Virgil, Aeneid VI.664
Melphi speaks
quique sui memores alios fecere merendo,
The priest translates
«and those who, by their good deeds, made others remember them,»
And interprets
This is a luminous answer. It speaks of what remains of us: not titles, not money, but the good done to others, the kind that makes someone remember you with gratitude. If lately you wonder whether what you do makes sense, at work, in your family, in volunteering, in small daily kindnesses, the line answers yes. Every help given generously leaves a mark in the memory of the one who receives it. This is not the time to measure how much comes back to you. It is the right time to keep sowing good, patiently: the memory of others is the most lasting harvest.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
E quei che, ben oprando, han tra’ mortali
Fatto di fama e di memoria acquisto;
E quei che, ben oprando, han tra’ mortali
Fatto di fama e di memoria acquisto;
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath
Deserved and grateful memory to their kind.
Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath
Deserved and grateful memory to their kind.
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid VI.664