Baucis and Philemon 1-4

inde foco tepidum cinerem dimovit et ignes
suscitat hesternos

Next she poked the warm ash in the hearth and she rekindled yesterday's flames

foliisque et cortice sicco
nutrit et ad flammas anima producit anili,

and fed them with leaves and dry bark and coaxed them to flames with her aged breath

multifidasque faces ramaliaque arida tecto
detulit et minuit parvoque admovit aeno,

she brought down both finely split sticks and dry twigs from the roof-space and chopped up and put them under a small pot,

quodque suus coniunx riguo collegerat horto
truncat holus foliis;

and chopped the vegetables which her husband had gathered from the well-watered garden, along with their leaves;

furca levat ille bicorni
sordida terga suis nigro pendentia tigno

he lifted down on a two-pronged fork the smoked back of a pig hanging on a blackened beam.

servatoque diu resecat de tergore partem
exiguam sectamque domat ferventibus undis.

And cut a very small slice from the specially saved back and made the cut tender in the boiling water.

interea medias fallunt sermonibus horas
sentirique moram prohibent.

they whiled away the intervening hours with conversation to prevent the delay from being felt

erat alveus illic
fagineus dura clavo suspensus ab ansa;

There was a beechwood tub there, hung by its handle on a crude peg

is tepidis impletur aquis artusque fovendos
accipit.

it was filled with warm water and allowed their limbs to be refreshed

in medio torus est de mollibus ulvis
impositus lecto sponda pedibusque salignis;

In the middle was a mattress stuffed with soft grasses, placed as a couch on a frame and feet of willow

vestibus hunc velant quas non nisi tempore festo
sternere consuerant,

they covered this with cloths which they were not accustomed to lay out except on holidays

sed et haec vilisque vetusque
vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno.
accubuere dei.

but even this covering was both old and cheap, not unbefitting of the willow couch. The gods reclined.

sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon
illa sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus,

but pious old woman Baucis and Philemon of equal age were in that house, joined from youthful years,

tamen una recepit,
parva quidem stipulis et canna tecta palustri,

However, one [house] received them, indeed a small [house] covered with straw and the reeds of a lake,

illa
consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo
effecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendo.

they grew old in that cottage and they made light of their poverty by admitting it and by bearing it with a positive attitude

Iuppiter huc specie mortali cumque parente
venit Atlantiades positis caducifer alis.

Jupiter came here in the form of a human and staff-bearing Mercury came with his father, having laid aside his wings

mille domos adiere locum requiemque petentes,
mille domos clausere serae.

They approached a thousand homes, seeking a room and rest, bolts locked a thousand homes.

nec refert, dominos illic famulosne requiras:
tota domus duo sunt, idem parentque iubentque.

you ask about masters and slaves there, it matters not: they two were the whole house, they both obeyed and ordered in equal measure

ergo ubi caelicolae parvos tetigere penates
summissoque humiles intrarunt vertice postes,

Therefore, when the heavenly gods met the small household gods and entered the low door-posts with lowered heads

membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili,
cui superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis.

the old man ordered them to rest their limbs on a chair he put out, on top of which busy Baucis threw a rough covering.