Hanc tua Penelope lento tibi mittit, Ulixe —

nil mihi reseribas tu tamen ; 1 ipse veni !
Troia iacet certe, Danais hivisa puellis ;

vix Priamus tanti totaque Troia fuit.
o utinam turn, cum Lacedaemona classe petebat, 5

obratus insanis esset adulter aquis !
non ego deserto iacuissem frigida leeto,

non quererer tardos ire relicta dies ;
nee mihi quaerenti spatiosam fallere noctem

lassaret 2 viduas pendula tela manus. 10

Quando ego non timui graviora pericula veris ?

res est solliciti plena timoris amor,
in te fingebam violentos Troas ituros ;

nomine in Hectoreo pallida semper eram.
sive quis Antilochum narrabat ab hoste revietum, 3 15

Antiloehus nostri causa timoris erat ;

from: http://www.archive.org/stream/heroidesamores00ovid/heroidesamores00ovid_djvu.txt (accessed 29/11/2012)

HEROIDES OF P. OVIDIUS NASO

i

Penelope to Ulysses

This missive your Penelope sends to you, O
Ulysses, slow of return that you are — yet write
nothing back to me ; yourself come ! Troy, to be
sure, is fallen, hated of the daughters of Greece ; but
scarcely were Priam and all Troy worth the price to
me." O would that then, when his ship was on the
way to Lacedaemon, the adulterous lover had been
overwhelmed by raging waters ! Then had I not
lain cold in my deserted bed, nor would now be
left alone complaining of slowly passing days ; nor
would the hanging web be wearying now my widowed
hands as I seek to beguile the hours of spacious night.

11 When have I not feared dangers graver than
the real ? Love is a thing ever filled with anxious
fear. It was upon you that my fancy ever told me
the furious Trojans would rush ; at mention of
the name of Hector my pallor ever came. Did
someone begin the tale of Antilochus laid low by
the enemy, Antilochus was cause of my alarm ; or,