§546Credat hoc quisquam? ferus ille et acer
Who would believe this?
That ferocious, fierce and brutal Atreus, unable to control his mind, stood amazed, dumbfounded at the sight of his brother!
§549nulla vis maior pietate vera est: §550iurgia externis inimica durant, §551quos amor verus tenuit, tenebit
No force is greater than true piety: hostile quarrels among strangers endure; those whom true love has held, it will hold.
§552ira cum magnis agitata causis §553gratiam rupit cocinitque bellum, §554cum leves frenis sonuere turmae, §555fulsit hinc illinc agitatus ensis §556quem movet crebro furibundus ictu §557sanguinem Mavors cupiens recentem: §558opprimit ferrum manibusque iunctis §559ducit ad pacem Pietas negantes.
Anger, stirred by great causes, has broken favor and sounded war, when light squadrons made noise with their reins, and the brandished sword flashed here and there, which raging Mavors moves with frequent blows, thirsting for fresh blood: yet Piety suppresses the sword, and with joined hands leads the unwilling to peace.
Who, which god, created this sudden peace from so great a tumult?
§562arma civilis' crepuere belli: §563pallidae natos tenuere matres; §564uxor armato timuit marito, §565cum manum invitus sequeretur ensis, §566sordidus pacis vitio quietae; §567ille labentes renovare muros, §568hic situ quassas stabilire turres, §569ferreis portas cohibere claustris §570ille certabat, pavidusque pinnis §571anxiae noctis vigil incubabat: §572peior est bello timor ipse belli.
Just now through Mycenae the arms of civil war resounded: pale mothers held their children; the wife feared for her armed husband, when the unwilling sword, foul with the blemish of quiet peace, followed the hand; that man hastened to renew the crumbling walls, this one to strengthen towers shaken by decay, another to secure the gates with iron bars, and the fearful watchman lay upon the battlements during the anxious night: worse than war is the fear of war itself.
§573Iam minae saevi cecidere ferri, §574iam silet murmur grave classicorum, §575iam tacet stridor litui strepentis: §576alta pax urbi revocata, laetae est.
Now the threats of cruel iron have fallen, now the heavy murmur of war-trumpets is silent, now the shriek of the blaring clarion is still: deep peace has been recalled to the city, joyful.
§577sic, ubi ex alto tumuere fluctus §578Bruttium Coro feriente pontum, §579Scylla pulsati s resonat cavernis §580ac mare in portu timuere nautae §581quod rapax haustum revomit Charybdis, §582et ferus Cyclops metuit parentem §583rupe ferventis residens in Aetnae, §584ne superfusis violator undis §585ignis aeternis resonans caminis, §586et putat mergi sua posse pauper §587regna Laertes Ithaca tremente: §588si suae ventis cecidere vires, §589mitius stagno pelagus recumbit; §590alta, quae navis timuit secare, §591hinc et hinc fusis speciosa velis §592strata ludenti patuere cumbae, §593et vacat mersos numerare pisces §594hic ubi ingenti modo sub procella §595Cycladas pontum timuere motae.
Just so, when waves swell from the deep with Corus striking the Bruttian sea, Scylla resounds within her battered caverns, and sailors in the harbor fear the sea which rapacious Charybdis vomits up after swallowing it, and the wild Cyclops fears his parent, sitting on the cliff of burning Aetna, lest the waves, pouring over, should extinguish the fire that roars in the eternal furnaces; and poor Laertes thinks his kingdom can be submerged, while Ithaca trembles: yet if the winds lose their strength, the sea lies down, gentler than a pool; the deep waters, which the ship feared to cut, now beautiful with sails spread here and there, open wide for the playful skiff; and there is leisure to count the sunken fish, here where just now under a huge storm the shaken Cyclades feared the sea.
§596Nulla sors longa est: dolor ac voluptas §597invicem cedunt; brevior voluptas, §598ima permutat levis hora summis:
No lot is lasting: pain and pleasure yield to each other in turn; pleasure is shorter, and a swift hour changes the lowest with the highest.
§599ille qui donat diadema fronti, §600quem genu nixae tremuere gentes, §601cuius ad nutum posuere bella §602Medus et Phoebi propioris Indus §603et Dahae-Parthis equitem minati, §604anxius sceptrum tenet et moventes §605cuncta divinat metuitque casus §606mobiles rerum dubiumque tempus.
He who gives the diadem to the brow, whom nations, kneeling, have trembled before, at whose nod the Mede laid down his arms, and the Indian closer to Phoebus, and the Dahae who threaten the Parthians with cavalry, now anxiously holds his scepter, and divines that all things change, and fears shifting circumstances and doubtful time.
§607Vos quibus rector maris atque terrae §608ius dedit magnum necis atque vitae, §609ponite inflatos tumidosque vultus: §610quicquid a vobis minor expavescit, §611maior hoc vobis dominus minatur; §612omne sub regno graviore regnum est.
You, to whom the ruler of sea and land has given the great power of life and death, lay aside your puffed-up and swollen looks: whatever a lesser person fears from you, a greater master threatens to you; every kingdom is under a heavier kingdom.
Him whom the coming day saw proud, the departing day saw lying low.
§615Nemo confidat nimium secundis, §616nemo desperet meliora lassis: §617miscet haec illis prohibetque Clotho §618stare Fortunam, rotat omne fatum, §619nemo tam divos habuit faventes, §620crastinum ut posset sibi polliceri: §621res deus nostras celeri citatas §622turbine versat.
Let no one trust too much in prosperity; let no one despair of better things when weary: Clotho mixes these with those and forbids Fortune to stand still, rotating every destiny; no one has had the gods so favoring, that he could promise tomorrow to himself: a god turns our affairs, driven by a swift whirlwind.
Messenger: What whirlwind will carry me headlong through the air, and wrap me in a dark cloud, so that such a great crime may be snatched from my eyes?
Oh, house to be ashamed of even for Pelops and Tantalus!
§626bQuid portas novi?
Chorus: What news do you bring?
§627Quaenam ista regio est? Argos et Sparte, pios
Messenger: What region is this?
§628sortita fratres, et maris gemini premens §629fauces Corinthos, an feris Hister fugam §630praebens Alanis, an sub aeterna nive §631Hyrcana tellus an vagi passim Scythae?
Is it Argos and Sparta, which obtained pious brothers, and Corinth pressing the throats of the double sea, or the Hister offering flight to the wild Alans, or the Hyrcanian land under eternal snow, or the Scythians wandering everywhere?
§632quis hic nefandi est conscius monstri locus?
What place is this that is conscious of an unspeakable monster?
§633Effare et istud pande, quodcumque est, malum.
Chorus: Speak out and reveal that evil, whatever it is.
Messenger: If my mind stands firm, if my body, stiff with fear, releases my limbs!
§636imago facti, ferte me insanae procul, §637illo, procellae, ferte quo fertur dies §638hinc raptus, §638bAnimos gravius incertos tenes, §639quid sit quod horres ede et auctorem indica: §640non quaero quis sit, sed uter.
But the image of the cruel deed clings to my sight; carry me far away, mad storms, carry me to where the day, snatched from here, is carried, Chorus: You hold our uncertain minds in worse suspense; disclose what it is you shudder at, and point out the doer: I do not ask who it is, but which of the two.
effare ocius.
Speak quickly.
§641In arce summa Pelopiae pars est domus §642conversa ad austros, cuius extremum latus §643aequale monti crescit atque urbem premit §644et contumacem regibus populum suis
Messenger: At the highest citadel there is a part of Pelops' house facing the south, whose extreme side rises equal to a mountain and presses upon the city, and the people who are rebellious to their kings.