anyone,
but by a silent art the Phoebeian youth
bids the body, gently, shaken by no wound, 70
to pass over from its sex. nevertheless, anxious with cares,
Cytherea is gnawed and fears the boy’s pains.
not yet had the fair clemency of the leader at its rise begun
to preserve males untouched; now to break sex
and to change a human being is impious, and rejoicing she sees only those, 75
whom Nature begot, nor by a sinister law do handmaid-mothers fear
to bear the burdens of offspring.

    Tu quoque nunc, iuvenis, genitus si tardius esses,
umbratusque genas et adultos fortior artus
non unum gaudens Phoebea ad limina munus,          80
misisses; patrias nunc solus crinis ad oras
naviget. hunc multo Paphie saturabat amomo,
hunc nova tergemina pectebat Gratia dextra.
huic et purpurei cedet coma saucia Nisi,
et quam Sperchio tumidus servabat Achilles.,          85
ipsi, cum primum niveam praecerpere frontem
decretum est umerosque manu nudare nitentes,
adcurrunt teneri Paphia cum matre volucres
expediuntque comas et serica pectore ponunt
pallia.

    You too now, young man, if you had been begotten later,
and with shaded cheeks and stronger, grown limbs,
rejoicing, you would have sent not one gift to the Phoebean thresholds;          80
now let the native lock alone sail to your fatherland’s shores.
Him the Paphian was sating with much amomum,
him the threefold Grace with a fresh right hand was combing.
To him even the wounded purple lock of Nisos will yield,
and that which swollen Achilles kept for the Spercheus.,          85
to him, when first it was decreed to crop the snowy forehead
and with the hand to bare the shining shoulders,
the tender winged ones run up with their Paphian mother
and they set free the locks and place silken mantles on the chest.
pallia.

tunc iunctis crinem incidere sagittis, 90

then with joined arrows to cut the hair, 90

atque auro gemmisque locant; rapit ipsa cadentem
mater et arcanos iterat Cytherea liquores.
tunc puer e turba, manibus qui forte supinis
nobile gemmato speculum portaverat auro,
'hoc quoque demus' ait 'patriis (nec gratius ullum, 95
munus erit) templis, ipsoque potentius auro.
tu modo fige aciem et vultus hic usque relinque.'
sic ait et speculum reclusit imagine rapta.

and they set it with gold and gems; the mother herself snatches it as it falls,
and Cytherea renews the arcane liquors. Then a boy from the crowd, who by chance with upturned hands
had carried a noble mirror in gem-studded gold,
'submit this too,' he says, 'to our ancestral temples (nor will any gift be more grateful, 95
a gift it will be), and more potent than the gold itself.
only fix your gaze and leave your looks here forever.'
Thus he speaks and opened the mirror, the image having been snatched.

    At puer egregius tendens ad sidera palmas,
'his mihi pro donis, hominum mitissime custos,          100
si merui, longa dominum renovare iuventa
atque orbi servare velis! hoc sidera mecum,
hoc undae terraeque rogant. eat, oro, per annos
Iliacos Pyliosque simul, propriosque penates
gaudeat et secum Tarpeia senescere templa.',          105
sic ait et motas miratur Pergamos aras.

    But the outstanding boy, stretching his palms to the stars,
'for these gifts to me, most gentle guardian of men,          100
if I have deserved it, may you be willing to renew the lord with long youth
and to preserve him for the orb! this the stars with me,
this the waves and the lands ask. let him go, I beg, through Trojan
and Pylian years together, and let him rejoice in his own Penates
and that the Tarpeian temples grow old along with him.',          105
thus he speaks and marvels at the Pergamene altars set in motion.

Quid mihi maesta die, sociis quid noctibus, uxor,
anxia pervigili ducis suspiria cura?
non metuo ne laesa fides aut pectore in isto
alter amor; nullis in te datur ire sagittis
(audiat infesto licet hoc Rhamnusia vultu), 5
non datur. et si egomet patrio de litore raptus
quattuor emeritis per bella, per aequora lustris
errarem, tu mille procos intacta fugares,
non intersectas commenta retexere telas,
sed sine fraude palam, thalamosque armata negasses.

Why, my wife, sad by day, and on companioned nights, does your anxious care lead forth sighs in sleepless vigil?
I do not fear lest injured faith or in that breast another love; against you it is granted for no arrows to go
(let Rhamnusia hear this with hostile countenance), 5
it is not granted. And even if I myself, snatched from my paternal shore,
with four lustrums earned through wars, through the seas, should wander,
you, untouched, would put to flight a thousand suitors,
not by unweaving contrived, cross-threaded webs,
but without fraud, openly, and armed you would have denied the marriage chambers.

, 10
dic tamen, unde alta mihi fronte et nubila vultus?
anne quod Euboicos fessus remeare penates
auguror et patria senium componere terra?
cur hoc triste tibi?

, 10
yet tell me, whence for me the lofty brow and clouded countenance?
or is it that, weary, I augur a return to the Euboean Penates
and to compose my old age in my native land?
why is this sad to you?

certe lascivia corde
nulla nec aut rapidi mulcent te proelia Circi, 15
aut intrat sensus clamosi turba theatri;
sed probitas et opaca quies et sordida numquam
gaudia. quas autem comitem te rapto per undas?
quamquam, et si gelidas irem mansurus ad Arctos
vel super Hesperiae vada caligantia Thyles, 20
aut septemgemini caput impenetrabile Nili,
hortarere vias.

surely there is no lasciviousness in your heart
nor do the battles of the swift Circus soothe you, 15
nor does the crowd of the clamorous theater enter your senses;
but probity and shadowed quiet and never sordid
joys. but whom, as companion, would you take across the waves, if carried off?
and yet, even if I were to go to remain at the icy Bears
or over the glooming shallows of Hesperian Thule, 20
or the impenetrable head of the sevenfold Nile,
you would urge the roads.

etenim tua (nempe benigna
quam mihi sorte Venus iunctam florentibus annis
servat et in senium), tua, quae me vulnere primo
intactum thalamis et adhuc iuvenile vagantem, 25
fixisti, tua frena libens docilisque recepi,
et semel insertas non mutaturus habenas
usque premo. tu me nitidis Albana ferentem
dona comis sanctoque indutum Caesaris auro
visceribus complexa tuis, sertisque dedisti, 30

indeed you (surely kindly Venus, by lot, keeps her joined to me in our flowering years and into old age), you who with the first wound fixed me, untouched by bridal chambers and still juvenile, wandering, 25
your reins I willingly and teachably received,
and the bits once inserted I press continually, not about to change them.
you, as I bore Alban gifts with shining locks and was clad in the sacred gold of Caesar,
clasped me in your bosom, and you gave me with garlands, 30

oscula anhela meis; tu, cum Capitolia nostrae
infitiata lyrae, saevum ingratumque dolebas
mecum victa Iovem; tu procurrentia primis
carmina nostra sonis, totasque in murmure noctes
aure rapis vigili; longi tu sola laboris, 35
conscia, cumque tuis crevit mea Thebais annis.
qualem te nuper Stygias prope raptus ad umbras
cum iam Lethaeos audirem comminus amnes,
aspexi, tenuique oculos iam morte cadentes!
scilicet exhausti Lachesis mihi tempora fati, 40
te tantum miserata dedit, superique potentes
invidiam timuere tuam.

your breathless kisses to mine; you, when the Capitols, denying my lyre, with me did grieve that Jove, though conquered, was savage and ungrateful; you seize my songs jutting forward at the first sounds, and with a wakeful ear you snatch whole nights in a murmur; you alone, conscious of long labor, and with your years my Thebaid grew. In what state I lately, when I was snatched almost to the Stygian shades, when already I was hearing the Lethean streams at close hand, beheld you, and I held your eyes now sinking with death! Surely Lachesis granted me, of an exhausted fate, some time—pitying only you she gave you; and the mighty powers above feared your envy.

post ista propinquum
nunc iter optandosque sinus comes ire moraris?
heu ubi nota fides totque explorata per usus,
qua veteres Latias Graias heroidas aequas? , 45
isset ad Iliacas (quid enim deterret amantes?)
Penelope gavisa domos, si passus Vlixes;
questa est Aegiale, questa est Meliboea relinqui,
et quam (quam saevi!) fecerunt maenada planctus.

after these things, do you now delay to go as companion on the near journey and to the longed-for bosoms?
alas, where is the known faith and so much tested through experience,
by which you match the ancient Latin and Greek heroines? , 45
Penelope would have gone rejoicing to the Iliac homes (for what, indeed, deters lovers?), if Ulysses had allowed;
Aegiale has complained, Meliboea has complained, to be left behind,
and her whom (how savage!) the breast-beatings made a maenad.

nec minor his tu nosse fidem vitamque maritis, 50
dedere. sic certe cineres umbramque priorem
quaeris adhuc, sic exsequias amplexa canori
coniugis ingentes iterasti pectore planctus,
iam mea. nec pietas alia est tibi curaque natae:
sic et mater amas, sic numquam corde recedit, 55
nata tuo, fixamque animi penetralibus imis
nocte dieque tenes.

nor did they grant you to know in husbands a faith and a way of life lesser than theirs, 50
surely thus you still seek the ashes and the former shade,
thus, having embraced the exequies of your canorous spouse,
you have repeated vast beatings of the breast—now mine.
nor is your piety and your care for your daughter of another kind:
thus too as a mother you love, thus she never departs from your heart, 55
your daughter; and you hold her, fixed in the inmost penetralia of your spirit,
by night and by day.

non sic Trachinia nidos
Alcyone, vernos non sic Philomela penates
circumit amplectens animamque in pignora transfert.
et nunc illa tenet viduo quod sola cubili, 60

not thus does the Trachinian Alcyone circle her nests, not thus does Philomela her springtime household,
going about embracing and transferring her soul into her pledges.
and now she keeps to the widowed couch, because she is alone, 60

otia iam pulchrae terit infecunda iuventae.
sed venient, plenis venient conubia taedis.
sic certe formaeque bonis animique meretur;
sive chelyn complexa petit seu voce paterna
discendum Musis sonat et mea carmina flectit, 65
candida seu molli diducit bracchia motu,
ingenium probitas artemque modestia vincit.

now she wears away the unfruitful leisures of her beautiful youth.
but they will come, nuptials will come with full torches.
thus surely she merits it by the endowments of her form and of her spirit;
whether, clasping the lyre, she seeks it, or with her father’s voice
she sounds for instruction to the Muses and modulates my songs, 65
or, fair, she draws apart her arms with a soft motion,
probity overcomes genius, and modesty overcomes art.

nonne leves pueros, non te, Cytherea, pudebit
hoc cessare decus? nec tantum Roma iugales
conciliare toros festasque accendere taedas, 70
fertilis: et nostra generi tellure dabuntur.
non adeo Vesuvinus apex et flammea diri
montis hiems trepidas exhausit civibus urbes:
stant populisque vigent.

Will it not shame the giddy boys, will it not shame you, Cytherean, that this honor should be idle?
nor is Rome fertile only to join yoke-mate couches and to kindle festive torches, 70
fertile: and offspring too will be given to our lineage from our soil.
not to such a degree has the Vesuvian apex and the fiery winter of the dread mountain drained the cities of their citizens: they stand and thrive with peoples.

hinc auspice condita Phoebo
tecta Dicarchei portusque et litora mundi,          75
hospita: at hinc magnae tractus imitantia Romae
quae Capys advectis implevit moenia Teucris.
nostra quoque et propriis tenuis nec rara colonis
Parthenope, cui mite solum trans aequora vectae
ipse Dionaea monstravit Apollo columba.,          80
    Has ego te sedes (nam nec mihi barbara Thrace
nec Libye natale solum) transferre laboro,
quas et mollis hiems et frigida temperat aestas,
quas imbelle fretum torpentibus adluit undis.
pax secura locis et desidis otia vitae,          85
et numquam turbata quies somnique peracti.

hence, with Phoebus as auspice, were founded the roofs of Dicarcheia and the harbors and the shores of the world,
hospitable:          75
and from here the walls imitating the tracts of great Rome,
which Capys filled with Teucrians brought over.
our Parthenope too, slight yet not scant in its own settlers,
to which, for the Dionean dove carried across the seas,
Apollo himself showed the gentle soil.,          80
    These seats I strive to transfer you to (for neither to me is barbarian Thrace
nor Libya native soil),
which both a soft winter and a chilly summer temper,
which an unwarlike strait bathes with torpid waves.
peace secure in these places and the leisures of a slothful life,          85
and a never-disturbed quiet and a sleep accomplished.

nulla foro rabies aut strictae in iurgia leges:
morum iura viris solum et sine fascibus aequum.
quid nunc magnificas species cultusque locorum
templaque et innumeris spatia interstincta columnis, 90

no frenzy in the forum nor strict laws tightened into wranglings:
only the laws of morals for men, and equity without fasces.
why now the magnificent aspects and the culture of the places,
the temples and the spaces interspersed with innumerable columns, 90

et geminam molem nudi tectique theatri
et Capitolinis quinquennia proxima lustris,
quid laudem litus libertatemque Menandri,
quam Romanus honos et Graia licentia miscent?
nec desunt variae circa oblectamina vitae:,          95
sive vaporiferas, blandissima litora, Baias,
enthea fatidicae seu visere tecta Sibyllae
dulce sit Iliacoque iugum memorabile remo,
seu tibi Bacchei vineta madentia Gauri
Teleboumque domos, trepidis ubi dulcia nautis,          100
lumina noctivagae tollit Pharus aemula lunae,
caraque non molli iuga Surrentina Lyaeo,
quae meus ante alios habitator Pollius auget,
Dinarumque lacus medicos Stabiasque renatas.
mille tibi nostrae referam telluris amores?,          105
sed satis hoc, coniunx, satis est dixisse: creavit
me tibi, me socium longos astrinxit in annos.

and the twin mass of the theater, uncovered and roofed,
and the quinquennia next to the Capitoline lustrums,
why should I praise the shore and the freedom of Menander,
which Roman honor and Greek license mingle?
nor are lacking the varied amusements of life around:,          95
whether the vapor-bearing, most soothing shores, Baiae,
or whether it be sweet to visit the enthean roofs of the fatidical Sibyl
and the ridge memorable for the Iliac oar,
or for you the vineyards, dripping, of Bacchic Gaurus,
and the homes of the Teleboans, where for anxious sailors the sweet,          100
lights the Pharos lifts, rival of the night-wandering moon,
and the Surrentine ridges dear to Lyaius, not mild,
which my dweller Pollius augments before others,
and the medicinal lakes of the Dinarum and Stabiae reborn.
shall I recount to you a thousand loves of our land?,          105
but this is enough, wife, enough to have said: it created
me for you, it bound me as companion for long years.

nonne haec amborum genetrix altrixque videri
digna? sed ingratus qui plura adnecto tuisque
moribus indubito: venies, carissima coniunx, 110
praeveniesque etiam. sine me tibi ductor aquarum
Thybris et armiferi sordebunt tecta Quirini.

Is not this worthy to seem the mother and nurse of us both?
but I am ungrateful, in that I add more, and I do not doubt your character:
you will come, dearest consort, 110
and you will even forestall me. Without me as your guide, the Thybris, conductor of waters,
and the roofs of arms-bearing Quirinus will seem sordid to you.