Now I confess — I wished to call you back, and my mind was inclining to it; but my tongue stopped from fear of an evil omen.
When you wished to go forth from your father's doors toward Troy, your foot, stumbling on the threshold, gave a sign.
§13.89Ut vidi, ingemui, tacitoque in pectore dixi: §13.90'Signa reversuri sint, precor, ista viri!' §13.91Haec tibi nunc refero, ne sis animosus in armis; §13.92Fac, meus in ventos hic timor omnis eat!
When I saw it, I groaned, and said in my silent breast: 'May those signs, I pray, be of a husband who will return!' I relate these things to you now, lest you be too bold in arms; see to it that all this fear of mine goes into the winds!
The lot also, by an unjust fate, designates some unknown person, who first of the Greeks shall touch the Trojan soil.
§13.95Infelix, quae prima virum lugebit ademptum!
Unhappy woman, who first shall mourn her snatched-away husband!
§13.96Di faciant, ne tu strenuus esse velis!
May the gods grant that you do not wish to be eager!
Among a thousand ships, let yours be the thousandth vessel, and, as the last, let it turn the already fatigued waters!
§13.99Hoc quoque praemoneo: de nave novissimus exi; §13.100Non est, quo properas, terra paterna tibi.
This also I warn you beforehand: exit from the ship the very last; the land whither you hasten is not your paternal land.
When you return, move your keel with oar and sail, and halt your swift step on your own shore!
§13.103Sive latet Phoebus seu terris altior exstat, §13.104Tu mihi luce celer, tu mihi nocte veni, §13.105Nocte tamen quam luce magis — nox grata puellis §13.106Quarum suppositus colla lacertus habet.
Whether Phoebus is hidden or stands higher than the earth, come to me swift by day, come to me by night, by night, however, more than by day — night is pleasing to young women whose necks a placed-beneath arm holds.
On my celibate bed, I catch at deceitful sleep; while I lack true joys, false ones delight me.
§13.109Sed tua cur nobis pallens occurrit imago?
But why does your pale image meet me?
§13.110Cur venit a labris multa querela tuis?
Why does many a complaint come from your lips?
§13.111Excutior somno simulacraque noctis adoro; §13.112Nulla caret fumo Thessalis ara meo; §13.113Tura damus lacrimamque super, qua sparsa relucet, §13.114Ut solet adfuso surgere flamma mero.
I am shaken from sleep and worship the phantoms of the night; no Thessalian altar lacks my smoke; I offer incense and tears upon it, sprinkled with which it shines again, as a flame is wont to rise when unmixed wine is poured on it.
§13.115Quando ego, te reducem cupidis amplexa lacertis, §13.116Languida laetitia solvar ab ipsa mea?
When shall I, embracing you returned with eager arms, languid with joy, be dissolved by my very happiness?
§13.117Quando erit, ut lecto mecum bene iunctus in uno §13.118Militiae referas splendida facta tuae?
When will it be that, well joined with me on one bed, you relate the splendid deeds of your military service?
§13.119Quae mihi dum referes, quamvis audire iuvabit, §13.120Multa tamen capies oscula, multa dabis.
While you relate these to me, although it will be a joy to hear, you will nevertheless receive many kisses, and give many.
§13.121Semper in his apte narrantia verba resistunt; §13.122Promptior est dulci lingua referre mora.
Always in these moments, words in narration fittingly pause; the tongue is more ready to relate after a sweet delay.
§13.123Sed cum Troia subit, subeunt ventique fretumque; §13.124Spes bona sollicito victa timore cadit.
But when Troy comes to mind, both the winds and the sea come to mind; good hope, conquered by anxious fear, falls away.
This also, that the winds prevent the ships from departing, troubles me — you prepare to go while the waters are unwilling.
§13.127Quis velit in patriam vento prohibente reverti?
Who would wish to return to his fatherland when the wind forbids?
§13.128A patria pelago vela vetante datis!
Yet from your fatherland you give sails to the sea when it forbids!
§13.129Ipse suam non praebet iter Neptunus ad urbem.
Neptune himself does not offer a path to his own city.
§13.130Quo ruitis? vestras quisque redite domos!
Whither do you rush? Return, each of you, to your homes!
§13.131Quo ruitis, Danai? ventos audite vetantis!
Whither do you rush, Greeks? Listen to the forbidding winds!
§13.132Non subiti casus, numinis ista mora est.
That delay is not of sudden chance, it is of a divinity.
§13.133Quid petitur tanto nisi turpis adultera bello?
What is sought by so great a war except a shameful adulteress?
§13.134Dum licet, Inachiae vertite vela rates!
While it is permitted, turn your sails, Inachian ships!
§13.135Sed quid ago? revoco? revocaminis omen abesto, §13.136Blandaque conpositas aura secundet aquas!
But what am I doing? Am I calling you back? May the omen of recall be far away, and let a gentle breeze favor the calmed waters!
§13.137Troasin invideo, quae si lacrimosa suorum §13.138Funera conspicient, nec procul hostis erit, §13.139Ipsa suis manibus forti nova nupta marito §13.140Inponet galeam Dardanaque arma dabit.
I envy the Trojan women, who, if they shall behold the tearful deaths of their own, and the enemy is not far off, yet the new bride with her own hands, for her brave husband, will place the helmet and give the Dardanian arms.
§13.141Arma dabit, dumque arma dabit, simul oscula sumet — §13.142Hoc genus officii dulce duobus erit — §13.143Producetque virum, dabit et mandata reverti §13.144Et dicet: 'referas ista fac arma Iovi!' §13.145Ille ferens dominae mandata recentia secum §13.146Pugnabit caute respicietque domum.
She will give the arms, and while she gives them, she will at the same time take kisses — this kind of duty will be sweet to both — and she will lead forth her husband, and give commands to return, and will say: 'See to it that you bring back those arms to Jupiter!' He, bearing the fresh commands of his mistress with him, will fight cautiously and look back toward his home.
She will strip the shield from him returned, and loosen his helmet, and receive his tired body in her bosom.
We are uncertain; anxious fear forces us to think that all things which can happen, have already happened.
§13.151Dum tamen arma geres diverso miles in orbe, §13.152Quae referat vultus est mihi cera tuos; §13.153Illi blanditias, illi tibi debita verba §13.154Dicimus, amplexus accipit illa meos.
Yet while you bear arms as a soldier in a distant world, I have a wax image which represents your features; to it we speak sweet words, to it we speak words owed to you, and it receives my embraces.
Believe me, the image is more than what it seems; add sound to the wax, and it will be Protesilaus.
I gaze at this and hold it in my bosom instead of my true husband, and, as if it could return words, I complain to it.
§13.159Per reditus corpusque tuum, mea numina, iuro, §13.160Perque pares animi coniugiique faces, §13.161Me tibi venturam comitem, quocumque vocaris, §13.162Sive — quod heu! timeo — sive superstes eris.
I swear by your return and your body, my divinities, and by the equal torches of our mind and marriage, that I will come as your companion whither you are called, whether — which, alas, I fear! — or whether you shall survive.