For when the water is up to your neck you must be truly stubborn not to cry for help.

[Che chi ne l’acqua sta fin’alla gola
Ben’e ostinato se merce non grida.]

Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) Italian poet

Orlando Furioso, Canto 1, st. 50, l. 353 (1532) [tr. Waldman]

Alt. trans.:

• "For who, when circling waters round him spread / And menace present death, impores not aid?" [tr. Hoole (1807)]
• "For the poor drowning caitiff, who, chin-deep, / Implores not help, is obstinate indeed." [tr. Rose (1831)]
• "The drowning man who waits to be exhorted / To cry for help must be a man of pride!" [tr. Reynolds (2006)]