Ruler of the city, did the hostile band of the fallen Lycus overwhelm us in so great a slaughter?
§1183per te meorum facinorum laudem precor, §1184genitor, tuique nominis semper mihi §1185numen secundum, fare, quis fudit domum?
By the praise of my deeds I pray thee, father, and by thy name, ever to me a second deity, speak, who has destroyed my house?
§1186cui praeda iacui?
To whom did I lie as prey?
§1186bTacita sic abeant mala.
Let evils pass thus in silence.
§1187Vt inultus ego sim?
That I should be unavenged?
§1187bSaepe vindicta obfuit.
Often vengeance has been harmful.
§1188Quisquamne segnis tanta toleravit mala?
Has anyone sluggishly endured so great evils?
§1189Maiora quisquis timuit.
Whoever feared greater ones.
Can anything greater or heavier than these, father, be feared?
§1191Cladis tuae pars ista quam nosti quota est?
How small a part is that of your calamity which you know?
§1192Miserere, genitor, supplices tendo manus.
Pity me, father, I stretch out suppliant hands.
§1193quid hoc? manus refugit, hic errat scelus.
What is this? My hand shrinks back; here guilt is wandering.
Whence is this blood? What is that shaft wet with child's death?
§1196iam tela video nostra, non quaero manum.
Now I see our weapons stained with Lernaean destruction; I do not seek the hand.
Who could bend my bow, or what right hand could curve the string that duly yields only to me?
§1199ad vos revertor; genitor, hoc nostrum est scelus?
I turn back to you: father, is this our crime?
§1200tacuere? nostrum est.
Are they silent? It is ours.
Yours is the grief, but the crime is your stepmother's: this misfortune is free from guilt.
§1202Nunc parte ab omni, genitor, iratus tona, §1203oblite nostri vindica sera manu §1204saltem nepotes.
Now from every side, father, thunder in thy wrath; forgetful of me, avenge at least thy grandsons with a late hand.
stelliger mundus sonet §1205flammasque et hic et ille iaculetur polus:
Let the starry universe resound, and let both this pole and that hurl flames.
Let the Caspian cliffs drag my bound body, and the greedy bird— why are the rocks of Prometheus vacant?
§1208scopuli? vacat cur vertice immenso feras §1209volucresque pascens Caucasi abruptum latus §1210nudumque silvis? illa quae pontum Scythen
Why is the steep side of Caucasus vacant, which feeds wild beasts and birds on its immense summit, bare of forests?
§1211Symplegas artat hinc et hinc vinctas manus §1212distendat alto, cumque revocata vice §1213in se coibunt saxaque in caelum expriment §1214actis utrimque rupibus medium mare, §1215ego inquieta montium iaceam mora.
Let that Symplegas which narrows the Scythian sea stretch my bound hands this way and that on the deep; and when, with alternating turn recalled, the rocks shall clash together and force the sea between them up to the heavens, let me lie as a restless barrier of the mountains.
Why do I not build a pile, gathering a mound of wood, and burn my body spattered with impious blood?
§1218sic, sic agendum est: inferis reddam Herculem.
Thus, thus it must be done: I will restore Hercules to the underworld.
§1219Nondum tumultu pectus attonito carens §1220mutavit iras quodque habet proprium furor, §1221in se ipse saevit,
Not yet free from stunned tumult, his breast has turned its wrath, and what is peculiar to madness, it rages against itself.
§1221bDira Furiarum loca §1222et inferorum carcer et sonti plaga §1223decreta turbae— si quod exilium latet §1224ulterius Erebo, Cerbero ignotum et mihi: §1225hoc me abde, tellus; Tartari ad finem ultimum §1226mansurus ibo.
The dreadful places of the Furies, and the prison of the underworld, and the tract decreed for the guilty throng— if any exile lies hidden further than Erebus, unknown to Cerberus and to me: hide me here, O earth; to the furthest limit of Tartarus I will go to remain.
pectus o nimium ferum!— §1227quis vos per omnem, liberi, sparsos domum
O too fierce breast!— Who can worthily weep for you, children, scattered through the whole house?
§1228deflere digne poterit? hic durus malis §1229lacrimare vultus nescit, huc arcum date, §1230date huc sagittas, stipitem huc vastum date.
This face, hardened by evils, knows not how to weep; give me my bow here, give the arrows here, give the vast club here.
§1231tibi tela frangam nostra, tibi nostros, puer, §1232rumpemus arcus; at tuis stipes gravis §1233ardebit umbris; ipsa Lernaeis frequens §1234pharetra telis in tuos ibit rogos: §1235dent arma poenas, vos quoque infaustas meis §1236cremabo telis, o novercales manus.
For you I will break our weapons, for you, boy, we will shatter our bows; but the heavy club shall burn for your shades; the quiver itself, filled with Lernaean arrows, shall go upon your pyre: let my weapons pay the penalty, and you also, stepmotherly hands, I will burn with my ill-omened weapons.
§1237Quis nomen usquam sceleris errori addidit?
Who has ever added the name of crime to error?
§1238Saepe error ingens sederis obtinuit locum.
Often a huge error has held the place of crime.
§1239Nunc Hercule opus est: perfer hanc molem mali.
Now there is need of Hercules: bear this mass of evil.
My shame, extinguished by madness, has not so yielded, as that I should put to flight all peoples with my impious presence.
§1242arma, arma, Theseu, flagito propere mihi §1243subtracta reddi, sana si mens est mihi, §1244referte manibus tela; si remanet furor, §1245pater, recede: mortis inveniam viam.
Weapons, weapons, Theseus, I demand to be quickly restored to me; if my mind is sane, restore the weapons to my hands; if madness remains, father, stand back: I will find a way of death.
§1246Per sancta generis sacra, per ius nominis §1247utrumque nostri, sive me altorem vocas §1248seu tu parentem, perque venerandos piis §1249canos, senectae parce desertae, precor, §1250annisque fessis; unicum lapsae domus §1251firmamen, unum lumen afflicto malis §1252temet reserva.
By the holy rites of our race, by the right of our name, both of ours, whether thou callest me foster-father or thy parent, and by the white hair to be revered by the pious, spare, I pray, my deserted old age and my weary years; reserve thyself as the sole pillar of a fallen house, the one light to me afflicted by evils.
nullus ex te contigit §1253fructus laborum; semper aut dubium mare §1254aut monstra timui; quisquis in toto furit §1255rex saevus orbe, manibus aut aris nocens, §1256a me timetur: semper absentis pater §1257fructum tui factumque et aspectum peto.
No fruit of thy labors has come to me; I have always feared either the doubtful sea or monsters; whoever rages as a cruel king in the whole world, harming hands or altars, is feared by me: always a father, I seek the fruit, the deed, and the sight of thee who art absent.
§1258Cur animam in ista luce detineam amplius §1259morerque nihil est: cuncta iam amisi bona, §1260mentem arma famam coniugem gnatos manus, §1261etiam furorem, nemo polluto queat §1262animo mederi: morte sanandum est scelus.
Why I should longer detain my soul in this light and delay, there is nothing: now I have lost all goods, mind, weapons, fame, wife, children, hands, and even my madness; no one can heal a polluted soul: by death must crime be cured.