§1193Nemeaea rictus pestis aut centum anguibus §1194vallatus hydram tabe pavissem mea, §1195utinam fuissem praeda Centauris datus §1196aut inter umbras vinctus aeterno miser
[Or] had I fed the Nemean pest in its gaping jaws, or the hydra girt with a hundred snakes, with my own wasting fluid, would that I had been given as a prey to the Centaurs, or sat, wretched, bound to the eternal rock among the shades!
§1197saxo sederem! spolia nunc traxi ultima §1198Fato stupente, nunc ab inferna Styge §1199lucem recepi, Ditis evici moras— §1200ubique mors me fugit, ut leto inclitae §1201sortis carerem.
Now I have dragged my last spoils, while Fate stood amazed; now from the infernal Styx I have received the light, and conquered the delays of Dis— everywhere death fled from me, so that I might lack a death of glorious destiny.
pro ferae, victae ferae!
Oh beasts, conquered beasts!
§1202non me triformis sole conspecto canis §1203ad Styga reduxit, non sub Hesperio polo §1204Hibera vicit turba pastoris feri,
No triform hound, when the sun was brought to sight, led me back to the Styx; nor under the Hesperian sky did the Spanish herd of the fierce shepherd conquer me; nor the twin serpents.
§1205non gemina serpens, perdidi mortem, ei mihi,
I have lost a death, ah me, so often honorable!
§1206totiens honestam: titulus extremus quis est?
What is my last title?
Chorus: Do you see how valor, conscious of praise, does not dread the Lethaean streams?
§1209pudet auctoris, non morte dolet: §1210cupit extremum finire diem §1211vasta tumidi mole gigantis §1212et montiferum Titana pati §1213rabidaeque necem debere ferae.
He is ashamed of the author, he does not grieve at death; he desires to end his last day by the vast mass of a swollen giant, and to endure the mountain-bearing Titan, and to owe his death to a rabid beast.
§1214sed tua causa est, miserande, manus, §1215quod nulla fera est nullusque gigas: §1216nam quis dignus necis Herculeae §1217superest auctor nisi dextra tui?
But your own hand, pitiable one, is the cause why there is no beast and no giant: for what worthy author of Hercules' death remains except your own right hand?
§1218Heu qualis intus scorpios.
Hercules: Alas, what scorpion within!
What cancer, torn from some burning tract, is fixed and burns my marrow?
My heart, once capable of containing blood, swollen with fire, distends the dry fibers of my lungs.
ardet felle siccato iecur §1223totumque lentus sanguinem avexit vapor,
My liver burns with dried-up gall, and a slow heat has carried off all my blood.
It has consumed my outer skin, and thence the impious plague has made its way into my limbs; the pestilence has taken away my side.
The evil has devoured my joints within, and my ribs, it has drained my marrow; it sits in empty bones.
Nor do the bones themselves hold out, but with joints broken and shattered, they flow in a collapsed mass.
My mighty body has failed, and for the plague even Hercules' limbs are not enough.
§1232quod esse vastum fateor, o dirum nefas!
Ah, how great is the evil which I confess to be vast, oh dreadful horror!
Behold, cities, behold from that famous Hercules what, what remains!
Herculem agnoscis, pater?
Do you recognize Hercules, father?
§1235hisne ego lacertis colla Nemeaei mali
Was it with these arms that I choked and crushed the neck of the Nemean pest?
Did the bow drawn by this hand bring down the Stymphalian birds from the stars themselves?
Did I with these steps conquer the swift beast bearing its bright head with radiant forehead?
§1240his fracta Calpe manibus emisit fretum?
Did Calpe, broken by these hands, let out the sea?
§1241his tot ferae, tot scelera, tot reges iacent?
Do so many beasts, so many crimes, so many kings lie low before these hands?
§1242his mundus umeris sedit? haec moles mea est,
Did the world sit upon these shoulders? Is this my mass?
§1243haecne illa cervix? hasne ego opposui manus §1244caelo ruenti? quis mea custos manu §1245trahetur ultra Stygius? ubi vires prius §1246memet sepultae? quid patrem appello Iovem?
Is this that famous neck? Did I oppose these hands to the falling heaven? What Stygius guardian will be dragged out any further by my hand? Where is my strength, buried before myself? Why do I call upon Jupiter as father?
§1247quid per Tonantem vindico caelum miser?
Why do I, wretched, claim heaven through the Thunderer?
§1248iam. iam meus credetur Amphitryon pater.
Now, even now, Amphitryon will be believed to be my father.
Whatever plague you are that lurks in our vitals, come forth! Why do you attack me with a hidden wound?
§1251quis te sub axe frigido pontus Scythes, §1252quae pigra Tethys genuit aut Maurum premens §1253Hibera Calpe litus? o dirum malum!
What Scythian sea under the cold pole, what sluggish Tethys, or Spanish Calpe pressing upon the Moorish shore, generated you? Oh dreadful evil!
Are you a serpent vibrating its squalid head with a crest, or some evil unknown even to me?
Were you generated from the blood of the Lernaean beast, or did the Stygius hound leave you on the earth?
§1258omne es malum nullumque— quis voltus tibi est?
You are every evil and none; what appearance do you have?
§1259concede saltem scire quo peream malo;
Grant me at least to know by what evil I perish.
§1260quaecumque pestis sive quaecumque es fera, §1261palam timere! quis tibi in medias locum §1262fecit medullas! ecce direpta cute §1263viscera manus detexit; ulterior tamen §1264inventa latebra est— o malum simile Herculi!
Whatever plague or whatever beast you are, be feared openly! Who made a place for you in the midst of my marrow? Behold, my skin torn away, my hand has uncovered my vitals; yet a further hiding place has been found—oh, an evil similar to Hercules!
§1265unde iste fletus? unde in has lacrimae genas?
Whence is that weeping? Whence are tears upon these cheeks?
§1266invictus olim voltus et numquam malis §1267lacrimas suis praebere consuetus (pudet) §1268iam flere didicit, quis dies fletum Herculis, §1269quae terra vidit? siccus aerumnas tuli.
My face, once unconquered and never accustomed to offer tears to its own evils (it is a shame!), has now learned to weep. What day, what land has seen the weeping of Hercules? Dry-eyed I bore my distresses.
§1270tibi illa virtus, quae tot elisit mala. §1271tibi cessit uni; prima et ante omnis mihi §1272fletum abstulisti: durior saxo horrido §1273et chalybe voltus et vaga Symplegade §1274rictus meos infregit et lacrimam expulit,
That valor, which crushed so many evils, yielded to you alone; you first and before all have taken away my tears: my face, harder than rough rock, harder than steel and the wandering Symplegades, has broken its expressions and forced out a tear.
Weeping, groaning—oh supreme ruler of the pole!— the earth has seen me, and, what tortures me more, my stepmother has seen me.
§1277noverca vidit, urit ecce iterum fibras,
Behold, it burns my fibers again.