Latin Text |
Translation |
vōs quoque iūnxit Amor. per ego haec loca plēna timōris,
per Chaos hōc ingēns vāstīque silentia rēgnī, Eurydicēs, ōrō, properāta retexite fāta. omnia dēbentur vōbīs, paulumque morātī sērius aut citius sēdem properāmus ad ūnam. tendimus hūc omnēs, haec est domus ultima, vōsque hūmānī generis longissima rēgna tenētis. haec quoque, cum iūstōs mātūra perēgerit annōs, iūris erit vestrī: prō mūnere poscimus ūsum; quod sī fāta negant veniam prō coniuge, certum est nolle redīre mihī: lētō gaudēte duōrum.' Tālia dīcentem nervōsque ad verba moventem exsanguēs flēbant animae; nec Tantalus undam captāvit refugam, stupuitque Ixīonis orbis, nec carpsēre iecur volucrēs, urnīsque vacārunt Bēlides, inque tuō sēdistī, Sīsyphe, saxō. tum prīmum lacrimīs victārum carmine fāma est Eumenidum maduisse genās, nec rēgia coniūnx Sustinet ōrantī nec quī regit īma negāre, Eurydicēnque vocant: umbrās erat illa recentēs Inter et incessit passū dē vulnere tardō. Hanc simul et lēgem Rhodopēius accipit hērōs, nē flectat retrō sua lūmina, dōnec Avernās exierit vallēs; aut inrita dōna futūra. carpitur adclīvis per mūta silentia trāmes, arduus, obscūrus, cālīgine dēnsus opācā, nec procul abfuerunt tellūris margine summae: hīc, nē dēficeret, metuēns avidusque videndī flexit amāns oculōs, et prōtinus illa relāpsa est, bracchiaque intendēns prēndīque et prēndere certāns nīl nisi cēdentēs īnfēlix adripit aurās. iamque iterum moriēns nōn est dē coniuge quidquam Questa suō (quid enim nisi sē quererētur amātam?) suprēmumque 'valē,' quod iam vīx auribus ille acciperet, dīxit revolūtaque rūrsus eōdem est. |
“Love joined you also. Through these places full of fear,
Through this huge Chaos and the silences of this empty kingdom, I beg, undo the hastened fates of Eurydice. We are owed everything to you, and having delayed a little, Rather slowly or rather quickly, we rush to one seat. We all go towards this place, this is our last home, and you Have the longest reign over the human race. when she as a mature woman has completed her rightful years She also will be under your law; we seek this advantage as a gift. But if the fates deny a pardon for my wife, it is certain to me to not want to go back; rejoice in the death of two.” The lifeless spirits were weeping at him, speaking such things, and moving his instrument to words; and Tantalus did not capture the receding water, and the wheel of Ixion hesitated, And the flying ones did not pluck at his liver, the descendants of Belus were free from their jars And Sisyphus, you sat on your rock. It is said then for the first time that the cheeks of the Eumenides, conquered by song, became moist with tears; and the royal wife does not hold off begging Orpheus, and also he who rules the lowest regions is not able to deny, And they call Eurydice. She was among the recent shadows And she marched with a step slow from her wound. At the same time the Rhodopian hero also receives this law That he not turn his own lights [eyes] back, while he left The Avernian valley [underworld]; or his future gifts would be cancelled. The inclined footpath is touched through silent silences, Difficult, dark, thick with dark fog. And they were not far from the border of the top of the land; Here, so that she does not fail, he, fearing and eager of seeing, He lovingly turned his eyes, and she slipped back immediately, And she, stretching her arms, and struggling to grasp and to be grasped And the unlucky grasps nothing except receding airs. And now dying again she did not complain at all about her own spouse (for what should she complain about except for that she had been loved?) And she said the final ‘farewell’, which that man barely received with his ears And she was returned again to the same place. |
Notes
Line 29:
vōs describes Hades and Persephone
Line 31:
properō, āre, āvī, ātum - to rush, hasten
retexō, ere, retexuī, retextum - to undo, cancel, unweave
Line 33:
sērus, -a, -um - slow, late
citus, -a, -um -quick
Line 34:
tendō, tendere, tendī, tentum - to go towards, stretch, (in)tend
Line 36:
Peragō, peragere, perēgī, peractus - to go through, finish
Line 37:
mūnus, mūneris, n. - gift, favor
poscō, poscere, poposcī - to ask, demand
ūsus, -ūs, m. - use, advantage
Line 38:
quodsī - but if
venia, -ae, f. - pardon
prō - for, on behalf of
39:
lētum, -ī, n. - death, destruction
40:
nervus, -ī, m. - string (of an instrument)
41:
Tantalus, ī, m. - King of Phrygia punished to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree. The fruit was forever unreachable and the water would recede before he could drink.
42:
Stupeō, stupēre, stupuī, stupītum - to be stunned, to hesitate
Ixīon - king of the Lapiths who was bound to a fiery wheel which would spin forever in Hades
43:
vacō, vacāre, vacāvī, vacātum - to be empty, be free
carpō, carpere, carpsī, carptum - to pluck, pick, seize
carpsēre is the syncopated form of carpsērunt
vacārunt is the syncopated form of vacāvērunt
44:
Bēlides- descendants of Belus, also known as Danaides, killed their husbands on their wedding night and were forced to spend eternity carrying jars.
Sīsyphus - King of Ephyra, punished for his deceitfulness by being made to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll down before it reaches the top.
45:
carmen, carminis, n- song
fāma est is translated like dīcitur - “it is said”
46:
madeō, madēre, maduī - to become moist
gena, -ae, f- check
Eumenides - goddesses of vengeance who live in the Underworld (also known as the Furies)
Eumenidum…genas is an indirect statement
47:
sustineō, sustinēre, sustinuī sustentum - to hold off, keep back
īmus, -a, -um- lowest, final
īma - lowest regions, hell
48:
umbra, -ae, f. - shadow, soul
49:
incēdō, incēdere, incessī, incessum- to march, to go forward
passus, -us, m. - step, stride
passū tardō - ablative of manner
50:
Rhodopeius, -a, -um - from Rhodopes, land of Orpheus
51:
flectō, flectere, flexī, flexum - to bend, turn
[nē… futūra]- subjunctive noun clause describing the “lēgem” in 50
Avernas valles - The Avernian valley, which is another name for the Underworld
52:
inrītō, āre, āvī, ātum - to provoke, excite, cancel
53:
carpō, carpere, carpsī, carptum - to pluck, to touch
acclīvis, acclīve - inclined, rising upward
mūtus, -a, -um - silent
trāmes, trāmitis, m- footpath
54:
cālīgō, cāliginis, f- cloud, fog
opācus, -a, -um - dark
55:
absum, abesse, abfuī, abfūturum - to be away from
margō, marginis, f. - border, edge
56:
nē dēficeret is a negative purpose clause
57:
prōtinus - immediately
58:
prendō, prendere, prendī, prensum - to grasp
61:
queror, querī, questus sum - to complain
translate ‘amātam’ as ‘amātam esse)
62:
valē - used as noun, (farewell) instead of the usual verbal meaning
63:
eōdem - to the same place
vōs describes Hades and Persephone
Line 31:
properō, āre, āvī, ātum - to rush, hasten
retexō, ere, retexuī, retextum - to undo, cancel, unweave
Line 33:
sērus, -a, -um - slow, late
citus, -a, -um -quick
Line 34:
tendō, tendere, tendī, tentum - to go towards, stretch, (in)tend
Line 36:
Peragō, peragere, perēgī, peractus - to go through, finish
Line 37:
mūnus, mūneris, n. - gift, favor
poscō, poscere, poposcī - to ask, demand
ūsus, -ūs, m. - use, advantage
Line 38:
quodsī - but if
venia, -ae, f. - pardon
prō - for, on behalf of
39:
lētum, -ī, n. - death, destruction
40:
nervus, -ī, m. - string (of an instrument)
41:
Tantalus, ī, m. - King of Phrygia punished to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree. The fruit was forever unreachable and the water would recede before he could drink.
42:
Stupeō, stupēre, stupuī, stupītum - to be stunned, to hesitate
Ixīon - king of the Lapiths who was bound to a fiery wheel which would spin forever in Hades
43:
vacō, vacāre, vacāvī, vacātum - to be empty, be free
carpō, carpere, carpsī, carptum - to pluck, pick, seize
carpsēre is the syncopated form of carpsērunt
vacārunt is the syncopated form of vacāvērunt
44:
Bēlides- descendants of Belus, also known as Danaides, killed their husbands on their wedding night and were forced to spend eternity carrying jars.
Sīsyphus - King of Ephyra, punished for his deceitfulness by being made to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll down before it reaches the top.
45:
carmen, carminis, n- song
fāma est is translated like dīcitur - “it is said”
46:
madeō, madēre, maduī - to become moist
gena, -ae, f- check
Eumenides - goddesses of vengeance who live in the Underworld (also known as the Furies)
Eumenidum…genas is an indirect statement
47:
sustineō, sustinēre, sustinuī sustentum - to hold off, keep back
īmus, -a, -um- lowest, final
īma - lowest regions, hell
48:
umbra, -ae, f. - shadow, soul
49:
incēdō, incēdere, incessī, incessum- to march, to go forward
passus, -us, m. - step, stride
passū tardō - ablative of manner
50:
Rhodopeius, -a, -um - from Rhodopes, land of Orpheus
51:
flectō, flectere, flexī, flexum - to bend, turn
[nē… futūra]- subjunctive noun clause describing the “lēgem” in 50
Avernas valles - The Avernian valley, which is another name for the Underworld
52:
inrītō, āre, āvī, ātum - to provoke, excite, cancel
53:
carpō, carpere, carpsī, carptum - to pluck, to touch
acclīvis, acclīve - inclined, rising upward
mūtus, -a, -um - silent
trāmes, trāmitis, m- footpath
54:
cālīgō, cāliginis, f- cloud, fog
opācus, -a, -um - dark
55:
absum, abesse, abfuī, abfūturum - to be away from
margō, marginis, f. - border, edge
56:
nē dēficeret is a negative purpose clause
57:
prōtinus - immediately
58:
prendō, prendere, prendī, prensum - to grasp
61:
queror, querī, questus sum - to complain
translate ‘amātam’ as ‘amātam esse)
62:
valē - used as noun, (farewell) instead of the usual verbal meaning
63:
eōdem - to the same place