§983ignosce fatis; error a culpa vacat.
Deianira: Forgive the fates; error is free from guilt.
If true piety, Hyllus, is to be sought by you, now slay your mother—why did your trembling hand shake?
§986quid ora Sectis? hoc erit pietas scelus.
Why do you turn away your face? This crime will be piety.
§987ignave dubitas? Herculem eripuit tibi §988haec, haec peremit dextra cui debes patri §989avum Tonantem.
Cowardly do you hesitate? She snatched Hercules from you, this, this right hand slew him, to whom as father you owe the Thunderer as grandfather.
maius eripui decus, §990quam in luce tribui, si tibi ignotum est nefas, §991a matre disce, seu tibi iugulo placet §992mersisse ferrum sive maternum libet §993invadere uterum, mater intrepidum tibi §994praebebit animum, non erit tantum scelus §995a te peractum: dextera sternar tua,
I snatched away a greater glory than I gave you in the light. If the crime is unknown to you, learn from your mother. Whether it pleases you to sink the sword into my throat, or it pleases you to attack the maternal womb, your mother will offer you an undaunted soul; it will not be so great a crime accomplished by you: I shall be laid low by your right hand, but by my own mind.
§996sed mente nostra, natus Alcidae, times?
Son of Alcides, do you fear?
Will you thus perform no commands, nor break through evils, reflecting your parent? Prepare an undaunted right hand.
§1000patet ecce plenum pectus aerumnis: feri.
Look, my breast, full of sorrows, lies open: strike!
I forgive the crime; the Eumenides themselves will spare your right hand— the sound of lashes has cracked!
Who is that woman, twisting her hair with brandished snakes, shivering black wings upon her squalid temples?
Why do you, dread one, pursue me with a burning torch, Megaera? Do you demand punishment for Alcides? I will pay.
§1007iamne inferorum, dira. sedere arbitri?
Have the judges of the underworld already sat, O dread one?
§1008sedent, reclusas carceris video fores.
They are sitting, I see the opened doors of the prison.
§1009quis iste saxum immane detritis gerit §1010iam senior umeris? ecce iam victus lapis §1011quaerit relabi? membra quis quatitur rota?
Who is that older man carrying a huge rock on his worn shoulders? Look, now the conquered stone seeks to roll back? Who is shaken on his limbs by the wheel?
§1012hic ecce pallens dira Tisiphone stetit, §1013causam reposcit; parce verberibus precor, §1014Megaera, parce, sustine Stygias faces:
Look, here stands pale, dread Tisiphone, demanding her case; spare the lashes, I pray, Megaera, spare, hold back the Stygian torches!
§1015scelus est amoris, sed quid hoc? tellus labat
It is a crime of love. But what is this?
§1016et aula tectis crepuit excussis— minax
The earth shakes, and the palace has rattled with its roofs shaken off— whence comes that threatening crowd?
§1017unde iste coetus? totus in vultus meos §1018decurrit orbis, hinc et hinc populi fremunt §1019totusque poscit vindicem mundus suum.
The whole world runs down against my face, on this side and that the peoples roar, and the whole world demands its avenger.
§1020iam parcite, urbes, quo fugam praeceps agam?
Spare me now, O cities! Whither shall I headlong take my flight?
§1021mors sola portus dabitur aerumnis meis.
Death alone will be given as a harbor for my sorrows.
§1022testor nitentis flammeam Phoebi rotam §1023superosque testor: Herculem in terris adhuc §1024moritura linquo.
I call to witness the flaming wheel of shining Phoebus, and I call to witness the gods above: that I leave Hercules still on earth as I am about to die.
§1024bFugit attonita, ei mihi.
Hyllus: She has fled, frantic, ah me!
Now the mother's part is done: she has resolved to die; now ours remains, to take away the impulse of death.
§1027o misera pietas: si mori matrem vetas, §1028patri es scelestus; si mori pateris, tamen §1029in matre peccas— urget hinc illinc scelus.
O wretched piety: if you forbid your mother to die, you are impious to your father; if you allow her to die, yet you sin against your mother—on this side and that crime presses.
§1030inhibenda tamen est, verum ut eripiam scelus.
Yet she must be restrained, so that I may snatch away a true crime.
§1031Verum est quod cecinit sacer §1032Thressae sub Rhodopes iugis §1033aptans Pieriam chelyn §1034Orpheus Calliopae genus, §1035aeternum fieri nihil.
Chorus: True is what the sacred singer sang under the ridges of Thracian Rhodope, fitting his Pierian lyre, Orpheus, the offspring of Calliope, that nothing is made eternal.
§1036Illius stetit ad modos §1037torrentis rapidi fragor, §1038oblitusque sequi fugam §1039amisit liquor impetum; §1040et dum fluminibus mora est, §1041defecisse putant Getae §1042Hebrum Bistones ultimi.
At his measures there stood still the crash of the rapid torrent, and forgetting to follow its flight, the water lost its force; and while there was delay for the rivers, the Getae thought that the Hebrus had failed, and the outermost Bistones.
§1043advexit volucrem nemus §1044et silva residens venit: §1045aut si qua aera pervolat, §1046auditis vaga cantibus §1047ales deficiens cadit; §1048abrumpit scopulos Athos §1049Centauros obiter ferens §1050et iuxta Rhodopen stetit §1051laxata nive cantibus; §1052et quercum fugiens suam §1053ad vatem properat Dryas; §1054ad cantus veniunt tuos §1055ipsis cum latebris ferae, §1056iuxtaque inpavidum pecus §1057sedit Marmaricus leo §1058nec dammae trepidant lupos §1059et serpens latebras fugit.
the grove brought the bird, and the forest came to settle down: or if any bird was flying through the air, wandering, having heard the songs, the bird, failing, fell; Athos broke off its cliffs, carrying the Centaurs along, and stood near Rhodope, its snow loosened by the songs; and fleeing her own oak, the Dryad hastened to the bard; to your songs came the wild beasts with their very lairs, and next to the fearless flock sat the Marmarican lion, nor did the deer fear the wolves, and the serpent fled its hiding places.
§1061Quin per Taenarias fores §1062manes cum tacitos adit §1063maerentem feri ens chelyn, §1064cantu Tartara flebili §1065et tristes Erebi deos §1066vicit nec timuit Stygis §1067iuratos superis lacus.
Nay, through the Taenarian gates, when he approached the silent shades, striking his mourning lyre, with his tearful song he conquered Tartarus and the sad gods of Erebus, he conquered, nor did he fear the lakes of Styx sworn by the gods above.
§1068haesit non stabilis rota §1069victo languida turbine, §1070increvit Tityi iecur, §1071dum cantu volucres tenet; §1081et vinci lapis improbus §1082et vatem potuit sequi; §1075tunc primum Phrygius senex §1076undis stantibus immemor §1077excussit rabidam sitim §1078nec pomis adhibet manus.
the unstable wheel stood still, languid with its whirling conquered, Tityus' liver grew, while he held the birds by his song; and the relentless stone was able to be conquered and was able to follow the bard; then for the first time the Phrygian elder, with the waters standing still, unmindful, shook off his raging thirst, nor did he stretch his hands to the fruits.
the ferryman also, having heard, the boat of the hellish sea came with no rowing.
§1079sic cum vinceret inferos §1080Orpheus carmine funditus, §1083consumptos iterum deae §1084supplent Eurydices colus!
thus when Orpheus completely conquered the underworld with his song, the goddesses again supplied the consumed distaffs of Eurydice!
§1085sed dum respicit immemor §1086nec credens sibi redditam §1087Orpheus Eurydicen sequi, §1088cantus praemia perdidit: §1089quae nata est iterum perit.
but while, unmindful, he looked back, not believing that Eurydice, restored to him, was following, Orpheus lost the rewards of his song: she who was born again perished again.
§1090tunc, solamina cantibus
then, [seeking] consolations through songs...