Ovid, Heroides 7.103-120
Nūlla mora est, veniō, veniō tibi dēbita coniūnx;
sum tamen admissī tarda pudōre meī.
dā veniam culpae! dēcēpit idōneus auctor; 105
invidiam noxae dētrahit ille meae.
dīva parēns seniorque pater, pia sarcina nātī,
spem mihi mānsūrī rīte dedēre virī.
sī fuit errandum, causās habet error honestās;
adde fidem, nūllā parte pigendus erit. 110
Dūrat in extrēmum vītaeque novissima nostrae
prōsequitur fātī, quī fuit ante, tenor.
occidit internās coniūnx mactātus ad ārās,
et sceleris tantī praemia frāter habet;
exul agor cinerēsque virī patriamque relinquō, 115
et feror in dubiās hoste sequente viās.
adplicor hīs ōrīs frātrīque ēlāpsa fretōque
quod tibi dōnāvī, perfide, lītus emō.
urbem cōnstituī lātēque patentia fīxī
moenia fīnitimīs invidiōsa locīs. 120
103. admissī… meī (criminis): limiting the ablative of cause, pudōre.
105. idoneus auctor: i.e., Aeneas; but the phrase outside of Ovid most commonly refers to a trustworthy (literary) source; is this a sly comment on Vergil to whom Dido owes most of her “fame”?
106. invidiam noxae: “the ill-will from my offense”; noxae is dative.
108. mānsūrī rīte…virī: a compressed phrase, limiting spem, “of a man who would remain (mānsūrī) as was proper (rīte)”
109 sī fuit errandum: note the neuter ending, which indicates that the construction is impersonal, “if a mistake had to be made (by me)”
110. adde fidem: the colloquialism conveys the conditional sense of Dido’s thinking here, “(if you) add loyalty (i.e., if only Aeneas had been loyal), (then) I won’t need to have any regrets at all.”
nūllā parte: ablative of respect.
pigendus erit: the ending signals that subject must be error (109), which is unusual because piget is usually impersonal.
111 in extrēmum: “to the end”
novissima: “newest” therefore “most recent” therefore “final moments”.
112 fātī…tenor: subject of both Dūrat and prōsequitur; note the nesting of quī fuit ante, which helps associate the relative with fātī…tenor.
113 mactātus: Pygmalion slaughtered Sychaeus like a sacrificial animal at the altars (ad ārās).
114 praemia: Sychaeus’ treasure, the motivation for Pygmalion’s crime, stolen by Dido when she fled her brother.
116 hoste sequente: a noun and participle in the ablative, unconnected to the grammar of the sentence, must be what construction?
117 frātrīque ēlāpsa fretōque-que: the first –que connects to a new clause; the next links frātrī and fretō, two datives of separation with ēlāpsa (common with compound verbs of taking away, AG 381).
118 lītus emō: according to legend, Dido had used some of Sychaeus’ treasure to purchase from the local king, Iarbas, a plot of land as large as an oxhide could cover; Dido cut the hide into a thin strip and so purchased a large area on which to found Carthage.
