If you wonder by chance why this letter of mine is written by another's fingers, I was sick.
aeger in extremis ignoti partibus orbis, §3.3.4incertusque meae paene salutis eram.
Sick in the farthest parts of an unknown world, and I was almost uncertain of my safety.
What mind do you think I have now, lying in this dreadful region among the Sauromatae and the Getae?
§3.3.7nec caelum patior, nec aquis adsuevimus istis, §3.3.8terraque nescio quo §3.3.9non placet ipsa modo.
I cannot endure the climate, nor have we been accustomed to these waters, and the land itself, I know not why, does not please me.
non domus apta satis, non hic cibus utilis aegro, §3.3.10nullus, Apollinea qui levet arte malum, §3.3.11non qui soletur, non qui labentia tarde §3.3.12tempora narrando fallat, amicus adest.
Neither is the house suitable enough, nor is the food here useful for a sick man, and there is no one to relieve my illness with Apollinean art, no friend is present to console me, nor to beguile the slowly passing time by talking.
§3.3.13lassus in extremis iaceo populisque locisque, §3.3.14et subit adfecto nunc mihi, quicquid abest.
Weary, I lie in the midst of extreme peoples and places, and now, in my affliction, whatever is absent comes to my mind.
§3.3.15omnia cum subeant, vineis tamen omnia, coniunx, §3.3.16et plus in nostro pectore parte §3.3.17tenes.
Though all things come to mind, you still surpass them all, my wife, and you hold more than half of my breast.
te loquor absentem, te vox mea nominat unam; §3.3.18nulla venit sine te nox mihi, nulla dies.
I speak of you in your absence, my voice names you alone; no night comes to me without you, no day.
Indeed, they even say that I spoke deliriously in such a way that your name was on my lips in my madness.
§3.3.21si iam deficiam, suppressaque lingua palato §3.3.22vix instillato restituenda mero, §3.3.23nuntiet huc aliquis dominam venisse, resurgam, §3.3.24spesque tui nobis causa vigoris erit.
If I should now fail, and my tongue, pressed to my palate, could scarcely be restored by instilled pure wine, should someone announce that my mistress has come, I will rise again, and the hope of you will be the cause of strength for me.
Therefore, while I am doubtful of life, do you perhaps there spend a pleasant time, ignorant of our state?
§3.3.27non agis, adfirmo.
You do not, I assert.
liquet hoc, carissima, nobis, §3.3.28tempus agi sine me non nisi triste tibi.
This is clear to me, dearest one, that time spent without me cannot be other than sad for you.
§3.3.29si tamen inplevit mea sors, quos debuit, annos, §3.3.30et mihi vivendi tam cito finis adest, §3.3.31quantum erat, o magni, morituro parcere, divi, §3.3.32ut saltem patria contumularer humo?
Yet if my fate has filled the years it owed, and so swift an end of living is at hand for me, how great a thing was it, O great gods, to spare one about to die, so that I might at least be buried in my native soil?
Either my punishment should have been deferred to the time of my death, or a hastened death should have anticipated my flight.
§3.3.35integer hanc potui nuper bene reddere lucem; §3.3.36exul ut occiderem, nunc mihi vita data est.
I could have lately surrendered this life well while whole; now life has been given to me so that I might die an exile.
Shall we then die so far away on unknown shores, and will my fate be made sad by the place itself?
§3.3.39nec mea consueto languescent corpora lecto, §3.3.40depositum nec me qui fleat, ullus erit; §3.3.41nec dominae lacrimis in nostra cadentibus ora §3.3.42accedent animae tempora parva mea; §3.3.43nec mandata dabo, nec cum clamore supremo §3.3.44labentes oculos condet amica manus; §3.3.45sed sine funeribus caput hoc, sine honore sepulcri §3.3.46indeploratum barbara terra teget!
Neither will my body waste away on my accustomed bed, nor will there be anyone to weep for me when laid out on my deathbed; nor will my mistress's tears falling on my face add a brief moment to my breath; nor shall I give my last commands, nor with a final cry will a friendly hand close my failing eyes; but without funeral rites, without the honor of a tomb, a barbarian land will cover this head, unmourned!
Will you, when you hear of it, be completely troubled in mind, and strike your faithful breast with a trembling hand?
Will you, stretching your arms in vain to these parts, cry out the empty name of your wretched husband?
§3.3.51parce tamen lacerare genas, nec scinde capillos: §3.3.52non tibi nunc primum, lux mea, raptus ero.
Yet spare to tear your cheeks, and do not rend your hair: I shall not now for the first time, my light, be torn from you.
When I lost my country, believe that I perished then: and that death was both prior and heavier to me.
§3.3.55nunc, si forte potes—sed non potes, optima coniunx— §3.3.56finitis gaude tot mihi morte malis, §3.3.57quod potes, extenua forti mala corde ferendo, §3.3.58ad quae iam pridem non rude pectus habes,
Now, if perchance you can—but you cannot, best of wives— rejoice that so many of my evils are ended by death; what you can do, lighten your ills by bearing them with a brave heart, to which you have long had a bosom not unaccustomed.
§3.3.59atque utinam pereant animae eum corpore nostrae, §3.3.60effugiatque avidos pars mihi nulla rogos!
And would that our souls might perish with our body, and no part of me escape the greedy pyres!
§3.3.61nam si morte carens vacua volat altus in aura §3.3.62spiritus, et Samii sunt rata dicta senis, §3.3.63inter Sarmaticas Romana vagabitur umbras, §3.3.64perque feros manes hospita semper erit.
For if the spirit, free from death, flies high in the empty air, and the sayings of the Samian sage are true, a Roman shade will wander among Sarmatian shades, and will always be a stranger among fierce ghosts.
Yet see that my bones are brought back in a small urn: thus I shall not be an exile even in death.
§3.3.67non vetat hoc quisquam: fratrem Thebana peremptum §3.3.68supposuit tumulo rege vetante soror, §3.3.69atque ea cum foliis et amomi pulvere misce, §3.3.70inque suburbano condita pone solo; §3.3.71quosque legat versus oculo properante viator, §3.3.72grandibus in tituli marmore caede notis: §3.3.73HIC. EGO. QVI. IACEO. TENERORVM. LVSOR. AMORVM. §3.3.74INGENIO. PERUII. NASO. POETA. MEO
No one forbids this: the Theban sister placed her slain brother in a tomb, though the king forbade it; and mix those bones with leaves and powder of amomum, and place them buried in suburban soil; and carve verses which the traveler may read with a hurrying eye, in large letters on the marble of the tombstone: "I WHO LIE HERE, THE PLAYFUL POET OF TENDER LOVES, PERISHED BY MY OWN GENIUS, O POET NASO.
§3.3.75AT. TIBI. QVI. TRANSIS. NE. SIT. GRAVE. QVISQVIS. AMASTI §3.3.76DICERE. NASONIS. MOLLITER. OSSA. CVBENT §3.3.77hoc Satis in titulo est.
BUT TO YOU WHO PASS BY, WHOSOEVER HAVE LOVED, LET IT NOT BE BURDENSOME TO SAY: 'MAY THE BONES OF NASO REST SOFTLY.'" This is enough on the tombstone.
etenim maiora libelli §3.3.78et diuturna magis Sunt monimenta mihi, §3.3.79quos ego confido, quamvis nocuere, daturos §3.3.80nomen et auctori tempora longa suo.
For my books are a greater and more lasting monument to me, which I trust, although they harmed me, will give fame and a long time to their author.
Yet do you always offer funeral gifts to the deceased, and give garlands wet with your tears.
Although the fire will have turned my body into ashes, the sad ember will feel your pious duty.