The greeting, Cotta, which you read, sent to you by us, I pray that it was truly sent and has arrived.
For, being safe yourself, you take away much from my torments, and you make it so that a good part in us is saved.
And when some slip away and abandon the tossed sails, you remain the sole anchor for the shattered bark.
§3.2.7grata tua est igitur pietas, ignoscimus illis, §3.2.8qui cum Fortuna terga dedere fugae, §3.2.9cum feriant unum, non unum fulmina terrent, §3.2.10iunctaque percusso turba pavere solet: §3.2.11cumque dedit paries venturae signa ruinae, §3.2.12sollicito vacuus fit locus ille metu.
Therefore your loyalty is pleasing; we forgive those who turned their backs in flight along with Fortune, when lightnings strike one person, they terrify not just that one, and the crowd joined to the stricken one is accustomed to fear: and when a wall has given signs of coming ruin, that place becomes empty because of anxious fear.
Who among the fearful does not avoid the contagion of a sick man, fearing lest he contract the neighboring disease from there?
Me too, certain of my friends abandoned, out of excessive terror and fear, not from hatred.
Neither loyalty nor dutiful goodwill was lacking to them: they feared the hostile gods.
And just as they can seem rather cautious and fearful, so they have not deserved to be called wicked.
§3.2.21aut meus excusat caros ita candor amicos, §3.2.22utque habeant de me crimina nulla, §3.2.23favet, sint hi contenti venia, iactentque licebit §3.2.24purgari factum me quoque teste suum.
Or my fairness so excuses my dear friends, and favors that they should hold no charges regarding me, let these be content with pardon, and they may boast, if they like, that their deed is cleared, with me also as witness.
You few are the better part, who in narrow straits thought it shameful to bring me no help.
Then, therefore, the gratitude for your service will die, only when, my body consumed, I shall have become ash.
I am mistaken, and that gratitude will surpass the span of my life, if indeed I shall be read by a mindful posterity.
Lifeless bodies are owed to sad tombs: name and honor escape the built pyres.
Both Theseus died and he who accompanied Orestes: but yet each lives on in his own praises.
You too late descendants will often praise, and your glory will be illustrious through my writings.
§3.2.37hic quoque Sauromatae iam vos novere Getaeque, §3.2.38et tales animos barbara turba probat, §3.2.39eumque ego de vestra nuper probitate referrem §3.2.40(nam didici Getice Sarmaticeque loqui), §3.2.41forte senex quidam, coetu cum staret in illo, §3.2.42reddidit ad nostros talia verba sonos: §3.2.43‘nos quoque amicitiae nomen, bone, novimus hospes, §3.2.44quos procul a vobis Pontus et Hister habet.
Even here already the Sauromatae and Getae know you, and the barbarian crowd approves of such minds, and when I was recently telling of your uprightness (for I have learned to speak Getae-fashion and Sarmatian-fashion), by chance a certain old man, when he was standing in that assembly, returned such words to my sounds: 'We too know the name of friendship, good stranger, we whom the Pontus and Hister hold far from you.
There is a place in Scythia, which ancestors called the land of the Tauri, which is not so very far distant from the Getic land.
§3.2.47hac ego sum terra (patriae nec paenitet) ortus: §3.2.48consortem Phoebi gens colit illa deam.
In this land I was born (nor do I regret my native country): that nation worships the goddess partner of Phoebus.
The temple remains today resting on vast columns, and one goes up into it by forty steps.
§3.2.51fama refert illic signum caeleste fuisse; §3.2.52quoque minus dubites, stat basis orba dea; §3.2.53araque, quae fuerat natura candida saxi, §3.2.54decolor adfuso tincta cruore rubet.
Report relates that a heavenly image was there; and so that you may doubt less, the pedestal stands, bereaved of its goddess; and the altar, which by nature of its stone had been white, discolored, stained with poured blood, grows red.
§3.2.55femina sacra facit taedae non nota iugali, §3.2.56quae superat Scythicas nobilitate nurus, §3.2.57sacrifici genus est, sic instituere parentes, §3.2.58advena virgineo caesus ut ense cadat.
A woman performs the sacred rites, unknown to the marriage torch, who surpasses the Scythian daughters-in-law in nobility, it is the type of sacrifice—so the ancestors ordained— that a stranger should fall, slain by the maiden's sword.
Thoas held the kingdom, illustrious on the Maeotian shore, nor was any other more famous in the Euxine waters.
While he held the scepter, they say that some Iphigenia made a journey through the liquid air.
Wafted through the ether under a cloud by light winds, it is believed that Phoebe set her down in these places.
§3.2.65praefuerat templo multos ea rite per annos, §3.2.66invita peragens tristia sacra manu: §3.2.67cum duo velifera iuvenes venere carina §3.2.68presseruntque suo litora nostra pede.
She had presided over the temple duly through many years, performing the sad rites with unwilling hand: when two young men came in a sail-bearing vessel and pressed our shores with their feet.
§3.2.69par fuit his aetas et amor, quorum alter Orestes, §3.2.70alter erat Pylades: §3.2.71nomina fama tenet, protinus inmitem Triviae ducuntur ad aram, §3.2.72evincti geminas ad sua terga manus,
Equal was their age and love, of whom one was Orestes, the other was Pylades: fame holds their names; straightway they are led to the harsh altar of Trivia, having both hands bound behind their backs.
The Greek priestess sprinkles the captives with lustral water, so that the long fillet may encircle their golden hair.
§3.2.75dumque parat sacrum, dum velat tempora vittis, §3.2.76dum tardae causas invenit ipsa morae, §3.2.77non ego crudelis, iuvenes, (ignoscite) dixit §3.2.78sacra suo facio barbariora loco.
And while she prepares the sacrifice, while she veils their temples with bands, while she herself invents causes for slow delay, 'I am not cruel, young men, (forgive me),' she said, 'I perform rites more barbarian than my own place.
§3.2.79ritus is est gentis, qua vos tamen urbe venitis? §3.2.80quodve parum fausta puppe petistis iter?'
This is the rite of the nation; yet from what city do you come?
Or what path did you seek with a vessel little favored?' She spoke, and the pious maiden, having heard the name of her country, found them to be sharers of her own city.
§3.2.83alter ut e vobis inquit cadat hostia sacris, §3.2.84ad patrias sedes nuntius alter eat. §3.2.85ire iubet Pylades carum periturus Oresten; §3.2.86hic negat, inque vices pugnat uterque mori.
'Let one of you,' she said, 'fall as a victim for the rites, let the other go as a messenger to our native seats.' Pylades, about to perish, orders dear Orestes to go; the latter refuses, and in turn each fights to die.
This stood out as the only thing in which they did not agree: as for the rest, they were a harmonious pair and without dispute.
While the beautiful young men carry out the contest of love, she writes down letters written to her brother.
She was giving commands to her brother, and he to whom they were being given (behold human hazards!) was her brother.
§3.2.93nec mora, de templo rapiunt simulacra Dianae, §3.2.94clamque per inmensas puppe feruntur aquas.
And without delay, they snatch the image of Diana from the temple, secretly are carried by ship through the immense waters.
§3.2.95mirus amor iuvenum.
Wondrous is the love of the young men.
quamvis abiere tot anni, §3.2.96in Scythia magnum nunc quoque nomen habent,’ §3.2.97fabula narrata est postquam vulgaris ab illo, §3.2.98laudarunt omnes facta piamque fidem,
Although so many years have gone by, even now they have a great name in Scythia.' After the well-known story was told by him, all praised their deeds and loyal devotion.
Clearly even in this region, than which there is none fiercer, the name of friendship moves barbarian hearts.
What ought you to do, who were born in the Ausonian city, when such deeds touch the harsh Getae?
§3.2.103adde quod est animus semper tibi mitis, et altae §3.2.104indicium mores nobilitatis habent, §3.2.105quos Volesus patrii cognoscat nominis auctor, §3.2.106quos Numa maternus non neget esse suos.
Add that your mind is always mild, and your character possesses the evidence of high nobility, which Volesus, the founder of your paternal name, would recognize, which Numa, your maternal ancestor, would not deny to be his own.
§3.2.107adiectique probent genetiva ad nomina Cottae, §3.2.108si tu non esses, interitura domus, §3.2.109digne vir hac serie, lapso succurrere amico §3.2.110conveniens istis moribus esse puta.
and the added names of Cotta would approve, as hereditary names, a house that would have perished if you did not exist, O man worthy of this lineage, think that to help a fallen friend is fitting for those character traits of yours.