Virgil, Aeneid I.11
Melphi speaks
Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
The priest translates
«Can there be so much anger in the hearts of the gods?»
And interprets
Melphi answers you with a question, and that is no accident. If lately you feel struck by an anger you cannot explain, from a boss, a relative, someone you love, the verse tells you something simple: not every fury that falls on you is born of your own fault. Sometimes those above you carry old wounds that have little to do with you. This is not the time to put yourself on trial, nor to answer with the same fire. Ask yourself, calmly, where that anger really comes from: the answer will leave you lighter and clearer.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Per tanti casi a tanti affanni? Ahi tanto
Possono ancor là su l’ire e gli sdegni?
Per tanti casi a tanti affanni? Ahi tanto
Possono ancor là su l’ire e gli sdegni?
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
a man whose largest honor in men's eyes
was serving Heaven? Can gods such anger feel?
a man whose largest honor in men's eyes
was serving Heaven? Can gods such anger feel?
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid I.11