By Charles M. Sumid Copyright 2025

Sulpicia in Vergilian Epic Style

PROOEMIUM

Ardorem cano insignem fatumque puellae

Sulpiciae, quae prima dedit sua carmina Romae,

Quamque Venus flammis propriis animavit et ipsa

Influxere pares animi, furtimque per urbem

Impulit in iuvenem Cerinthum. Maxima Iuno

Obstitit, atque aliam voluit iuveni dare nympham,

Sed tandem superavit Amor Venerisque potestas.

Dic mihi, Musa, vias caelestes, numina, casus,

Quo fato iunxit teneris sua pectora vinclis

Nobilis et cultae puella poeta togae.

LIBER I: AMOR NASCENS

Urbs antiqua fuit, septem quam Roma per arces

Extollit, nomenque dedit Saturnia tellus.

Hic genus antiquum Servi, qui sanguine ab alto

Sulpicii veniunt; hic illi stirpe senili

Floruit in docta genitore puella superbo.

Virginibus non illa choris nec dedita lanae,

Sed Phoebo Musisque vacans, audacibus ausis

Carmina componens, quali non ulla priorum

Femina Romuleis metris modulata per urbem.

Hanc Venus aspiciens summo de vertice Olympi,

Indoluit talem frustra tabescere formam

Ingeniique simul divinam ardere favillam,

Nec dignos iuvenes sentire Cupidinis arcus.

“Nonne satis,” dixit, “nostrum mortalia nomen

Oblitae gentes? Nostraque in sede locavit

Se dea Virginitas? Ausim contendere certe!”

Sic fata, et gremio pulchrum Cytherea vocavit

Alatum puerum, cui blanda haec verba locuta est:

“Nate, meae vires, mea magna potentia solus,

Qui tela Typhoia temnis summique Tonantis,

Aspice quam pulchram Servio de sanguine natam,

Sulpiciam, quam nulla Venus, nullusque Cupido

Tangit adhuc. Nostros cultus contempsit et aras.

I, pete Romuleam, fidens, mea cura, per urbem;

Cerinthum iuvenem inspicies, qui gratus et ore

Et forma excellens omnes supereminet aequos.

Hunc face ut ardescens cupiat tenerisque medullis

Concipiat flammas nostraque in castra reducas!”

Dixit et aversus non est puer ille precanti,

Sed matris monitis celer ad fastigia Romae

Devolat exiguus, pallam mutatus in atram,

Ne qua hostis videat, neve intercepere possit.

Tecta petit Sulpiciae, quae forte sedebat

Sola domi, chartis studiumque intenta poesi.

Tunc leviter pharetram deponens, spicula prompsit

Aurea, quae certam portant sub arundine mortem

Dulcemque exitium et vitalia vulnera amoris.

Nec mora, contendit nervum, direxitque sagittam,

Quae volat et veniens imis in pectoris haesit.

Sensit acuta suo distillans cuspide virus

Sulpicia, ignoto percussa in corde furore.

Nescit quid sit amor, sed amat, languetque calescens,

Uritur, et caecis ardescit pectus in ignis.

Alma Venus ridens, “Iam prima est palma laboris,

Dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet,” ait. “At nunc

Cerinthum petito, quem dives Tuscia misit

Romuleos inter iuvenes, ut crescat et illum

Ignibus occulta stimules et saucius aeque

Exardescat amans, miseramque requiret amantem.”

LIBER II: CONSILIA DIVUM

Interea summo divum rex sede Tonantis

Concilium magnum convocarat, aethera complens

Voce potente Iovem, quo se super ardua caeli

Culmina collecti superi, sua quisque sedilia

Occupat ex merito. Tum sic exorsus ab alto:

“O superi, qui regna hominum, qui sidera caeli

Incolitis, nova bella paro. Ecce altera Troia

Surgit in Ausoniis et carmina magna Maronis

Progenerant alias flammas, nam blanda Dione

Nobile cor flammat vatisque incendit amorem.

Quid facimus? Paridem novus an Aeneia fata

Perturbare decet? Sententiam dicite vestram.”

Iuno prior solium divae de sede profatur:

“O genitor summe, quid nunc Venus improba tentat?

Nonne vides doctas Romae corrumpere mentes

Femineique novo violare pudoris honorem?

Haec Sulpicia Servi de sanguine nata

Nonne satis digna est melioris sorte mariti?

Cerintho, tusco iuveni qui nescius artis

Nec clarus bello nec avita laude decorus

Non meruit tales primos accendere amores.

Est mihi nota domus, sunt alta Palatia, ubi inter

Patricios iuvenes melior cui tradere possum

Virginis ingenium. Si quid mea numina possunt,

Si quid adhuc regnum superest Iunonis in orbe,

Hos vetito nexus, iuveni paro nobiliori!”

Cui Venus arridens, oculisque in coniuge fixis:

“Quid tantum obfuerit miseros coniungere amantes?

Nobilis est iuvenis tusca de gente Cerinthus;

Ingenio praestans; forma laudandus et ore.

Hanc Amor elegit sortem, qui ludit in orbe

Et domitare solet divos hominesque superbos.

Non nostrum est mutare vias fatique catenas

Rumpere nec stabilem Parcarum vertere legem.

Te quoque, magna soror, coniunx fratremque Tonantis,

Cessisti flammis et amasti saepe, fatendum est.”

Iuppiter in medio ridens, “Ea cura quietos

Sollicitat?” dixit. “Mortalia pectora quantas

Concipitis flammas! Superis sua bella geruntur

Nec meminisse placet quotiens ardescimus ambo.

Sed fatum est quodcumque volo. Decernere certum est:

Libera sit Sulpicia et quemcumque illa cupito

Accipiat iuvenem; sed non sine vulnere amoris

Cerinthus pariter sentit distantia quantum

Patricios inter iuvenis tuscumque poetam.

Probamur!” Tonuit laeva de parte serena.

LIBER III: INFELIX MORBUS

Nulla quies sequitur Sulpiciam atque integra nocte

Versat amor solitae confundens murmura mentis.

Nunc huc, nunc illuc, diversaque vulnera sentit;

Absens nunc Cerinthum quaerit, nunc odit eundem;

Incerta est quid vult et adhuc nova vulnera nescit.

Interea, Iuno non oblita dolosa priorum,

Evocat e nocte Morbum Febremque cruentam,

Pallentesque Metus, Maciem, tristemque Senectam.

“Ite, deae comites,” dixit, “Roma petite urbem,

Illic Sulpiciam, Servi de sanguine natam,

Corporis arripite et languentia membra gravate,

Ut discat, nimium quae se formosa putavit,

Cedere numinibus nostris. Sententia fixa est!”

Nocte volant, tectisque petunt penetralia nigris

Sulpiciae. Sopor altus erat, cum languida membra

Invadit Febris, tremuloque infundit in ossa

Ignem perniciosum. Oculis nox ingruit atris,

Frigidus artus occupat sudor, coma madida pendet.

Vix matutinos Sulpicia languida soles

Aspicit, vix se strato convolvit in alto.

“Heu, quae sors miseram me nunc circumdare visa est?

Quae nova tam subito veniens me corripit aegram?

Di superi, miserere, precor, si carmina vobis

Grata cecini, si thura piis adolevi in aris!”

Sic fatur, strato recubans miseranda puella.

*[Ad avunculum Messalam aegrota scribit]*

“Estne tibi, Messala, meae tibi cura puellae?

An quia tam longe est, absentem nullus amici

Sermo movet? Venias, precor, o succurrere pronus,

Nam mihi nulla quies, corpus grave, languida membra,

Deseruit color ora, fugit de corpore sanguis.

Quid iuvat agricolae vires celebrare triumphum,

Morborum si nulla manet clementia divis?

Quin potius mecum lacrimis consumere tempus,

Assideas aegrae, solatia ferre roganti!”

Triste vacat thalamis, lacrimant servique domusque;

Roma frequens gemitus fundit, iam fama per urbem

Spargitur, infestis Parcas urgere puellis

Iunonemque novam statuisse exstinguere vatem.

“Quid moror?” exclamat Cerinthus. “Carior ille

Est mihi quam vita! Pereat vel nomen et omnis

Fama domus, peream vel funditus, alma nisi illam

Assidue videam. Mihi praeripit ardor amantis

Consilium, superosque omnes deosque fatigans

Exigo ne rapiant tam dulcem morte puellam.”

Sic fatus, tectis celer evolat, ardua Romae

Culmina transcendit, animo praesagiente futura

Limina Sulpiciae properat. Iamque adstitit ante

Valvas marmoreas; pulsat, petit intima tecta.

LIBER IV: CERTAMEN DEORUM

Talia dum geruntur in terris, Venus aurea caelum

Aspicit et natum blande compellat Amorem:

“Cernis ut insidiis nostros Saturnia amores

Corripuit, morbumque tulit languore gravatum

Sulpiciae, quam nobis primo sub arundine vatis

Affixisti nuper? Non haec promissa, nec isto

Pensabat studio nostrum immortale favorem.

Surge, age, nate. Nova est nobis temptanda laborum

Forma; Aesculapium quaere et medicamina poscat

Quae valeant morbos depellere numine nostro.

Sic Sulpicia vivet, sic nostra potentia crescet

Exemplis variis, homines superosque docendo

Quid Venus, et quae sit divini gloria amoris.”

Nec mora. Delapsus campo Cythereius ales

Iussa peragit, medicumque deum Paeana requirit.

Quem procul invenit Epidauri in valle sedentem,

Herbasque explorat varias, quae littora circum

Aut nemora aut fontes habitant, virtute medendi

Nobile praesidium. Medicorum maximus ille,

“Quid nunc, parvus Amor? quaenam tua tanta cupido

Ipseque te nobis offers, qui vulnera semper

Irremediata facis, nulli sananda magistro?”

Cui puer alatus: “Non nunc certamina verbis

Sunt mihi, Phoebigena; est aliud quod numen adorat.

Inclyta Sulpicia, Servi de sanguine nata,

Morbo odioque Deae supremae languet in urbe.

Si quid adhuc medicae superest tibi gentis honoris,

Si quid Apollineae manet admirabile laudis,

Hanc servare potes. Pharetram tibi trado sagittis

Plenam, ut corde tuo quaecumque latentia tangas

Pharmaca, securus. Ne, quaeso, repelle precantem!”

“Magna petis,” respondit ei Paeana sacerdos.

“Contra Iunonis mihi tendere numina non est

Consilium prudentis. At est mihi forte magistra,

Filia natarum, Panaceia, quae mihi primum

Arte sua praestans, medicaminis utilis herbas

Novit et affectus varios sanare dolentum.”

Nec mora. Discedunt ambo, perque aera vectus

Delapsusque capit Romans colles, ubi blanda

Illa domo iacet, et languent sine sanguine vultus.

Quam sic affatur: “Ne time, bellissima vatum,

Candida Sulpicia, luctus depone, dolorem!

Paeonis ipse venit proles, Epidaurius heros,

Consilioque potens, et salvam restituet te!

Vive, precor, reditumque para ad carmina cantu.”

 LIBER V: SALUS ET FELICITAS

Ergo ubi pervenit medicorum maximus ille,

Constitit ante torum, manibusque silentia fecit.

“Phoebe pater, Paean, herbis qui gramina vincis,

Da facilem cursum, atque audacibus annue coeptis!”

Pulcher Apollo favet precibus, capitique Cerinthus

Assidet, et lacrimans aegram sustentat amatam.

Tum dictamnum, cretaea in valle repertum,

Panaceamque potens et odoriferum panaceam

Ambrosiae succos et odoriferam amaracum

Permiscens, liquidumque simul cum nectare rorem,

Spargit in ora piae: Venas vitalibus auris

Talis odor complet, subitoque vigoribus artus

Restituuntur ovans, redeunt in pristina vires.

Admirans iuvenis tanta miracula cemit.

At Venus ex alto, caelestia limina caeli

Aurea prospiciens, ridet; comitesque Cupido

Plaudit, et Aesculapio sic murmure fatur:

“Macte nova virtute, senex! Tibi munera digna

Persolvam, nec te facti monuisse pigebit.

Vulnera quae sanare potes per gramina docta

Et medicis herbis, nostris cedentia telis,

Post mortem meruere novum tibi sidera caelum

Inter honoratos, sanctumque per aethera nomen.”

Interea Sulpicia, roseae iam reddita vitae,

Cerinthum alloquitur tacitis sub vocibus aegra:

“Tene ego adspicio? Tune hic, carissime rerum,

Assidis et curas lenire laboras amantis?

Quae deus in nobis, quae sint connubia divum

Iunxere et qualem superis iungentur Olympo?

Nil ego Iunoni invideo, nec Pallada curo,

Dum modo tu mecum, dum tua sit mihi nota voluntas!”

Cui iuvenis lacrimans: “Lux o carissima nobis,

Quas ego, quas grates referam? Quo munere tanto

Aequabo meritis? Tu mihi sola salus.

Ante leves ergo pascentur in aequore cervi,

Et freta destituent nudos in litore pisces,

Ante, pererratis amborum finibus, exsul

Aut Tanais tua, Sulpicia, aut ego Tibridis undam

Accipiam, quam te comitem dimittere possim!

Nam te purpureo insignem vestivit amictu

Ipse Amor igniferos accendit pectore motus.”

Sic fatus, dextramque dedit, dextramque recepit

Foedere coniuncti stabili et cognomine pacto

Unam animam gemino vixere in corpore amantes.

Fama volans totam celebravit in urbem

Connubium, festisque viis insignia portant

Lumina; praelucent facibus, plausuque frementes

Agmina conveniunt, taedasque ad limina portant.

Ipsa Fides, Pietasque simulque Pudorque sedebant

In thalamo, geniique thori. Quis credere posset?

Ipsa Venus ridens thalamo secretiore

Coniugis affectus docet experientiaque multa.

Concipit hinc proles, magnorumque ordine vatum,

Sulpicia insignis, famae celebrata per annos

Carmina dat generi humano, mentisque furoris

Praebuit exemplar, miseras docuitque puellas

Posse pari cantu, si fata secunda dedissent,

Dicere, nec solum patres habuisse Camenas.

EPILOGUS

Haec cecinit quondam fatalia carmina vates,

Vergilius, cui Musa dedit cantare priorum

Fortunam, et tacitis animi sentire favillas

Ignis inexstincti quem nobilis illa puella

Servorum de gente, suo praecordia plena

Cerinthum ad iuvenem mittens, dedit inclyta vates

Sulpicia, aeternam meruitque in saecula famam.

 English Translation

SULPICIA IN VERGILIAN STYLE

PROEM

I sing of the remarkable passion and fate of the girl

Sulpicia, who first gave her poems to Rome,

Whom Venus herself animated with her own flames,

And kindred minds flowed together, and secretly through the city

Drove her toward the youth Cerinthus. Great Juno

Opposed, and wished to give another nymph to the youth,

But finally Love and the power of Venus prevailed.

Tell me, Muse, the celestial paths, the divine wills, the events,

By what fate the girl, noble poet of cultivated dress,

Joined her heart with tender bonds.

BOOK I: NASCENT LOVE

There was an ancient city, which Rome raises through seven hills,

And the Saturnian land gave it its name.

Here was the ancient family of Servius, who come from noble blood

Of the Sulpicii; here in that elderly lineage

Flourished a girl with a proud learned father.

Not dedicated to maidens’ dances nor to wool-working,

But devoted to Phoebus and the Muses, with bold daring

Composing poems, such as no woman before

Had ever set to Romulan meters throughout the city.

Venus, watching her from the highest peak of Olympus,

Grieved that such beauty should waste away in vain

And that simultaneously a divine spark of talent should burn,

While no worthy young men felt Cupid’s arrows.

“Is it not enough,” she said, “that mortal races

Have forgotten our name? And has the goddess

Virginity placed herself in our seat? I would certainly dare to contend!”

So speaking, Cytherean Venus summoned to her lap

The beautiful winged boy, to whom she spoke these coaxing words:

“Son, my strength, my great power alone,

You who scorn the weapons of Typhoeus and the highest Thunderer,

Behold how beautiful, born from the blood of Servius,

Is Sulpicia, whom no Venus, and no Cupid

Has yet touched. She has scorned our worship and altars.

Go, seek through the city of Romulus, trusting, my care;

You will observe the youth Cerinthus, who is pleasing in speech

And excelling in form surpasses all his equals.

Make her burn with desire for him and conceive flames

In her tender marrow, and bring her back to our camp!”

She spoke, and that boy did not turn away from her plea,

But swift at his mother’s warnings, to the heights of Rome

He flew down small, transformed into a dark cloak,

Lest any enemy see him, or be able to intercept him.

He sought the house of Sulpicia, who by chance was sitting

Alone at home, intent on her papers and the study of poetry.

Then lightly setting down his quiver, he took out

Golden arrows, which carry certain death beneath their shaft

And sweet destruction and the vital wounds of love.

Without delay, he stretched the bowstring, and aimed the arrow,

Which flies and coming stuck in the depths of her breast.

Sulpicia felt the sharp point dripping poison,

Struck in her heart with an unknown madness.

She knows not what love is, but she loves, and she languishes growing warm,

She burns, and her breast blazes with blind fires.

Kind Venus smiling, “Now the first palm of labor is won,

He who has begun has half the deed,” she says. “But now

Seek Cerinthus, whom wealthy Tuscany has sent

Among the Romulean youths, so that he may grow and you may

Stimulate him with hidden fires and wounded equally

He may burn with love, and seek the wretched lover.”

BOOK II: COUNCILS OF THE GODS

Meanwhile, the king of the gods from the highest seat of the Thunderer

Had convoked a great council, filling the air

With his powerful voice calling Jupiter, whereupon to the lofty

Heights of heaven the collected gods assemble, each occupying

His seat according to merit. Then from on high he began thus:

“O gods, who inhabit the kingdoms of men, the stars of heaven,

I prepare new wars. Behold another Troy

Rises in Ausonia and the great songs of Maro

Generate other flames, for charming Venus

Inflames a noble heart and kindles a poet’s love.

What shall we do? Is it fitting that a new Paris or Aeneas’s fate

Should be disturbed? Speak your opinion.”

Juno first speaks from the goddess’s throne:

“O highest father, what does shameless Venus now attempt?

Do you not see her corrupting the learned minds of Rome

And violating with a new approach the honor of feminine modesty?

Is not this Sulpicia, born from the blood of Servius,

Worthy enough of the fate of a better husband?

Cerinthus, a Tuscan youth who is ignorant of art,

Neither distinguished in war nor decorated with ancestral praise,

Has not deserved to kindle such first loves.

I know a house, there are high Palatine hills, where among

Patrician youths there is a better one to whom I can hand over

The genius of the virgin. If my divine will has any power,

If any of Juno’s kingdom still remains in the world,

I forbid these bonds, I prepare a nobler youth!”

Venus, smiling at her, with eyes fixed on her spouse:

“What harm would it do to join together these wretched lovers?

Noble is the youth Cerinthus of Tuscan race;

Outstanding in talent; praiseworthy in form and speech.

Love has chosen this fate, he who plays in the world

And is accustomed to tame proud gods and men.

It is not ours to change the paths and break

The chains of fate nor to overturn the stable law of the Fates.

You also, great sister, wife and sister of the Thunderer,

Have yielded to flames and loved often, it must be confessed.”

Jupiter laughing in the middle, “Does this concern disturb

Your peace?” he said. “What great flames do mortal hearts

Conceive! The gods wage their own wars

Nor does it please to remember how often we both burn.

But whatever I wish is fate. I have decided:

Let Sulpicia be free and whichever youth she desires

Let her accept; but not without the wound of love

Does Cerinthus equally feel how great is the distance

Between patrician youths and a Tuscan poet.

We approve!” He thundered from the serene left side.

BOOK III: UNHAPPY ILLNESS

No rest follows Sulpicia and through the whole night

Love turns about, confusing the murmurs of her accustomed mind.

Now here, now there, she feels diverse wounds;

Now absent she seeks Cerinthus, now she hates the same man;

She is uncertain what she wants and still does not know her new wounds.

Meanwhile, Juno deceitful not forgetful of her previous plans,

Summons from the night Disease and bloody Fever,

And pale Fears, Emaciation, and sad Old Age.

“Go, companion goddesses,” she said, “seek the city of Rome,

There Sulpicia, born from the blood of Servius,

Seize her body and weigh down her languishing limbs,

So that she, who thought herself too beautiful,

May learn to yield to our divine wills. The decision is fixed!”

By night they fly, and with dark roofs seek the innermost chambers

Of Sulpicia. Sleep was deep, when Fever invades

Her languid limbs, and pours into her bones

A pernicious fire. Night descends on her dark eyes,

A cold sweat occupies her limbs, her hair hangs damp.

Scarcely does languid Sulpicia see the morning sun,

Scarcely does she turn herself on her high bed.

“Alas, what fate now seems to surround wretched me?

What new thing coming so suddenly seizes me sick?

Gods above, have mercy, I pray, if I have sung

Pleasing songs to you, if I have burned incense on pious altars!”

Thus speaks the pitiable girl, reclining on her bed.

*[She writes sick to her uncle Messala]*

“Do you, Messala, have care for your girl?

Or because she is so far away, does no word of a friend

Move you about one absent? Come, I pray, o prone to help,

For I have no rest, my body is heavy, my limbs languid,

Color has deserted my face, blood has fled from my body.

What good does it do to celebrate the farmer’s triumphal forces,

If the gods maintain no clemency for diseases?

Rather spend time with me in tears,

Sit beside the sick one, bring comfort to one asking!”

Sad the bedchamber is empty, the servants and the house weep;

Crowded Rome sends forth groans, now the rumor through the city

Is spread, that the Fates are pressing against the hostile maiden

And Juno has decided to extinguish a new poet.

“Why do I delay?” exclaims Cerinthus. “She is dearer

To me than life! Let the name and all

The fame of my house perish, or let me perish utterly, unless I

See her constantly. The ardor of a lover snatches away

My judgment, and wearying all the gods and divinities

I demand that they not take away such a sweet girl in death.”

So speaking, he swiftly flies from the house, crosses the lofty

Heights of Rome, with his mind presaging future things

He hastens to Sulpicia’s threshold. And now he has stood before

The marble doors; he knocks, he seeks the innermost rooms.

BOOK IV: CONTEST OF THE GODS

While such things are being done on earth, golden Venus

Looks at heaven and gently addresses her son Love:

“Do you see how with tricks Saturn’s daughter has seized

Our loves, and has brought a disease burdened with languor

To Sulpicia, whom you recently attached to us

With the first shaft of the poet? These were not the promises, nor with that

Zeal did she repay our immortal favor.

Rise, come, son. A new form of labors must be tried by us;

Seek Aesculapius and let him ask for medicines

Which are strong enough to drive away diseases by our divine will.

Thus Sulpicia will live, thus our power will grow

With various examples, teaching men and gods

What Venus is, and what is the glory of divine love.”

Without delay. The Cytherean winged one slipped down

To the field, carries out the commands, and seeks the physician god Paean.

Whom he finds far off sitting in the valley of Epidaurus,

And he explores various herbs, which around the shores

Or groves or springs live, a noble

Defense with the power of healing. That greatest of physicians,

“What now, little Love? What is your so great desire

And you yourself present yourself to us, who always make wounds

That cannot be remedied, curable by no master?”

To whom the winged boy: “I have no contests of words

With you now, son of Phoebus; it is another deity that adores.

Famous Sulpicia, born from the blood of Servius,

Languishes in the city with disease and the hatred of the highest Goddess.

If any honor of the medical race still remains to you,

If any admirable praise of Apollo remains,

You can save her. I hand over to you my quiver filled

With arrows, so that you may touch whatever medicines are hidden

In your heart, secure. Do not, I ask, repel one begging!”

“You ask great things,” the priest of Paean responded to him.

“To strive against the divine will of Juno is not

The plan of a prudent man. But I happen to have a teacher,

Daughter of my daughters, Panacea, who first to me

Excelling in her art, knows herbs of useful medicine

And to heal the various afflictions of those in pain.”

Without delay. Both depart, and borne through the air

And having descended he reaches the Roman hills, where lovely

She lies in the house, and her face languishes without blood.

Whom he thus addresses: “Do not fear, most beautiful of poets,

Bright Sulpicia, set aside grief, pain!

The very offspring of Paeon, the Epidaurian hero, comes,

Powerful in counsel, and he will restore you safe!

Live, I pray, and prepare your return to songs with singing.”

BOOK V: HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Therefore when that greatest of physicians arrived,

He stood before the bed, and with his hands made silence.

“Phoebus father, Paean, who conquers grasses with herbs,

Give an easy course, and nod to bold beginnings!”

Beautiful Apollo favors his prayers, and Cerinthus sits

By her head, and weeping supports his sick loved one.

Then dictamnus, found in the Cretan valley,

And powerful panacea and fragrant panacea

The juices of ambrosia and fragrant marjoram

Mixing, and at the same time liquid dew with nectar,

He sprinkles on her pious lips: Such an odor fills

Her veins with vital winds, and suddenly her limbs

Are restored rejoicing, her strength returns to its former state.

The young man marvels seeing such great miracles.

But Venus from above, looking out at the golden

Thresholds of heaven, laughs; and Cupid as companion

Applauds, and thus speaks to Aesculapius in a murmur:

“Congratulations on your new virtue, old man! Worthy gifts

I will pay you, nor will you regret having reminded of the deed.

The wounds which you can heal through learned grasses

And medicinal herbs, yielding to our weapons,

After death have earned you a new heaven among the stars

Among the honored, and a sacred name throughout the air.”

Meanwhile Sulpicia, now restored to rosy life,

Addresses Cerinthus with quiet voices while sick:

“Do I see you? Are you here, dearest of things,

Sitting and striving to ease the cares of a lover?

What god is in us, what unions of the gods

Have joined and of what kind are they joined to the gods on Olympus?

I do not envy Juno, nor do I care about Pallas,

So long as you are with me, so long as your will is known to me!”

To her the youth weeping: “O light most dear to us,

What, what thanks shall I return? With what gift so great

Shall I equal your merits? You are my only safety.

Sooner therefore will light deer graze in the sea,

And the straits will abandon naked fish on the shore,

Sooner, with the boundaries of both having been wandered, an exile

Either I will receive the wave of Tanais, Sulpicia, or you the wave of the Tiber,

Than I could send you away as a companion!

For Love himself has clothed you, distinguished in a purple cloak

He has kindled fire-bearing motions in your breast.”

So speaking, he gave his right hand, and received her right hand

Joined in a stable covenant and with a name agreed upon

The lovers lived as one soul in a twin body.

Flying Fame celebrated throughout the whole city

Their marriage, and on the festive roads they carry remarkable

Lights; they shine with torches, and roaring with applause

The crowds come together, and carry torches to the threshold.

Faith itself, and Piety and Modesty together sat

In the bedchamber, and the genii of the marriage bed. Who could believe it?

Venus herself laughing in a more private bedchamber

Teaches the affections of a spouse with much experience.

Thence she conceives offspring, and in the order of great poets,

Distinguished Sulpicia, celebrated through the years by fame

Gives songs to the human race, and of the madness of the mind

She provided an example, and taught wretched girls

That they could, with equal song, if favorable fates had given them,

Speak, and that not only fathers had the Camenae.

EPILOGUE

These fateful songs the poet once sang,

Virgil, to whom the Muse gave to sing of the fortune

Of those who came before, and to feel with silent mind the sparks

Of the inextinguishable fire which that noble girl

From the Servian race, sending the fullness of her heart

To the youth Cerinthus, gave as a famous poet

Sulpicia, and deserved eternal fame through the ages.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>