Epistles |
Translator: J. Nunn, R. Priestly, R. Lea, J. Rodwell
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Deianira Herculi Gratulor Oechaliam titulis accedere nostris ; Victorem victae succubuisse queror . Fama Pelasgiadas subito pervenit in urbes Decolor et factis infitianda tuis , Quem numquam Iuno seriesque inmensa laborum Fregerit , huic Iolen inposuisse iugum . Hoc velit Eurystheus , velit hoc germana Tonantis , Laetaque sit vitae labe noverca tuae ; At non ille , brevis cui nox — si creditur — una Luctanti , ut tantus conciperere , fuit . Plus tibi quam Iuno , nocuit Venus : illa premendo Sustulit , haec humili sub pede colla tenet . Respice vindicibus pacatum viribus orbem , Qua latam Nereus caerulus ambit humum . Se tibi pax terrae , tibi se tuta aequora debent ; Inplesti meritis solis utramque domum . Quod te laturum est , caelum prius ipse tulisti ; Hercule supposito sidera fulsit Atlans . Quid nisi notitia est misero quaesita pudori , Si cumulas turpi facta priora nota ? Tene ferunt geminos pressisse tenaciter angues , Cum tener in cunis iam Iove dignus eras ? Coepisti melius quam desinis ; ultima primis Cedunt ; dissimiles hic vir et ille puer . Quem non mille ferae , quem non Stheneleius hostis , Non potuit Iuno vincere , vincit amor . At bene nupta feror , quia nominer Herculis uxor , Sitque socer , rapidis qui tonat altus equis . Quam male inaequales veniunt ad aratra iuvenci , Tam premitur magno coniuge nupta minor . Non honor est sed onus species laesura ferentis ; Siqua voles apte nubere , nube pari . Vir mihi semper abest , et coniuge notior hospes , Monstraque terribiles persequiturque feras . Ipsa domo vidua votis operata pudicis Torqueor , infesto ne vir ab hoste cadat ; Inter serpentes aprosque avidosque leones Iactor et haesuros terna per ora canes . Me pecudum fibrae simulacraque inania somni Ominaque arcana nocte petita movent . Aucupor infelix incertae murmura famae , Speque timor dubia spesque timore cadit . Mater abest queriturque deo placuisse potenti , Nec pater Amphitryon nec puer Hyllus adest ; Arbiter Eurystheus astu Iunonis iniquae Sentitur nobis iraque longa deae . Haec mihi ferre parum ? peregrinos addis amores , Et mater de te quaelibet esse potest . Non ego Partheniis temeratam vallibus Augen , Nec referam partus , Ormeni nympha , tuos ; Non tibi crimen erunt , Teuthrantia turba , sorores , Quarum de populo nulla relicta tibi est . Una , recens crimen , referetur adultera nobis , Unde ego sum Lydo facta noverca Lamo . Maeandros , terris totiens errator in isdem , Qui lassas in se saepe retorquet aquas , Vidit in Herculeo suspensa monilia collo Illo , cui caelum sarcina parva fuit . Non puduit fortis auro cohibere lacertos , Et solidis gemmas opposuisse toris ? Nempe sub his animam pestis Nemeaea lacertis Edidit , unde umerus tegmina laevus habet ! Ausus es hirsutos mitra redimire capillos ! Aptior Herculeae populus alba comae . Nec te Maeonia lascivae more puellae Incingi zona dedecuisse putas ? Non tibi succurrit crudi Diomedis imago , Efferus humana qui dape pavit equas ? Si te vidisset cultu Busiris in isto , Huic victor victo nempe pudendus eras . Detrahat Antaeus duro redimicula collo , Ne pigeat molli succubuisse viro . Inter Ioniacas calathum tenuisse puellas Diceris et dominae pertimuisse minas . Non fugis , Alcide , victricem mille laborum Rasilibus calathis inposuisse manum , Crassaque robusto deducis pollice fila , Aequaque famosae pensa rependis erae ? A , quotiens digitis dum torques stamina duris , Praevalidae fusos conminuere manus ! Ante pedes dominae Factaque narrabas dissimulanda tibi — Scilicet inmanes elisis faucibus hydros Infantem caudis involuisse manum , Ut Tegeaeus aper cupressifero Erymantho Incubet et vasto pondere laedat humum . Non tibi Threiciis adfixa penatibus ora , Non hominum pingues caede tacentur equae ; Prodigiumque triplex , armenti dives Hiberi Geryones , quamvis in tribus unus erat ; Inque canes totidem trunco digestus ab uno Cerberos inplicitis angue minante comis ; Quaeque redundabat fecundo vulnere serpens Fertilis et damnis dives ab ipsa suis ; Quique inter laevumque latus laevumque lacertum Praegrave conpressa fauce pependit onus ; Et male confisum pedibus formaque bimembri Pulsum Thessalicis agmen equestre iugis . Haec tu Sidonio potes insignitus amictu Dicere ? non cultu lingua retenta silet ? Se quoque nympha tuis ornavit Iardanis armis Et tulit a capto nota tropaea viro . I nunc , tolle animos et fortia gesta recense ; Quo tu non esses , iure vir illa fuit . Qua tanto minor es , quanto te , maxime rerum , Quam quos vicisti , vincere maius erat . Illi procedit rerum mensura tuarum — Cede bonis ; heres laudis amica tuae . O pudor ! hirsuti costis exuta leonis Aspera texerunt vellera molle latus ! Falleris et nescis — non sunt spolia illa leonis , Sed tua , tuque feri victor es , illa tui . Femina tela tulit Lernaeis atra venenis , Ferre gravem lana vix satis apta colum , Instruxitque manum clava domitrice ferarum , Vidit et in speculo coniugis arma mei ! Haec tamen audieram ; licuit non credere famae , Et venit ad sensus mollis ab aure dolor — Ante meos oculos adducitur advena paelex , Nec mihi , quae patior , dissimulare licet ! Non sinis averti ; mediam captiva per urbem Invitis oculis adspicienda venit . Nec venit incultis captarum more capillis , Fortunam vultu fassa decente suam ; Ingreditur late lato spectabilis auro , Qualiter in Phrygia tu quoque cultus eras . Dat vultum populo sublimis ut Hercule victo ; Oechaliam vivo stare parente putes . Forsitan et pulsa Aetolide Deianira Nomine deposito paelicis uxor erit , Eurytidosque Ioles atque Aonii Alcidae Turpia famosus corpora iunget Hymen . Mens fugit admonitu , frigusque perambulat artus , Et iacet in gremio languida facta manus . Me quoque cum multis , sed me sine crimine amasti . Ne pigeat , pugnae bis tibi causa fui . Cornua flens legit ripis Achelous in udis Truncaque limosa tempora mersit aqua ; Semivir occubuit in lotifero Eueno Nessus , et infecit sanguis equinus aquas . Sed quid ego haec refero ? scribenti nuntia venit Fama , virum tunicae tabe perire meae . Ei mihi ! quid feci ? quo me furor egit amantem ? Inpia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? An tuus in media coniunx lacerabitur Oeta , Tu sceleris tanti causa superstes eris ? Siquid adhuc habeo facti , cur Herculis uxor Credar , coniugii mors mea pignus erit ! Tu quoque cognosces in me , Meleagre , sororem ! Inpia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? Heu devota domus ! solio sedet Agrios alto ; Oenea desertum nuda senecta premit . Exulat ignotis Tydeus germanus in oris ; Alter fatali vivus in igne situs ; Exegit ferrum sua per praecordia mater . Inpia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? Deprecor hoc unum per iura sacerrima lecti , Ne videar fatis insidiata tuis . Nessus , ut est avidum percussus harundine pectus , ' Hic ,' dixit , 'vires sanguis amoris habet .' Inlita Nesseo misi tibi texta veneno . Inpia quid dubitas Deianira mori ? Iamque vale , seniorque pater germanaque Gorge , Et patria et patriae frater adempte tuae , Et tu lux oculis hodierna novissima nostris , Virque — sed o possis ! — et puer Hylle , vale !
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Deianira to Hercules I GIVE you joy that the conquest of Œchalia is now added to your other trophies; but I am sorry that the conqueror is forced to submit to the conquered. For a report that tends greatly to your dishonor, and which by your actions you must study to discredit, has been suddenly propagated through all the cities of Greece, that he whom neither the malice of Juno, nor an endless series of toils, could subdue, is now a captive to the charms of Iole. Eurystheus has much longed for this, as has the sister of the Thunderer; and your step-mother triumphs in this stain of your character: but it is far from pleasing him, to whom (if fame can be believed) one night was not sufficient to beget you, great as you are. Venus has injured you more than Juno. The wife of Jove raised, by endeavouring to depress you: the other goddess keeps your neck beneath her footstool. Think how the world lies hushed in peace by your avenging arm, where-ever the blue ocean circles this vast tract of earth. To thee the earth is indebted for peace, and the sea for a safe navigation: thy glory hath filled both houses of the sun. You previously bore up the heavens, that must at length bear you; Atlas, by your aid, supported the stars. Yet all this tends only to spread abroad your shame, if your former brave deeds are stained by an infamous miscarriage. Are you not said to have wrung to death two horrid snakes, when, young and in your cradle, you shewed yourself worthy of your father Jupiter? You began with more honor than you are like to end: the last parts of your life fall short of the first. How preposterous to shew yourself a man in this, in that a child! He whom not a thousand monsters, not the son of Sthenelus, his obstinate enemy, not implacable Juno could vanquish, is yet vanquished by love. But I am thouht honorably wedded, because I am called the wife of Hercules, and boast of him for my father-in-law, who, riding on his fiery steeds, rends the poles with his thunder. As when unequal steers are yoked in the same plough, so does the wife of inferior degree suffer from her mighty husband. A rank that oppresses, is no honor, but a burthen. She who desires to wed well, will do wisely to wed with her equal. My lord is ever absent; and a stranger is better known to him than his wife: he is always in pursuit of monsters and ferocious beasts. Oft I ad- dress Heaven with chaste vows, and tremble in my solitary home, lest my husband should fall by some savage enemy. My imagination hurries me amidst serpents, boars, furious lions, and three-headed devouring dogs. The entrails of the sacrifices, the vain phantoms of sleep, and secret omens of night, alarm me. I am terrified with every surmise of doubtful fame, and feel the full misery of a breast racked by alternate hope and fear. Your mother is absent, and complains that ever her charms engaged the notice of a powerful God. I have neither the society of your father Amphitryon, nor that of your son Hyllus. I feel only Eurystheus, the minister of Juno's unjust rage, and the unrelenting wrath of that goddess. But it is not difficult to bear this. You add also foreign loves; and any one may be a mother by you. I shall not speak either of Auge deflowered in the vales of Arcadia, or of your offspring by Astydamia, the daughter of Ormenus. You shall not be reproached with the fifty sisters of the house of Theutrantes, all of whom you debauched in one night. Your late crime I resent, in preferring an adulteress to me; by whom I am made stepmother to Lydian Lamus. Mæander, which wanders so much in the same plains, whose winding streams flow back by frequent channels, has seen the neck of Hercules adorned with a string of pearls; that neck to which the heavens were an easy load. You have not been ashamed to bind your arms with chains of gold, and deck your solid joints with shining gems. And yet under these arms did the Nemean lion expire, whose skin new forms a covering for your left shoulder. You had the weakness to bind your rude locks with a mitre; a garland of poplar would have better adorned the temples of Hercules. Nor did you think it a dishonor to confine your waist with the girdle of Omphale, after the manner of a wanton maid. The image of barbarous Diomedes, who savagely fed his mares with human flesh, was not then, surely, in your mind. Had Busiris beheld you in that unmanly attire, the conquered would have been ashamed of his conqueror. Antæus would have torn the pearls from your nervous neck, ashamed to submit to so effeminate a victor. You are said to hold the basket amidst the other attendants of Omphale, and tremble at the threats of a mistress. Degenerate Alcides, are you not ashamed to employ in servile offices those nervous hands which have been victorious over a thousand dangers? to apply your manly thumb in fashioning the long thread, and measure out the task given you by your fair mistress? How often, while with rough fingers you draw out the slender thread, have your sinewy hands broken the feeble distaffs? You are said, unhappy man, to tremble at the thongs of the whip, and, falling prostrate at the feet of your mistress, to beg a respite from stripes. You hope to appease her by boasting of your great deeds and pompous triumphs; exploits which, in those circumstances, it would be better to dissemble: by relating how, when an infant in your cradle, you grasped hideous serpents, not terrified by their extended jaws, or forky tongues: how the Arcadian boar was slain upon cypress-bearing Erymanthus, and burthened the earth with his enormous weight. You tell also of the heads that were fixed upon Thracian gates, and the mares fattened by the blood of men; of Geryon, that three-fold monster, rich in Iberian herds, who had three bodies in one; of Cerberus, forming three dogs from the same trunk, having his hair wreathed with hissing snakes; of the astonishing serpent which multiplied by its wounds, and gathered strength from the greatness of its losses; of the enormous burthen which, poised between your left arm and side, you by main strength pressed to death; and the troop of Centaurs, who, vainly trusting to their feet and double-limbed form, were dispersed on the craggy summits of Thessaly. Are you not ashamed to recount these exploits, when you are clad in Tyrian purple; and is not your tongue restrained by a sense of the unseemly dress? The daughter of Iardanus has moreover adorned herself with your armour, and wears the mighty trophies of her captive lover. Rouse now your courage, and boast of your warlike deeds. She has taken the name of hero, because you were unworthy of it; and is as much above you, as it was a harder task to subdue you, the greatest of conquerors, than those whom you overcame. The glory of your actions redounds to her. Resign your claim of praise: a mistress has become heir to your trophies. For shame! do you suffer the bristly hide, torn from the ribs of the savage lion, to enfold her feeble limbs? Weak man, to be thus deluded! These are not the spoils of the lion, but yours: you have indeed triumphed over the savage monster; but she triumphs over you. A woman, scarcely able to sustain the distaff loaded with wool, bears the darts dipped in the poison of the Lernæan Hydra; she has armed her right hand with the club which could subdue the most ferocious beasts; and has viewed in a mirror the armour of her spouse. These things, indeed, I only heard, and was willing to disbelieve common report; but now the mournful tale forces itself upon my senses. A foreign harlot is caressed in my sight; and it is no longer in my power to hide what I suffer. I am not even allowed to be absent. The captive, whom I behold with unwilling eyes, is led through the midst of the city, not in the manner of slaves, with her hair disheveled, and hiding her face in token of her disaster; but in triumphal pomp, adorned with shining gold, and clad in the same attire which you wore when in Phrygia. She carries her dead high amidst the captives subdued by Hercules, as if Œchalia still stood, and her father yet existed. Perhaps too, laying aside the name of mistress, she will be received as your spouse, and Deianira of Ætolia be ba- nished from your bed. An impious marriage may join, in unchaste bands, Iole the daughter of Eurytus, and the infatuated Alcides. My mind sickens with the apprehension; a shivering coldness spreads itself over all my limbs; and my languid hands lie motionless upon my knees. You loved also me among many others; but your love to me was without a crime. Think it no dishonor that twice you fought victorious in my behalf. Achelous gathered his shattered horns upon his oozy banks, and plunged his mutilated temples in the muddy stream. Nessus the Centaur fell near the stream of fatal Evenus, and tinged the waters with his unnatural blood. But why do I now mention these things? Even while I write, Fame brings me the news that my husband perishes by the poison of the shirt that I sent him. Alas! what have I done? Whither has my despairing love driven me? Impious Deianira, do you yet doubt whether you should die? Shall your husband perish miserably on Mount Œta; and you, the cause of that barbarous crime, survive? If aught yet remains to be done by which I may shew myself the wife of Hercules, death shall be the confirmation of our union. You also, Meleager, shall own in me a true sister. Impious Deianira, do you yet doubt whether you should die? Oh! ill-fated house! Agrios usurps the lofty throne, and a desolate old age oppresses Œneus. My brother Tydeus wanders an exile on unknown coasts: the other perished alive in devouring flames. My mother transfixed her heart with steel. Impious Deianira, do you yet doubt whether you should die? It is my only request, by all the most sacred ties of marriage, that I may not be thought to have betrayed you to your fate. Nessus, when his breast was pierced by the flying arrow, said to me, "This blood of mine contains the powers of love." I sent you a robe stained with the poison of the Centaur. Impious Deianira, do you yet doubt whether you should die? And now, my aged sire, and sister Gorge, adieu. Farewell, my country, and my brother, banished from your native home. Adieu, light of day, the last to my now fading eyes. Farewell, my husband, (Oh that thou could'st fare well!) Hyllus, my dear Hyllus, adieu! |