Novissima

Sit tibi coniugii nox prima novissima vitae:
Eupolis hoc periit et nova nupta modo.
utque coturnatum periisse Lycophrona narrant,
haereat in fibris fixa sagitta tuis.
aut lacer in silva manibus spargare tuorum,
sparsus ut est Thebis angue creatus avo.
perque feros montes tauro rapiente traharis,
ut tracta est coniunx imperiosa Lyci.
quodque suae passa est paelex invita sororis,
excidat ante pedes lingua resecta tuos.
conditor ut tardae, laesus cognomine, Myrrhae,
urbis in innumeris inveniare locis.
inque tuis opifex, vati quod fecit Achaeo,
noxia luminibus spicula condat apis.
fixus et in duris carparis viscera saxis,
ut cui Pyrrha sui filia fratris erat.
ut puer Harpagides referas exempla Thyestae,
inque tui caesus viscera patris eas.
trunca geras saevo mutilatis partibus ense,
qualia Mamertae membra fuisse ferunt.
utve Syracosio praestricta fauce poëtae,
sic animae laqueo sit via clausa tuae.
nudave derepta pateant tua viscera pelle,
ut Phrygium cuius nomina flumen habet.
saxificae videas infelix ora Medusae,
Cephenum multos quae dedit una neci.
Potniadum morsus subeas, ut Glaucus, equarum,
inque maris salias, Glaucus ut alter, aquas.
utque duobus idem dictis modo nomen habenti,
praefocent animae Cnosia mella viam.
sollicitoque bibas, Anyti doctissimus olim
imperturbato quod bibit ore reus.
nec tibi, si quid amas, felicius Haemone cedat:
utque sua Macareus, sic potiare tua.
vel videas quod, iam cum flammae cuncta tenerent,
Hectoreus patria vidit ab arce puer.
sanguine probra luas, ut avo genitore creatus,
per facinus soror est cui sua facta parens.
ossibus inque tuis teli genus haereat illud,
traditur Icarii quo cecidisse gener.
utque loquax in equo est elisum guttur acerno,
sic tibi claudatur pollice vocis iter.
(Ovid, Ibis 529-570)

May the first night of your marriage be the last
of your life: so Eupolis and his new bride died.
And as they say the tragedian Lycophron ended,
may an arrow pierce you, and cling to your entrails.
Or be torn apart and scattered in the woods by your kin,
as Pentheus at Thebes, grandson of the serpent, Cadmus.
May you be caught by a raging bull, dragged over wild
mountains, as Lycus’s imperial wife Dirce was dragged.
May your severed tongue lie there, before your feet,
as Philomela, her own sister’s unwilling rival, suffered.
And like dull Myrrha’s author, Cinna, harmed by his name,
may you be found scattered about throughout the city.
And may that artisan, the bee, bury his venomous
sting in your eye, as he did to the Achaean poet.
And, on the harsh cliff, may your entrails be torn
like Prometheus, whose brother’s daughter was Pyrrha.
May you follow Thyestes’ example, like Harpagus’s son,
and, carved in pieces, enter your father’s gut.
May the cruel sword maim your trunk, and mutilate
the parts, as they say Mamertas’s limbs were maimed.
Or may a noose close the passage of your breath
as the Syracusan poet’s throat was stopped.
Or may your naked entrails be revealed by stripping
your skin, like Marsyas who named a Phrygian river.
Unhappy, may you see Medusa’s petrifying face,
that dealt death to many of the Cephenes.
Like Glaucus, be bitten by the horses of Potniae,
or like the other Glaucus, leap into the sea’s waves.
Or may Cretan honey choke your windpipe, like one
who had the same name as the two I’ve mentioned.
May you drink anxiously, where Socrates, wisest of men,
accused by Anytus, once drank with imperturbable lips.
Nor may you be happier than Haemon in your love:
or may you possess your sister as Macareus did his.
Or see what Hector’s son, Astyanax, saw from his
native citadel, when all was gripped by flames.
May you pay for infamies in your offspring, as for his grandfather,
that father’s son, by whose crime his sister became a mother.
And may that kind of weapon cling to your bones, with which
they say Ulysses, the son-in-law of Icarius, was killed.
And as that noisy throat was crushed in the wooden Horse,
so may your vocal passage be closed off with a thumb.
(tr. Tony Kline)