In a marble temple is Sychaeus, sacred to me;
Appropriate foliage and white wool cover the shrine.
From there I felt myself called four times by his well known voice;
I insist that I heard that he himself said, "Dido come!"
There is no delay, I come, I come to you an indebted wife;
Nevertheless I am slow with the shame of my crime.
I should come forth to give of my faults: the suitable founder deceived
me;
He removes the ill-will of my offense.
That his mother was a goddess and his old father a sacred burden of
the child,
gave me hope that he would remain, as was proper of a man.
If I had to stray, the error has honorable causes;
Consider, too, his faith, in no respect will it affect me with revulsion.
The final moments of my life endure until the end
and follow the course of my destiny.
Lines 99-100: These lines mirror Vergil's
description of the shrine Dido builds for Sycheaus at Aenied. Compare Ovid's
lines to Aenied 4.457-461.
appositae: modifies frondes; supply
the ‘the shrine’ as the direct object of tegunt ; note that foliage and
wool are the same decorations in Vergil's version
hinc: adverb; ‘from there’
Sensi: 1st person, singular, perfect, active,
indicative; main verb
Noto: perfect passive participle, modifies
ore, ablative singular
Ore: ablative of means
Citari: passive infinitive in indirect
statement introduced by sensi
sono tenui: ‘I maintain that I heard’
Veni: imperative
debita: nominative feminine, perfect
passive participle modifying coniunx,
tarda sum: 1st person, singular, perfect,
passive, indicative
admissi: substantive use of this particple,
it's a type of legal jargon; ‘crime’
Pudore: ablative singular; ablative of
cause
Mei: modifies admissi
da veniam culpae: ‘I should
come forth to give of my faults’ veniam is a deliberative subjunctive
Idoneus auctor: refers to Aeneas
invidiam: accusative, singular; direct
object of detrahit
Noxae: genitive, singular, with meae
Ille: subject of detrahit
Line 107: This line refers to Aeneas' parents,
Venus and Anchises
Pia sarcina: ‘sacred burden’
Nati: genitive, singular
mansuri: attributive use of the future
participle
Rite: adverbial, "as was fitting or proper"
Dedere: complementary infinitive with
mansuri
fuit: indicative in simple condition introduced
by si; apodosis of conditional clause
Errandum fuit: passive periphrastic;
literally ‘it had to stray’, ‘it was my fate to stray’
Causas honestas: accusative, direct
object of habet
adde: imperative; 2nd person, singular
Adde fidem: protasis of conditional
clause
Nulla parte: idiomatic, ‘in no respect’
Pigendus: gerund of the impersonal
verb piget
durat: 3rd person, singular, present,
active, indicative; main verb
Nostrae vitaeque: partitive
genitive with substantive adjective, nostrae is plural form used for singular
word, like the use of the royal we
Novissima: superlative form of adjective,
‘last or final’