§1538Thraciae si quis Rhodopes alumnus §1539durior terris Helices nivosae §1540sparget humano stabulum cruore?
If some alumnus of Thracian Rhodope, harsher than the lands of snowy Helice, will stain his stable with human blood?
Who will give peace to the fearing people, if the angry gods should order anything to be born throughout the world?
He lies equal to all, whom the earth brought forth as an equal to the Thunderer.
§1545planctus immensas resonet per urbes §1546et comas nullo cohibente nodo §1547feminae exertos feriant lacertos, §1548solaque obductis foribus deorum §1549templa securae pateant novercae.
Let lamentation resound through the immense cities, and let women, with no knot restraining their hair, beat their bared arms, and let the temples of the gods alone, with closed doors, lie open for the secure stepmother.
§1550Vadis ad Lethen Stygiumque litus, §1551unde te nullae referent carinae: §1552vadis ad manes miserandus, unde §1553Morte devicta tuleras triumphum, §1554umbra nudatis veniens lacertis §1555languido vultu tenuique collo; §1556teque non solum feret illa puppis §1557non tamen vilis eris inter umbras: §1558Aeacos inter geminosque Cretas §1559facta discernens, feriens tyrannos.
You go to Lethe and the Stygian shore, whence no boats will bring you back: you go to the shades, a pitiable sight, whence you had brought home triumph, having conquered Death, coming as a shade with bared arms, with a weary face and slender neck; and that boat will carry you not alone, yet you will not be of low esteem among the shades: among the Aeaci and the twin Cretans, discerning deeds, smiting tyrants.
§1560parcite, o dites, inhibete dextras: §1561laudis est puram tenuisse ferrum, §1562cumque regnabas, minus in procellis §1563in tuas urbes licuisse fatis.
Spare him, o rich ones, restrain your right hands: it is a matter of praise to have held a pure sword, and while you reigned, that the fates had less power over your cities.
§1564Sed locum virtus habet inter astra. ,
But virtue has a place among the stars.
Will you hold the space of the northern seat, or where Titan brings forth heavy heat?
Or will you shine under the warm setting sun, whence you will hear Calpe resounding from the clashed sea?
§1569audies Calpen? loca quae sereni
Which places of the serene sky will you press down?
What place among the stars will be safe once Alcides is received?
§1572horrido tantum procul a leone §1573det pater sedes calidoque cancro, §1574ne tuo vultu tremefacta leges §1575astra conturbent trepidetque Titan.
May the father grant a seat only far from the fierce Lion and hot Cancer, lest the stars, terrified by your face, disturb their laws and Titan tremble.
§1576vere dum flores venient tepenti §1578vel comam silvis revocabit aestas §1579pomaque autumno fugiente cedent, §1577vel comam silvis hiemes recident: §1581tu comes Phoebo, comes ibis astris.
While flowers come in the warm spring, or summer recalls the foliage to the woods, and fruits yield to departing autumn, or winters cut back the foliage from the woods: you will go as a companion to Phoebus, a companion to the stars.
§1580nulla te terris rapiet vetustas: §1582ante nascetur seges in profundo §1583vel fretum dulci resonabit unda, §1584ante descendet glacialis ursae §1585sidus et ponto vetito fruetur, §1586quam tuas laudes populi quiescant,
No lapse of time will snatch you from the earth: Sooner will crops grow in the deep sea or the strait resound with sweet water, sooner will the constellation of the icy Bear descend and enjoy the forbidden sea, than the peoples will silence your praises.
§1587te, pater rerum, miseri precamur: §1588nulla nascatur fera, nulla pestis, §1589non duces saevos miseranda tellus §1590horreat, nulla dominetur aula §1591qui putet solum decus esse regni §1592semper impendens tenuisse ferrum; §1593si quid in terris iterum timetur, §1594vindicem terrae petimus relictae.
We, wretched, pray to you, father of things: let no wild beast be born, no plague; let the pitiable earth not tremble before fierce leaders, let no court be ruled by one who thinks the only glory of a kingdom is to have held a sword always threatening; if anything on earth is feared again, we seek a defender for the abandoned earth.
§1595Heu quid hoc? mundus sonat, ecce maeret,
Alas, what is this?
§1596maeret Alciden pater; an deorum §1597clamor, an vox est timidae novercae §1598Hercule et viso fugit astra Iuno?
The world resounds; behold, it mourns, the father mourns Alcides; or is it the clamor of the gods, or the voice of the timid stepmother, and Juno, having seen Hercules, flees from the stars?
§1599passus an pondus titubavit Atlas?
Or has Atlas, having suffered the weight, faltered?
§1600an magis diri tremuere manes §1601Herculem et visum canis inferorum §1602fugit abruptis trepidus catenis?
Or did the dreadful shades tremble more, and did the dog of the underworld, having seen Hercules, flee in fear with broken chains?
§1603fallimur: laeto venit ecce voltu §1604quem tulit Poeans umerisque tela §1605gestat et notas populis pharetras, §1606Herculis heres.
We are mistaken: behold, with a joyful face comes he whom Poeans bore, and on his shoulders he carries the weapons and the quivers well-known to the peoples, the heir of Hercules.
Chorus: Tell of the Herculean end, young man, I pray, and with what face Alcides bore his death.
§1609Quo nemo vitam.
Philoctetes: With such a face as no one bore his life.
Philoctetes: That flames were now nothing he showed.
quid sub hoc mundo Hercules
What did Hercules leave unconquered under this sky?
§1612immune vinci liquit? en domita omnia.
Lo, all things are subdued.
§1613Inter vapores quis fuit forti locus?
Chorus: What place was there for a brave man amidst the vapours?
§1614Quod unum in orbe vicerat nondum malum, §1615et flamma victa est; haec quoque accessit feris: §1616inter labores ignis Herculeos abit.
Philoctetes: The one evil in the world that he had not yet conquered, even fire was conquered; this too was added to the beasts: fire vanishes among the Herculean labors.
§1617Edissere agedum, flamma quo victa est modo?
Chorus: Tell then, in what manner was the flame conquered?
§1618Vt omnis Oeten maesta corripuit manus, §1619huic fagus umbras perdit et toto iacet §1620succisa trunco, flectit hic pinum ferox §1621astris minantem et nube de media vocat: §1622ruitura cautem movit et silvam tulit §1623secum minorem, ut Chaonis quondam loquax: §1624stat vasta late quercus et Phoebum vetat §1625ultraque totum porrigit ramos nemus; §1626gemit illa multo volnere impresso minax §1627frangitque cuneos, resilit incussus chalybs §1628volnusque ferrum patitur et rigidum est parum.
Philoctetes: As all the sorrowful band fell upon Oeta, for this one the beech tree loses its shade and lies prostrate, cut down; another fiercely bends a pine tree threatening the stars and calling from the midst of the clouds: about to fall, it moved the crag and carried the smaller forest with itself, like the once vocal tree of Chaonia: a vast oak stands far and wide, forbidding Phoebus, and stretches its branches beyond the whole grove; threatening, it groans under many an inflicted wound, and breaks the wedges, and the struck steel rebounds: the iron suffers the wound and is not hard enough.
§1629commota tandem cum cadens latam sui §1630duxit ruinam, protinus radios locus §1631admisit omnis: sedibus pulsae suis §1632volucres pererrant nemore succiso diem §1633quaeruntque lassis garrulae pinnis domus.
Shaken at last, when in falling it brought down its own wide ruin, straightway the place admitted all rays: chased from their homes, birds wander through the day in the cut grove and, chattering, seek their dwellings with weary wings.