Virgil, Aeneid I.630
Melphi speaks
Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco.
The priest translates
«Not unacquainted with misfortune, I am learning to help the wretched.»
And interprets
Melphi tells you something simple: what you have suffered has not been wasted. Your wounds have taught you to recognise other people’s, and that is a rare strength. If lately someone near you is going through what you have already been through, a separation, a bereavement, a lay-off, an illness, this is the right moment to reach out. You do not need all the answers: it is enough to be there, with the experience of someone who knows. And mind this, by helping others you will also heal yourself a little.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Sì che natura e sofferenza e pruova
De’ miei stessi travagli ancor me fanno
Pietosa e sovvenevole agli altrui.
Sì che natura e sofferenza e pruova
De’ miei stessi travagli ancor me fanno
Pietosa e sovvenevole agli altrui.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
to call this land my home. O, I am wise
in sorrow, and I help all suffering souls!”
to call this land my home. O, I am wise
in sorrow, and I help all suffering souls!”
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid I.630