§13.167ad subitas Thracum volucres nubemque sonoram §13.168Pygmaeus parvis currit bellator in armis, §13.169mox inpar hosti raptusque per aera curvis §13.170unguibus a saeva fertur grue.
Toward the sudden birds of the Thracians and the noisy cloud the Pygmy warrior runs in his tiny arms, soon no match for the enemy, and dragged through the air by curved claws he is carried off by the fierce crane.
si videas hoc §13.171gentibus in nostris, risu quatiare; sed illic, §13.172quamquam eadem adsidue spectentur proelia, ridet §13.173nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno.
If you should see this among our peoples, you would shake with laughter; but there, although the same battles are watched constantly, no one laughs, where the whole cohort is not taller than a single foot.
§13.174‘Nullane peiuri capitis fraudisque nefandae §13.175poena erit?’ abreptum crede hunc graviore catena §13.176protinus et nostro (quid plus velit ira?) necari §13.177arbitrio: manet illa tamen iactura, nec umquam §13.178depositum tibi sospes erit, sed corpore trunco §13.179invidiosa dabit minimus solacia sanguis.
"Will there be no punishment for a perjured head and unspeakable fraud?" Believe that this man has been dragged away immediately with a heavier chain and killed at our (what more could anger wish?) pleasure: yet that loss remains, and never will your deposit be safe for you, but from a headless body even the smallest blood will give an enviable consolation.
§13.180at vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa. §13.181nempe hoc indocti, quorum praecordia nullis §13.182interdum aut levibus videas flagrantia causis; §13.183quantulacumque adeo est occasio sufficit irae.
"But revenge is a good more pleasant than life itself." Truly this is what the unlearned say, whose hearts you may see burning sometimes for no reasons or for light ones; however small the occasion is, indeed, it suffices for anger.
§13.184Chrysippus non dicet idem nec mite Thaletis §13.185ingenium dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, §13.186qui partem acceptae saeva inter vincla cicutae §13.187accusatori nollet dare.
Chrysippus will not say the same, nor the mild character of Thales, nor the old man who lived near sweet Hymettus, who would not wish to give a part of the hemlock he received amidst cruel chains to his accuser.
plurima felix §13.188paulatim vitia atque errores exuit omnes, §13.189prima docet rectum sapientia, quippe minuti §13.190semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas §13.191ultio, continuo sic collige, quod vindicta §13.192nemo magis gaudet quam femina.
Happy wisdom gradually strips off most vices and all errors, first teaching what is right, since revenge is always the pleasure of a minute, weak, and narrow mind; straightway conclude this from the fact that no one rejoices in revenge more than a woman.
Cur tamen hos tu §13.193evasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti §13.194mens habet attonitos et surdo verbere caedit §13.195occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum?
Yet why should you think that they have escaped, whom their mind, conscious of a terrible deed, holds astonished, and strikes with a silent blow, with the mind as a torturer shaking an unseen whip?
§13.196poena autem vehemens ac multo saevior illis §13.197quas et Caedicius gravis invenit et Rhadamanthus, §13.198nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem.
But there is a punishment violent and much more cruel than those which both severe Caedicius invented and Rhadamanthus: to carry one's own witness in one's breast night and day.
§13.199Spartano cuidam respondit Pythia vates §13.200haut inpunitum quondam fore quod dubitaret §13.201depositum retinere et fraudem iure tueri §13.202iurando; quaerebat enim quae numinis esset §13.203mens et an hoc illi facinus suaderet Apollo.
To a certain Spartan the Pythian prophetess replied that he would not go unpunished once for hesitating to retain a deposit and defend his fraud by a sworn oath; for he was asking what the mind of the deity was, and whether Apollo would advise this deed to him.
§13.204reddidit ergo metu, non motibus; et tamen omnem §13.205vocem adyti dignam templo veramque probavit §13.206extinctus tota pariter cum prole domoque, §13.207et quamvis longa deductis gente propinquis.
Therefore he returned it out of fear, not from principles; and yet he proved every voice of the shrine to be worthy of the temple and true by being destroyed along with all his offspring and home, and his relatives, drawn from however distant a branch of the family.
§13.208has patitur poenas peccandi sola voluntas.
The mere will to sin suffers these punishments.
For he who conceives any silent wickedness within himself has the guilt of the deed.
Cedo si conata peregit:
Tell me, what if he accomplished his attempts?
§13.211perpetua anxietas nec mensae tempore cessat, §13.212faucibus ut morbo siccis interque molares §13.213difficili crescente cibo, sed vina misellus §13.214expuit, Albani veteris pretiosa senectus §13.215displicet; ostendas melius, densissima ruga §13.216cogitur in frontem velut acri ducta Falerno.
Perpetual anxiety does not cease even at mealtime, with jaws dry as if from disease, and between his molars the food swelling with difficulty, but the wretched man spits out the wines, and the precious age of old Alban wine displeases him; if you show him a better one, a very thick wrinkle is forced upon his forehead, as if brought by sour Falernian.
§13.217nocte brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem, §13.218et toto versata toro iam membra quiescunt, §13.219continuo templum et violati numinis aras §13.220et, quod praecipuis mentem sudoribus urguet, §13.221te videt in somnis; tua sacra et maior imago §13.222humana turbat pavidum cogitque fateri.
At night, if perchance anxiety has granted a brief sleep, and his limbs, tossed over the whole bed, now rest, immediately he sees the temple and the altars of the violated deity, and, what urges his mind with special sweat, he sees you in his sleep; your sacred image, larger than human, disturbs the trembling man and forces him to confess.
§13.223hi sunt qui trepidant et ad omnia fulgura pallent, §13.224cum tonat, exanimes primo quoque murmure caeli, §13.225non quasi fortuitus nec ventorum rabie sed §13.226iratus cadat in terras et iudicet ignis.
These are they who tremble and turn pale at every lightning, when it thunders, breathless at the very first murmur of heaven, not as if fortuitous nor by the madness of winds, but as if an angry fire falls upon the lands and passes judgment.
That storm did no harm; the next tempest is feared with heavier anxiety, as if delayed by this clear sky.
§13.229praeterea lateris vigili cum febre dolorem §13.230si coepere pati, missum ad sua corpora morbum §13.231infesto credunt a numine, saxa deorum §13.232haec et tela putant, pecudem spondere sacello §13.233balantem et Laribus cristam promittere galli §13.234non audent;
Moreover, if they begin to suffer pain in their side with a watchful fever, they believe the disease sent to their bodies is from a hostile deity; they think these are the stones and weapons of the gods, and to promise a bleating sheep to the shrine, and to promise the crest of a cock to the Lares they do not dare; for what is allowed for guilty sick men to hope?
quid enim sperare nocentibus aegris §13.235concessum? vel quae non dignior hostia vita?
Or what victim is not more worthy of life than they?
§13.236mobilis et varia est ferme natura malorum: §13.237cum scelus admittunt, superest constantia; quod fas §13.238atque nefas, tandem incipiunt sentire peractis §13.239criminibus, tamen ad mores natura recurrit §13.240damnatos fixa et mutari nescia, nam quis §13.241peccandi finem posuit sibi? quando recepit
The nature of bad men is mostly fickle and variable: when they commit a crime, they have plenty of confidence; what is right and wrong they finally begin to perceive after the crimes are completed; yet nature recurs to those condemned habits, fixed and incapable of being changed; for who has set a limit to sinning for himself?
§13.242eiectum semel attrita de fronte ruborem?
When has one recovered the blush once cast out from a worn-out forehead?
§13.243quisnam hominum est quem tu contentum videris uno
Who indeed of men is there whom you have seen content with a single crime?
§13.244flagitio? dabit in laqueum vestigia noster §13.245perfidus et nigri patietur carceris uncum §13.246aut maris Aegaei rupem scopulosque frequentes §13.247exulibus magnis, poena gaudebis amara §13.248nominis invisi, tandemque fatebere laetus §13.249nec surdum nec Teresian quemquam esse deorum.
Our faithless man will put his footsteps into the snare, and will suffer the hook of the dark prison, or the rock of the Aegean Sea and the cliffs crowded with great exiles; you will rejoice in the bitter punishment of the hated name, and at last you will gladly confess that none of the gods is either deaf or a Tiresias.