§5.4.1Litore ab Euxino Nasonis epistula veni, §5.4.2lassaque facta mari lassaque facta via, §5.4.3qui mihi flens dixit "tu, cui licet, aspice Romam.
I have come as a letter of Naso from the Euxine coast, made weary by the sea and made weary by the road, who weeping said to me: "You, to whom it is permitted, look upon Rome.
§5.4.4heu quanto melior sors tua sorte mea est!" §5.4.5flens quoque me scripsit, nec qua signabar, ad os est §5.4.6ante, sed ad madidas gemma relata genas.
Alas, how much better is your lot than my lot!" Weeping also he wrote me, and the gem with which I was marked was not beforehand brought to his mouth, but was applied to his wet cheeks.
§5.4.7tristitiae causam siquis cognoscere quaerit, §5.4.8ostendi solem postulat ille sibi, §5.4.9nec frondem in silvis, nec aperto mollia prato §5.4.10gramina, nec pleno flumine cernit aquam; §5.4.11quid Priamus doleat, mirabitur, Hectore rapto, §5.4.12quidve Philoctetes ictus ab angue gemat.
If anyone seeks to know the cause of his sadness, he demands that the sun be shown to him, and sees neither the foliage in the woods, nor the soft grass in the open meadow, nor the water in the full river; he will wonder why Priam grieves, Hector having been snatched away, or why Philoctetes, struck by the snake, groans.
Would that the gods had made his condition such that the cause of his sadness were not to be lamented!
Yet he bears, as he ought, his bitter misfortunes patiently, nor does he reject the reins in the manner of an untamed horse.
Nor does he hope that the wrath of the deity will be perpetual to him, conscious that there is no crime in his mistake.
§5.4.19saepe refert, sit quanta dei clementia, cuius §5.4.20se quoque in exemplis adnumerare solet: §5.4.21nam, quod opes teneat patrias, quod nomina civis, §5.4.22denique quod vivat, munus habere dei.
Often he relates how great is the clemency of the god, in whose examples he is also accustomed to number himself: for, that he holds his paternal wealth, that he keeps the name of citizen, and finally that he lives, he holds as a gift of the god.
§5.4.23te tamen (o, si quid credis mihi, carior illi §5.4.24omnibus) in toto pectore semper habet; §5.4.25teque Menoetiaden, te, qui comitatus Oresten, §5.4.26te vocat Aegiden Euryalumque suum.
You, however (oh, if you believe me in anything, dearer to him than all), he always holds in his entire heart; and you he calls his Menoetiades, you, who accompanied Orestes, you he calls Aegides and his Euryalus.
§5.4.27nec patriam magis ille suam desiderat et quae §5.4.28plurima eum patria sentit abesse sibi, §5.4.29quam vultus oculosque tuos, o dulcior illo §5.4.30melle, quod in ceris Attica ponit apis.
Nor does he long for his homeland more, and those things which in great number he feels are absent from him with his homeland, than your face and your eyes, O sweeter than that honey which the Attic bee places in the wax.
§5.4.31saepe etiam maerens tempus reminiscitur illud, §5.4.32quod non praeventum morte fuisse dolet; §5.4.33cumque alii fugerent subitae contagia cladis, §5.4.34nec vellent ictae limen adire domus, §5.4.35te sibi cum paucis meminit mansisse fidelem, §5.4.36si paucos aliquis tresve duosve vocat.
Often also, grieving, he remembers that time, which he laments was not anticipated by death; and when others fled the contagion of the sudden disaster, nor wished to approach the threshold of the stricken house, he remembers that you remained faithful to him along with a few, if anyone calls three or two "a few".
Although stunned, he nevertheless perceived everything, and that you grieved no less than he at his adversities.
§5.4.39verba solet vultumque tuum gemitusque referre, §5.4.40et te flente suos emaduisse sinus: §5.4.41quam sibi praestiteris, qua consolatus amicum §5.4.42sis ope, solandus cum simul ipse fores, §5.4.43pro quibus affirmat fore se memoremque piumque, §5.4.44sive diem videat sive tegatur humo, §5.4.45per caput ipse suum solitus iurare tuumque, §5.4.46quod scio non illi vilius esse suo.
He is accustomed to recall your words and your countenance and sighs, and that your chest was wet with your weeping: how much you provided for him, with what help you consoled your friend, when you yourself at the same time were to be consoled, for which things he affirms that he will be both mindful and dutiful, whether he sees the light of day or is covered by the earth, having been accustomed to swear by his own head and yours, which I know is not less cheap to him than his own.
Full gratitude will be returned for so many and so great deeds, nor will he allow your oxen to plow the shore.