Statius: SILVAE

Inveni librum, Marcelle carissime, quem pietati tuae dedicarem. reor equidem aliter quam invocato numine maximi imperatoris nullum opusculum meum coepisse; sed hic liber tres habet [ . . . . . ] se quam quod quarta ad honorem tuum pertinet. primo autem septimum decimum Germanici nostri consulatum adoravi; secundo gratias egi sacratissimis eius epulis honoratus; tertio viam Domitianam miratus sum qua gravissimam harenarum moram exemit: cuius beneficio tu quoque maturius epistolam meam accipies, quam tibi in hoc libro a Neapoli scribo.

I have found a book, dearest Marcellus, to dedicate to your piety. I do indeed think that I have begun no work without first invoking the numen of the greatest emperor; but this book has three [ . . . . . ] in itself, except that a fourth pertains to your honor. At the first I adored the seventeenth consulship of our Germanicus; in the second I gave thanks, honored at his most sacred banquet; in the third I marveled at the Via Domitiana, by which he removed the most grievous delay of the sands: by whose benefaction you too will more promptly receive my letter, which I write to you in this book from Naples.

proximum est lyricum carmen ad Septimium Severum, iuvenem, uti scis, inter ornatissimos secundi ordinis, tuum quidem et condiscipulum, sed mihi citra hoc quoque ius artissime carum. nam Vindicis nostri Herculem Epitrapezion secundum honorem, quem de me et de ipsis studiis meretur, imputare etiam tibi possum. Maximum Vibium et dignitatis et eloquentiae nomine a nobis diligi satis eram testatus epistola, quam ad illum de editione Thebaidos meae publicavi; sed nunc quoque eum reverti maturius ex Dalmatia rogo.

Next is a lyric poem to Septimius Severus, a youth, as you know, among the most distinguished of the second order, indeed your fellow-pupil, but to me, even apart from this claim, most intimately dear. For I can even reckon to your account our Vindex’s Hercules Epitrapezios in the second place of honor, which he deserves from me and from the studies themselves. I had sufficiently testified, by the letter which I published to him about the edition of my Thebaid, that Vibius Maximus is loved by us for both dignity and eloquence; but now, too, I ask that he return the sooner from Dalmatia.

iuncta est ecloga ad municipem meum Iulium Menecraten, splendidum iuvenem et Polli mei generum, cui gratulor quod Neapolim nostram numero liberorum honestaverit. Plotio Grypo, maioris gradus iuveni, dignius opusculum reddam, sed interim hendecasyllabos quos Saturnalibus una risimus, huic volumini inserui. quare ergo plura in quarto Silvarum quam in prioribus?

An eclogue is joined to my fellow townsman Julius Menecrates, a splendid young man and the son-in-law of my Pollio, to whom I offer congratulations that he has honored our Naples by the number of his children. To Plotius Grypus, a young man of higher rank, I shall render a more worthy opuscule, but in the meantime I have inserted into this volume the hendecasyllables which at the Saturnalia we laughed over together. Why, then, are there more in the 4th of the Silvae than in the earlier ones?

ne se putent aliquid egisse, qui reprehenderunt ut audio, quod hoc stili genus edidissem. primum supervacuum est dissuadere rem factam; deinde multa ex illis iam domino Caesari dederam, et quanto hoc plus est quam edere! exercere autem ioco non licet?

Let them not think they have accomplished anything, those who, as I hear, reprehended me because I had published this kind of style. First, it is superfluous to dissuade a thing already done; next, many of these I had already given to my lord Caesar—and how much greater a thing is this than to publish! And is it not permitted to exercise in jest?

'secreto' inquit. sed et sphaeromachias spectamus et palaris lusio admittit. novissime: quisquis ex meis invitus aliquid legit, statim se profiteatur adversum.

'privately,' he says. But we also watch sphaeromachies, and palaris play is admitted. Last of all: whoever of my readers reads anything unwillingly, let him at once declare himself adverse.

ita quare consilio eius accedam? in summam, nempe ego sum qui traducor: taceat et gaudeat. hunc tamen librum tu, Marcelle, defendes.

so why should I accede to his counsel? in sum, plainly I am the one who is traduced: let him be silent and rejoice. this book, however, you, Marcellus, will defend.

et, si videtur, hactenus, sin minus, reprehendemur. vale.

and, if it seems good, thus far; if not, we shall be reprehended. farewell.

I. SEPTIMVS DECIMVS CONSVLATVS IMP. AVG. GERMANICI

1. THE SEVENTEENTH CONSULSHIP OF THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS

Laeta bis octonis accedit purpura fastis
Caesaris insignemque aperit Germanicus annum,
atque oritur cum sole novo, cum grandibus astris
clarius ipse nitens et primo maior Eoo.
exsultent leges Latiae, gaudete, curules,          5
et septemgemino iactantior aethera pulset
Roma iugo, plusque ante alias Evandrius arces
collis ovet: subiere novi Palatia fasces
et requiem bis sextus honos precibusque receptis
curia Caesareum gaudet vicisse pudorem.          10
ipse etiam immensi reparator maximus aevi
attollit vultus et utroque a limine grates
Ianus agit, quem tu vicina Pace ligatum
omnia iussisti componere bella novique
in leges iurare fori. levat ecce supinas          15

Glad purple twice eight times is added to the Fasti,
and as Germanicus he opens the illustrious year of Caesar,
and he rises with the new sun, with the great stars,
shining himself more brightly, and greater than the first Eoan.
let the Latin laws exult, rejoice, you curule magistrates,          5
and let Rome strike the aether more vauntingly with her seven-yoked
ridge, and let the Evandrian hill rejoice more than the other citadels:
the Palatine has assumed new fasces,
and, after a respite, the twice-sixth honor—and with petitions received—
the Curia rejoices to have overcome Caesarean modesty.          10
He himself too, the greatest restorer of an immense age,
lifts his face, and Janus from either threshold gives thanks,
whom you, with neighboring Peace, ordered bound
to compose all wars and to swear into the laws of the new forum.
behold, he raises his upturned [hands].          15

hinc atque inde manus geminaque haec voce profatur:
'salve, magne parens mundi, qui saecula mecum
instaurare paras, talem te cernere semper
mense meo tua Roma cupit; sic tempora nasci,
sic annos intrare decet. da gaudia fastis 20
continua; hos umeros multo sinus ambiat ostro
et properata tuae manibus praetexta Minervae.
aspicis ut templis alius nitor, altior aris
ignis et ipsa meae tepeant tibi sidera brumae,
moribus atque tuis gaudent turmaeque tribusque 25
purpureique patres, lucemque a consule ducit
omnis honos.

then on either side his hands, and with both hands he proclaims these words:
'hail, great parent of the world, you who prepare to restore the ages with me;
such as this your Rome longs always to behold you in my month;
thus it is fitting for the times to be born, thus for the years to enter.
grant continual joys to the fasti; 20
let the fold embrace these shoulders with much purple,
and a praetexta hastened by the hands of your Minerva.
do you see how a different splendor is in the temples, how the fire is higher on the altars,
and may even the stars of my midwinter grow warm for you,
and with your customs both the cohorts and the tribes rejoice, and the purple-clad fathers, 25
and every honor draws its light from the consul.'

quid tale, precor, prior annus habebat?
dic age, Roma potens, et mecum, longa Vetustas,
dinumera fastos nec parva exempla recense,
sed quae sola meus dignetur vincere Caesar. 30

What such thing, I pray, did the prior year possess?
Come, say, mighty Rome, and with me, long Antiquity,
count through the fasti and review no small exempla,
but only those which my Caesar deigns to conquer. 30

ter Latio deciesque tulit labentibus annis
Augustus fasces, sed coepit sero mereri:
tu iuvenis praegressus avos. et quanta recusas,
quanta vetas! flectere tamen precibusque senatus
permittes hunc saepe diem.

thrice for Latium and ten times, as the years glided, Augustus bore the fasces, but he began late to merit them:
you, young, have outpaced your grandfathers. and how many things you refuse,
how many you forbid! yet you will often allow this day to be swayed
by the prayers of the senate.

manet insuper ordo          35
longior, et totidem felix tibi Roma curules
terque quaterque dabit. mecum altera saecula condes,
et tibi longaevi renovabitur ara parentis;
mille tropaea feres, tantum permitte triumphos.
restat Bactra novis, restat Babylona tributis          40
frenari; nondum gremio Iovis Indica laurus,
nondum Arabes Seresque rogant, nondum omnis honorem
annus habet, cupiuntque decem tua nomina menses.'
    Sic Ianus, clausoque libens se poste recepit.

moreover a longer order remains          35
and happy Rome will grant you just as many curule magistracies
thrice and four times. with me you will found other ages,
and for you the altar of your long-lived parent will be renewed;
you will bear a thousand trophies, only allow triumphs.
it remains that Bactra with new, it remains that Babylon with tributes          40
be reined; not yet is the Indian laurel in the lap of Jove,
not yet do the Arabs and the Seres ask, not yet does the whole year have honor,
and ten months desire your names.'
    Thus Janus, and, with the doorpost closed, gladly withdrew himself.

tunc omnes patuere dei laetoque dederunt 45

then all the gods lay open and gladly granted 45

signa polo, longamque tibi rex, magne, iuventam
annuit atque suos promisit Iuppiter annos.

signs in the sky, and long youth to you, king, great one,
Jupiter nodded assent and promised his own years.

II. EVCHARISTICON AD IMP. AVG. GERM.

2. EUCHARISTICON TO THE EMPEROR, THE AUGUSTUS, GERMANICUS.

DOMITIANVM

DOMITIAN

Regia Sidoniae convivia laudat Elissae,
qui magnum Aenean Laurentibus intulit arvis;
Alcinoique dapes mansuro carmine monstrat,
aequore qui multo reducem consumpsit Vlixem:
ast ego cui sacrae Caesar nova gaudia cenae 5
nunc primum dominaque dedit consurgere mensa,
qua celebrem mea vota lyra, quas solvere grates
sufficiam? non, si pariter mihi vertice laeto
nectat odoratas et Smyrna et Mantua lauros,
digna loquar. mediis videor discumbere in astris 10
cum Iove et Iliaca porrectum sumere dextra
immortale merum.

He praises the royal banquets of Sidonian Elissa,
she who brought great Aeneas into the Laurentian fields;
and he shows the feasts of Alcinous with a song that will endure,
he who consumed the returning Ulysses upon the much sea:
but I, for whom Caesar has granted the new joys of the sacred cena, 5
and the Lady has now for the first time given leave to rise from table,
with what lyre shall I celebrate my vows, what thanks
shall I suffice to pay? Not, if both Smyrna and Mantua together
should wreathe fragrant laurels on my joyful head,
should I speak things worthy. I seem to recline in the midst of the stars, 10
and, outstretched, to take immortal merum with Jove
by an Iliac right hand.

steriles transmisimus annos:
haec aevi mihi prima dies, hic limina vitae.
tene ego, regnator terrarum orbisque subacti
magne parens, te, spes hominum, te, cura deorum, 15

We have passed through barren years:
this is for me the first day of my age, here the thresholds of life.
Is it you that I—ruler of the lands and of the subjugated orb,
great parent, you, the hope of men, you, the care of the gods— 15

cerno iacens? datur haec iuxta, datur ora tueri
vina inter mensasque, et non assurgere fas est?
Tectum augustum, ingens, non centum insigne columnis,
sed quantae superos caelumque Atlante remisso
sustentare queant.

Do I discern, reclining? Is it granted to be close by, granted to gaze upon that face
amid wines and tables, and is it not licit to rise?
A roof august, immense, distinguished not by a hundred columns,
but by as many as could sustain the supernal ones and the sky, Atlas being relieved,
sustain.

stupet hoc vicina Tonantis 20
regia, teque pari laetantur sede locatum
numina. nec magnum properes excedere caelum:
tanta patet moles effusaeque impetus aulae
liberior, campi multumque amplexus operti
aetheros, et tantum domino minor; ille penates 25
implet et ingenti genio iuvat. aemulus illic
mons Libys Iliacusque nitet, % multa Syene
et Chios et glaucae certantia Doridi saxa;
Lunaque portandis tantum suffecta columnis.

the neighboring palace of the Thunderer stands amazed at this, 20
and the numina rejoice that you are placed in an equal seat;
nor hurry to depart the great heaven:
so vast a mass lies open, and the freer impetus of the poured-forth hall,
an embrace of plains and of much of the over-roofed aethers,
and only so much less than its lord; he fills the Penates and gladdens with a mighty Genius. 25
there a rival Libyan and Iliac mountain gleams, % many a Syene
and Chian stone, and stones vying with glaucous Doris;
and Luna is but sufficient for columns to be carried.

longa supra species: fessis vix culmina prendas 30

a long prospect above: when weary, you would scarcely grasp the roof-peaks 30

visibus auratique putes laquearia caeli.
hic cum Romuleos proceres trabeataque Caesar
agmina mille simul iussit discumbere mensis,
ipsa sinus accincta Ceres Bacchusque laborat
sufficere. aetherii felix sic orbita fluxit 35
Triptolemi, sic vitifero sub palmite nudos
umbravit colles et sobria rura Lyaeus.

to your sight you would think the aurate coffered ceilings of the sky.
here, when the Romulean nobles and the Caesar’s trabea‑clad
ranks, a thousand at once, he ordered to recline at the tables,
Ceres herself, girded at her folds, and Bacchus, labors
to suffice. thus the aetherial orbit of Triptolemus flowed happily 35
of Triptolemus; thus beneath the vine‑bearing tendril
Lyaeus shaded the bare hills and the sober fields.

    Sed mihi non epulas Indisque innixa columnis
robora Maurorum famulasque ex ordine turmas,
ipsum, ipsum cupido tantum spectare vacavit          40
tranquillum vultu sed maiestate serena
mulcentem radios summittentemque modeste
fortunae vexilla suae; tamen ore nitebat
dissimulatus honos. talem quoque barbarus hostis
posset et ignotae conspectum agnoscere gentes.          45

    But for me, not the banquets nor the Moorish oaken beams resting upon Indian columns
nor the servant troops in ordered ranks,
only to behold him, him himself, did my desire have leisure          40
tranquil in countenance yet with serene majesty,
soothing the rays and modestly lowering
the standards of his Fortune; yet on his face
a concealed honor shone. Even such a one the barbarian foe
and unknown peoples could recognize at a glance.          45

non aliter gelida Rhodopes in valle recumbit
dimissis Gradivus equis; sic lubrica ponit
membra Therapnaea resolutus gymnade Pollux,
sic iacet ad Gangen Indis ululantibus Euhan,
sic gravis Alcides post horrida iussa reversus          50
gaudebat strato latus adclinare leoni.
parva loquor necdum aequo tuos, Germanice, vultus:
talis, ubi Oceani finem mensasque revisit
Aethiopum sacro diffusus nectare vultus
dux superum secreta iubet dare carmina Musas          55
et Pallenaeos Phoebum laudare triumphos.
    Di tibi (namque animas saepe exaudire minores
dicuntur) patriae bis terque exire senectae
annuerint fines.

no otherwise does Gradivus, his horses dismissed, recline in the chilly valley of Rhodope;
thus the Therapnaean Pollux, relaxed by gymnastic exercise, lays down his slippery limbs;
thus by the Ganges, with the Indians ululating, Euhan lies;
thus heavy Alcides, returned after dreadful commands, rejoiced to lean his side upon the spread-out lion-skin.          50
I speak small things and do not yet equal your countenance, Germanicus:
such, when he revisits Ocean’s end and the tables of the Ethiopians, his face suffused with sacred nectar,
the leader of the gods bids the Muses to give secret songs and Phoebus to praise the Pallenaean triumphs.          55
    May the gods (for they are said often to hearken to lesser souls) have granted you to go forth beyond the borders of a fatherland grown old twice and thrice.

rata numina miseris astris,
templaque des habitesque domos. saepe annua pandas 60

ratified divinities under ill-starred stars,
and may you grant temples and inhabit homes. may you often unfold the annual rites 60

limina, saepe novo Ianum lictore salutes,
saepe coronatis iteres quinquennia lustris.
qua mihi felices epulas mensaeque dedisti
sacra tuae, talis longo post tempore venit
lux mihi, Troianae qualis sub collibus Albae, 65
cum modo Germanas acies modo Daca sonantem
proelia Palladio tua me manus induit auro.

thresholds, may you often salute Janus with a new lictor,
often may you renew the quinquennia with garlanded lustra.
where you gave to me happy feasts and tables sacred to you,
such a light after a long time has come to me,
as beneath the hills of Trojan Alba, 65
when, now the German battle-lines, now the Dacian battles
sounding from my song, your hand clothed me with Palladian gold.

III. VIA DOMITIANA

3. THE DOMITIAN WAY

Quis duri silicis gravisque ferri
immanis sonus aequori propinquum
saxosae latus Appiae replevit?
certe non Libycae sonant catervae,
nec dux advena peierante bello          5
Campanos quatit inquietus agros,
nec frangit vada montibusque caesis
inducit Nero sordidas paludes;
sed qui limina bellicosa Iani
iustis legibus et foro coronat,          10
quis castae Cereri diu negata
reddit iugera sobriasque terras,
quis fortem vetat interire sexum
et censor prohibet mares adultos
pulchrae supplicium timere formae;          15

What monstrous sound of hard flint and heavy iron
has filled the rocky flank of the Appian [Way] near the sea?
Surely not Libyan cohorts are sounding,
nor does a foreign leader, with a perjuring war,          5
shake the Campanian fields in unrest,
nor does Nero break the shallows and, with mountains cut down,
introduce filthy marshes;
but he who crowns the warlike thresholds of Janus
with just laws and with the forum,          10
who restores to chaste Ceres the acres long denied
and the sober lands,
who forbids the brave sex to perish
and, as censor, prohibits adult males
to fear the punishment of fair form.          15

qui reddit Capitolio Tonantem
et Pacem propria domo reponit,
qui genti patriae futura semper
sancit lumina Flaviumque caelum,
hic segnis populi vias gravatus          20
et campos iter omne detinentes
longos eximit ambitus novoque
iniectu solidat graves harenas,
gaudens Euboicae domum Sibyllae
Gauranosque sinus et aestuantes          25
septem montibus admovere Baias.
    Hic quondam piger axe vectus uno
nutabat cruce pendula viator
sorbebatque rotas maligna tellus,
et plebs in mediis Latina campis          30

who gives back the Thunderer to the Capitol,
and restores Peace to her proper house,
who for the fatherland’s race ever sanctions the lights-to-come
and the Flavian heaven,
this man, the roads burdened by a sluggish populace          20
and the fields detaining every journey,
removes the long detours and, with a new infill,
solidifies the heavy sands,
rejoicing to have brought nearer the home of the Euboic Sibyl
and the Gauran bays and Baiae seething          25
with seven hills.
    Here once the slow wayfarer, borne on a single axle,
was wobbling, hanging from a pendulous crossbeam,
and the malign earth was swallowing the wheels,
and the plebs in the midst of the Latin fields          30

horrebat mala navigationis;
nec cursus agiles, sed impeditum
tardabant iter orbitae tacentes,
dum pondus nimium querens sub alta
repit languida quadrupes statera.          35
at nunc, quae solidum diem terebat,
horarum via facta vix duarum.
non tensae volucrum per astra pennae,
nec velocius ibitis, carinae.
    Hic primus labor incohare sulcos          40
et rescindere limites et alto
egestu penitus cavare terras;
mox haustas aliter replere fossas
et summo gremium parare dorso,
ne nutent sola, ne maligna sedes          45

it shuddered at the evils of navigation;
nor were the courses agile, but silent ruts
were delaying the impeded journey, while, complaining
of an excessive burden, beneath the high cross-beam
the sluggish four-footed frame crept along.          35
but now, what used to wear away a solid day,
has been made a road of scarcely two hours.
not even the outstretched wings of birds through the stars,
nor you, keels, will go more swiftly.
    Here the first labor is to begin the furrows          40
and to cut back the boundaries, and with a lofty
out-excavation to hollow the earth to its depths;
soon to refill the drained ditches in another way
and to prepare a bosom on the topmost back,
lest the grounds totter, lest the ill-disposed resting-place          45

et pressis dubium cubile saxis;
tunc umbonibus hinc et hinc coactis
et crebris iter alligare gonfis.
o quantae pariter manus laborant!
hi caedunt nemus exuuntque montes, 50
hi ferro scopulos trabesque levant;
illi saxa ligant opusque texunt
cocto pulvere sordidoque tofo;
hi siccant bibulas manu lacunas
et longe fluvios agunt minores. 55
hae possent et Athon cavare dextrae
et maestum pelagus gementis Helles
intercludere ponte non natanti.

and, with stones pressed, an uncertain bed;
then, with umbos on this side and that forced together,
and to bind the road with frequent gomphi (pegs).
O how many hands labor together!
these hew the grove and strip the mountains, 50
these with iron pry up crags and beams;
those bind the stones and weave the work
with baked powder and filthy tufa;
these by hand dry the thirsty pools
and drive the lesser rivers afar. 55
these right hands could even hollow Athos
and shut off the mournful sea of groaning Helle
with a bridge not floating.

his parvus, nisi cliviae vetarent,
Inous freta miscuisset Isthmos. 60

by these, the small Inous Isthmus would have mingled the straits, unless the slopes forbade. 60

    Fervent litora mobilesque silvae,
it longus medias fragor per urbes,
atque echon simul hinc et inde fractam
Gauro Massicus uvifer remittit.
miratur sonitum quieta Cyme          65
et Literna palus pigerque Safon.
    At flavum caput umidumque late
crinem mollibus impeditus ulvis
Vulturnus levat ora maximoque
pontis Caesarei reclinus arcu          70
raucis talia faucibus redundat:
'camporum bone conditor meorum,
quis me vallibus aviis refusum
et ripas habitare nescientem
recti legibus alvei ligasti!          75

    The shores seethe and the mobile forests,
a long crash goes through the midst of the cities,
and the grape-bearing Massicus sends back the broken echo
together with Gaurus at once from here and from there.
quiet Cumae marvels at the sound          65
and the Liternian marsh and sluggish Safon.
    But the Volturnus, his blond head and his hair wet far and wide,
hampered by soft sedges, raises his face
and, leaning back on the greatest arch
of the Caesarean bridge, with hoarse jaws thus overflows:
          70
'good founder of my fields,
you who bound me, cast back into trackless valleys
and not knowing to dwell upon banks,
by the laws of a straight channel!          75

et nunc ille ego turbidus minaxque,
vix passus dubias prius carinas,
iam pontem fero perviusque calcor;
qui terras rapere et rotare silvas
assueram (pudet!), amnis esse coepi;          80
sed grates ago servitusque tanti est,
quod sub te duce, te iubente, cessi,
quod tu maximus arbiter meaeque
victor perpetuus legere ripae.
et nunc limite me colis beato          85
nec sordere sinis malumque late
deterges sterilis soli pudorem;
ne me pulvereum gravemque caelo
Tyrrheni sinus obluat profundi
(qualis Cinyphius tacente ripa          90

and now I, that very one, turbid and menacing,
who before had scarcely suffered uncertain keels,
now bear a bridge and, pervious, am trodden;
I who had been accustomed to snatch lands and whirl forests
(I am ashamed!), I have begun to be a river; 80
but I give thanks, and servitude is worth so much,
that under you as leader, at your command, I yielded,
that you, greatest arbiter and my
perpetual victor, are to choose my banks.
and now with a blessed boundary you cherish me 85
nor do you allow me to be filthy, and far and wide
you wipe away the shame of the barren soil;
lest the bay of the Tyrrhenian deep wash me over,
dust-laden and heavy to the sky
(such as the Cinyphian, the bank being silent

Poenos Bagrada serpit inter agros),
sed talis ferar ut nitente cursu
tranquillum mare proximumque possim
puro gurgite provocare Lirim.'
    Haec amnis, pariterque se levarat          95
ingenti plaga marmorata dorso.
huius ianua prosperumque limen
arcus, belligeris ducis tropaeis
et totis Ligurum nitens metallis,
quantus nubila qui coronat imbri.          100
illic flectitur excitus viator,
illic Appia se dolet relinqui.
tunc velocior acriorque cursus,
tunc ipsos iuvat impetus iugales;
ceu fessis ubi remigum lacertis          105

the Bagrada creeps among the fields of the Punics),
but let me be carried such that, with a shining/straining course,
I may be able to challenge the tranquil sea and the proximate Liris
with a pure surge.'
Thus spoke the river, and at the same time he had lifted himself 95
with a huge stripe, marbled on his back.
the doorway and prosperous threshold of this is
the arch, shining with the trophies of the war-bearing leader
and with all the metals of the Ligurians,
as great as he who crowns the clouds with rain.100
there the stirred traveler is bent aside,
there the Appian [Way] grieves that she is left behind.
then swifter and more keen is the course,
then the very yoke-mates are gladdened by the impetus;
as when, where the arms of oarsmen are weary 105

primae carbasa ventilatis, aurae.
ergo omnes, age, quae sub axe primo
Romani colitis fidem Parentis,
prono limite commeate gentes,
Eoae citius venite laurus: 110
nil obstat cupidis, nihil moratur.
qui primo Tiberim reliquit ortu,
primo vespere naviget Lucrinum.

you breezes, ventilate the foremost canvases.
therefore all, come on, you Romans who under the first axis
cherish the faith/fealty of the Parent,
peoples, travel along the sloping track,
Eastern laurels, come more swiftly: 110
nothing stands in the way for the eager, nothing delays.
whoever at first dawn left the Tiber,
let him by first evening navigate the Lucrine.

    Sed quam fine viae recentis imo,
qua monstrat veteres Apollo Cumas,          115
albam crinibus infulisque cerno?
visu fallimur, an sacris ab antris
profert Chalcidicas Sibylla laurus?
cedamus; chely, iam repone cantus:
vates sanctior incipit, tacendum est.          120

    But whom do I discern at the lowest end of the fresh road,
where Apollo points out ancient Cumae,          115
white with hair and fillets? Are we deceived in our sight, or from the sacred caves
does the Sibyl bring forth Chalcidian laurels?
let us yield; chelys, now put away the songs:
a holier vates begins; there must be silence.          120

en! et colla rotat novisque late
bacchatur spatiis viamque replet.
tunc sic virgineo profatur ore:
'dicebam, veniet (manete campi
atque amnis), veniet favente caelo, 125
qui foedum nemus et putres harenas
celsis pontibus et via levabit.
en hic est deus, hunc iubet beatis
pro se Iuppiter imperare terris;
quo non dignior has subit habenas 130
ex quo me duce praescios Averni
Aeneas avide futura quaerens
lucos et penetravit et reliquit.

lo! and she whirls her neck and far and wide
raves in Bacchic frenzy through new spaces and fills the way.
then thus she speaks forth with virginal mouth:
'I was saying, he will come (stay, fields
and river), he will come with heaven favoring, 125
who will raise the foul grove and the putrid sands
with lofty bridges and with a way.
lo, here is the god; Jupiter bids that he, in his stead,
rule over the blessed lands;
than whom no more worthy has taken up these reins 130
since, with me as leader, Aeneas, eagerly seeking
the things to come, both entered and left
the prescient groves of Avernus.'

hic paci bonus, hic timendus armis,
natura melior potentiorque. 135

this one good for peace, this one to be feared in arms,
by nature better and more potent. 135

hic si flammigeros teneret axes,
largis, India nubibus maderes,
undaret Libye, teperet Haemus.
    Salve, dux hominum et parens deorum,
provisum mihi conditumque numen.          140
nec iam putribus evoluta chartis
sollemni prece Quindecim Virorum
perlustra mea dicta, sed canentem
ipsam comminus, ut mereris, audi.
vidi quam seriem merentis aevi          145
pronectant tibi candidae sorores:
magnus te manet ordo saeculorum,
natis longior abnepotibusque
annos perpetua geres iuventa
quos fertur placidos adisse Nestor,          150

this man, if he held the fire-bearing axles,
India, you would be drenched with ample clouds,
Libya would be in flood, Haemus would grow warm.
    Hail, leader of men and parent of gods,
a providential and founded numen for me.          140
nor now, unrolled from rotten papers,
by the solemn prayer of the Fifteen Men,
survey my sayings, but hear me myself
singing at close hand, as you merit.
I saw what series of a deserving age          145
the shining sisters spin forth for you:
a great order of ages awaits you,
longer for your sons and great-grandsons;
you will bear years with perpetual youth—
the placid years which Nestor is said to have reached,          150

quos Tithonia computat senectus
et quantos ego Delium poposci.
iuravit tibi iam nivalis Arctus,
nunc magnos Oriens dabit triumphos.
ibis qua vagus Hercules et Euhan 155
ultra sidera flammeumque solem
et Nili caput et nives Atlantis,
et laudum cumulo beatus omni
scandes belliger abnuesque currus;
donec Troicus ignis et renatae 160
Tarpeius pater intonabit aulae,
haec donec via te regente terras
annosa magis Appia senescat.'

as many as the Tithonian old age counts,
and as many as I have petitioned the Delian for.
The snowy Bear has already sworn to you;
now the Orient will grant great triumphs.
you will go where wandering Hercules and Euhan 155
beyond the stars and the fiery sun,
and the head of the Nile and the snows of Atlas,
and, blessed with every cumulus of praises,
you will climb, war-bearing, and refuse the chariots;
until the Trojan fire and the Tarpeian father 160
of the reborn hall will thunder,
until this road, the Appian, with you ruling the lands,
grows more aged.'

IV. EPISTOLA AD VITORIVM MARCELLVM

4. LETTER TO VITORIUS MARCELLUS

Curre per Euboicos non segnis, epistola, campos,
hac ingressa vias qua nobilis Appia crescit
in latus et molles solidus premit agger harenas;
atque ubi Romuleas velox penetraveris arces,
continuo dextras flavi pete Thybridis oras,          5
Lydia qua penitus stagnum navale coercet
ripa suburbanisque vadum praetexitur hortis.
illic egregium formaque animisque videbis
Marcellum et celso praesignem vertice nosces.
cui primam solito vulgi de more salutem,          10
mox inclusa modis haec reddere verba memento:
'iam terras volucremque polum fuga veris aquosi
laxat et Icariis caelum latratibus urit;
ardua iam densae rarescunt moenia Romae.
hos Praeneste sacrum, nemus hos glaciale Dianae,          15

Run through the Euboean fields, not sluggish, epistle,
having entered the roads here where the noble Appian grows
sideways and with its solid agger presses the soft sands;
and when swiftly you shall have penetrated the Romulean citadels,
at once seek the right-hand shores of tawny Tiber,          5
where the Lydian bank thoroughly restrains the naval lagoon
and the ford is fringed with suburban gardens.
There you will see Marcellus outstanding in form and in spirits,
and you will know him marked out by his lofty vertex.
To whom, first, a greeting after the customary manner of the crowd,          10
then remember to render these words enclosed in meters:
‘Already the flight of watery spring loosens the lands and the winged pole,
and with Icarian barkings it scorches the sky;
already the lofty walls of crowded Rome grow thin.
These to sacred Praeneste, these to the icy grove of Diana,          15

Algidus aut horrens aut Tuscula protegit umbra,
Tiburis hi lucos Anienaque frigora captant.
te quoque clamosae quaenam plaga mitior Vrbi
subtrahit? aestivos quo decipis aere soles?

Algidus, either bristling, or Tusculum, protects with shade,
these catch the groves of Tibur and the chills of the Anio.
what milder region withdraws you too from the clamorous City,
with what air do you beguile the summer suns?

quid tuus ante omnis, tua cura potissima, Gallus, 20
nec non noster amor, dubium morumne probandus
ingeniine bonis? Latiis aestivat in oris,
anne metalliferae repetit iam moenia Lunae
Tyrrhenasque domos? quod si tibi proximus haeret,
non ego nunc vestro procul a sermone recedo. 25
certum est: inde sonus geminas mihi circumit aures.

what of your Gallus before all, your most especial care, 20
and likewise our love, doubtful whether to be approved for morals
or for the endowments of genius? does he estivate on Latin shores,
or does he now revisit the walls of metalliferous Luna
and the Tyrrhenian homes? but if he, nearest to you, clings,
I do not now withdraw far from your conversation. 25
it is certain: from there the sound circles both my ears.

sed tu, dum nimio possessa Hyperione flagrat
torva Cleonaei iuba sideris, exue curis
pectus et assiduo temet furare labori.
et sontes operit pharetras arcumque retendit 30

but you, while the grim mane of the Cleonaean star, possessed by too-great Hyperion, blazes,
strip your breast of cares and steal yourself from assiduous labor.
and he covers the guilty quivers and slackens the bow 30

Parthus, et Eleis auriga laboribus actos
Alpheo permulcet equos, et nostra fatescit
laxaturque chelys: vires instigat alitque
tempestiva quies; maior post otia virtus.
talis cantata Briseide venit Achilles 35
acrior et positis erupit in Hectora plectris.
te quoque flammabit tacite repetita parumper
desidia et solitos novus exsultabis in actus.

The Parthian, and the charioteer, with the Alpheus soothes the horses driven by Eleian labors, and our chelys grows weary and is slackened: timely quiet instigates and nourishes forces; greater is virtue after leisures.
thus, with Briseis chanted, Achilles came 35
keener, and with the plectra set aside, he burst out against Hector.
idleness too, resumed for a little while, will silently inflame you, and renewed you will exult into your accustomed acts.

certe iam Latiae non miscent iurgia leges,
et pacem piger annus habet, messesque reversae 40
dimisere forum, nec iam tibi turba reorum
vestibulo querulique rogant exire clientes.
cessat centeni moderatrix iudicis hasta,
qua tibi sublimi iam nunc celeberrima fama
eminet et iuvenis facundia praeterit annos. 45

surely now the Latian laws do not stir up wranglings,
and a sluggish year holds peace, and the returning harvests 40
have dismissed the forum, nor now does the crowd of the accused
at your threshold, and querulous clients, beg you to come out.
at rest is the spear, regulator of the hundred-judge court,
by which for you already now a most celebrated fame
stands eminent on high, and a young man’s eloquence outstrips his years. 45

felix curarum, cui non Heliconia cordi
serta nec imbelles Parnasi e vertice laurus,
sed viget ingenium et magnos accinctus in usus
fert animus quascumque vices. nos otia vitae
solamur cantu ventosaque gaudia famae          50
quaerimus. en egomet somnum et geniale secutus
litus ubi Ausonio se condidit hospita portu
Parthenope, tenues ignavo pollice chordas
pulso Maroneique sedens in margine templi
sumo animum et magni tumulis adcanto magistri:          55
at tu, si longi cursum dabit Atropos aevi
(detque precor Latiique ducis sic numina pergant,
quem tibi posthabito studium est coluisse Tonante,
quique tuos alio subtexit munere fasces
et spatia obliquae mandat renovare Latinae!)          60

happy in cares, for whom the Heliconian garlands are not dear to the heart
nor the un-warlike laurels from the summit of Parnassus,
but ingenuity thrives, and, girded for great uses,
the spirit bears whatever turns. We solace the leisures of life
with song, and we seek the wind-blown joys of fame.          50
Lo, I myself, having followed sleep and the genial
shore where Parthenope, a guest, settled herself in an Ausonian harbor,
I strike the slender strings with an idle thumb,
and, sitting on the edge of Maro’s temple,
I take heart and I chant to the tombs of the great master:          55
but you, if Atropos grants the course of a long age
(and may she grant it, I pray, and may thus the divinities of the Latian leader go on,
whom it has been your zeal to honor with the Thunderer set second,
and who has underwoven your fasces with another favor
and commands you to renew the stretches of the oblique Latian Way!)          60

forsitan Ausonias ibis frenare cohortes
aut Rheni populos aut nigrae litora Thyles
aut Histrum servare datur metuendaque portae
limina Caspiacae. nec enim tibi sola potentis
eloquii virtus: sunt membra accommoda bellis, 65
quique gravem tarde subeant thoraca lacerti:
seu campo pedes ire pares, est agmina supra
nutaturus apex; seu frena sonantia flectes,
serviet asper equus. nos facta aliena canendo
vergimur in senium: propriis tu pulcher in armis 70
ipse canenda geres parvoque exempla parabis
magna Getae, dignos quem iam nunc belliger actus
poscit avos praestatque domi novisse triumphos.

perhaps you will go to bridle Ausonian cohorts
or the peoples of the Rhine or the shores of black Thule,
or it will be granted to guard the Hister and the awe‑inspiring thresholds
of the Caspian gate. For not for you is the virtue of powerful
eloquence alone: you have limbs accommodated to wars, 65
and upper arms that would slowly take up the heavy cuirass:
whether on the plain you go on foot abreast, there will be a crest to nod
above the battalions; or if you will bend the ringing reins,
the rough horse will serve. We, by singing others’ deeds,
are inclined toward old age: you, fair in your own arms, 70
will yourself bear deeds to be sung and with little you will furnish
great examples for Geta, for whom already now warlike action
demands worthy ancestors, and it is better to have known triumphs at home.

surge, agedum, iuvenemque puer deprende parentem,
stemmate materno felix, virtute paterna. 75

rise, come now, and, boy, catch your parent young,
fortunate in maternal lineage, in paternal virtue. 75

iam te blanda sinu Tyrio sibi curia felix
educat et cunctas gaudet spondere curules.'
Haec ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
litoribus, fractas ubi Vesvius erigit iras
aemula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis. 80
mira fides! credetne virum ventura propago,
cum segetes iterum, cum iam haec deserta virebunt,
infra urbes populosque premi proavitaque tanto
rura abiisse mari? necdum letale minari
cessat apex.

Already the happy Curia fondly, in her Tyrian bosom, nurtures you for herself and rejoices to pledge all the curule honors.'
These things I, on the Chalcidian shores, to you, Marcellus, was sounding,
where Vesuvius raises up its shattered wraths,
rolling conflagrations rivaling the Trinacrian flames. 80
wondrous to believe! Will the race to come believe a man,
when the grain-fields are again, when these wastes by now will be green,
that beneath cities and peoples there lie pressed, and that ancestral fields have gone away into so vast a sea?
nor yet does the lethal peak cease to threaten.

procul ista tuo sint fata Teate,          85
nec Marrucinos agat haec insania montes.
    Nunc si forte meis quae sint exordia musis
scire petis, iam Sidonios emensa labores
Thebais optato collegit carbasa portu
Parnasique iugis silvaque Heliconide festis          90

far be those fates from your Teate,          85
nor let this insanity drive upon the Marrucinian mountains.
    Now if by chance you seek to know what the beginnings (exordia) of my Muses are,
you seek to know, already, the Thebaid, having traversed Sidonian labors,
has gathered her sails into the longed-for port,
and the ridges of Parnassus and the Heliconian woodland are in festival.          90

tura dedit flammis et virginis exta iuvencae
votiferaque meas suspendit ab arbore vittas.
nunc vacuos crines alio subit infula nexu:
Troia quidem magnusque mihi temptatur Achilles,
sed vocat arcitenens alio pater armaque monstrat 95
Ausonii maiora ducis. trahit impetus illo
iam pridem retrahitque timor.

she gave incense to the flames and the entrails of a virgin heifer
and hung my votive-bearing fillets from a tree.
now a headband comes upon my unadorned tresses with another binding:
Troy indeed and great Achilles are being attempted by me,
but the bow-bearing father calls me elsewhere and shows the arms 95
of a greater Ausonian leader. Impulse draws me thither
and for a long time now fear draws me back.

stabuntne sub illa
mole umeri an magno vincetur pondere cervix?
dic, Marcelle, feram? fluctus an sueta minores
nosse ratis nondum Ioniis credenda periclis? 100
Iamque vale et penitus voti tibi vatis honorem
corde exire veta.

Will the shoulders stand under that mass, or will the neck be overcome by the great weight?
say, Marcellus, shall I bear it? or is the raft, accustomed to know lesser waves, not yet to be entrusted to Ionian perils? 100
And now farewell, and forbid the honor of the bard’s vow for you to go forth entirely from your heart.

nec enim Tirynthius, almae
pectus amicitiae++cedet tibi gloria fidi
Theseos, et lacerum qui circa moenia Troiae
Priamiden caeso solacia traxit amico.

for nor indeed will the Tirynthian, the heart of kindly
friendship,++yield to you, nor the glory of faithful Theseus,
and he who around the walls of Troy
dragged the torn Priamid as solace for his slaughtered friend.

V. ODE LYRICA AD SEPTIMIVM SEVERVM

5. LYRIC ODE TO SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS

Parvi beatus ruris honoribus,
qua prisca Teucros Alba colit lares,
    fortem atque facundum Severum
    non solitis fidibus saluto.
iam trux ad Arctos Parrhasias hiems          5
concessit altis obruta solibus,
    iam pontus ac tellus renident
    in Zephyros Aquilone fracto.
nunc cuncta veris; frondibus annuis
crinitur arbos, nunc volucrum novi          10
    questus inexpertumque carmen,
    quod tacita statuere bruma.
nos parca tellus pervigil et focus
culmenque multo lumine sordidum
    solantur exemptusque testa          15

Happy with the honors of a small countryside,
where Alba cherishes the ancient Lares of the Teucrians,
    I salute the brave and eloquent Severus
    with unaccustomed strings.
now the grim Parrhasian winter toward the Bears          5
has yielded, overwhelmed by lofty suns,
    now sea and land beam
    with the North Wind broken to the Zephyrs.
now all things are of spring; with yearly leaves
the tree is hair-crowned, now the birds’ new          10
    lament and untried song,
    which they established in the silent winter.
us the frugal earth and the ever-wakeful hearth
and the roof-crest begrimed with much light
    console, and the tile removed.          15

    qua modo fervuerat Lyaeus.
non mille balant lanigeri greges,
nec vacca dulci mugit adultero,
    unique siquando canenti
    mutus ager domino reclamat.          20
sed terra primis post patriam mihi
dilecta curis, hic mea carmina
    regina bellorum virago
    Caesareo peramavit auro,
cum tu sodalis dulce periculum          25
conisus omni pectore tolleres,
    ut Castor ad cunctos tremebat
    Bebryciae strepitus harenae.
tene in remotis Syrtibus avia
Leptis creavit?

    where just now Lyaeus had seethed.
not a thousand wool-bearing flocks bleat,
nor does the cow low to her sweet adulterer,
    and, whenever one is singing from anywhere,
    the mute field echoes back to its master.          20
but the land, to me beloved in my earliest cares after my fatherland,
here my songs
    the queen of wars, a virago,
    has loved through and through with Caesarean gold,
when you, companion, would, striving with all your heart, lift the sweet peril,          25
    as Castor made to tremble before all
    the noise of the Bebrycian arena.
was it you that in the remote Syrtes, pathless,
Leptis begot?

iam feret Indicas 30

now he will bear Indian trophies 30

    messes odoratisque rara
    cinnama praeripiet Sabaeis.
quis non in omni vertice Romuli
reptasse dulcem Septimium putet?
    quis fonte Iuturnae relictis          35
    uberibus neget esse pastum?

    harvests and rare odorous cinnamons
    he will snatch beforehand from the Sabaeans.
who would not think that dear Septimius
has crept over every summit of Romulus?
    who would deny that at Juturna’s spring          35
    he has been nourished, the breasts left behind?

nec mira virtus: protinus Ausonum
portus vadosae nescius Africae
    intras adoptatusque Tuscis
    gurgitibus puer innatasti.          40
hinc parvus inter pignora curiae
contentus <artae> lumine purpurae
    crescis, sed immensos labores
    indole patricia secutus.
non sermo Poenus, non habitus tibi,          45

nor is it a wondrous virtue: straightway the Ausonians’
harbors, unacquainted with shoaly Africa,
    you enter, and, adopted by the Tuscan
    whirlpools, as a boy you swam within.          40
hence, small, among the pledges of the curia,
content with the light of the <narrow> purple,
    you grow, but immense labors
    you pursued with patrician inborn-disposition.
neither Punic speech, nor attire, for you,          45

externa non mens: Italus, Italus.
    sunt Vrbe Romanisque turmis
    qui Libyam deceant alumni.
est et frementi vox hilaris foro;
venale sed non eloquium tibi,           50
    ensisque vagina quiescit,
    stringere ni iubeant amici.

no foreign mind: Italian, Italian.
    there are, in the City and in Roman squadrons,
    alumni who would befit Libya.
there is also a cheerful voice for the roaring forum;
but your eloquence is not for sale,           50
    and your sword rests in its sheath,
    unless friends bid you to draw it.

sed rura cordi saepius et quies,
nunc in paternis sedibus et solo
    Veiente, nunc frondosa supra          55
    Hernica, nunc Curibus vetustis.
hic plura pones vocibus et modis
passim solutis, sed memor interim
    nostri verecundo latentem
    barbiton ingemina sub antro.

but the fields and repose are more often dear to your heart,
now in your paternal seats and on Veientine soil,
    now above leafy          55
    Hernica, now at ancient Cures.
here you will set down more with voices and modes
everywhere unbound, but meanwhile, mindful of us,
    redouble the hidden barbiton beneath a modest
    cavern.

VI. HERCVLES EPITRAPEZIOS NOVI VINDICIS

6. HERCULES EPITRAPEZIUS OF THE NEW VINDICATOR

Forte remittentem curas Phoeboque levatum
pectora, cum patulis tererem vagus otia Saeptis
iam moriente die, rapuit me cena benigni
Vindicis. haec imos animi perlapsa recessus
inconsumpta manet: neque enim ludibria ventris          5
hausimus aut epulas diverso a sole petitas
vinaque perpetuis aevo certantia fastis.
a miseri, quos nosse iuvat quid Phasidis ales
distet ab hiberna Rhodopes grue, quis magis anser
exta ferat, cur Tuscus aper generosior Vmbro,          10
lubrica qua recubent conchylia mollius alga.
nobis verus amor medioque Helicone petitus
sermo hilaresque ioci brumalem absumere noctem
suaserunt mollemque oculis expellere somnum,
donec ab Elysiis prospexit sedibus alter          15

By chance, as I was relaxing cares and with my breast lightened by Phoebus,
when, a wanderer, I was wearing away my leisure in the broad Saepta,
with the day now dying, the dinner of kindly Vindex seized me.
This, having slipped through the inmost recesses of the mind,
remains unconsumed: for we did not quaff the mockeries of the belly, 5
nor banquets sought from a sun foreign to ours,
nor wines vying in age with the perpetual Fasti.
Ah, wretched they whom it delights to know how the bird of the Phasis
differs from the wintry crane of Rhodope, which goose bears better entrails,
why the Tuscan boar is more generous than the Umbrian,
on what slippery seaweed shellfish recline more softly.
For us, true love and discourse sought from mid-Helicon
and cheerful jests persuaded us to consume the brumal night
and to drive soft sleep from our eyes,
until from Elysian seats another looked forth. 15

Castor et hesternas risit Tithonia mensas.
o bona nox iunctaque utinam Tirynthia luna!
nox et Erythraeis Thetidis signanda lapillis
et memoranda diu geniumque habitura perennem!

Castor and the Tithonian Dawn smiled at yesterday's tables.
o good night, and would that the Tirynthian moon were joined!
night to be marked with the pebbles of Erythraean Thetis
and to be remembered long, and destined to have a perennial genius!

mille ibi tunc species aerisque eborisque vetusti          20
atque locuturas mentito corpore ceras
edidici. quis namque oculis certaverit usquam
Vindicis, artificum veteres agnoscere ductus
et non inscriptis auctorem reddere signis?
hic tibi quae docto multum vigilata Myroni          25
aera, laboriferi vivant quae marmora caelo
Praxitelis, quod ebur Pisaeo pollice rasum,
quid Polycleteis iussum spirare caminis,
linea quae veterem longe fateatur Apellen,
monstrabit: namque haec, quotiens chelyn exuit, illi          30

a thousand forms there then of bronze and of ancient ivory          20
and waxes, with a feigned body, about to speak,
I learned by heart. For who anywhere could have vied
with Vindex in his eyes, to recognize the ancient strokes of artisans
and to render the author from signs not inscribed?
Here to you which bronzes, long watched by the learned Myron,          25
which marbles live by the toil-bearing chisel
of Praxiteles, what ivory, shaved by the Pisaean thumb,
what was bidden to breathe by the furnaces of Polycleitus,
what line from afar avows the ancient Apelles,
he will show: for this man, whenever he puts off the tortoise-shell lyre, to him          30

desidia est, hic Aoniis amor avocat antris.
Haec inter castae genius tutelaque mensae
Amphitryoniades multo mea cepit amore
pectora nec longo satiavit lumina visu:
tantus honos operi finesque inclusa per artos 35
maiestas. deus ille, deus!

there is idleness; here love calls me away to the Aonian caves.
Amid these things, the genius and tutelage of the chaste table
the Amphitryoniad seized my breast with much love,
nor did he sate my eyes by a long gaze:
so great the honor to the work and the majesty enclosed within tight bounds 35
he is a god, a god!

seseque videndum
indulsit, Lysippe, tibi parvusque videri
sentirique ingens! et cum mirabilis intra
stet mensura pedem, tamen exclamare libebit,
si visus per membra feres: 'hoc pectore pressus 40
vastator Nemees; haec exitiale ferebant
robur et Argoos frangebant brachia remos.'
ac spatio tam magna brevi mendacia formae!
quis modus in dextra, quanta experientia docti
artificis curis pariter gestamina mensae 45

and he indulged himself to be seen
by you, Lysippus, and to seem small
and to be felt immense! and although the wondrous measure
stands within a foot, yet you will want to exclaim,
if you carry your sight along the limbs: ‘on this chest was pressed 40
the devastator of Nemea; these arms bore deadly
strength and were breaking the Argive oars.’
and in so brief a space such great mendacities of form!
what proportion in the right hand, how much seasoned skill of the learned
artificer’s cares made alike the equipage of the table! 45

fingere et ingentes animo versare colossos!
tale nec Idaeis quicquam Telchines in antris
nec stolidus Brontes nec, qui polit arma deorum,
Lemnius exigua potuisset ludere massa.
nec torva effigies epulisque aliena remissis, 50
sed qualem parci domus admirata Molorchi
aut Aleae lucis vidit Tegeaea sacerdos;
qualis et Oetaeis emissus in astra favillis
nectar adhuc torva laetus Iunone bibebat:
sic mitis vultus, veluti de pectore gaudens, 55
hortatur mensas.

to shape and to turn about in mind enormous colossi!
nor could the Telchines in the Idaean caverns anything such,
nor the stolid Brontes nor he who burnishes the arms of the gods,
the Lemnian, have played with so small a mass.
nor a grim effigy, and alien to banquets when relaxed, 50
but such as the house of parsimonious Molorchus admired,
or the Tegean priestess saw in the grove of Alea;
such as, sent into the stars from the Oetaean embers,
he was still, with Juno grim, gladly drinking nectar:
thus a mild countenance, as if rejoicing from the breast, 55
encourages the tables.

tenet haec marcentia fratris
pocula, at haec clavae meminit manus; aspera sedis
sustinet et cultum Nemeaeo tegmine saxum.
Digna operi fortuna sacro. Pellaeus habebat
regnator laetis numen venerabile mensis 60

this holds the languishing cups of his brother; but this hand remembers the club; the rough rock sustains his seat, and his garb is the Nemean covering.
A fortune worthy of the sacred work. The Pellaean ruler had
the venerable numen at joyful tables. 60

et comitem occasus secum portabat et ortus,
praestabatque libens modo qua diademata dextra
abstulerat dederatque et magnas verterat urbes.
semper ab hoc animos in crastina bella petebat,
huic acies semper victor narrabat opimas,          65
sive catenatos Bromio detraxerat Indos,
seu clusam magna Babylona refregerat hasta,
seu Pelopis terras libertatemque Pelasgam
obruerat bello; magnoque ex agmine laudum
fertur Thebanos tantum excusasse triumphos.          70
ille etiam, magnos fatis rumpentibus actus,
cum traheret letale merum, iam mortis opaca
nube gravis vultus alios in numine caro
aeraque supremis timuit sudantia mensis.
    Mox Nasamoniaco decus admirabile regi          75

and he would carry with him as a companion both settings and risings,
and gladly he would bestow in that place where his right hand had just
taken away diadems and had given them, and had turned great cities.
always from this one he sought spirits for the next day’s wars,
to this one the victor always reported rich battle-lines,          65
whether he had dragged down the Indians in chains for Bromius,
or had broken open closed Babylon with a great spear,
or had overwhelmed with war the lands of Pelops and Pelasgian liberty;
and from the great host of praises he is said to have excused only
the Theban triumphs.          70
he also, when the fates were breaking mighty ventures,
as he drew deadly neat wine, already heavy with the dark
cloud of death, saw other faces in the dear divinity
and feared the bronzes sweating at the ultimate tables.
    Soon a marvelous honor for the Nasamonian king          75

possessum; fortique deo libavit honores
semper atrox dextra periuroque ense superbus
Hannibal. Italicae perfusum sanguine gentis
diraque Romuleis portantem incendia tectis
oderat, et cum epulas, et cum Lenaea dicaret 80
dona, deus castris maerens comes ire nefandis,
praecipue cum sacrilega face miscuit arces
ipsius immeritaeque domos ac templa Sagunti
polluit et populis Furias immisit honestas.
Nec post Sidonii letum ducis aere potita 85
egregio plebeia domus.

held in possession; and to the strong god he libated honors
Hannibal, always grim in his right hand and proud with a perjured sword.
He hated the one soaked with the blood of the Italic race
and carrying dire conflagrations to the Romulean roofs;
both when he dedicated banquets, and when he dedicated Lenaean gifts, 80
the god, grieving, would go as companion to his unspeakable camps,
especially when with a sacrilegious torch he threw into confusion the citadels
that were his, and he polluted the homes and the temples of innocent Saguntum,
and he let loose righteous Furies upon the peoples.
Nor after the death of the Sidonian leader did a plebeian house obtain possession of the distinguished bronze. 85
egregio plebeia domus.

convivia Syllae
ornabat semper claros intrare penates
assuetum et felix dominorum stemmate signum.
Nunc quoque, si mores humanaque pectora curae
nosse deis, non aula quidem, Tirynthie, nec te 90

it always adorned the banquets of Sulla,
a sign accustomed to enter illustrious penates
and fortunate for the lineage of its masters.
Now also, if manners and human hearts are a care
to be known by the gods, not the hall indeed, Tirynthian, nor you 90

regius ambit honos, sed casta ignaraque culpae
mens domini, cui prisca fides coeptaeque perenne
foedus amicitiae. scit adhuc florente sub aevo
par magnis Vestinus avis, quem nocte dieque
spirat et in carae vivit complexibus umbrae.          95
hic igitur tibi laeta quies, fortissime divum
Alcide, nec bella vides pugnasque feroces,
sed chelyn et vittas et amantes carmina laurus.
hic tibi sollemni memorabit carmine quantus
Iliacas Geticasque domos quantusque nivalem          100
Stymphalon quantusque iugis Erymanthon aquosis
terrueris, quem te pecoris possessor Hiberi,
quem tulerit saevae Mareoticus arbiter arae;
hic penetrata tibi spoliataque limina mortis
concinet et flentes Libyae Scythiaeque puellas.          105

royal honor aspires, but the chaste and guilt-ignorant
mind of the master, to whom there is ancient faith and a perennial
covenant of friendship. He knows, still under a flourishing age,
Vestinus, on a par with his great ancestors, whom night and day
his dear shade breathes and in whose embraces it lives.          95
here therefore for you is gladsome rest, bravest of the gods,
Alcides, and you see not wars and fierce battles,
but the lyre and fillets and laurels that love songs.
here for you he will commemorate in a solemn song how great
you were to terrify the Iliac and Getic homes, and how great the snowy          100
Stymphalus, and how great the Erymanthus with watery ridges
you terrified, what sort of man, you, the possessor of the Iberian herd,
bore, and what the arbiter of the savage Mareotic altar endured;
here he will sing the thresholds of death penetrated and despoiled for you,
and the weeping maidens of Libya and Scythia.          105

nec te regnator Macetum nec barbarus umquam
Hannibal aut saevi posset vox horrida Syllae
his celebrare modis. certe tu, muneris auctor,
non aliis malles oculis, Lysippe, probari.

nor could the ruler of the Macedonians nor the barbarian Hannibal
or the horrid voice of savage Sulla celebrate you in these modes.
surely you, author of the gift,
would not prefer to be approved by other eyes, Lysippus.

VII. ODE LYRICA AD VIBIVM MAXIMVM

7. LYRIC ODE TO VIBIUS MAXIMUS

Iam diu lato sociata campo
fortis heroos, Erato, labores
differ atque ingens opus in minores
    contrahe gyros,
tuque regnator lyricae cohortis          5
da novi paulum mihi iura plectri,
si tuas cantu Latio sacravi,
    Pindare, Thebas.
Maximo carmen tenuare tempto;
nunc ab intonsa capienda myrto          10
serta, nunc maior sitis et bibendus
    castior amnis.
quando te dulci Latio remittent
Dalmatae montes, ubi Dite viso
pallidus fossor redit erutoque          15

Long joined to the broad field of brave heroic labors, Erato, put them off, and draw the vast work into smaller gyres;
and you too, ruler of the lyric cohort,          5
grant me for a little the rights of a new plectrum,
if I have consecrated your Thebes to Latium by song,
    Pindar.
I try to make a song slender for Maximus;
now garlands must be taken from unshorn myrtle,          10
now a greater thirst and a more chaste river is to be drunk.
When will the Dalmatian mountains send you back to sweet Latium,
where, with Dis seen, the pallid digger returns and with the shaft dug out          15

    concolor auro?
ecce me natum propiore terra
non tamen portu retinent amoeno
desides Baiae liticenve notus
    Hectoris armis.          20
torpor est nostris sine te Camenis,
tardius sueto venit ipse Thymbrae
rector et primis meus ecce metis
    haeret Achilles.
quippe te fido monitore nostra          25
Thebais multa cruciata lima
temptat audaci fide Mantuanae
    gaudia famae.

    of the same color as gold?
behold me born from a nearer land—
yet neither do idle Baiae hold me back in its pleasant harbor,
nor Misenus, the trumpeter known by Hector’s arms,
    Hector’s arms.          20
there is torpor in my Camenae without you,
slower than is customary comes even the ruler of Thymbra,
and behold my Achilles at the first turning-posts
    sticks fast.
indeed, with you a faithful monitor, our          25
Thebaid, much tortured by the file,
attempts, with bold confidence, the joys
    of Mantuan fame.

sed damus lento veniam, quod alma
prole fundasti vacuos penates. 30

but we grant pardon to the tardy one, since with a nourishing
offspring you have filled the empty Penates. 30

o diem laetum! venit ecce nobis
    Maximus alter.
orbitas omni fugienda nisu,
quam premit votis inimicus heres,
optimo poscens (pudet heu) propinquo          35
    funus amice.

O happy day! Behold, there comes to us
    another Maximus.
childlessness, to be fled by every striving,
which the inimical heir presses with prayers,
demanding (alas, shame!) for an excellent kinsman          35
    a funeral, as a friend.

orbitas nullo tumulata fletu:
stat domo capta cupidus superstes
imminens leti spoliis et ipsum
    computat ignem.          40
duret in longum generosus infans,
perque non multis iter expeditum
crescat in mores patrios avumque
    provocet actis!
tu tuos parvo memorabis enses,          45

childlessness entombed with no weeping:
the greedy survivor stands with the house captured,
looming over the spoils of death, and he even
    counts the very fire.          40
may the well-born infant endure for long,
and along a route unencumbered by many
let him grow into his father’s mores and with deeds
    provoke his grandsire!
you will recount your swords to the little one,          45

quos ad Eoum tuleras Orontem
signa frenatae moderatus alae
    Castore dextro;
ille ut invicti rapidum secutus
Caesaris fulmen refugis amaram          50
Sarmatis legem dederit, sub uno
    vivere caelo.
sed tuas artes puer ante discat,
omne quis mundi senium remensus
orsa Sallusti brevis et Timavi          55
    reddis alumnum.

which standards you had borne to the Eastern Orontes,
as the moderator of a bridled wing,
    with Castor on the right;
that he, having followed the swift thunderbolt
of unconquered Caesar, may impose a bitter law on the fleeing          50
Sarmatians, to live beneath one
    sky.
but let the boy first learn your arts,
you who, having remeasured all the senility of the world,
render him an alumnus of Sallust’s brief undertakings and of the          55
    nursling of the Timavus.

VIII. GRATVLATIO AD IVLIVM MENECRATEN

8. CONGRATULATION TO JULIUS MENECRATES

Pande fores superum vittataque templa Sabaeis
nubibus et pecudum fibris spirantibus imple,
Parthenope; clari genus ecce Menecratis auget
tertia iam soboles. procerum tibi nobile vulgus
crescit et insani solatur damna Vesevi. 5
nec solum festas secreta Neapolis aras
ambiat: et socii portus dilectaque miti
terra Dicarcheo nec non plaga cara madenti
Surrentina deo sertis altaria cingat,
materni qua litus avi, quem turba nepotum 10
circumit et similes contendit reddere vultus.
gaudeat et Libyca praesignis avunculus hasta,
quaeque sibi genitos putat attollitque benigno
Polla sinu.

Throw open the doors of the gods, and fill the filleted temples with Sabaean clouds and with the steaming fibers of the flocks, Parthenope; behold, the stock of illustrious Menecrates is now augmented by a third offspring. For you a noble throng of nobles grows and consoles the losses of mad Vesuvius. 5
nor let only the secret shrines of Naples encircle the festal altars: and let the companion harbor and the land beloved by the gentle Dicarchean god, and likewise the Surrentine tract dear to the dripping god, wreathe the altars with garlands,
where lies the shore of the maternal grandsire, whom a crowd of grandsons surrounds and strives to make their faces like. Let the uncle, distinguished by the Libyan spear, rejoice as well,
and Polla, who deems them born to herself, lifts them in her kindly bosom.

macte, o iuvenis, qui tanta merenti
lumina das patriae. dulcis tremit ecce tumultus 15

well done, o young man, who to the deserving
fatherland give such luminaries. behold, a sweet tumult trembles 15

tot dominis clamata domus. procul atra recedat
Invidia atque alio liventia pectora flectat:
his senium longaeque decus virtutis et alba
Atropos et patrius lauros promisit Apollo.
Ergo quod Ausoniae pater augustissimus urbis 20
ius tibi tergeminae dederat laetabile prolis,
omen erat.

a house acclaimed by so many masters. Let black Envy withdraw far away and turn her livid hearts elsewhere: to these, white Atropos promised old age and the honor of long virtue, and paternal Apollo laurels.
Therefore, that the most august father of the Ausonian city had given to you the gladsome right of triple offspring, 20
the omen it was.

venit totiens Lucina piumque
intravit repetita larem. sic fertilis, oro,
stet domus et donis numquam mutata sacratis.
macte, quod et proles tibi saepius aucta virili 25
robore, sed iuveni laetanda et virgo parenti:
aptior his virtus, citius dabit illa nepotes,
qualis maternis Helene iam digna palaestris
inter Amyclaeos reptabat candida fratres;
vel qualis caeli facies, ubi nocte serena 30

so often has Lucina come, and has entered again the pious hearth.
thus may the house stand fertile, I pray,
and never changed in its sacred gifts.
Hail, that your offspring too has more often been augmented with virile 25
strength, but a maiden also to gladden a youthful parent:
a virtue more apt to these; she will more quickly give grandchildren,
such as Helen, already worthy of her mother’s palaestrae,
crawled, fair, among her Amyclaean brothers;
or such as the aspect of the sky, when on a serene night 30

admovere iubar mediae duo sidera lunae.
Sed queror haud faciles, iuvenum rarissime, questus
irascorque etiam, quantum irascuntur amantes.
tantane me decuit vulgari gaudia fama
noscere?

Two stars brought their radiance to the midst of the moon.
But I lament no easy complaints, rarest of youths,
and I also grow angry, as much as lovers grow angry.
was it fitting for me to come to know joys by vulgar fame?

cumque tibi vagiret tertius infans, 35
protinus ingenti non venit nuntia cursu
littera, quae festos cumulare altaribus ignes
et redimire chelyn postesque ornare iuberet
Albanoque cadum sordentem promere fumo
et cantu signare diem? sed tardus inersque 40
nunc demum mea vota cano: tua culpa tuusque
hic pudor. ulterius sed enim producere questus
non licet; en hilaris circumstat turba tuorum
defensatque patrem.

and when for you the third infant wailed, 35
did not at once the message-letter come at a mighty run
which would bid to heap festal fires upon the altars
and to wreathe the chelys-lyre and to adorn the doorposts,
and to bring forth the cask begrimed with Alban smoke,
and to mark the day with song? but slow and inert 40
only now do I sing my vows: this is your fault and your own modesty.
but indeed it is not permitted to prolong complaints further;
lo, the cheerful throng of your own stands around
and keeps defending their father.

quem non hoc agmine vincas?
di patrii, quos auguriis super aequora magnis 45

whom would you not conquer with this army?
ancestral gods, whom with great auguries over the seas 45

litus ad Ausonium devexit Abantia classis,
tu, ductor populi longe migrantis, Apollo,
cuius adhuc volucrem laeva cervice sedentem
respiciens blande felix Eumelus adorat,
tuque, Actaea Ceres, cursu cui semper anhelo          50
votivam taciti quassamus lampada mystae,
et vos, Tyndaridae, quos non horrenda Lycurgi
Taygeta umbrosaeque magis coluere Therapnae:
hos cum plebe sua patrii servate penates.
sint, qui fessam aevo crebrisque laboribus urbem          55
voce opibusque iuvent viridique in nomine servent.
his placidos genitor mores largumque nitorem
monstret avus, pulchrae studium virtutis uterque.
quippe et opes et origo sinunt hanc lampade prima
patricias intrare fores, hos pube sub ipsa,          60

to the Ausonian shore the Abantian fleet has conveyed us,
you, Apollo, leader of a people migrating far,
whose bird still, sitting on his left neck, the happy Eumelus,
looking back sweetly, adores;
and you, Actaean Ceres, at whose ever panting course          50
we silent mystae shake the votive torch,
and you, Tyndaridae, whom not the Taygetus of dread Lycurgus
and the more shadowy Therapnae have honored more:
guard these native Penates along with their people.
let there be those who may aid with voice and resources the city weary with age          55
and frequent labors, and preserve it in an ever-green name.
to these may the father show gentle manners and abundant brilliance,
and the grandsire likewise, and both a zeal for fair virtue.
indeed both wealth and origin allow this girl, at her first torch,
to enter patrician thresholds, and these at their very puberty,          60

si modo prona bonis invicti Caesaris adsint
numina, Romulei limen pulsare senatus.

if only the numina of unconquered Caesar, favorable to the good, be present
to knock at the threshold of the Romulean senate.

IX. HENDECASYLLABI IOCOSI AD PLOTIVM GRYPVM

9. JOCULAR HENDECASYLLABLES TO PLOTIUS GRYPUS

Est sane iocus iste, quod libellum
misisti mihi, Grype, pro libello.
urbanum tamen hoc potest videri,
si post hoc aliquid mihi remittas;
nam si ludere, Grype, perseveras,          5
non ludis. licet, ecce, computemus!
noster purpureus novusque charta
et binis decoratus umbilicis,
praeter me mihi constitit decussis:
tu rosum tineis situque putrem,           10
quales aut Libycis madent olivis
aut tus Niliacum piperve servant
aut Byzantiacos colunt lacertos;
nec saltem tua dicta continentem
quae trino iuvenis foro tonabas,          15
aut centum prope iudices, priusquam
te Germanicus arbitrum sequenti
annonae dedit omniumque late
praefecit stationibus viarum;
sed Bruti senis oscitationes          20

This is indeed a jest, that you sent me, Grypus, a booklet
in place of a booklet. Yet this can seem urbane,
if after this you send me something in return;
for if you persist in playing, Grypus,          5
you are not playing. Allow, look, let us reckon it up!
Our purple and brand-new sheet
and adorned with twin umbilici,
besides me, cost me ten decusses:
you (send) one gnawed by moths and rotten with mildew,           10
the sort that either drip with Libyan olives
or keep Nile frankincense and pepper,
or tend Byzantine mackerels;
nor at least containing your speeches
which as a young man you thundered in the triple forum,          15
or before nearly a hundred judges, before
Germanicus made you arbiter of the coming
grain-supply and far and wide set you
over all the stations of the roads;
but the yawns of old Brutus.

de capsa miseri libellionis,
emptum plus minus asse Gaiano,
donas. usque adeone defuerunt
caesis pillea suta de lacernis
vel mantelia luridaeve mappae, 25
chartae Thebaicaeve Caricaeve?
nusquam turbine conditus ruenti
prunorum globus atque cottanorum?

from the capsa of a wretched little booklet,
bought for about a Gaian as,
you present it. were they so completely lacking,
caps sewn from cut-up cloaks,
or towels or sallow napkins, 25
or Thebaic or Carian paper?
nowhere a hoard laid away against a rushing whirlwind
a lump of prunes and dried figs?

non enlychnia sicca, non replictae
bulborum tunicae? nec ova tantum, 30
nec lenes halicae, nec asperum far?
nusquam Cinyphiis vagata campis
curvarum domus uda coclearum?

not dry lamp-wicks, not peeled-back
tunics of bulbs? not eggs alone, 30
nor smooth groats, nor rough spelt?
nowhere wandering on the Cinyphian fields
the damp house of curved snails?

non lardum grave debilisve perna?
non Lucanica, non graves Falisci, 35

not heavy bacon or a debilitated ham?
not a Lucanica, not the weighty Falisci, 35

non sal oxyporumve caseusve?
aut panes nitidantis aphronitri?
vel passum psithiis suis recoctum,
dulci defruta vel lutosa caeno?

not salt or cheese for oxypora?
or cakes of gleaming aphronitrum?
or passum reboiled with its own psithia,
sweet defrutum or befouled with muddy filth?

quantum nec dare cereos olentes,          40
cultellum tenuesve codicillos?
ollares, rogo, non licebat uvas,
Cumano patinas in orbe tortas
aut unam dare synthesin (quid horres?)
alborum calicum atque caccaborum?          45
sed certa velut aequus in statera,
nil mutas, sed idem mihi rependis.
quid si cum bene mane semicrudus
inlatam tibi dixero salutem,
et tu me vicibus domi salutes?          50

how is it not even allowed to give scented candles,          40
a little knife or slender note-tablets?
pot-raisins, I ask, was it not permitted,
dishes from Cumae thrown on the wheel,
or to give a single “set” (why do you shudder?)
of white cups and cooking-pots?          45
but, as if exact on a true balance,
you change nothing, but pay back to me the same.
what if, quite early, half-raw (hungover),
I shall have given you the brought-in greeting,
and you in turn greet me at home?          50

aut cum me dape iuveris opima,
exspectes similes et ipse cenas?
irascor tibi, Grype. sed valebis;
tantum ne mihi, quo soles lepore,
et nunc hendecasyllabos remittas.

or when you have helped me with an opulent feast,
do you yourself expect similar dinners?
I am angry with you, Grypus. But farewell;
only do not, with the charm with which you are accustomed,
send me hendecasyllables now too.