Now it is time to drink; now with loose feet
it is time for beating the earth; now
it is time to decorate the gods' sacred couch
for Salian feasts, comrades.

Previously [it would have been] impermissible to bring forth
Caecuban wine from old stores, while the queen
was still plotting mad ruin for the Capitolium
and planning the destruction of the state

with a foul herd of men shameful
with disease, wild with all sorts of
hopes, and drunk with sweet
fortune. But it diminished her frenzy when

there was scarcely one ship unhurt by the flames,
and Caesar Octavian returned her mind,
crazy with Mareotic wine,
to true fear, flying from Italy

with straining oars, like a hawk
[hunts] tender doves or a swift hunter
[hunts] a hare on the plains of
snowy Thessaly, to put in chains

that deadly monster, who, wanting
to die more nobly, did not have a
feminine dread of the sword, nor find
hiding shores with her swift fleet,

but, having ventured out to see her palace lying
[in ruins] with a tranquil face, was brave [enough]
to handle harsh serpents and drink their black
venom into her body.

having chosen death, she was fiercer still,
unwilling to be surely taken away by savage
warships and led as a proud woman,
if not a submissive [captive], in the midst of our triumph.

Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede līberō
pulsanda tellūs, nunc Saliāribus
  ōrnāre pulvīnar deōrum
  tempus erat dapibus, sodālēs.

antehāc nefās dēprōmere Caecūbum
cellīs avītīs, dum Capitōliō
  rēgīna dēmentīs ruīnās
  fūnus et imperiō parābat

contāminātō cum grege turpium
morbō virōrum, quidlibet inpotēns
  spērāre fortūnāque dulcī
  ēbria; sed minuit furōrem

vix una sospes nāvis ab ignibus,
mentemque lymphātam Mareōticō
  redēgit in vērōs timōrēs
  Caesar, ab Italiā volantem

rēmīs adurgēns, accipiter velut
mollīs columbās aut leporem citus
  vēnātor in campīs nivālis
  Haemōniae, daret ut catēnīs

fātāle mōnstrum, quae generōsius
perīre quaerēns nec muliebriter
  expāvit ēnsem, nec latentīs
  classe citā reparāvit ōrās,

ausā et iacentem vīsere rēgiam
voltū serēnō, fortis et asperās
  tractāre serpentēs, ut ātrum
  corpore conbiberet venēnum,

dēlīberāta morte ferōcior:
saevīs Liburnīs scīlicet invidēns
  prīvāta dēdūcī superbō,
  nōn humilis mulier triumphō.

37.1
37.2
37.3
37.4

37.5
37.6
37.7
37.8

37.9
37.10
37.11
37.12

37.13
37.14
37.15
37.16

37.17
37.18
37.19
37.20

37.21
37.22
37.23
37.24

37.25
37.26
37.27
37.28

37.29
37.30
37.31
37.32