Virgil, Aeneid V.871
Melphi speaks
nudus in ignota, Palinure, iacebis harena!
The priest translates
«Naked, Palinurus, you will lie on an unknown shore!»
And interprets
This is a cry of grief, and if it came to you, perhaps you too are mourning something lost all of a sudden: a relationship, a job, a certainty you counted on. The line tells you that grief must be spoken aloud, as Aeneas does. But it also warns you of something subtle: Aeneas believes Palinurus trusted the calm sea too much, and he is wrong, because the helmsman stayed watchful to the very end. Do not judge too quickly the one you lost, and do not judge yourself either. Often what we call carelessness was simply a force greater than us. Make room for mourning, without putting anyone on trial.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Credesti, Palinuro. Or ne l’arena
Dal mar gittato in qualche strano lito
Ignudo e sconosciuto giacerai,
Credesti, Palinuro. Or ne l’arena
Dal mar gittato in qualche strano lito
Ignudo e sconosciuto giacerai,
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
fair skies and seas, and liest without a grave,
my Palinurus, in a land unknown!”
fair skies and seas, and liest without a grave,
my Palinurus, in a land unknown!”
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid V.871