OVID 21 



what course to take. Skill itself is at a loss amid 

 these multiplied evils. 



In truth, we are on the verge of destruction, and 

 there is no hope of safety, but a fallacious one ; 

 as I speak, the sea dashes o'er my face. The 

 waves will overwhelm this breath of mine, and in 

 my throat, as it utters vain entreaties, shall I 

 receive the waters that are to bring my doom. 



But meantime my afifectionate wife is bewailing 

 nothing else but that I am an exile ; this one 

 portion alone of my misery does she know and 

 lament. She is not aware how my body is tossed 

 on the boundless ocean ; she knows not that I 

 am driven to and fro by the winds ; she knows 

 not that death is impending o'er me. 'Tis well, 

 ye Gods, that I suffered her not to embark with 

 me : so that death might not have to be twice 

 endured by wretched me ! But now, although I 

 perish, since she is safe from danger, doubtless I 

 shall still survive in her one half of myself. 



Ah, wretched me ! how the clouds glisten with 

 the instantaneous flash. How dreadful the peal 

 that re-echoes from the sky of heaven. The 

 timbers of our sides are struck by the waves, with 

 blows no lighter than when the tremendous charge 

 of the balista beats against the walls. The wave 

 that now is coming on o'ertops all the others ; 

 'tis the one that comes after the ninth and before 

 the eleventh. 



