Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020...11:23 amChris Francese

Penelope to Odysseus, part 3 (Ovid, Heroides 1.75-116)

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This is the third and last episode on Heroides 1. 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/

Penelope imagines that Odysseus, who has the same desires as most men, might have taken up with another woman and is now describing Penelope to this other woman in unflattering terms.

haec ego dum stultē metuō, quae vestra libīdō est,                            75

esse peregrīnō captus amōre potes.

forsitan et nārrēs, quam sit tibi rūstica coniūnx,

quae tantum lānās nōn sinat esse rudēs.

fallar, et hoc crīmen tenuēs vānēscat in aurās,

nēve, revertendī līber, abesse velīs!                                                             80

Mē pater Īcarius viduō discēdere lectō

cōgit et immēnsās increpat usque morās.

increpet usque licet—tua sum, tua dīcar oportet;

Pēnelope coniūnx semper Ulixis erō.

ille tamen pietāte meā precibusque pudīcīs                                                85

frangitur et vīrēs temperat ipse suās.

 

Only now does she get around to mentioning the suitors, whose dining and carrying in the home of Odysseus is the major cause of the crisis in the Odyssey. 

Dūlichiī Samiīque et quōs tulit alta Zacynthōs,

turba ruunt in mē luxuriōsa procī,

inque tuā rēgnant nūllīs prohibentibus aulā;

vīscera nostra, tuae dīlacerantur opēs.                                                90

quid tibi Pīsandrum Polybumque Medontaque dīrum

Eurymachīque avidās Antinoīque manūs

atque aliōs referam, quōs omnēs turpiter absēns

ipse tuō partīs sanguine rēbus ālis?

Īrus egēns pecorisque Melanthius āctor[1] edendī                                95

ultimus accēdunt in tua damna pudor.

 

The letter ends with anxiety: first that Odysseus’ loyal family and servants are unequal to the task of fending off the suitors, and then, at the very last line as a surprise, worry that she is growing old in his absence. 

Trēs sumus inbellēs numerō, sine vīribus uxor

Lāertēsque senex Tēlemachusque puer.

ille per īnsidiās paene est mihi nūper adēmptus,

dum parat invītīs omnibus īre Pylon.                                                       100

dī, precor, hoc iubeant, ut euntibus ōrdine fātīs

ille meōs oculōs conprimat, ille tuōs!

hāc[2] faciunt cūstōsque boum longaevaque nūtrīx,

tertius inmundae cūra fidēlis harae;

sed neque Lāertēs, ut quī sit inūtilis armīs,                                              105

hostibus in mediīs rēgna tenēre valet[3]

Tēlemachō veniet, vīvat modo, fortior aetās;

nunc erat auxiliīs illa tuenda patris—

nec mihi sunt vīrēs inimīcōs pellere tēctīs.

tū citius veniās, portus et ara tuīs!                                                       110

est tibi sitque, precor, nātus, quī mollibus annīs

in patriās artēs ērudiendus erat.

respice Lāertēn; ut tū sua lūmina condās,

extrēmum fātī sustinet ille diem.

Certē ego, quae fueram tē discēdente puella,                                            115

prōtinus ut veniās, facta vidēbor anus.

 

[1] actor Gς edd.: auctor Eω

[2] hac Tyrrel Knox Loeb: haec Egς: hoc ς

[3] valet Eς Plan. Knox: potest Gω Loeb

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