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Latin Text

Latin Text

Hi tamen ex merito poenas subiere, sed unus                   200
miles erat Persei, pro quo dum pugnat, Aconteus,
Gorgone conspecta saxo concrevit oborto.
Quem ratus Astyages etiamnum vivere, longo
ense ferit; sonuit tinnitibus ensis acutis.
Dum stupet Astyages, naturam traxit eandem                   205
marmoreoque manet vultus mirantis in ore.
Nomina longa mora est media de plebe virorum
dicere; bis centum restabant corpora pugnae,
Gorgone bis centum riguerunt corpora visa.
     Paenitet iniusti tum denique Phinea belli.                      210
Sed quid agat? Simulacra videt diversa figuris
agnoscitque suos et nomine quemque vocatum
poscit opem credensque parum sibi proxima tangit
corpora; marmor erant. Avertitur atque ita supplex
confessasque manus obliquaque bracchia tendens         215
“vincis” ait, “Perseu; remove tua monstra tuaeque
saxificos vultus, quaecumque est, tolle Medusae,
tolle, precor. Non nos odium regnique cupido
compulit ad bellum; pro coniuge movimus arma.
Causa fuit meritis melior tua, tempore nostra:                    220
non cessisse piget; nihil, o fortissime, praeter
hanc animam concede mihi, tua cetera sunto.”
Talia dicenti neque eum quem voce rogabat
respicere audenti “quod” ait, “timidissime” Perseus,
“et possum tribuisse et magnum est munus inerti,            225
(pone metum) tribuam: nullo violabere ferro.
Quin etiam mansura dabo monimenta per aevum,
inque domo soceri semper spectabere nostri,
ut mea se sponsi soletur imagine coniunx.”
Dixit et in partem Phorcynida transtulit illam,                     230
ad quam se trepido Phineus obverterat ore.
Tum quoque conanti sua vertere lumina cervix
deriguit saxoque oculorum induruit umor;
sed tamen os timidum vultusque in marmore supplex
submissaeque manus faciesque obnoxia mansit.             235

Notes on the Text

  • There are various differences in punctuation between the Latin Library and Tarrant OCT texts, all due to editorial decisions. These do not affect the meaning, and I chose to primarily use the Tarrant OCT punctuation with a few of my own edits.

  • There are various differences between the Latin Library and Tarrant OCT texts in ‘u’s and ‘v’s. These differences do not change the meaning of the words, and I chose to include ‘v’s to make reading the Latin easier. 

  • Line 212: adgnoscitque → agnoscitque. The reason for this change is due to alternate spellings of the same word. They do not offer different meanings.

  • Line 219: conpulit → compulit. The reason for this change is due to alternate spellings of the same word. They do not offer different meanings.

  • Line 224: Phineu → Perseus. The two possible word choices here provide slightly different meanings to the sentence. With “Phineu,” Perseus would refer to Phineus directly by name within his statement. With “Perseus,” it is still implied that he is talking to Phineus, but instead the text would refer by name that Perseus is the one doing the speaking, and he does not say his own name within the statement. This change, therefore, also affects the punctuation (quotation marks).

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