§363Dilecta Priami nempe Dardanii soror §364concessa famula est; adice quot nuptas prius, §365quot virgines dilexit: erravit vagus.
[Nurse] Indeed, the beloved sister of Dardanian Priam was granted as a slave; add how many wives before, how many virgins he loved: he wandered, a vagrant.
§366Arcadia nempe virgo, Palladios choros §367dum nectit, Auge, vim stupri passa excidit §368nullamque amoris Hercules retinet notam.
Indeed, the Arcadian virgin, Auge, while she was weaving her Palladian dances, suffered the violence of rape and was cast off; and Hercules retains no mark of his love.
Why should I mention others? Indeed, the daughters of Thespius are neglected, and Alcides burned with a brief torch for them.
§371hospes Timoli Lydiam fovit nurum §372et amore captus ad leves sedit colus, §373udum feroci stamen intorquens manu.
The guest of Tmolus cherished the Lydian bride, and captured by love, sat at the light distaffs, twisting the damp thread with his fierce hand.
§374nempe illa cervix spolia deposuit ferae §375crinemque mitra pressit et famulus stetit, §376hirtam Sabaea marcidus myrrha comam
Indeed, that neck laid aside the spoils of the wild beast and pressed its hair with a headband, and he stood as a slave, languid, his shaggy hair wet with Sabaean myrrh.
§377ubique caluit, sed levi caluit face.
Everywhere he grew hot, but he grew hot with a light torch.
§378Haerere amantes post vagos ignes solent.
[Deianira] Lovers are accustomed to cling fast after wandering fires.
§379Faraulamne et hostis praeferet gnatam tibi?
[Nurse] Will he prefer a servant-woman and the daughter of an enemy to you?
§380Vt alta silvas forma vernantes habet, §381quas nemore nudo primus investit tepor, §382at cum solutos expulit Boreas Notos §383et saeva totas bruma discussit comas, §384deforme solis aspicis truncis nemus: §385sic nostra longum forma percurrens iter §386deperdit aliquid semper et fulget minus §387nec illa vetus est.
[Deianira] As high beauty holds the greening woods, which the first warmth clothes in a bare grove, but when Boreas has driven out the released South winds and fierce winter has shaken off all the foliage, you behold a shapeless grove with bare trunks under the sun: so our beauty, running its long course, always loses something and shines less; nor is that beauty what it was.
quicquid in nobis fuit §388olim petitum cecidit aut pariter labat.
Whatever was in us once sought after has fallen or is equally slipping away.
Older age has snatched it away with a swift step, and motherhood has stolen much of that from me.
§391vides ut altum famula non perdat decus?
Do you see how the servant-woman does not lose her lofty grace?
§392cessere cultus penitus et paedor sedet; §393tamen per ipsas fulget aerumnas decor §394nihilque ab illa casus et fatum grave
Her fine attire has utterly departed, and filth sits upon her; yet through her very troubles her grace shines out, and misfortune and heavy fate have dragged nothing from her except her kingdoms.
This is the fear in my breast, Nurse; this dread rouses me and snatches away my sleep.
§397praeclara totis gentibus coniunx eram §398thalamosque nostros invido voto nurus §399optabat omnis, quaeve mens quicquam deos ' §400orabat ullos: nuribus Argolicis fui §401mensura voti.
I was a wife renowned among all nations, and every young bride wished for our marriage-chamber with an envious prayer, or whatever mind prayed to any gods at all: I was the measure of the vow for Argive brides.
quem Iovi socerum parem, §402altrix, habebo? quis sub hoc mundo mihi §403dabitur maritus? ipse, qui Alcidae imperat, §404facibus suis me iungat Eurystheus licet, §405minus est; toris caruisse regnantis leve est: §406alte illa cecidit quae viro caret Hercule.
Nurse, what father-in-law equal to Jupiter shall I have? What husband will be given to me under this sky? Even Eurystheus himself, who commands Alcides, though he should join me to himself with his own torches, is less; it is a light thing to have lacked the bed of a ruler: she has fallen from on high who lacks Hercules as her husband.
§407Conciliat animos coniugum partus fere.
[Nurse] Childbirth generally reconciles the minds of spouses.
§408Hic ipse forsan dividet partus toros.
[Deianira] This very birth will perhaps divide our marriage bed.
§409Famula illa trahitur interim donum tibi.
[Nurse] That servant-woman, meanwhile, is brought as a gift to you.
§410Hic quem per nrbes ire praeclarum vides §411et fulva tergo spolia -gestantem ferae, §412qui regna miseris donat et celsis rapit, §413vasta gravatus horridam clava manum, §414cuius triumphos ultimi Seres canunt §415et quisquis alius orbe † concepto iacet, §416levis est nec illum gloriae stimulat decof; §417errat per orbem, non ut aequetur Iovi §418nec ut per urbes magnus Argolicas eat: §419quod amet requirit, virginum thalamos petit.
[Deianira] This man whom you see going through cities, renowned, and wearing the tawny spoils of a wild beast on his back, who gives kingdoms to the wretched and snatches them from the lofty, weighing down his fierce hand with a massive club, whose triumphs the farthest Seres sing of and whoever else lies in the known world, is light, nor does the beauty of glory stimulate him; he wanders through the world, not to be equaled to Jupiter nor to go as a great man through Argive cities: he seeks what he may love, he seeks the chambers of virgins.
If any is denied, she is snatched; he rages against peoples, he seeks brides in ruins, and powerless vice is called virtue.
§422virtus vocatur, cecidit Oechalia inclita §423unusque Titan vidit atque unus dies §424stantem et cadentem; causa bellandi est amor.
Renowned Oechalia fell, and a single Titan and a single day saw it standing and falling; the cause of his waging war is love.
§425totiens timebit Herculi natam parens §426quotiens negabit, hostis est quotiens socer §427fieri recusat: si gener non fit. ferit,
A parent will fear for his daughter from Hercules as many times as he denies her, and he is an enemy as many times as a father-in-law refuses to become: if he does not become a son-in-law, he strikes.
§428post haec quid istas innocens servo manus, §429donec furentem simulet ac saeva manu §430intendat arcus meque natumque opprimat?
After this, why do I keep these hands innocent, until he feigns madness and with a savage hand stretches his bows and destroys both me and my son?
§431sic coniuges expellit Alcides suas, §432haec sunt repudia; nec potest fieri nocens: §433terris videri sceleribus causam suis §434fecit novercam.
Thus Alcides expels his wives; these are his divorces; nor can he be made guilty: he has made the stepmother appear to the lands as the cause of his crimes.
quid stupes, segnis furor?
Why do you stand amazed, sluggish madness?
§435scelus occupandum est: perage dum fervet manus.
Crime must be forestalled: finish it while the hand is hot.
§436Perimes maritum?
[Nurse] Will you destroy your husband?
§436bPaelicis certe meae.
[Deianira] Of my rival, certainly.
[Nurse] But one born of Jupiter, [Deianira] Indeed, and sprung from Alcmene.
§438Ferrone?
[Nurse] With steel?
§438aFerro.
[Deianira] With steel.
§438bSi nequis?
[Nurse] What if you cannot?
§438cPerimam dolo.
[Deianira] I will destroy him by guile.
§439Quis iste furor est?
[Nurse] What madness is this?
§439bQuem meus coniunx docet.
[Deianira] That which my husband teaches me.
§440Quem nec noverca potuit, hunc perimes virum?
[Nurse] Will you destroy this man, whom not even his stepmother could?
[Deianira] Heavenly wrath makes those whom it presses wretched: human wrath leaves none alive.
§442bParce, miseranda, et time.
[Nurse] Spare him, wretched woman, and fear.
[Deianira] He who has already prepared for death despises all things; I am resolved to rush upon swords.