§4.10.68nomine sub nostro fabula nulla fuit.
under our name there was no scandal.
§4.10.69paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor §4.10.70est data, quae tempus per breve nupta fuit.
To me, almost a boy, a wife neither worthy nor useful was given, who was married for but a short time.
§4.10.71illi successit, quamvis sine crimine coniunx, §4.10.72non tamen in nostro firma futura toro.
There succeeded her one who, though a blameless wife, was yet not destined to remain firm in our marriage bed.
The last one, who remained with me into my late years, endured to be the wife of an exiled man.
My daughter, twice fruitful in her early youth, but not by one husband, made me a grandfather.
And now my father had completed his fate, and had added to nine lustra another nine lustra.
I wept for him no otherwise than he would have wept for me, had I been snatched away.
Matri proxima busta tuli.
Next, I buried my mother.
Happy both, and buried seasonably, because they perished before the day of my punishment!
§4.10.83meae! me quoque felicem, quod non viventibus illis §4.10.84sum miser, et de me quod doluere nihil!
Happy also am I, because they were not living when I became wretched, and they grieved nothing because of me!
§4.10.85si tamen extinctis aliquid nisi nomina restat, §4.10.86et gracilis structas effugit umbra rogos, §4.10.87fama, parentales, si vos mea contigit, umbrae, §4.10.88et sunt in Stygio crimina nostra foro, §4.10.89scite, precor, causam (nec vos mihi fallere fas est) §4.10.90errorem iussae, non scelus, esse fugae.
If, however, something remains to the dead besides names, and the slender shade escapes the constructed pyre, parental shades, if my rumor has reached you, and my crimes are in the Stygian forum, know, I pray (nor is it lawful for me to deceive you), that the cause of my ordered flight was an error, not a crime.
§4.10.91Manibus hoc satis est: ad vos, studiosa, revertor, §4.10.92pectora, quae vitae quaeritis acta meae.
To the Shades this is enough; to you, eager minds, I return, who seek the acts of my life.
§4.10.93iam mihi canities pulsis melioribus annis §4.10.94venerat, antiquas miscueratque comas, §4.10.95postque meos ortus Pisaea vinctus oliva §4.10.96abstulerat deciens praemia victor eques, §4.10.97cum maris Euxini positos ad laeva Tomitas §4.10.98quaerere me laesi principis ira iubet.
Now white hair had come to me, my better years being driven away, and had mixed with my ancient locks, and since my birth, bound with the Pisaean olive, the victorious horseman had ten times carried off the prizes, when the wrath of the offended prince orders me to seek the people of Tomis, situated to the left of the Euxine Sea.
The cause of my ruin, only too well known to all, must not be testified by my own disclosure.
§4.10.101quid referam comitumque nefas famulosque nocentes?
Why should I recall the wickedness of companions and harmful servants?
§4.10.102Ipsa multa tuli non leviora fuga.
I myself bore many things not lighter than flight.
§4.10.103indignata malis mens est succumbere seque §4.10.104praestitit invictam viribus usa suis; §4.10.105oblitusque mei ductaeque per otia vitae §4.10.106insolita cepi temporis arma manu; §4.10.107totque tuli terra casus pelagoque quot inter §4.10.108occultum stellae conspicuumque polum.
My mind disdained to yield to misfortunes, and proved itself unconquered, using its own strength; and forgetting myself and the life led in leisure, I took up the weapons of the time with an unaccustomed hand; and I bore as many disasters on land and sea as there are stars between the hidden and the visible pole.
At last, driven by long wanderings, the Sarmatian coast joined to the quiver-bearing Getae was touched by me.
§4.10.111hic ego, finitimis quamvis circumsoner armis, §4.10.112tristia, quo possum, carmine fata levo.
Here, though I am surrounded by the sound of neighboring arms, I lighten my sad fate with such song as I can.
§4.10.113quod quamvis nemo est, cuius referatur ad aures, §4.10.114sic tamen absumo decipioque diem.
And though there is no one to whose ears it may be brought, yet in this way I consume and beguile the day.
§4.10.115ergo quod vivo duosque laboribus obsto, §4.10.116nec me sollicitae taedia lucis habent, §4.10.117gratia. Musa, tibi: nam tu solacia praebes, §4.10.118tu curae requies, tu medicina venis.
Therefore, that I live and resist hard labors, and that weariness of anxious light does not hold me, is thanks to you, Muse: for you offer solace, you come as rest for my care, you come as medicine.
§4.10.119tu dux et comes es, tu nos abducis ab Histro, §4.10.120in medioque mihi das Helicone locum; §4.10.121tu mihi, quod rarum est, vivo sublime dedisti §4.10.122nomen, ab exequiis quod dare fama solet, §4.10.123nec, qui detractat praesentia, Livor iniquo §4.10.124ullum de nostris dente momordit opus.
You are guide and companion, you lead me away from the Hister, and give me a place in the midst of Helicon; you have given me, which is rare, while still alive, a sublime name, which fame is accustomed to give only after death; nor has Envy, which disparages things present, bitten any of our works with unjust tooth.
§4.10.125nam tulerint magnos cum saecula nostra poetas, §4.10.126non fuit ingenio fama maligna meo, §4.10.127cumque ego praeponam multos mihi, non minor illis §4.10.128dicor et in toto plurimus orbe legor.
For though our age has produced great poets, fame has not been malicious to my genius, and though I place many before myself, I am said to be not inferior to them, and am read most of all in the whole world.