Virgil, Aeneid VI.823
Melphi speaks
vincet amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido.
The priest translates
«Love of country will win, and a boundless longing for praise.»
And interprets
This line sets before you a powerful force: the desire to do something great for a cause, and to be recognized for it. If right now you feel a strong push toward a goal, a promotion, a project with your name on it, a battle for your community, it is a good sign: there is energy. But the line comes from a painful story, and it warns you gently: when ambition wins over everything, someone close to you may end up paying the bill. This is not the time to give up your ideals; it is the time to ask who you are leaving behind as you run toward them.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
Vince il publico amore, e ’l gran desio
D’umana lode in lui l’affetto interno
De la natura e del suo sangue stesso.
Vince il publico amore, e ’l gran desio
D’umana lode in lui l’affetto interno
De la natura e del suo sangue stesso.
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
Howe'er the age to come the story tell,
't will bless such love of honor and of Rome.
Howe'er the age to come the story tell,
't will bless such love of honor and of Rome.
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid VI.823