§451Pastor Pheraeos Delius pavit greges.
The Delian shepherd fed the Pheraean flocks.
§452Sed non per omnes exul erravit plagas.
But he did not wander as an exile through every region.
§453Quem profuga terra mater errante edidit?
Whom did his fleeing mother bring forth on a wandering land?
§454Num monstra saeva Phoebus aut timuit feras?
Did Phoebus fear savage monsters or wild beasts?
§455Primus sagittas imbuit Phoebi draco.
The serpent first wet Phoebus' arrows with blood.
§456Quam gravia parvus tulerit ignoras mala?
Do you not know what heavy evils he bore as a child?
The boy, cast out from his mother's womb by a thunderbolt, soon stood next to his lightning-wielding father.
What? He who governs the stars, who shakes the clouds, did he not lie hidden as an infant in the cave of the Idaean rock?
Such great births have anxious prices, and it has always cost much for a god to be born.
§463Quemcumque miserum videris, hominem scias.
Whomever you see miserable, know him to be a man.
§464Quemcumque fortem videris, miserum neges.
Whomever you see brave, deny that he is miserable.
§465Fortem vocemus cuius ex umeris leo, §466donum puellae factus, et clava excidit §467fulsitque pictum veste Sidonia latus?
Shall we call him brave, from whose shoulders the lion's skin, made into a gift for a girl, and his club fell, and his side shone, adorned with Sidonian garments?
§468fortem vocemus cuius horrentes comae §469maduere nardo, laude qui notas manus §470ad non virilem tympani movit sonum, §471mitra ferocem barbara frontem premens?
Shall we call him brave, whose bristling hair dripped with nard, who moved his hands, famous for glory, to the unmanly sound of the tambourine, pressing a foreign turban on his fierce brow?
§472Non erubescit Bacchus effusos tener §473sparsisse crines nec manu molli levem §474vibrare thyrsum, cum parum forti gradu §475auro decorum syrma barbaricum trahit: §476post multa virtus opera laxari solet.
Tender Bacchus does not blush to have scattered his flowing hair, nor with soft hand to shake the light thyrsus, when with a none too steady step he drags his barbarian robe adorned with gold: after many labors virtue is accustomed to relax.
§477Hoc Euryti fatetur eversi domus §478pecorumque ritu virginum oppressi greges: §479hoc nulla Iuno, nullus Eurystheus iubet: §480ipsius haec sunt opera.
This is confessed by the house of overthrown Eurytus and the flocks of maidens oppressed like cattle: this no Juno, no Eurystheus orders: these are his own works.
§480bNon nosti omnia: §481ipsius opus est caestibus fractus suis §482Eryx et Eryci iunctus Antaeus Libys, §483et qui hospitali caede manantes foci §484bibere iustum sanguinem Busiridis; §485ipsius opus est vulneri et ferro iuvius §486mortem coactus integer Cycnus pati §487nec unus una Geryon victus manu.
You do not know all: his own work is Eryx, broken by his own boxing-gloves, and Libyan Antaeus joined to Eryx, and the altars that, dripping with the slaughter of guests, drank the just blood of Busiris; his own work is Cycnus, impervious to wounds and iron, forced to suffer death uninjured, and Geryon, not single, conquered by a single hand.
§488eris inter istos— qui tamen nullo stupro §489laesere thalamos, §489bQuod Iovi hoc regi licet: §490Iovi dedisti coniugem, regi dabis; §491et te magistro non novum hoc discet nurus, §492etiam viro probante meliorem sequi.
you will be among them— who, however, by no outrage violated the marriage bed, What is allowed to Jove is allowed to a king: You gave your wife to Jove, you will give her to a king; and with you as teacher your daughter-in-law will learn nothing new, even with her husband's approval, to follow a better man.
but if she stubbornly refuses to be joined in marriage, I will produce a noble offspring even from her forced.
§495Vmbrae Creontis et penates Labdaci §496et nuptiales impii Oedipodae faces, §497nunc solita nostro fata coniugio date.
Shades of Creon, and household gods of Labdacus, and the wedding torches of impious Oedipus, now give our marriage its accustomed fates.
now, now, bloody daughters-in-law of the king of Egypt, be present, hands stained with much blood.
§500dest una numero Danais: explebo nefas.
one Danaid is missing from the number: I will complete the crime.
Since you stubbornly refuse our marriage and terrify the king, you shall know what scepters can do.
§503complectere aras: nullus eripiet deus §504te mihi, nec orbe si remolito queat §505ad supera victor numina Alcides vehi.
embrace the altars: no god will snatch you from me, not even if, with the world pushed back, Alcides should be able to be carried as victor to the gods above.
§506congerite silvas: templa supplicibus suis §507iniecta fiagrent, coniugem et totum gregem §508consumat unus igne subiecto rogus.
heap up woods: let the temples, with their suppliants, thrown on, burn; let a single pyre consume the wife and the whole flock with fire applied.
This favor I, the father of Alcides, ask of you, which it becomes me to ask, that I may fall first.
§511Qui morte cunctos luere supplicium iubet §512nescit tyrannus esse: diversa inroga; §513miserum veta perire, felicem iube.
He who orders all to pay punishment by death does not know how to be a tyrant: impose different things; forbid the miserable to die, order the happy to.
I, while the pyre grows with beams to be burned, will worship the ruler of the seas with a votive sacrifice.
§516Pro numinum vis summa, pro caelestium §517rector parensque, cuius excussis tremunt §518humana telis, impiam regis feri
Oh, supreme power of the gods, oh, ruler and father, at whose hurled weapons human affairs tremble, the impious right hand of the fierce king restrain!
§519compesce dextram! quid deos frustra precor?
Why do I pray to the gods in vain?
§520ubicumque es, audi, nate.
Wherever you are, hear, my son.
cur subito labant §521agitata motu templa? cur mugit solum?
Why suddenly do they totter, the temples, shaken by a movement? Why does the ground bellow?
§523audimur! est est sonitus Herculei gradus.
We are heard! It is, it is the sound of Hercules' step.
O Fortune, envious of brave men, how unjust the rewards you divide for the good.
§526Eurystheus facili regnet in otio: §527Alcmena genitus bella per omnia §528monstris exagitet caeliferam manum: §529serpentis resecet colla feracia, §530deceptis referat mala sororibus, §531cum somno dederit pervigiles genu* §532pomis divitibus praepositus draco.
Let Eurystheus reign in easy leisure: But he who was born of Alcmena, through all wars, should weary his heaven-bearing hand with monsters: Let him cut back the fertile necks of the serpent, bring back the apples from the deceived sisters, when the dragon, placed in charge of the rich fruits, has yielded its ever-watchful eyes to sleep.
§533Intravit Scythiae multivagas domos §534et gentes patriis sedibus hospites, §535calcavitque freti terga rigentia §536et mutis tacitum litoribus mare.
He entered the wandering homes of Scythia, and nations that are strangers to their ancestral homes, and trod upon the frozen back of the sea, and the silent sea with its mute shores.
§537illic dura carent aequora fluctibus, §538et qua plena rates carbasa tenderent, §539intonsis teritur semita Sarmatis, §540stat pontus, vicibus mobilis annuis,
There the hard waters lack waves, and where ships once stretched their full sails, a path is trodden by the long-haired Sarmatians, the sea stands still, though movable in its annual changes,