Virgil, Aeneid VI.261
Melphi speaks
nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.
The priest translates
«Now you need courage, Aeneas, now a steady heart.»
And interprets
The moment is now. This line does not ask you to prepare a little more, to gather more information, to wait for a better sign: it tells you that the time for preparing is over. If you face an interview, a hard conversation with your family, a medical visit you keep postponing, a choice in love that makes you tremble, now you need courage. And you need a steady heart, that is, a constant one: not a burst of daring that fades within an hour, but a decision that holds even when fear comes. Fear will come; that is normal. This is not the time to turn back: it is the time to go in.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
E la tua spada impugna. Or d’uopo, Enea,
Fa d’animo e di cor costante e fermo.
E la tua spada impugna. Or d’uopo, Enea,
Fa d’animo e di cor costante e fermo.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
Now, all thy courage! now, th' unshaken soul!”
Now, all thy courage! now, th' unshaken soul!”
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid VI.261