Virgil, Aeneid X.108
Melphi speaks
Tros Rutulusne fuat nullo discrimine habebo.
The priest translates
«Be he Trojan or Rutulian, I shall make no distinction.»
And interprets
This verse speaks to you about fairness. Perhaps at the moment you find yourself caught between two sides: two children quarrelling, two colleagues at odds, two friends asking you to take a stand. You feel pulled one way and the other, and you are afraid of letting someone down. Melphi answers that you do not have to pick a camp: you can be fair to both, treat them by the same measure and let each carry the weight of their own choices. Be careful, though, not to mistake fairness for indifference: being even-handed does not mean washing your hands of it, but listening to everyone with the same respect.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Quella stessa fortuna e quella speme,
Qual ch’ella sia, ch’i Rutuli o i Troiani
Oggi da lor faransi, io vi prometto
Aver per rata, e non punto inchinarmi
Più da quei che da questi: e sia l’assedio
Quella stessa fortuna e quella speme,
Qual ch’ella sia, ch’i Rutuli o i Troiani
Oggi da lor faransi, io vi prometto
Aver per rata, e non punto inchinarmi
Più da quei che da questi: e sia l’assedio
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
your quarrel end. Therefore, what Chance this day
to either foe shall bring, whatever hope
either may cherish,—the Rutulian cause
and Trojan have like favor in my eyes.
your quarrel end. Therefore, what Chance this day
to either foe shall bring, whatever hope
either may cherish,—the Rutulian cause
and Trojan have like favor in my eyes.
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid X.108