Pliny: Faithful Unto Death

navigabam per Larium nostrum,

I was sailing across [Lake] Larius,

cum amicus ostendit mihi

when a friend pointed out to me

villam atque etiam cubiculum

a house and even a bedroom

quod in lacum prominet:

which sticks out into the lake.

'ex hoc' inquit

'From this [bedroom],' he said,

'olim femina quaedam cum marito se praecipitavit.

'a certain woman once hurled herself with her husband.'

'maritus ex diutino morbo'

'The husband, as a result of a lengthy illness,'

'ulceribus putrescebat.'

'was wasting away with ulcers.'

'uxor ut corpus inspiceret exegit;'

'[His] wife insisted that she should inspect his body;'

'neque enim quemquam fidelius indicaturum'

'for [she said] no one would tell him more truthfully'

'num posset sanari.'

'whether he could be cured.'

'vidit desperavit'

'She looked, she despaired,'

'hortata est ut moreretur,'

'she encouraged him to die,'

'comesque ipsa mortis,'

'and she herself [became his] companion in death,'

dux immo et exemplum et necessitas fuit;

in fact she was [his] lead and example and compulsion;

'nam se cum marito ligavit'

'for she tied herself to [her] husband'

'abiecitque in lacum.'

'and hurled [herself] into the lake.'