Catullus+64.158-183


 * Catullus 64.158-183**

//If our marriage had not been dear to you,//
 * si tibi non cordi fuerant conubia nostra,**

//because you were dreading savage precepts of a stern parent,//
 * saeva quod horrebas prisci praecepta parentis,**

//but yet you are able to lead me into your home,//
 * 160 attamen in vestras potuisti ducere sedes,**

//(I) who would serve you as a female slave with pleasant toil,//
 * quae tibi iucundo famularer serva labore,**

//caressing the white soles of the feet by means of clear spring water,//
 * candida permulcens liquidis vestigia lymphis,**

//or spreading your bed with the purple sheet.//
 * purpureave tuum consternens veste cubile.**

//But why should I bewail to the ignorant winds,//
 * sed quid ego ignaris nequiquam conqueror auris,**

//having been driven out of my mind by evil, which, endowed with no senses//,
 * 165 exsternata malo, quae nullis sensibus auctae**

//is able neither to hear nor to return uttered voices?//
 * nec missas audire queunt nec reddere voces?**

//He, however, now turns himself nearly in the middle of the waves,//
 * ille autem prope iam mediis versatur in undis,**

//and not any mortal appears in the empty algae.//
 * nec quisquam apparet vacua mortalis in alga.**

//Thus, mocking me too much at my last hour//,
 * sic nimis insultans extremo tempore saeva**

//savage fortune still refuses to grant its ears to my complaints.//
 * 170 fors etiam nostris invidit questibus auris.**

//Omnipotent Juppiter, would that the Cecropian ships//
 * Iuppiter omnipotens, utinam ne tempore primo**

//had not touched the Cretan shore in the first place,//
 * Gnosia Cecropiae tetigissent litora puppes,**

//nor that the unfaithful sailor, carrying the horrible tributes to the unrestrained bull,//
 * indomito nec dira ferens stipendia tauro**

//had tied his rope onto Crete,//
 * perfidus in Creta religasset navita funem,**

//nor that the evil guest had not rested//
 * 175 nec malus haec celans dulci crudelia forma**

//in our home, hiding these cruel plans with his sweet beauty!//
 * consilia in nostris requiesset sedibus hospes!**

//For where should I bring myself? On what kind of hope do I, destroyed, lean?//
 * nam quo me referam? quali spe perdita nitor?**

//Should i search for the Idean Mountains? But//
 * Idaeosne petam montes? at gurgite lato**

//seperating with a wide water, the fierce plain of the sea divides.// (Me from the Idean Mountains)
 * discernens ponti truculentum dividit aequor.**

//Or should I hope for the help of my father? Whom I myself left//
 * 180 an patris auxilium sperem? quemne ipsa reliqui**

//behind, having followed the young man sprinkled with brotherly blood?//
 * respersum iuvenem fraterna caede secuta?**

//Or should I console myself with the faithful love of a husband?//
 * coniugis an fido consoler memet amore?**

//Who flees bending pliant oars in the water?//
 * quine fugit lentos incurvans gurgite remos?**