Virgil, Aeneid VI.314
Melphi speaks
tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.
The priest translates
«and they stretched out their hands in longing for the farther shore.»
And interprets
This is one of the most heartbreaking lines in the poem, and if it came to you, you may know that longing well: gazing at a distant shore and not yet being able to reach it. A move, a child who does not come, a faraway love, a goal that always seems one step off. The line recognizes your desire and respects it: reaching out your hands is not weakness, it shows you still know how to want. But it also warns you: the souls on the bank wait because something is missing, their burial, a rite not completed. Ask yourself honestly what is missing for you to cross. Often it is not strength, but an unfinished matter.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Chiedean passaggio, e con le sporte mani
Mostravan il disio de l’altra ripa.
Chiedean passaggio, e con le sporte mani
Mostravan il disio de l’altra ripa.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
Across that river, and reached out pale hands,
In passionate yearning for its distant shore.
Across that river, and reached out pale hands,
In passionate yearning for its distant shore.
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid VI.314