§4.628Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas §4.629imprecor, arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotesque.
Shores opposed to shores, waves to waves I invoke as a curse, arms to arms; let them fight, both themselves and their descendants.
§4.630Haec ait, et partis animum versabat in omnis, §4.631invisam quaerens quam primum abrumpere lucem.
These things she said, and was turning her mind in every direction, seeking to break off the hated light as soon as possible.
§4.632Tum breviter Barcen nutricem adfata Sychaei; §4.633namque suam patria antiqua cinis ater habebat: §4.634Annam cara mihi nutrix huc siste sororem; §4.635dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lympha, §4.636et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat: §4.637sic veniat; tuque ipsa pia tege tempora vitta.
Then briefly she addressed Barce, the nurse of Sychaeus; for the black ash was holding her own nurse in her ancient fatherland: "Dear nurse, bring my sister Anna here to me; tell her to make haste to sprinkle her body with river water, and bring with her the cattle and the prescribed expiations: thus let her come; and you yourself cover your temples with a sacred headband.
§4.638Sacra Iovi Stygio, quae rite incepta paravi, §4.639perficere est animus, finemque imponere curis, §4.640Dardaniique rogum capitis permittere flammae. §4.641Sic ait: illa gradum studio celerabat anili.
It is my intention to complete the sacrifices to Stygian Jove, which I have duly begun and prepared, and to put an end to my cares, and to commit the pyre of the Dardanian chief to the flame." Thus she spoke: she (the nurse) hastened her step with old-womanish zeal.
§4.642At trepida, et coeptis immanibus effera Dido, §4.643sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementis §4.644interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura, §4.645interiora domus inrumpit limina, et altos §4.646conscendit furibunda rogos, ensemque recludit §4.647Dardanium, non hos quaesitum munus in usus.
But Dido, trembling and wild with her monstrous undertakings, rolling her bloodshot eyes, her trembling cheeks flecked with spots, and pale with imminent death, bursts into the inner thresholds of the house, and climbs the high pyre in a frenzy, and unsheathes the Dardanian sword, a gift sought for no such purposes.
§4.648Hic, postquam Iliacas vestes notumque cubile §4.649conspexit, paulum lacrimis et mente morata, §4.650incubuitque toro, dixitque novissima verba: §4.651Dulces exuviae, dum fata deusque sinebant, §4.652accipite hanc animam, meque his exsolvite curis.
Here, after she beheld the Trojan garments and the familiar bed, lingering a little in tears and in thought, she threw herself onto the couch and spoke her last words: "Sweet relics, while the fates and the god permitted, receive this soul, and release me from these cares.
I have lived, and I have completed the course which fortune had given, and now my great shade will go beneath the earth.
§4.655Urbem praeclaram statui; mea moenia vidi; §4.656ulta virum, poenas inimico a fratre recepi; §4.657felix, heu nimium felix, si litora tantum §4.658numquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae! §4.659Dixit, et, os impressa toro,
Moriemur inultae,
I have established a famous city; I have seen my walls; having avenged my husband, I have exacted punishment from my hostile brother; happy, alas, too happy, if only the Dardanian keels had never touched our shores!" She spoke, and, pressing her face onto the couch: "We shall die unavenged, but let us die," she says.
§4.660sed moriamur
ait. Sic, sic iuvat ire sub umbras
: §4.661Hauriat hunc oculis ignem crudelis ab alto §4.662Dardanus, et nostrae secum ferat omina mortis. §4.663Dixerat; atque illam media inter talia ferro §4.664conlapsam aspiciunt comites, ensemque cruore §4.665spumantem, sparsasque manus.
"Thus, thus it pleases me to go beneath the shadows: let the cruel Dardanian drink in this fire with his eyes from the deep, and bear with him the omens of our death." She had spoken; and in the midst of such words, her companions behold her fallen upon the sword, and the blade foaming with blood, and her hands bespattered.
It clamor ad alta §4.666atria; concussam bacchatur Fama per urbem.
A cry goes up to the high halls; Rumor runs wild through the shaken city.
§4.667Lamentis gemituque et femineo ululatu §4.668tecta fremunt; resonat magnis plangoribus aether, §4.669non aliter, quam si immissis ruat hostibus omnis §4.670Karthago aut antiqua Tyros, flammaeque furentes §4.671culmina perque hominum volvantur perque deorum.
With laments and groaning and female wailing the dwellings resound; the upper air rings with loud wailings, no otherwise than if all Carthage or ancient Tyre were falling down before rushing enemies, and raging flames were rolling through the roofs of men and of gods.
§4.672Audiit exanimis, trepidoque exterrita cursu §4.673unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis §4.674per medios ruit, ac morientem nomine clamat: §4.675Hoc illud, germana, fuit? Me fraude petebas?
Her sister heard it, breathless, and terrified in her trembling course, clawing her face with her nails and beating her breast with her fists, she rushes through the midst, and calls her dying sister by name: "Was this that which you were preparing, sister? Were you deceiving me?
§4.676Hoc rogus iste mihi, hoc ignes araeque parabant?
Was this what that pyre, this what the fires and altars were preparing for me?
§4.677Quid primum deserta querar? Comitemne sororem §4.678sprevisti moriens? Eadem me ad fata vocasses: §4.679idem ambas ferro dolor, atque eadem hora tulisset.
Abandoned, what shall I complain of first? Did you despise your sister as a companion in dying? You should have called me to the same fate: the same pain and the same hour would have taken both of us by the sword.
§4.680His etiam struxi manibus, patriosque vocavi §4.681voce deos, sic te ut posita crudelis abessem?
Did I even build it with these hands, and call upon our ancestral gods with my voice, only that I, cruel one, should be absent when you lay thus?
You have destroyed yourself and me, sister, and the Sidonian people and elders and your city.
Date volnera lymphis §4.684abluam, et, extremus si quis super halitus errat, §4.685ore legam. Sic fata, gradus evaserat altos, §4.686semianimemque sinu germanam amplexa fovebat §4.687cum gemitu, atque atros siccabat veste cruores.
Give me water that I may wash her wounds, and if any last breath still hovers above, let me catch it with my mouth." Thus having spoken, she had climbed the high steps, and embracing her half-dead sister in her bosom, she cherished her with groaning, and was drying the black blood with her robe.
§4.688Illa, graves oculos conata attollere, rursus §4.689deficit; infixum stridit sub pectore vulnus.
She, having tried to lift her heavy eyes, again fails; the deep-fixed wound gurgles beneath her breast.
§4.690Ter sese attollens cubitoque adnixa levavit; §4.691ter revoluta toro est, oculisque errantibus alto §4.692quaesivit caelo lucem, ingemuitque reperta.
Three times raising herself and leaning on her elbow she lifted herself up; three times she rolled back on the couch, and with wandering eyes sought light in the deep heaven, and groaned when she found it.
§4.693Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem §4.694difficilisque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo, §4.695quae luctantem animam nexosque resolveret artus.
Then almighty Juno, pitying her long pain and difficult death, sent Iris down from Olympus, to release her struggling soul and bound limbs.
§4.696Nam quia nec fato, merita nec morte peribat, §4.697sed misera ante diem, subitoque accensa furore, §4.698nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem §4.699abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco.
For since she was dying neither by fate nor by a deserved death, but miserably before her day and inflamed by a sudden madness, Proserpina had not yet cut the golden hair from her head nor condemned her soul to Stygian Orcus.
§4.700Ergo Iris croceis per caelum roscida pennis, §4.701mille trahens varios adverso sole colores, §4.702devolat, et supra caput adstitit:
Hunc ego Diti §4.703sacrum iussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo. §4.704Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat: omnis et una §4.705dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit.
Therefore, dewy Iris on saffron wings flies down through the sky, drawing a thousand varied colors in the opposing sun, and stood above her head: "This I bear, commanded, as sacred to Dis, and I release you from that body of yours." Thus she spoke, and cuts the hair with her right hand: and at once all warmth slipped away, and her life receded into the winds.