Statius: SILVAE

Omnibus affectibus prosequenda sunt bona exempla, cum publice prosint. pietas, quam Priscillae tuae praestas, et morum tuorum pars, et nulli non conciliare te, praecipue marito, potest. uxorem enim vivam amare voluptas est, defunctam religio.

Good examples are to be pursued with all affections, since they profit the public. piety, which you show to your Priscilla, is both a part of your morals, and can conciliate you with everyone, especially with a husband. for to love a living wife is pleasure, to love one departed is religion.

ego tamen huic operi non ut unus e turba nec tantum quasi officiosus adsilui. amavit enim uxorem meam Priscilla et amando fecit mihi illam probatiorem; post hoc ingratus sum, si lacrimas tuas transeo. praeterea latus omne divinae domus semper demereri pro mea mediocritate conitor.

I, however, did not spring to this work as one out of the crowd nor merely as officious. For Priscilla loved my wife, and by loving made her more approved to me; after this I am ungrateful if I pass over your tears. Moreover I strive always, according to my mediocrity, to earn the favor of every side of the divine house.

nam qui bona fide deos colit, amat et sacerdotes. sed quamvis propiorem usum amicitiae tuae iampridem cuperem, mallem tamen nondum invenisse materiam.

for he who worships the gods in good faith loves the priests as well. but although I had long desired a nearer enjoyment of your friendship, yet I would have preferred not yet to have found the occasion.

I. EPICEDION IN PRISCILLAM

1. EPICEDION FOR PRISCILLA

Si manus aut similes docilis mihi fingere ceras
aut ebur impressis aurumve animare figuris,
hinc, Priscilla, tuo solacia grata marito
conciperem. namque egregia pietate meretur
ut vel Apelleo vultus signata colore,          5
Phidiaca vel nata manu reddare dolenti.
sic auferre rogis umbram conatur, et ingens
certamen cum Morte gerit, curasque fatigat
artificum inque omni te quaerit amare metallo.
sed mortalis honos, agilis quem dextra laborat.          10
nos tibi, laudati iuvenis rarissima coniunx,
longa nec obscurum finem latura perenni
temptamus dare iusta lyra, modo dexter Apollo
quique venit iuncto mihi semper Apolline Caesar
annuat: haut alio melius condere sepulcro.          15

If a docile hand were mine to fashion like waxes,
or to animate ivory or gold with impressed figures,
from this, Priscilla, I would conceive welcome solaces for your husband.
for by outstanding piety you deserve
that either your features, stamped with Apellean color,          5
or born of Phidian hand, be rendered to the grieving man.
thus he tries to snatch your shade from the pyres, and he wages a vast
contest with Death, and he wearies the cares of artificers,
and in every metal seeks to love you.
but it is a mortal honor, which the agile right hand labors.          10
we, to you, most rare spouse of the lauded youth,
attempt to give due rites by the lyre, long and not destined to bring an obscure end, with perennial renown,
provided propitious Apollo,
and Caesar, who always comes to me with Apollo conjoined,
may nod assent: not better to lay to rest in any other sepulcher.          15

    Sera quidem tanto struitur medicina dolori,
altera cum volucris Phoebi rota torqueat annum;
sed cum plaga recens et adhuc in vulnere primo
nigra domus questu, miseram qua accessus ad aurem
coniugis orbati? tunc flere et scindere vestes          20
et famulos lassare greges et vincere planctus
Fataque et iniustos rabidis pulsare querelis
caelicolas solamen erat. licet ipse levandos
ad gemitus silvis comitatus et amnibus Orpheus
afforet atque omnis pariter matertera vatem,          25
omnis Apollineus tegeret Bacchique sacerdos:
nil cantus, nil fila deis pallentis Averni
Eumenidumque audita comis mulcere valerent:
tantus in attonito regnabat pectore luctus.
nunc etiam ad planctus refugit iam plana cicatrix          30

    Late indeed is a medicine constructed for so great a grief,
when the second winged wheel of Phoebus twists the year;
but when the wound is fresh and still in the first gash,
the house black with lament, how wretched was any approach to the ear
of the bereft spouse? then to weep and to rend garments          20
and to weary the flocks of attendants and to outdo in laments,
and to batter the Fates and the unjust heaven-dwellers with rabid complaints
was a solace. Even if Orpheus himself, for lightening
the groans, attended by woods and rivers, were present, and every aunt alike,
every Apollinean and Bacchic priest should cover the bard:          25
no songs, no strings—heard by the tresses of the Eumenides—could avail to soften
the gods of pallid Avernus: so great a grief reigned in the thunderstruck breast.
now even at laments the already-smoothed scar shrinks back.          30

dum canimus, gravibusque oculis uxorius instat
imber. habentne pios etiamnum haec lumina fletus?
mira fides! citius genetrix Sipylea feretur
exhausisse genas, citius Tithonida maesti
deficient rores aut exsatiata fatiscet 35
mater Achilleis hiemes adfrangere bustis.
macte animi!

while we sing, and with heavy eyes an uxorious shower presses.
do these lights still have pious tears?
wondrous faithful constancy! sooner will the Sipylian mother be said
to have drained her cheeks, sooner will the dews of the mournful Tithonid
fail, or, satiated, the mother of Achilles will grow weary of breaking 35
winters upon the tombs.
bravo of spirit!

notat ista deus qui flectit habenas
orbis et humanos propior Iove digerit actus,
maerentemque videt; lectique arcana ministri
hinc etiam documenta capit, quod diligis umbram          40
et colis exsequias. hic est castissimus ardor,
hic amor a domino meritus censore probari.
    Nec mirum, si vos collato pectore mixtos
iunxit inabrupta concordia longa catena.
illa quidem nuptumque prior taedasque marito          45

the god notes these things, who bends the reins of the world
and, nearer than Jove, arranges human acts, and sees the mourner; and from the secrets of a chosen minister
he even takes from here evidence, that you love the shade          40
and cultivate the exequies. this is a most chaste ardor,
this is a love worthy to be approved by the lord as censor.
    nor is it a wonder, if, with breast to breast set together, intermingled,
an unbroken concord has joined you with a long chain.
she indeed earlier went to marriage and the nuptial torches for her husband          45

passa alio, sed te ceu virginitate iugatum
visceribus totis animaque amplexa fovebat;
qualiter aequaevo sociatam palmite vitem
ulmus amat miscetque nemus ditemque precatur
autumnum et caris gaudet redimita racemis.          50
laudantur proavis seu pulchrae munere formae,
quae morum caruere bonis falsaeque potentes
laudis egent verae: tibi quamquam et origo niteret
et felix species multumque optanda maritis,
ex te maior honos, unum novisse cubile,          55
unum secretis agitare sub ossibus ignem.
illum nec Phrygius vitiasset raptor amorem
Dulichiive proci nec qui fraternus adulter
casta Mycenaeo conubia polluit auro.
si Babylonos opes, Lydae si pondera gazae          60

having endured another, but she cherished you, as if yoked to you in virginity,
embracing and warming you with all her viscera and soul;
just as an elm loves the vine joined to it by an even-aged shoot
and mingles the grove and prays for a wealthy
autumn, and rejoices, wreathed with dear clusters.          50
they are praised for ancestors or for beauties by the gift of fair form,
who have lacked the goods of morals and, powerful in false
praise, lack the true: for you, although both lineage shone
and a happy appearance, much to be desired by husbands,
from yourself a greater honor: to have known one bed,          55
to stir one fire under your hidden bones.
neither would the Phrygian ravisher have corrupted that love,
nor the suitors of Dulichium, nor he, the fraternal adulterer
who polluted chaste conjugal bonds with Mycenaean gold.
if the Babylonian riches, if the weights of Lydian treasure          60

Indorumque dares Serumque Arabumque potentes
divitias, mallet cum paupertate pudica
intemerata mori vitamque rependere famae.
nec frons triste rigens nimiusque in moribus horror,
sed simplex hilarisque fides et mixta pudori 65
gratia. quod si anceps metus ad maiora vocasset,
illa vel armiferas pro coniuge laeta catervas
fulmineosque ignes mediique pericula ponti
exciperet. melius, quod non adversa probarunt
quae tibi cura tori, quantus pro coniuge pallor. 70
sed meliore via dextros tua vota marito
promeruere deos, dum nocte dieque fatigas
numina, dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris
et mitem genium domini praesentis adoras.

and were you to give the powerful riches of the Indians and the Seres and the Arabs,
would prefer, with chaste poverty unviolated, to die and to repay her life to renown.
nor a brow grimly rigid with sadness and excessive sternness in manners,
but simple and cheerful fidelity and a grace mingled with modesty. 65
but if a two-edged peril had called to greater things,
she, glad for her spouse, would even meet armed bands
and lightning fires and the perils of the mid-sea
would face them. Better, that adversities did not prove
what concern for the marriage-bed was yours, how great a pallor for your spouse. 70
but by a better path your vows for your husband won over favorable gods,
while night and day you weary the numina, while as a suppliant you roll at all the altars
and you adore the gentle Genius of your present lord.

Audita es, venitque gradu Fortuna benigno. 75

You were heard, and Fortune came with a benign step. 75

vidit quippe pii iuvenis navamque quietem
intactamque fidem succinctaque pectora curis
et vigiles sensus et digna evolvere tantas
sobria corda vices, vidit, qui cuncta suorum
novit et inspectis ambit latus omne ministris.          80
nec mirum: videt ille ortus obitusque, quid auster,
quid boreas hibernus agat, ferrique togaeque
consilia atque ipsam mentem probat. ille iubatis
molem immensam umeris et vix tractabile pensum
imposuit (nec enim numerosior altera sacra          85
cura domo), magnum late dimittere in orbem
Romulei mandata ducis, viresque modosque
imperii tractare manu; quae laurus ab arcto,
quid vagus Euphrates, quid ripa binominis Histri,
quid Rheni vexilla ferant: quantum ultimus orbis          90

for he saw the pious youth’s industrious repose
and untouched fidelity, and a breast girt with cares,
and wakeful senses, and sober hearts to unfold duties
worthy of so great turns; he saw it—he who knows all of his own
and, with ministers inspected, encircles every flank.          80
nor is it a marvel: he sees risings and settings, what the south wind,
what the winter Boreas does; he tests the counsels of iron and toga
and the mind itself. He upon crested shoulders
imposed an immense mass and a task scarcely tractable
(for no other sacred care is more numerous in the house):          85
to send far and wide into the great orb the mandates of the Romulean leader,
and to handle with hand the forces and the measures of the imperium;
what laurel from the north, what the wandering Euphrates, what the bank of the two-named Ister,
what the standards of the Rhine may bear: how much the farthest orb          90

cesserit et refugo circumsona gurgite Thyle;
(omnia nam laetas pila attollentia frondes,
nullaque famosa signatur lancea penna);
praeterea, fidos dominus si dividat enses,
pandere quis centum valeat frenare, maniplos          95
inter missus eques, quis praecepisse cohorti,
quem deceat clari praestantior ordo tribuni,
quisnam frenigerae signum dare dignior alae;
mille etiam praenosse vices, an merserit agros
Nilus, an imbrifero Libye sudaverit austro:          100
cunctaque si numerem, non plura interprete virga
nuntiat ex celsis ales Tegeaticus astris,
quaeque cadit liquidas Iunonia virgo per auras
et picturato pluvium ligat aera gyro,
quaeque tuas laurus volucri, Germanice, cursu          105

Thule too will have yielded, resounding all around with a retreating whirlpool;
(for all the javelins lifting joyful fronds,
and no spear is marked by a notorious feather);
furthermore, if the lord should distribute trusty swords,
who, a horseman sent among the maniples, would be able to deploy and to rein in a hundred maniples,          95
who would befit to have instructed a cohort,
whom the more outstanding rank of a renowned tribune would suit,
who would be more worthy to give the signal of the bridle-bearing wing;
also to foreknow a thousand changes, whether the Nile has submerged the fields,
or Libya has sweated with the rain-bringing south-wind:          100
and if I should number all things, the Tegeatic winged one announces no more from the lofty stars with his interpreting wand,
and the Junonian maiden who falls through the liquid airs
and ties the rainy air with a painted circle,
and what laurels, Germanicus, your swift course          105

Fama vehit praegressa diem tardumque sub astris
Arcada et in medio linquit Thaumantida caelo.
Qualem te superi, Priscilla, hominesque benigno
aspexere die, cum primum ingentibus actis
admotus coniunx! vicisti gaudia ~cene 110
ipsius, effuso dum pectore prona sacratos
ante pedes avide domini tam magna merentis
volveris.

Rumor bears, having outstripped the day, and leaves beneath the stars the slow Arcadian and the Thaumantian in mid-sky.
How you were beheld, Priscilla, by the gods above and by men on a kindly day, when first, mighty deeds having been accomplished, your spouse was brought near! you surpassed the joys of his very ~banquet 110
while, with breast poured forth, prone, before the sacred feet of the lord who so greatly deserves, you eagerly roll.

Aonio non sic in vertice gaudet,
quam pater arcani praefecit hiatibus antri
Delius, aut primi cui ius venerabile thyrsi 115
Bacchus et attonitae tribuit vexilla catervae.
nec tamen hic mutata quies probitasve secundis
intumuit: tenor idem animo moresque modesti
fortuna crescente manent. fovet anxia curas
coniugis hortaturque simul flectitque labores. 120

Not thus on the Aonian summit does he rejoice,
as the Delian father set in charge of the gulfs of the secret cave,
or he to whom Bacchus granted the venerable right of the first thyrsus 115
and the standards of the thunder-struck cohort.
Nor yet did either his repose change here, or did his probity swell with favorable things:
the same tenor in spirit and modest manners remain as fortune grows.
His anxious spouse fosters his cares and at once both encourages and bends his labors. 120

ipsa dapes modicas et sobria pocula tradit,
exemplumque ad erile monet; velut Apula coniunx
agricolae parci vel sole infecta Sabino,
quae videt emeriti iam prospectantibus astris
tempus adesse viri, propere mensasque torosque          125
instruit expectatque sonum redeuntis aratri.
parva loquor. tecum gelidas comes illa per arctos
Sarmaticasque hiemes Histrumque et pallida Rheni
frigora, tecum omnes animo durata per aestus
et, si castra darent, vellet gestare pharetras,          130
vellet Amazonia latus intercludere pelta;
dum te pulverea bellorum nube videret
Caesarei prope fulmen equi divinaque tela
vibrantem et magnae sparsum sudoribus hastae.
    Hactenus alma chelys.

she herself hands out modest viands and sober cups,
and by example she admonishes toward the master’s way; like an Apulian wife
of a thrifty farmer, or one stained by the Sabine sun,
who, with the stars peering forth, sees that the time has come
for her man who has earned his rest, swiftly sets out tables and couches          125
and waits for the sound of the returning plow.
I speak of small things. With you, as companion, she through the icy Arctos
and Sarmatian winters and the Hister and the pallid chills of the Rhine,
with you, hardened in spirit through all heats;
and, if the camps would permit, she would wish to bear quivers,          130
she would wish to shield her flank with an Amazonian pelta;
so long as she might see you in the dusty cloud of wars
near the thunderbolt of the Caesarean horse and brandishing divine missiles,
and spattered with the sweats of the great spear.
    Thus far, kindly lyre.

tempus nunc ponere frondes, 135

now it is time to lay down the fronds, 135

Phoebe, tuas maestaque comam damnare cupresso.
Quisnam pacata consanguinitate ligavit
Fortunam Invidiamque deus? quis iussit iniquas
aeternum bellare deas?

Phoebe, to condemn your sorrowful hair to cypress.
Which god, pray, has bound Fortune and Envy with pacified consanguinity?
who ordered the iniquitous goddesses to wage war eternally?

nullamne notavit
illa domum, torvo quam non haec lumine figat          140
protinus et saeva proturbet gaudia dextra?
florebant hilares inconcussique penates:
nil maestum. quid enim, quamvis infida levisque,
Caesare tam dextro posset Fortuna timeri?
invenere viam liventia Fata, piumque          145
intravit vis saeva larem. sic plena maligno
adflantur vineta noto, sic alta senescit
imbre seges nimio, rapidae sic obvia puppi
invidet et velis adnubilat aura secundis.
carpitur eximium fato Priscilla decorem;          150

Has she not marked any house
which she does not fasten with her grim gaze          140
at once, and with her savage right hand drive the joys out?
the cheerful and unshaken Penates were flourishing:
nothing sorrowful. For what, though faithless and fickle,
could Fortune be feared, with so favorable a Caesar?
the livid Fates found a way, and the pious—          145
a savage force entered the Lar. Thus vineyards, full, are blasted
by malignant Notus; thus the tall crop grows old
with too much rain; thus a breeze, meeting a hurrying ship,
begrudges it and clouds over the favorable sails.
Priscilla’s exceptional beauty is plucked by Fate;          150

qualiter alta comam silvarum gloria pinus
seu Iovis igne malo seu iam radice soluta
deficit et nulli spoliata remurmurat aurae.
quid probitas aut casta fides, quid numina prosunt
culta deum? furvae miseram circum undique leti 155
vallavere plagae, tenduntur dura sororum
licia et exacti superest pars ultima fili.
nil famuli coetus, nil ars operosa medentum
auxiliata malis; comites tamen undique ficto
spem simulant vultu, flentem notat illa maritum. 160
ille modo infernae nequiquam flumina Lethes
incorrupta rogat, nunc anxius omnibus aris
inlacrimat signatque fores et pectore terget
limina; nunc magni vocat exorabile numen
Caesaris. heu durus fati tenor!

just as the pine, the glory of the woods, high with tresses of foliage,
whether by the baleful fire of Jove or now loosened at the root,
fails and, despoiled, murmurs back to no breeze.
what do probity or chaste fidelity avail, what the worshipped numina
of the gods? the dark snares of death have palisaded the wretched woman all around on every side, 155
the hard threads of the sisters are stretched, and the last part of the spun thread remains.
the throng of servants is of no help, nor the laborious art of physicians
has aided the ills; yet the companions on every side with a feigned
face simulate hope, she notes her husband weeping. 160
he now in vain begs the incorrupt streams of infernal Lethe,
now, anxious, at all the altars he weeps and marks the doorways and with his breast wipes
the thresholds; now he calls upon the exorable numen
of great Caesar. alas, the harsh tenor of fate!

estne quod illi 165

is there anything for her 165

non liceat? quantae poterant mortalibus annis
accessisse morae si tu, pater, omne teneres
arbitrium? caeco gemeret Mors clusa barathro
longius, et vacuae posuissent stamina Parcae.

may it not be permitted? how great delays could have been added to mortal years
if you, father, held all arbitrament? Death, shut in a blind abyss,
would groan farther away, and the Parcae, unoccupied, would have set down their threads.

    Iamque cadunt vultus oculisque novissimus error          170
optunsaeque aures, nisi cum vox sola mariti
noscitur; illum unum media de morte reversa
mens videt, illum aegris circumdat fortiter ulnis
immotas obversa genas, nec sole supremo
lumina sed dulci mavult satiare marito.          175
tum sic unanimum moriens solatur amantem:
'pars animae victura meae, cui linquere possim
o utinam, quos dura mihi rapit Atropos annos:
parce precor lacrimis, saevo ne concute planctu
pectora, nec crucia fugientem coniugis umbram.          180

    And now her features are sinking, and to her eyes the very last error,          170
and her ears are blunted—save when the voice of her husband alone
is recognized; him alone her mind, returned from the midst of death,
sees; him she girds firmly with sickly arms,
her cheeks unmoving, turned toward him, nor with the highest sun
does she prefer to sate her eyes, but with her sweet husband.          175
Then thus, dying, she consoles her like-souled lover:
'part of my soul that will outlive my own, to whom I might be able to leave—
O would that I could—the years which harsh Atropos snatches from me:
spare, I pray, your tears; do not shake your breast with savage plaint,
nor torture the fleeing shade of your spouse.'          180

linquo equidem thalamos, salvo tamen ordine, maestos
quod prior: exegi longa potiora senecta
tempora. vidi omni pridem te flore nitentem,
vidi altae propius propiusque accedere dextrae.
non in te Fatis, non iam caelestibus ullis 185
arbitrium: mecum ista fero. tu limite coepto
tende libens sacrumque latus geniumque potentem
inrequietus ama.

I indeed leave the bridal chambers, yet with the order preserved, sad
since I am first: I have finished the better times in a long senectitude.
I saw you long since shining in every bloom,
I saw the right hand of the lofty one draw nearer and nearer.
Not in regard to you do the Fates, nor now any of the celestials, hold 185
authority: I carry those things with me. You, along the course begun,
tend gladly, and love, unresting, the sacred side and the potent Genius.

nunc, quod cupis ipse iuberi,
da Capitolinis aeternum sedibus aurum,
quo niteat sacri centeno pondere vultus          190
Caesaris et propriae signet cultricis amorem.
sic ego nec Furias nec deteriora videbo
Tartara et Elysias felix admittar in oras.'
    Haec dicit labens sociosque amplectitur artus
haerentemque animam non tristis in ora mariti          195

now, what you yourself wish to be bidden,
grant eternal gold to the Capitoline seats,
so that the sacred visage of Caesar may shine with a hundredweight,          190
and may stamp the love of his own cultress.
thus I shall see neither the Furies nor the worse Tartarus,
and, happy, shall be admitted to the Elysian shores.'
    She says these things as she slips away and embraces the kindred limbs,
and, not sad, breathes out her clinging soul upon her husband’s face.          195

transtulit et cara pressit sua lumina dextra.
    At iuvenis magno flammatus pectora luctu
nunc implet saevo viduos clamore penates,
nunc ferrum laxare cupit, nunc ardua tendit
in loca (vix retinent comites), nunc ore ligato          200
incubat amissae mersumque in corde dolorem
saevus agit, qualis conspecta coniuge segnis
Odrysius vates positis ad Strymona plectris
obstupuit tristemque rogum sine carmine flevit.
ille etiam erecte rupisset tempora vitae,          205
ne tu Tartareum chaos incomitata subires,
set prohibet mens fida ducis mirandaque sacris
imperiis et maior amor.
    Quis carmine digno
exsequias et dona malae feralia pompae
perlegat?

she moved and with her right hand pressed shut her dear eyes.
    But the young man, his breast inflamed with great grief,
now fills the widowed Penates with savage clamor,
now longs to loosen the steel, now stretches toward steep places
(his companions scarcely restrain him), now, with his mouth bound,          200
he broods over the lost one and, the grief sunk in his heart,
savagely stirs it, just as the sluggish Odrysian bard,
with his plectra set down by the Strymon, stood aghast
at the sight of his wife and wept the sad pyre without song.
He too would have straightway broken off the terms of life,          205
lest you should go down to Tartarean chaos unaccompanied,
but a mind faithful to the leader, and awe at sacred
commands, and a greater love, forbids.
    Who with worthy song
will read through the obsequies and the offerings of the baleful funereal pomp
to the end?

omne illic stipatum examine longo 210

all there packed in a long procession 210

ver Arabum Cilicumque fluit floresque Sabaei
Indorumque arsura seges praereptaque templis
tura, Palaestini simul Hebraeique liquores
Coryciaeque comae Cinyreaque germina; et altis
ipsa toris Serum Tyrioque umbrata recumbit 215
tegmine. sed toto spectatur in agmine coniunx
solus; in hunc magnae flectuntur lumina Romae
ceu iuvenes natos suprema ad busta ferentem:
is dolor in vultu, tantum crinesque genaeque
noctis habent. illam tranquillo fine solutam 220
felicemque vocant; lacrimas fudere marito.

the springtime of the Arabs and of the Cilicians flows and the Sabaean flowers,
and the harvest of the Indians, destined to burn, and incenses snatched from temples;
the Palestinian and the Hebrew liquors as well, and the Corycian tresses and Cinyrean sprouts; and on high
couches she herself reclines, shaded beneath a Tyrian covering, Seric. 215
but through the whole procession the spouse alone is gazed at;
toward him the eyes of great Rome are bent,
as at a youth bearing his sons to the last pyres:
such grief is in his face; so much do his hair and his cheeks
have of night. Her, loosed by a tranquil end and happy, they call; 220
they poured out tears for the husband.

Est locus ante urbem qua primum nascitur ingens
Appia, quaque Italo gemitus Almone Cybebe
ponit et Idaeos iam non reminiscitur amnis.
hic te Sidonio velatam molliter ostro 225

There is a place before the city where the great Appian Way is first born,
and where Cybele lays down her groans in the Italian Almo,
and the river no longer remembers the Idaean things.
here you, veiled softly in Sidonian purple 225

eximius coniunx (nec enim fumantia busta
clamoremque rogi potuit perferre) beato
composuit, Priscilla, toro. nil longior aetas
carpere, nil aevi poterunt vitiare labores:
sic cautum membris; tantas venerabile marmor 230
spirat opes. mox in varias mutata novaris
effigies: hoc aere Ceres, hoc lucida Gnosis,
illo Maia tholo, Venus hoc non improba saxo.
accipiunt vultus haud indignata decoros
numina: circumstant famuli consuetaque turba 235
obsequiis, tunc rite tori mensaeque parantur
assiduae.

the exceptional consort (for he could not endure the smoking pyres
and the clamor of the funeral pile) laid you, Priscilla, on a blessed
couch. Nothing will a lengthened age pluck away, nothing will the labors
of time be able to vitiate: so are the limbs safeguarded; the venerable marble 230
breathes such wealth. Soon, transformed, you are recognized anew
in various effigies: with this bronze, Ceres; with this, the shining Gnosis;
on that dome, Maia; with this stone, Venus not immodest.
The divinities, by no means indignant, receive the comely faces:
attendants and the throng accustomed to services stand around, 235
then duly the couch and the continual tables are prepared
assiduously.

domus ista, domus! quis triste sepulcrum
dixerit? hac merito visa pietate mariti
protinus exclames: 'est hic, agnosco, minister
illius, aeternae modo qui sacraria genti 240

that is a house, a house! who would call it a sad sepulchre?
on seeing this deserved piety of the husband
you would straightway exclaim: 'here is, I recognize, the minister
of that man, who only just now the shrines for the eternal nation' 240

condidit inque alio posuit sua sidera caelo.'
sic, ubi magna novum Phario de litore puppis
solvit iter iamque innumeros utrimque rudentes
lataque veliferi porrexit brachia mali
invasitque vias, in eodem angusta phaselos          245
aequore et immensi partem sibi vindicat austri.
    Quid nunc immodicos, iuvenum lectissime, fletus
corde foves longumque vetas exire dolorem?
nempe times ne Cerbereos Priscilla tremescat
latratus? tacet ille piis; ne tardior adsit          250
navita proturbetque vadis?

‘he has founded and has placed his own stars in another sky.’
so, when a great ship from the Pharian shore looses a new journey, and now on both sides has stretched out countless cables and the broad arms of the sail-bearing mast
and has entered upon the routes, on that same sea a narrow skiff too          245
claims for itself a share of the immense south wind.
    Why now, most select of youths, do you cherish immoderate tears
in your heart and forbid long-standing sorrow to go forth?
surely you fear lest Priscilla tremble at Cerberean barkings?
he is silent to the pious; or that the more tardy boatman be at hand          250
and disturb in the shallows?

vehit ille merentes
protinus et manes placidus locat hospite cumba.
praeterea, si quando pio laudata marito
umbra venit, iubet ire faces Prosperina laetas
egressasque sacris veteres heroidas antris 255

he straightway conveys the deserving,
and, placid, as host with his skiff, settles the shades.
moreover, whenever a shade commended by her pious husband
comes, Proserpina bids the glad torches to go,
and the ancient heroines to come forth from their sacred caverns. 255

lumine purpureo tristes laxare tenebras
sertaque et Elysios animae praesternere flores.
sic manes Priscilla subit; ibi supplice dextra
pro te Fata rogat, reges tibi tristis Averni
placat, ut expletis humani finibus aevi 260
pacantem terras dominum iuvenemque relinquas
ipse senex. certae iurant in vota sorores.

with purple light to loosen the sad darkness
and to strew before the soul garlands and Elysian flowers.
thus Priscilla goes down to the Manes; there, with a suppliant right hand,
she begs the Fates for you, she placates for you the kings of gloomy Avernus,
that, the bounds of a human lifetime fulfilled, 260
you yourself, an old man, may leave behind a youthful lord pacifying the lands.
the sure sisters swear to the vows.

II. LAVDES CRISPINI VETTI BOLANI FILII

2. PRAISES OF CRISPINUS, SON OF VETTIUS BOLANUS

          Rura meus Tyrrhena petit saltusque Tagetis
Crispinus; nec longa mora est aut avia tellus;
et mea secreto velluntur pectora morsu,
udaque turgentes impellunt lumina guttas,
ceu super Aegaeas hiemes abeuntis amici          5
vela sequar spectemque ratem iam fessus ab altis
rupibus atque oculos longo querar aere vinci.
    Quid? si militiae iam te, puer inclite, primae
clara rudimenta et castrorum dulce vocaret
auspicium, quanto manarent gaudia fletu          10
quosve darem amplexus!

          My Crispinus seeks the Tyrrhenian countryside and the glades of Tages;
nor is there a long delay or a trackless land;
and my breast is plucked by a secret bite,
and dewy drops press upon my swelling eyes,
as if over Aegean storms I were to follow the sails of a departing friend          5
I would follow the sails and watch the bark, now wearied, from the high
cliffs, and would complain that my eyes are overcome by the long expanse of air.
    What? If already, illustrious boy, the bright rudiments of your first military service
and the sweet auspice of the camp were calling you, with what weeping would joys flow          10
and what embraces I would give!

etiamne optanda propinqui
tristia, ut octonos bis iam tibi circuit orbes
vita? sed angustis animus robustior annis
succumbitque oneri, et mentem sua non capit aetas.
nec mirum: non te series inhonora parentum 15

are even a kinsman’s sad things to be desired,
that life has already circled sixteen orbits for you?
but a spirit more robust than its narrow years
succumbs to the burden, and its age does not contain the mind.
nor is it a wonder: no dishonorable series of parents 15

obscurum proavis et priscae lucis egentem
plebeia de stirpe tulit; non sanguine cretus
turmali trabeaque recens et paupere clavo
augustam sedem et Latii penetrale senatus
advena pulsasti, sed praecedente tuorum          20
agmine. Romulei qualis per iugera circi
cum pulcher visu titulis generosus avitis
exspectatur equus cuius de stemmate longo
felix demeritos habet admissura parentes,
illum omnes acuunt plausus, illum ipse volantem          25
pulvis et incurvae gaudent agnoscere metae:
sic te, clare puer, genitum sibi curia sensit,
primaque patricia clausit vestigia luna.
mox Tyrios ex more sinus tunicamque potentem
agnovere umeri. sed enim tibi magna parabat          30

not did an undistinguished line of parents bear you, obscure in forefathers and needing the ancient light, from plebeian stock; not, born of equestrian blood, freshly in the trabea and with the poor (narrow) stripe, did you as an advena batter at the august seat and the penetralia of the Senate of Latium, but with the column of your own going before.          20
such as, over the acres of the Romulean circus, when the horse, fair to see, ennobled by ancestral titles, is awaited, one by whose long stemma a happy broodmare, about to admit him, will have—though unearned—parents; all sharpen applause for him, the very dust rejoices to recognize him as he flies,          25
and the inward-curving turning-posts delight to know him: so you, illustrious boy, the Curia felt as born for itself, and the first patrician moon enclosed your footsteps. Soon your shoulders, according to custom, acknowledged Tyrian folds and the potent tunic. But indeed great things was preparing for you.          30

ad titulos exempla pater. quippe ille iuventam
protinus ingrediens pharetratum invasit Araxen
belliger indocilemque fero servire Neroni
Armeniam. rigidi summam Mavortis agebat
Corbulo, sed comitem belli sociumque laborum          35
ille quoque egregiis multum miratus in armis
Bolanum; atque illi curarum asperrima suetus
credere partirique metus, quod tempus amicum
fraudibus, exerto quaenam bona tempora bello,
quae suspecta fides aut quae fuga vera ferocis          40
Armenii. Bolanus iter praenosse timendum,
Bolanus tutis iuga quaerere commoda castris,
metiri Bolanus agros, aperire malignas
torrentum nemorumque moras tantamque verendi
mentem implere ducis iussisque ingentibus unus          45

examples for your titles your father [provided]. for indeed he, as he straightway entered his youth,
assailed the quivered Araxes,
belligerent Armenia, indocile to serve fierce Nero. the command of rigid Mars
Corbulo was holding; but as a comrade of war and partner of labors,          35
he too, much admiring Bolanus in distinguished arms;
and to him he was wont to entrust the most rugged cares
and to share his fears: what time is friendly
to frauds, with war unsheathed what times are good,
what loyalty is suspect or what flight is true of the ferocious          40
Armenian. Bolanus to pre-know the dangerous route,
Bolanus to seek ridges convenient for safe camps,
Bolanus to measure the fields, to open the malignant
delays of torrents and of groves, and so to fill the mind
of the awe-inspiring general—and, a single man, with huge commands—          45

sufficere. ipsa virum norat iam barbara tellus,
ille secundus apex bellorum et proxima cassis.
sic Phryges attoniti, quamquam Nemeaea viderent
arma Cleonaeusque acies impelleret arcus,
pugnante Alcide tamen et Telamona timebant. 50
disce, puer, (nec enim externo monitore petendus
virtutis tibi pulcher amor: cognata ministret
laus animos. aliis Decii reducesque Camilli
monstrentur), tu disce patrem, quantusque negantem
fluctibus occiduis fesso usque Hyperione Thylen 55
intrarit mandata gerens quantusque potentis
mille urbes Asiae sortito rexerit anno,
imperium mulcente toga.

to suffice. The barbarian earth itself already knew the man,
he, the second pinnacle of wars and nearest to the casque.
Thus the Phrygians, thunderstruck, although they saw
the Nemean arms and the Cleonaean bow driving the battle-line,
yet, with Alcides fighting, they feared Telamon too. 50
Learn, boy (for indeed the fair love of virtue must not be sought
from an external monitor for you: let kindred praise minister
spirit. To others let the Decii and the returning Camilli
be pointed out), you learn your father, and how great—Thule that denies
the westering waves, with Hyperion wearied to the utmost—he entered, bearing mandates, 55
and how great, having by lot ruled for a year the thousand
cities of mighty Asia, softening command with the toga.

bibe talia pronis
auribus, haec certent tibi conciliare propinqui,
haec iterent comites praecepta senesque paterni. 60

drink in such things with inclined ears,
let these strive to conciliate your kinsmen to you,
let your companions and your paternal elders repeat these precepts. 60

    Iamque alio moliris iter nec deside passu
ire paras. nondum validae tibi signa iuventae
inrepsere genis, et adhuc tenor integer aevi.
nec genitor iuxta; fatis namque haustus iniquis
occidit et geminam prolem sine praeside linquens;          65
nec saltem teneris ostrum puerile lacertis
exuit albentique umeros induxit amictu.
quem non corrupit pubes effrena novaeque
libertas properata togae? ceu nescia falcis
silva comas tollit fructumque exspirat in umbras.          70
at tibi Pieriae tenero sub pectore curae
et pudor et docti legem sibi dicere mores;
tunc hilaris probitas et frons tranquilla, nitorque
luxuriae confine tenens, pietasque per omnes
dispensata modos; aequaevo cedere fratri          75

    And now you set another journey in motion, nor do you prepare to go with a sluggish step.
Not yet have strong signs of youth crept upon your cheeks, and the tenor of your age is still entire.
Nor is your father at your side; for, drained by unjust fates, he perished and left twin offspring without a guardian;          65
nor has he even stripped the boyish purple from your tender arms and drawn a whitening mantle over your shoulders.
Whom has not unbridled puberty and the liberty of a hastened toga corrupted? Just as a wood unknowing of the sickle lifts its tresses and breathes out its fruit into the shadows.          70
But for you beneath your tender breast are Pierian cares and modesty and learned manners to prescribe a law to themselves;
then cheerful probity and a tranquil brow, and a lustre holding the border with luxury, and piety apportioned through every mode; to yield to your coeval brother.          75

mirarique patrem miseraeque ignoscere matri
admonuit fortuna domus. tibine illa nefanda
pocula letalesque manu componere sucos
evaluit, qui voce potes praevertere morsus
serpentum atque omnis vultu placare novercas?          80
infestare libet manes meritoque precatu
pacem auferre rogis; sed te, puer optime, cerno
flectentem iustis et talia dicta parantem:
'parce precor cineri: fatum illud et ira nocentum
Parcarum crimenque dei, mortalia quisquis          85
pectora sero videt nec primo in limine sistit
conatus scelerum atque animos infanda parantes.
excidat illa dies aevo nec postera credant
saecula. nos certe taceamus et obruta multa
nocte tegi propriae patiamur crimina gentis.          90

and the fortune of the house has admonished you to admire the father and to forgive the wretched mother. Was it against you that she had the power to compose those unspeakable cups and lethal juices with her hand—you who can with your voice forestall the bites of serpents and with your very face placate all stepmothers? 80
it pleases one to harry the Manes and, with deserved prayer, to take peace from the pyres; but you, best boy, I behold bending to what is just and preparing such words: 'Spare, I pray, the ash: that was Fate and the wrath of the harmful Fates, and the crime of the god, whoever beholds mortal hearts too late and does not at the first threshold halt the endeavors of crimes and the spirits preparing the unspeakable.
let that day fall from time, and let after ages not believe it. Let us at least be silent, and allow the crimes of our own clan, overwhelmed by much night, to be covered.' 90

exegit poenas, hominum cui cura suorum,
quo Pietas auctore redit terrasque revisit,
quem timet omne nefas. satis haec lacrimandaque nobis
ultio. quin saevas utinam exorare liceret
Eumenidas timidaeque avertere Cerberon umbrae 95
immemoremque tuis citius dare manibus amnem.'
Macte animo, iuvenis!

he has exacted the penalties, he for whom the care of his own among men is a concern,
by whose authority Piety returns and revisits the lands,
whom every wrongdoing fears. This is enough, and for us a thing to be wept,
vengeance. Nay rather, would that it were permitted to appease
the savage Eumenides and to turn Cerberus away from the timid shade 95
and to grant more quickly to your hands the unremembering river.'
Well done in spirit, young man!

sed crescunt crimina matris.
nec tantum pietas, sed protinus ardua virtus
affectata tibi. nuper cum forte sodalis
immeritae falso palleret crimine famae 100
erigeretque forum succinctaque iudice multo
surgeret et castum vibraret Iulia fulmen,
tu, quamquam non ante forum legesque severas
passus sed tacita studiorum occultus in umbra,
defensare metus adversaque tela subisti 105

but the mother’s crimes grow.
nor only Piety, but straightway lofty Virtue
was aspired to by you. Recently, when by chance a comrade,
undeserving, grew pale at the false indictment of rumor, 100
and the forum bristled, and, girt with many a judge,
rose up, and the chaste Julian thunderbolt was brandished,
you, although you had not before endured the forum and the severe laws,
but hidden in the silent shadow of studies,
undertook the defense in fear and faced adverse darts. 105

pellere, inermis adhuc et tiro, paventis amici.
haud umquam tales aspexit Romulus annos
Dardaniusque senex medii bellare togata
strage fori. stupuere patres temptamina tanta
conatusque tuos, nec te reus ipse timebat.          110
par vigor et membris, promptaeque ad fortia vires
sufficiunt animo atque ingentia iussa sequuntur.
ipse ego te nuper Tiberino in litore vidi
qua Tyrrhena vadis Laurentibus aestuat unda,
tendentem cursus vexantemque ilia nuda          115
calce ferocis equi, vultu dextraque minacem:
si qua fides dictis, stupui armatumque putavi.
Gaetulo sic pulcher equo Troianaque quassans
tela novercales ibat venator in agros
Ascanius miseramque patri flagrabat Elissam;          120

to drive off, though yet unarmed and a tyro, from a trembling friend.
Never did Romulus behold such years,
nor the Dardan elder to war, toga-clad, in the slaughter of the mid forum.
The Fathers were astonished at such attempts and your endeavors, nor did the defendant himself fear you.          110
Equal is the vigor in your limbs, and the forces prompt for brave deeds
suffice to your spirit, and mighty commands are followed.
I myself lately saw you on the Tiberine shore,
where the Tyrrhenian wave seethes in the Laurentine shallows,
stretching out your courses and goading with bare heel the flanks          115
of a fierce horse, menacing in countenance and right hand:
if there is any faith in my words, I was amazed and thought you armed.
Thus, on a Gaetulian handsome horse and shaking Trojan
spears, the hunter Ascanius went into the stepmother’s fields,
and made wretched Elissa burn for his father.          120

Troilus haut aliter gyro leviore minantes
eludebat equos, aut quem de turribus altis
Arcadas Ogygio versantem in pulvere metas
spectabant Tyriae non torvo lumine matres.
ergo age (nam magni ducis indulgentia pulsat          125
certaque dat votis hilaris vestigia frater),
surge animo, et fortes castrorum concipe curas.
monstrabunt acies Mavors Actaeaque virgo,
flectere Castor equos, umeris quatere arma Quirinus,
qui tibi iam tenero permisit plaudere collo          130
nubigenas clipeos intactaque caedibus arma.
    Quasnam igitur terras, quem Caesaris ibis in orbem?
Arctoosne amnes et Rheni fracta natabis
flumina, an aestiferis Libyae sudabis in arvis?
an iuga Pannoniae mutatoresque domorum          135

Troilus not otherwise with a lighter gyre was eluding the threatening horses, or the one whom from lofty towers the Tyrian mothers were watching, not with grim light, as he was turning the Arcadian turning-posts in Ogygian dust. therefore come (for the indulgence of the great leader urges          125
and the cheerful brother gives sure footsteps to your vows),
rise in spirit, and conceive the brave cares of the camp.
Mavors and the Actaean virgin will show the battle-lines,
Castor to bend horses, Quirinus to shake arms on your shoulders,
who already for you, while yet tender, permitted to make applaud upon your neck          130
the cloud-born shields and arms untouched by slaughters.
    What lands then, into what circle of Caesar will you go?
Will you swim the Arctic rivers and the broken streams of the Rhine, or will you sweat in Libya’s heat-bearing fields?
or the ridges of Pannonia and the changers of homes          135

Sauromatas quaties? an te septenus habebit
Hister et umbroso circumflua coniuge Peuce?
an Solymum cinerem palmetaque capta subibis
non sibi felices silvas ponentis Idymes?
quod si te magno tellus frenata parenti          140
accipiat, quantum ferus exsultabit Araxes,
quanta Caledonios attollet gloria campos,
cum tibi longaevus referet trucis incola terrae:
'hic suetus dare iura parens, hoc cespite turmas
adfari; vicis speculas castellaque++longe          145
aspicis?++ille dedit cinxitque haec moenia fossa;
belligeris haec dona deis, haec tela dicavit
(cernis adhuc titulos); hunc ipse vocantibus armis
induit, hunc regi rapuit thoraca Britanno,'
qualiter in Teucros victricia bella paranti          150

Sarmatians will you shake? or will the sevenfold Hister hold you, and Peuce, flowed-around by her shadowy consort?
or will you undergo Solymian ash and captured palm‑groves, Idume planting woods not happy for herself?
but if the land bridled by your great parent should receive you,          140
how the savage Araxes will exult, how great a glory will lift the Caledonian fields,
when to you the long‑lived inhabitant of the harsh land shall report:
‘here the sire was wont to give laws, on this sod to address the troops; the watch‑towers of the villages and the forts++afar
do you see them?++he bestowed them and girded these walls with a ditch;
to the war‑waging gods he dedicated these gifts, these weapons (you still discern the inscriptions); this cuirass he himself put on when arms were calling,          145
this he snatched from a British king,’
just as, when preparing victorious wars against the Teucrians          150

ignotum Pyrrho Phoenix narrabat Achillem.
Felix qui viridi fidens, Optate, iuventa
durabis quascumque vias vallumque subibis,
forsan et ipse latus (sic numina principis adsint)
cinctus et unanimi comes indefessus amici, 155
quo Pylades ex more pius, quo Dardana gessit
bella Menoetiades. quippe haec concordia vobis,
hic amor est; duretque, precor!

unknown to Pyrrhus, Phoenix was narrating Achilles.
Happy you, Optatus, who, trusting in verdant youth,
you will endure whatever ways and will go under the rampart,
perhaps even you yourself, girt at the side (so may the numina of the prince be present),
and the tireless companion of a like-minded friend, 155
as Pylades, dutiful by custom; as the son of Menoetius bore
the Dardan wars. Indeed, this is your concord,
this is your love; and may it endure, I pray!

nos fortior aetas
iam fugit; hinc votis animum precibusque iuvabo,
et mihi. sed questus solitos si forte ciebo 160
et mea Romulei venient ad carmina patres,
tu deeris, Crispine, mihi, cuneosque per omnes
te meus absentem circumspectabit Achilles.
sed venies melior (vatum non irrita currunt
omina); quique aquilas tibi nunc et castra recludit, 165

a stronger age now flees us; from here I will aid my spirit with vows and prayers, and myself as well. but if by chance I rouse my accustomed laments, and the Romulean fathers come to my songs, 160
you will be missing to me, Crispine, and through all the ranks my Achilles will look around for you, absent. but you will come the better (the omens of bards do not run vain); and he who now opens to you the eagles and the camp, 165

idem omnes perferre gradus cingique superbis
fascibus et patrias dabit insedisse curules.
    Sed quis ab excelsis Troianae collibus Albae,
unde suae iuxta prospectat moenia Romae
proximus ille deus, fama velocior intrat          170
nuntius atque tuos implet, Crispine, penates?
dicebam certe: vatum non irrita currunt
auguria. en, ingens reserat tibi limen honorum
Caesar et Ausonii committit munia ferri.
vade, puer, tantisque enixus suffice donis,          175
felix qui magno iam nunc sub praeside iuras
cuique sacer primum tradit Germanicus ensem!
non minus hoc, fortis quam si tibi panderet ipse
Bellipotens aquilas torvaque induceret ora
casside.

the same will grant you to endure all the steps and to be girt with proud
fasces and to have sat in your fatherland’s curule seats.
    But who from the lofty hills of Trojan Alba—
whence, close by, he looks out upon the walls of his own Rome—
that nearest god, enters as a messenger swifter than Rumor and fills          170
your Penates, Crispinus? I surely kept saying: the auguries of bards do not run
to no effect. Behold, Caesar unbars for you the vast threshold of honors
and commits the Ausonian offices to be borne. Go, boy, and, having striven, prove equal
to such great gifts; happy you who even now swear under a great commander,
and to whom the Germanicus first hands over the sacred sword!          175
no less is this, brave one, than if Bellipotent Mars himself should unfold for you
the eagles and bring in his grim face beneath the casque.

vade alacer maioraque disce mereri!

go eager, and learn to merit greater things!

III. EPICEDION IN PATREM SVVM

3. EPICEDION FOR HIS FATHER

Ipse malas vires et lamentabile carmen
Elysio de fonte mihi pulsumque sinistrae
da, genitor praedocte, lyrae. neque enim antra moveri
Delia nec solitam fas est impellere Cirrham
te sine. Corycia quicquid modo Phoebus in umbra, 5
quicquid ab Ismariis monstrarat collibus Euhan,
dedidici.

Grant to me yourself the ill powers and a lamentable song
from the Elysian fountain, and the striking of the left-hand
lyre, father most-learned. For neither is it lawful that the Delian
caves be moved nor to impel the accustomed Cirrha
without you. Whatever just now Phoebus in the Corycian shade, 5
whatever Euhan had shown from the Ismarian hills,
I have unlearned.

fugere meos Parnasia crines
vellera, funestamque hederis inrepere taxum
extimui trepidamque (nefas!) arescere laurum.
certe ego, magnanimum qui facta attollere regum 10
ibam altum spirans Martemque aequare canendo.
quis sterili mea corda situ, quis Apolline merso
frigida damnatae praeduxit nubila menti?
stant circum attonitae vatem et nil dulce sonantem
nec digitis nec voce, deae. dux ipsa silenti 15

the Parnasian fleeces have fled my hair,
and I feared the death-bringing yew to creep among the ivies,
and the trembling laurel (abomination!) to wither.
surely I—who was going to raise up the deeds of magnanimous kings 10
breathing the lofty, and to equal Mars by singing—
who has driven my heart into sterile stagnation? who, with Apollo submerged,
has led forth chilly clouds over a damned mind?
they stand around the bard, astonished, and sounding nothing sweet
either with fingers or with voice, the goddesses. the leader herself, in silence 15

fulta caput cithara, qualis post Orphea raptum
astitit, Hebre, tibi cernens iam surda ferarum
agmina et immotos sublato carmine lucos.
    At tu, seu membris emissus in ardua tendens
fulgentisque plagas rerumque elementa recenses,          20
quis deus, unde ignes, quae ducat semita solem,
quae minuat Phoeben quaeque integrare latentem
causa queat, notique modos extendis Arati;
seu tu Lethaei secreto in gramine campi
concilia heroum iuxta manesque beatos,          25
Maeonium Ascraeumque senem non segnior umbra
accolis alternumque sonas et carmina misces:
da vocem magno, pater, ingeniumque dolori.
nam me ter relegens caelo terque ora retexens
luna videt residem nullaque Heliconide tristes          30

head propped by the cithara, such as, after the rape of Orpheus,
stood, Hebrus, by you, seeing the ranks of beasts now deaf
and the groves unmoving with the song withdrawn.
    But you, whether sent forth in your limbs and straining into the heights,
you review the shining tracts and the elements of things,          20
what god, whence the fires, what path leads the sun,
what cause can diminish Phoebe and also make her hidden whole again,
and you extend the measures of well-known Aratus;
or you, in the secret grass of the Lethean field,
near the councils of heroes and the blessed shades,          25
you dwell, no lazier as a shade than the Maeonian and Ascraean old man,
and you sound antiphonally and mingle the songs:
grant a voice, father, and an ingenuity for great grief.
for me the moon, thrice rereading the sky and thrice reweaving
her faces, sees inactive, and with no Heliconian maid the sad—          30

solantem curas: tuus ut mihi vultibus ignis
inrubuit cineremque oculis umentibus hausi,
vilis honos studiis. vix haec in munera solvo
primum animum tacitisque situm depellere curis
nunc etiam labente manu nec lumine sicco           35
ordior adclinis tumulo quo molle quiescis
iugera nostra tenens, ubi post Aeneia fata
stellatus Latiis ingessit montibus Albam
Ascanius, Phrygio dum pingues sanguine campos
odit et infaustae regnum dotale novercae.          40
hic ego te (nam Sicanii non mitius halat
aura croci; dites nec si tibi rara Sabaei
cinnama, odoratas nec Arabs decerpsit aristas
inferni cum laude laci) sed carmine plango
Pierio; sume et gemitus et vulnera nati          45
et lacrimas, rari quas umquam habuere parentes.
atque utinam fortuna mihi dare manibus aras,
par templis opus, aeriamque educere molem,
Cyclopum scopulos ultra atque audacia saxa
Pyramidum, et magno tumulum praetexere luco!          50

soothing my cares: how your fire flushed upon me in your features,
and I drank in the ash with eyes wet, a vile honor to my studies.
scarcely do I for these offices unloose first my mind
and drive the mould from my silent cares—now too, with a faltering hand and no dry light           35
I begin, leaning on the tomb where you softly rest,
holding our acres, where, after the fates of Aeneas,
star-decked Ascanius imposed Alba upon the Latian mountains,
while he loathed the fields fat with Phrygian blood
and the dowry-kingdom of the ill-omened stepmother.40
here I—you (for not more gently breathes
the breeze of Sicilian saffron; nor, even if the wealthy Sabaeans gave you
rare cinnamons, nor if an Arab plucked fragrant ears
from the infernal mere with praise)—but with Pierian song I lament;
take too the groans and the wounds of your son          45
and the tears which parents have all too rarely ever possessed.
and would that Fortune granted me to give altars with my hands,
a work equal to temples, and to lead forth an airy mass,
beyond the crags of the Cyclopes and the daring stones
of the Pyramids, and to fringe the tomb with a great grove!          50

illic et Siculi superassem dona sepulcri
et Nemees lucum et Pelopis sollemnia trunci.
illic Oebalio non finderet aera disco
Graiorum vis nuda virum, non arva rigaret
sudor equum aut putri sonitum daret ungula fossa;          55
sed Phoebi simplex chorus, et frondentia vatum
praemia laudato, genitor, tibi rite ligarem.
ipse madens oculis, umbrarum animaeque sacerdos,
praecinerem gemitum, cui te nec Cerberus omni
ore nec Orpheae quirent avertere leges.          60
atque tibi moresque tuos et facta canentem
fors et magniloquo non posthabuisset Homero,
tenderet et torvo pietas aequare Maroni.
    Cur magis incessat superos et aena sororum
stamina, quae tepido genetrix super aggere nati          65

there I too would have surpassed the Sicilian gifts of the sepulcher
and the Nemean grove and the solemnities of Pelops’s trunk.
there with an Oebalian discus the nude force of Grecian men would not cleave
the air, nor would the sweat of horses irrigate the fields,
nor would the hoof give a sound on a putrid ditch;          55
but a simple chorus of Phoebus, and the leafy prizes of bards
for you, father, being praised, I would duly bind.
I myself, eyes dripping, a priest of shades and of spirit,
would pre-chant a lament, from which neither Cerberus with every
mouth nor the Orphic laws could turn you away.          60
and you, and your manners and your deeds singing,
perhaps would not have been set after magniloquent Homer,
and dutiful devotion would strive to equal grim Maro.
    Why does it more assail the supernals and the brazen threads of the sisters,
which your mother over the warm mound of her son—          65

orba sedet, vel quae primaevi coniugis ignem
aspicit obstantesque manus turbamque tenentem
vincit in ardentem, liceat, moritura maritum?
maior ab his forsan superos et Tartara pulsem
invidia, externis etiam miserabile visu 70
funus eat; sed nec modo se Natura dolenti
nec Pietas iniusta dedit: mihi limine primo
fatorum et viridi, genitor, ceu raptus ab aevo
Tartara dura subis. nec enim Marathonia virgo
parcius extinctum saevorum crimine agrestum 75
fleverit Icarium, Phrygia quam turre cadentem
Astyanacta parens. laqueo quin illa supremo
inclusit gemitus: at te post funera magni
Hectoris Haemonio pudor est servisse marito.

she sits bereft; or she who looks upon the fire of her prime-aged spouse,
and overcomes the hands that stand in the way and the crowd that holds her,
to win her way into her burning husband—may it be permitted, about to die, to her husband?
greater than these perhaps I strike the supernal ones and Tartarus with envy—
let even to outsiders a funeral pitiable to behold go forth; 70
but neither has Nature now yielded to the grieving one, nor has Piety to the unjust: to me,
at the very first threshold of the fates and from verdant age, father, as though snatched from life,
you enter the hard Tartarus. For neither would the Marathonian maiden
have wept Icarius, slain by the crime of savage countrymen, more sparingly
than the Phrygian mother [wept] Astyanax falling from the tower. 75
nay, she enclosed her groans with a final noose; but you, after the funeral of great
Hector, it is a shame to have served a Haemonian husband.

Non ego, quas fati certus sibi morte canora 80
inferias praemittit olor nec rupe quod atra
Tyrrhenae volucres nautis praedulce minantur,
in patrios adhibebo rogos; non murmure trunco
quod gemit et durae queritur Philomela sorori:
nota nimis vati. quis non in funere cunctos 85

I will not bring to the ancestral pyres the funeral-offerings which the swan, sure of fate for himself, sends ahead with tuneful death, 80
nor that which the Tyrrhenian birds from the black crag threaten to sailors, over-sweet;
nor what Philomela with truncated murmur groans and laments to her hard sister: too well-known to the bard. Who does not, at a funeral, all 85

Heliadum ramos lacrimosaque germina dixit
et Phrygium silicem, atque ausum contraria Phoebo
carmina nec fida gavisam Pallada buxo?
te Pietas oblita virum revocataque caelo
Iustitia et gemina plangat Facundia lingua          90
et Pallas doctique cohors Heliconia Phoebi,
quis labor Aonios seno pede ducere campos
et quibus Arcadia carmen testudine mensis
~cydalibem~ nomenque fuit, quosque orbe sub omni
ardua septena numerat Sapientia fama,          95
qui furias regumque domos aversaque caelo
sidera terrifico super intonuere cothurno,
et quis lasciva vires tenuare Thalia
dulce vel heroos gressu truncare tenores.
omnia namque animo complexus et omnibus auctor,          100

He spoke of the Heliads’ branches and their tearful seedlings,
and the Phrygian flint, and Pallas who rejoiced not in the boxwood that dared songs contrary to Phoebus nor faithful;
let Piety, forgetful of men, and Justice recalled to heaven, and Eloquence with a twin tongue, lament you,
and Pallas and the learned Heliconian cohort of Phoebus,         90
for whom it is a labor to lead the Aonian fields with the six-foot pace,
and for whom at Arcadian tables the song with the tortoise-shell had the Cydalian name,
and those whom under the whole world lofty fame of Wisdom numbers seven,         95
who with a terrifying cothurnus thundered over the furies and the houses of kings and the stars averse to heaven,
and those for whom playful Thalia has the strength to soften sweetly or to truncate heroic strains with her step.
for indeed, having embraced all things in mind and an author to all,          100

qua fandi vis lata patet, sive orsa libebat
Aoniis vincire modis seu voce soluta
spargere et effreno nimbos aequare profatu.
    Exsere semirutos subito de pulvere vultus,
Parthenope, crinemque adflato monte sepultum           105
pone super tumulos et magni funus alumni,
quo non Monychiae quicquam praestantius arces
doctaque Cyrene Sparteve animosa creavit.
si tu stirpe vacans famaeque obscura iaceres
nil gentile tenens, illo te cive probabas          110
Graiam atque Euboico maiorum sanguine duci.
illa tuis totiens praestant se tempora sertis
cum stata laudato caneret quinquennia versu
ora supergressus regis Pylii oraque regis
Dulichii speciemque, comam subnexus utroque.          115
non tibi deformes obscuri sanguinis ortus
nec sine luce genus, quamquam fortuna parentum
artior expensis. etenim te divite ritu
ponere purpureos Infantia legit amictus
stirpis honore datos et nobile pectoris aurum.          120

wherever the broad force of speaking extends, whether it was his pleasure to bind his undertakings with Aonian modes or, with loosened voice, to scatter and to match the clouds with unbridled out-speaking.
    Thrust forth suddenly from the dust your half-ruined faces,
Parthenope, and place upon the tumuli the hair buried by the wind-breathing mountain,           105
and the funeral of your great alumnus, than whom the Monychian citadels,
and learned Cyrene, and spirited Sparta have created nothing more preeminent.
Even if you lay bereft of stock and obscure in fame, holding nothing gentile,
you proved yourself by that citizen to be Greek and to be led from the blood of Euboean ancestors.          110
Then those temples of yours so often present themselves for garlands,
when he would sing with lauded verse the appointed quinquennia,
having surpassed the lips of the Pylian king and the lips of the king
of Dulichium, and their aspect, with his hair bound beneath on either side.          115
No deformed births of obscure blood for you,
nor a lineage without light, although the fortune of your parents
was tighter when expenses were reckoned. For indeed Childhood, with a wealthy rite,
chose for you to put on purple garments, given by the honor of your stock,
and the noble gold for the breast.          120

protinus exorto dextrum risere sorores
Aonides, puerique chelyn summisit et ora
imbuit amne sacro iam tum mihi blandus Apollo.
nec simplex patriae decus, et natalis origo
pendet ab ambiguo geminae certamine terrae.          125
te de gente suum Latiis ascita colonis
Graia refert Hyele, ~graius~ qua puppe magister
excidit et mediis miser evigilavit in undis;
maior at inde suum longo probat ordine vitae
<Parthenope> * * *                                        129a
Maeoniden aliaeque aliis natalibus urbes
diripiunt cunctaeque probant; non omnibus ille
verus, alit victos immanis gloria falsi.
atque ibi dum profers annos vitamque salutas,
protinus ad patrii raperis certamina lustri
vix implenda viris, laudum festinus et audax           135
ingenii. stupuit primaeva ad carmina plebes
Euboea et natis te monstravere parentes.
inde frequens pugnae nulloque ingloria sacro
vox tua: non totiens victorem Castora gyro
nec fratrem caestu virides clausere Therapnae.          140
sin pronum vicisse domi, quid Achaea mereri
praemia nunc ramis Phoebi nunc gramine Lernae
nunc Athamantea protectum tempora pinu,
cum totiens lassata tamen nusquam avia frondes
abstulit aut alium tetigit Victoria crinem?          145

straightway, as I arose, the Aonid sisters smiled favorably, and the Boy lowered the lyre and bathed my lips with the sacred stream—Apollo already then gracious to me. nor is the honor of my fatherland simple, and my natal origin hangs upon the ambiguity of a contest between twin lands. you, as her own from her stock taken in by Latin colonists, Greek Hyele claims, where the ~Greek~ helmsman fell from the ship and, wretched, awoke in the midst of the waves; but greater than that, by a long sequence of life, her own does <Parthenope> * * * 129a
the Maeonian—and cities with different births claim different men and all approve; he is not true to all; the monstrous glory of falsehood nourishes the vanquished. and there, while you bring forth your years and greet life, straightway you are snatched to the contests of the ancestral quinquennium, scarcely to be fulfilled by men, eager and bold for praises of talent. the Euboean commonalty marveled at your earliest songs and parents showed you to their children. thence your voice was frequent in contests and in no sacred game inglorious: not so often did green Therapnae enclose Castor as victor in the ring nor his brother with the cestus. but if it is easy to have conquered at home, what of earning Achaean prizes—now with the boughs of Phoebus, now with the grass of Lerna, now your temples protected by Athamantian pine—when Victory, though wearied so often, nowhere removed the leaves nor touched another’s hair?

    Hinc tibi vota patrum credi generosaque pubes
te monitore regi, mores et facta priorum
discere, quis casus Troiae, quam tardus Vlixes,
quantus equum pugnasque virum decurrere versu
Maeonides quantumque pios ditarit agrestes          150
Ascraeus Siculusque senex, qua lege recurrat
Pindaricae vox flexa lyrae volucrumque precator
Ibycus et tetricis Alcman cantatus Amyclis
Stesichorusque ferox saltusque ingressa viriles
non formidata temeraria Chalcide Sappho,          155
quosque alios dignata chelys. tu pandere doctus
carmina Battiadae latebrasque Lycophronis atri
Sophronaque implicitum tenuisque arcana Corinnae.
sed quid parva loquor? tu par assuetus Homero
ferre iugum senosque pedes aequare solutis          160

    Hence to you are entrusted the vows of the fathers, and the high-born youth to be ruled with you as adviser,
to learn the manners and deeds of the forefathers—what the chances of Troy were, how slow Ulysses,
how greatly the Maeonides ran through the horse and the battles of men in verse,
and how much the Ascraean and the Sicilian old man enriched pious rustics;          150
by what law the Pindaric voice of the bent lyre returns, and Ibycus, supplicator of the birds,
and Alcman sung in grim Amyclae, and fierce Stesichorus, and Sappho—rash in Chalcis—who, not afraid,
entered upon manly bounds; and what others the lyre has deemed worthy.
You, skilled to unfold the songs of the Battiad and the hiding-places of dark Lycophron,
and the entanglement of Sophron and the delicate secrets of Corinna.
But why do I speak of small things? You, accustomed, a peer to Homer,
to bear the yoke and to match the six feet with unbound measures.          160

versibus et numquam passu breviore relinqui.
quid mirum, patria si te petiere relicta
quos Lucanus ager, rigidi quos iugera Dauni,
quos Veneri plorata domus neglectaque tellus
Alcidae, vel quos e vertice Surrentino          165
mittit Tyrrheni speculatrix virgo profundi,
quos propiore sinu lituo remoque notatus
collis et Ausonii pridem laris hospita Cyme,
quosque Dicarchei portus Baianaque mittunt
litora, qua mediis alte permissus anhelat          170
ignis aquis et operta domos incendia servant?
sic ad Avernales scopulos et opaca Sibyllae
antra rogaturae veniebant undique gentes;
illa minas divum Parcarumque acta canebat
quamvis decepto vates non irrita Phoebo.          175

and in your verses never to be left behind with a shorter stride.
What wonder, if, your homeland left, those have sought you whom the Lucanian field, the acres of stern Daunus,
whom the house bewailed to Venus and the earth neglected by Alcides, or those whom from the Surrentine summit          165
the virgin watchwoman of the Tyrrhenian deep sends,
those whom, with nearer bay, the hill marked by trumpet and oar, and Cumae, long a guest of Ausonian hearths,
and those whom the harbors of Dicaearchia and the Baian shores send,
where, high admitted in the midst of the waters, fire pants and hidden conflagrations keep guard over homes?          170
Thus to the Avernian crags and the shadowy caves of the Sibyl
peoples from everywhere used to come to seek counsel;
she would sing the threats of the gods and the deeds of the Fates—
though, with Phoebus deceived, the prophetess was not ineffectual.          175

mox et Romuleam stirpem proceresque futuros
instruis inque patrum vestigia ducere perstas.
sub te Dardanius facis explorator opertae,
qui Diomedei celat penetralia furti,
crevit et inde sacrum didicit puer; arma probatis          180
monstrasti Saliis praesagumque aethera certis
auguribus; cui Chalcidicum fas volvere carmen,
cur Phrygii lateat coma flaminis, et tua multum
verbera succincti formidavere Luperci.
    Et nunc ex illo forsan grege gentibus alter          185
iura dat Eois, alter compescit Hiberas,
alter Achaemenium secludit Zeumate Persen,
hi dites Asiae populos, hi Pontica frenant,
hi fora pacificis emendant fascibus, illi
castra pia statione tenent: tu laudis origo.          190

soon too you instruct the Romulean stock and the nobles-to-be, and you persist in leading them into the foot-tracks of the fathers.
under you the Dardanian you make an explorer of the hidden torch, he who conceals the inner sanctums of the Diomedean theft;
and from that the boy grew and learned the sacred rite; you showed the arms to the Salii, approved, and the presaging aether to sure
augurs; to whom it is lawful to roll the Chalcidian song, why the hair of the Phrygian flamen lies hidden, and your lashes the girded
Luperci have greatly feared.
And now from that flock perhaps one gives laws to the Eastern peoples, another restrains the Iberians, 185
another shuts off the Achaemenian Persian with the Zeugma,
these bridle the rich peoples of Asia, these the Pontic [lands],
these amend the forums with peaceful fasces, those hold the camps with pious station: you are the origin of their praise. 190

non tibi certassent iuvenilia fingere corda
Nestor et indomiti Phoenix moderator alumni,
quique tubas acres lituosque audire volentem
Aeaciden alio frangebat carmine Chiron.
    Talia dum celebras, subitam civilis Erinys          195
Tarpeio de monte facem Phlegraeaque movit
proelia. sacrilegis lucent Capitolia taedis,
et Senonum furias Latiae sumpsere cohortes.
vix requies flammae necdum rogus ille deorum
siderat, excisis cum tu solacia templis          200
impiger et multum facibus velocior ipsis
concinis ore pio captivaque fulmina defles.
mirantur Latii proceres ultorque deorum
Caesar, et e medio divum pater annuit igni.
iamque et flere pio Vesuvina incendia cantu           205
mens erat et gemitum patriis impendere damnis,
cum pater exemptum terris ad sidera montem
sustulit et late miseras deiecit in urbes.

nor would Nestor and Phoenix, trainer of an indomitable ward, have vied to mold youthful hearts for you,
and Chiron, who by another song was taming the Aeacid, eager to hear sharp trumpets and war-horns.
    While you celebrate such things, a sudden civil Fury from the Tarpeian mount shook a torch and Phlegraean battles.          195
the Capitoline glows with sacrilegious torches, and the cohorts of Latium assumed the furies of the Senones.
scarcely had the flames rest and not yet had that pyre of the gods subsided, when, the temples cut down,
you, indefatigable and much swifter than the torches themselves, sing consolations with a pious mouth and bewail the captive thunderbolts.          200
the nobles of Latium and Caesar, the avenger of the gods, marvel, and from the midst of the fire the father of the gods nods assent.
and now your mind was to weep the Vesuvian conflagrations with pious song and to bestow a groan upon the fatherland’s losses,           205
when the father raised to the stars a mountain taken from the earth and far and wide cast it upon the wretched cities.

Me quoque vocales lucos Boeotaque tempe
pulsantem, cum stirpe tua descendere dixi, 210

I too declared that, as I struck the vocal groves and the Boeotian Tempe,
beating them, I would descend with your lineage, 210

admisere deae; nec enim mihi sidera tantum
aequoraque et terras, quae mos debere parenti,
sed decus hoc quodcumque lyrae primusque dedisti
non vulgare loqui et famam sperare sepulcro.
qualis eras, Latios quotiens ego carmine patres          215
mulcerem felixque tui spectator adesses
muneris! heu quali confusus gaudia fletu
vota piosque metus inter laetumque pudorem!
quam tuus ille dies, quam non mihi gloria maior!
talis Olympiaca iuvenem cum spectat harena          220
qui genuit, plus ipse ferit, plus corde sub alto
caeditur; attendunt cunei, spectatur Achaeis
ille magis, crebro dum lumina pulveris haustu
obruit et prensa vovet exspirare corona.
ei mihi quod tantum patrias ego vertice frondes          225

the goddesses admitted me; for not to me the stars only
and the seas and the lands, which it is the custom to owe to a parent,
but this honor whatever of the lyre you first granted—
to speak not vulgar things and to hope for fame at the sepulcher.
What you were like, whenever I with song the Latin fathers          215
would soothe, and you, a happy spectator of your gift, were present!
alas, with what weeping my joys were confounded,
amid vows and pious fears and a gladsome modesty!
how great that day of yours, than which no greater glory for me!
such as when on the Olympian sand a youth is watched          220
by him who begot him, he himself strikes more, and more beneath his deep heart
is smitten; the wedges attend, he is gazed upon more by the Achaeans,
while with frequent draught of dust he overwhelms his eyes
and, the garland grasped, vows to breathe his last.
ah me, that I so much the fatherland’s fronds upon my head          225

solaque Chalcidicae Cerealia dona coronae
te sub teste tuli! qualem te Dardanus Albae
vix cepisset ager, si per me serta tulisses
Caesarea donata manu! quod subdere robur
illa dies, quantum potuit dempsisse senectae! 230
nam quod me mixta quercus non pressit oliva
et fugit speratus honos, quam dulce parentis
invida Tarpei caperes!

and I, you as witness, bore only the Cerealian gifts of the Chalcidian crown! such as you were, the Dardanian field of Alba would scarcely have received you, if through me you had borne garlands bestowed by the Caesarean hand! how much strength that day could have supplied, how much it could have taken away from old age! 230
for because the oak mixed with olive did not press me, and the hoped-for honor fled, how sweet a delight of a parent you, envious Tarpeian one, would have seized!

te nostra magistro
Thebais urguebat priscorum exordia vatum;
tu cantus stimulare meos, tu pandere facta 235
heroum bellique modos positusque locorum
monstrabas. labat incerto mihi limite cursus
te sine, et orbatae caligant vela carinae.
nec solum larga memet pietate fovebas:
talis et in thalamos. una tibi cognita taeda 240

with you as my master
our Thebais was pressing the exordia of the ancient poets;
you to stimulate my chants, you to unfold the deeds 235
of heroes and the modes of war and the positions of places
were showing me. My course totters for me with an uncertain limit
without you, and the sails of the bereft keel are clouded.
nor did you cherish me with abundant piety only:
such were you also in the bridal chambers. One torch alone was known to you. 240

conubia, unus amor. certe seiungere matrem
iam gelidis nequeo bustis; te sentit habetque,
te videt et tumulos ortuque obituque salutat,
ut Pharios aliae ficta pietate dolores
Mygdoniosque colunt et non sua funera plorant. 245
Quid referam expositos servato pondere mores?
quae pietas, quam vile lucrum, quae cura pudoris,
quantus amor recti! rursusque, ubi dulce remitti,
gratia quae dictis!

wedlock, a single love. surely I cannot now sever the mother
from the icy tombs; she perceives and has you,
she sees you and greets the tumuli at sunrise and at sunset,
as others with feigned piety cultivate Pharian dolors
and Mygdonian ones, and bewail funerals not their own. 245
What should I recount of morals set forth with the due weight preserved?
what piety, how cheap was lucre, what care for pudicity,
how great a love of rectitude! and again, where it is sweet to relax,
what grace in your sayings!

animo quam nulla senectus!
his tibi pro meritis famam laudesque benignas 250
iudex cura deum, nulloque e vulnere tristem
concessit. raperis, genitor, non indigus aevi,
non nimius, trinisque decem quinquennia lustris
iuncta ferens. sed me pietas numerare dolorque
non sinit, o Pylias aevi transcendere metas 255

with a spirit that no old age touched!
for these deserts, as judge the care of the gods granted to you kindly renown and praises 250
and let you depart, saddened by no wound.
you are snatched away, father, not in need of age, not excessive, and bearing ten quinquennia joined with three lustrums (= 65 years).
but piety and grief do not allow me to reckon—ah, to overstep the Pylian bounds of age! 255

et Teucros aequare senes, o digne videre
me similem! sed nec leti tibi ianua tristis:
quippe leves causae, nec segnis labe senili
exitus instanti praemisit membra sepulcro,
sed te torpor iners et mors imitata quietem 260
explicuit falsoque tulit sub Tartara somno.
Quos ego tunc gemitus (comitum manus anxia vidit,
vidit et exemplum genetrix gavisaque novit),
quae lamenta tuli!

and to equal the Teucrian elders, O worthy to see me like yourself!
but nor was the sad gate of death yours:
for indeed the causes were slight, nor did an exit sluggish with senile decay
send your limbs beforehand to the impending sepulchre,
but an inert torpor and a death imitating rest 260
unfolded you and bore you down to Tartarus in false sleep.
What groans I then (the anxious band of companions saw,
and my mother saw the example and, rejoicing, recognized it),
what laments I bore!

veniam concedite, manes,
fas dixisse, pater: non tu mihi plura dedisses. 265
felix ille patrem vacuis circumdedit ulnis;
vellet et Elysia quamvis in sede locatum
abripere et Danaas iterum portare per umbras;
temptantem et vivos molitum in Tartara gressus
detulit infernae vates longaeva Dianae; 270

grant pardon, Manes,
it is right to have said so, father: you would not have given me more. 265
happy he who encircled his father with empty arms;
he would wish, though settled in the Elysian seat,
to snatch him away and to carry him again through the Danaän shadows;
and, attempting and contriving living steps into Tartarus,
the long-lived seeress of infernal Diana brought him down. 270

sic chelyn Odrysiam pigro transmisit Averno
causa minor, sic Thessalicis Admetus in oris.
si lux una retro Phylaceida rettulit umbram,
cur nihil exoret, genitor, chelys aut tua manes
aut mea? fas mihi sic patrios contingere vultus,          275
fas iunxisse manus, et lex quaecumque sequatur.
    At vos, umbrarum reges Aetnaeaque Iuno,
si laudanda precor, taedas auferte comasque
Eumenidum; nullo sonet asper ianitor ore,
centauros Hydraeque greges Scyllaeaque monstra          280
aversae celent valles, umbramque senilem
invitet ripis, discussa plebe, supremus
vector et in media componat molliter alga.
ite, pii manes Graiumque examina vatum,
inlustremque animam Lethaeis spargite sertis          285

thus the Odrysian lyre passed the sluggish Avernus for a lesser cause, thus did Admetus on Thessalian shores.
if a single day brought back the Phylacean’s shade in reverse, why should not, father, the lyre or your shades or mine prevail by entreaty? it is lawful for me thus to touch a father’s features,          275
it is lawful to have joined hands, and whatever law may follow.
    But you, kings of the shades, and Aetnaean Juno,
if I pray things to be praised, remove the torches and the tresses
of the Eumenides; let the harsh doorkeeper make no sound with any mouth,
let the valleys, turned away, conceal the Centaurs and the herds of the Hydra and the Scyllaean monsters,          280
and let the supreme ferryman, the crowd dispersed, invite the aged shade
to the banks, and gently lay him down upon the midstream weed.
go, pious shades and the swarms of Greek bards,
and strew the illustrious soul with Lethean garlands.          285

et monstrate nemus, quo nulla inrupit Erinys.
in quo falsa dies caeloque simillimus aer.
Inde tamen venias melior qua porta malignum
cornea vincit ebur, somnique in imagine monstra,
quae solitus. sic sacra Numae ritusque colendos 290
mitis Aricino dictabat Nympha sub antro,
Scipio sic plenos Latio Iove ducere somnos
creditur Ausoniis, sic non sine Apolline Sylla.

and show the grove, into which no Erinys has broken.
in which there is a false day and an air most similar to the sky.
thence, however, may you come better by that gate where the horn conquers the baleful ivory,
the horn outdoes the ivory, and the portents in the image of sleep,
such as you were wont. thus the gentle Nymph beneath the Aricine cave dictated to Numa the sacred things and the rites to be observed, 290
beneath the Aricine cave the gentle Nymph dictated,
thus Scipio is believed by the Ausonians to draw full dreams from Latial Jove,
thus Sulla, not without Apollo.

IV. SOMNVS

4. SLEEP

          Crimine quo merui, iuvenis placidissime divum,
quove errore miser, donis ut solus egerem,
Somne, tuis? tacet omne pecus volucresque feraeque
et simulant fessos curvata cacumina somnos,
nec trucibus fluviis idem sonus; occidit horror          5
aequoris, et terris maria adclinata quiescunt.
septima iam rediens Phoebe mihi respicit aegras
stare genas; totidem Oetaeae Paphiaeque revisunt
lampades et totiens nostros Tithonia questus
praeterit et gelido spargit miserata flagello.          10
unde ego sufficiam? non si mihi lumina mille,
quae sacer alterna tantum statione tenebat
Argus et haud umquam vigilabat corpore toto.
at nunc heu!

          By what crime have I deserved, most placid youth of the gods,
or by what error, wretched, that I alone should be in want of your gifts,
Sleep? all cattle are silent, and birds and wild beasts,
and the bent treetops simulate weary slumbers,
nor is there the same sound in the truculent rivers; the horror falls          5
of the sea-level, and the seas, inclined to the lands, are quiet.
now returning the seventh time Phoebe looks on my sickly
cheeks still upright; the same number the Oetaean and the Paphian
lamps revisit, and just so often Tithonia passes by my laments
and, in pity, sprinkles with her gelid scourge.          10
whence shall I suffice? not even if a thousand eyes were mine,
which sacred Argus held only by alternating station,
and he was never vigilant with his whole body.
but now—alas!

si aliquis longa sub nocte puellae
brachia nexa tenens ultro te, Somne, repellit, 15

if anyone beneath a long night, holding the girl's entwined arms,
repels you of his own accord, Sleep, 15

inde veni; nec te totas infundere pennas
luminibus compello meis++hoc turba precatur
laetior: extremo me tange cacumine virgae,
sufficit, aut leviter suspenso poplite transi.

thence come; nor do I compel you to pour your whole feathers into my eyes—this the more cheerful crowd prays for:
touch me with the farthest tip of your rod,
it suffices, or pass lightly with knee suspended.

V. EPICEDION IN PVERVM SVVM

5. EPICEDION FOR HIS BOY

Me miserum! neque enim verbis sollemnibus ulla
incipiam nec Castaliae vocalibus undis,
invisus Phoeboque gravis. quae vestra, sorores,
orgia, Pieriae, quas incestavimus aras?
dicite, post poenam liceat commissa fateri. 5
numquid inaccesso posui vestigia luco?
num vetito de fonte bibi?

Wretched me! for I shall not begin with any solemn words,
nor with the vocal waters of Castalia,
hateful and grievous to Phoebus. What are your rites, sisters, Pierian ones—what altars have we defiled?
say, after the penalty let it be permitted to confess what was committed. 5
Have I set my footprints in an inaccessible grove?
Have I drunk from a forbidden fountain?

quae culpa, quis error
quem luimus tantis? morientibus ecce lacertis
viscera nostra tenens animaque avellitur infans,
non de stirpe quidem nec qui mea nomina ferret 10
oraque; non fueram genitor, sed cernite fletus
liventesque genas et credite planctibus orbi.
orbus ego. huc patres et aperto pectore matres
conveniant; cineremque oculis et crimina ferte,
si qua sub uberibus plenis ad funera natos 15

what fault, what error
do we expiate with such great [penalties]? behold, with dying arms,
clutching our vitals and our very soul, the child is torn away,
not of my stock indeed, nor one who would bear my names 10
and face; I had not been a begetter, but behold the tears
and the livid cheeks, and trust the bereft one in his lamentations.
I am bereft. Hither let fathers, and mothers with bared breast,
assemble; and bring ash to your eyes and reproaches,
if any, with full breasts, to funerals their sons 15

ipsa gradu labente tulit madidumque cecidit
pectus et ardentes restinxit lacte papillas,
quisquis adhuc tenerae signatum flore iuventae
immersit cineri iuvenem primaque iacentis
serpere crudelis vidit lanugine flammas,          20
adsit et alterno mecum clamore fatiscat:
vincetur lacrimis, et te, Natura, pudebit.
tanta mihi feritas, tanta est insania luctus.
hoc quoque cum ni<tor>, ter dena luce peracta,
adclinis tumul<o en pla>nctus in carmina verto,          25
discordesque modos et singultantia verba
molior orsa ly<ra: vis> est, atque ira tacendi
impatiens. sed nec solitae mihi vertice laurus
nec fronti vittatus honos. en taxea marcet
silva comis, hilaresque hederas plorata cupressus          30

she herself, as her step slipped, bared and let fall her dripping breast, and quenched her burning nipples with milk,
whoever has yet immersed into ash a youth stamped with the bloom of tender adolescence
and has seen the cruel flames crawl over the first down of the one lying there,          20
let him be present and grow faint with me in alternating outcries:
he will be overcome by tears, and you, Nature, will be ashamed.
so great is the savagery for me, so great is the madness of mourning.
this too, though I struggle, with thirty days completed,
leaning upon the tomb I turn laments into songs,          25
and I endeavor discordant modes and sobbing words,
begun on the lyre: there is force, and an anger impatient of keeping silence.
but neither the usual laurel for my crown nor the filleted honor for my brow.
lo, the yew-wood droops in its foliage, and the wept-over cypress makes the cheerful ivies weep          30

excludit ramis; nec eburno pollice chordas
pulso, sed incertam digitis errantibus amens
scindo chelyn. iuvat heu, iuvat inlaudabile carmen
fundere et incompte miserum laudare dolorem.
sic merui, sic me cantuque habituque nefastum 35
aspiciant superi. pudeat Thebasque novumque
Aeaciden: nil iam placidum manabit ab ore.
ille ego qui (quotiens!) blande matrumque patrumque
vulnera, qui vivos potui mulcere dolores,
ille ego lugentum mitis solator, acerbis 40
auditus tumulis et descendentibus umbris,
deficio medicasque manus fomentaque quaero
vulneribus, sed summa, meis.

shuts out with her branches; nor with an ivory thumb do I strike the strings,
but, distraught, with wandering fingers I tear the uncertain lyre.
it pleases—alas, it pleases—to pour forth an unpraiseworthy song
and, unkempt, to praise pitiable grief.
thus have I deserved; thus let the gods above behold me as ill-omened both in song and in attire. 35
let Thebes be ashamed, and the new Aeacid; nothing now gentle will flow from my mouth.
I am that man who (how often!) could sweetly soothe the wounds of mothers and fathers,
who could calm living pains—
I, the mild consoler of mourners, heard by bitter tombs and by the descending shades— 40
I fail, and I seek healing hands and poultices for wounds—but, in the end, for my own.

nunc tempus, amici,
quorum ego manantes oculos et saucia tersi
pectora: reddite opem, saevas exsolvite gratis. 45

now is the time, friends,
you, whose streaming eyes and wounded hearts I wiped;
render aid, unloose the savage griefs, freely. 45

nimirum cum vestra domus ego funera maestus
                        * * *                                                  46a
increpitans: 'qui damna doles aliena, repone
infelix lacrimas et tristia carmina serva.'
verum erat: absumptae vires et copia fandi
nulla mihi, dignumque nihil mens fulmine tanto          50
repperit: inferior vox omnis et omnia sordent
verba. ignosce, puer: tu me caligine maestum
obruis. a! durus, viso si vulnere carae
coniugis invenit caneret quod Thracius Orpheus
dulce sibi, si busta Lini complexus Apollo          55
non tacuit.

surely, when I, sad, your household’s funerals
                        * * *                                                  46a
reproaching: 'you who grieve others’ losses, put away
unhappy one, your tears, and reserve the sad songs.'
it was true: my forces are spent, and copiousness of speaking
is none for me, and my mind found nothing worthy of so great a thunderbolt          50
every voice is lower, and all words are sordid.
forgive, boy: you overwhelm me, sad, with gloom.
ah! hard he, if, at the sight of the wound of his dear
spouse, the Thracian Orpheus found what he could sing
sweet to himself; if Apollo, clasping the tomb of Linus,          55
did not keep silence.

nimius fortasse avidusque doloris
dicar et in lacrimis iustum excessisse pudorem?
quisnam autem gemitus lamentaque nostra rependis?
o nimium felix, nimium crudelis et expers
imperii, Fortuna, tui qui dicere legem 60

Shall I perhaps be called too excessive and greedy for grief,
and in my tears to have overstepped proper modesty?
But who, however, measures our groans and laments?
O Fortune, too fortunate, too cruel, and without command,
who is there to lay down the law to you 60

fletibus aut fines audet censere dolendi!
incitat heu! planctus; potius fugientia ripas
flumina detineas rapidis aut ignibus obstes,
quam miseros lugere vetes. tamen ille severus,
quisquis is est, nostrae cognoscat vulnera causae. 65
Non ego mercatus Pharia de puppe loquaces
delicias doctumque sui convicia Nili
infantem lingua nimium salibusque protervum
dilexi: meus ille, meus.

or dares to decree limits for tears or for grieving!
he, alas, incites the laments; rather you should detain rivers fleeing their banks
or stand against swift fires, than forbid the wretched to mourn.
yet let that austere one, whoever he is, come to know the wounds of our cause. 65
Not I, having bought from a Pharian deck a loquacious darling
and a child taught the taunts of his Nile, too forward in tongue and in sallies,
did cherish: he was mine, mine.

tellure cadentem
aspexi atque unctum genitali carmine fovi, 70
poscentemque novas tremulis ululatibus auras
inserui vitae. quid plus tribuere parentes?
quin alios ortus libertatemque sub ipsis
uberibus tibi, parve, dedi; heu! munera nostra
rideres ingratus adhuc.

I beheld you falling to the earth
and, anointed with the natal song, I cherished you, 70
and, as you were demanding new airs with trembling ululations,
I grafted you into life. What more could parents bestow?
Indeed even other births and liberty beneath my very breasts
to you, little one, I gave; alas! you would laugh at our gifts,
ungrateful still.

properaverit ille, 75

he hurried, 75

sed merito properabat, amor, ne perderet ullum
libertas tam parva diem. nonne horridus ipsos
invidia superos iniustaque Tartara pulsem?
nonne gemam te, care puer? quo sospite natos
non cupii, primo gemitum qui protinus ortu 80
implicuit fixitque mihi, cui verba sonosque
monstravi questusque et vulnera caeca resolvens,
reptantemque solo demissus ad oscula dextra
erexi, blandoque sinu iam iamque cadentes
exsopire genas dulcesque accersere somnos. 85
cui nomen vox prima meum ludusque tenello
risus, et a nostro veniebant gaudia vultu.

but rightly he was hastening, love, lest so small a liberty should lose any day.
shall I not, grim, assail the very gods above with envy and unjust Tartarus?
shall I not lament you, dear boy? while you were safe I did not desire sons,
you who at your first birth straightway enwove and fixed a groan in me, 80
to whom I showed words and sounds, and, resolving complaints and unseen wounds,
and you, crawling on the ground, I, with my right hand let down to kisses,
raised up, and in a soothing bosom your now-now falling cheeks
to lull, and to summon sweet sleeps. 85
for whom the first voice was my name, and play and tender laughter,
and joys came from my face.