§2.9.1Regia progenies, cui nobilitatis origo §2.9.2nomen in Eumolpi pervenit usque, Coty, §2.9.3fama loquax vestras si iam pervenit ad auris, §2.9.4me tibi finitimi parte iacere soli, §2.9.5supplicis exaudi, iuvenum mitissime, vocem, §2.9.6quamque potes, profugo (nam potes) adfer opem.
Royal offspring, whose origin of nobility and name reaches all the way to Eumolpus, Cotys, if talkative rumor has already reached your ears, that I lie in a part of the neighboring soil to you, hear the voice of a suppliant, gentlest of youths, and bring what help you can to an exile (for you can).
Fortune delivered me to you—and this is why I do not complain about her— not hostile to me in this one thing alone.
Receive our shipwreck on no harsh shore, lest the wave should have been safer than your land.
§2.9.11regia, crede mihi, res est succurrere lapsis, §2.9.12convenit et tanto, quantus es ipse, viro.
It is a royal thing, believe me, to succor the fallen, and it suits so great a man as you yourself are.
This befits that fortune of yours: which, although it is greatest, can yet scarcely be equal to your mind.
§2.9.15conspicitur numquam meliore potentia causa, §2.9.16quam quotiens vanas non sinit esse preces,
Power is never seen in a better cause, than as often as it does not allow prayers to be vain.
This that splendor of your race desires, this is the work of nobility sprung from the gods above.
§2.9.19hoc tibi et Eumolpus, generis clarissimus auctor, §2.9.20et prior Eumolpo suadet Erichthonius.
This both Eumolpus, the most famous founder of your race, and Erichthonius, prior to Eumolpus, persuade you.
§2.9.21hoc tecum commune deo est, quod uterque rogati §2.9.22supplicibus vestris ferre soletis opem.
This is common to you with a god, that both of you, when asked, are accustomed to bring help to your suppliants.
Will there be any reason why we should worthy the divinities with the customary honor, if you take away the gods' willing to help?
If Jupiter should offer deaf ears to one who prays, why should the struck victim fall before the temple of Jupiter?
If the sea should afford no peace to me as I go, why should I carry useless incense to Neptune?
If their vain prayers should deceive the laboring farmer, why should Ceres receive the entrails of a pregnant sow?
§2.9.31nec dabit intonso iugulum caper hostia Baccho, §2.9.32musta sub adducto si pede nulla fluent.
Nor will the goat as a victim offer its throat to unshorn Bacchus, if no new wine flows beneath the trodden foot.
We pray that Caesar may guide the reins of the empire, because he consults so well for his own fatherland.
Utility, therefore, makes both great men and gods, with each also favoring by their own help.
You also make sure you are of benefit to one lying within your camp, O Cotys, offspring worthy of your parent.
It is a fitting pleasure for a human to save a human, and favor is sought by no better art.
§2.9.41quis non Antiphaten Laestrygona devovet? aut quis
Who does not curse Antiphates the Laestrygonian?
§2.9.42munifici mores improbat Alcinoi?
Or who disapproves of the character of generous Alcinous?
§2.9.43non tibi Cassandreus pater est gentisve Pheraeae, §2.9.44quive repertorem torruit arte sua: §2.9.45sed quam Marte ferox et vinci nescius armis, §2.9.46tam numquam, facta pace, cruoris amans, §2.9.47adde quod ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes §2.9.48emollit mores nec sinit esse feros, §2.9.49nec regum quisquam magis est instructus ab illis, §2.9.50mitibus aut studiis tempora plura dedit.
You do not have the Cassandrean as a father, or one of the Pheraean race, or him who roasted the inventor by his own art: but just as fierce in war and untamed by arms, so, when peace is made, never loving blood, add that to have faithfully learned the liberal arts softens character and does not allow them to be fierce, nor is any of the kings more instructed by them, or gave more times to gentle studies.
§2.9.51carmina testantur, quae, si tua nomina demas, §2.9.52Threicium iuvenem composuisse negem; §2.9.53neve sub hoc tractu vates foret unicus Orpheus, §2.9.54Bistonis ingenio terra superba tuo est.
Your poems bear witness, which, if you were to take away your name, I would deny that a Thracian youth composed them; and lest Orpheus should be the sole poet in this tract, the land of Bistonia is proud of your talent.
§2.9.55utque tibi est animus, cum res ita postulat, arma §2.9.56sumere et hostili tingere caede manum, §2.9.57atque ut es excusso iaculum torquere lacerto §2.9.58collaque velocis flectere doctus equi, §2.9.59tempora sic data sunt studiis ubi iusta paternis, §2.9.60atque suis numeris forte quievit opus, §2.9.61ne tua marcescant per inertis otia somnos, §2.9.62lucida Plena tendis in astra via.
And just as you have the spirit, when the matter so demands, to take up arms and to stain your hand with hostile slaughter, and just as you are skilled in throwing the javelin with a flung arm and in turning the neck of a swift horse, so when due times are given to ancestral studies, and by chance the work has rested in its own measures, lest your leisure should wither through sluggish sleep, you strive toward the bright stars by a flat path.
§2.9.63haec quoque res aliquid tecum mihi foederis affert: §2.9.64eiusdem sacri cultor uterque sumus.
This thing also brings some alliance to me with you: we are both worshippers of the same sacred rite.
As a poet to a poet, I stretch out praying arms, that your land may be faithful to my exile.
§2.9.67non ego caede nocens in Ponti litora veni, §2.9.68mixtave sunt nostra dira venena manu: §2.9.69nec mea subiecta convicta est gemma tabella §2.9.70mendacem linis imposuisse notam.
I did not come to the shores of Pontus guilty of slaughter, nor were dreadful poisons mixed by my hand: nor has my seal been convicted on the tablet placed beneath to have imposed a false mark on the threads.
§2.9.71nec quicquam, quod lege vetor committere, feci: §2.9.72est tamen his gravior noxa fatenda mihi.
Nor did I do anything which I am forbidden by law to commit: yet a heavier offense than these must be confessed by me.
§2.9.73neve roges, quae sit, stultam conscripsimus Artem; §2.9.74innocuas nobis haec vetat esse manus.
Lest you should ask what it is, we composed a foolish "Art"; this forbids our hands to be innocent.
§2.9.75ecquid praeterea peccarim, quaerere noli, §2.9.76ut lateat sola culpa sub Arte mea. §2.9.77quicquid id est, habuit moderatam vindicis iram, §2.9.78qui nisi natalem nil mihi dempsit humum,
Do not seek to ask whether I sinned in anything besides, so that my sole fault may lie hidden under my "Art." Whatever it is, it had the moderate wrath of an avenger, who took nothing from me except my native soil.