Of Him who moves all nations, seas, and lands, I am a citizen in the city of the celestials.
§3ita sum, ut videtis, splendens stella candida, §4signum quod semper tempore exoritur suo §5hic atque in caelo: nomen Arcturo est mihi.
Thus I am, as you see, a shining bright star, a constellation that always rises at its own proper time, here as well as in heaven: my name is Arcturus.
§9qui est imperator divom atque hominum Iuppiter, §10is nos per gentis alium ália disparat, §11qui facta hominum, mores, pietatem et fidem §12noscamus, ut quemque adiuvet opulentia.
Jove, who is the ruler of gods and men, disperses us among the nations, some to one place and others to another, so that we may observe the deeds of men, their morals, piety, and good faith, so that he may assist each with riches.
§13qui falsas litis falsis testimoniis §14petunt quique in iure abiurant pecuniam, §15eorúm referimus nomina exscripta ad Iovem; §16cotidie ille scit quis hic quaerat malum: §17qui hic litem apisci postulant peiurio §18mali, res falsas qui impetrant apud iudicem, §19iterum ille eam rem iudicatam iudicat; §20maiore multa multat quam litem auferunt.
Those who seek false lawsuits with false testimonies, and those who deny on oath in court the money they owe, we report their names, written down, to Jove; daily he knows who is seeking mischief here: Those evil ones who demand to win their suit here through perjury, and obtain a false decision before the judge, he judges that already judged case over again; and punishes them with a much greater fine than the lawsuit they won.
§21bonos in aliis tabulis exscriptos habet.
The good he has written down in other tablets.
§22atque hoc scelesti in animum inducunt suom, §23Iovem sé placare posse donis, hostiis: §24et operam et sumptum perdunt; id eo fit quia §25nihil éi acceptumst a periuris supplici; §26facilius si qui pius est a dis supplicans, §27quam qui scelestust, inveniet veniam sibi.
And yet the wicked persuade themselves in their minds that they can appease Jove with gifts and sacrifices: they waste both their effort and expense; that happens because no offering from perjurers is acceptable to him; a pious man who prays will more easily find pardon from the gods than he who is wicked.
§28idcirco moneo vos ego haec, qui estis boni §29quique aetatem agitis cum pietate et cum fide: §30retinete porro, post factum ut laetemini.
Therefore, I advise you of these things, you who are good and who lead your life with piety and good faith: hold fast to this course hereafter, so that you may rejoice in the end.
§31nunc, huc qua causa veni, argumentum eloquar.
Now, the reason for which I came here, I will declare the plot.
First of all, Diphilus wished the name of this city to be Cyrene.
illic habitat Daemones §34in agro atque villa proxima propter mare, §35senex, qui húc Athenis exul venit, hau malus; §36neque is adeo propter malitiam patria caret, §37sed dum alios servat se impedivit interim, §38rem bene paratam comitate perdidit.
There lives Daemones in the country, in a house very near the sea, an old man who came here as an exile from Athens, not a bad fellow; nor indeed does he lack his country because of wickedness, but while he was saving others, he entangled himself in the meantime, and lost a well-established estate through his kindness.
§39huíc filiola virgo periit parvola.
To him, a little maiden daughter was lost when very young.
A most wicked man bought her from a pirate, that pimp brought her, a maiden, here to Cyrene.
§42adulescens quidam civis huius Atticus §43eam vídit ire e ludo fidicinio domum, §44amare occepit: ad lenonem devenit, §45minis triginta sibi puellam destinat §46datque arrabonem et iure iurando alligat.
A certain young man, an Attic citizen of this place, saw her returning home from a music school, and fell in love with her: he went to the pimp, bargained for the girl for thirty minas, gave an earnest-money, and bound him with an oath.
That pimp, as is natural to him, cared not a straw for good faith, nor for what he had sworn to the young man.
§49eí erat hospes par sui, Siculus senex §50scelestus, Agrigentinus, urbis proditor; §51is illius laudare infit formam virginis §52et aliarum itidem quae eius erant mulierculae.
He had a guest like himself, an old Sicilian, wicked, from Agrigentum, a betrayer of his city; he began to praise the beauty of that maiden, and likewise of the other wenches who belonged to him.
§53infit lenoni suadere, ut secum simul §54eat in Siciliam: ibi esse homines voluptários §55dicit, potesse íbi eum fieri divitem.
He began to persuade the pimp to go together with him to Sicily: he said there were pleasure-loving men there, and that he could become rich there.
§57persuadet.
He persuaded him.
navis clanculum conducitur, §58quidquid erat noctu in navem comportat domo §59leno; adulescenti qui puellam ab eo emerat §60ait sése Veneri velle votum solvere §61(id hic est Veneris fanum) et eo ad prandium §62vocavit adulescentem huc.
A ship was secretly hired; the pimp carried everything he had from his house into the ship by night; to the young man who had bought the girl from him, he said that he wanted to pay a vow to Venus (this here is the temple of Venus) and for that reason he invited the young man here to lunch.
ipse hinc ilico §63conscendit navem, ávehit meretriculas.
He himself, straight from here, boarded the ship, and carried off the wenches.
Others related to the young man how the thing was done, that the pimp had gone.
ad portum ádulescens venit: §66illorum navis longe in altum abscesserat.
The young man came to the harbor: their ship had already gone far out into the deep.
§67ego quoniam video virginem asportarier, §68tetuli éi auxilium et lenoni exitium simul: §69increpui hibernum et fluctus movi maritimos.
Since I saw the maiden being carried away, I brought her help and the pimp destruction at the same time: I roared a winter storm and moved the waves of the sea.
For I, Arcturus, am the brightest of all constellations: I am vehement when rising, and when I set, still more vehement.
Now both of them, the pimp and his guest, are sitting cast ashore on a rock: their ship was wrecked.
But that maiden and another maidservant likewise, terrified, leaped from the ship into a boat.