John of Garland: INTECUMENTA SUPER OVIDIUM METAMORPHOSEOS SECUNDUM MAGISTRUM IOHANNEM ANGLICUM

Parvus maiori paret veloxque viator
Quo iubeat dominus previus ire solet.
Sic mea proclivis famulatur harundo poetis
Et pede pentametro cursitat illa levis.
Morphosis Ovidii parva cum clave Johannis
Panditur et presens cartula servit ei.
Nodos secreti denodat, clausa revelat
Rarificat nebulas, integumenta canit.

The lesser obeys the greater, and the swift wayfarer
is wont to go where the lord, going before, bids him to go.
Thus my compliant reed serves the poets
and with pentameter foot that light one runs.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses is opened with the small key of John,
and this present little leaf serves it.
It unknots the knots of secrecy, reveals what was closed,
rareﬁes the mists, sings the integuments.

Mundus ydealis fit mundus materialis
Constituens genesim principiique thesim.
Ars et natura, typus et magus, a genitura
Mutant que pereunt, dant veneunt et emunt.
Dicitur artificis mutatio quando recedit
A silva veteri flamma remota solo.

The ideal world becomes the material world
establishing genesis and the thesis of the principle.
Art and nature, the type and the magus, from geniture
change and perish; they give, are sold, and buy.
It is called the artificer’s alteration when he withdraws
from the old matter, the flame removed from the ground.

Mutat natura generans dum defit in esse
Et genitum perdit res variare potens.
Fit tipice, magice mutatio: vir leo factus
Est tipice; magice stat retro currit aqua.
Omnes ficticii partes non discute, summam
Elige, quid sapiat, quid velit illa vide.

Nature, generating, changes while it is deficient in being,
and a thing potent to vary undoes the generated.
A mutation occurs typic-ally and magic-ally: a man made a lion
is typic-ally; magic-ally, water stands and runs backward.
Do not scrutinize all the fictive parts; choose the sum;
see what it savors of, what it intends.

[21-52]

Flamma volat, volitat aer, aqua cursitat, heret
Terra, sedent valles, mons tumet, arva iacent.
Ignis acutus amat subtilis mobilis altum,
Obtusum reddit aëra terra gravis.
Corpore plena sedet obtusa immobilis illa,
Aer subtilis mobilis igne volat.

Flame flies, the air flits, water courses, adheres
Earth, the valleys sit, the mountain swells, the fields lie.
Acute fire, subtle and mobile, loves the height,
Heavy earth renders the air obtuse.
Full of body, that one sits, obtuse, immobile,
The subtle, mobile air flies with fire.

Dum movet ignis aquas obtusas corpore plenas
Ex terra, terre porrigit unda fidem.
Nos iuvat hec numeri proporcio mensio terna:
Dic michi bis duo bis ter tria ter tibi sint.
Hos iungat medio numeros proporcio talis:
Dic michi bis duo ter ter tria bis tibi sint.

While fire moves the obtuse waters, full with body, out of earth, the wave extends proof to the earth.
It helps us, this proportion, this ternary mensuration of number:
Tell me: twice two, twice thrice three, let them be thrice for you.
Let such a proportion join these numbers in the middle:
Tell me: twice two, thrice thrice three, let them be twice for you.

Sic numeris elementa ligat quo cuncta moventur
Quique iubet stabilis temporis ire vices.
Vernat ver, estas exestuat, auget et escas
Autumnus, canet ispida bruma comis.
Zona rubet media, tristantur frigore bine
Extreme, geminas temperat ignis, hiems.

Thus with numbers he binds the elements by which all things are moved
and he who bids the stable cycles of time to go.
Spring greens, summer swelters, and increases also the foods
Autumn; the brumal frost is hoary with bristling locks.
The middle zone reddens, the two extremes are saddened by cold
the extremes; fire and winter temper the twin zones.

Sol duodena gradu festino signa pererrat,
Annos et menses luna renata novat.
Aeris in multas partes est fractio, ventus
Frigoris et tonitrus vendicat esse pater.
Eurum sol oriens, Zephirumque cadens, mediusque
Austrum cui Boreas obstrepit ore videt.

The Sun with a hasty step roams through the twelve signs,
the Moon, reborn, renews years and months.
There is a breaking of the air into many parts; the wind
claims to be the father of cold and thunder.
The rising Sun sees Eurus, and the setting [Sun] Zephyr, and the mid-day [Sun]
sees Auster, against whom Boreas roars with his mouth.

Dum Subsolano Vulturno cingitur Eurus,
Hinc Austrum stipat Affricus, inde Nothus.
Circine, te Zephirus deposcit teque, Favoni.
Hinc Aquilo Boream, Chorus et inde tenet.

While Eurus is girdled by Subsolanus and Vulturnus,
here Africus presses upon Auster, and there Notus.
On the compass, Zephyr calls for you, and you too, Favonius.
On this side Aquilo holds Boreas, and on that side Chorus.

Quid dicam silvas iuvenes herbasque puellas,
Sidera quid dicam pingere nocte polum?
Quid tellure feras, volucres quid in aere, quidve
Equoribus pisces regna tenere feram?

What shall I say, that the forests are youths and the grasses maidens,
what shall I say, that the stars paint the pole by night?
What beasts on the earth, what birds in the air, or what
fish hold dominions in the waters shall I set forth?

[53-118]

De terra figulum finxisse Promethea primo
Fabula fert hominem. Res clamidata latet.
Est sermo fictus tibi fabula vel quia celat,
Vel quia delectat, vel quod utrumque facit.

From earth Prometheus the potter first fashioned man,
a fable reports. The loudly-proclaimed matter lies hidden.
There is for you a fictive sermon, a fable, either because it conceals,
or because it delights, or because it does both.

Res est historia magnatibus ordine gesta
Scriptaque venturis commemoranda viris;
Clauditur historico sermo velamine verus,
Ad populi mores allegoria tibi.
Fabula voce tenus tibi palliat integumentum,
Clausa doctrine res tibi vera latet.
Fabula clave patet, tua nam doctrina, Prometheu,
Informasse prius fertur in arte rudes.

The matter is a history, accomplished in order for magnates,
and written to be commemorated by men to come;
the true discourse is enclosed by a historical veil,
as an allegory for you with regard to the people’s mores.
A fable, in word only, cloaks the integument for you,
the true matter lies hidden for you, shut within doctrine.
The fable is open by a key—namely your doctrine, Prometheus—
who is reported first to have informed the untrained in art.

Celitus affirmas lucem rationis oriri
Celestesque plagas a ratione peti.
Principio mundi cum floruit inclita vita,
Etas ex auro floruit absque malo.
Saturnus satur est annus, saturatio primi
Temporis.

From heaven you affirm that the light of reason arises,
and that the celestial regions are sought by reason.
At the beginning of the world, when illustrious life flourished,
the Age of gold flourished without evil.
Saturn—“sated”—is the year, the satiety of the first
time.

Huic hostis filius eius erat.
Tempus quod sequitur secuisse virilia patris
Dicimus inque maris precipitasse chaos.
Tempus Saturnus, ubertas mentula, proles
Posteritas, venter est mare, spuma Venus.

To him his son was an enemy.
We say that the Time which follows cut the father’s genitals and precipitated them into the sea’s chaos.
Time is Saturn, fertility the phallus, offspring Posterity, the belly is the sea, the foam is Venus.

Iam propter varios effectus asserit error
Plures esse deos, est seges aucta mali.
Non uno contenta deo patet etheris aula,
Sed tot divorum pondere pressa labat.
Primo formavit statuam sibi Belus ut illam
Servus adoraret, paruit ergo timor.

Now, on account of various effects, error asserts
that there are more gods; the harvest of evil is augmented.
Not content with one god, the hall of aether lies open,
but, pressed by the weight of so many divinities, it totters.
At first Belus formed a statue for himself so that a servant
would adore it; therefore fear obeyed.

Eiecisse deos mundus sitit. Inde ruinam
Primus habet, virtus mentis ab arce fugit.
Virtutes Superi, viciorum turba Gigantes,
Mens humilis Phlegra, mons tibi fastus erit.

The world thirsts to have ejected the gods. From that it first has ruin; the mind’s virtue flees from its citadel.
The virtues are the Supernals, the crowd of vices the Giants,
A humble mind will be Phlegra; pride will be a mountain to you.

Si lupus est areas, lupus est feritate lupina
Nam lupus esse potes proprietate lupi.
Vir misisse viros et nimphas nimpha refertur
Si plus in coitu seminis alter habet.
Est aqua Deucalion est ignis Pirra, parentes
Sunt lapides lapidum qui pietate carent.

If the wolf is areas, the wolf is with lupine ferocity
For you can be a wolf by the property of a wolf.
A man is reported to have sent males, and a nymph to have sent nymphs,
if in coitus the one has more seed.
Deucalion is water, Pyrrha is fire; the parents
are stones of those stones who lack piety.

Phebus Phitonem superat, sapiensque malignum,
Fallacemque virum sub ratione premit.
Mentibus hec arbor sapientum virgo virescit
Que quamvis fugiat victa labore viret.
Est virgo Phebi sapientia facta corona
Laurus, quam cupida mente requirit homo.

Phoebus overcomes Python, and the wise man the malignant,
and he presses the fallacious man under reason.
In the minds of the wise this maiden tree grows verdant,
which, although she flees, conquered by toil, greens.
The maiden—Phoebus’s sapience—made into a crown
Laurel, which a man with a desirous mind seeks.

Fracto teste fagit Yo vaga bos fugitiva
Indiga discurrens fine beata tamen.
Argus ab arguto fertur qui plenus ocellis
Ante retro, plena calliditate sapit.
Cauda pavonis tandem pinguntur ocelli
Quando divicias despicit argus homo.

With the shell broken, Io flees, a wandering, fugitive cow,
indigent, running about without end, yet blessed nevertheless.
Argus is said to be from “argute,” he who, full of little eyes,
before and behind, is wise with full craftiness.
On the peacock’s tail at last the little eyes (ocelli) are painted
when the Argus-man looks down upon riches.

Dicitur accessus prior ala, sequensque recessus,
Fax ardor, tela sunt duo: velle, fuga.
Mercurius mentes curans deus eloquiorum.
Verbi mobilitas dicitur ala duplex.

It is said that the approach is the prior wing, and the following the retreat,
the torch is ardor, the two missiles are: will and flight.
Mercury, caring for minds, the god of utterances.
The mobility of the word is called the double wing.

Sermonis virga vis est sopire tyrannos,
Fertur, et egrotis mentibus addit opem.
Est instrumentum virge syringa virilis
Cum quo vesicam phisica dextra levat.
Phos lux dicetur et Pheton dicitur inde,
Sic splendor solis filius esse potest.

The wand of discourse, its force is to lull tyrants,
it is said, and it adds aid to sick minds.
There is an instrument of the rod, the virile syringe
with which the right hand of physic relieves the bladder.
Phos is called light, and from it “Pheton” is said,
thus the splendor of the sun can be a son.

Philosophi radium generat sapientia cuius
Currum deducit, sed cadit arte rudis.
Est vero Pheton autumpni lucidus ardor
Cum, dempto fructu, terra cremata iacet.
Helios Heliades nomen sumpsere sorores.

The wisdom of the philosopher generates a ray, whose
Chariot it conducts, but, unskilled in art, he falls.
In truth Phaethon is the bright autumnal ardor
When, with the fruit removed, the earth lies burned.
From Helios the sisters assumed the name Heliades.

Sunt flores teneri sole parente sati.

There are tender flowers, begotten by the parent sun.

II. [119-150]

2. [119-150]

Machina totius est mundi regia Solis
Cuius philosophus stare columpna potest.
Themo gramatica, logice nitet axis, adornat
Hos resis, decus est quadriviale rote.
Solis equi lucis partes sunt quatuor, horum
Hic rubet, hic splendet, urit hie, ille tepet.

The machine of the whole world is the royal palace of the Sun
of which the philosopher can stand as a column.
Theme: grammar; the axis shines with logic; adorns
these, rhetoric; the quadrivial ornament of the wheel.
The Sun’s horses, the parts of light, are four; of these,
this one reddens, this one shines, this one burns, that one is tepid.

Ut Maro testatur quia Cignus philosophatur
Qui canit in cigno delicuisse datur.
Articus ex arcto polus est regione gelata
Stella caret casu vim gerit ursa gelu.
Arcadie domina Calisto dicitur ursa
Nam gravidata Iovis semine turpis erat.

As Maro bears witness that the Swan philosophizes,
he who sings upon the swan is said to have delighted.
The Arctic pole from the north is in a frozen region;
the star lacks setting; the Bear bears might in frost.
Callisto, lady of Arcadia, is called the Bear,
for, made gravid with Jove’s seed, she was disgraced.

Ursa tibi maior Elice dicetur et Artos,
Sed Cinosura sequens dicitur Ursa minor.
Plaustri languentis hec est auriga Bootes
Et custos matris est Cinosura sue.
Fertur Erictoniuspedibus draco, cur?

The Greater Bear will be called to you Elice and Artos,
But the following Cynosure is called the Lesser Bear.
Of the languishing Wain this is the charioteer, Bootes
And Cynosure is the guardian of his mother.
The dragon is said to be borne at the feet of Erictonius; why?

Quia primus
Curribus insedit quos prius ipse dedit.
Garrulus est corvus et cornix fert quia Naso:
"Inter aves albas non habet illa locum".
Ochiroe Chiron heros epidaurius usum
Corpore mortis habet vivere scire datur.
Pars hominis ratio est, pars sordet equina cadaver.

Because he first
sat upon chariots which previously he himself had given.
The raven is garrulous, and the crow, as Naso reports:
"Among the white birds it has no place.".
Ocyroe: Chiron, the Epidaurian hero, possesses in his body the use/experience of death;
to know how to live is granted.
Part of the man is reason; part is a filthy equine cadaver.

Pars ratione carens, pars aditura solum.
Floruerat Chiron medicorum maximus, illo
Corpora vivificans maior alumpnus erat.
Eloquio vincit quasi Phebus sepe disertus
Et cum furatur, facta notando mala.

Part lacking reason, part about to go to the soil.
Chiron, greatest of physicians, had flourished; by him
the greater alumnus, vivifying bodies, existed.
He conquers by eloquence, like Phoebus, often eloquent,
and when he purloins, by noting evil deeds.

Vir valet invictus et inexorabilis esse
Saxum, nam lapidem pectore durus habet.
Mens domus Invidie, Pallas sapientia, sermo
Aliger, Aglauros invida facta lapis.

The man is able to be unconquered and inexorable
a rock; for, hard, he has a stone in his breast.
The mind is the house of Envy, Pallas sapience, speech
winged, Aglaurus, envious, made a stone.

III. [151-180]

3. [151-180]

Iupiter Europam rapuit rate, taurus in illa
Pictus erat, taurus nomine navis erat.
Est serpens sapiens quem Cadmus vincit et illi
Machina plena viris bellica fundit eos.
Ut serpens serpit pauper sed pectore prudens
Invenit hic tandem gramata greca prius.

Jupiter carried off Europa by raft; a bull on it
was painted; “Bull” was the name of the ship.
There is a wise serpent whom Cadmus conquers, and for them
a war-machine full of men pours them forth.
As a serpent creeps, poor but prudent at heart,
he found at last the Greek letters first.

Acteon cervus pavitat qui gente necatur
In silvis propria, preda cibusque canis.
Deceptam Semelem corpus die esse solutum
Quod gula dissolvit flammaque cara meri.
Sunt gemine matres duplex natura falerni
Cui pater est estas, humida mater hiems.

Actaeon, as a stag, quakes, who is slain by his own kind
in his own forests, prey and food for the hound.
Deceived Semele—her body to be loosed by the day,
which the gullet and the flame dear to neat wine dissolve.
There are twin mothers, a double nature, of Falernian,
whose father is summer, whose moist mother is winter.

Narcisus puer est cupidus quem gloria rerum
Fallit que florent que velut umbra fluunt.
Dicitur in silvis Echo regnare quod illic
Aer inclusus verba referre solet.
Vir modo Tiresias modo femina dicitur esse
Quorum natura notificatur ei.
Pentheus sevus aper, oculos quia Bacchus Agaves
Prestigiat, quare dilaceratus obit.

Narcissus is a desirous boy, whom the glory of things
deceives, and which flourish and, like a shadow, flow away.
It is said that in the woods Echo reigns, because there
the enclosed air is accustomed to bring back words.
Tiresias is said to be now a man, now a woman,
of which the nature is made known to him.
Pentheus is a savage boar, because Bacchus bedazzles the eyes of Agaue,
wherefore he perishes torn to pieces.

Auditum visumque notat tibi flebilis Ino,
Pars est Autonoe frontis imago prior.
Est intellectus Semele, ratio per Agavem
Signatur, Pentheus est studiosus homo.
Dilacerant et diminuunt auditus ocellus
Et ratio nec non cella suprema virum.

Tearful Ino marks out for you hearing and sight,
Autonoe is a part, the prior image of the front.
Semele is intellect, reason through Agave
is signified, Pentheus is a studious man.
Hearing, the little eye, and reason
and likewise the highest cell, tear and diminish the man.

Visus et auditus est Ino, fertur imago
Autonoe, Semele cella suprema venit.
Cella patet logices per Agavem, vir studiosus
Est Pentheus, lacerat previa turba virum.

Sight and hearing are Ino, the image of Autonoe is borne.
Semele, the supreme cell, comes.
The cell of logic is patent through Agave, the studious man
Is Pentheus, the preceding crowd lacerates the man.

IV. [181-232]

4. [181-232]

Alba prius morus nigredine mora colorans
Signat quod dulci mors in amore latet.
Singula discutias ex greco nomina Bacchi
Et discussa potes appropriare mero.
Ver Venus est, estas Vulcanus, captus adulter
Autumpnus nobis dans aliena bona.

The mulberry, formerly white, coloring with blackness through delay,
signifies that sweet death lies hidden in love.
Examine one by one from Greek the names of Bacchus,
and, once examined, you can appropriate them to the pure wine.
Spring is Venus, summer is Vulcan, the adulterer caught,
Autumn giving to us others’ goods.

Sol accusator fit amator Cipridis ira
Annum retrogrado dum novat ille pede.
Intiba solsequium cichoreaque sponsaque solis
Friget et ad solis lumina versa riget.
Que retinent nomen a vespere sunt scelerate
Gentes que tenebris exseruere scelus.

The Sun, an accuser, becomes a lover by the wrath of Cypris
while he renews the year with a retrograde foot.
Endive, sun-following, chicory, and the bride of the Sun
grow cold and, turned toward the lights of the Sun, grow stiff.
Those who retain a name from Vesper are wicked
peoples who have brought forth crime from the darkness.

Cellula matricis fons fertur Salmacis in qua
Infans conceptus hermafroditus erit.
Cerberus est terra que carnes devorat, huius
Tres partes mundi die caput esse triplex.
Alcide mundus oblatrat quem sibi subdit
Virtutis custos intima monstra domans.

The little cell of the matrix, the spring of Salmacis is said to be, in which
the conceived infant will be a hermaphrodite.
Cerberus is the earth which devours flesh; its
triple head is the three parts of the world by day.
At Alcides the world barks; he,
guardian of Virtue, taming the inmost monsters, subjects it to himself.

Mentes verba manus sordent, Alecto flagellat
Mentes, Thesiphone verba, Megera manus.
Mens Minos, vox est Radamantus et Eacus actus
Tres sunt et torquent crimina trina reis.
Est Ticius sudans circa mundana iecurque
Corrodens vultur cura refertur edax.

Minds, words, hands grow filthy; Alecto scourges
minds, Thesiphone words, Megera hands.
The mind is Minos, the voice is Radamantus, and Eacus is the act;
they are three, and they torment threefold crimes for the accused.
There is Tityus sweating over worldly things, and the vulture
gnawing the liver is reported as devouring Care.

Tantalides similis tibi Tantale vivit avarus
Qui sitit in pleno quem fugit id quod habet.
Sisiphus est si quis honerosa negotia curat,
Pronus et imperii pondere stratus humi est.
Volvitur instabilis Ixion institor errat
Transfuga discurrit statque caditque vagus.

A Tantalid, like to you, Tantalus, lives avariciously
who thirsts in the midst of plenty, whom that which he has flees.
He is Sisyphus if anyone manages onerous affairs,
and he is prone and, by the weight of empire, is laid on the ground.
Unstable Ixion is rolled; the peddler wanders
the deserter runs about, and, a wanderer, he stands and falls.

Belides aut sumunt aut perdunt flumina, sumunt
Et perdunt fatue que fugitiva petunt.
Ino submersa moritur, dire lapidescunt,
Et volucrum cetus est fugitiva cohors.
Iupiter est aurum cum Danem decipit auro
Cuius custodes munere fallit amans.

The Belides either take up or lose rivers; they take
and foolishly lose what they seek that is fugitive.
Ino, submerged, dies; the dread ones turn to stone,
and a bevy of birds is a fugitive cohort.
Jupiter is gold when he deceives Danae with gold,
whose guardians the lover tricks by a gift.

Est Athlas doctor, ortus scola, pagina multa
Virgultum pomum, clara sophia nitet,
Ex auro ramus fulget, sapientie sudor
Est dracho quem docti mens superare studet.
Septem germane quarum sunt aurea poma
Sunt artes septem quas rutilare vides.
Fert Athlas celum dispensans dogmata celi
Que fertur Perseus subripuisse sibi.

Atlas is a teacher, the garden a school, the page manifold;
the thicket, the fruit—clear wisdom shines.
From gold a bough gleams; the sweat of sapience
is the dragon which the mind of the learned strives to overcome.
Seven sisters, whose apples are golden—
they are the Seven Arts which you see to glow.
Atlas bears the sky, dispensing the dogmas of heaven,
which Perseus is said to have surreptitiously stolen for himself.

Unicus est oculus regimen quod tres habuere
Quod sibi submittit bellica dextra viri.
Est Gorgon cultrix terre communeque nomen
Est tribus, hiisque magis ore Medusa nitet.
Conformes lapidi facit esse Medusa stupore
Dum rutilante coma quemque rigere facit.

A single eye is the rule which the three possessed,
which the bellicose right hand of the man subjugates to itself.
A Gorgon is a cultress of the earth, and a common name
it is for the three; and among these Medusa shines more in visage.
Medusa makes them conform to stone by stupefaction,
while, with rutilant hair, she makes each one grow rigid.

Gorgona sed Perseus superat, cuius sibi regnum
Subiugat et calcat sub pede dulce malum.

But Perseus overcomes the Gorgon, whose realm he subjugates to himself,
and he treads underfoot the sweet apple.

V. [233-276]

5. [233-276]

Gorgoneum caput est regnum molimine cuius
Vi cuius Perseus victor ab hoste redit.
Gorgoneis te divitiis converterat, Athlas,
In montem quando tu fugitivus eras.
Post bellum Perseus studuit viditque Minerve
Secretum, dulces Palladis hausit aquas.

The Gorgonean head is kingship by whose endeavor
by whose force Perseus returns a victor from the foe.
With Gorgonean riches he had turned you, Atlas,
into a mountain, when you were a fugitive.
After the war Perseus strove and, with Minerva, saw
the secret, and he drew the sweet waters of Pallas.

De cerebro trahit hec ortum, fontem colit, hic est,
Rivos dispergens summa sophia tuos.
Iste poetarum fons est quia fama perhennis
Illos perpetuum nomen habere facit.
Pegasus admissus est fama volatilis.

From the brain this draws its origin; it honors the fountain—here it is—
dispensing your streams with supreme wisdom.
This is the poets’ fount, because perennial fame
makes them hold an everlasting name.
Pegasus has been admitted, winged Fame.

Hostem
Terror prosternens, corda Medusa gelat.
Palladis est hasta pellens obiectio, cassis
Est ratio, clipeus in ratione vigor.
Est Perseus virtus, harpe facundia fertur,
Stenio debilitas que iacet ense suo.

The foe
Terror prostrating, Medusa freezes hearts.
Pallas’s spear is the expelling objection; the casque
Is reason; the shield is vigor in reason.
Perseus is virtue; the harpe is said to be eloquence,
Stheno is weakness, which lies low by his own sword.

Signat in Euriale vitiorum musa profundum,
Evacuans virtus quod sapientis erat.
Ista Medusa boni vox est oblivio, virtus
Hanc tamquam Perseus subpeditare solet.
Hec tibi succurrit dircei concio fontis:
Historico meditans carmina Clio pede,
Euterpeque tuba clangens, memoransque remota
Melpomene, ridens sponte Talia iocos,
Tersicore cum psalterii modulamine campum
Intrat, adest Eratho res reperire potens,
Verba polire venit edocta Polimnia, stellas
Uranie numerat hiisque futura notat,
Calliopeque movet citharam mellitaque vocis
Organa sollicitat letificatque coros.

The Muse marks in Euryale the depth of vices,
virtue emptying what belonged to the wise man.
This Medusa is the voice of forgetfulness of the good; virtue
is wont to subjugate her, as Perseus does.
This assembly of the Dircean fountain runs to your aid:
Clio, meditating songs with the historic foot,
and Euterpe blaring on the trumpet, and Melpomene recalling things remote,
Thalia laughing by her own will at jests,
Terpsichore with the modulation of the psaltery enters the field;
Erato is present, powerful to discover matters,
Polymnia, well-schooled, comes to polish words; Urania
numbers the stars and by these notes the things to come,
and Calliope moves the cithara and stirs the honeyed
organs of voice and gladdens the choruses.

Invidus esse tuus, sapientia, iure Pyreneus
Fertur et idcirco pronus ab arce cadit.
Est seges alma Ceres, semen Proserpina, tellus
Pluto, quo sponso sponsa labore parit.
Inferior reliquis est luna planeta planetis
Quare tartarea fingitur esse dea.

Envious to be yours, Wisdom, by right Pyreneus is said,
and therefore he falls headlong from the citadel.
The fostering Ceres is the crop, Proserpina the seed, the earth Pluto,
by which bridegroom the bride bears in toil.
The Moon, as a planet, is inferior to the other planets
wherefore she is feigned to be a Tartarean goddess.

Aumento lune Ciane se tollit in altum
Decrescit sicut Cinthia fluxus aque.
Per que fructificat septem dic grana planetas
Ascalaphus vilis philosophator erit.
Diligit Alpheus Arethusam cuius in undam
Descendit libans oscula sicut amans.

With the augmentation of the moon, Cyane lifts herself on high
The flux of water decreases just as Cynthia does.
Through which, say, the seven planets fructify the grains
Ascalaphus will be a paltry philosophizer.
Alpheus loves Arethusa, into whose wave
He descends, sipping kisses like a lover.

Garrulitatis honus Picarum garula lingua
Designat fundens iurgia, probra, minas.

The onus of garrulity the garrulous tongue of the Picae designates,
pouring forth wranglings, opprobriums, menaces.

VI. [277-296]

6. [277-296]

Ne quis maiori certet persuadet Aragne
Que sub pauperie viscera viva trahit.
Athanatos grecum sonat immortalis, Athenas
Nominat hinc Pallas famaque vivit adhuc.
Proprietas saxi Niobe datur hoc quia durum,
Hec quia dura riget firma tenore mali.

Arachne persuades that no one contend with a greater,
she who, under poverty, drags along her living viscera.
“Athanatos” in Greek sounds “immortal”; Athens
from this Pallas names, and the fame lives still.
The property of stone is given to Niobe—this, because it is hard;
she, because hard, grows rigid with the firm tenor of her ill.

Certans cum Phebo satyrus notat insipientis
Impar certamen cum sapiente trahi.
Rusticus infelix est rana loquax lue plena.
Ventris arnica tumens, livida, mersa, minax.

Contending with Phoebus, a satyr notes the folly of the insipient
that an unequal contest is being drawn out with a sapient.
The loquacious frog is an ill-fated rustic, full of blight.
A friend of the belly, swelling, livid, immersed, minacious.

Per Pelopem lacerum signantur tempora quorum
Fertilitas rapitur huic reparata tamem.
Historiam tangit describens Terea de quo
Musa sophocleo carmine grande canit.
Commentatur aves doctrina poetica quippe
Devia poscit avis, devia poscit amor.

Through lacerated Pelops the seasons are sign-marked, whose
fertility is snatched; for him restored, however.
It touches the history, describing Tereus, about whom
the Muse sings a grand song in Sophoclean strain.
The poetic doctrine comments upon birds indeed;
the bird demands devious ways, love demands devious ways.

Sunt acies ale Zeti Calaisque paterne
Quarum subsidio Iasonis arma valent.
Tres sunt Arpie, cupidi tria crimina: gliscit
Diripit, abscondit; plenior eget inops.

There are the battle-lines — the paternal wings of Zetes and Calais —
by whose aid Jason’s arms avail.
Three are the Harpies, three crimes of Greed: it swells
it despoils, it hides; fuller, the needy man is in want.

VII. [297-316]

7. [297-316]

Auratum vellus Medeam dicimus ipsam.
Auro preda fuit hec speciosa magis.
Virginis est custos draco vel bos, virginis arte
Virgine subducta, premia victor habet.

We call Medea herself the gilded fleece.
By the gold, this booty was more splendid.
The guardian of the maiden is a dragon or an ox; by the maiden’s art,
with the maiden carried off, the victor holds the prizes.

Arte tamen magica fieri custodia fertur
Quod nequeat valeat aurea lana capi.
Esona quid mirum iuvenescere gramine posse
Cum serpens coctus solvere possit idem?
Historico sensu describas Thesea cuius
Virtus predones, moenia, monstra domat.

Yet by magical art a guardianship is said to have been made
such that the Golden Fleece could not be seized.
What wonder that Aeson can rejuvenate by a herb,
since a serpent, boiled, can achieve the same?
In the historical sense you may describe Theseus, whose
valor subdues brigands, walls, and monsters.

Tartara Pyrithous poscens activa vocatur
Vita, sed est Theseus celica vita decens.
Dum speculativa descendit preside tuta
Hercule gratatur palmaque fertur ei.
Phisica testatur aconitum cautibus ortum
Herbam mortiferam que quasi virus habet.
Myrmidonum formica genus sua pignora cauta
Esse notat, gentes indicat esse probas.

Pirithous, demanding Tartarus, is called the active Life;
but Theseus is the seemly heavenly life.
While the speculative [life] descends, safe with Hercules as presiding guide,
it rejoices, and a palm is borne to him.
Physics testifies that aconite, sprung from crags,
is a death-bearing herb which, as it were, has a virus (poison).
The ant-kind of the Myrmidons, careful of its own offspring,
notes this, and indicates the peoples to be upright.

Aurore raptus carnis denuntiat usus
Per quem contingunt multa pericla viris.

Aurora’s ravishment announces the use of the flesh,
through which many perils befall men.

VIII. [317-344]

8. [317-344]

Nisi purpureus crinis caput esse cruentum
Fine notat, cuius munere vivit homo.
Vertitur in nisum Nisus, contraria Niso
Filia vivit avis facta molesta patri.
Taurus adulter erat regisque notarius idem
Est dictus pueros progenuisse duos.

Unless the purple lock marks the head as to be bloodied at the end—by whose gift a man lives.
Nisus is turned into a nisus, the daughter lives as a bird contrary to Nisus, made troublesome to her father.
Taurus was an adulterer and likewise the king’s notary; he is said to have begotten two boys.

Hii sunt Mynois, sunt Tauri, sed sapientes
Propter adulterium monstra fuisse volunt.
Efficitur perdix conformi nomine Perdix.
Artis homo perdix iure fit artis avis.

These are Minos’s, they are the Bull’s; yet the wise wish that, on account of adultery, they were monsters.
Perdix is made a partridge, with a conforming name, Perdix.
A man of art, Perdix by right becomes the bird of art.

Fax est fatalis Melagri perdere fortis
Rite virum magica qua fuit usa parens.
Germanas velat Meleagri pluma vagantes
Dum volat instabilis et fugitiva cohors.
Stipes fatalis est frater quo Meleager
Occisus mortis tristia fata subit.

A fatal torch is for destroying brave Meleager,
in due rite, which his mother used with magic.
It veils Meleager’s sisters, wandering, with plume,
while the unstable and fugitive cohort flies.
A fatal log is the “brother” by which Meleager,
slain, undergoes the sad fates of death.

Terras vicinas germanas dicimus esse
Quas sibi distinctas dividit unda maris.
Baucidis ostendit timidique Phylemonis alma
Religio superos quod timeas et ames.
Regna tenere Fames lapidosa per arva videtur
Qua se diminuit vir sibi corpus alens.

We say that neighboring lands are sister lands
which the wave of the sea divides, set apart for itself.
The kindly Religion of Baucis and timorous Phylemon shows
that you should fear and love the supernal gods.
Stony Hunger seems to hold dominion over realms through the fields
whereby a man, feeding his own body for himself, diminishes himself.

Filia quam vendit Erisicton nunc equa nunc bos
Nunc ales, pisces nunc capit ere cibo.
Est equa dum subportat honus, bos cultibus agri
Ales dum querit oraque patris alit.
Piscator lucrum piscatur, frondet et arbor
Fructificans, aliis hoc tribuisse potes.

The daughter whom Erysichthon sells, now a mare, now an ox,
Now a bird, now she takes fishes with food as bait.
She is a mare while she bears the burden, an ox for the cultivations of the field;
A bird while she seeks, and she nourishes her father's mouth.
The fisherman fishes profit, and the tree leafs,
Fructifying; you can ascribe this to the others.

IX. [345-406]

9. [345-406]

Est Achelous aqua, pars eius quam sibi claudit
Est cornu, pars est fructibus illa ferax.
Hercules est virtute virens activaque vita
Iuno, Stigii mundum signat acerba lues.
Sena Megera datur operis constantia pravi
Vis sed Eristeus est grata statusque boni.

Achelous is water, the part of it which he encloses for himself
is a horn; that part is fertile in fruits.
Hercules is flourishing in virtue and in active life
Juno marks the world with the bitter pestilence of the Stygian realm.
The old woman Megaera is given as the constancy of wicked work
But Eristeus is the welcome force and the condition of the good.

Ydre cunarum vicium puerile figurant
Puro, pure puer quod superare studet.
Busirim domuit dominum Pharaonis in oris.
Anteus Libie rex dominusque fuit.

Hydrae figure the puerile vice of cradles
By purity, a pure boy strives to overcome it.
He subdued Busiris, the lord, on the shores of Pharaoh.
Antaeus of Libya was a king and a lord.

In grecos pugnat victus Libieque requirens
Auxilium, rediens inde peremptus obit.
Triplex Gerionis caput est in triplice regno
Cuius divicie preda fuere viro.
Cacus latro fuit et predo tutus in umbra
Ignem die iram sed perit ille tamen.

He fights the Greeks, defeated, and seeking the aid of Libya;
returning from there, slain, he dies.
The triple head of Geryon is in a triple kingdom,
whose riches were booty for the man.
Cacus was a bandit and a plunderer, safe in the shadow;
fire by day, wrath; yet he perished nonetheless.

Cerberus est mundus partes illius habentur
Tres tria colla canis, vir premit acer eas.
Contemplativa Theseus activaque vita
Pyrithous, tolerant sepe pericla due.
Vir virtute virens vitam sublimat utramque
Mundi latratus hunc metuisse pudet.

Cerberus is the world; its parts are held
Three—the three necks of the dog; a keen man presses them.
The contemplative life, Theseus, and the active life
Pyrithous, the two often endure perils.
A man flourishing in virtue sublimates both lives
It shames him to have feared the barking of the world.

Pugnantes superat vir Amazones absque mamilla
Effrontes calcat indomitasque domat.
Athlantis pomum signat sapientis honorem
Hercules et Perseus hunc habuisse student.
Fulmen mittit aper, ire notat ergo calorem.

He overcomes the fighting Amazons without a breast; he tramples the brazen and tames the untamed.
The apple of Atlas marks the honor of the wise; Hercules and Perseus strive to have possessed this.
The boar hurls a thunderbolt; therefore it denotes the heat of anger.

Est leo luxuria que superata iacet.
Lerneum stagnum crescens notat Ydra, sed Ydram
Obstruit Alcides, terra negatur aque.
Centauros vincunt Lapite quos Herculis ardor
Prevenit, et victor leta trophea refert.

There is a lion: Lust, which, once overcome, lies low.
The Lernaean pool, growing, marks out the Hydra; but Alcides obstructs the Hydra, and land is denied to the water.
The Lapiths conquer the Centaurs, whom the ardor of Hercules forestalls, and as victor he bears back joyful trophies.

Bacchatur tortor Dyomedes sed Dyomedem
Alcides torquet in feritate ferum.
Tandem vipereum mulieris virus in illum
Sevit et invictum vincit amara venus.
Sed rursus virus vincit sublatus in astra
Reddita lux anime ditat honore virum.

The tormentor Diomedes raves in Bacchic frenzy, but Alcides torments Diomedes, savage in ferocity.
At length the viperine virus (venom) of a woman rages against him, and bitter Venus conquers the unconquered.
But in turn he conquers the virus, lifted to the stars;
the light restored to his soul enriches the man with honor.

Iuverat ore suo parientem fida Galantis
Sic est mustela que parit ore suo.
Arbor amena viget fugiens obscena Priapi,
In laudem floret fructificatque suam.
Fertilitas orti dicetur iure Priapus,
Fertile cum membrum sit generare probum.

Faithful Galanthis had aided the parturient by her mouth;
Thus is the weasel, which gives birth by its mouth.
The pleasant tree flourishes, fleeing the obscene things of Priapus,
Into his praise it flowers and bears its own fruit.
The fertility of the garden will by right be called Priapus,
since his member is fertile to generate what is worthy.

Dicuciens Thebas titulos legis historiales,
Archanumque tibi fabula nulla tegit.
Biblis in exemplo est ut ament concessa puelle
Que fons est lacrimis humida facta suis.
Dilacerat Tipho fratem quem dicitur Ysis
Quesivisse diu postque salutat eum.

Discussing Thebes, you read historical titles,
and no fable veils the arcane from you.
Byblis is as an example, that maidens love permitted things—
she who became a fountain, made damp by her own tears.
Typhon tears apart the brother whom Isis is said
to have long sought, and afterwards she greets him.

Est Tipho corpus animam dicemus Osyrim.
Corpore que toto ceu lacerata viget.
Te vero, Liber, legimus Ianiasse Gigantes,
Per quod vis anime corpore fusa patet,
In Bachi festis est vannus femina, vanno
Et sacris anima mundificata nitet,
Est Atreus corpus, animam die esse Thiestem.

Typhon is the body; we will say Osiris is the soul.
And, as if lacerated in the whole body, it thrives.
But you, Liber, we read to have lacerated the Giants,
through which the force of the soul, poured into the body, is evident,
In the feasts of Bacchus the winnowing-fan is the female, by the fan
and by the sacred rites the soul, purified, shines,
Atreus is the body; the soul we say is Thyestes.

Prole voluntatem significare potes.
Ambitus est uxor. Coquit exta nefarius Atreus
Dum cupidi labes intima velle necat.

By progeny you can signify the will.
Ambition is the wife. The nefarious Atreus cooks the entrails,
while the taint of cupidity kills the inmost will.

Femina dicetur mollis tamen inde virizat.
Deque viro fieri femina sepe solet.

A woman is called soft; yet from there she becomes virile.
And from a man, a woman is often wont to be made.

X. [407-420]

10. [407-420]

Pratum delicie, coniunx caro, vipera virus,
Vir ratio, Stix est terra, loquela lira.
Morphosis Ovidii conformi nomine facta
Consimilique statu proprietate pari.
Sic tibi Iacinctus flos est Cyparissus et arbor,
Taurus crudelis, bos meretricis amor.

A meadow is delight, a dear spouse, a viper poison,
Man reason, the earth is Styx, speech a lyre.
Morphosis of Ovid, made with a conform name
and with a consimilar state, with equal property.
Thus for you Hyacinthus is a flower, and Cyparissus a tree,
a cruel bull, an ox the courtesan’s love.

Rem miram mirare novam Mirram per amorem
In mirram verti quam dat amarus amor.
Ex auro poma tria sunt genitalia, fervens
Cum leo luxuries, fertur uterque leo.
Nobilitas, species, sapientia sunt tria poma
Aurea, que triplici pectora dote trahunt.

Marvel at a wondrous thing: the new Myrrha through love
to be turned into myrrh, which bitter love gives.
From gold are the three generative apples; burning
lust like a lion, each is said to be a lion.
Nobility, beauty, wisdom are the three apples
golden, which draw hearts with a triple endowment.

Flos breviter durans iuvenilis dicitur etas
Que cito discedens ut levis umbra fugit.

The briefly enduring flower is called the juvenile age,
which, departing quickly, flees like a light shadow.

XI. [421-438]

11. [421-438]

Orpheus contemptor mulierum fit muliebris
Preda quibus captus et laceratus obit.
Serpens est livor qui morsu gaudet et umbra,
Ledere cum nequeat ut lapis ille riget.
Aurum qui captat Midas designat avarum
Qui ditatus eget fertilitate miser.

Orpheus, a despiser of women, becomes women's
Prey, by whom, captured and lacerated, he dies.
Envy is a serpent which rejoices in the bite and in the shade,
when it cannot injure, like a stone it grows rigid.
Midas, who grasps at gold, designates the avaricious man
who, enriched, lacks fertility, wretched.

Musica signatur dum tibia dum lira certant
Aures demulcet tibia leta magis.
Dulcior est cithara si sit proporcio nota
Aut aures asini dico fuisse tibi.
Sic quisquis, sensus et non rationis acumen,
Iudicat, attendit, est asininus homo.

Music is signified while the pipe and the lyre contend
the cheerful pipe soothes the ears more.
Sweeter is the cithara if the proportion be known
or I say that the ears of an ass have been yours.
Thus whoever, by sense and not by reason’s acumen,
judges, pays heed, is an asinine man.

Plurima perstringam paucis: avis est fugitivus,
Flens aqua, mons montis incola truxque fera.
Mersus uterque gemit, gemebundaque noscitur ales,
Cum volucres querule per mare semper eant.
Esacus est mergus macilentus, cum sit amantes
Concomitans macies quos male iungit amor.

I will touch on very many things briefly: the fugitive is a bird,
weeping water, the mountain, the mountain’s inhabitant, and a truculent wild beast.
Both, when plunged, groan, and the bird is known as plaintive,
since the birds, querulous, always go across the sea.
Esacus is a gaunt diver-bird, since leanness accompanies lovers
whom love badly yokes.

XII. [439-452]

12. [439-452]

Vertitur in cignum Cignus quem phisica virtus
In ferrum munit, nomen adoptat avem.
Cenea vis eadem magnumque armavit Achillem,
Virtus empirica talia posse probat.
Segnis homo mollis lascivus femina vivit,
Induit ergo virum quando virile gerit.

He turns into a swan, Cygnus, whom physic virtue fortifies in iron; he adopts the bird’s name.
The same Caenean might armed Caeneus and the great Achilles,
Empiric virtue proves such things can be done.
A sluggish man, a soft lascivious woman lives;
Therefore she puts on the man when she bears what is virile.

Dimidiat populos vir equus quoniam domuisse
Frenis hos primo fama recenset equos.
Piritous duxit uxorem dum caro dum mens,
Dum vicium virtus, mistica bella movent.
Iuppiter in cigno Geminos Helenamque creavit.

The man-horse halves peoples, since report recounts
that a man first tamed these horses with reins.
Pirithous took a wife, while flesh and while mind,
while vice and virtue, set mystical wars in motion.
Jupiter, in a swan, created the Twins and Helen.

Iuppiter est virtus ardua, cignus honor.
Ponderis unius gemini nascuntur ab ovo
Partus enim Ledam letus ovare facit.

Jupiter is lofty virtue, the swan honor.
Of one weight the twins are born from an egg
For the birth indeed makes Leda glad to lay eggs.

XIII. [453-468]

13. [453-468]

Milicie flos est in florem versus et ya
Flos florere facit, viva querela viret.
Divicias et miliciam pro Cipride spernit
Dum ratio Paridis aurea preda jacet.
Die Hecubam latrare canem quia more canino
Debaccata fuit omnibus orba suis.

The flower of militia has been turned into a flower, now;
the flower makes to flourish, the living complaint greens.
He spurns riches and militia for Cypris,
since Paris’s reason lies in golden prey.
Say that Hecuba barked like a dog, because in canine manner
she raved, bereft of all her own.

Sunt Anii nate mutantes omnia tactu
In segetum fructus, pande quid ista velint:
Germane grecos aluerunt divite regno,
More columbino te coluere Venus.
Unicus est oculus Poliphemi fronte rotundus
Cellula qua speculans in ratione fuit.
Hunc oculum fertur Itacus terebrasse disertus
Concludens superans calliditate virum.

There are sons of Anius, changing all things by touch
into the fruits of cornfields; unfold what those would mean:
Brother, the Greeks have nourished (fostered) with a wealthy kingdom,
in dove-like manner Venus cherished you.
A single eye of Polyphemus is round upon his forehead,
a little cell, with which, looking out, he was in reason.
This eye the eloquent Ithacan is said to have bored through,
bringing it to a close, surpassing the man by cleverness.

Orni quas Ciclops iaculari fertur in hostes
Argumenta notant que superare volunt.

The ash-spears which the Cyclops is said to hurl at enemies
denote the arguments that wish to overcome.

XIV. [469-500]

14. [469-500]

Est naturalis mutatio gramine facta
Herbe vi Glaucus mergere corpus amat.
Antiquis miseris delusio demonum acta
Finxit submersos equoris esse deos.
In scriptis aliter legi quod scilicet herba
Sit Martis mulier nos variare potens.

There is a natural mutation made by an herb
by the force of the herb Glaucus loves to submerge his body.
Among the wretched ancients, a delusion of demons having been enacted
feigned that those submerged are gods of the sea.
In the writings I have read otherwise, namely that the herb
is the woman of Mars, powerful to vary us.

Sic Circe trahit in porcos quos vivere cogit
Immunde magica rite nociva viris.
Naufragium Scillam Circe facit esse, sed illud
Naufragium semper ex meretrice venit.
Picum reddit avem Circe quem carmine, luxu
Exhominat; fastus quasi penna levat.

Thus Circe draws into swine those whom she compels to live
uncleanly, by a magical rite harmful to men.
Circe makes Scylla to be a shipwreck, but that
shipwreck always comes from a prostitute.
Circe renders Picus a bird by a charm; by luxury
she dehumanizes; she lifts up pride as if with a feather.

Uxor, Pice, tua nusquam comparuit ultra
Cum fluvio Tibri mersa dolore latet.
Hos Venus in volucres mutat quoscumque libido
Huc agit aut illuc naufragioque trahit.
Verborum virus signans oleaster amarus
Ne pariat succos vult tibi lingua malos.

Your wife, Picus, has nowhere appeared any further
Submerged in the river Tiber, she lies hidden in sorrow.
Venus mutates into birds whomever libido
drives hither or thither and drags to shipwreck.
The bitter oleaster, marking the virus of words,
wants your tongue not to produce evil juices.

Ne pereant naves flammis mittuntur in undas
Occurritque suo libera turba duci.
Ardea dicetur urbs in qua pallor et ardor
Et macies planctus et loca sola manent.
Vulnerat ille manum Veneris qui velle recidit
Et factum, vitans ocia marte suo.

Lest the ships perish by flames, they are sent into the waves
And a free crowd runs to meet its own leader.
Ardea will be called the city in which pallor and ardor
And leanness, lamentation, and solitary places remain.
He wounds the hand of Venus who resects will and deed,
avoiding idlenesses by his own Mars.

Tibridis in fluvio mersus cithereius heros
Post mortem mortis subditione caret.
Vertumpnus fertur variatio temporis, optat
Pomonam, pomos pomaque tempus alit.
Quod fuit in duro iam pridem pectore saxum
Tristis Anaxaretes saxea membra facit.

The Cytherean hero, submerged in the Tiber river,
after death is free from death’s subjection.
Vertumnus is said to be the variation of time, he desires
Pomona, time nourishes fruit-trees and fruits.
What had long been a stone in her hard breast
sad Anaxarete makes her limbs of stone.

Romulus occisus nusquam comparuit ultra
Montis et Hersilia culmine missa cadit.

Romulus, slain, appeared nowhere beyond
and Hersilia, sent from the summit of the mountain, falls.

XV. [501-520]

15. [501-520]

Pitagoras factus Euphorbius innuit ambos
Eiusdem primos dogmatis esse viros.
Dogma quid hoc fuerit Nasonem consule, doctis
Quid dicatur adhuc hic superesse volo.
Spiritus Egeria nocturna refertur amica.

Pythagoras, having become Euphorbus, intimates that both
are the foremost men of the same dogma.
What this dogma was—consult Naso—; for the learned
I would have it said that something of it still survives here.
The spirit of Egeria is reported as a nocturnal friend.

Effundit fontis amne futura Nume.
Ypolitum juvenem mores habuisse seniles
Dicimus et carnis exsuperasse malum.
Est pectus serpens Epidaurius, hic quia cautus
Hic quia subtilis, hie quia doctus erat.

She pours forth the future by the stream of the spring, Numa.
We say that the youth Hippolytus had aged manners
and had overcome the evil of the flesh.
The Epidaurian serpent is the breast, this because he was cautious,
this because subtle, this because learned.

Iulius est stella quia Christi stella reluxit
Huius post mortem, stella notata Magis.
In Salvatoris ortu nova stella relucet.
Auctorem veterum stella novata notat.

Julius is a star because the star of Christ shone again
after his death, a star noted by the Magi.
At the Savior’s rising a new star shines again.
A renewed star marks the author of the ancients.

Quod non subiaceat stellis, quod iura planete
Non dominentur ei, propria stella probat.
Non sibi dicetur patrem sumpsisse planetam.
Stella planetarum quam notat esse patrem
Stella michi niteat occasus nescia, finem
Dans rebus, finis sit sine fine michi.

That he does not lie beneath the stars, that the laws of the planets
do not dominate him, his proper star proves.
It will not be said of him that he took a planet as father.
The star which the planets mark to be the father—
let a star that knows not setting shine for me, giving an end
to things; may the End be without end for me.