Virgil, Aeneid II.428
Melphi speaks
dis aliter visum;
The priest translates
«the gods saw it otherwise;»
And interprets
Three words for one of the hardest experiences: you did everything right, and still it went wrong. Perhaps you behaved fairly, worked honestly, loved loyally, and the result was not what you deserved. Melphi offers you no comforting explanation, because the line gives none. It tells you, though, that the worth of your actions does not depend on the outcome: the just remain just even when they fall. Do not turn this injustice into a reproach against yourself. Accept that part of what happens does not depend on you, and go back to giving your best in what you can still decide.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Cadde Rifeo, ch’era ne’ Teucri un lume
Di bontà, di giustizia e d’equitate
(Così a Dio piacque); ed Ìpane e Dimante
Cadde Rifeo, ch’era ne’ Teucri un lume
Di bontà, di giustizia e d’equitate
(Così a Dio piacque); ed Ìpane e Dimante
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
we deemed him of all Trojans the most just,
most scrupulously righteous; but the gods
gave judgment otherwise. There Dymas died,
we deemed him of all Trojans the most just,
most scrupulously righteous; but the gods
gave judgment otherwise. There Dymas died,
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid II.428