Virgil, Aeneid X.113
Melphi speaks
Fata viam invenient.
The priest translates
«The fates will find the way.»
And interprets
Just a few words, and a great promise: the fates will find the way. Perhaps these days you keep turning over a problem that seems to have no way out, a move, a job that does not come, a relationship that will not settle. Melphi tells you to breathe: not everything depends on you, and what is meant to be fulfilled will find its opening even where you now see only a wall. This is not an invitation to sit idle, but to stop forcing things. Do your part honestly, then give time its room. Beware of the urge to control every detail: sometimes the path opens precisely when you loosen your grip.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Per sè lo s’ordirà. Giove con ambi
Si starà parimente, e ’l fato in mezzo.
Per sè lo s’ordirà. Giove con ambi
Si starà parimente, e ’l fato in mezzo.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
for Jove is over all an equal King.
The Fates will find the way.” The god confirmed
for Jove is over all an equal King.
The Fates will find the way.” The god confirmed
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid X.113