Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, Oedipus

restagnat umor frigore aeterno rigens;

water stands in pools, stiff with everlasting cold;

limosa pigrum circumit fontem palus.

a muddy marsh surrounds the sluggish spring.

Huc ut sacerdos intulit senior gradum,

When the aged priest set foot in this place,

haut est moratus: praestitit noctem locus,

he did not delay: the place supplied the night.

tum effossa tellus, et super rapti rogis

Then the earth was dug out, and on it, snatched from pyres,

iaciuntur ignes, ipse funesto integit

fires are thrown; the seer himself covers his body

vates amictu corpus et frondem quatit,

in a funereal mantle, and shakes a bough;

lugubris imos palla perfundit pedes,

a mourning robe flows down over his feet;

squalente cultu maestus ingreditur senex,

in squalid dress the grim old man advances;

mortifera canam taxus adstringit comam.

death-bearing yew binds his white hair.

nigro bidentes vellere atque atrae boves

Sheep of black fleece and dark cattle

intro trahuntur, flamma praedatur dapes,

are dragged inside; the flame preys on the offerings,

vivumque trepidat igne ferali pecus,

and the living beasts quiver in the funeral fire.

vocat inde manes teque qui manes regis

Then he calls the shades, and you who rule the shades,

" et obsidentem claustra Lethaei lacus,

and him who keeps the barriers of the Lethaean lake;

carmenque magicum volvit et rabido minax

he rolls over a magic chant, and, menacing, with raving

decantat ore quicquid aut placat leves

mouth sings out whatever either appeases the flitting

aut cogit umbras; sanguinem libat focis

shades or compels them; he pours blood on the altars

solidasque pecudes urit et multo specum

and burns the beasts whole, and with much gore

saturat cruore; libat et niveum insuper

soaks the cave; he pours as well the snowy

lactis liquorem, fundit et Bacchum manu

liquid of milk, and pours out wine with his left

laeva canitque rursus ac terram intuens

hand, and chants again, and, gazing at the ground,

graviore manes voce et attonita citat.

summons the shades with a deeper, frenzied voice.

latravit Hecates turba; ter valles cavae

Hecate's pack barked; three times the hollow valleys

sonuere maestum, tota succusso solo

rang mournfully; the whole earth, its ground shaken,

pulsata tellus. 'audior' vates ait,

was struck. “I am heard,” says the seer,

'rata verba fudi: rumpitur caecum chaos

“I have poured out words that take effect: blind chaos bursts open,

iterque populis Ditis ad superos datur'

and a way to the upper world is given to the peoples of Dis.”

subsedit omnis silva et erexit comas,

The whole wood sank down and raised its leafy hair,

duxere rimas robora et totum nemus

the oaks split with cracks, and the whole grove

concussit horror, terra se retro dedit

shook with dread; the earth drew back

gemuitque penitus: sive temptari abditum

and groaned deep within: whether hidden Acheron

Acheron profundum mente non aequa tulit,

took it ill that its depths were probed,

sive ipsa tellus, ut daret functis viam,

or the earth itself, to give the dead a way,

compage rupta sonuit; aut ira furens

crashed as its frame burst; or, raging with anger,

triceps catenas Cerberus movit graves.

three-headed Cerberus shook his heavy chains.

subito dehiscit terra et immenso sinu

Suddenly the earth gapes, and, loosened in a vast

laxata patuit— ipse torpentes lacus

chasm, lay open. I myself saw the sluggish lakes

vidi inter umbras, ipse pallentes deos

among the shades, I myself the pale gods

noctemque veram; gelidus in venis stetit

and true night; ice-cold in my veins the blood stood still

haesitque sanguis, saeva prosiluit cohors

and stuck fast. A savage band sprang forth,

et stetit in armis omne vipereum genus,

and the whole viper-born race stood in arms,

fratrum catervae dente Dircaeo satae.

the troops of brothers sown from the Dircaean tooth.

tum torva Erinys sonuit et caecus Furor

Then grim Erinys shrieked, and blind Frenzy

Horrorque et una quicquid aeternae creant

and Horror, and all that the eternal darkness

celantque tenebrae: Luctus avellens comam

breeds and hides: Grief tearing out her hair,

aegreque lassum sustinens Morbus caput,

and Disease, barely holding up her weary head,

gravis Senectus sibimet et pendens Metus

Old Age, a burden to herself, and hovering Fear,

avidumque populi Pestis Ogygii malum.

and Plague, the greedy bane of the Ogygian people.

nos liquit animus, ipse quae ritus senis

Our courage left us; she herself who knew the old man's rites

artesque norat stupuit, intrepidus parens

and arts was stunned; the father, undaunted

audaxque damno convocat Ditis feri

and made bold by his loss, summons the bloodless crowd

exangue vulgus, ilico ut nebulae leves

of fierce Dis. At once, like light mists,

volitant et auras libero caelo trahunt.

they flit about and breathe the air of the open sky.

non tot caducas educat frondes Eryx

Eryx does not bring forth so many falling leaves,

nec vere flores Hybla tot medio creat,

nor does Hybla make so many flowers in mid-spring,

cum examen arto nectitur densum globo,

when the swarm is knit into a dense, tight ball,

fluctusque non tot frangit Ionium mare,

nor does the Ionian sea break so many waves,

nec tanta gelidi Strymonis fugiens minas

nor do so many birds, fleeing the threats of icy Strymon,

permutat hiemes ales et caelum secans

exchange winters and, cutting through the sky,

tepente Nilo pensat Arctoas nives

trade northern snows for the warm Nile,

quot ille populos vatis eduxit sonus.

as the peoples that the seer's voice drew forth.

avide latebras nemoris umbrosi petunt

Eagerly they seek the hiding places of the shady grove,

animae trementes.; primus emergit solo,

the trembling souls; first from the ground emerges,