§1091quaerens, flebilibus modis §1092haec Orpheus cecinit Getis: §1093Leges in superos datas §1094et qui tempora digerit §1095quattuor praecipitis deus §1096anni, disposuit vices; §1097nulli non avidi colus §1098Parcas stamina nectere: §1099quod natum est, † poterit mori.
Seeking [consolations], in mournful measures Orpheus sang these things to the Getae: That laws have been given to the gods above, and that the god who arranges the times of the swift year into four seasons, has disposed its changes; that there is no one for whom, from the greedy distaff, the Fates do not weave the threads: that whatever is born, is doomed to die.
§1100Vati credere Thracio §1101devictus iubet Hercules, §1102iam, iam legibus obrutis §1103mundo cum veniet dies, §1104australis polus obruet §1105, quicquid per Libyam iacet §1106et sparsus Garamas tenet; §1107arctous polus obruet §1108quicquid subiacet axibus §1109et siccus Boreas ferit, §1110amisso trepidus polo §1111Titan excutiet diem.
To believe the Thracian bard, the conquered Hercules commands, now, now, when the laws are overthrown and the day shall come upon the world, the southern pole will overwhelm whatever lies throughout Libya and the scattered Garamantians possess; the northern pole will overwhelm whatever lies beneath the northern axes and the dry Boreas strikes; trembling at the loss of the pole, Titan will shake off the day.
§1112caeli regia concidens §1113ortus atque obitus trahet §1114atque omnis pariter deos §1115perdet mors aliqua et chaos, §1116et mors fata novissima §1117in se constituet sibi.
The palace of heaven falling will drag down the rising and setting of the sun, and likewise some death and chaos will destroy all the gods together, and death will establish for itself the ultimate fates within itself.
§1118quis mundum capiet locus?
What place will contain the world?
Will the way to Tartarus recede, so that it may lie open to the shattered poles?
Or is the space that divides the ether from the earth sufficient for the immense evils of the world?
What place will contain so great (oh, impious thought!) a destiny, what place will contain the gods above?
The sea, Tartarus, the stars— one single place will contain the three realms.
But what extraordinary crash strikes our astonished ears?
§1130est est Herculeus sonus.
It is, it is the sound of Hercules!
§1131Converte, Titan clare, anhelantes equos, §1132emitte noctem: pereat hic mundo dies §1133quo morior, atra nube inhorrescat polus;
Hercules: Turn back, bright Titan, your panting steeds, send forth the night: let this day on which I die perish from the world, let the pole shudder with black clouds.
§1134obsta novercae, nunc, pater, caecum chaos §1135reddi decebat, hinc et hinc compagibus §1136ruptis uterque debuit frangi polus;
Block your stepmother; now, father, it was fitting for blind chaos to be restored, and with joints broken on this side and that, both poles ought to have been shattered.
§1137quid parcis astris? Herculem amittis, pater,
Why do you spare the stars? Father, you are losing Hercules.
§1138nunc partem in omnem, Iuppiter, specta poli, §1139ne quis Gyas Thessalica iaculetur iuga §1140et fiat Othrys pondus Encelado leve.
Now, Jupiter, look upon every part of the pole, lest any Gyas hurl Thessalian ridges, and Othrys become a light weight for Enceladus.
§1141laxabit atri carceris iam iam fores §1142Pluton superbus, vincula excutiet patri §1143caelumque reddet, ille qui pro fulmine §1144tuisque facibus natus in terris eram,
Proud Pluto will now, even now, loosen the gates of his dark prison, shake off the chains of his father, and restore heaven to him; since I, who in place of your thunderbolts and torches had been born on earth, am returning to the Styx.
§1145ad Styga revertor: surget Enceladus ferox §1146mittetque quo nunc premitur in superos onus; §1147regnum omne, genitor, aetheris dubium tibi §1148mors nostra faciet— antequam spolium tui §1149caelum omne fiat, conde me tota, pater, §1150mundi ruina, frange quem perdis polum.
Fierce Enceladus will rise, and hurl against the gods above the burden under which he is now pressed; our death, father, will make the entire kingdom of the ether doubtful for you—before all heaven becomes your spoil, hide me, father, in the total ruin of the world; shatter the pole which you are losing.
§1151Non vana times, gnate Tonantis: §1152nunc Thessalicam Pelion Ossam. §1153premet et Pindo congestus Athos §1154nemus aetheriis inseret astris; §1155vincet scopulos inde Typhoeus §1156et Tyrrhenam feret Inarimen; §1157feret Aetnaeos inde caminos §1158scindetque latus montis aperti §1159nondum Enceladus fulmine victus: §1160iam te caeli regna secuntur.
Chorus: No vain things do you fear, son of the Thunderer: now Pelion will press upon Thessalian Ossa, and Athos, piled upon Pindus, will insert its forest into the ethereal stars; from there Typhoeus will conquer the cliffs and carry Tyrrhenian Inarime; from there Enceladus, not yet conquered by the thunderbolt, will carry the furnaces of Etna and cleave the side of the opened mountain: now the kingdoms of heaven are following you.
§1161Ego qui relicta morte, contempta Styge §1162per media Lethes stagna cum spolio redi §1163quo paene lapsis excidit Titan equis, §1164ego quem deorum regna senserunt tria, §1165morior nec ullus per meum stridet latus §1166transmissus ensis, haut meae telum necis §1168est totus Othrys.
Hercules: I, who, leaving death behind and despising the Styx, returned with my spoil through the middle of Lethe’s marshes, where Titan almost fell from his sky as his horses stumbled— I, whose power the three kingdoms of the gods felt, am dying, yet no sword passes through my side making it hiss, nor is the weapon of my death the whole of Othrys.
non truci rictu gigans §1169Pindo cadaver obruit toto meum: §1170sine hoste vincor, quodque me torquet magis §1171(o misera virtus!) summus Alcidae dies §1172nullum malum prosternat, inpendo, ei mihi, §1173in nulla vitam facta, pro mundi arbiter
No giant with fierce grin has overwhelmed my corpse with all of Pindus; I am conquered without an enemy, and what tortures me more (oh, wretched virtue!), the last day of Alcides overthrows no evil; I spend, ah me, my life on no exploits.
§1174superique quondam dexterae testes meae, §1175pro cuncta tellus, Herculem vestrum placet §1176†morte ferire? dirus o nobis pudor,
O ruler of the world, and gods above, once witnesses of my right hand, oh, entire earth, does it please you to strike your Hercules with such a death?
§1177o turpe fatum, femina Herculeae necis
O dreadful shame to us, o shameful fate, a woman will be reported as the author of Hercules' death!
§1178auctor feretur! morior Alcides quibus?
By whom is Alcides dying?
§1179invicta si me cadere feminea manu §1180voluere fata perque tam turpes colus §1181mea mors cucurrit, cadere potuissem, ei mihi, §1182Iunonis odio: feminae caderem manu, §1183sed caelum habentis, si nimis, superi, fuit,
If the fates willed that I, unconquered, should fall by a woman's hand, and my death ran through such shameful distaffs, I could have fallen, ah me, by Juno’s hatred: I would have fallen by a woman’s hand, but of one who possesses heaven!
§1184Scythico sub axe genita domuisset meas §1185vires Amazon— feminae cuius manu §1186Iunonis hostis vincor? hinc gravior tibi, §1187noverca, pudor est.
If that was too much, gods above, an Amazon born under the Scythian pole might have tamed my strength—by the hand of what woman is the enemy of Juno conquered? From this, stepmother, a heavier shame is yours.
quid diem hunc laetum vocas?
Why do you call this day happy?
§1188quid tale tellus genuit iratae tibi?
What such thing did the earth generate for you in your anger?
§1189mortalis odia femina excessit tua.
A mortal woman has surpassed your hatred.
Until now you endured being unequal to Alcides; you have been conquered by two—let the gods be ashamed of their anger.
§1192utinam meo cruore satiasset suos
Would that he had satiated his...