Sunday, June 9, 2019

Because the Night

Casta nec antiquis cedens Laevina Sabinis
et quamvis tetrico tristior ipsa viro
dum modo Lucrino, modo se permittit Averno,
et dum Baianis saepe fovetur aquis,
incidit in flammas: iuvenemque secuta relicto
coniuge Penelope venit, abit Helene.

Chaste, and not inferior to the old-world Sabines,
Straiter-laced, too, than her husband in his sternest mood,
Laevina, while she entrusted herself,
Now to the Lucrine lake and now to Avernus,
And was oft refreshed by the waters of Baiae,
Fell into flames.
She went after a youth, leaving a husband:
She arrived a Penelope and departed a Helen!

Martial, Epigrams, Book 1, LXII
English translation by Walter C. A. Ker

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