ANNA’S LAMENT | TRISTIA ANNAE

By Bradford Case, SM’20

ORIGINAL

Germānā dōnō Iūnōnī fūnere missā,

Anna soror prō lūce brevī nunc sacrificātae

lacrimat. At flētūs geminōs per lūmina vident

Aenēān patrum illīus cōnsanguineōsque

armāmenta in cōthōnem lintresque parāre.

“Consiste,” exclāmat, “crūdēle! Marīta necāvit

sē tua propter crīmina. Rūpistī tuum amōrem;

effugis effigiem nunc! Nunc puerō sine parvō

uxōrem ēvādis, sed nunc ego cōnsequor praegnās.”

Haec verba vōciferāns, properat Priamī prope classem.

Aenēās tamen exaudit nōn, vēla penētrāns,

immemor dēliciārum ātrārum paelicis Annae,

praemandat prima lūce navīsque solvite nōdōs.

Imperiō inaudiō, genetrīx vēlāmine occultat

aspectum, formam, omnēs rēs Carthāginiensēs,

fūrtīvē agēā trānsgreditur in Phrygia busta.

TRANSLATION

When her sister has been sent as an offering to Juno in a funeral, sister Anna weeps for the brief light of the one now sacrificed. But through the twin tears, her eyes see that father Aeneas and his kin are preparing the riggings and skiffs in the artificial port. “Stop,” she yells, “cruel one! Your spouse killed herself on account of your crimes. You ruined your love; now you flee a spirit! Now you leave your wife without a little boy, but now I follow, pregnant.” Speaking these words, she hastens near the fleet of Priam.

Aeneas, however, entering the ship, does not hear her cries, and, unmindful of the dark pleasures of his concubine Anna, he orders the men to loosen the knots and set sail at dawn. Upon hearing this order, the mother hides with a veil her expression, her appearance, and all Carthaginian matters, and secretly steps across by the gangway into the Phrygian tombs.