Cui contra exilis respondit talibus umbra:
'I, quocunque vocant te fata et dira cupido;
Haud equidem procul errabo, cursumve morabor
Te duce; iam tali nares contingit odore
Halitus infandae caedis; praedaeque sapores,
Vivit ibi si quid mortalis seminis usquam,
Letique accipio dulces; istique labori
Haud ego deficiam, at pariter praesensque iuvabo.'
Dixerat; et gaudens foedum iam captat odorem
Terrigenumque luem: ceu quando ex aethere longe
Harpyiae, volucres avidae caedisque voraces,
Prospiciunt campos, si qua iam tutus in armis
Castra fovet miles; vivique adducta sapore
Sanguinis, et praedae cras haud ignara futurae,
Praescia turba cito stridentibus advolat alis.
Sic fera mors inhians patulis praecepit odorem
Naribus, obscurasque sagax se vertit ad auras,
Praescia iam praedae, quam sit longinqua, remotae.
Sleep, silence' child, sweet father of soft rest,
Prince, whose approach peace to all mortals brings,
Indifferent host to shepherds and to kings,
Sole comforter of minds with grief opprest;
Lo! by thy charming rod all breathing things
Lie slumbering, with forgetfulness possest,
And yet o'er me to spread thy drowsy wing
Thou spar'st, alas! who cannot be thy guest.
Since I am thine, O come, but with that face
To inward light, which thou art wont to show,
With fained solace ease a true felt woe;
Or if, deaf god, thou do deny that grace,
Come as thou wilt, and, what thou wilt, bequeath;
I long to kiss the image of my death.
Somne parens oti facilis subolesque silenti,
Rex, aditum cuius comitantur gaudia pacis
Omnibus, hospitium Croeso par, parque Menalcae
Das simul; insanos luctus tu solus amico
Auxilio mulcere potes, tu corda levare.
En magicum torques sceptrum, tum protenus omnes
Sopitos cohibent teneris oblivia vinclis.
A mihi! cur pennis, cur nos umbrare recusas
Somniferis? claudis cur nobis hospita tecta?
Cuncta tibi cedo; tamen huc accedere tardas.
Sume, precor, voltum, quo templa invisere mentis
Lucida saepe soles, falso ut solamine fallam
Haud falsas lacrimas. Munus tantum abnuis? Esto!
Talis non venies? At quavis, surde, figura
Advenias, quaevis tribuens mihi, mortis aventi
Amplecti speciem et vivo praesumere fatum.
Say not, the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain;
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars ;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, thro' creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light; In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly, But westward, look, the land is bright.
Ne timide hos questus Nil prosunt,' finge, 'labores;
Vanam operam passi, volnera vana, sumus: Num desunt vires hosti, num deficit ardor?
Iam fortuna eadem quae fuit ante manet.'
Falsae ut spes quondam sic nunc fortasse timores,
Atque, ubi non campum, nube tegente, vides,
Vestri ibi nunc hostem pellunt fortasse fugacem,
Tuque modo haud absis, prospera bella gerant.
Aequoris hic fessi nonne est labor inritus omnis?
Vix prorsum gressus ferre videntur aquae ;
At procul inrepunt freta per secreta sinusque,
Fluctibus et tacitis litora cuncta tenent.
Nec, reor, ad caelum qui stat conversus Eoum,
Uni huic apparet, sole oriente, iubar :
Si nimis ante oculos tardo pede surgit Apollo,
Hesperia en claro lumine terra nitet.
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