Tuesday, May 26th, 2020...10:47 amChris Francese

Penelope to Odysseus part 2 (Ovid, Heroides 1.37-74)

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If you love Ovid’s Heroides, consider joining Chun Liu (Professor of Comparative Literature at Peking University) and me at the Dickinson Summer Latin Workshop (online this year), July 15-20, 2020. http://blogs.dickinson.edu/dcc/2019/11/06/dickinson-summer-latin-workshop-ovid-heroides/

Omnia namque tuō senior tē quaerere missō

rettulerat nātō Nestor, at ille mihi.

rettulit et ferrō Rhēsumque Dolōnaque caesōs,

utque sit hic somnō prōditus, ille dolō.                                               40

ausus es—ō nimium nimiumque oblīte tuōrum!—

Thrācia nocturnō tangere castra dolō

totque simul mactāre virōs, adiūtus ab ūnō!

at bene cautus erās et memor ante meī!

usque metū micuēre sinūs, dum victor amīcum                                 45

dictus es īsse per agmen equīs.

 

Sed mihi quid prōdest vestrīs disiecta lacertīs

Īlios et, mūrus quod fuit, esse solum,

sī maneō, quālis Troiā dūrante manēbam,

virque mihi dēmptō fīne cārendus abest?                                                 50

dīruta sunt aliīs, ūnī mihi Pergama restant,

incola captīvō quae bove victor arat.

iam seges est, ubi Troia fuit, resecandaque falce

luxuriat Phrygiō sanguine pinguis humus;

sēmisepulta virum curvīs feriuntur arātrīs                                                  55

ossa, ruīnōsās occulit herba domōs.

victor abes, nec scīre mihi, quae causa morandī,

aut in quō lateās ferreus orbe, licet!

 

Quisquis ad haec vertit peregrīnam lītora puppim,

ille mihi dē tē multa rogātus abit,                                                                60

quamque tibi reddat, sī tē modo vīderit usquam,

trāditur huic digitīs charta notāta meīs.

nōs Pylon, antīquī Nēlēia Nestoris arva,

mīsimus; incertā est fāma remissa Pylō.

mīsimus et Spartēn; Spartē quoque nescia vērī.                                        65

quās habitās terrās, aut ubi lentus abes?

ūtilius stārent etiamnunc moenia Phoebī—

īrāscor vōtīs, heu, levis ipsa meīs!

scīrem ubi pugnārēs, et tantum bella timērem,

et mea cum multīs iūncta querēlā foret.                                                    70

quid timeam, ignōrō—timeō tamen omnia dēmēns,

et patet in cūrās ārea lāta meās.

quaecumque aequor habet, quaecumque perīcula tellus,

tam longae causās suspicor esse morae.

 

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