§1Quid actum sit in caelo ante diem III idus Octobris anno novo, initio saeculi felicissimi, volo memoriae tradere.
What took place in heaven on the third day before the Ides of October in the new year, at the beginning of a most happy age, I wish to commit to memory.
Nihil nec offensae nec gratiae dabitur.
Nothing shall be given either to resentment or to favor.
Haec ita vera.
These things are thus true.
Si quis quaesiverit unde sciam, primum, si noluero, non respondebo.
If anyone should ask how I know, first of all, if I do not wish to, I will not answer.
Quis coacturus est? Ego scio me liberum factum, ex quo suum diem obiit ille, qui verum proverbium fecerat, aut regem aut fatuum nasci oportere. Si libuerit respondere, dicam quod mihi in buccam venerit.
Who is going to force me? I know that I was made a free man from the moment that he met his final day, who had made the proverb true: "one must be born either a king or a fool." If it pleases me to answer, I will say whatever comes into my mouth.
Quis unquam ab historico iuratores exegit? Tamen si necesse fuerit auctorem producere, quaerito ab eo qui Drusillam euntem in caelum vidit: idem Claudium vidisse se dicet iter facientem
"non passibus aequis. "
Velit nolit, necesse est illi omnia videre, quae in caelo aguntur: Appiae viae curator est, qua scis et divum Augustum et Tiberium Caesarem ad deos isse.
Who has ever demanded oath-takers from an historian? Yet, if it should be necessary to produce a source, inquire of him who saw Drusilla going to heaven: the same man will say that he saw Claudius making his journey "not with equal steps." Willy-nilly, he must see everything that goes on in heaven: he is the curator of the Appian Way, by which you know that both the deified Augustus and Tiberius Caesar went to the gods.
Hunc si interrogaveris, soli narrabit: coram pluribus nunquam verbum faciet.
If you question this man, he will tell you alone; in the presence of several people he will never say a word.
Nam ex quo in senatu iuravit se Drusillam vidisse caelum ascendentem et illi pro tam bono nuntio nemo credidit, quod viderit, verbis conceptis affirmavit se non indicaturum, etiam si in medio foro hominem occisum vidisset.
For ever since he swore in the senate that he had seen Drusilla ascending to heaven, and no one believed him for such good news, he declared in formal words that he would not report what he saw, even if he had seen a man killed in the middle of the forum.
Ab hoc ego quae tum audivi, certa clara affero, ita illum salvum et felicem habeam.
From this man I bring what I heard then as certain and clear, so may I keep him safe and happy.
§2"
Iam Phoebus breviore via contraxerat ortum
lucis, et obscuri crescebant tempora somni,
iamque suum victrix augebat Cynthia regnum,
et deformis hiemps gratos carpebat honores
divitis autumni, iussoque senescere Baccho
carpebat raras serus vindemitor uvas. "
Puto magis intellegi, si dixero: mensis erat October, dies III idus Octobris.
"Already Phoebus by a shorter path had shortened the rising of light, and the times of dark sleep were growing, and now victorious Cynthia was increasing her kingdom, and deformed winter was plucking the pleasing honors of rich autumn, and with Bacchus ordered to grow old, the late vintage-gatherer was plucking the rare grapes." I think it is better understood if I say: the month was October, the day the third before the Ides of October.
Horam non possum certam tibi dicere, facilius inter philosophos quam inter horologia conveniet, tamen inter sextam et septimam erat.
I cannot tell you the exact hour—it will be easier to agree among philosophers than among clocks—yet it was between the sixth and seventh.
"Nimis rustice"
inquies: cum omnes poetae, non contenti ortus et occasus describere, ut etiam medium diem inquietent, tu sic transibis horam tam bonam?"
"
lam medium curru Phoebus diviserat orbem
et propior nocti fessas quatiebat habenas
obliquo flexam deducens tramite lucem:
"
"Too rustically," you will say, "since all poets, not content with describing risings and settings, so as to disturb even the midday, will you thus pass over so good an hour?" "Already Phoebus with his chariot had divided the middle sphere, and closer to night was shaking the tired reins, leading down the bent light along an oblique path."