"Postumus,
none of us will escape death. No matter how many sacrifices we make to the gods,
whether we are rich or poor, or have survived war, sea storms, and sickness, we
all die. What is more, everything we leave behind will be wasted by our
descendants."
Click on the words in the poem
below to get vocabulary information.
Please, if you see errors, let
me know about them so I can fix them!
Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume,
labuntur anni, nec pietas moram
......rugis et instanti senectae
............adferet indomitaeque morti;
non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies,.... .......... .....
5
amice, places allacrimabilem
......Plutona tauris, qui ter amplum
............Geryonem Tityonque tristi
compescit unda -- scilicet omnibus,
quicumque terrae munere vescimur,rbl........rbl....
10
......enaviganda, sive reges
............sive inopes erimus coloni.
trecenis: modifies tauris (line 7), Ablative of
Means;
quotquot eunt dies: literally, "however many days go (by)".
6.
places: subjunctive, with non (line 5), "you
may not appease".
7.
Plutona: Greek Accusative modified by
inlacrimabilem; qui: antecedent is Plutona.
8.
Geryonen Tityonque: Greek Accusatives both
modified by ter amplum (line 7). Geryon was a three-bodied Spanish monster
killed by Hercules; Tityos was a giant killed by either Zeus or Apollo and
Diana for assaulting Leto. He was tied to nine acres of ground in Hades
and two vultures continually tore at his liver (the liver was believed to
be the seat of desire).
9.
omnibus: Dative of Agent with Passive
Periphrastic enaviganda (line 11).
10.
quicumque: antecedent is omnibus (line 9).
11.
enaviganda: sc. est, modifies unda (line 9);
taken with omnibus.
13.
Marte: metonymy for war.
14.
Hadriae: allusion to the dangers of travel by
sea.
16.
Austrum: wind from the Sahara prevalent in
Italy in August and September, thought to bring sickness.
17.
visendus: sc. est, Passive Periphrastic, assume
omnibus (line 9) as Dative of Agent, modifies Cocytos (line 18).
18.
Danai genus: the daughters of Danaus who
murdered their husbands on their wedding night.
19.
infame: neuter adjective modifying genus (line
18).
20.
Sisyphus: king of Corinth, a cunning trickster
who somehow offended Zeus. His punishment in Hades was to continually roll
a rock uphill, which immediately rolled back down again.
21.
linquenda: sc. est and see note 17; modifies
tellus, domus and uxor (line 22).