§4.8.1Littera sera quidem, studiis exculte Suilii, §4.8.2huc tua pervenit, sed mihi grata tamen, §4.8.3qua, pia si possit superos lenire rogando §4.8.4gratia, laturum te mihi dicis opem.
A letter late indeed, Suillius highly cultivated in studies, has arrived here from you, but welcome to me nonetheless, in which, if pious affection is able to soothe the gods above by praying, you say that you will bring help to me.
Even if you should now provide nothing, I have been made a debtor of your friendly mind, and I call the wishing to help a merit.
May that impulse of yours endure for a long age, and may your pious affection not be weary of my misfortunes.
The ties of affinity create some right for us, which I pray may always remain unbroken.
§4.8.11nam tibi quae coniunx, eadem mihi filia paene est, §4.8.12et quae te generum, me vocat illa virum,
For she who is your wife is almost a daughter to me, and she who calls you son-in-law calls me husband.
Ah me, if, when those verses are read, you draw your face, and are ashamed to be my kinsman!
But you will be able to find nothing here worthy of shame except fortune, which was blind to me.
§4.8.17seu genus excutias, equites ab origine prima §4.8.18usque per innumeros inveniemur avos: §4.8.19sive velis qui sint mores inquirere nostri, §4.8.20errorem misero detrahe, labe carent.
Or if you should examine our lineage, we shall be found to be knights from the very first origin all the way through countless ancestors: or if you should wish to inquire what our character is, take away the error from a miserable man, and it is free from stain.
If only you hope that anything can be done by praying, entreat with suppliant voice the gods whom you worship.
Your gods are the young Caesar, appease your divinities; surely no altar is better known to you than this one.
That altar never permits the prayers of its own priest to be in vain: seek help from here for our affairs.
If that breeze should help us, however small it may be, the boat, submerged in the midst of the waters, will rise again.
Then I will bring solemn incense to the rapid flames, and I will be a witness of how much the divinities can do.
Nor, Germanicus, shall I erect a temple for you of Parian marble: that ruin of mine has snatched away my wealth.
Wealthy houses and prosperous cities will build temples for you; Naso, with his own wealth, will be pleasing through his song.
§4.8.35parva quidem fateor pro magnis munera reddi, §4.8.36cum pro concessa verba salute damus, §4.8.37sed qui, quam potuit, dat maxima, gratus abunde est, §4.8.38et finem pietas contigit illa suum.
I confess indeed that small gifts are returned for great ones, when we give words in return for granted safety, but he who gives the greatest he could is abundantly grateful, and that pious affection has reached its goal.
§4.8.39nec quae de parva pauper dis libat acerra §4.8.40tura minus grandi quam data lance valent, §4.8.41agnaque tam lactens quam gramine pasta Falisco §4.8.42victima Tarpeios inficit icta focos, §4.8.43nec tamen officio vatum per carmina facto §4.8.44principibus res est aptior ulla viris.
Nor do the incenses which a poor man offers to the gods from a small censer have less power than those given on a large platter, and a lamb, still sucking, stains the Tarpeian altars when struck, as much as a victim fed on Faliscan grass, yet there is no matter more fitting for leading men than the duty of poets performed through songs.
Songs carry out the heraldry of your praises, and they take care lest the fame of your deeds be fleeting.
By song virtue becomes long-lived, and, free from the grave, has the recognition of late posterity.
Wasting old age consumes iron and stone, no thing has greater strength than time.
§4.8.51scripta ferunt annos, scriptis Agamemnona nosti, §4.8.52et quisquis contra vel simul arma tulit, §4.8.53quis Thebas septemque duces sine carmine nosset, §4.8.54et quicquid post haec, quidquid et ante fuit.
Writings bear the years; by writings you know Agamemnon, and whoever bore arms against him or with him, who would know Thebes and the seven leaders without song, and whatever was after these, and whatever was before?
Even the gods, if it is lawful to say, are made by songs, and so great a majesty stands in need of the singer's mouth.
§4.8.57sic Chaos ex illa naturae mole prioris §4.8.58digestum partes scimus habere suas: §4.8.59sic adfectantes caelestia regna Gigantes §4.8.60ad Styga nimbifero vindicis igne datos.
Thus we know that Chaos, sorted from that mass of prior nature, had its own parts: thus we know that the Giants, aspiring to the celestial kingdoms, were given to the Styx by the rain-bearing fire of the avenger.
Thus victorious Liber drew praise from the conquered Indians, and Alcides from captured Oechalia.
§4.8.63et modo, Caesar, avum, quem virtus addidit astris, §4.8.64sacrarunt aliqua carmina parte tuum.
And recently, Caesar, some songs, in some part, have consecrated your grandfather, whom virtue added to the stars.
If therefore any living thing still remains, Germanicus, in my talent, the whole of it shall serve you.
You, a poet, cannot despise the duty of a poet: that matter has value by your own judgment.
For unless so great a name had called you to greater things, you were destined to be the highest glory of the Muses.
But it is greater to give material to us than songs: and yet you cannot desert them entirely.
§4.8.73numeris modo bella geris, numeris modo verba coerces, §4.8.74quodque aliis opus est, hoc tibi lusus erit.
At one time you wage war in numbers, at another you restrain words in numbers, and what to others is labor, this to you will be play.
§4.8.75utque nec ad citharam nec ad arcum segnis Apollo est. §4.8.76sed venit ad sacras nervus uterque manus, §4.8.77sic tibi nec docti desunt nec principis artes, §4.8.78mixta sed est animo cum Iove Musa tuo.
And as Apollo is sluggish neither for the lyre nor for the bow, but both strings come to his sacred hands, so neither the arts of the learned nor of the prince are lacking in you, but the Muse is mixed with your Jupiter in your mind.
§4.8.79quae quoniam nec nos unda summovit ab illa, §4.8.80ungula Gorgonei quam cava fecit equi, §4.8.81prosit opemque ferat communia sacra tueri, §4.8.82atque isdem studiis inposuisse manum: §4.8.83litora pellitis nimium subiecta Corallis §4.8.84ut tandem saevos effugiamque Getas: §4.8.85clausaque si misero patria est, ut ponar in ullo, §4.8.86qui minus Ausonia distet ab urbe, loco, §4.8.87unde tuas possim laudes celebrare recentes §4.8.88magnaque quam minima facta referre mora.
Since she has not removed us from that wave which the hollow hoof of the Gorgon horse made, may it be of benefit and bring help to protect the common sacred rites, and to have laid hand upon the same studies: so that I may at last escape the shores too subject to the fur-clad Coralli and the fierce Getis: and if my country is closed to miserable me, that I may be placed in any place which is less distant from the Ausonian city, whence I may be able to celebrate your recent praises and relate your great deeds with the least delay.