The annual birthday of my wife demands its accustomed honor: go, my hands, to the pious rites.
Thus once the Laertian hero had celebrated the festive day of his wife, perhaps at the far edge of the world.
§5.5.5lingua favens adsit, nostrorum oblita malorum, §5.5.6quae, puto, dedidicit iam bona verba loqui; §5.5.7quaeque semel toto vestis mihi sumitur anno, §5.5.8sumatur fatis discolor alba meis; §5.5.9araque gramineo viridis de caespite fiat, §5.5.10et velet tepidos nexa corona focos.
Let a favorable tongue be present, having forgotten our misfortunes, which, I think, has now unlearned how to speak good words; and let the clothing which is taken up by me once in the whole year, be taken up, white, of a different color from my fates; and let a green altar be made of grassy turf, and let a woven wreath veil the warm hearths.
§5.5.11da mihi tura, puer, pingues facientia flammas, §5.5.12quodque pio fusum stridat in igne merum.
Give me incense, boy, that makes rich flames, and wine that, poured out, hisses in the pious fire.
§5.5.13optime natalis! quamvis procul absumus, opto §5.5.14candidus huc venias dissimilisque meo, §5.5.15si quod et instabat dominae miserabile vulnus, §5.5.16sit perfuncta meis tempus in omne malis; §5.5.17quaeque gravi nuper plus quam quassata procella est, §5.5.18quod superest, tutum per mare navis eat.
Best of birthdays! Although we are far away, I wish you may come here bright, and unlike my own, if any miserable wound was also threatening my wife, let her have finished with it for all time through my misfortunes; and may the ship which was lately more than shattered by a heavy storm, for what remains, go through a safe sea.
§5.5.19illa domo nataque sua patriaque fruatur §5.5.20erepta haec uni sit satis esse mihi— §5.5.21quatenus et non est in caro coniuge felix, §5.5.22pars vitae tristi cetera nube vacet, §5.5.23vivat, ametque virum, quoniam sic cogitur, absens, §5.5.24consumatque annos, sed diuturna, suos.
Let her enjoy her home, her daughter, and her country: let it be enough that these have been snatched away from me alone— since indeed she is not happy in her dear husband, let the remaining part of her life be free from the sad cloud; let her live, and let her love her husband, since she is so compelled, in his absence, and let her spend her years, but lasting a long time.
I would add mine too, but I fear lest the contagion of my fate should ruin those years which she herself leads.
§5.5.27nil homini certum est.
Nothing is certain for man.
fieri quis posse putaret, §5.5.28ut facerem in mediis haec ego sacra Getis?
Who would have thought it could happen that I should perform these rites in the midst of the Getae?
See how the breeze nevertheless carries the smoke risen from the incense toward the Italian parts and favorable places.
§5.5.31sensus inest igitur nebulis, quas exigit ignis: §5.5.32consilio fugiunt aethera, Ponte, tuum.
There is sense, therefore, in the mists which the fire drives out: by design they flee your skies, O Pontus.
§5.5.33consilio, commune sacrum cum fiat in ara §5.5.34fratribus, alterna qui periere manu, §5.5.35ipsa sibi discors, tamquam mandetur ab illis, §5.5.36scinditur in partes atra favilla duas.
By design, just as when a common rite is made on the altar for the brothers who perished by each other's hand, itself at discord with itself, as if commanded by them, the black ash is split into two parts.
§5.5.37hoc, memini, quondam fieri non posse loquebar, §5.5.38et me Battiades iudice falsus erat: §5.5.39omnia nunc credo, cum tu non stultus ab Arcto §5.5.40terga, vapor, dederis Ausoniamque petas.
This, I remember, I once used to say could not happen, and Battiades was false in my judgment: now I believe everything, since you, smoke, not foolish, have turned your back from the North and seek Ausonia.
This, then, is the day, which if it had not risen, no festive day would have been seen by miserable me.
This day produced character equal to those heroines whose father was Eetion and Icarius.
§5.5.45nata pudicitia est, virtus probitasque, fidesque, §5.5.46at non sunt ista gaudia nata die, §5.5.47sed labor et curae fortunaque moribus impar, §5.5.48iustaque de viduo paene querella toro.
Chastity was born, virtue, honesty, and fidelity, but joys were not born on that day; rather, labor and cares and a fortune unequal to her character, and a just complaint almost of a widowed bed.
§5.5.49scilicet adversis probitas exercita rebus §5.5.50tristi materiam, tempore laudis habet, §5.5.51si nihil infesti durus vidisset Ulixes, §5.5.52Penelope felix sed sine laude foret, §5.5.53victor Echionias si vir penetrasset in arces, §5.5.54forsitan Euadnen vix sua nosset humus.
Indeed, honesty exercised by adverse circumstances has the material of praise in a sad time; if the harsh Ulysses had seen nothing hostile, Penelope would have been happy but without praise; if the husband had penetrated the Echionian citadels as victor, perhaps her own land would scarcely have known Evadne.
§5.5.55cum Pelia genitae tot sint, cur nobilis una est?
Since there are so many daughters born to Pelias, why is only one famous?
§5.5.56nempe fuit misero nupta quod una viro.
Surely because she alone was married to a miserable husband.
Make it so that another touches the Trojan sands first, there will be nothing why Laodamia should be recalled.
And your fidelity, which you would prefer, would remain unknown, if favorable winds had filled my sails.
§5.5.61di tamen et Caesar dis accessure, sed olim, §5.5.62aequarint Pyhos cum tua fata dies, §5.5.63non mihi, qui poenam fateor meruisse, sed illi §5.5.64parcite, quae nullo digna dolore dolet.
Yet, gods, and Caesar destined to join the gods, but hereafter, when your fates have matched the Pylian days, spare, not me, who confess that I have deserved punishment, but her, who grieves though worthy of no pain.