§19.72Nocte sed hesterna lenior aura fuit.
But yesterday night the breeze was gentler.
§19.73Cur ea praeterita est? cur non ventura timebas?
Why was it allowed to pass? Why did you fear things to come?
§19.74Tam bona cur periit, nec tibi rapta via est?
Why did so good a night perish, and why was the journey not seized by you?
Even though a similar opportunity for a voyage should be given to you immediately, that night was certainly better than this, in that it was earlier.
§19.77At cito mutata est pacati forma profundi.
But quickly the aspect of the pacified deep was changed.
§19.78Tempore, cum properas, saepe minore venis.
At a time when you hasten, you often arrive in less time.
§19.79Hic, puto, deprensus nil, quod querereris, haberes, §19.80Meque tibi amplexo nulla noceret hiemps.
Here, I think, if caught, you would have nothing to complain of, and no storm would harm you, embracing me.
Certainly I should then have listened with joy to the sounding winds, and should never have prayed that the waters be calm.
What however has happened, why are you more fearful of the wave, and why do you now dread the strait you previously despised?
§19.85Nam memini, cum te saevum veniente minaxque §19.86Non minus, aut multo non minus, aequor erat; §19.87Cum tibi clamabam: 'sic tu temerarius esto, §19.88Ne miserae virtus sit tua flenda mihi!' §19.89Unde novus timor hic, quoque illa audacia fugit?
For I remember when, as you came, the sea was no less cruel and threatening, or not much less; when I cried out to you: "Be rash in such a way that your courage may not have to be wept for by wretched me!" Whence comes this new fear, and whither has that boldness fled?
§19.90Magnus ubi est spretis ille natator aquis?
Where is that great swimmer who despised the waters?
§19.91Sis tamen hoc potius, quam quod prius esse solebas, §19.92Et facias placidum per mare tutus iter — §19.93Dummodo sis idem, dum sic, ut scribis, amemur, §19.94Flammaque non fiat frigidus illa cinis.
Yet be this rather than what you were wont to be before, and make your journey in safety through a calm sea — provided that you remain the same, provided we are loved as you write, and that flame does not become cold ashes.
§19.95Non ego tam ventos timeo mea vota morantes, §19.96Quam similis vento ne tuus erret amor, §19.97Ne non sim tanti, superentque pericula causam, §19.98Et videar merces esse labore minor.
I do not fear the winds delaying my prayers so much as lest your love, like the wind, should wander, lest I be not worth so much, and the dangers outweigh the cause, and I seem a reward smaller than the labor.
Sometimes I fear lest I be harmed by my country, and, a Thracian girl, be said to be unequal to an Abydenian marriage-bed.
§19.101Ferre tamen possum patientius omnia, quam si §19.102Otia nescio qua paelice captus agis, §19.103In tua si veniunt alieni colla lacerti, §19.104Fitque novus nostri finis amoris amor.
Yet I can bear everything more patiently than if, captured by some mistress or other, you are spending your leisure, if another's arms come around your neck, and a new love becomes the end of our love.
Ah, let me rather perish than be wounded by that crime, and let my fate come before your fault!
Nor do I say these things because you have given me signs of coming grief, or because I am anxious from some new rumor.
§19.109Omnia sed vereor — quis enim securus amavit?
But I fear everything — for who has ever loved without anxiety?
§19.110Cogit et absentes plura timere locus.
The very place, too, forces those who are absent to fear more.
Happy those women whom their own presence bids know true offenses, and forbids to fear false ones!
As for us, empty rumors move us as much as actual injury deceives us, and either error incites equal pangs.
Oh would that you might come, or that either the wind or your father, and certainly no woman, be the cause of your delay!
But if I shall know of any woman, believe me, I shall die of grief; sin even now, if you seek my death!
§19.119Sed neque peccabis, frustraque ego terreor istis, §19.120Quoque minus venias, invida pugnat hiemps.
But you will not sin, and I am terrified by these things in vain, and that you may come the less, the envious winter fights against us.
Wretched me! With how great a wave are the shores beaten, and the day lies hidden, buried in dark clouds!
§19.123Forsitan ad pontum mater pia venerit Helles, §19.124Mersaque roratis nata fleatur aquis — §19.125An mare ab inviso privignae nomine dictum §19.126Vexat in aequoream versa noverca deam?
Perhaps the loving mother of Helle has come to her sea, and her drowned daughter is being wept for in the spraying waters — or does the stepmother, turned into a sea-goddess, vex the sea named from the hated name of her stepdaughter?
§19.127Non favet, ut nunc est, teneris locus iste puellis; §19.128Hac Helle periit, hac ego laedor aqua.
As it is now, that place is not favorable to tender girls; in this water Helle perished, by this water I am harmed.
§19.129At tibi flammarum memori, Neptune, tuarum §19.130Nullus erat ventis inpediendus amor — §19.131Si neque Amymone nec, laudatissima forma, §19.132Criminis est Tyro fabula vana tui, §19.133Lucidaque Alcyone Calyceque Hecataeone nata, §19.134Et nondum nexis angue Medusa comis, §19.135Flavaque Laudice caeloque recepta Celaeno, §19.136Et quarum memini nomina lecta mihi.
Yet for you, Neptune, mindful of your own flames, no love ought to have been hindered by the winds — if neither Amymone nor Tyro, of most praised beauty, is an empty tale of your crime, and bright Alcyone and Calyce daughter of Hecateon, and Medusa whose hair was not yet bound with snakes, and golden-haired Laodice and Celaeno received into heaven, and those whose names I remember having read.
Certainly, Neptune, the poets sing that these women and more laid their soft sides against yours.
Why then, having so often experienced the power of love, do you close our accustomed path with a whirlwind?
§19.141Parce, ferox, latoque mari tua proelia misce!
Spare us, fierce one, and mingle your battles on the wide sea!