Gaius Valerius Flaccus Quotes

“The Latmian hunter rests in the summer shade, fit lover for a goddess, and soon the Moon comes with veiled horns.”
Latmius aestiva residet venator in umbra dignus amore deae, velatis cornibus et iam Luna venit.

“Their words were spoken to the breezes nor swayed appointed fate.”
Dicta dabant ventis nec debita fata movebant.

“[A cave] that trembled with the roaring of the deep.”
Sonitu tremebunda profundi.

“Their fear deepened with the night as they beheld the face of the heavens turning and the mountains and all places rapt from view and all around thick darkness. The very stillness of Nature, the silent constellations in the heavens, the firmament starred with streaming meteors filled them with fear. And as a traveller by night overtaken in some unknown spot upon the road keeps ear and eye alert, while the darkening landscape to left and right and trees looming up with shadows strangely huge do but make heavier the terrors of night, even so the heroes quailed.”
Auxerat hora metus, iam se vertentis Olympi ut faciem raptosque simul montesque locosque ex oculis circumque graves videre tenebras. ipsa quies rerum mundique silentia terrent astraque et effusis stellatus crinibus aether; ac velut ignota captus regione viarum noctivagum qui carpit iter non aure quiescit, non oculis, noctisque metus niger auget utrimque campus et occurrens umbris maioribus arbor, haud aliter trepidare viri.

“Away with scruple in adversity!”
Rebus semper pudor absit in artis.

“Go now, go, but forget not the land that first folded you to its peaceful bosom; and from Colchis' conquered shores bring back hither thy sails, I pray thee, by this Jason whom thou leavest in my womb.”
I, memor i terrae, quae vos amplexa quieto prima sinu, refer et domitis a Colchidos oris vela per hunc utero quem linquis Iasona nostro.

“Are they heroes or mere dreamers?”

“Fruitlessly doth he groan, beholding the face of the Colchian maid; then over all the mountain pain contracts his limbs, and all his fetters shake beneath her sickle.”
Gemit inritus ille Colchidos ora tuens. totos tunc contrahit artus monte dolor cunctaeque tremunt sub falce catenae.

“But Juno and the virgin daughter of supreme Jove were sharing heart to heart their inmost counsels and distracting cares.”
At Iuno et summi virgo Iovis intima secum consilia et varias sociabant pectore curas.

“Just as at first the South wind makes gentle sport as it softly stirs the leaves and topmost branches of the woodland, but soon the unlucky ships are feeling all its terrible strength.”
Velut ante comas ac summa cacumina silvae lenibus adludit flabris levis Auster, at illum protinus immanem miserae sensere carinae.

“Where still the branches guarded the skin of ruddy hue, like to illumined cloud or to Iris when she ungirds her robe and glides to meet glowing Phoebus.”
Cuius adhuc rutilam servabant bracchia pellem, nubibus accensis similem aut cum veste recincta labitur ardenti Thaumantias obvia Phoebo.

“But Medea in her chamber, trembling and terror-struck now at what she has done, is encompassed by all her father's threatening rage.”
At trepidam in thalamis et iam sua facta paventem Colchida circa omnes pariter furiaeque minaeque patris habent.

“Hereupon Juno and Pallas leap sheer down from the sky upon the rocks; this one the daughter of Jove, that one his spouse constrains.”
Hic Iuno praecepsque ex aethere Pallas insiliunt pariter scopulos: hunc nata coercet, hunc coniunx Iovis.

“And takes forth a Caucasian herb, of potency sure beyond all others, sprung of the gore that dropped from the liver of Prometheus, and grass wind-nurtured, fostered and strengthened by that blood divine among snows and grisly frosts.”
Et, qua sibi fida magis vis nulla, Prometheae florem de sanguine fibrae promit nutritaque gramina monti, quae sacer ille nives inter tristesque pruinas durat alitque cruor.

“[Medea] looked toward the gates and found him still even as he went; and alas! as he departed still comelier seemed the stranger to the lovelorn girl: such shoulders, such frame doth he leave to her remembrance.”
Respexit que fores et adhuc invenit euntem, visus et heu miserae tunc pulchrior hospes amanti discedens; tales umeros, ea terga relinquit.

“Even as the light that shifts and plays upon a lake, when Cynthia looks forth from heaven or the bright wheel of Phoebus in mid course passes by, so doth he shed a gleam upon the waters; he heeds not the shadow of the Nymph or her hair or the sound of her as she rises to embrace him. Greedily casting her arms about him, as he calls, alack! too late for help and utters the name of his mighty friend, she draws him down; for her strength is aided by his falling weight.”
Stagna vaga sic luce micant ubi Cynthia caelo prospicit aut medii transit rota candida Phoebi, tale iubar diffundit aquis: nil umbra comaeque turbavitque sonus surgentis ad oscula nymphae. illa avidas iniecta manus heu sera cientem auxilia et magni referentem nomen amici detrahit, adiutae prono nam pondere vires.

“Her eyes brimful to the verge of weeping.”
Ad primos turgentia lumina fletus.

“As they toil they are whirled round by a furious wave.”
Unda laborantes praeceps rotat.

“Why feel I so for him, whether he master his toils, or whether he fall?”
Quid me autem sic ille movet, superetne labores an cadat?

“Strikes his echoing lyre, singing the while, and bequeaths a name to the sands.”
Percutit ore lyram nomenque relinquit harenis.

“At the same time welcome Night brings on the star-heralding shadows.”
Nox simul astriferas profert optabilis umbras.

“One who mocked Jove's ardent wooing, unmoved by heavenly suitors; not Halys only or Apollo were deceived by the trickery of the nymph they loved.”
Blandos que Iovis quae luserat ignes caelicolis immota procis: deceptus amatae fraude deae nec solus Halys nec solus Apollo.

“Idmon, Phoebus' son,… to him the Father gave by his ordinance the foreknowledge of omens divine, whether he inquired of flames or close-viewed entrails smooth, or of the air thick with fowls that cannot lie.”
Phoebeius Idmon, ... cui genitor tribuit monitu praenoscere divum omina, seu flammas seu lubrica comminus exta seu plenum certis interroget aera pinnis.

“The whole landscape flashes while the hero now wraps about his body the fleece with its starry tufts of hair, now shifts it to his neck, now folds it upon his left arm.”
Micat omnis ager villisque comantem sidereis totos pellem nunc fundit in artus, nunc in colla refert, nunc implicat ille sinistrae.

“My song is of the straits first navigated by the mighty sons of gods, of the prophetic ship that dared to seek the shores of Scythian Phasis, that burst unswerving through the clashing rocks, to slink at length to rest in the starry firmament.”
Prima deum magnis canimus freta pervia natis fatidicamque ratem, Scythici quae Phasidis oras ausa sequi mediosque inter iuga concita cursus rumpere flammifero tandem consedit Olympo.

“And now the high crest sinks, now the head is nodding overpowered and the huge neck has slipped from around the fleece it guarded, like refluent Po or Nile that sprawls in seven streams or Alpheus when his waters enter the Hesperian world.”
Iamque altae cecidere iubae nutatque coactum iam caput atque ingens extra sua vellera cervix ceu refluens Padus aut septem proiectus in amnes Nilus et Hesperium veniens Alpheos in orbem.

“The other, his brow heavy with threats, had long been muttering and smouldering with hidden fire.”
Talibus orantem vultu gravis ille minaci iamdudum premit et furiis ignescit opertis.

“Just as a vessel caught by the Pleiads on the foaming deep and kept safe only by its anxious helmsman’s care cleaves unharmed the sea that contending winds make boisterous, so Pollux warily watches the blows.”
Spumanti qualis in alto Pliade capta ratis, trepidi quam sola magistri cura tenet, rapidum ventis certantibus aequor intemerata secat, Pollux sic providus ictus servat.

“Polyxo, the priestess beloved of Phoebus.”
Vates Phoebo dilecta Polyxo.

“The hero withdrew and betook himself for a space to his companions, waiting.”
Cessit et ad socios paulum se rettulit heros opperiens.

“No love have they for the slain king; swiftly they hie them to the mountains and the forests.”
Nullus adempti regis amor: montem celeres silvamque capessunt.

“The spray falls in a rain and from afar shrouds the vessel in a watery deluge.”
Effluit imber spumeus et magno puppem procul aequore vestit.

“His bow, a light burden for glad shoulders, the boy Hylas bears.”
Tela puer facilesque umeris gaudentibus arcus gestat Hylas.

“But on her side the Colchian ceases not to foam with hellish poisons and to sprinkle all the silences of Lethe's bough: exerting her spells she constrains his reluctant eyes, exhausting all her Stygian power of hand and tongue.”
Contra Tartareis Colchis spumare venenis cunctaque Lethaei quassare silentia rami perstat et adverso luctantia lumina cantu obruit atque omnem linguaque manuque fatigat vim Stygiam.

“Not by hazard are ye come; divine fate, I ween, hath brought you to my shores.”
Haud temere est, fato divum reor ad mea vectos litora vos.

“Then once more comes deep grief to their hearts, when he comrades sat in their places and no lion's hide was there to see, but the empty seat upon that mighty thwart. Loyal Aeacides weeps, the heart of Philoctetes is sad, brother Pollux with his dear Castor makes lament. The ship is flying fast, and still all cry "Hercules," all cry "Hylas," but the names are lost in the middle of the sea.”
Hic vero ingenti repetuntur pectora luctu, ut socii sedere locis nullaeque leonis exuviae tantique vacant vestigia transtri. flet pius Aeacides, maerent Poeantia corda, ingemit et dulci frater cum Castore Pollux. omnis adhuc vocat Alciden fugiente carina, omnis Hylan, medio pereunt iam nomina ponto.

“She can find in her bewilderment no words wherewith to begin, how to order or where to end her speech; fain would she pour out all in her first utterance, but not even the first words doth fear-stricken shame allow her.”
Nec quibus incipiat demens videt ordine nec quo quove tenus, prima cupiens effundere voce omnia, sed nec prima pudor dat verba timenti.

“They ravage and sweep away my banquet, and befoul and upset the cups, there is a violent stench and a sorry battle arises, for the monsters are as famished as I. What all have scorned or polluted with their touch, or what has fallen from their filthy claws, helps me to linger thus among the living.”
Diripiunt verruntque dapes foedataque turbant pocula, saevit odor surgitque miserrima pugna parque mihi monstrisque fames. sprevere quod omnes pollueruntque manu quodque unguibus excidit atris has mihi fert in luce moras.

“Thus much, Samothrace, has the poet proclaimed thee to the nations and the light of day; there stay, and let us keep our reverence for holy mysteries.”
Hactenus in populos vati, Samothraca, diem que missa mane sacrisque metum servemus opertis.

“But lo! the girl, like a frightened dove, that caught in the vast shadow of a hawk falls trembling on some man, no matter who he be, so doth she fling herself into his arms driven by strong fear.”
Ecce autem pavidae virgo de more columbae quae super ingenti circumdata praepetis umbra in quemcumque tremens hominem cadit, haud secus illa acta timore gravi mediam se misit.

“He spoke, and unaware that fate was driving him on the path of tardy expiation, gives his arms for this last time to his attendants to bind with harness.”
Dixit et urgentis post saeva piacula fati nescius extremum hoc armis innectere palmas dat famulis.

“So in the midnight shadows of the grove did they two meet and draw nigh each other, awe-struck, like silent first or motionless cypresses, when the mad South wind hath not yet intertwined their boughs.”
Haud secus in mediis noctis nemoris que tenebris inciderant ambo attoniti iuxtaque subibant abietibus tacitis aut immotis cyparissis adsimiles, rapidus nondum quas miscuit Auster.

“Absyrtus in hot haste with his father's swift-assembled fleet draws nigh, and shakes a threatening torch at the escaping Greeks.”
Absyrtus subita praeceps cum classe parentis advehitur profugis infestam lampada Grais concutiens.

“Wilt thou pursue," she said, "or submit to aught that is shameful, when thou hast so many means of death and quick escape from a deed so wicked?”
<nowiki>'</nowiki>Tune sequeris' ait 'quidquam aut patiere pudendum cum tibi tot mortes scelerisque brevissima tanti effugia?

“For oft have the common people kindlier feelings.”
Melior vulgi nam saepe voluntas.

“Never, alas! can I elude them.”
Fallere quas nusquam misero locus.

“Through the hurrying rocks the brand with thin flame takes its flight.”
Illa volans tenui per concita saxa luce fugit.

“Then the Father from his starry citadel beholding these glorious deeds of the Greeks and how the mighty work went forward, is glad.”
Siderea tunc arce pater pulcherrima Graium coepta tuens tantamque operis consurgere molem laetatur.

“And sought by lot those who should bear him company to the Scythian town, and from the whole number nine were drawn.”
Et Scythicam qui se comitentur ad urbem sorte petit numeroque novem ducuntur ab omni.

“Meantime her sire was shuddering at the cruel news that reached his ear: the doom of his house, the mourning, his daughter's crafty flight.”
Interea patrias saevus venit horror ad aures fata domus luctumque ferens fraudemque fugamque virginis.

“Percutit ore lyram nomenque relinquit harenis.”