En ego cum patria caream, vobisque domoque: 45
Raptaque sint, adimi quae potuere, mihi!
Ingenio tamen ipse meo comitorque fruorque ;
Caesar in hoc potuit juris habere nihil.
Quilibet hanc saevo vitam mihi finiat esse;
Me tamen exstincto, fama superstes erit;
Dumque suis victrix omnem de montibus1 orbem
Prospiciet domitum Martia Roma, legar.
Tu quoque, quam studii maneat felicior usus,.
Effuge venturos, qua potes, usque rogos.
The history of Pylades and Orestes.
Nos quoque amicitiae nomen bene novimus, hospes,
Quos procul a vobis frigidus Ister habet.
Est locus in Scythia (Tauros dixere priores),
Qui Getica longe non ita distat humo:
Hac ego sum terra (patriae nec poenitet) ortus;
Consortem Phoebi 2 gens colit illa Deam.
Templa manent hodie vastis innixa columnis ;
Perque quater denos itur in illa gradus.
Fama refert illic signum caeleste fuisse;
Quoque minus dubites, stat basis orba Dea:
Araque, quae fuerat natura candida saxi,
Decolor affuso tincta cruore rubet.
Femina sacra facit, taedae non nota jugali,
Quae superat Scythicas nobilitate nurus.
Sacrificî genus est (sic instituere priores)
Advena virgineo caesus ut ense cadat.
1 Suis... de montibus. The seven hills on which Rome was built.
2 Consortem Phoebi. Diana,
twin sister of Phoebus. Her temple, here spoken of, was at the modern Balaclava in the Crimea.
Regna Thoas habuit, Maeotide clarus in ora;
Nec fuit Euxinus notior alter aquis.
Sceptra tenente illo, liquidas fecisse per auras,
Nescio quam dicunt Iphigenian iter:
Quam levibus ventis sub nube per aera vectam
Creditur his Phoebe deposuisse locis.
Praefuerat templo multos ea rite per annos,
Invita peragens tristia sacra manu.
Cum duo velifera juvenes venere carina,
Presseruntque suo litora nostra pede.
Par fuit his aetas, et amor; quorum alter Orestes,
Alter erat Pylades: nomina fama tenet.
Protinus immitem Triviae ducuntur ad aram,
Evincti geminas ad sua terga manus.
Spargit aqua captos lustrali Graia sacerdos,
Ambiat ut fulvas infula1 longa comas.
Dumque parat sacrum, dum velat tempora vittis,
Dum tardae causas invenit usque morae:
Non ego crudelis, juvenes ignoscite, dixit,
Sacra suo facio barbariora loco.
Ritus is est gentis. Qua vos tamen urbe venitis?
Quove parum fausta puppe petîstis iter?
Dixit: et, audito patriae pia nomine virgo,
Consortes urbis comperit esse suae,
Alteruter votis, inquit, cadat hostia sacris;
Ad patrias sedes nuntius alter eat.
Ire jubet Pylades carum periturus Oresten;
Hic negat: inque vicem pugnat uterque mori.
1 Infula. A loose flock of wool, round which a band (vitta) was twisted to keep it in shape, and bind it to the head of the victim. Below, "Exstitit hoc," etc., is "This was the only case
in which there was no agrecment between them." They never differed except in this one instance, when each wished to die for the other.
Exstitit hoc unum, quo non convenerit illis;
Cetera par concors, et sine lite, fuit.
Dum peragunt pulchri juvenes certamen amoris ;
Ad fratrem scriptas exarat illa notas.
Ad fratrem mandata dabat; cuique1 illa dabantur,
(Humanos casus aspice) frater erat.
Nec mora; de templo rapiunt simulacra Dianae ;
Clamque per immensas puppe feruntur aquas.
Mirus amor juvenum, quamvis abiere tot anni,
In Scythia magnum nunc quoque nomen habet.
On the death of Tibullus.
Memnona2 si mater, mater ploravit Achillem,
Et tangunt magnas tristia fata Deas;
Flebilis indignos Elegeïa solve capillos,
Ah nimis ex vero 3 nunc tibi nomen erit!
Ille tui vates operis, tua fama, Tibullus,
Ardet in exstructo, corpus inane, rogo.
Ecce, puer Veneris fert eversamque pharetram,
Et fractos arcus, et sine luce facem.
Aspice, demissis ut eat miserabilis alis;
Pectoraque infesta tundat aperta manu.
Excipiunt lacrimas sparsi per colla capilli,
Oraque singultu concutiente sonant.
Fratris 1 in Aeneae sic illum funere dicunt
Egressum tectis, pulcher Iüle, tuis.
Nec minus est confusa Venus moriente Tibullo,
Quam juveni rupit cum ferus inguen aper,
At sacri 2 vates, et divûm cura vocamur;
Sunt etiam, qui nos numen habere putent,
Scilicet omne sacrum mors importuna profanat;
Omnibus obscuras inicit illa manus.
Quid pater Ismario, quid mater profuit Orpheo? 3
Carmine quid victas obstupuisse feras?
Aelinon in silvis idem pater, Aelinon, altis
Dicitur invita concinuisse lyra.
Adice Maeoniden, a quo, ceu fonte perenni,
Vatum Piëriis ora rigantur aquis;
Hunc quoque summa dies nigro submersit Averno:
Diffugiunt avidos carmina sola rogos.
Cum rapiant mala fata bonos (ignoscite fasso)
Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos.
Vive pius; moriere pius: 5 cole sacra; colentem
Mors gravis a templis in cava busta trahet.
1 Fratris. Cupid (puer Veneris) and Aeneas were both sons of Venus. Cupid is here spoken of as attending the funeral of Aeneas, as it left the house of his son Iulus, at Lavinium, probably in Latium. Below, "juveni" is Adonis, who was killed by the tusk of a boar.
2 At sacri. "And yet we are called," etc. Poets die like other people, although they are said to be especially under the care of the gods, and therefore might be supposed certain to live long.
3 Orpheo. Orpheus was son of Aeagrus, king of Thrace and Calliope, but he did not there
fore escape being torn to pieces by women at the Bacchanalian orgies. Ismarus (or Ismara) was a mountain of Thrace. The construction is "Quid pater profuit Orpheo. quid profuit feras obstupuisse," etc.
4 Aelinon. A Greek word for "lament, or dirge." Avernus was a lake in Campania, in Italy, from which foul vapours rose up. It was one of the supposed entrances into Tartarus.
5 Moriere pius. "Yet in spite of your piety you will die." Below, Eryx was a mountain on the west of Sicily, where Venus had a famous temple (so Horat. i, 2: "Sive tu mavis
Carminibus confide bonis, jacet ecce Tibullus,
Vix manet e tanto parva quod urna capit.
Tene, sacer vates, flammae rapuere rogales?
Pectoribus pasci nec timuere tuis?
Aurea sanctorum potuissent templa Deorum
Urere, quae tantum sustinuere nefas.
Avertit vultus Erycis quae possidet arces:
Sunt quoque, qui lacrimas continuisse negant. 40 Sed tamen hoc melius, quam si Phaeacia tellus 1 Ignotum vili supposuisset humo.
Hinc certe madidos fugientes pressit ocellos
Mater; et in cineres ultima dona tulit;
Hinc soror in partem misera cum matre doloris
Venit, inornatas dilaniata comas.
Si tamen e nobis aliquid, nisi nomen et umbra,
Restat in Elysia valle Tibullus erit:
Obvius huic venias hedera 2 juvenilia cinctus
Tempora cum Calvo, docte Catulle, tuo.
Tu quoque (si falsum temerati crimen amici),
Sanguinis atque animae prodige, Galle, tuae.
His comes umbra tua est; si quid modo3 corporis,
umbra est,
Auxisti numeros, culte Tibulle, pios.
Erycina ridens ").
i Phacacia tellus. Corcyra. Tibullus went to serve as a soldier in the East, was taken ill at Corcyra, and returned to Rome, where he shortly after died. It would have been still worse than it was, if Tibullus had been buried in Phaeacia, once a by-word for indolent luxury. Cf. Hor. Epist. i. 15, 24: "Pinguis ut inde domum possim Phaeaxque reverti." This explains "vili humo.”
2 Hedera. Ivy was the
especial crown for lyric poets. So Horace (Carm. i. 1, 29): "Me doctarum hederae praemia frontium Dis miscent superis. Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseris." Gallus was banished by Augustus from Rome, and threw away his life by committing suicide. Horace (Carm. i. 12, 37) has the same phrase, "Animaeque magnae Prodigum Paullum" (although Paullus did not kill himself).
Si quid modo. The spirits of the dead were supposed to
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