Marcus Valerius Martialis
1st-2nd c. AD (over 1,900 years ago)
Trans. RMBullard
Latin (Silver Age)
XIII
Icta graui telo confossaque uulnere mater
sus pariter uitam perdidit atque dedit.
[Stricken by the heavy spear, and pierced through along her wound, a mother sow simultaneously lost her life, and gave it too.]
O quam certa fuit librato dextera ferro!
[O how certain was the right hand that aimed that iron!]
Hanc ego Lucinae credo fuisse manum.
[I can say that I believe that it had been the very hand of Lucina.]
Experta est numen moriens utriusque Dianae, 5
[Dying, she experienced the two-fold power of Diana,]
quaque soluta parens quaque perempta fera est.
[through which a parent can be delivered, and through which a beast can be slain to the ground.]
