"Gods of the sea and sky! (for what but pray'r
Is yet reserv'd for me?) I pray forbear
My tempest shatter'd bark apart to rend,
Nor help to mighty Cæsar's anger lend.
Oft when one god assails, intent on harm,
Some other aids us with protecting arm:
Vulcan opposed, Apollo favour'd Troy;
Venus loved Trojans, Pallas would destroy;
To Turnus kind, Juno Æneas bore

Fix'd hate, yet Venus sav'd him by her pow'r;
Stern Neptune oft assail'd Ulysses sage,
Minerva snatch'd him from her uncle's rage;
And what prevents, though less than these I be,
Midst Cæsar's ire, a god from aiding me.

Unhappy me, I spend my words in vain; Dashes the speaker's face the swollen main; The dreadful south wind scatters what I say, Nor to the gods allows my pray'rs their way. Thus the same blasts, lest but one ill I bear, Both sails and vows impel I know not where.

Unhappy me, how rolls each mountain wave! Now they would seem heav'n's highest stars to lave;

How low the ocean-op'ning vales subside!
Now sunk to Tartarus appears their tide.
Where'er you look there's nought but sea and sky,
That swoln with waves, this threat'ning clouds
o'erfly;

"Twixt both, the winds all roar with tempest-sway,
Nor knows the flood which master to obey.
Now Eurus strengthens from the purple east,
Now Zephyr presses from the late-hour'd west;
Now from the north chill Boreas sweeps his force,
The South maintains the war with adverse course.
Wilder'd the pilot stands, nor has in view
The route he shall avoid or shall pursue;
Skill falters midst these dubious horrors' train,
Perish we must, the hope of safety's vain.

Yet while I speak the wave has whelm'd my face,

The flood will stop my breath in its embrace, And I imbibe the deadly water's rage, Through lips that fruitless orisons engage.

Di maris et cœli, (quid enim nisi vota supersunt?)
Solvere quassatæ parcite membra ratis:
Neve, precor, magni subscribite Cæsaris iræ,
Sæpe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem.
Mulciber in Trojam, pro Troja stabat Apollo:
Æqua Venus Teucris, Pallas iniqua fuit,
Oderat Ænean proprior Saturnia Turno.
Ille tamen Veneris numine tutus erat.
Sæpe ferox cautum petiit Neptunus Ulyssem:
Eripuit patruo sæpe Minerva suo.
Et nobis aliquod, quamvis distamus ab illis,
Quid vetat irato numen adesse Deo?
Verba miser frustrà non proficientia perdo:
Ipsa graves spargunt ora loquentis aquæ.
Terribilisque Notus jactat mea dicta; precesque,
Ad quos mittuntur, non sinit ire Deos.
Ergo iidem venti, ne causa lædar in una,

Velaque nescio quò, votaque nostra ferunt?
Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum!
Jam jam tacturos sidera summa putes.
Quantæ diducto subsidunt æquore valles!
Jam jam tacturas Tartara nigra putes.
Quocunque adspicias, nihil est nisi pontus et aer;
Fluctibus hic tumidus, nubibus ille minax.
Inter utrumque fremunt immani turbine venti.
Nescit, cui domino pareat, unda maris.
Nam modò purpureo vires capit Eurus ab ortu:
Nunc Zephyrus sero vespere missus adest:
Nunc gelidus sicca Boreas bacchatur ab Arcto:

Nunc Notus adversâ prælia fronte gerit. Rector in incerto est: nec quid fugiatve petatve, Invenit. Ambiguis ars stupit ipsa malis. Scilicet occidimus, nec spes nisi vana salutis: Dumque loquor, vultus obruit unda meos. Opprimet hanc animam fluctus: frustraq; precanti

Ore necaturas accipiemus aquas.

My exile only my fond wife bemoans,
That ill alone she knows, for that she groans;
On ocean-wastes knows not this frame is toss'd,
Knows not how driv'n by winds, knows not how
nearly lost.

Well was it, gods, I yielded not that she Companion of my voyage should tempt the sea, That death might not fall twice on hapless me; Now, though I die, since she escapes death's pain, Sav'd by the half I surely shall remain.

Ah me, how gleam'd with darting fires the cloud!

That sounding crash in heav'n's high vault how loud!

Nor lighter on the sides the billows fall,
Than a balista's burthen strikes the wall;
The coming wave o'ertow'rs all waves besides,
And twixt the ninth and the eleventh rides.

I fear not death, but wretched is its kind:
Remove the shipwreck, death a gift I'll find;
Falling by sword or nature, still 'tis found
Something to lay our frames in custom'd ground,
To give some charge to friends; to hope a grave,
And not be food for fish of ocean's wave.
I sail not singly here: suppose it true,
That such a hapless exit is my due,

1

Why should my suff'ring reach the guiltless too?
Superior and green gods, who rule the main,
The menaces of both your bands restrain,
And let a wretch to his fix'd limits bear
The life that Cæsar's lenient ire would spare.
If you design to make me undergo
The punishment I have deserv'd to know,
My fault is deem'd, ev'n in the judge's view,
Less than that death in vengeance should pursue.
Meant he to send me to the Stygian wave?
Cæsar for this your aid would never crave;
He holds no pow'r that longs my blood to spill;
And what he has bestow'd, can take at will.

But let my load of wo sufficient seem,
Ye pow'rs, whom outrag'd by no crime, I deem,
Should, to preserve a wretch, join your whole
host,

The head cannot be sav'd, already lost; Though wafted by kind gales, and smooth'd the

sea,

Though spar'd my life, less exile shall I be?

Greedy to gather heaps of endless gain, Exchanging wares, I plough not the wide main; Nor Athens seek, once sought for learning's store;

Nor Asia's towns, nor places seen before;
Nor borne to far fam'd Alexandria's soil,
To view thy joyous revels, sportive Nile;
For where I ask kind winds who faith can lend?
My wishes to Sarmatia's region tend,
Vow-bound that I may reach wild Pontus' strand,
And grieve I fly so slow my native land.
Those wishes too a shorten'd course prepare,
The Tomian seats to see, I know not where.

At pia nil aliud quàm me dolet exsule conjux : Hoc unum nostri scitque gemitque mali. Nescit in immenso jactari corpora ponto:

Nescit agi ventis: nescit adesse necem. Dî bene, quòd non sum mecum conscendere passus;

Ne mihi mors misero bis patienda foret!
At nunc, ut peream, quoniam caret illa periclo,
Dimidiâ certè parte superstes ero.

Hei mihi, quàm celeri micuerunt nubila flammâ !
Quantus ab ætherio personat axe fragor!
Nec leviùs laterum tabulæ feriuntur ab undis,
Quàm grave balista monia pulsat onus.
Qui venit hic fluctus, fluctus supereminet omnes:
Posterior nono est, undecimoque prior.
Nec letum timeo: genus est miserabile leti.
Demite naufragium; mors mihi munus erit.
Est aliquid, fatove suo ferrove cadentem
In solida moriens ponere corpus humo:
Est mandata suis aliquid sperare sepulcra,
Et non æquoreis piscibus esse cibum.
Fingite me dignum tali nece: non ego solus

Hic vehor. Immeritos cur mea pœna trahit?
Pro Superi, viridesque Dei, quibus æquora curæ!
Utraque jam vestras sistite turba minas.
Quamque dedit vitam mitissima Cæsaris ira,
Hanc sinite infelix in loca jussa feram,
Si quam promerui pœnam me pendere vultis ;
Culpa mea est ipso judice morte minor.
Mittere me Stygias si jam voluisset ad undas
Cæsar; in hoc vestrâ non eguisset ope.

Est illi nostri non invidiosa cruoris

Copia; quodque dedit, cùm volet, ipse feret, Vos modo, quos certè nullo puto crimine læsos, Contenti nostris, Dì, precor, este malis. Nec tamen ut cuncti miserum servare velitis, Quod periit, salvum jam caput esse potest. Ut mare considat, ventisque ferentibus utar; Ut mihi parcatis; num minùs exsul ero? Non ego divitias avidus sine fine parandi

Latum mutandis mercibus æquor aro: Nec peto, quas petii quondam studiosus, Athenas; Oppida non Asiæ, non loca visa priùs. Non ut, Alexandri claram delatus in urbem, Delicias videam, Nile jocose, tuas. Quòd faciles opto ventos, (quis credere possit ?) Sarmatis est tellus, quam mea vota petunt. Obligor, ut tangam lævi fera litora Ponti; Quodque sit à patria tam fuga tarda, queror. Nescio quo videam positos ut in orbe Tomitas, Exilem facio per mea vota viam.

Oh! if you love me, be these billows check'd,
And let your heav'nly pow'rs our ship protect:
If more you hate, convey me where I'm sent,
That coast forms part of my hard punishment.
Bear hence, (what ask I now?) ye rapid gales,
My bark: why see Ausonia's shores my sails?
Cæsar forbids: why stop his exile's race?
Allow the Pontic realms to see my face.
He orders, and I have deserv'd my flight;
Nor I esteem it reverent, or right,
Defending to uphold the acts, that he
Condemn'd as crimes by his supreme decree.

Yet if gods ne'er mistake man's deeds below,
Crime was far distant from my fault you know;
Yes this you know; if error then inclin'd
My way, and weak, not wicked, was my mind;
If I, although among the least around,
Firmly devoted to his house was found;
If ev'ry sanction of a law's decree,
The mandate of Augustus had to me;
If bless'd I call'd the age his sceptre sway'd;
Zealous for him and his the incense laid;
If thus my soul inclin'd, ye gods, then save;
If not, be this head whelm'd by some vast wave.
Am I deceiv'd? Do the big clouds decrease?
And does chang'd Ocean's conquer'd fury cease?
Not chance, but you, whom none can cheat, im-
plor'd

On truth's condition, this relief afford."

Seu me diligitis, tantos compescite fluctus;
Pronaque sint nostræ numina vestra rati:
Seu magis odistis, jussæ me advertite terræ.
Supplicii pars est in regione mei.
Ferte (quid hic facio?) rapidi mea carbasa venti.
Ausonios fines cur mea vela vident?
Noluit hoe Cæsar: quid, quem fugat ille, tenetis?
Adspiciat vultus Pontica terra meos.

Et jubet, et merui. Nec, quæ damnaverit ille,
Crimina defendi jusve piumve puto.

Si tamen acta Deos nunquam mortalia fallunt; A culpâ facinus scitis abesse meâ.

Immò ita; vos scitis. Si me meus abstulit error,
Stultaque mens nobis, non scelerata fuit:
Quamlibet è minimis, domui si favimus illi;

Si satis Augusti publica jussa mihi;
Hoc Duce si dixi felicia sécula; proque
Cæsare tura pius Cæsaribusque dedi:
Si fuit hic animus nobis; ita parcite, Divi.

Sin minùs; alta cadens obruat unda caput.
Fallor? an incipiunt gravida vanescere nubes,
Victaque mutati frangitur ira maris?
Non casus, sed vos sub conditione vocati,

Fallere quos non est, hanc mihi fertis opem."

"Pierc'd by the hawk's sharp claws, the pigeon fears

At the least rustling of the wing she hears;
Nor, from the rav'ning wolf's jaws snatch'd
away,

Far from the sheepfold dares the lambkin stray;
Phaeton, did he live, would heav'n avoid,
Nor touch the steeds he, foolish, long'd to guide;
I too confess, their fury taught to prove,
That I feel terror at the arms of Jove;
And when he thunders, think his pow'rful ire,
Pursuing seeks me with revengeful fire."

"Terretur minimo pennæ stridore columba,
Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis.
Nec procul à stabulis audet secedere, si qua
Excussa est avidi dentibus agna lupi.
Vitaret coelum Phaethon, si viveret ; et quos
Optârat stultè, tangere nollet equos.
Me quoque, quæ sensi, fateor, Jovis arma timere:
Me reor infesto, cùm tonat, igne peti."

"Thus she exclaim'd, thus had exclaim'd before,

And yielding to my int'rest, scarce gave o'er; Mournful I go, in squalid garb and slow, (If carried without fun'ral was to go,) And o'er my beard-spread face my mix'd locks flow.

She, they relate, deep grieving for my doom, Half lifeless, fainting, fell within her home; And as she rose, with hair by dust o'erspread, And mov'd her limbs from their cold earthy bed,

"Talia tentabat: sic et tentaverat antè :

Vixque dedit victas utilitate manus. Egredior (sive illud erat sine funere ferri) Squalidus immissis hirta per ora comis. Illa dolore gravis tenebris narratur obortis Semianimis mediâ procubuisse domo. Utque resurrexit, foedatis pulvere turpi

Crinibus, et gelidâ membra levavit humo;

plor'd,

And often call'd upon her ravish'd lord.

Not less her groans than if upon the pile,
Mine or her daughter's corpse she saw the while;
And wish'd to die, from feeling to be free,
Yet kept that feeling through regard for me.
Still may she live, since unrelenting fate
Has brought me to this lamentable state:
Still may she live, and constantly afford
Supporting aid to her far distant lord."

Elegy fourth, from the beginning.

"In ocean dips the keeper of the bear, And heaves th' expanded waters with his star; Still we reluctant cut the Ionian wave, But fear itself compels us to be brave. Ah me, swoln with what winds the billows sweep! How boil the sands, torn from their lowest deep! To mountains equall'd, dash the raging floods O'er prow and stern, and lash the painted gods; The pine frame cracks, the storm-struck cordage

moans,

The keel itself, with our disasters groans;
The cold pale mariners, betraying fear,
Drive in the conquer'd bark, not skilful steer."

Elegy fifth, from the 25th line.

"Sure as by fire the yellow gold is shown, So by adversity is friendship known : While fav'ring fortune's cheerful visage smiles, All flock about her wealth's unbroken piles, But quickly fly, soon as the thunders sound; Nor known to one is he, so lately found By bands of fond companions girt around. This, which I once from old examples drew, Is now perceiv'd in my own suff'rings true: Of num'rous friends, scarce two or three remain, Not mine the crowd, they were my fortune's train."

Elegy 6th, from the beginning.

"Clarius, the bard, not so his Lyde lov'd, Nor so attach'd to Battis Cöös prov'd, As you, my wife, dwell in this breast ador'd; Worthy a less distress'd, not better lord. Like a supporting beam you stay my fall, And if I yet am aught, you give it all. You are the cause that those who sought to share My wreck's remains, nor spoil'd nor stripp'd me bare.

As, famine driv'n, and ravening for gore, The wolf the guardless sheepfold lurks before, Or greedy vulture searches round to try If an unburied carcass he can spy:

So, midst my woes, some faithless wretch unknown,

Would, if permitted, on my stores have flown."

Nomen et erepti sæpe vocâsse viri: Nec gemuisse minùs, quàm si natæve meumve Vidisset structos corpus habere rogos: Et voluisse mori; moriendo ponere sensus : Respectuque tamen non posuisse mei. Vivat: et absentem quoniam sic fata tulerunt, Vivat, et auxilio sublevet usque suo."

"Tingitur Oceano custos Erymanthidos Ursa,
Equoreasque suo sidere turbat aquas:
Nos tamen Ionium non nostrâ findimus æquor
Sponte: sed audaces cogimur esse metu.
Me miserum, quantis increscunt æquora ventis ;
Erutaque ex imis fervet arena vadis !
Monte nec inferior proræ puppique recurvæ
Insilit, et pictos verberat unda Deos.
Pinea texta sonant: pulsi stridore rudentes:
Adgemit et nostris ipsa carina malis.
Navita confessus gelido pallore timorem
Jam sequitur victam, non regit arte, ratem."

"Scilicet ut fulvum spectatur in ignibus aurum,
Tempore sic duro est inspicienda fides.
Dum juvat, et vultu ridet Fortuna sereno ;
Indelibatas cuncta sequuntur opes.

At simul intonuit; fugiunt: nec noscitur ulli,
Agminibus comitum qui modò cinctus erat.
Atque hæc exemplis quondam collecta priorum,
Nunc mihi sunt propriis cognita vera malis.
Vix duo tresve mihi de tot superestis amici:
Cætera Fortunæ, non mea, turba fuit."

"Nec tantùm Clario Lyde dilecta poetæ,
Nec tantùm Coo Battis amata suo est:
Pectoribus quantùm tu nostris, Uxor, inhæres ;
Digna minùs misero, non meliore viro.
Te mea suppositâ veluti trabe fulta ruina est:

Siquid adhuc ego sum, muneris omne tui est.
Tu facis, ut spolium ne sim, neu nuder ab illis
Naufragii tabulas qui petiêre mei.
Utque rapax stimulante fame cupidusque cruoris
Incustoditum captat ovile lupus:

Aut ut edax vultur corpus circumspicit ecquod Sub nulla positum cernere possit humo:" Sic mea nescio quis, rebus malefidus acerbis, In bona venturus, si paterêre, fuit."

Elegy seventh, from the beginning.

"If you a semblance of my visage own, Strip from its locks the ivied bacchal crown; Graceful round joyous bards such honours spread, A garland is not suited to my head.

"Si quis habes nostris similes in imagine vultus;
Deme meis hederas Bacchia serta comis.
Ista decent lætos felicia signa poetas.
Temporibus non est apta corona meis.

Upon your finger bear me and re-bear,
Feign not to understand, yet in your breast
You feel the mandate is to you address'd.

Holding my image in pale gold's embrace, You, as you can, view the dear exile's face, And think perhaps, oft as you view, to say, How far from us our Naso is away.

Priz'd is your fondness, but my image shines A much superior likeness in my lines, Which, of whatever sort they prove, proceed, I charge you, in our friendships name, to read." Elegy eighth, from the 29th line.

"Who was I, if not he to you allied By festal boards, strong ties, and love long tried; Whose serious and whose gay at large you knew, As I the gay and grave that chequer'd you ?

Have these to ocean winds all vainly pass'd?
All been borne off, in Lethe's waters cast?
In gentle Rome I do not judge thee bred,
That city which my foot not now dares tread,
But midst the rocks of Pontus' left-hand strands,
And Scythia's mountain-wilds, and with Sarma-
tic bands.

Offlint are form'd your heart's surrounding veins;
Imbedded iron your hard breast contains:
And she a tigress was, the nurse that plac'd
Her swelling dugs for your young palate's taste."

Elegy ninth, from the 15th line.

"For ever false may these appear to you,
Yet my experience must confess them true.
While standing firm, my dwelling, widely known.
Although not splendid, crowds enough could own;
But when the stroke descended on its height,
All at the threaten'd ruin took affright,
And turn'd their cautious backs in common flight.
No wonder that those dreadful bolts they fear,
Whose fires are seen to blast each stander near."

Elegy tenth, from the beginning.
"I have a bark to urge along her way,
The ward, (and may she so remain I pray,)
Of yellow-hair'd Minerva's guarding cares;
And from a painted casque her name she bears.
If needing sails, with the least breeze she flies;
If oars, by rowers' aid her progress plies;
Nor in the rapid course content t' outstrip
Her mates, but gains each previous-parted ship;
Bears well the surge, far-rolling ocean braves,
Nor gape her seams when lash'd by raging
waves."