Vector

[Leander Heroni]

Invideo Phrixo, quem per freta tristia tutum
aurea lanigero vellere vexit ovis;
nec tamen officium pecoris navisve requiro,
dummodo, quas findam corpore, dentur aquae.
parte egeo nulla; fiat modo copia nandi,
idem navigium, navita, vector ero!
(Ovid, Her. 18.143-148)

[Leander to Hero]

I envy Phrixus, whom the ram with gold in its woolly fleece bore safely over the stormy seas; yet I ask not the office of ram or ship, if only I may have the waters to cleave with my body. There is nothing I lack; if only I may swim, I will be at once ship, seaman, passenger! (tr. Grant Showerman, revised by George Patrick Goold)