Virgil, Aeneid I.33
Melphi speaks
Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!
The priest translates
«So great was the labour of founding the Roman people!»
And interprets
If you feel tired because your project moves slowly, Melphi answers with this famous verse: great things cost effort, and that is not a sign you are getting it wrong. A home, a family, a business, a real skill are not built in a single season. It is no accident that right now you feel you are pushing a boulder: it is the weight of something worthwhile. Do not give up out of impatience, but do not carry everything alone either. Acknowledge the effort, call it by its name, and keep going one step at a time: results come to those who endure.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Di sì gravoso affar, di sì gran mole
Fu, dar principio a la romana gente.
Di sì gravoso affar, di sì gran mole
Fu, dar principio a la romana gente.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
O labor vast, to found the Roman line!
O labor vast, to found the Roman line!
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid I.33