Epistles |
Translator: J. Nunn, R. Priestly, R. Lea, J. Rodwell
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Phyllis Demophoonti Hospita , Demophoon, tua te Rhodopeia Phyllis Ultra promissum tempus abesse queror . Cornua cum lunae pleno semel orbe coissent , Litoribus nostris ancora pacta tua est — Luna quater latuit , toto quater orbe recrevit ; Nec vehit Actaeas Sithonis unda rates . Tempora si numeres — bene quae numeramus amantes — Non venit ante suam nostra querela diem . Spes quoque lenta fuit ; tarde , quae credita laedunt , Credimus . invita nunc es amante nocens . Saepe fui mendax pro te mihi , saepe putavi Alba procellosos vela referre Notos . Thesea devovi , quia te dimittere nollet ; Nec tenuit cursus forsitan ille tuos . Interdum timui , ne , dum vada tendis ad Hebri , Mersa foret cana naufraga puppis aqua . Saepe deos supplex , ut tu , scelerate , valeres , Cum prece turicremis sum venerata sacris ; Saepe , videns ventos caelo pelagoque faventes , Ipsa mihi dixi : 'si valet ille , venit .' Denique fidus amor , quidquid properantibus obstat , Finxit , et ad causas ingeniosa fui . At tu lentus abes ; nec te iurata reducunt Numina , nec nostro motus amore redis . Demophoon , ventis et verba et vela dedisti ; Vela queror reditu , verba carere fide . Dic mihi , quid feci , nisi non sapienter amavi ? Crimine te potui demeruisse meo . Unum in me scelus est , quod te , scelerate , recepi ; Sed scelus hoc meriti pondus et instar habet . Iura fidesque ubi nunc , commissaque dextera dextrae , Quique erat in falso plurimus ore deus ? Promissus socios ubi nunc Hymenaeus in annos , Qui mihi coniugii sponsor et obses erat ? Per mare , quod totum ventis agitatur et undis , Per quod nempe ieras , per quod iturus eras , Perque tuum mihi iurasti — nisi fictus et ille est — Concita qui ventis aequora mulcet , avum , Per Venerem nimiumque mihi facientia tela — Altera tela arcus , altera tela faces — Iunonemque , toris quae praesidet alma maritis , Et per taediferae mystica sacra deae . Si de tot laesis sua numina quisque deorum Vindicet , in poenas non satis unus eris . Ah , laceras etiam puppes furiosa refeci , Ut , qua desererer , firma carina foret , Remigiumque dedi , quod me fugiturus haberes . Heu ! patior telis vulnera facta meis ! Credidimus blandis , quorum tibi copia , verbis ; Credidimus generi nominibusque tuis ; Credidimus lacrimis — an et hae simulare docentur ? Hae quoque habent artes , quaque iubentur , eunt ? Dis quoque credidimus . quo iam tot pignora nobis ? Parte satis potui qualibet inde capi . Nec moveor , quod te iuvi portuque locoque — Debuit haec meriti summa fuisse mei ! Turpiter hospitium lecto cumulasse iugali Paenitet , et lateri conseruisse latus . Quae fuit ante illam , mallem suprema fuisset Nox mihi , dum potui Phyllis honesta mori . Speravi melius , quia me meruisse putavi ; Quaecumque ex merito spes venit , aequa venit . Fallere credentem non est operosa puellam Gloria . simplicitas digna favore fuit . Sum decepta tuis et amans et femina verbis . Di faciant , laudis summa sit ista tuae ! Inter et Aegidas , media statuaris in urbe , Magnificus titulis stet pater ante suis . Cum fuerit Sciron lectus torvusque Procrustes Et Sinis et tauri mixtaque forma viri Et domitae bello Thebae fusique bimembres Et pulsata nigri regia caeca dei — Hoc tua post illos titulo signetur imago : Hic est , cuius amans hospita capta dolo est . De tanta rerum turba factisque parentis Sedit in ingenio Cressa relicta tuo . Quod solum excusat , solum miraris in illo ; Heredem patriae , perfide , fraudis agis . Illa — nec invideo — fruitur meliore marito Inque capistratis tigribus alta sedet ; At mea despecti fugiunt conubia Thraces , Quod ferar externum praeposuisse meis . Atque aliquis 'iam nunc doctas eat ,' inquit , 'Athenas ; Armiferam Thracen qui regat , alter erit . Exitus acta probat .' careat successibus , opto , Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat ! At si nostra tuo spumescant aequora remo , Iam mihi , iam dicar consuluisse meis — Sed neque consului , nec te mea regia tanget Fessaque Bistonia membra lavabis aqua ! Illa meis oculis species abeuntis inhaeret , Cum premeret portus classis itura meos . Ausus es amplecti colloque infusus amantis Oscula per longas iungere pressa moras Cumque tuis lacrimis lacrimas confundere nostras , Quodque foret velis aura secunda , queri Et mihi discedens suprema dicere voce : ' Phylli , fac expectes Demophoonta tuum !' Expectem , qui me numquam visurus abisti ? Expectem pelago vela negata meo ? Et tamen expecto — redeas modo serus amanti , Ut tua sit solo tempore lapsa fides ! Quid precor infelix ? te iam tenet altera coniunx Forsitan et , nobis qui male favit , amor ; Iamque tibi excidimus , nullam , puto , Phyllida nosti . Ei mihi ! si , quae sim Phyllis et unde , rogas — Quae tibi , Demophoon , longis erroribus acto Threicios portus hospitiumque dedi , Cuius opes auxere meae , cui dives egenti Munera multa dedi , multa datura fui ; Quae tibi subieci latissima regna Lycurgi , Nomine femineo vix satis apta regi , Qua patet umbrosum Rhodope glacialis ad Haemum , Et sacer admissas exigit Hebrus aquas , Cui mea virginitas avibus libata sinistris Castaque fallaci zona recincta manu ! Pronuba Tisiphone thalamis ululavit in illis , Et cecinit maestum devia carmen avis ; Adfuit Allecto brevibus torquata colubris , Suntque sepulcrali lumina mota face ! Maesta tamen scopulos fruticosaque litora calco Quaeque patent oculis litora lata meis . Sive die laxatur humus , seu frigida lucent Sidera , prospicio , quis freta ventus agat ; Et quaecumque procul venientia lintea vidi , Protinus illa meos auguror esse deos . In freta procurro , vix me retinentibus undis , Mobile qua primas porrigit aequor aquas . Quo magis accedunt , minus et minus utilis adsto ; Linquor et ancillis excipienda cado . Est sinus , adductos modice falcatus in arcus ; Ultima praerupta cornua mole rigent . Hinc mihi suppositas inmittere corpus in undas Mens fuit ; et , quoniam fallere pergis , erit . Ad tua me fluctus proiectam litora portent , Occurramque oculis intumulata tuis ! Duritia ferrum ut superes adamantaque teque , ' Non tibi sic ,' dices , 'Phylli , sequendus eram !' Saepe venenorum sitis est mihi ; saepe cruenta Traiectam gladio morte perire iuvat . Colla quoque , infidis quia se nectenda lacertis Praebuerunt , laqueis inplicuisse iuvat . Stat nece matura tenerum pensare pudorem . In necis electu parva futura mora est . Inscribere meo causa invidiosa sepulcro . Aut hoc aut simili carmine notus eris : Phyllida Demophoon leto dedit hospes amantem ; Ille necis causam praebuit , ipsa manum .
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Phyllis to Demophoon O DEMOPHOÖN, Phyllis, your Thracian hostess, complains of your absence beyond the promised time. You engaged to drop anchor on our coast, when the moon should have completed her orb. Already she hath four times waned, four times renewed her full orb; and your Athenian ships do not yet stem the Thracian tide. If you reckon time in the minute manner we lovers do, this complaint will not appear to have come before its day. Hope forsook me slowly too: we are unwilling to believe what may be injurious; but now I feel it, and, in spite even of love and myself, must believe. Often have I lied to myself for your sake; often flattered myself that the raging south winds would drive hither your swelling sails. In my resentment I have cursed Theseus, imagining that he would not suffer you to depart; yet he perhaps was no cause of your stay. Sometimes I dreaded that, in making towards the shallows of Hebrus, your ship might have been swallowed up by the foaming deep. Oft before the altars with offerings of incense have I, in a suppliant manner, implored the gods for your safety, O perfidious man! Oft seeing the winds favorable, the heaven serene, and the sea calm; Surely, said I to myself, if alive, he will come. In fine, my indulgent love represented to me all the obstacles that might prevent a speedy return; and I became ingenious at finding out excuses for you. But still you linger: the gods whom you invoked have not restored you to me; nor, moved by a sense of my love, do you return. O Demophoön, you have given both your words and sails to the winds. Your sails, alas! have failed to bring you back, and your words were insincere. What have I done, unless perhaps I have loved you to excess? But surely this crime might have rather endeared me to you. My only fault is, to have loved and entertained you, faithless man: yet this fault with you ought to be a merit. Where is now your honor? where are your oaths, and plighted troth? where are the many gods who dwelt on your perjured tongue? Where is now your matrimonial vow of constancy, which was to me the pledge and security of my phasing conjugal hopes? You swore by the tempest-beaten main, which before you had often crossed, and on which you were again to hazard yourself; you swore too by your grandsire (if he also is not falsely called so) who soothes the boisterous waves; by Venus doubly armed with her torch and bow, too successful, alas! with both against me; by Juno, who presides over the marriage-bed, and the sacred mysteries of the torch-bearing goddess. If each of these wronged powers should be disposed to take vengeance for the dishonor of invoking them falsely, you alone would be insufficient for the deserved punishment. Fool that I was! I even repaired your leaky ships, that you might have a trusty fleet wherein to desert me; I supplied you also with rowers to help forward your flight. Wretched beyond expression, to be thus wounded by my own darts! Alas! I foolishly gave credit to your deluding words, of which you have such command. I confided in your race and kindred gods; I trusted to your tears: are these too taught to dissemble? Yes; even they have their artifices, and often conspire to delude. In fine, I believed your false protestations. Why did you commit so many perjuries to gain credit with me, when unhappily I was too willing to trust you? Nor do I repent that I received you into my harbour and kingdom: this ought to have been the utmost bound of my indulgence. I am only ashamed of having crowned my hospiality with the present of my bed, and yielded myself up to your embraces. Oh! had the night preceding that fatal one been my last, Phyllis had died chaste and honest. I hoped the best, because I was conscious I deserved well of you. Hope, founded upon desert, is just and unblameable. Surely it is no mighty glory to deceive a credulous maid; my innocent simplicity merited a kind return. You have by your flattering words deluded a woman, and one that loved you. May the gods grant that this may be your greatest boast! May you stand in the midst of the city among the posterity of Ægeus! May the statue of your father graced with inscriptions and trophies stand first! When the stories of Scyron and stern Procrustes shall be read, Sinis, and the Minotaur; Thebes brought under subjection, the Centaurs dispersed, and the dark palace of the infernal god alarmed, may thy hated image bear this inscription: This is he, who betrayed his innocent believing hostess. Of all the mighty acts of your father, Ariadne deserted seems to please you most. You admire only in him what alone seems to want an excuse, and are the perfidious heir of your father's treachery. She (nor do I envy her) enjoys a better match, and rides in state, drawn by harnessed tigers. But the Thracian youths whom I scorned before, now shun my embraces, because I preferred a stranger to my own subjects. Some in derision say, Let her now repair to learned Athens; we will find another to rule over warlike Thrace: the end proves all things. May heaven deny him success in every thing, who presumes to judge of actions by the event: for, were your vessels to plough the Thracian waves, I should still be said to have studied my own and my people is good. But alas! I have consulted neither. You think no more of my palace, nor will you ever again bathe your wearied limbs in the Thracian lake. Our parting scene still presents itself to my fancy: your fleet being in readiness to sail, you embraced me, and, falling upon my neck, oft repeated the long-breathed kisses: you mixed your tears with mine, and complained that the wind was favorable; then parting, cried, Be sure, Phyllis, to expect your Demophoön. Can I expect one who left me never to return? Can I expect ships never designed to visit these coasts? And yet I still expect you; return, though late, that your only crime may be too long a stay. Unhappy Phyllis, what do you pray for? He perhaps is detained by another mistress, and a love that banishes all remembrance of thee. Alas! I fear that, since you left me, you have never once thought of Phyllis. Cruel fate! should you be at a loss to know who I Phyllis am, and whence; I: who admitted you, after a long course of wandering, into our Thracian harbours, and entertained you in so hospitable a manner; who increased your wealth from my own stock, supplied your wants by many gifts, and intended to have enriched you still more; who subjected to your rule the spacious kingdom of Lycurgus, too warlike and fierce to be awed by a female name; even from Rhodope covered with eternal snow, to shady Hæmus, and where gentle Hebrus rolls his sacred stream; on whom in an unlucky hour I bestowed my virgin love, and whom I suffered with treacherous hands to untie my chaste girdle. Doubtless Tisiphone howled over us in that fatal night, and the wandering owl complained in mournful notes. Alecto too was present, her hair wreathed with curling snakes; and lighted the tapers with infernal flame. Disconsolate, I tread the rocks and shore overgrown with shrubs, where-ever the wide sea lies open to my eyes. Whether by day, when earth relenting feels the genial heat, or by night when the stars shine, and cold damps fall, I am anxious in observing the course of the winds. If by chance I can espy and distant sail, forthwith I divine it to be my Demophoön. I run towards the shore whither the inconstant billows flow, and can scarcely be restrained even by the waves. The nearer they approach, the more my fears increase, till at last fainting away I am carried home by my train. Near my present abode is a bay, bent in the manner of a bow, whose sides running out into the sea form a precipice of rocks. Hence my despair has often urged me to throw myself headlong into the raging flood; and I am still resolved upon it, because you continue to deceive me. The friendly waves may perhaps waft me over to the Athenian shore, and my unburied remains may there meet your unexpecting eyes. Though more hard-hearted than iron or adamant, year even than yourself, you will in pity say; Alas! Phyllis, you ought not to have followed me thus. Oft I thirst after poisons; oft resolve to pierce my heart, and perish by a bloody death. Sometimes I think of tying a silken knot upon that neck, round which you have so often twined your treacherous arms. It is fixed; I must repair my ruined honor by a speedy death: when the mind is once determined, it is easy to choose the mode of dying. You shall be marked upon my tomb as the cruel cause of my death, and handed down to posterity in these or similar lines: Phyilis died by the cruelty of Demophoön; a faithful mistress by a perfidious guest. He was the barbarous cause; she herself gave the fatal blow. |