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ETSI me assiduo confectum cura dolore |
1 |
THOUGH I am worn out with constant grief, |
seuocat a doctis, Hortale, uirginibus, |
2 |
Hortalus, and sorrow calls me away, apart from the learned Maids, |
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nec potis est dulcis Musarum expromere fetus |
3 |
nor can the thoughts of my heart utter the sweet births of the Muses, |
mens animi, tantis fluctuat ipsa malis-- |
4 |
tossed as it is with such waves of trouble; |
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namque mei nuper Lethaeo in gurgite fratris |
5 |
so lately the creeping wave of the Lethaean flood |
Pallidulum manans alluit unda pedem, |
6 |
has lapped my own brother's death-pale foot, |
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Troia Rhoeteo quem subter litore tellus |
7 |
on whom, torn away from our sight, |
ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis. |
8 |
under the shore of Rboeteum the soil of Troy lies heavy. |
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alloquar, audiero numquam tua facta loquentem, |
9 |
Never shall I speak to thee, never hear thee tell of thy life; |
numquam ego te, uita frater amabilior, |
10 |
never shall I see thee again, brother more beloved than life. |
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aspiciam posthac? at certe semper amabo, |
11 |
But surely I shall always love thee, |
semper maesta tua carmina morte canam, |
12 |
always sing strains of mourning for thy death, |
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qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris |
13 |
as under the thick shadows of the boughs sings |
Daulias, absumpti fata gemens Ityli-- |
14 |
the Daulian bird bewailing the fate of Itylus lost. |
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sed tamen in tantis maeroribus, Ortale, mitto |
15 |
Yet, in such sorrows, Hortalus, I send |
haec expressa tibi carmina Battiadae, |
16 |
to you these verses of Battiades translated, |
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ne tua dicta uagis nequiquam credita uentis |
17 |
lest haply you should think that your words have slipped from my mind, |
effluxisse meo forte putes animo, |
18 |
vainly committed to wandering winds: |
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ut missum sponsi furtiuo munere malum |
19 |
as an apple sent as a secret gift from her betrothed lover |
procurrit casto uirginis e gremio, |
20 |
falls out from the chaste bosom of the girl, |
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quod miserae oblitae molli sub ueste locatum, |
21 |
which -- poor child, she forgot it! -- put away in her soft gown, |
dum aduentu matris prosilit, excutitur, |
22 |
is shaken out as she starts forward when her mother comes; |
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atque illud prono praeceps agitur decursu, |
23 |
then, see, onward, downward swiftly it rolls and runs; |
huic manat tristi conscius ore rubor. |
24 |
a conscious blush creeps over her downcast face. |