Now the shining Dawn chases away the wandering stars from the sky.
Titan rises with radiant hair and restores bright day to the world.
§5age.
Come.
tot tantis onerata malis, §6repete assuetos iam tibi questus §7atque aequoreas vince Alcyonas, §8vince et volucres Pandionias: §9gravior namque his fortuna tua est.
Burdened with so many and so great evils, repeat the laments now familiar to you and surpass the ocean Alcyones, surpass too the birds of Pandion: for your fortune is heavier than theirs.
§10semper, genetrix, deflenda mihi, §11prima meorum causa malorum, §12tristes questus natae exaudi, §13si quis remanet sensus in umbris,
O mother, always to be lamented by me, first cause of my evils, hear the sad laments of your daughter, if any consciousness remains among the shades.
§14utinam ante manu grandaeva sua §15mea rupisset stamina Clotho, §16tua quam maerens vulnera vidi §17oraque foedo sparsa cruore!
Would that ancient Clotho with her own hand had broken my threads before, rather than that I, grieving, saw your wounds and your face splattered with foul blood!
§18o lux semper funesta mihi, §19tempore ab illo §20lux es tenebris invisa magis: §21tulimus saevae iussa novercae, §22hostilem animum vultusque truces,
O light always fatal to me, from that time you are a light more hated than darkness: we bore the commands of a cruel stepmother, her hostile mind and fierce expression.
§23illa illa meis tristis Erinys §24thalamis Stygios praetulit ignes §25teque extinxit, miserande pater, §26modo cui totus paruit orbis §28acuique Britanni §27ultra Oceanum terga dedere, §29ducibus nostris ante ignoti §30iurisque sui.
That, yes that grim Fury carried the Stygian fires before my bridal chamber and extinguished you, pitiable father, whom but recently the whole world obeyed and to whom the Britons beyond the Ocean turned their backs, previously unknown to our leaders and living under their own law.
§31coniugis, heu me, pater, insidiis §32oppresse iaces servatque domus §33cum prole tua capta tyranno.
Alas for me, father, by the treachery of your wife you lie overthrown, and your house, captured, serves the tyrant along with your offspring.
§34Fulgore primo captus et fragili bono §35fallacis aulae quisquis attonitus stupet, §36subito† latentis ecce Fortunae impetu §37modo praepotentem cernat eversam domum §38stirpem que Claudi, cuius imperio fuit §39subiectus orbis, paruit liber diu §40Oceanus et recepit invitus rates.
Whoever is stunned and amazed by the first glitter and fragile good of a deceitful court, behold, by the sudden onslaught of hidden Fortune, let him see the house overthrown that was just now supreme, and the line of Claudius, under whose rule the world was subject, and to whom long-free Ocean obeyed and received his ships unwillingly.
§41en qui Britannis primus imposuit iugum, §42ignota tantis classibus texit freta §43interque gentes barbaras tutus fuit §44et saeva maria, coniugis scelere occidit; §45mox illa gnati: cuius extinctus iacet §46frater venenis, maeret infelix soror §47eademque coniunx nec graves luctus valet §48ira coacta tegere crudelis viri; §49quem sancta refugit semper, atque odio pari §50ardens maritus mutua flagrat face.
Lo, he who first imposed the yoke on the Britons, covered unknown straits with such great fleets and was safe among barbarian nations and savage seas, fell by the crime of his wife; soon she by her son's: whose brother lies destroyed by poison, while the unhappy sister and same wife grieves, and is unable to hide her heavy sorrows, forced by the anger of her cruel husband; whom, holy as she is, he always shuns, and with equal hatred the burning husband glows with mutual flame.
§51animum dolentis nostra solatur fides §52pietasque frustra: vincit immitis dolor §53consilia nostra nec regi mentis potest §54generosus ardor, sed malis vires capit.
Our loyalty comforts the mind of the grieving one and our devotion, but in vain: pitiless grief overcomes our counsels, and the noble ardor of her mind cannot be ruled, but gathers strength from evils.
Alas, how unspeakable a crime our fear foresees, which would that the power of the gods may avert!
O my fortune, to be matched by no evils, let me repeat your griefs, Electra.
§60tibi maerenti caesum licuit §61flere parentem, §62scelus ulcisci vindice fratre, §63tua quem pietas hosti rapuit §64texitque fides: §65me crudeli sorte parentes §66raptos prohibet lugere timor §67fratrisque necem deflere vetat, §68in quo fuerat spes una mihi §69totque malorum breve solamen.
You, grieving, were permitted to weep for your slain father, to avenge the crime through your avenging brother, whom your devotion snatched from the enemy and your loyalty hid: but for me, in my cruel lot, fear forbids me to mourn my snatched parents and vetoes weeping for my brother's slaughter, in whom had been my only hope and a brief consolation for so many evils.
Now preserved for my own griefs, I remain as the shadow of a great name.
§72Vox en nostras perculit aures §73tristis alumnae; cesset thalamis §74inferre gradus tarda senectus?
Lo, the voice of my sad charge has struck our ears; should slow old age hesitate to bring its steps to her chamber?
Receive my tears, nurse, faithful witness of my grief.
What day will release you from such great cares, pitiable one?
§79Qui me Stygias mittet ad umbras.
The one that will send me to the Stygian shades.
§80Omina quaeso sint ista procul.
May those omens, I pray, be far away.
Not your wishes, but the fates now rule my misfortunes.
A gentle god will give better times to the afflicted one; only do you, appeased, conquer your husband with flattering obedience.
I shall conquer savage lions first and fierce tigers, rather than the wild heart of the cruel tyrant.
§89odit genitos sanguine claro, §90spernit superos hominesque simul, §91nec fortunam capit ipse suam §92quam dedit illi per scelus ingens §93infanda parens, licet ingratum §94dirae pudeat munere matris §95hoc imperium cepisse, licet §96tantum munus morte rependat, §97feret hunc titulum post fata tamen §98femina longo semper in aevo.
He hates those born of noble blood, scorns the gods above and men alike, nor can he himself contain his own fortune which his unspeakable mother gave him through a huge crime, even though he, ungrateful, may be ashamed to have taken this empire by the gift of his dread mother, and even though he pays back so great a gift with her death, yet after her fate the woman will always bear this title in the long age.
Restrain the words of your raging mind, suppress the voice uttered rashly.
Though I suffer things that must be endured, our evils could never be ended except by a sad death.
§102genetrice caesa, per scelus rapto patre, §103orbata fratre, miseriis luctu obruta, §104maerore pressa, coniugi invisa ac meae §105subiecta famulae luce non grata fruor, §106trepidante semper corde non mortis metu, §107sed sceleris— absit crimen a fatis meis,
With my mother slain, my father snatched away by crime, deprived of my brother, overwhelmed by miseries and grief, pressed down by sorrow, hated by my husband, and subjected to my own maidservant, I enjoy a light that is not pleasing, with a heart always trembling, not with fear of death but of crime— may guilt be far from my fate!