Virgil, Aeneid II.325-326
Melphi speaks
fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens
gloria Teucrorum;
The priest translates
«We have been Trojans; Ilium has been, and the vast glory of the Teucrians;»
And interprets
This line asks you to acknowledge that a season of your life has closed. It may be a job that no longer exists, a relationship that ended, a home you left, a role that gave you your identity. The Latin uses the past tense with spare dignity: “we have been”, not “we are nothing”. Melphi tells you that what you were remains true, and no one can take it away; but you cannot live inside it. This is not a sentence, it is a passage: accept the tense of the verb, and you will find room for a different present. Stop defending walls that have already fallen, and carry to safety what truly matters.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
De la nostra ruina. Ilio fu già;
E noi Troiani fummo: or è di Troia
Ogni gloria caduta. Il fero Giove
De la nostra ruina. Ilio fu già;
E noi Troiani fummo: or è di Troia
Ogni gloria caduta. Il fero Giove
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
implacable. There is no Ilium now;
our Trojan name is gone, the Teucrian throne
Quite fallen. For the wrathful power of Jove
implacable. There is no Ilium now;
our Trojan name is gone, the Teucrian throne
Quite fallen. For the wrathful power of Jove
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid II.325-326