§4.14.1Haec tibi mittuntur, quem sum modo carmine questus §4.14.2non aptum numeris nomen habere meis, §4.14.3in quibus, excepto quod adhuc utcumque valemus, §4.14.4nil, me praeterea quod iuvet, invenies.
These are sent to you, whom I have just complained in my poem that you have a name not suited to my meters, in which, except for the fact that we are still somehow well, you will find nothing, besides this, that may please me.
§4.14.5ipsa quoque est invisa salus, suntque ultima vota §4.14.6quolibet ex istis scilicet ire locis.
Even health itself is hated, and my ultimate wishes are to go away, of course, from any of those places.
§4.14.7nulla mihi cura est, terra quo mittar ab ista, §4.14.8hac quia, quam video, gratior omnis erit.
I have no concern where I may be sent from that land of yours, since every land will be more pleasing than this which I see.
Send my sails into the midst of the Syrtes, into the midst of Charybdis, send them, as long as we may be free from this present soil.
§4.14.11Styx quoque, si quid ea est, bene commutabitur Histro, §4.14.12siquid et inferius quam Styga mundus habet,
Even the Styx, if there is any such thing, will be well exchanged for the Hister, and if the world has anything even lower than the Styx.
§4.14.13gramina cultus ager, frigus minus odit hirundo, §4.14.14proxima Marticolis quam loca Naso Getis.
Cultivated field hates weeds less, the swallow hates cold less, than Naso hates the places closest to the warlike Getae.
Because of such words, the people of Tomis are angry with me, and public wrath has been stirred up by my poems.
Shall I then never cease to be harmed by my poems, and shall I always be punished by my incautious talent?
§4.14.19ergo ego, ne scribam, digitos incidere cunctor, §4.14.20telaque adhuc demens, quae nocuere, sequor?
Do I then hesitate to cut off my fingers, so as not to write, and do I, still mad, pursue the weapons that have harmed me?
§4.14.21ad veteres scopulos iterum devertor et illas, §4.14.22in quibus offendit naufraga puppis, aquas?
Am I turning back again to the old rocks and those waters in which my shipwrecked ship struck?
§4.14.23sed nihil admisi, nulla est mea culpa, Tomitae, §4.14.24quos ego, cum loca sim vestra perosus, amo.
But I committed nothing, there is no fault of mine, people of Tomis, whom I love, although I thoroughly hate your places.
Let anyone examine the monuments of my labor: my writing has complained nothing about you.
§4.14.27frigus et incursus omni de parte timendos §4.14.28et quod pulsetur murus ab hoste queror, §4.14.29in loca, non homines, verissima crimina dixi.
I complain of the cold, and the attacks to be feared from every side, and that the wall is struck by the enemy; I have spoken very true charges against the places, not the people.
§4.14.30culpatis vestrum vos quoque saepe solum,
You yourselves also often blame your own soil.
§4.14.31esset perpetuo sua quam vitabilis Ascra, §4.14.32ansa est agricolae Musa docere senis: §4.14.33et fuerat genitus terra, §4.14.34qui scripsit, in illa, intumuit vati nec tamen Ascra suo.
How much his own Ascra was always to be avoided, the Muse of the old husbandman dared to teach: and he had been born in that land, he who wrote, yet Ascra did not swell with anger against her own poet.
§4.14.35quis patriam sollerte magis dilexit Ulixe?
Who loved his country more than the crafty Ulysses?
§4.14.36hoc tamen asperitas indice docta loci est.
Yet its harshness is known with him as the indicator.
§4.14.37non loca, sed mores scriptis vexavit amaris §4.14.38Scepsius Ausonios, actaque Roma rea est: §4.14.39falsa tamen passa est aequa convicia mente, §4.14.40obfuit auctori nec fera lingua suo.
Not the places, but the morals did the man of Scepsis attack with bitter writings of the Ausonians, and Rome was put on trial: yet she bore the false accusations with an even mind, nor did his fierce tongue harm its own author.
§4.14.41at malus interpres populi mihi concitat iram §4.14.42inque novum crimen carmina nostra vocat.
But a malicious interpreter stirs up the anger of the people against me, and summons our poems to a new charge.
§4.14.43tam felix utinam quam pectore candidus essem!
Would that I were as fortunate as I am pure in heart!
§4.14.44extat adhuc nemo saucius ore meo.
No one yet stands wounded by my mouth.
Add that even if I were now blacker than Illyrian pitch, the faithful crowd was not to be bitten by me.
My lot gently received by you, people of Tomis, indicates that Greek men are so gentle.
My own people, the Paelignians, and my domestic region Sulmo could not have been gentler to our misfortunes.
That which you would scarcely give to anyone who is unhurt and safe, that honor has recently been given to me by you.
I alone am still exempt from taxes in your lands, except those who have the privileges of the law.
My temples are veiled with a sacred crown, which public favor imposed on me against my will.
§4.14.57quam grata est igitur Latonae Delia tellus, §4.14.58erranti tutum quae dedit una locum, §4.14.59tam mihi cara Tomis, patria quae sede fugatis §4.14.60tempus ad hoc nobis hospita fida manet,
How pleasing therefore is the Delian land to Latona, which alone gave a safe place to her when she was wandering, so dear to me is Tomis, which, to us who are exiled from our native seat, remains a faithful hostess up to this time.