Epistles |
Translator: J. Nunn, R. Priestly, R. Lea, J. Rodwell
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Hero Leandro Quam mihi misisti verbis , Leandre , salutem Ut possim missam rebus habere , veni ! Longa mora est nobis omnis , quae gaudia differt . Da veniam fassae ; non patienter amo ! Urimur igne pari , sed sum tibi viribus inpar : Fortius ingenium suspicor esse viris . Ut corpus , teneris ita mens infirma puellis — Deficiam , parvi temporis adde moram ! Vos modo venando , modo rus geniale colendo Ponitis in varia tempora longa mora . Aut fora vos retinent aut unctae dona palaestrae , Flectitis aut freno colla sequacis equi ; Nunc volucrem laqueo , nunc piscem ducitis hamo ; Diluitur posito serior hora mero . His mihi summotae , vel si minus acriter urar , Quod faciam , superest praeter amare nihil . Quod superest facio , teque , o mea sola voluptas , Plus quoque , quam reddi quod mihi possit , amo ! Aut ego cum cana de te nutrice susurro , Quaeque tuum , miror , causa moretur iter ; Aut mare prospiciens odioso concita vento Corripio verbis aequora paene tuis ; Aut , ubi saevitiae paulum gravis unda remisit , Posse quidem , sed te nolle venire , queror ; Dumque queror lacrimae per amantia lumina manant , Pollice quas tremulo conscia siccat anus . Saepe tui specto si sint in litore passus , Inpositas tamquam servet harena notas ; Utque rogem de te et scribam tibi , siquis Abydo Venerit , aut , quaero , siquis Abydon eat . Quid referam , quotiens dem vestibus oscula , quas tu Hellespontiaca ponis iturus aqua ? Sic ubi lux acta est et noctis amicior hora Exhibuit pulso sidera clara die , Protinus in summo vigilantia lumina tecto Ponimus , adsuetae signa notamque viae , Tortaque versato ducentes stamina fuso Feminea tardas fallimus arte moras . Quid loquar interea tam longo tempore , quaeris ? Nil nisi Leandri nomen in ore meo est . ' Iamne putas exisse domo mea gaudia , nutrix , An vigilant omnes , et timet ille suos ? Iamne suas umeris illum deponere vestes , Pallade iam pingui tinguere membra putas ?' Adnuit illa fere ; non nostra quod oscula curet , Sed movet obrepens somnus anile caput . Postque morae minimum 'iam certe navigat ,' inquam , ' Lentaque dimotis bracchia iactat aquis .' Paucaque cum tacta perfeci stamina terra , An medio possis , quaerimus , esse freto . Et modo prospicimus , timida modo voce precamur , Ut tibi det faciles utilis aura vias ; Auribus incertas voces captamus , et omnem Adventus strepitum credimus esse tui . Sic ubi deceptae pars est mihi maxima noctis Acta , subit furtim lumina fessa sopor . Forsitan invitus mecum tamen , inprobe , dormis , Et , quamquam non vis ipse venire , venis . Nam modo te videor prope iam spectare natantem , Bracchia nunc umeris umida ferre meis , Nunc dare , quae soleo , madidis velamina membris , Pectora nunc nostro iuncta fovere sinu Multaque praeterea linguae reticenda modestae , Quae fecisse iuvat , facta referre pudet . Me miseram ! brevis est haec et non vera voluptas ; Nam tu cum somno semper abire soles . Firmius , o , cupidi tandem coeamus amantes , Nec careant vera gaudia nostra fide ! Cur ego tot viduas exegi frigida noctes ? Cur totiens a me , lente morator , abes ? Est mare , confiteor , non nunc tractabile nanti ; Nocte sed hesterna lenior aura fuit . Cur ea praeterita est ? cur non ventura timebas ? Tam bona cur periit , nec tibi rapta via est ? Protinus ut similis detur tibi copia cursus , Hoc melior certe , quo prior , illa fuit . At cito mutata est pacati forma profundi . Tempore , cum properas , saepe minore venis . Hic , puto , deprensus nil , quod querereris , haberes , Meque tibi amplexo nulla noceret hiemps . Certe ego tum ventos audirem laeta sonantis , Et numquam placidas esse precarer aquas . Quid tamen evenit , cur sis metuentior undae Contemptumque prius nunc vereare fretum ? Nam memini , cum te saevum veniente minaxque Non minus , aut multo non minus , aequor erat ; Cum tibi clamabam : 'sic tu temerarius esto , Ne miserae virtus sit tua flenda mihi !' Unde novus timor hic , quoque illa audacia fugit ? Magnus ubi est spretis ille natator aquis ? Sis tamen hoc potius , quam quod prius esse solebas , Et facias placidum per mare tutus iter — Dummodo sis idem , dum sic , ut scribis , amemur , Flammaque non fiat frigidus illa cinis . Non ego tam ventos timeo mea vota morantes , Quam similis vento ne tuus erret amor , Ne non sim tanti , superentque pericula causam , Et videar merces esse labore minor . Interdum metuo , patria ne laedar et inpar Dicar Abydeno Thressa puella toro . Ferre tamen possum patientius omnia , quam si Otia nescio qua paelice captus agis , In tua si veniunt alieni colla lacerti , Fitque novus nostri finis amoris amor . A , potius peream , quam crimine vulnerer isto , Fataque sint culpa nostra priora tua ! Nec , quia venturi dederis mihi signa doloris , Haec loquor aut fama sollicitata nova . Omnia sed vereor — quis enim securus amavit ? Cogit et absentes plura timere locus . Felices illas , sua quas praesentia nosse Crimina vera iubet , falsa timere vetat ! Nos tam vana movet , quam facta iniuria fallit , Incitat et morsus error uterque pares . O utinam venias , aut ut ventusve paterve Causaque sit certe femina nulla morae ! Quodsi quam sciero , moriar , mihi crede , dolendo ; Iamdudum pecca , si mea fata petis ! Sed neque peccabis , frustraque ego terreor istis , Quoque minus venias , invida pugnat hiemps . Me miseram ! quanto planguntur litora fluctu , Et latet obscura condita nube dies ! Forsitan ad pontum mater pia venerit Helles , Mersaque roratis nata fleatur aquis — An mare ab inviso privignae nomine dictum Vexat in aequoream versa noverca deam ? Non favet , ut nunc est , teneris locus iste puellis ; Hac Helle periit , hac ego laedor aqua . At tibi flammarum memori , Neptune , tuarum Nullus erat ventis inpediendus amor — Si neque Amymone nec , laudatissima forma , Criminis est Tyro fabula vana tui , Lucidaque Alcyone Calyceque Hecataeone nata , Et nondum nexis angue Medusa comis , Flavaque Laudice caeloque recepta Celaeno , Et quarum memini nomina lecta mihi . Has certe pluresque canunt , Neptune , poetae Molle latus lateri conposuisse tuo . Cur igitur , totiens vires expertus amoris , Adsuetum nobis turbine claudis iter ? Parce , ferox , latoque mari tua proelia misce ! Seducit terras haec brevis unda duas . Te decet aut magnas magnum iactare carinas , Aut etiam totis classibus esse trucem ; Turpe deo pelagi iuvenem terrere natantem , Gloriaque est stagno quolibet ista minor . Nobilis ille quidem est et clarus origine , sed non A tibi suspecto ducit Ulixe genus . Da veniam servaque duos ! natat ille , sed isdem Corpus Leandri , spes mea pendet aquis . Sternuit en lumen ! — posito nam scribimus illo — Sternuit et nobis prospera signa dedit . Ecce , merum nutrix faustos instillat in ignes , ' Cras ' que 'erimus plures ,' inquit , et ipsa bibit . Effice nos plures , evicta per aequora lapsus , O penitus toto corde recepte mihi ! In tua castra redi , socii desertor amoris ; Ponuntur medio cur mea membra toro ? Quod timeas , non est ! auso Venus ipsa favebit , Sternet et aequoreas aequore nata vias . Ire libet medias ipsi mihi saepe per undas , Sed solet hoc maribus tutius esse fretum . Nam cur hac vectis Phrixo Phrixique sorore Sola dedit vastis femina nomen aquis ? Forsitan ad reditum metuas ne tempora desint , Aut gemini nequeas ferre laboris onus . At nos diversi medium coeamus in aequor Obviaque in summis oscula demus aquis , Atque ita quisque suas iterum redeamus ad urbes ; Exiguum , sed plus quam nihil illud erit ! Vel pudor hic utinam , qui nos clam cogit amare , Vel timidus famae cedere vellet amor ! Nunc , male res iunctae , calor et reverentia pugnant . Quid sequar , in dubio est ; haec decet , ille iuvat . Ut semel intravit Colchos Pagasaeus Iason , Inpositam celeri Phasida puppe tulit ; Ut semel Idaeus Lacedaemona venit adulter , Cum praeda rediit protinus ille sua . Tu quam saepe petis , quod amas , tam saepe relinquis , Et quotiens grave sit puppibus ire , natas . Sic tamen , o iuvenis tumidarum victor aquarum , Sic facito spernas , ut vereare , fretum ! Arte laboratae merguntur ab aequore naves ; Tu tua plus remis bracchia posse putas ? Quod cupis , hoc nautae metuunt , Leandre , natare ; Exitus hic fractis puppibus esse solet . Me miseram ! cupio non persuadere , quod hortor , Sisque , precor , monitis fortior ipse meis — Dummodo pervenias excussaque saepe per undas Inicias umeris bracchia lassa meis ! Sed mihi , caeruleas quotiens obvertor ad undas , Nescio quo pavidum frigore pectus hebet . Nec minus hesternae confundor imagine noctis , Quamvis est sacris illa piata meis . Namque sub aurora , iam dormitante lucerna , Somnia quo cerni tempore vera solent , Stamina de digitis cecidere sopore remissis , Collaque pulvino nostra ferenda dedi . Hic ego ventosas nantem delphina per undas Cernere non dubia sum mihi visa fide , Quem postquam bibulis inlisit fluctus harenis , Unda simul miserum vitaque deseruit . Quidquid id est , timeo ; nec tu mea somnia ride Nec nisi tranquillo bracchia crede mari ! Si tibi non parcis , dilectae parce puellae , Quae numquam nisi te sospite sospes ero ! Spes tamen est fractis vicinae pacis in undis ; Tu placidas toto pectore finde vias ! Interea nanti , quoniam freta pervia non sunt , Leniat invisas littera missa moras .
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Hero to Leander COME, my Leander, that I may really enjoy that welfare which you so kindly wish me in your letter. Every delay that stands in the way of our happiness seems doubly tedious. Pardon the confession; but I love not according to the common measure. We glow with an equal flame; but my strength is unequal to yours; for I imagine that men are endued with more steady and resolute souls. In women the mind is weak, as well as the body. Delay a little longer, and I sink under the weight of your absence. You can elude the tedious hours, by differently dividing your time; sometimes intent upon hunting, sometimes employed in cultivating the prolific earth. The forum perhaps may interpose, or the inviting honors of the palæstra: perhaps you are busy in forming the generous steed, and teaching him to obey the rein. Now snares are laid for the feathered tribe; now hooks are baited for the finny prey; and the lingering hours of night are lost in copious goblets of wine. As for me, to whom all these reliefs are denied, what remains, were I even less the slave of a headstrong passion, but to love and endure? It is so: I indulge this sole relief, and love you, O my only happiness, above expression or return. Either I engage with my faithful nurse in silent discourse about you, and wonder what cause can so long delay your coming; or, casting a look upon the sea, I chide, almost in your own words, the waves tossed by spiteful winds: or, when the angry sea remits a little of its rage, I complain that you might, but have no desire to come. Amidst these complaints, the tears flow in streams from my love-sick eyes, and are wiped away by the trembling hand of my aged nurse. I often search if I can find the prints of your feet upon the shore, as if sand could retain the deepening mark. Eager to hear of you, or write to you, I am always enquiring whether any one has arrived from Abydos, or who thinks of going thither. Why should I mention the many kisses I lavish upon the clothes you put off, when about to plunge into the waters of the Hellespont? But when light vanishes, and the more friendly hour of night, in chasing away the day, exhibits the sparkling stars; forthwith we plant the watchful light upon the tower's top, the known guide and mark of your watery way; and, lengthening by the swiftly-turning spindle the twisted threads, elude the tedious hours in feminine employment. Perhaps you may enquire what I am talking all this while. No name but that of Leander is in your Hero's mouth. "What do you say, my nurse; do you think that my only hope has yet left his father's house? or are all awake, and is he afraid of being observed by his parents? Do you think that he is now pulling the clothes from his shoulders, and anointing his limbs with oil?" She gives a nod of assent; not that she is moved by my embraces, but sleep, gently stealing upon her, shakes her aged head. Then, after a short delay, I say, "It is certain now that he swims, and tosses his pliant arms amidst the yielding waves." Then, after finishing a few treads, in letting the winding spindle touch the ground, I ask whether you may have yet reached the middle of the streight. Sometimes I look wishfully forward; sometimes I pray with a faltering voice, that propitious gales may give you an easy run. I greedily catch at every sound, and fondly imagine I hear the noise of your approach. When thus the greater part of the eluded night is past, sleep insensibly steals upon my wearied eyes. Then in dreams I find you by my side, and perhaps much against your will, you are induced to come. For sometimes I seem to behold you swimming near the shore, sometimes you recline your humid arms upon my shoulders: now I reach you the robe to throw round your yet moist limbs; anon I clasp you shivering to my panting breast; with much more besides, not fit to be mentioned by a modest pen; what in doing may give great pleasure, but which when done delicacy forbids me to name. Unhappy wretch! it is but a short and fleeting pleasure; for you always vanish with my dream. Grant, Heaven, that such ardent lovers may at length be joined together by surer bonds, nor let our enjoyments be destitute of a firm basis. Why have I passed cold and comfortless so many solitary nights? Why, my dear swimmer, are you so slow; why so often absent from me? The sea, I own, is rough and intractable; but last night it blew a gentler gale. Why was that opportunity lost? why did you not dread that following storms might hinder you? why was so fair an offer suffered to escape, and no attempt made? Should a like opportunity of crossing with case invite you, yet the other, as first in time, was far the best. Soon, it is true, was the face of the troubled deep changed: but, when eager, you have hastened across it in a shorter time. If you are detained here by storms, ought this to make you complain? No tempestuous sea can hurt you when locked in my embraces. I could then calmly listen to the loud threatening winds, nor fatigue Heaven with prayers to smooth the swelling deep. But what has lately happended to cause this unusual dread of the sea? why do you tremble at those waves you formerly despised? For I remember your coming when the sea was no less obstinate and threatening, or at least not much less so. Then I conjured you to be wisely daring, that I might not have cause to lament the fatal effects of your boldness. Whence arises this new fear? Whither has your former courage fled? where is that illustrious swimmer, who nobly despised the threatening waves? Yet rather continue thus, than again expose yourself to former hazards, and plunge secure into a calm inviting sea; provided only you are unalterably the same, provided you love with the same ardor with which you write, and this noble flame never changes into cold lifeless ashes. I am not so much afraid of the winds that disappoint my earnest wishes, as of your love, that it may prove, like the wind, changeable and inconstant. I fear the not being held in the same esteem; that the dangers may be thought greater than the reward, or that I am accounted too mean a recompence of your toil. Sometimes I am uneasy, from an idea that my country may detract from me, and that a Thracian girl may seem an unequal match for a citizen of Abydos. Yet I can patiently bear any affliction whatever, sooner than the apprehension of your being detained by another flame. Ah! let me rather perish, than suffer under so cruel a distress; may fate end my days before I hear of the dreadful crime! Nor do I mention this from any reason you give me to suspect approaching grief, or because I am alarmed by some new spreading rumor. But I am subject to every fear; (for when did love yet settle in a quiet mind?) distance and absence feed my anxious thoughts. Happy they, who, always together, know at once what they have to fear, nor feel the piercing grief of false alarms. We are as much disturbed by unjust fears, as ignorant of real injuries; and each error begets equal anxiety. Oh how I wish that you were here, that either the winds or your parents, and no rival fair, may be the cause of your long stay! For, believe me, to hear of a rival would kill me with grief; and it is now long that you have been in fault, if you thus aim at my destruction. But you are not in fault: these my terrors I know are groundless; the envious winds alone oppose your desired approach. Dreadful! how the shores are lashed by the vast billows! How the day is hidden by gathering clouds! Perhaps the disconsolate mother of Helle hovers over the deep, and her unhappy daughter is lamented in distilling drops. Or does her step-mother, changed into a sea-goddess, deform the channel that bears the hated name of her daughter-in-law? This sea, such as it is now, is far from being propitious to tender maids. Here Helle perished: I also am crossed by these obstinate waves. But you surely, Neptune, if you call to mind your many flames, can never be an enemy to gentle love; if neither Amymone, nor Tyro of exquisite form, are vain rumours of your guilt; if fair Alcyone, Circe, and the daughter of Alymone; Medusa (her hair not yet wreathed with serpents), blooming Laodice, and Celæno ranked among the stars, with many other names I remember to have read, were ever dear to you. These, Neptune, with many more, are sung by the poets to have lain in your embraces. Why then, having yourself so often felt the power of love, do you shut up the accustomed way by rough whirlwinds? Be mild, stern father, and reserve your tumults for the wide ocean. This is merely an arm of the sea, that disjoins two neighbouring tracts. It is yours, triumphant, to toss the vast bulk of ships, or sternly boisterous disperse whole fleets. It is below the God of the ocean to terrify an adventurous youth; a praise unworthy the boast of the meanest lake. He indeed is the noble offspring of an illustrious line, but derives not his pedigree from Ulysses of hated memory. Permit him then to come, and save the life of two. He only, it is true, swims; but my hope hangs upon the same waves with Leander. Hark! the taper crackles; for it burns beside me as I write: it crackles, and gives propitious signs. See, my nurse pours wine upon flames that yield a favorable omen: she cries, To-morrow we shall be more, and bears the goblet to her mouth. O Leander, whose image only fills my heart, strive to surmount the dividing waves, and add in yourself another to our number. Return to your own camp, thou deserter of social love. Why are my limbs single in the midst of the bed? Nor is there any ground of fear: Venus herself will favour the attempt; and, sprung from the sea, will smooth the sea-green way. I have oft myself resolved to plunge amidst the waves; but this stormy streight is more favorable to the other sex. For why, when attempted by Phryxus and his sister, did she only give name to this vast bulk of water? Perhaps you fear there will be no opportunity of returning, or you cannot bear a weight of double toil. Let us then, setting out from opposite shores, meet in the midst of the sea, and snatch the mutual kisses upon the surface of the waves. Let us then each return home; a small enjoyment indeed, but still better than none! How could I wish that powerful shame, which obliges us thus to conceal our love, would yield to desire, or trembling love give way to the dictates of fame! Honor and passion (things alas! incompatible) combat each other. Which shall I follow, or where end my suspense? On one side is decency, on the other pleasure. Jason of Thessaly, soon after entering Colchis, bore away Medea in his nimble bark. When the faithless Trojan had once arrived at Lacedæmon, he quickly returned triumphant with his prey. As often as you grasp the object of your love, you abandon her; and swim even then when it is dangerous for ships to cut the liquid way. But yet remember, O daring youth, who have so often braved the swelling waves, that you so despise the threatening deep, as not to venture rashly in times of danger. Ships, formed with exquisite art, are often mastered by the foaming sea: can your feeble arms cut the deep like laboring oars? You, Leander, fondly spring forward to swim, an attempt that startles the daring mariner; this is their last resource when compelled by shipwreck. Alas, how unhappy! I want to dissuade you from what I yet carnestly wish, and pray you may be bolder than my own admonitions allow: yet so that you may still come safe, and clasp my exulting shoulders with your wearied arms, often plunged in the foaming waves. But as often as I turn my eyes towards the blue extent of the sea, I know not what coldness spreads over my panting breast. Nor am I less disturbed by the vision of last night, although expiated by many sacred rites. For about the approach of morning, when the taper gave a faint and glimmering light (at the time when dreams are usually accounted true), my fingers, deadened with sleep, had dropped the lengthening threads, and my neck was gently reclined on the barren ridge. Here I espied a dolphin glide through the raging waves: I saw it a real spectre, and no deluding phantom; which, after being dashed by the waves upon the bubbling sand, was at once abandoned byits element and life. Whatever it may portend, I am full of fears. Despise not the ominous dream, nor trust your limbs but to a calm unruffled sea. If you are regardless of yourself, yet think of your dearer half, who will never be able to survive your untimely fate. But I hope for a sudden calm to the troubled waves; then plunge with safety, and glide along the level tides. Meantime, as the threatening waves forbid your desired course, let this epistle soften the hated delays. |