Virgil, Aeneid VII.116
Melphi speaks
Heus ! etiam mensas consumimus, inquit Iulus,
The priest translates
«“Look! We are even eating our tables,” says Iulus,»
And interprets
This line brings you a smile and a signal at once. Sometimes the sign you were waiting for does not come with thunder and lightning, but with a joke at the table, from someone who does not even know they are telling you something important. If you have long wondered whether you are in the right place, at work, in a new home, beside a person, listen to the light details of these days. A playful remark, a coincidence, a funny situation can confirm that the struggle is about to end. This is not the time to look for solemn signs; it is the time to notice the small ones already in front of you.
The historical translations
Annibal Caro (1581)
E motteggiando allora, O, disse Iulo,
Fino a le mense ancor ne divoriamo?
E motteggiando allora, O, disse Iulo,
Fino a le mense ancor ne divoriamo?
Theodore C. Williams (1910)
“Look, how we eat our tables even!” cried
Iulus, in a jest. Such was the word
“Look, how we eat our tables even!” cried
Iulus, in a jest. Such was the word
Source
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, ed. J. B. Greenough (1900)
Virgil, Aeneid VII.116