§5.78Aequora legitimos destituantque viros; §5.79At cum pauper eras armentaque pastor agebas, §5.80Nulla nisi Oenone pauperis uxor erat.
seas, and abandon their lawful husbands; But when you were poor and, a shepherd, drove the herds, none but Oenone was the wife of poor you.
§5.81Non ego miror opes, nec me tua regia tangit §5.82Nec de tot Priami dicar ut una nurus — §5.83Non tamen ut Priamus nymphae socer esse recuset, §5.84Aut Hecubae fuerim dissimulanda nurus; §5.85Dignaque sum fieri rerum matrona potentis; §5.86Sunt mihi, quas possint sceptra decere, manus.
I do not marvel at wealth, nor does your palace touch me, nor that I may be called one of the many daughters-in-law of Priam — Yet not so that Priam would refuse to be the father-in-law of a nymph, or that I should be disowned as a daughter-in-law by Hecuba; And I am worthy to become the matron of a powerful state; I have hands which sceptres could suit.
And do not, because I used to lie with you on beech foliage, despise me; I am more suited to a purple bed.
In short, my love is safe; there no wars are prepared, nor does the wave bring avenging ships.
The daughter of Tyndareus, a fugitive, is demanded back with hostile arms; she comes to your marriage chamber proud of this dowry.
§5.93Quae si sit Danais reddenda, vel Hectora fratrem, §5.94Vel cum Deiphobo Polydamanta roga; §5.95Quid gravis Antenor, Priamus quid suadeat ipse, §5.96Consule, quis aetas longa magistra fuit!
Whether she should be returned to the Greeks, ask either your brother Hector, or Polydamas along with Deiphobus; consult what weighty Antenor, what Priam himself advises, consult, to whom long age has been a teacher!
§5.97Turpe rudimentum, patriae praeponere raptam.
It is a shameful beginning, to prefer a stolen woman to one's country.
§5.98Causa pudenda tua est; iusta vir arma movet.
Your cause is shameful; her husband moves just arms.
And do not, if you are wise, promise yourself a faithful Spartan woman, who has been so quickly turned into your embraces.
§5.101Ut minor Atrides temerati foedera lecti §5.102Clamat et externo laesus amore dolet, §5.103Tu quoque clamabis.
Just as the younger son of Atreus cries out over the treaties of his violated bed and, injured, grieves over an external love, you too will cry out.
nulla reparabilis arte §5.104Laesa pudicitia est; deperit illa semel.
By no art is repairable violated chastity; it perishes once and for all.
§5.105Ardet amore tui? sic et Menelaon amavit.
Does she burn with love for you? So too she loved Menelaus.
§5.106Nunc iacet in viduo credulus ille toro.
Now he lies, trusting, in a widowed bed.
§5.107Felix Andromache, certo bene nupta marito!
Happy Andromache, well married to a faithful husband!
§5.108Uxor ad exemplum fratris habenda fui; §5.109Tu levior foliis, tum cum sine pondere suci §5.110Mobilibus ventis arida facta volant; §5.111Et minus est in te quam summa pondus arista, §5.112Quae levis adsiduis solibus usta riget.
I ought to have been kept as a wife after the example of your brother; You are lighter than leaves, at that time when, without the weight of sap, having become dry, they fly by the shifting winds; And there is less weight in you than in the top of an ear of grain, which, light, parched by constant suns, grows stiff.
§5.113Hoc tua — nam recolo — quondam germana canebat, §5.114Sic mihi diffusis vaticinata comis: §5.115'Quid facis, Oenone? quid harenae semina mandas?
This your sister — for I recall — once used to sing, thus prophesying to me with disheveled hair: 'What are you doing, Oenone? Why do you commit seeds to the sand?
§5.116Non profecturis litora bubus aras.
You plow the shores with oxen that will bring no profit.
§5.117Graia iuvenca venit, quae te patriamque domumque
A Greek heifer comes, who will destroy you and your country and your house!
§5.118Perdat! io prohibe! Graia iuvenca venit!
destroy! Ah, prevent her! A Greek heifer comes!
§5.119Dum licet, obscenam ponto demergite puppim!
While it is allowed, sink the filthy ship into the sea!
§5.120Heu! quantum Phrygii sanguinis illa vehit!' §5.121Vox erat in cursu: famulae rapuere furentem; §5.122At mihi flaventes diriguere comae.
Alas! How much Phrygian blood she carries!' Her voice was in mid-course: her handmaidens dragged her away in her madness; but my golden hair stood on end.
Ah, you were a prophetess all too true to wretched me — behold, that heifer possesses my glades!
Though she may be distinguished in beauty, she is certainly an adulteress; abandoned her companion gods.
Theseus — unless I am mistaken in the name — some Theseus or other carried her off before from her own country.
§5.129A iuvene et cupido credatur reddita virgo?
Is she to be believed to have been returned a virgin by a young and eager man?
§5.130Unde hoc conpererim tam bene, quaeris? amo.
Do you ask how I have learned this so well? I love.
You may call it force and veil her fault with that name; she who has been stolen so many times, offered herself to be stolen.
But Oenone remains chaste to a deceiving husband — and you yourself could have been deceived by your own laws!
§5.135Me Satyri celeres — silvis ego tecta latebam — §5.136Quaesierunt rapido, turba proterva, pede §5.137Cornigerumque caput pinu praecinctus acuta §5.138Faunus in inmensis, qua tumet Ida, iugis.
Me the swift Satyrs — I was hiding, covered in the woods — sought with rapid foot, a wanton crowd, and Faunus, his horned head girt with sharp pine, Faunus, on the immense ridges where Ida swells.
The builder of Troy, conspicuous for his fidelity, loved me, and admitted my hands to his own gifts.
Whatever potent herb for help and root useful to a healer root grows in the whole world is mine.
§5.143Me miseram, quod amor non est medicabilis herbis!
Wretched me, because love is not curable by herbs!
§5.150Deficior prudens artis ab arte mea.
I, skilled in my art, am failed by my own art.
What neither the earth, fertile in producing grasses, or a god can bring, you can bring help to me.
§5.155Et potes, et merui — dignae miserere puellae!
And you can, and I have deserved it — have pity on a worthy girl!
§5.156Non ego cum Danais arma cruenta fero — §5.157Sed tua sum tecumque fui puerilibus annis §5.158Et tua, quod superest temporis, esse precor!
I do not bear bloody arms with the Greeks — but I am yours, and I have been with you in our childhood years, and I pray to be yours for what remains of time!