§3.11.1Si quis es, insultes qui casibus, improbe, nostris, §3.11.2meque reum dempto fine cruentus agas, §3.11.3natus es e scopulis §3.11.4et pastus lacte ferino, et dicam silices pectus habere tuum.
Whoever you are, wicked man, who mock my misfortunes, and bloodthirstily prosecute me as an accused without end, you were born from crags and nourished on wild beast's milk, and I will say that your breast holds flint.
§3.11.5quis gradus ulterior, quo se tua porrigat ira,
What further step remains, to which your wrath may extend itself?
§3.11.6restat? quidve meis cernis abesse malis?
Or what do you perceive to be lacking in my misfortunes?
A barbarian land and the inhospitable shores of Pontus, along with its Boreas, the Maenalian Bear beholds me.
I have no commerce of tongue with the wild tribe: all places are full of anxious fear.
§3.11.11utque fugax avidis cervus deprensus ab ursis, §3.11.12cinctave montanis ut pavet agna lupis, §3.11.13sic ego belligeris a gentibus undique saeptus §3.11.14terreor, hoste meum paene premente latus.
And as a fleeing stag caught by greedy bears, or as a lamb trembles when surrounded by mountain wolves, so am I, hemmed in on all sides by warlike tribes, terrified, with the enemy almost pressing against my flank.
§3.11.15utque sit exiguum poenae, quod coniuge cara, §3.11.16quod patria careo pignoribusque meis: §3.11.17ut mala nulla feram nisi nudam Caesaris iram, §3.11.18nuda parum nobis Caesaris ira mali est?
And as if it were a small part of my punishment, that of my dear wife, that of my country and my loved ones I am deprived: even if I should bear no evils except the naked wrath of Caesar, is the naked wrath of Caesar too little of an evil for us?
§3.11.19et tamen est aliquis, qui vulnera cruda retractet, §3.11.20solvat et in mores ora diserta meos.
And yet there is someone who handles raw wounds again, and looses his eloquent mouth against my conduct.
§3.11.21in causa facili cuivis licet esse diserto, §3.11.22et minimae vires frangere quassa valent, §3.11.23subruere est arces et stantia moenia virtus: §3.11.24quamlibet ignavi praecipitata premunt.
In an easy cause, anyone is allowed to be eloquent, and the slightest strength is able to break what is already shattered; it is virtue to overthrow citadels and standing walls: the most cowardly press upon things already cast down.
§3.11.25non sum ego quod fueram, quid inanem proteris umbram
I am not what I had been: why do you chase an empty shadow?
§3.11.26quid cinerem saxis bustaque nostra petis?
Why do you attack my ashes and my tomb with stones?
§3.11.27Hector erat tunc cum bello certabat; at idem §3.11.28vinctus ad Haemonios non erat Hector equos,
Hector was Hector when he was fighting in the war; but that same man, bound to the Thessalian horses, was not Hector.
Remember that I too, whom you once knew, do not exist: of that man, only these images survive.
§3.11.31quid simulacra, ferox, dictis incessis amans?
Why, fierce man, do you attack my images with words?
§3.11.32parce, precor, Manes sollicitare meos!
Spare, I pray, to disturb my Manes!
§3.11.33omnia vera puta mea crimina, nil sit in illis, §3.11.34quod magis errorem quam scelus esse putes, §3.11.35pendimus en profugi——satia tua pectora poenas §3.11.36exilioque graves exiliique loco.
Consider all my charges true, let there be nothing in them which you might think to be an error rather than a crime; lo, we pay penalties as exiles—satisfy your heart— penalties heavy with exile and the place of exile.
My fortune may seem to a executioner to be wept over; and yet, in the eyes of a single judge, it is too little submerged.
§3.11.39saevior es tristi Busiride, saevior illo, §3.11.40qui falsum lento terruit igne bovem, §3.11.41quique bovem Siculo fertur donasse tyranno, §3.11.42et dictis artes conciliasse suas: §3.11.43‘munere in hoc, rex, est usus, sed imagine maior, §3.11.44nec sola est operis forma probanda mei.
You are crueler than gloomy Busiris, crueler than him who terrified with a slow fire the false bull, and who is said to have presented the bull to the Sicilian tyrant, and to have recommended his art with words: 'In this gift, king, there is utility, but greater than its appearance, nor is the form alone of my work to be approved.
§3.11.45aspicis a dextra latus hoc adapertile tauri?
Do you see on the right side this openable flank of the bull?
§3.11.46hac tibi, quem perdes, coniciendus erit.
Through this, the one whom you will destroy must be cast.
Straightway burn the enclosed man with slow coals: he will bellow, and that will be the voice of a real bull.
§3.11.49pro quibus inventis, ut munus munere penses, §3.11.50da, precor, ingenio praemia digna meo. ’ §3.11.51dixerat, at Phalaris ‘poenae mirande repertor, §3.11.52ipse tuum praesens imbue’ dixit
opus. §3.11.53'nec mora, monstratis crudeliter ignibus ustus §3.11.54exhibuit geminos ore gemente sonos.
In return for these inventions, so that you may weigh gift with gift, give, I pray, rewards worthy of my talent.' He had spoken; but Phalaris said, 'O wonderful inventor of punishment, you yourself, present here, initiate your own work.' And without delay, burned cruelly by the demonstrated fires, he produced double sounds from his groaning mouth.
§3.11.55quid mihi cum Siculis inter Scythiamque Getasque?
What have I to do with Sicilians, situated between Scythia and the Getae?
§3.11.56ad te, quisquis is es, nostra querella redit, §3.11.57utque sitim nostro possis explere cruore, §3.11.58quantaque vis, avido gaudia corde feras, §3.11.59tot mala sum fugiens tellure, tot aequore passus, §3.11.60te quoque ut auditis posse dolere putem,
To you, whoever you are, our complaint returns, and so that you may be able to quench your thirst with our blood, and bear in your greedy heart as great joys as you wish, I have suffered so many evils fleeing by land, so many by sea, that I might think even you could grieve upon hearing them.
Believe me, if Ulysses should be compared to us, the wrath of Neptune was less than the wrath of Jupiter was.
§3.11.63ergo quicumque es, rescindere crimina noli, §3.11.64deque gravi duras vulnere tolle manus; §3.11.65utque meae famam tenuent oblivia culpae, §3.11.66facta cicatricem ducere nostra sine; §3.11.67humanaeque memor sortis, quae tollit eosdem §3.11.68et premit, incertas ipse verere vices.
Therefore, whoever you are, do not reopen my charges, and remove your hard hands from the heavy wound; and so that oblivion may thin the fame of my fault, permit our deeds to grow a scar; and mindful of human lot, which raises the same men and presses them down, fear the uncertain vicissitudes yourself.
§3.11.69et quoniam, fieri quod numquam posse putavi, §3.11.70est tibi de rebus maxima cura meis, §3.11.71non est quod timeas.
And since, what I thought could never happen, you have the greatest care for my affairs, there is nothing for you to fear.
fortuna miserrima nostra est, §3.11.72omne trahit secum Caesaris ira malum.
Our fortune is most wretched, the wrath of Caesar draws every evil with itself.