§16.153Quod rapuit, laudo; miror, quod reddidit umquam.
That he carried you off, I praise; I wonder that he ever returned you.
§16.154Tam bona constanter praeda tenenda fuit.
So fine a prey should have been constantly held.
Sooner would this head have departed from my bleeding neck, than you would be dragged away from my marriage chamber.
§16.157Tene manus umquam nostrae dimittere vellent?
Would my hands ever have wished to let you go?
§16.158Tene meo paterer vivus abire sinu?
Would I, while living, have suffered you to depart from my breast?
§16.159Si reddenda fores, aliquid tamen ante tulissem, §16.160Nec Venus ex toto nostra fuisset iners.
If you had to be returned, I would still have taken something beforehand, and our Venus would not have been entirely inactive.
Either your virginity would have been tasted by me, or that which could be snatched with virginity intact.
Only give yourself, you will know what is the constancy of Paris; the flame of the funeral pyre alone will end my flames.
§16.165Praeposui regnis ego te, quae maxima quondam §16.166Pollicita est nobis nupta sororque Iovis; §16.167Dumque tuo possem circumdare bracchia collo, §16.168Contempta est virtus Pallade dante mihi.
I have preferred you to kingdoms, which once the greatest wife and sister of Jove promised to us; and as long as I could wrap my arms around your neck, virtue given to me by Pallas was despised.
Nor do I regret it, or shall I ever seem to have chosen foolishly; my mind remains firm in its vow.
Only do not suffer our hope to become fleeting, I pray, O you worthy to be sought with so much labor!
I, degenerate, do not desire the marriage of a noble woman, nor, believe me, will you be my wife to your shame.
§16.175Pliada, si quaeres, in nostra gente Iovemque §16.176Invenies, medios ut taceamus avos; §16.177Regna parens Asiae, qua nulla beatior ora est, §16.178Finibus inmensis vix obeunda, tenet.
If you search, you will find a Pleiad and Jove in our race, though we remain silent about the intermediate ancestors; my parent holds the kingdoms of Asia, than which there is no happier land, scarcely to be traveled through because of its immense borders.
You will see countless cities and golden roofs, and temples which you would say are fitting for their gods.
You will behold Ilion and the walls strengthened with high towers, built by the music of Phoebus' lyre.
§16.183Quid tibi de turba narrem numeroque virorum?
What should I tell you of the crowd and number of men?
§16.184Vix populum tellus sustinet illa suum.
That land scarcely sustains its own people.
Trojan mothers will meet you in a dense throng, nor will our halls contain the Phrygian daughters-in-law.
§16.187O quotiens dices: 'quam pauper Achaia nostra est!' §16.188Una domus quaevis urbis habebit opes.
Oh, how many times you will say: 'How poor our Achaia is!' Any single house will possess the wealth of a whole city.
§16.189Nec mihi fas fuerit Sparten contemnere vestram; §16.190In qua tu nata es, terra beata mihi est.
Nor would it be right for me to despise your Sparta; the land in which you were born is blessed to me.
But Sparta is frugal, and you are worthy of rich adornment; that place is not suitable for such beauty.
It is fitting for this face to use rich preparations without end, and to revel in new pleasures.
When you see the attire of the men of our nation, what kind of attire do you believe the Dardanian daughters-in-law have?
Only show yourself compliant, and do not disdain a Phrygian husband, O girl born in the Therapnaean countryside.
§16.199Phryx erat et nostro genitus de sanguine, qui nunc §16.200Cum dis potando nectare miscet aquas.
A Phrygian he was, and born of our blood, who now mixes water with nectar for drinking with the gods.
A Phrygian was the husband of Aurora, yet she carried him away, that goddess who ends the last journey of the night.
A Phrygian also was Anchises, with whom the mother of winged Loves rejoiced to have coupled on the ridges of Ida.
Nor, I think, when beauty and years are compared, will Menelaus be preferred to us in your judgment.
§16.207Non dabimus certe socerum tibi clara fugantem §16.208Lumina, qui trepidos a dape vertat equos; §16.209Nec Priamo pater est soceri de caede cruentus §16.210Et qui Myrtoas crimine signat aquas; §16.211Nec proavo Stygia nostro captantur in unda §16.212Poma, nec in mediis quaeritur umor aquis.
We will certainly not give you a father-in-law who puts to flight the bright lights, who turns his trembling horses away from the feast; nor does Priam have a father bloody from the slaughter of a father-in-law, and who marks the Myrtoan waters with his crime; nor by our great-grandfather are apples grasped in the Stygian wave, nor is water sought in the midst of waters.
§16.213Quid tamen hoc refert, si te tenet ortus ab illis, §16.214Cogitur huic domui Iuppiter esse socer?
Yet what does this matter, if one descended from them holds you, and Jove is forced to be a father-in-law to this house?
§16.215Heu facinus! totis indignus noctibus ille
Alas, what an outrage!
§16.216Te tenet, amplexu perfruiturque tuo; §16.217At mihi conspiceris posita vix denique mensa, §16.218Multaque quae laedant hoc quoque tempus habet.
That unworthy man all through the nights holds you, and enjoys your embrace; while to me you are scarcely visible at last when the table is set, and this time also has many things which hurt.
May such banquets happen to our enemies, as I often experience when the wine is set!
I regret the hospitality, when, with me watching, that rustic places his arms upon your neck.
§16.223Rumpor et invidia — quid enim non omnia narrem? — §16.224Membra superiecta cum tua veste fovet.
I am burst with envy — for why should I not tell everything? — when he warms your limbs with his garment thrown over you.
§16.225Oscula cum vero coram non dura daretis, §16.226Ante oculos posui pocula sumpta meos; §16.227Lumina demitto cum te tenet artius ille, §16.228Crescit et invito lentus in ore cibus.
Indeed when you gave each other in public not unkind kisses, I placed the cups I took before my eyes; I lower my eyes when he holds you more closely, and the slow food swells in my unwilling mouth.