§2.1Dicite 'io Paean!' et 'io' bis dicite 'Paean!' §2.2Decidit in casses praeda petita meos; §2.3Laetus amans donat viridi mea carmina palma, §2.4Praelata Ascraeo Maeonioque seni.
Say 'Hurrah, Paean!' and say twice 'Hurrah, Paean!' The sought-for prey has fallen into my nets; The joyful lover rewards my songs with the green palm, preferred to the Ascraean and the Maeonian elder.
§2.5Talis ab armiferis Priameïus hospes Amyclis §2.6Candida cum rapta coniuge vela dedit; §2.7Talis erat qui te curru victore ferebat, §2.8Vecta peregrinis Hippodamia rotis.
In such guise the Priameian guest from warlike Amyclae set his white sails with his stolen bride; such was he who bore you in his victorious chariot, Hippodamia, carried on foreign wheels.
§2.9Quid properas, iuvenis? mediis tua pinus in undis
Why do you hasten, youth?
§2.10Navigat, et longe quem peto portus abest.
Your pine bark navigates in the midst of the waves, and the harbor which I seek is far away.
It is not enough that the girl has come to you through me as prophet: she was captured by my art, by my art she must be held.
Nor is it a lesser virtue to guard what is acquired than to seek it: in the latter there is chance; the former will be a work of art.
Now, if ever, favor me, boy and Cytherea; now Erato, for you have the name of love.
Great things I prepare: to tell by what arts Love may be made to stay, a boy so wandering over the vast world.
§2.19Et levis est, et habet geminas, quibus avolet, alas: §2.20Difficile est illis inposuisse modum.
He is both light and has twin wings with which to fly away: it is difficult to impose a limit on them.
Minos had blocked every way against his guest's escape: he found a bold path with feathers.
§2.23Daedalus ut clausit conceptum crimine matris §2.24Semibovemque virum semivirumque bovem, §2.25'Sit modus exilio,' dixit 'iustissime Minos: §2.26Accipiat cineres terra paterna meos.
When Daedalus shut up the one conceived by his mother's crime, the half-bull man and half-man bull, "Let there be an end to my exile," he said, "most just Minos: let my paternal land receive my ashes.
And since in my fatherland, driven by unjust fates, I could not live, grant me to be able to die.
§2.29Da reditum puero, senis est si gratia vilis: §2.30Si non vis puero parcere, parce seni. ' §2.31Dixerat haec; sed et haec et multo plura licebat §2.32Dicere: regressus non dabat ille viro.
Grant return to the boy, if favor to the old man is cheap: if you will not spare the boy, spare the old man." He had said these things; but though he might say these and much more, he did not grant return to the man.
§2.33Quod simul ut sensit, 'nunc, nunc, o Daedale,' dixit: §2.34'Materiam, qua sis ingeniosus, habes.
As soon as he perceived this, he said, "Now, now, Daedalus, you have the material with which to be ingenious.
Minos possesses both lands and possesses seas: neither earth nor wave lies open for our flight.
§2.37Restat iter caeli: caelo temptabimus ire.
The route of heaven remains: we will try to go by heaven.
§2.38Da veniam coepto, Iupiter alte, meo: §2.39Non ego sidereas adfecto tangere sedes: §2.40Qua fugiam dominum, nulla, nisi ista, via est.
Grant pardon to my undertaking, high Jupiter: I do not affect to touch the starry seats: there is no way, except that one, by which I may flee my master.
§2.41Per Styga detur iter, Stygias transnabimus undas; §2.42Sunt mihi naturae iura novanda meae. ' §2.43Ingenium mala saepe movent: quis crederet umquam §2.44Aërias hominem carpere posse vias?
Though a route through the Styx were given, we will swim across the Stygian waves; the laws of my nature must be renewed by me." Evils often stir the intellect: who would ever believe that a man could travel aerial ways?
§2.45Remigium volucrum disponit in ordine pinnas, §2.46Et leve per lini vincula nectit opus, §2.47Imaque pars ceris adstringitur igne solutis, §2.48Finitusque novae iam labor artis erat.
He disposes feathers, the rowing-gear of birds, in order, and weaves the light work with flaxen bonds, and the lowest part is bound with wax melted by fire, and the work of the new art was already finished.
Smiling, the boy was handling both the wax and feathers, unknowing that these weapons were being prepared for his own shoulders.
To whom his father said: "With these ships we must go to our fatherland, by this help Minos must be escaped by us.
Minos could not close the air, though he closed all other things; break through the air, which is allowed, by my inventions.
§2.55Sed tibi non virgo Tegeaea comesque Bootae §2.56Ensiger Orion aspiciendus erit: §2.57Me pinnis sectare datis; ego praevius ibo: §2.58Sit tua cura sequi; me duce tutus eris.
But you must not look at the Tegean maiden, nor the companion of Bootes, nor sword-bearing Orion: Follow me with the wings given; I will go before: let it be your care to follow; with me as guide, you will be safe.
§2.59Nam sive aetherias vicino sole per auras §2.60Ibimus, impatiens cera caloris erit: §2.61Sive humiles propiore freto iactabimus alas, §2.62Mobilis aequoreis pinna madescet aquis.
For whether we go through the ethereal airs with the sun close, the wax will be impatient of heat: or if we beat our low wings closer to the sea, the movable feather will grow wet with the waters of the deep.
§2.63Inter utrumque vola; ventos quoque, nate, timeto, §2.64Quaque ferent aurae, vela secunda dato. ' §2.65Dum monet, aptat opus puero, monstratque moveri, §2.66Erudit infirmas ut sua mater aves.
Fly between the two; fear the winds also, my son, and where the breezes carry you, set your favorable sails." While he advises, he fits the work on the boy, and shows him how to move, as a mother bird trains her weak young.
Then he fits the wings made for himself on his shoulders, and timidly balances his body along the new path.
And now about to fly, he gave kisses to his little son, nor did his father's cheeks restrain their tears.
A hill lower than a mountain, higher than the level plains, was there: hence two bodies were committed to their wretched flight.