Naso, now no longer a new inhabitant of the Tomitan land, sends you this work from the Getic shore.
§1.1.3si vacat, hospitio peregrinos. Brute, libellos §1.1.4excipe, dumque aliquo, quolibet abde loco.
If you have leisure, Brutus, welcome these stranger books with hospitality, and hide them away in some place, any place you like.
They do not dare to enter the public monuments, fearing lest their own author has closed this path to them.
§1.1.7a! quotiens dixi ‘certe nil turpe docetis: §1.1.8ite, patet castis versibus ille locus! §1.1.9non tamen accedunt, sed, ut aspicis ipse, latere §1.1.10sub Lare privato tutius esse putant,
Ah! how often have I said: 'Surely you teach nothing shameful; go, that place lies open to chaste verses!' Yet they do not approach, but, as you yourself see, they think it is safer to lie hidden under a private Lar.
§1.1.11quaeris ubi hos possis nullo componere laeso?
Do you ask where you can place these without hurting anyone?
§1.1.12qua steterant Artes, pars vacat illa tibi.
Where the Artes used to stand, that part lies empty for you.
§1.1.13Quid veniant, novitate roges fortasse sub ipsa.
Perhaps, in the very novelty of things, you may ask why they come.
§1.1.14accipe, quodcumque est, dummodo non sit amor.
Accept them, whatever they are, provided only they are not love.
§1.1.15invenies, quamvis non est miserabilis index, §1.1.16non minus hoc illo triste, quod ante dedi.
You will find, although the index is not miserable, this work no less sad than that which I gave before.
It is the same in subject, but differs in title; and the letter itself shows to whom it is sent, since the name is not concealed.
Neither do you wish this, nor can you prevent it, and the Muse comes, dutiful even to the unwilling.
§1.1.21quicquid id est, adiunge meis.
Whatever it is, add it to my works.
nihil impedit ortos §1.1.22exule servatis legibus urbe frui.
Nothing prevents those born from an exile, if the laws are preserved, from enjoying the city.
§1.1.23quod metuas non est.
There is nothing for you to fear.
Antoni scripta leguntur, §1.1.24doctus et in promptu scrinia Brutus habet.
Antony's writings are read, and learned Brutus has his bookcases ready at hand.
Nor do I, in my madness, compare myself to such great names; yet I have not borne savage arms against the gods.
In short, no book of ours lacks the honor due to Caesar, which he himself does not reject.
If you doubt about me, admit praises of the gods, and take my poem with my name removed.
The branch of the peaceful olive helps in war; will it be of no use to have the author of peace on one's side?
§1.1.33eum foret Aeneae cervix subiecta parenti, §1.1.34dicitur ipsa viro flamma dedisse viam: §1.1.35fert liber Aeneaden, et non iter omne patebit?
When Aeneas' shoulder was subjected to his father, the flame itself is said to have given way to the man; my book carries the descendant of Aeneas, and shall not every path lie open?
§1.1.36at patriae pater hic, ipsius ille fuit.
But this man is the father of his country, while that one was only his own.
Who is so bold as to force away from the threshold one who shakes the tinkling sistrum with a Pharian hand?
When the flute-player plays his curved horn before the Mother of the Gods, who denies the bronze of a tiny alms?
We know that no such thing is done by command of Diana; yet the prophet has the means wherewithal to live.
The very divinity of the gods above moves our minds, nor is it shameful to be caught by such belief.
Lo, instead of the sistrum and the pierced Phrygian boxwood, I carry the sacred names of the Julian race.
§1.1.47vaticinor moneoque.
I prophesy and warn.
locum date sacra ferenti!
Give way to him who carries sacred things!
§1.1.48non mihi, sed magno noscitur ille deo.
He is known, not to me, but to a great god.
Nor, because I have either deserved or felt the anger of the prince, think that he is unwilling to be worshipped by us.
§1.1.51vidi ego linigerae numen violasse fatentem §1.1.52Isidis Isiacos ante sedere focos, §1.1.53alter, ob huic similem privatus lumine culpam, §1.1.54clamabat media se meruisse via.
I myself have seen one who confessed to have violated the divinity of linen-wearing Isis sitting before the Isiac altars, another, deprived of his sight for a similar fault, crying out in the middle of the road that he had deserved it.
The heavenly ones rejoice that such proclamations are made, so that they may prove by a witness how powerful their divinity is.
Often they lighten punishments and restore snatched sight, when they see that one has truly repented of his sin.
He repents—oh, if any credit is given to the miserable!— he repents, and I myself am tortured by my own deed.
§1.1.61cumque sit exilium, magis est mihi culpa dolori; §1.1.62estque pati poenam, quam meruisse, minus,
And though it is exile, my fault is a greater grief to me; and to suffer punishment is less than to have deserved it.
§1.1.63ut mihi di faveant, quibus est manifestior ipse, §1.1.64poena potest demi, culpa perennis erit.
May the gods favor me, to whom he himself is more manifest, the punishment can be taken away, but the fault will be eternal.
Death will certainly make it so that I am no longer an exile when it comes; death also will not make it so that I did not sin.
No wonder then, if my wasting mind melts away in the manner of water flowing from snow.
§1.1.69estur ut occulta vitiata teredine navis, §1.1.70aequorei scopulos ut cavat unda salis, §1.1.71roditur ut scabra positum robigine ferrum §1.1.72conditus ut tineae carpitur ore liber, §1.1.73sic mea perpetuos curarum pectora morsus, §1.1.74fine quibus nullo conficiantur, habent.
As a ship is eaten away, spoiled by the hidden woodworm, as the wave of the salty sea hollows out the rocks, as iron left aside is gnawed by rough rust, as a book stored away is consumed by the mouth of the moth, so my breast suffers the perpetual bites of cares, by which they are worn out with no end.
§1.1.75nec prius hi mentem stimuli quam vita relinquet, §1.1.76quique dolet, citius quam dolor ipse, cadet.
These stings will not leave my mind before life does, and he who suffers will fall sooner than the suffering itself.
§1.1.77hoc mihi si superi, quorum sumus omnia, credent, §1.1.78forsitan exigua dignus habebor ope, §1.1.79inque locum Scythico vacuum mutabor ab arcu.
If the gods above, whose possessions we entirely are, believe this, perhaps I shall be held worthy of some tiny help, and I shall be moved to a place free from the Scythian bow.
§1.1.80plus isto, duri, si precer, oris ero. ’
If I pray for more than this, I shall be too shameless.'