Virgil, Aeneid XII.952
Melphi speaks
vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.
The priest translates
«and with a groan his life flees, resentful, down among the shades.»
And interprets
This is the last line of the Aeneid, and it reaches you as a closing. Do not be afraid: Melphi is not announcing a misfortune, it speaks of something that is ending and does not want to end. Perhaps you are letting go of a chapter of your life, a love, a job, a home, a season of life, and you feel inside a protest, a no that will not quiet down. That is natural: even right endings hurt. The verse asks you to acknowledge that pain instead of denying it. Be careful not to stay caught in resentment for too long. Allow yourself to grieve, then open your eyes to what is beginning: every ending carries a new start within it.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Abbandonossi; e l’anima di vita
Sdegnosamente sospirando uscío.
Abbandonossi; e l’anima di vita
Sdegnosamente sospirando uscío.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
sank cold and helpless; and the vital breath
with moan of wrath to darkness fled away.
sank cold and helpless; and the vital breath
with moan of wrath to darkness fled away.
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid XII.952