| 15 εἶ{Q'} οὕτως ὃς δή πο{T'} οὖν ἦν ἐκεῖ καταπίπτων ἐφρουρεῖτο εἰς τὴν ἀσίδηρον εἱρκτὴν κατακλεισθείς 16 εἴ τε γὰρ γεωργὸς ἦν τις ἢ ποιμὴν ἢ τῶν κα{T'} ἐρημίαν ἐργάτης μόχθων προλημφθεὶς τὴν δυσάλυκτον ἔμενεν ἀνάγκην μιᾷ γὰρ ἁλύσει σκότους πάντες ἐδέθησαν 17 εἴ τε πνεῦμα συρίζον ἢ περὶ ἀμφιλαφεῖς κλάδους ὀρνέων ἦχος εὐμελὴς ἢ ῥυθμὸς ὕδατος πορευομένου βίᾳ ἢ κτύπος ἀπηνὴς καταρριπτομένων πετρῶν 18 ἢ σκιρτώντων ζῴων δρόμος ἀθεώρητος ἢ ὠρυομένων ἀπηνεστάτων θηρίων φωνὴ ἢ ἀντανακλωμένη ἐκ κοιλότητος ὀρέων ἠχώ παρέλυεν αὐτοὺς ἐκφοβοῦντα 19 ὅλος γὰρ ὁ κόσμος λαμπρῷ κατελάμπετο φωτὶ καὶ ἀνεμποδίστοις συνείχετο ἔργοις 20 μόνοις δὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπετέτατο βαρεῖα νὺξ εἰκὼν τοῦ μέλλοντος αὐτοὺς διαδέχεσθαι σκότους ἑαυτοῖς δὲ ἦσαν βαρύτεροι σκότους |
15 Into this prison, then, that needed no bars to secure it, all fell alike, whatever their condition; 16 tiller of the fields, or shepherd, or workman that plied his task out in the desert, each was caught at his post, each must abide the inevitable lot, 17 by darkness, like all his fellows, held in thrall. Did the wind whistle, or bird utter tuneful notes deep amid the boughs; were it the dull roar of some waterfall, 18 or the sudden crash of tumbling rocks, or the padding feet of beasts that gambolled past them unseen, or the howl of wild things ravening, or a booming echo from the mountain hollows, it was all one; it would startle them into a great quaking of fear. 19 All around them the world was bathed in the clear sunlight, and men went about their tasks unhindered; 20 over them alone this heavy curtain of night was spread, image of the darkness that should be their next abode. Yet each man had a burden heavier to bear than darkness itself, the burden of his own companionship. |
15
Deinde si quisquam ex illis decidisset,
custodiebatur in carcere sine ferro reclusus. 16
Si enim rusticus quis erat, aut pastor,
aut agri laborum operarius præoccupatus esset,
ineffugibilem sustinebat necessitatem; 17
una enim catena tenebrarum omnes erant colligati.
Sive spiritus sibilans,
aut inter spissos arborum ramos avium sonus suavis,
aut vis aquæ decurrentis nimium, 18
aut sonus validus præcipitatarum petrarum,
aut ludentium animalium cursus invisus,
aut mugientium valida bestiarum vox,
aut resonans de altissimis montibus echo:
deficientes faciebant illos præ timore. 19
Omnis enim orbis terrarum limpido illuminabatur lumine,
et non impeditis operibus continebatur. 20
Solis autem illis superposita erat gravis nox,
imago tenebrarum quæ superventura illis erat:
ipsi ergo sibi erant graviores tenebris. |