If you were to be the future worshipper of those who escaped the fire, the gods themselves regret having escaped the fires.
Perhaps, wicked man, you are leaving Dido pregnant, and a part of you lies hidden, enclosed in my body.
§7.135Accedet fatis matris miserabilis infans, §7.136Et nondum nato funeris auctor eris, §7.137Cumque parente sua frater morietur Iuli, §7.138Poenaque conexos auferet una duos.
A wretched infant will be added to the fate of its mother, and you will be the author of death to one not yet born, and the brother of Iulus will die with his parent, and a single punishment will sweep away the two who are joined.
§7.139'Sed iubet ire deus. ' vellem, vetuisset adire, §7.140Punica nec Teucris pressa fuisset humus!
'But a god commands me to go.' I wish he had forbidden you to come, and Punic soil had not been trodden by the Teucrians!
With this god as your leader, are you indeed tossed by hostile winds and wasting long times on the raging sea?
Pergamum would scarcely have had to be sought again by you with so great labor, even if it were as great as it was when Hector was alive.
§7.145Non patrium Simoenta petis, sed Thybridis undas — §7.146Nempe ut pervenias, quo cupis, hospes eris; §7.147Utque latet vitatque tuas abstrusa carinas, §7.148Vix tibi continget terra petita seni.
You do not seek your ancestral Simois, but the waves of the Tiber — surely, even if you arrive where you desire, you will be a stranger; and as it lies hidden and, concealed, avoids your ships, the sought-after land will scarcely fall to you when you are an old man.
Receive rather these peoples as a dowry, sending away your wandering, and the imported wealth of Pygmalion.
Transfer Ilium more happily into the Tyrian city, and hold the state in the place of a king, and the sacred scepter!
§7.153Si tibi mens avida est belli, si quaerit Iulus, §7.154Unde suo partus Marte triumphus eat, §7.155Quem superet, nequid desit, praebebimus hostem; §7.156Hic pacis leges, hic locus arma capit.
If your mind is eager for war, if Iulus seeks whence a triumph won by his own warfare may proceed, we will provide an enemy for him to conquer, so that nothing may be lacking; here the laws of peace, here this place admits weapons.
§7.157Tu modo, per matrem fraternaque tela, sagittas, §7.158Perque fugae comites, Dardana sacra, deos — §7.159Sic superent, quoscumque tua de gente reportat §7.160Mars ferus, et damni sit modus ille tui, §7.161Ascaniusque suos feliciter inpleat annos, §7.162Et senis Anchisae molliter ossa cubent! — §7.163Parce, precor, domui, quae se tibi tradit habendam!
Do you only, by your mother and your brother's weapons, the arrows, and by the companions of your flight, the Trojan sacred objects, the gods — so may they survive, whomsoever of your people fierce Mars brings back, and let that be the limit of your loss, and may Ascanius happily complete his years, and may the bones of old Anchises rest softly! — Spare, I pray, the house which delivers itself to you to be possessed!
§7.164Quod crimen dicis praeter amasse meum?
What crime of mine do you speak of, except to have loved?
I am not of Phthia, nor sprung from great Mycenae, nor did my husband and my father stand against you.
If you are ashamed of me as a wife, let me be called not your bride but your guest-friend; so long as Dido is yours, she will endure to be anything.
Well known to me are the seas beating the African shore; at certain times they both grant and deny a way.
When the breeze grants a path, you will offer your sails to the winds; now light seaweed holds back the stranded ship.
Entrust to me to watch the season; you will go more safely, nor, even if you wish it, will I myself allow you to remain.
§7.175Et socii requiem poscunt, laniataque classis §7.176Postulat exiguas semirefecta moras; §7.177Pro meritis et siqua tibi debebimus ultra, §7.178Pro spe coniugii tempora parva peto — §7.179Dum freta mitescunt et amor, dum tempore et usu §7.180Fortiter edisco tristia posse pati.
And your companions demand rest, and your shattered fleet, half-repaired, demands a brief delay; In return for my services, and if I shall owe you anything beyond, in return for the hope of marriage, I ask for a small time — until the seas grow calm and my love, until by time and habit I learn to be able to endure sad things bravely.
If not, it is my intention to pour out my life; you cannot be cruel to me for long.
§7.183Adspicias utinam, quae sit scribentis imago!
Would that you could see what is the image of me writing!
§7.184Scribimus, et gremio Troicus ensis adest, §7.185Perque genas lacrimae strictum labuntur in ensem, §7.186Qui iam pro lacrimis sanguine tinctus erit.
I write, and a Trojan sword is at my lap, and tears glide down my cheeks onto the drawn sword, which soon will be stained with blood instead of tears.
§7.187Quam bene conveniunt fato tua munera nostro!
How well your gifts suit our fate!
§7.188Instruis inpensa nostra sepulcra brevi.
You prepare our tomb at small expense.
Nor is my breast now for the first time struck by a weapon; that place already has the wound of cruel love.
§7.191Anna soror, soror Anna, meae male conscia culpae, §7.192Iam dabis in cineres ultima dona meos.
Sister Anna, sister Anna, unfortunately conscious of my fault, soon you will give the last gifts to my ashes.
§7.193Nec consumpta rogis inscribar Elissa Sychaei, §7.194Hoc tantum in tumuli marmore carmen erit: §7.195Praebuit Aeneas et causam mortis et ensem; §7.196Ipsa sua Dido concidit usa manu.
Nor shall I, consumed by the funeral pyre, be inscribed as 'Elissa, wife of Sychaeus'; only this poem will be on the marble of my tomb: 'Aeneas provided both the cause of death and the sword; Dido herself fell, having used her own hand.'