Short bounds of life are set to mortal man :
"Tis virtue's work alone to stretch the narrow span.
So many sons of gods, in bloody fight
Around the walls of Troy have lost the light:
My own Sarpedon fell beneath his foe;
Nor I, his mighty sire, could ward the blow.
Even Turnus shortly shall resign his breath,
And stands already on the verge of death.
MAN IGNORANT OF FUTURITY.
En. x. 501.
Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ,
Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis.
O mortals! blind of fate, who never know
To bear high fortune or endure the low.
HE DIES AND THINKS OF HIS COUNTRY.
En. x. 781.
Sternitur infelix alieno vulnere, cœlumque
Adspicit, et dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos.
Now falling by another's wound, his eyes
He casts to heaven, on Argos thinks, and dies.
SHORTNESS OF LIFE.
En. x. 861.
Rhobe, diu (res si quâ diu mortalibus ulla est)
Viximus.
O Rhoebus! we have lived too long for me-
If life and long were terms that could agree.
A FLOWER PLUCKED.
En. xi. 68.
Qualem virgineo demessum pollice florem,
Seu mollis violæ, seu languentis hyacinthi;
Cui neque fulgor adhuc, nec dum sua forma recessit;
Non jam mater alit tellus, viresque ministrat.
All pale he lies, and looks a lovely flower,
New cropt by virgin hands, to dress the bower;
Unfaded yet, but yet, unfed below,
No more to mother Earth or the green stem shall owe.
In clypeum assurgat, quo turbine torqueat hastam.
We met in fight: I know him, to my cost:
With what a whirling force his lance he toss'd!
Heavens! what a spring was in his arm, to throw !
How high he held his shield, and rose at every blow!
A DEMAGOGUE.
En. xi. 338.
Largus opum, et linguâ melior, sed frigida bello
Dextera, consiliis habitus non futilis auctor,
Seditione potens.
Factious and rich, bold at the council-board,
But cautious in the field, he shunn'd the sword--
A close caballer, and tongue-valiant lord.
FORTUNE SHIFTS THE SCENE.
En. xi. 424.
Cur ante tubam tremor occupat artus?
Multa dies variique labor mutabilis ævi
Rettulit in melius, multos alterna revisens
Lusit, et in solido rursus Fortuna locavit.
Why thus, unforced, should we so tamely yield,
And, ere the trumpet sounds, resign the field?
Good unexpected, evils unforeseen,
Appear by turns, as Fortune shifts the scene :
Some raised aloft, come tumbling down amain,
Then fall so hard, they bound and rise again.
MEDICINE PROVOKED THE PAIN.
En. xii. 46.
Egrescitque medendo.
The proffer'd med'cine but provoked the pain.
Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro
Si quis ebur; vel mixta rubent ubi lilia multâ
Alba rosâ tales virgo dabat ore colores.
Thus Indian ivory shows,
Which with the bord'ring paint of purple glows;
Or lilies damask'd by the neighb'ring rose.
CHANGE OF FORTUNE.
En. xii. 153.
Forsan miseros meliora sequentur.
Who knows what changeful Fortune may produce?
Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, verumque laborem ;
Fortunam ex aliis.
My son from my example learn the war,
In camps to suffer, and in fields to dare:
Success from others.
Qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus
It mare per medium: miseris, heu, præscia longe
Horrescunt corda agricolis; dabit ille ruinas
Arboribus, stragemque satis; ruet omnia late;
Ante volant, sonitumque ferunt ad littora venti.
As when a whirlwind, rushing to the shore
From the mid ocean, drives the waves before;
The painful hind with heavy heart foresees
The flatted fields, and slaughter of the trees.
Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis ædes
Pervolat, et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo,
Pabula parva legens, nidisque loquacibus escas;
Et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc humida circum
Stagna sonat.
As the black swallow near the palace plies;
O'er empty courts, and under arches, flies;
Now hawks aloft, now skims along the flood,
To furnish her loquacious nest with food.
Turnum fugientem hæc terra videbit ?
Usque adeone mori miserum est ? vos o mihi Manes
Este boni: quoniam superis aversa voluntas.
Sancta ad vos anima, atque istius inscia culpæ
Descendam, magnorum haud unquam indignus avorum.
How will the Latins hoot their champion's flight!
How Drances will insult, and point them to the sight!
Is death so hard to bear?-Ye gods below!
(Since those above so small compassion shew)
Receive a soul unsullied yet with shame,
Which not belies my great forefathers' name.
A BULL FIGHT.
En. xii. 715.
Ac velut ingenti Silâ, summove Taburno,
Cum duo conversis inimica in prœlia tauri
Frontibus incurrunt, pavidi cessere magistri ;
Stat pecus omne metu mutum, mussantque juvencæ,
Quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta sequantur;
Illi inter sese multâ vi vulnera miscent,
Cornuaque obnixi infigunt, et sanguine largo
Colla armosque lavant; gemitu nemus omne remugit.
As, when two bulls for their fair female fight
In Sila's shades, or on Taburnus' height,
With horns adverse they meet: the keeper flies:
Mute stands the herd; the heifers roll their eyes,
And wait th' event-which victor they shall bear,
And who shall be the lord, to rule the lusty year:
With rage of love the jealous rivals burn,
And push for push, and wound for wound return:
Their dewlaps gored, their sides are laved in blood:
Loud cries and roaring sounds rebellow through the wood.
PUBLII SYRI ET ALIORUM SENTENTIÆ.
Absentem lædit, cum ebrio qui litigat.
He, who contends with the drunken, injures the absent.
Ad pænitendum properat, cito qui judicat.
He, who decides hastily, will soon repent of his decision.
Ad tristem partem strenua est suspicio.
The losing side is full of suspicion.
Es debitorem leve; grave inimicum facit.
A slight debt produces a debtor; a heavy one an enemy.
Aliena nobis, nostra plus aliis placent.
That which belongs to another pleases us most; while that, which is ours, is more pleasing to others.
Alienum æs homini ingenuo acerba est servitus.
Debt is grievous slavery to the free born.
Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur.
To love, and at the same time to be wise, is scarcely granted even to a god.
Amicum lædere ne joco quidem licet.
It is not allowable, even in jest, to injure a friend.
Amicum perdere est damnorum maximum.
To lose a friend is the greatest of all losses.
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