§prEn umquam vidisti tabulam 1 pictam in pariete? vidisti utique et meministi.
Have you ever seen a picture painted on a wall? Surely you have seen and remember it.
Treveris quippe in triclinio Zoili fucata est pictura haec: Cupidinem cruci adfigunt mulieres amatrices, non istae de nostro saeculo, quae sponte peccant, sed illae heroicae, quae sibi ignoscunt et plectunt deum.
Indeed, at Trier, in the dining room of Zoilus, this painting was executed: loving women are nailing Cupid to a cross—not those of our age, who sin willingly, but those heroic women, who excuse themselves and punish the god.
quarum partem in lugentibus campis Maro noster enumerat.
A part of them our Maro enumerates in the Mourning Fields.
hanc ego imaginem specie et argumento miratus sum.
I admired this image in its appearance and subject.
Deinde mirandi stuporem transtuli ad ineptiam poetandi.
Then I transferred the stupor of my admiration to the folly of writing poetry.
mihi praeter lemma nihil placet; sed commendo tibi errorem meum: naevos nostros et cicatrices amamus, nec soli nostro vitio peccasse contenti, adfectamus ut amentur.
Nothing pleases me except the title; but I commend my error to you: we love our blemishes and scars, and not content with having sinned through our own fault alone, we strive to make them loved.
verum quid ego huic eclogae studiose patrocinor? certus sum, quodcumque meum scieris, amabis; quod magis spero, quam ut laudes, vale et dilige parentem.
But why do I so zealously defend this eclogue? I am certain that whatever of mine you know, you will love; which I hope for more than your praise. Farewell, and love your parent.
§1AERIS in campis, memorat quos musa Maronis, 1 §2myrteus amentes ubi lucus opacat amantes, 2 §3orgia ducebant heroides et sua quaeque, §4ut quondam occiderant, leti argumenta gerebant, §5errantes silva in magna et sub luce maligna 3 §6inter harundineasque comas gravidumque papaver §7et tacitos sine labe lacus, sine murmure rivos: §8quorum per ripas nebuloso lumine marcent §9fleti, olim regum et puerorum nomina, flores 4 §10mirator Narcissus et Oebalides Hyacinthus §11et Crocus auricomans et murice pictus Adonis §12et tragico scriptus gemitu Salaminius Aeas; §13omnia quae lacrimis et amoribus anxia maestis §14exercent memores obita iam morte dolores: §15rursus in amissum revocant heroidas aevum.
In the fields of air, which the Muse of Maro remembers, where the myrtle grove shadows the mad lovers, the heroines were leading their rites, and each, just as they had once died, bore the tokens of their death, wandering in the great forest and under the malignant light, both among the reedy foliage and the heavy poppy, and the silent, stainless lakes, and the murmurless streams: along whose banks, in the misty light, there wither lamented flowers, once the names of kings and boys: the self-admiring Narcissus and the son of Oebalus, Hyacinthus, and Crocus with golden hair, and Adonis painted with purple, and Salaminian Ajax, inscribed with tragic groans; all of which, anxious with tears and sad loves, exercise their mindful griefs, death having already been met: they recall the heroines back into the lost age.
§16fulmineos Semele decepta puerpera partus §17deflet et ambustas lacerans per inania cunas §18ventilat ignavum simulati fulguris ignem, §19irrita dona querens, sexu gavisa virili, §20maeret in antiquam Caenis revocata figuram.
Semele, deceived in her childbirth, laments her lightning-struck offspring, and tearing her burnt cradle in the empty air, she fans the harmless fire of the feigned lightning, complaining of the useless gifts, yet rejoicing in her male offspring; Caenis mourns, recalled into her ancient form.
§21vulnera siccat adhuc Procris Cephalique eruditam §22diligit et percussa manum, fert fumida testae §23lumina Sestiaca praeceps de turre puella, §24et de nimboso saltum Leucate minatur §25mascula Lesbiacis Sappho peritura sagittis. 1
Procris still dries her wounds and loves the skilled weapon of Cephalus; and, struck in her hand, she carries the smoky lights of the lamp headlong from the Sestian tower, the girl; and from the stormy Leucas, she threatens a leap, masculine Sappho, destined to perish by Lesbian arrows.
§26Harmoniae cultus Eriphyle maesta recusat, §27infelix nato nec fortunata marito, §28tota quoque aeriae Minoia fabula Cretae §29picturarum instar tenui sub imagine vibrat: §30Pasiphae nivei sequitur vestigia tauri, §31licia fert glomerata manu deserta Ariadne, §32respicit abiectas desperans Phaedra tabellas.
The mournful Eriphyle refuses the ornament of Harmonia, unhappy in her son, and not fortunate in her husband; also the whole Minoan story of lofty Crete flickers under a faint image, like paintings: Pasiphae follows the tracks of the snow-white bull, deserted Ariadne carries the wound thread in her hand, despairing Phaedra looks back at the cast-off tablets.
§33haec laqueum gerit, haec vanae simulacra coronae: §34Daedaliae pudet hanc latebras subiisse iuvencae.
This one bears a noose, that one the empty likeness of a crown: this one is ashamed to have entered the hiding places of the Daedalian heifer.
§35praereptas queritur per inania gaudia noctes §36Laudamia duas, vivi functique mariti, §37parte truces alia strictis mucronibus omnes §38et Thisbe et Canace et Sidonis horret Elissa: §39coniugis haec, haec patris et haec gerit hospitis ensem, §40errat et ipsa, olim qualis per Latmia saxa §41Endymioneos solita adfectare sopores,
Laodamia laments her stolen nights in empty joys, two nights, of her living and her dead husband; in another part, all fierce with drawn swords, both Thisbe and Canace and Sidonian Elissa shudder: this one carries her husband’s sword, that one her father’s, and that one her guest’s; and she herself wanders, as once along the Latmian rocks, accustomed to court the Endymionean slumbers,