River, with muddy banks covered in reeds, I am hurrying to my mistress — stop your waters for a little while!
You have no bridges, nor is there any concave boat which, with a rope thrown across, might carry one without the stroke of an oarsman.
You were small, I remember, and I did not shrink from crossing you, and the top of the water barely touched my ankles.
Now you rush, because of the snow dissolved from the adjacent mountain, and you roll thick waters in a filthy whirlpool.
§3.6.9Quid properasse iuvat, quid parca dedisse quieti §3.6.10Tempora, quid nocti conseruisse diem, §3.6.11Si tamen hic standum est, si non datur artibus ullis §3.6.12Ulterior nostro ripa premenda pedi?
What does it help to have hurried, what to have given only small periods of time to rest, what to have joined day to night, if yet I must stand here, if by no skills is it granted for the opposite bank to be trodden by our feet?
§3.6.13Nunc ego, quas habuit pinnas Danaeius heros, §3.6.14Terribili densum cum tulit angue caput, §3.6.15Nunc opto currum, de quo Cerealia primum §3.6.16Semina venerunt in rude missa solum.
Now I wish for the wings which the hero, son of Danae, had when he carried the head thick with terrible snakes, now I wish for the chariot from which the seeds of Ceres first came, sent into the rough ground.
I speak of the marvelous lies of the ancient poets; no day has ever brought these, nor ever will.
Rather you, river poured out over your spacious banks — — may you flow thus eternally — glide within your own boundary!
§3.6.21Non eris invidiae, torrens, mihi crede, ferendae, §3.6.22Si dicar per te forte retentus amans.
You will not be the object of unbearable hatred, believe me, torrent, if I am said to be by chance a lover held back through you.
Rivers ought to help young men in love; rivers themselves have felt what love is.
Inachus is said to have walked pale for Bithynian Melie and to have grown warm in his cold shallows.
Troy was not yet besieged for ten years, when Neaera snatched away your heart, Xanthus.
What? did not a certain love for an Arcadian maiden compel Alpheus to flow through different lands?
They say that you too, Peneus, hid Creusa, who was promised to Xuthus, in the lands of the Phthians.
Why should I mention Asopus, whom Martian Thebe captured, Thebe, destined to be the parent of his five daughters?
§3.6.35Cornua si tua nunc ubi sint, Acheloe, requiram, §3.6.36Herculis irata fracta querere manu; §3.6.37Nec tanti Calydon nec tota Aetolia tanti, §3.6.38Una tamen tanti Deianira fuit.
If I should ask now where your horns are, Achelous, you will complain that they were broken by the angry hand of Hercules; Calydon was not worth so much, nor all Aetolia worth so much, yet Deianira alone was worth so much.
§3.6.39Ille fluens dives septena per ostia Nilus, §3.6.40Qui patriam tantae tam bene celat aquae, §3.6.41Fertur in Euanthe collectam Asopide flammam §3.6.42Vincere gurgitibus non potuisse suis.
That rich Nile flowing through seven mouths, who hides so well the source of such great water, is said not to have been able to overcome with his whirlpools the flame conceived for Euanthe, daughter of Asopus.
§3.6.43Siccus ut amplecti Salmonida posset Enipeus, §3.6.44Cedere iussit aquam; iussa recessit aqua.
So that dry Enipeus could embrace Salmonis, he ordered his water to yield; ordered, the water receded.
§3.6.45Nec te praetereo, qui per cava saxa volutans §3.6.46Tiburis Argei pomifera arva rigas, §3.6.47Ilia cui placuit, quamvis erat horrida cultu, §3.6.48Ungue notata comas, ungue notata genas.
Nor do I pass over you, who rolling through hollow rocks irrigate the fruit-bearing fields of Argive Tibur, whom Ilia pleased, although she was unkempt in her attire, her hair marked by her nails, her cheeks marked by her nails.
She, lamenting the crime of her uncle and the sins of Mars, was wandering with bare feet through lonely places.
§3.6.51Hanc Anien rapidis animosus vidit ab undis §3.6.52Raucaque de mediis sustulit ora vadis §3.6.53Atque ita 'quid nostras' dixit 'teris anxia ripas, §3.6.54Ilia, ab Idaeo Laumedonte genus?
High-spirited Anio saw her from his rapid waves and raised his hoarse face from the middle of the shallows and spoke thus: 'Why do you tread our banks in anxiety, Ilia, lineage from Idaean Laomedon?
Whither have your adornments gone? why do you wander alone, nor does the white fillet bind your bound hair?
§3.6.57Quid fles et madidos lacrimis corrumpis ocellos §3.6.58Pectoraque insana plangis aperta manu?
Why do you weep and ruin your eyes wet with tears and beat your bare breast with a frantic hand?
§3.6.59Ille habet et silices et vivum in pectore ferrum, §3.6.60Qui tenero lacrimas lentus in ore videt.
He has both flints and living iron in his breast, who unmoved sees tears on a tender face.
Ilia, lay aside your fears! our palace will open to you, and the rivers will worship you.
Ilia, pone metus!
Ilia, lay aside your fears!
§3.6.63Tu centum aut plures inter dominabere nymphas; §3.6.64Nam centum aut plures flumina nostra tenent.
You will rule among a hundred or more nymphs; for a hundred or more hold our waters.
§3.6.65Ne me sperne, precor, tantum, Troiana propago; §3.6.66Munera promissis uberiora feres. ' §3.6.67Dixerat.
Only do not despise me, I pray, Trojan offspring; you will receive gifts richer than my promises.' He had spoken.
illa oculos in humum deiecta modestos §3.6.68Spargebat teneros flebilis imbre sinus.
She, casting her modest eyes to the ground, was wet with a shower of tears on her tender breast.
Thrice she attempted flight, thrice she stopped by the deep waters, fear taking away her strength for running.
§3.6.71Sera tamen scindens inimico pollice crinem §3.6.72Edidit indignos ore tremente sonos: §3.6.73'O utinam mea lecta forent patrioque sepulcro §3.6.74Condita, cum poterant virginis ossa legi!
Yet late, tearing her hair with a hostile hand, she uttered unworthy words from her trembling mouth: 'O would that my bones had been gathered and laid in my father's tomb, when they could be gathered as those of a virgin!
Why, just now a Vestal, am I invited to any marriage torches, shameful and to be rejected by the Trojan hearths?
§3.6.77Quid moror et digitis designor adultera vulgi?
Why do I delay and am pointed out by the fingers of the crowd as an adulteress?
§3.6.78Desint famosus quae notet ora pudor!' §3.6.79Hactenus, et vestem tumidis praetendit ocellis §3.6.80Atque ita se in rapidas perdita misit aquas.
May the shameful modesty that marks my face be gone!' Thus far she spoke, and held her robe before her tear-swollen eyes, and thus, ruined, threw herself into the rapid waters.
The slippery river is said to have placed his hands beneath her breast and to have given her the rights of a shared bed.
§3.6.83Te quoque credibile est aliqua caluisse puella; §3.6.84Sed nemora et silvae crimina vestra tegunt.
It is believable that you too have grown warm for some girl; but groves and forests conceal your crimes.
While I speak, the river has grown wider with broad waves, nor does the deep channel hold the admitted waters.
§3.6.87Quid mecum, furiose, tibi? quid mutua differs §3.6.88Gaudia? quid coeptum, rustice, rumpis iter?
What have I to do with you, mad river? why do you delay our mutual joys? why, rustic, do you break off the journey I have begun?
§3.6.89Quid? si legitimum flueres, si nobile flumen, §3.6.90Si tibi per terras maxima fama foret — §3.6.91Nomen habes nullum, rivis collecte caducis, §3.6.92Nec tibi sunt fontes nec tibi certa domus!
What? if you were flowing as a legitimate, a noble river, if you had the greatest fame throughout the lands — you have no name, collected from transient streams, nor do you have sources, nor a fixed home!
§3.6.93Fontis habes instar pluviamque nivesque solutas, §3.6.94Quas tibi divitias pigra ministrat hiemps; §3.6.95Aut lutulentus agis brumali tempore cursus, §3.6.96Aut premis arentem pulverulentus humum.
In place of a source you have rain and melted snow, which wealth sluggish winter administers to you; either you lead a muddy course in wintertime, or you press the dry ground, covered with dust.
§3.6.97Quis te tum potuit sitiens haurire viator?
What thirsty traveler then was able to draw water from you to drink?
§3.6.98Quis dixit grata voce 'perennis eas'?
Who said with a grateful voice "may you flow eternally"?
§3.6.99Damnosus pecori curris, damnosior agris.
You flow damaging to the flock, more damaging to the fields.
§3.6.100Forsitan haec alios; me mea damna movent.
Perhaps these things trouble others; my own losses move me.
§3.6.101Huic ego, vae! demens narrabam fluminum amores!
Ah, madman that I am, I was telling the loves of rivers to this one!
§3.6.102Iactasse indigne nomina tanta pudet.
I am ashamed to have boastfully spoken of such great names in vain.