Porphyrius: P. OPTATIANUS PORFYRIUSCARMINA

1
Quae quondam sueras pulchro decorata libello
carmen in Augusti ferre Thalia manus,
ostro tota nitens, argento auroque coruscis
scripta notis, picto limite dicta notans,
scriptoris bene compta manu meritoque renidens
gratificum, domini uisibus apta sacris,
pallida nunc, atro chartam suffusa colore,
paupere uix minio carmina dissocians,
hinc trepido pede tecta petis uenerabilis aulae,
horrida quod nimium sit tua nunc facies.
Hos habitus uatis praesentia fata merentur;
uix locus hoc saltem praebuit unde uenis.
Suppliciter tamen ire potes dominumque precari:
squalor et hae sordes conueniunt miseris.

1
You, who once, adorned for a fair little booklet,
Thalia bore the song into Augustus’ hands,
all shining in purple, glittering with silver and gold,
written with marks, marking the words on a painted border,
well‑arranged by the writer’s hand and shining with merit
as a gracious gift, fit for the lord’s sacred eyes,—
now pale, the page suffused with black ink’s color,
scarcely separating the poems with poor vermilion,
hence with a trembling foot you seek the roofs of the venerable court,
because your face is now too rough and horrid. These garments deserve the poet’s present fortunes;
scarcely did even the place at least furnish whence you come. Yet you can go supplicantly and pray to the lord:
squalor and these filths are fitting for the miserable.

Cum dederit clemens ueniam, natumque laremque
reddiderit, comptis ibis et ipsa comis,
purpureo fulgens habitu, radiantibus intus,
ut quondam, scriptis ambitiosa tuis.

When the merciful one has granted pardon, and has restored your son and your lar,
you will go with your tresses adorned and she herself with hair arranged,
shining in a purple garb, radiant within,
as once, proud of your written works.

2
Sancte, tui uatis, Caesar, miserere serenus.
Auguste omnipotens, almo mortalia cuncta
numine laetificans, nobis ad gaudia nomen,
Constantine, tuum fecundi carminis ex hoc
te duce det Musas; nam tristis cura recusat
egregios actus: iam sedent crimina Parcae.
Tunc melius dominum te uox secura sonabit,
uirtutum rector.

2
Holy Caesar, serene prophet of your line, have mercy.
Almighty Augustus, making all mortal things glad
by a nurturing numen, to us a name for joys,
Constantine, may the Muses from this, with you as leader,
grant your fruitful song; for sorrowing care refuses
distinguished deeds: already the crimes of the Fates sit.
Then a surer voice will better proclaim you lord,
ruler of virtues.

potuit uix pangere uersu
ista modo, et maesto sic saltim dicere uati;
uix mihi Calliope pauitanti conscia nutu
adnuit, ausa precem uatisque edicere fata
tristia, signato partes ut limite claudat
iure pari carmen, mediis ut consona in omni
sit nota prima sui, et sit pars extima talis
ceu media, e primis occurrens aptius istic
ad laterum fines, et pars, quae diuidit orsa
e medio, caput esse queat uersuque referre:
Sancte, tui uatis, Caesar, miserere serenus.
Alme, salus orbis, Romae decus, inclite fama,
re melior, pietate parens, ad Martia uictor,
mitior ad ueniam, permulcens aspera legum
iustitia, aeternae uires et gloria saecli,
spes data plena bonis et felix: copia rebus,
eximium columen ueterum uirtute fideque,
Romae magne parens, armis ciuilibus ultor,
et summi laus grata dei, mens clara, superne
rebus missa salus, per te pax, optime ductor,
et bellis secura quies, sancta omnia per te.
Solis iura suis fidissima dextra maritis
et sociale iugum praebet, consortia uitae.
Respice me falso de crimine, maxime rector,
exulis afflictum poena; nam cetera causae
nunc obiecta mihi uenia, uenerabile numen,
uince pia et solito superans fatalia nutu
sancte, tui uatis, Caesar, miserere serenus.

He could scarcely compose those things in verse
in this way, and at least thus address the sorrowful bard;
hardly did Calliope, conscious of my hesitating nod,
consent, daring to utter the prayer and the poet’s sad fates,
that, with its boundary marked, the parts should close with equal right
the song, so that the first note be consonant amid every middle of itself,
and the extreme part be such as the middle,
as if meeting more suitably there from the first toward the limits of the sides,
and the part which divides the beginnings from the middle
might be able to be the head and to bring it back by verse:
Sancte, tui vatis, Caesar, miserere serenus.
Nurturing one, salvation of the world, Rome’s glory, famed with renown,
a better thing in deed, parent in piety, victor in Martial fields,
milder toward pardon, softening the harshness of the justice of laws,
eternal strength and the glory of the age,
hope given, full and fortunate in goods: abundance for affairs,
an outstanding column of the ancients in virtue and in faith,
great parent of Rome, avenger in civil arms,
and the praise of the Highest, pleasing to God, a bright mind,
a salvation sent from above for affairs, through you peace, O best leader,
and a secure rest from wars, all holy things through you.
With his most faithful right hand he grants the rights of the married
and provides the communal yoke, the partnerships of life.
Look upon me, falsely accused, most excellent ruler,
an exile bowed down by punishment; for as to the other causes
now pardon is set before me, venerable numen,
overcome by a pious and customary nod the fateful things, surpassing them by your assent
Sancte, tui vatis, Caesar, miserere serenus.

3
Fingere Musarum flagrarem numine uultus,
alme parens orbis, perfecta in munia uersu,
uotaque, si ratio non abnuat ordine Phoebi.
Gesta canunt, quos Aonium placabile numen
uatis sorte frui dat; donis carminis ex hoc
sustollens et uersu instigans ora sonare,
tu mentem inspiras uatis; tu gaudia semper
in te, sancte, uocas. tu quiuis docta Camenae
edere dicta fauens, tu laetus uota secunda,
ut rata sint, audis; tua mitis rector Olympi
tempora praecipua seruat pietate serena.

3
I would fashion the ardent visages of the Muses by a divine will,
nourishing parent of the world, having completed in verse thy offices,
and vows too, if reason do not deny Phoebus’s order.
They chant deeds, those whom the Aonian placable numen
grants to enjoy by lot of the prophet; lifting them thence with the gifts of song
and urging their mouths to sound in verse,
thou dost inspire the mind of the seer; thou dost always call joys into thyself, holy one.
Thou, favoring whoever wishes to utter learned words of the Camenae,
thou, gladly hearing vows made favorable so that they may stand confirmed,
thy gentle ruler of Olympus preserves the chief seasons with serene piety.

Aurea iam toto, uictor, tua saecula pollent,
Constantine, polo. haec nexus lege solutis
dicturus metris magno mouet agmine Musas,
at mea uix pictis dum texit carmina Phoebi
Calliope modulis, gaudet, si uota secundet
Delius, intexta ut parili sub tramite Musa
orsa iuuet, uersu consignans aurea saecla.
Sed tibi deuotam rapiunt ad gaudia mentem
audenterque loqui suadent per deuia uoto
Aonides fretae, et, quantis sua uerba tueri
legibus astrictae, te tota mente fideque
uatis uoce tui, tua, princeps inclite, tanta
bella canunt, et Pegaseo noua carmina potu
exercent, nexuque uolunt nunc rite sonare
egregium imperium, tanto cur munere fungi
et praecelsa iuuat uersu per scrupea fari.

Now your golden ages already prevail through the whole sky, O Victor Constantine.
About to speak these things, with bonds loosened by law and in measured meters, he stirs the Muses with a great procession;
but my Calliope of Phoebus, scarce while she wove her songs in painted measures, rejoices if Delian Apollo shall favor the vows,
so that the Muse, woven into the same tread beneath that course, may aid the undertakings, sealing the golden ages with verse.
But the Aonian maidens, borne across the seas, carry off the mind devoted to you to joys and boldly urge it to speak
along paths remote from its vow; and, inasmuch as their words, bound by their laws, defend and uphold you,
with whole mind and faith and with the voice of your prophet they sing of you, illustrious prince, of so great wars,
and they train new songs at the Pegasean spring, and by their union now desire rightly to sound the noble empire—
why one should discharge so great a charge, and why it pleases to proclaim high matters in verse over rugged ways.

Mentis opus mirum metris intexere carmen
ad uarios cursus; uix, arto in limite clausa,
nodosos uisus artis cata praeferat ex hoc,
et tamen ausa loqui tanto mens aestuat ore,
nec dignum uotis carmen sic reddere retur,
tali lege canens; quae nostrum pagina sola,
ex Helicone licet, complebit, munus amoris,
picta elementorum uario per musica textu.

Weave a wondrous work of mind into measures, a song
to varied courses; scarcely, shut within a narrow bound,
would the sight of knotted art from this put forth its show,
and yet the mind, having dared to speak, seethes with so great a mouth,
nor does the song thus rendered seem worthy of our vows,
singing by such a law; which alone, albeit from Helicon,
our page will complete, the gift of love,
with the elements pictured through a varied musical texture.

4
Imperii fastus geminant uicennia signa,
pagina flexosa tramite uota notat.
Constantinigenis: Helicon det talia natis
munera, deuotis haustibus ora rigans.
Hos rupes Cirrhaea sonet uideatque coruscos
Ponti nobilitas, altera Roma, duces.

4
The empire’s pride doubles vicennial standards,
the folded page marks vows along a winding track.
To the Constantinopolitan: may Helicon grant such gifts to your offspring,
moistening the lips with devoted draughts.
May the Cirrhaean cliffs sound and see the glittering nobles of the Pontus,
another Rome, your leaders.

Sed nunc te, uictor, uicennia picta honorent:
contentum tenui munere Musa cupit.
Quod textu scruposa siet mea pagina simplex,
disserat Augusto Calliopea mea.

But now may painted twentyfold honors attend you, O victor:
the Muse desires to be content with a slender gift.
That my simple page may be scrupulous in its texture,
my Calliope may expound this to Augustus.

5
Uictor sidereis pollens uirtutibus ibis,
Persica cum natis Latio confinia reddens,
iam Nili princeps, laetis, Oriente recepto,
quos tibi fida dicat concordia, diues Eois
iam populis Parthis, Medis unique dicatis
Augusto et natis. tu magna ad gaudia, sancte
Constantine, faue; te tanto in carmine Musa
et tua descriptis pingit uicennia metris.
At tu supplicibus, olim dux clarus in armis,
da pietate fidem.

5
Victor, strong in starry virtues, you will go,
restoring Persian-born peoples to Latium’s confines,
now prince of the Nile, with the East received in joy,
whom faithful concord proclaims to you, rich in eastern
peoples now to the Parthians, to the Medes alone dedicated
to Augustus and his sons. You, bring favor to great joys, holy
Constantine; the Muse is content with a slender gift for you.
And the Muse paints you in her described vicennial measures.
But you, once a leader illustrious in arms,
grant trust by your piety to those who suppliant kneel.

maior mox gloria honorum,
si totos seruare queas post uota tropaeis.
Parcere iam uersis uirtus denuntiat alma.
Indus, Arabs iam uota ferunt et Media diues,
Aethiopes gnari rapido cum lumine surgit
Tethyos ex gremio Titan.

greater soon will be the glory of honors,
if you can keep the trophies whole after vows.
now kindly virtue bids that the vanquished be spared.
india, the arabs now bring vows and rich media,
the aethiopians, aware, with swift light titan rises
from the bosom of tethys.

sed et omnia laeta,
Constantine, bono nunc ludent otia saeclo.
Felix Musa, tuis possit quae digna referre
praemia uirtutum meritis uel uoce sonare.
Quid, uaga, Pierios uersus sub uallis opaca
ilice componis?

but also all things joyful,
Constantine, will now play at leisure in a good age.
Blessed Muse, may she be able to bring back worthy rewards
of virtues for your merits or to sound them forth with voice.
Why, wandering one, do you set Pierian verses beneath the shady
oak of the valley?

lauro quid carmina carpis?
Castalios tota respondet uoce triumphos,
quam dat fonte suo. Clario tu carmina prome
uate deo digna: aut siquod perferet audens,
maius opus nectens, mens tota mole subibit,
spe pinget carmen, pangat si coepta Camena,
compleat et uersu uariata decennia picto,
ore secunda uouens sub certo limite metri.

why pluck songs from the laurel?
the Castalian spring answers with a whole voice the triumphs which it gives from its fountain.
Clario, you, bring forth songs worthy of the seer-god: or if, daring, you would carry something, weaving a greater opus,
the whole mind will undergo the weight; hope will paint the song, and if the Camena has begun, let her complete it,
and let her finish it, varied in ten-line stanzas embroidered with painted verse,
vowing with a second mouth beneath the sure limit of metre.

indulgens natis patriae pietatis honore,
mitis iure deus; sed Crispi in fortia uires
non dubiae ripa Rhenum Rhodanumque tueri
ulteriore parant et Francis tristia iura.
Iam tu, sancte puer, spes tantae rite quieti
missa polo; saeclis da, Constantine, serena
tempora, summe: pio tricennia suscipe uoto.

indulging the children with the honor of the fatherland’s piety,
a gentle god by right; but the forces of Crispus, of no doubtful strength,
prepare to guard the Rhine and the Rhone on the farther bank
and to oppose the sad laws of the Franks. Now you, holy boy, hope of so great things, rightly sent to the restful sky;
grant to the ages, Constantine, serene times, O highest one: accept three hundred years by pious vow.

6
Martia gesta modis audax imitata sonoris
Musa per effigiem turmarum carmina texit,
et nunc agmen agit quino sub limite rectum
Musigeno, spatium septeno milite distans,
nunc eadem uerso relegens utcumque meatu
mittit in amfractus non una lege cateruas,
dissona componi diuerso carmine gaudens,
grata nimis flexu docili de perpete metro,
orsa iterum fini socians, confinia contra
praeponens orsis, nullo discrimine metri.
Quin etiam partes mediae sua munia doctae
expediunt: uersis uicibus, nam, fine sed uno,
quamuis ambiguos cursus et deuia claudit.
Ostentans artem uinciri, scrupea praebet
Sarmaticas, summe, strages, et tota peracta
uota (precor, faueas) sub certo condita uisu.

6
The Muse, boldly imitating martial deeds in sonorous measures,
wove songs through the likeness of ranks of troops,
and now marshals a column of five drawn straight beneath Musigeno’s band,
the spacing set seven soldiers apart,
now the same, turning back with a wandering course,
sends companies into bends not governed by a single rule,
rejoicing to compose dissonant things in diverse song,
too pleasing in its bend from a pliant perpetual meter,
beginning again joined to the end, opposing boundaries
to the starts, with no distinction of metre.
Nay, even the middle parts, learned, perform their tasks:
with the turnings of the verses, for, with but one end,
though it closes ambiguous marches and devious ways.
Showing the art of being bound, the fastidious presents
Sarmatian slaughters, O highest, and the whole completed
vows (I pray, grant favor) laid up under a fixed appearance.

Factorum gnarum tam grandia dicere uatem
iam totiens, Auguste, licet. Campona cruore
hostili post bella madens artissima toto
corpora fusa solo, submersas amne repleto
uictrix miretur turbas aciemque ferocem.
Plurima conarer, Phoebeo carmine gaudens,
Margensis memorare boni caelestia facta,
introitus et bella loqui perculsa ruinis,
quis deuicta iacet gens duro Marte caduca.

That I may tell so often such great deeds of known fact, Augustus, is permitted now.
Campona, drenched in hostile gore after the wars, the densely packed bodies
poured out upon the whole ground, the river filled and the conqueror marvels
at the submerged throngs and the fierce battle-line.
Many things I would attempt, rejoicing in Phoebean song,
to recount the heavenly deeds of good Margensis, to speak of triumphal entries and wars stunned by ruins,
which conquered people lies, perishable under harsh Mars.

Testis magnorum uicina Bononia praesens
sit uoti compos, excisaque agmina cernens
det iuga captiuis et ducat cetera praedas.
Grandia uictori molimur proelia plectro
dicere, nec satis est, uotum si compleat ore
Musa suo: quaecumque parat sub lege sonare,
scruposis innexa modis, perfecta Camenis
uult resonare meis, et testis nota tropaea
depictis signare metris, cum munere sacro
mentis deuotae placarint fata procellas.

Let neighboring Bononia, present, be witness to great deeds, consonant with the vow, and seeing the cut-down ranks may give the yokes to the captives and lead away the remaining spoils.
We strive to sing great battles for the victor with the plectrum, and it is not enough, if the Musa should fulfill the vow with her mouth: whatever she prepares to sound under law, bound to scrupulous measures, made perfect by the Camenes,
she wishes to resound in my lines, and to mark famed tropaea with painted meters, when, by a sacred gift, they have appeased with a devoted mind the storms of Fate.

7
Augustum specimen, mitis clementia, magne
Ausonidum ductor, tua, maxime, fortia Musae
Castaliae de fonte canunt. tu munera summa
uotorum da, Phoebe, mihi nunc, plena fauoris,
da mentem sensusque pios insigne serenus
imperium, natisque potens, ad Martia felix,
perpetuum saeclis, picto sub carmine fari.
Audentem, precor, ipse iuua me, gloria uatum,
dicturum carmen, quamuis nunc copia Musae
non talis, possitque minus sub lege iuuari:
uersu aliud limo, aliud, quo pagina in omnis
signatur modulos, discernat semita fandi.

7
An exemplar of Augustus, gentle clemency, great
leader of the Ausonians—your deeds, most mighty, the Muses
of Castalia sing from the spring. You, Phoebus, now grant
the highest gifts of vows to me, full of favor;
grant a serene hallmark to pious mind and senses,
a potent rule for offspring, fortunate in martial things,
everlasting for the ages, to be spoken under embroidered song.
Aid me yourself, I pray, bold glory of the poets,
that I may speak a poem, though now the store of the Muse
is not such, and may be less helped under the law:
let one verse cleave to one mud, another by which each page
is marked out in little measures, let the path of speaking distinguish them.

Uelle iubet numen, lux alma, et gaudia mundi
instituunt; sequitur curas in musica uoto
uirtutesque tuas et mores pandere gestit,
sancte, tuos. creuit nostrae fiducia menti;
te duce namque pio gaudens sub munere nota
in iuga festinat Musis, ubi frondea semper
tecta canunt artes et notae uatibus undae.
Indomitos reges seu pacis lubrica uictor
aut bello sternens aut mitis foedere, nutu
esse tuos facis agrosque exercere tuorum.

The divinity bids it be willed, nourishing light, and the joys of the world establish it;
following in musical vow it desires to unfold your virtues and your mores,
holy one, yours. Confidence has grown in our mind;
for with you as pious leader, rejoicing under the noted office
it hastens to the summons of the Muses, where the leafy roofs always
sing of the arts and the famed waves for the poets. Whether conquering slippery kings
by peace as victor or laying low by war, or gentle in treaty, by a nod
you make them be yours and to cultivate the fields of your own.

Auctior alma dei per te praesentia mundum
respexit, reddens mox aurea saecula rebus,
ostenditque deus rectoris tempora iusti
aetherio nutu placidis clementia iussis.
Per te perque tuos sunt omnia mitia, uictor,
natos, res populi florent ad gaudia mentis,
Caesaribusque tuis toto Uictoria in orbe
semper iure comes felix in saecula pollet.
Tantorum merita statues captiua tropaea,
uictor Sarmatiae totiens.

By you the nurturing presence of the gracious god looked more favorably on the world,
soon giving back the ages with golden goods,
and God revealed the times of a just ruler by an aetherial nod, at placid commands of clemency.
Through you and through yours all things are gentle, O victor;
your scions and the affairs of the people flourish toward delights of the mind,
and Victoria, a fortunate companion by right to your Caesars throughout the whole orb,
ever prevails, potent for the ages. You will set up captive trophies as monuments of so great merits,
O victor of Sarmatia so oft.

en, accipe, clare
ductor, ubique tuis uotorum reddita, felix,
debita. iam compos gaudet tua, Romule, pubes:
rector rite suus nobis per saecula floret.

behold, receive, illustrious
leader, everywhere the vows of yours rendered back, fortunate,
the dues. now orderly rejoices your youth, Romulus:
our ruler, rightly his, flourishes for us through the ages.

8
Accipe picta nouis elegis, lux aurea mundi,
clementis pia signa dei uotumque perenne.
Summe, faue. te tota rogat plebs gaudia rite,
et meritam credit, cum seruat iussa timore
Augusto et fidei, Christi sub lege probata.

8
Receive, painted with new elegies, O golden light of the world,
pious tokens of the merciful God and an everlasting vow.
Highest One, favor. The whole people duly asks you for joys,
and counts them well‑deserved, since it keeps the commands in fear of Augustus and of the faith, proved under Christ’s law.

Gloria iam saeclo processit candida miti,
accumulans coetus et tota ornata serenis
muneribus praestans natis, ut laurea uota,
uirtutum titulos, primis iam debeat annis,
progenie tali genuit quos nobile saeclum.
His decus a proauo, et uerae conscia prolis
Roma cluit, princeps inuicti militis, alma,
otia pacis amans. haec sunt mitissima dona,
hoc ataui meritum.

Glory has now advanced into a gentle age, bright,
gathering assemblies and wholly adorned with serene
gifts, outstanding to the born, like a laurel of vows,
owing the titles of virtues even to its earliest years,
by such progeny it produced those whom a noble generation.
To these a honor from the great‑grandfather, and Rome, conscious of true offspring,
bestows, the foremost of the unconquered soldier, nurturing,
lover of the otium of peace. These are the gentlest gifts,
this the ancestor’s merit.

uotis post editus orbis
erumpens docuit ne norint frangere fidei
optima iura pares; curis sub Martis iniqui
nullis laesa fides. hinc iugi stamine fata
uobis fila legunt placida pietate secuta,
et res Constanti nunc exerit inclita Fama,
aucta stirpe pia, uoto accumulata perenni;
sancta suas sedes ad mentis gaudia migrat
aetherio residens felix in cardine mundi.
Iam patriae uirtutis opus belline labore
an iusti meritis dicam mentisque serenae?

the world, brought forth after vows,
bursting forth, taught that peers should not know how to break
the best laws of faith; faith, though Mars be hostile, harmed by no cares.
From this the fates, on the ever-continuous thread, read your strands, having followed placid piety,
and now famed Fame will proclaim the affairs of Constans,
augmented by a pious stock, gathered by an eternal vow;
the holy one migrates her seat to the delights of the mind,
dwelling in the ether, happy at the world’s hinge. Now shall I call the work of the fatherland’s virtue
a product of warlike labour, or of just merits and a serene mind?

Et pia dona canam fecundaque pectora noto
rite deo, sic mente uigent cui gaudia casta?
Claudius inuictus bellis insignia magna
uirtutum tulerit Gothico de milite parta,
et pietate potens Constantius omnia pace
ac iustis auctus complerit saecula donis:
haec potiore fide, meritis maioribus orta
orbi dona tuo praestas, superasque priora,
perque tuos natos uincis praeconia magna.
Ac tibi lege dei iussisque perennia fient

And I will sing of pious gifts and hearts fertile with renown,
rightly to God—thus do chaste joys flourish in whose mind?
Claudius, unconquered in wars, bore great insignia
of virtues won from a Gothic soldier,
and Constantius, mighty in piety, with peace for all things
and increased by righteous gifts has filled the ages with benefactions:
these, born of a more excellent faith and of greater merits,
you bestow as gifts upon the world, and surpass the former ones,
and through your offspring you outdo great acclaim.
And for you, by the law of God and by commanded decrees, things perennial shall be

9
Castalides, domino uirtutum tradite palmam.
Constantinus habet bellorum iure tropaeum,
uindice sub dextra reddens feliciter orbem
consiliis, iterum suadens et cuncta referre,
Roma, tibi. bellis cum saeua innectere possit
uincla iugi, uirtus mitis non armat in hostem,
sed magno patiens docuit certamine parcens
quid pietas donet post pila minacia clemens.

9
Castalides, hand the palm to the lord of virtues.
Constantine holds the trophy of wars by right,
the victor, with his right hand happily restoring the world
to you, Rome, by counsels, again urging and bringing all back,
though savage wars can bind with the chains of the yoke,
gentle virtue does not arm against the enemy,
but, patient in great contest and sparing, has taught
what piety grants, clemency mild, after the threatening spears.

Nunc mihi iam toto dociles Helicone Camenae
mittite compositas in tempora mitia palmas;
nectite de metris uirtutum carmina et omnes
concinite, ut fructu felix et principe digna
det stirpes gratas, texens quas pagina uersu
hinc uoueat, titulo uotorum carmine pollens.
Pierios mihi, Phoebe, tuo de numine praestent
fontes Castaliae; tua, si licet ire, peragrans
mens iuga celsa petet, mecum si pangere uersu
Musa uelit tanto iam nunc sub principe laeta,
laudis dona ferens, resonans insignia ramis,
uincentum iussos audax, mihi fida, triumphos,
et meritum iustis tot reddere nobile palmas,
Aonidum quas ualle fluens alit unda rigatas.
Sancte, salus mundi, armis insignibus ardens,
Crispe, auis melior, te carmine laeta secundo
Clio Musa sonans tua fatur pulchra iuuentae.

Now to me, O Camenae, already from all Helicon obedient,
send composed palms into gentle times;
weave from meters songs of virtues and sing all together,
that happy by fruit and worthy of his prince
he give grateful offspring, which the page weaving with verse
may here vow, potent in the title of vows.
Phoebe, grant me Pierian springs from your divinity;
your, if it is permitted to go, roving mind will seek the high ridges,
if with me the Muse will wish to compose in verse,
now joyful under so great a prince,
bearing gifts of praise, resounding with distinguished branches,
bold to render five hundred triumphs commanded, faithful to me,
and to restore so many noble palms deserved by just men,
which the Aonian stream nourishes, watering the valley rows.
Holy one, salvation of the world, glowing in martial insignia,
Crispus, better than a bird, I, joyful in a favorable song,
Clio the Muse sounding, proclaim your fair youth.

Nobile tu decus es patri, tuque alme Quiritum
et spes urbis eris. Nos mentis carmina, Caesar,
tu uincens pacis gratissima foedera semper
indulge, et facilis gentes adiunge rogantes,
facque tui iuris, gaudens uirtutibus auctis.
Constantinus item, laus orbis, gloria saecli,
Romuleum sidus, lux clemens, inclita fratrum
nobilitas, proauis uerum et memorabile fama
restituit uictor Caesar nomenque decusque.

Noble honor art thou to the father, and nurturing of the Quirites
and the city’s hope shalt thou be. We, the songs of the mind, Caesar,
grant thou, victorious, ever the most welcome bonds of peace,
and join beseeching peoples with a ready hand,
and make them subject to thy rule, rejoicing in virtues increased.
Constantine likewise, praise of the world, glory of the age,
the Romulean star, merciful light, renowned nobility of brothers,
true to his forebears and memorable in fame the victorious Caesar restored
the name and the glory.

Sancte pater, rector superum, uicennia laeta
Augusto et decies crescant sollemnia natis.

Holy Father, ruler of the heavens, may joyful vicennia (twenty‑year cycles) and tenfold solemnities increase for Augustus and his sons.

10
Calliope cane plura procax. en ore serenus
fontis Castalii deus audiet; inde canoros
mens furit in nexus, et felix currere uotis
iam se credet ouans. libet ire per auia sola
impete quo gressus effandi optata cupido
inuitata tulit.

10
Calliope, sing bolder things. Lo, the god of the serene mouth
of the Castalian spring will hear; thence the mind raves
into tuneful knots, and happy, rejoicing, will now believe itself
to run toward its vows. It pleases to go through lone byways
with that impulse by which, though unwilling, the desire eager to utter the wished things
bore him on.

mens tantum, maxime Caesar,
Aoniae nodos amplectitur. incitus aethra
funde, pater, coeptis Musas, ad mutua uersus.
Scrupea fingentem tam duro carmina uersu
luderev fas nobis praesumere dicere metrav,
gaudia uel tenui mea pandere sit mihi, Musa.

Only the mind, most mighty Caesar,
embraces the Aonian knots. Pour forth, father, urged by the upper air,
the Muses on my undertakings, toward reciprocal verses.
Would it be right for us to presume to speak, to play at shaping songs
with so harsh a verse, and to toy with metre?
Or may it be granted me, Muse, to unfold my joys even in a slender strain.

Tantus honor me iure suo per sidera saeclo,
o decus Ausoniae, tulerit. sic parua locuto
amplius en, iudex, dominus, tot munera summa
tantaque concedis. tu mentem dicere donis
inuitas laudis cum munere; sic uaga primis,
haud audita ligas.

Such great honor, by his right, through the ages unto the stars,
has he bestowed on me, O glory of Ausonia. Thus, with small speech,
behold — judge, lord — you grant so many highest and so great gifts.
You, with the gift, unwillingly force the mind to speak of praise;
thus you bind my wandering thoughts to first things not before heard.

nec dictis laesa Camena
audet magnanimo uati noua uincula mentis
iussa dare, creuitque meo correpta fauore.
En age: iam reddit uotis pia praemia magnus.
Concordi saeclo Romae decus et sibi mundi
iura sui, tot lux populis orbique tropaeum
sic data sunt; isto maior tua gloria terris.

nor does the Camena, hurt by words, dare
to give to the magnanimous vates new bonds of mind as commands,
and, snatched up by my favour, she has increased.
Behold now: the great one returns pious rewards to vows.
In an age of concord Rome is the glory and the world's own laws her rights;
so many lights to peoples and a trophy to the orb
thus were bestowed; your glory is greater than those lands.

En, Auguste, tuis praesens et tantus ubique,
imperiis fecunde, paras nunc omine Crispi
Oceani intactas oras, quibus eruta Franci
dat regio procul ecce deum, cui deuia latis
tota patent campis. ut, caeso limite, uictor
rite atauo summo melior, cui Claudius acer,
magnanimum sidus, dat clarum e numine diuo
imperium, Uirtus quem felix optat alumnum.
Auges flore tuo nostrae tibi dedita uitae;
orta micat fratrum fatalis gloria saeclo,
res Latia ut uoti compos sic gaudeat aucta.

Behold, Augustus, present and so great everywhere,
fruitful in your imperials, you now, by Crispi’s omen,
prepare the untouched shores of the Ocean,
to which, lo, from afar the Frankish region yields a dug‑up god,
to whom by devious roads the whole wide fields lie open.
As when, the boundary cut down, a victor rightly better than his highest ancestor,
to whom fierce Claudius, a great‑minded star, grants a bright empire from a divine numen,
Virtue whom a fortunate fosterling desires.
You increase, in your bloom, our life devoted to you;
risen, the fatal glory of the brothers flashes for the age,
so that the Latin affairs, composed by vow, may thus rejoice grown and augmented.

Aspice: pacato parta est lux laeta sub orbe.

Behold: a joyful light has been produced beneath the pacified orb.

11
Fortia facta ducis toto dominantia iam nunc
orbe canam, quis laeta suo sub principe tanto
rursum Roma tenet, mundi caput, inclita, carmen.
Tu uatem, tu, diua, mone. lacerata cruentis
imperiis pars fessa poli diuisa gemebat
sceptra et Ausoniae maerebat perdita iura.

11
I will sing now of the leader’s brave deeds, dominating the whole orb;
who, under such a joyous prince, again holds Rome, the famed head of the world, this song.
You, poet, you, O diva, warn. Torn by bloody imperiums
a part, weary of the polity, long lamented divided sceptres and Ausonian laws ruined and mourned.

Siqua fides, tantis Romanum gloria nomen
insignit titulis, dominos et libera quaerunt,
maestaque iure suo trepidat plaga maxima mundi.
Unde iubar lucis primum radians Hyperion
sideribus pulsis rutilo diffundit ab ortu,
inde tuum nomen multum uenerabile cunctis,
maxime bellantum domitor, lux unica mundi,
perpetuis uotis cupiunt, memorabile numen,
exoptant, seruire uolunt (mirabile dictu)
remque laremque suum, tanta est tibi gloria iusti,
Auguste. iuuat ecce tuo sub foedere iam nunc
totum orbem post tot caedes, quas fessa gemebant
omnia, nunc nullo tandem trepidantia motu,
Romuleis seruire piis, pater inclite, iussis.

If any faith, that Roman name of glory so distinguished by great titles,
seeks masters and freedom, and the greatest wound of the world trembles, sad by its right;
whence the beam of light first shining, Hyperion,
with the struck stars spreads forth from the ruddy east,
thence your name, much venerable to all,
above all the tamer of the warlike, sole light of the world,
they long for you with perpetual vows, a memorable divinity,
they desire, they wish to serve (marvelous to tell),
their goods and their hearth as their own — so great is the glory of the just for you,
Augustus. See, it pleases now under your covenant
that the whole orb, after so many slaughterings which wearied and made all things groan,
now at last with no trembling motion, serve the pious Romulean commands, illustrious father.

12
Constantine pater, tu, mundi gloria, consul,
ecce tuo renouata dabis tot aperta labore
regna per innumeras gentes. mox carus Eois
tot populis pia iura feres, et solus in omni
Augustus mundo sparges et in ultima numen.
Sol tibi felices faciet spes perpete nutu:
ars bona iustitiae et diuum uicina decori
largi dona boni caelo capit; influit illuc
uota quod optarint pietatis.

12
Constantine, father, you, glory of the world, consul,
behold—you renewed by your hand will grant so many realms, opened by toil,
through innumerable peoples. Soon, dear to the Eastern
peoples, you will bring pious laws to so many nations, and alone
as Augustus you will diffuse your divinity through the whole world
and to the uttermost. The sun will give you happy hopes by perpetual assent:
the good art of justice, and the divinity near to beauty,
receives from heaven the generous gifts of the good; thither flows
the vow which piety has long desired.

cana subibit
sancta Ceres; tellus reddit Bacheia lapsa
riuis dona suis; non Euri e flamine turbant
enormes pelagus; stat mitis principe noto
res per iusta uigens oris, qua signa Booten
ultima consocia tollunt in sidera dextra.
Maxime, iustitiae lumen, concordia et omen
pacificum te tota cupit iam saucia et orat
res fessas cito pace leues. tu iunge sereni
orbis uota tui, gentes sibi iunge uolentes.

the hoary, holy Ceres will arise;
the earth restores gifts slipped from Bacchic streams to her own;
no longer do the East Winds, from their blast, disturb the vast sea;
mild under a known prince stands the commonwealth, flourishing through just ordinances,
where the signs of Bootes lift their last companions into the right-hand stars.
Most of all, light of justice, concord and omen
the whole realm now wounded longs for you as peacemaker and begs
that you quickly ease the wearied affairs with peace. You join the vows
of your serene orb; unite the peoples, joining those willing to be one.

13
Princeps beate, placido sub axe iamnunc
iustis, serene, populis fauente mundo
uictor triumpha tribuens, salubre numen,
saeclis amore dominans perenne faustis,
auctor salutis, Oriens quietus ibit.
Uotis fauente domini superne dextra,
gaudet subire placidum regentis omen;
uirtus uigore radians serena praestat
sanctis uidere superis remota mundi,
totum sub orbe moderans salubre numen,
uincens ubique supero fauente nutu,
saeclum per omne dominans, beate, solus.

13
Blessed Prince, now beneath the placid axle
serene, the world favouring just peoples,
victor granting triumphs, salutary numen,
ruling perennial by love through auspicious ages,
author of salvation, the East will go forth in peace.
With the lord’s right hand favouring the vows from on high,
he rejoices to take up the calm omen of the ruler;
virtue, radiant in vigour, grants serene sight
to the holy ones above to behold the world set apart,
the wholesome numen governing the whole orb,
conquering everywhere by a superior favouring nod,
dominating through every age, blessed one, alone.

14
Iamnunc sub axe placido, beate princeps,
mundo fauente populis, serene, iustis,
numen salubre, tribuens triumpha uictor,
faustis perenne dominans amore saeclis,
ibit quietus Oriens, salutis auctor.
Dextra superne domini fauente uotis,
omen regentis placidum subire gaudet;
praestat serena radians uigore uirtus
mundi remota superis uidere sanctis,
numen salubre moderans sub orbe totum,
nutu fauente supero ubique uincens,
solus, beate, dominans per omne saeclum.

14
Even now beneath the placid axis, blessed prince,
with the world favouring the peoples, serene, just,
healthful numen, the victor granting triumphs,
ruling perennially by auspicious love through the ages,
the East will go forth quiet, author of salvation.
With the right hand of the Lord above favouring the vows,
it rejoices to accept the placid omen of the ruler;
virtue, serene and radiant in vigour, bestows
that the saints on high see the world far removed,
the healthful numen governing the whole under the orb,
conquering everywhere by the favouring nod of the supreme,
alone, blessed one, ruling through every age.

15
Sancte, decus mundi ac rerum summa salutis,
lux pia terrarum, te solo principe saeclis
immensum gaudere bonis datur. aurea uenit
iustitia in terras et gloria candida ueri;
teque duce mage grata fides et iura renata;
totaque, perculsis ingenti mole tyrannis,
aspera uis posita est belli. res Itala iure
sceptra dabit populis.

15
Holy one, ornament of the world and the sum of all salvation,
pious light of the lands, with you alone as prince the ages
are granted to rejoice in boundless goods. Golden justice
comes into the lands and the bright glory of truth;
and with you as leader more welcome faith and laws reborn;
and all, the tyrants struck by a huge weight,
the harsh force of war is laid aside. The Italian state by right
will give scepters to the peoples.

uoto pius orbis Eoi,
Auguste, inuictus mundi transibis in oras;
teque suplex totis ducibus stipata Syene
orat iura, cupit lucis sibi gaudia nostrae,
optat, amat. fallax, en, perfida tela fugarum
Parthus deposuit; ruit oris undique rubri
litoris aetherio e nutu certamine amoris
Medus; Arabs mox omnis ouat laudare sereni
oris lustra tui, dat ueris, sancte, tropaeis
haec, mage felices titulos, ut uincas amore
aurea. perpetuo restaurans saecula mundo.

By vow, pious Eastern orb, Augustus, unconquered, you will cross into the world’s coasts;
and you, suppliant, Syene, packed with all your leaders, begs laws, desires the joys of our light for herself,
wishes, loves. See, the treacherous Parthian has laid down his deceitful weapons of flight;
the Median rushes from every quarter to the red shore, by the aetherial nod of the contest of love;
soon all the Arabs will shout to praise the circuits of your serene shore; grant, O holy one, to the spring these trophies,
and even happier titles, that you may conquer with golden love,
perpetually restoring the ages to the world.

Indus et Aurorae miles, quos flumine Nilus
tangit, fecundis uenturus frugifer undis,
orantes pia iura petent; gens nobilis ortu
Aethiopes cuncti parent; optataque mundo
tempora laeta dedit nobis felicitas aeui.
En, suplices Persae iura sibi regia nolunt,
te dominum malunt, fusi tua semper adorant
ora, suis cupiunt totis sibi cedere regnis.
Tu pius et iusti uere memor, inclite, laetis
da responsa; bono semper mitissimus orbis
impertire tuum clementer et addito numen.

The Indian and the soldiers of Dawn, whom the Nile touches,
coming with her fruitful, grain-bearing waves,
will seek the pious laws, praying; a noble people by origin,
all the Ethiopes obey; and felicity of age has given to us
the longed-for happy seasons to the world. Behold, the Persians, suppliant, will not renounce
regal rights for themselves; they prefer you as lord, their faces ever spread adore you,
they desire to yield their whole realms into your hands. You, pious and truly mindful of the just, illustrious one,
give answers to the glad; ever the world’s most gentle to the good,
graciously impart your clementy and with added numen.

Sint mage felices, pariter quos, alme, tuere,
et reparata iugans maesti diuortia mundi,
orbes iunge pares; det leges Roma uolentis
principe te in populos; miti felicius aeuo
omnia laetentur florentibus aurea rebus.

May they be more happy, equally those whom, O nourisher, protect;
and, joining what restores the world's mournful separations,
join the circles equal; let Rome grant laws to peoples desiring you as prince;
you, more fortunate in a gentle age,
may all things rejoice more gladly in golden, flourishing affairs.

16
Alme, decus mundi summum, rector pius orbis,
Auguste, inuicta populos uirtute gubernans
iustitia, imperii nationum, Constantine,
effrenatarum moderamine pacificator,
quem diuus genuit Constantius induperator,
aurea Romanis propagans saecula nato,
heu nimis ad caelum properans, ni liquerit ille
aeternum auxilium inuictum iustumque piumque,
alme pater patriae, nobis te, maxime Caesar,
Ausoniae decus, o lux pia Romulidum.
Est placitum superis tunc haec in gaudia mundi
perpetuis bene sic partiri munera saeclis;
sidera dant patri, et patris imperium,
sancte, tibi. magnae data tu lux aurea Romae.

16
Nourisher, highest ornament of the world, pious ruler of the orb,
Augustus, governing peoples with unconquered virtue
and justice, Constantine, of the empire of nations,
pacifier by the restraint of the unbridled,
whom the divine Constantius the emperor begot,
spreading golden ages to the Romans, born scion,
alas, hurrying too eagerly to heaven, unless he leave behind
eternal aid, unconquered, just and pious,
nourishing father of the fatherland, to us you, greatest Caesar,
ornament of Ausonia, O pious light of the Romulids.
It pleased the heavenly ones then that these gifts
be thus well portioned into the joys of the world
for perpetual ages;
the stars give to the father, and the empire of the father,
holy, to you. you, golden light, are given to great Rome.

Ista canit ruris tibi uates ardua metra.

That rustic vates sings to you lofty metres.

17
Dissona conexis audet componere uerbis
omine mens elata bono. iuuat inclyta linguae
munera Graiorum Musa modulante nouare,
inque uicem, uersu cecinit quae forte Latino,
nunc alio textu Graecorum in carmina duci,
ordine ut in duplicem nectatur littera uocem.
Nunc age fecundae reserent pulcherrima Musae;
ore sonet docili chelys inclyta carmina Phoebi:
spem rerum iustumque canam summamque salutis
te dominum, bona dona dei, te, magne, parentem
Romanum, gratumque orbem tibi, maxime, semper,
omnia quod certa respirant mente quietem.

17
Daring to join discordant sounds in linked words
the mind, lifted by a good omen, dares to compose. It pleases the illustrious Muse
to renew the gifts of the Greeks with a modulating tongue,
and in turn she sang in verse what by chance was Latin,
now to be led into Greek song with another texture,
so that letter in order may bind the doubled voice.
Now come, most rich Muses, unbind your fairest;
let the famed chelys sound with a teachable mouth the songs of Phoebus:
I will sing the hope of things and the just and highest salvation—
you, Lord, good gifts of God, you, great one, the Roman parent,
and ever to you, most excellent, a grateful world,
because all things breathe certain peace in mind.

Cum placidi spectent hostiles mille triumphos,
omnia plena bonis tua, Constantine, Quirites,
nil sibi crediderint carum mage te, decus orbis.
Seruatos Tyrii se semper uindice dextra
te domino exultant; tranquillis carior urbi
Africa temporibus potitur seruata quiete,
nunc se felicem, nunc se sub numinis arce
tutam, quod Carthago decus uenerabile gestat,
iure putat: tantum fatis, lux inclyta, praestat
nobile te domino nomen; spes et decus almumst.
Omnis ab Arctois plaga finibus horrida Cauro
pacis amat cana et comperta perennia iura,
et tibi fida tuis semper bene militat armis,
resque gerit uirtute tuas populosque feroces
propellit caeditque, habens tibi debita rata,
et tua uictores sors accipit.

While a thousand hostile triumphs behold the calm,
all the Quirites, Constantine, filled with your blessings,
believed nothing dearer to themselves than you, the glory of the world.
The Tyrians, ever preserved by your avenging right hand,
rejoice in you as lord; dearer to the tranquil city
Africa, held in its seasons by preserved peace, enjoys a guarded rest,
now deems itself fortunate, now secure beneath the citadel of the deity,
because venerable Carthage bears a dignity; by right it thinks so: renowned light, you grant so much to the fates,
you bestow a noble name on your lord; hope and kindly honor are yours.
From every quarter dreadful with northern blasts to the boundaries of the East
the gray-haired Peace loves and finds enduring laws revealed,
and ever faithful to you she fights well with your arms,
and by valour conducts affairs, and drives back fierce peoples
and slays them, holding the dues to you as confirmed,
and your victorious lot receives its due.

hinc tibi fortes
teque duce inuictae attollunt signa cohortes;
undique te comitata dei pia numina summi
omnibus ultorem praebent, et iura fidemque,
alme, tua spectant: respondent omnia uotis.
Undique pacatis saluator maxima rebus
gaudia praestabis, dabis otia uictor in orbe;
uirtutum meritis uicennia praecipe uota.
Saeclorum creuit gemino spes Caesare certa,
tuque, o sancte parens, olim post mille tropaea,
o lux Ausonidum, dispone sceptra nepotum.

From here brave cohorts, unconquered with you as leader, lift up their standards for you;
from every side the pious numina of the highest God, accompanying you, furnish an avenger for all, and behold your laws and fidelity, O bounteous one: all things answer to your vows.
Everywhere, savior of pacified realms, you will grant the greatest joys to affairs; you will grant peace, a victor, throughout the world;
command that vows be twentyfold for the merits of virtues.
The hope of the ages grew certain in a twin Caesar,
and you, O holy parent, someday after a thousand trophies,
O light of the Ausonians, arrange the scepters of your descendants.

18
Sunt septem numero pares ac lege metrorum
consimilis uersus; genus est quae Musa Maronis.
His proprium sentire subest; mens sufficit uni.
Iure suo sibimet cedunt: alios tenet ortus
alterius finis, lector.

18
There are seven lines equal in number and alike in the law of meters; this is the kind of Maro's Muse.
It is proper that these be perceived; one mind suffices for one.
By their own right they yield to themselves: the birth of one holds others, the end of another restrains them, reader.

qua littera monstrat
nam quemuis medium uenientis semita sulcat.
Si uerbum textum pertemptes ore Latino,
in sese alterno conectens ordine uersus,
uota sonans longum poteris implere uolumen.
Ne tamen ambages error sinuosus haberet,
ordine perscribtos minium reserare ualebit
uersus, quos titulis Augustus uictor honestat:
Alme tuas laurus aetas sustollet in astra.

which the letter shows
for it furrows whatever path comes in the middle.
If you probe the woven word with a Latin mouth,
joining the verses to themselves in alternating order,
you will be able, sounding vows, to fill a long volume.
But lest a winding error have ambiguities,
it will be able to unseal the verses written through in order by minium,
the verses which Augustus the victor dignifies with titles:
Alme tuas laurus aetas sustollet in astra.

Aurea lux uatum, siluae mihi praemia serua.
Aucta deo uirtus Musas magis ornat aperta.
Aurea uictorem pietas sonat ubere lingua.

Golden light of the seers, keep for me the prizes of the grove.
With the god’s augmenting, virtue more openly adorns the Muses.
Golden piety proclaims the victor with a rich tongue.

Aonios latices pietas iuuat armaque diua.
Augusti florem pietas iuuat, arma, tropaea.
Aonii frutices pietas iuuat ubere gleba.

Piety aids the Aonian streams and the divine arms.
Piety aids the flower of Augustus — arms, trophies.
Piety aids the Aonian shrubs, the glebe with its fertile udder.

19
Alme, tuas laurus aetas sustollet in astra;
luce tua signes fastus, sine limite consul.
Marte serenus habes reiecto munia Graium,
et Medi praestas in censum sceptra redire.
Torua Getas campo clarus ut lumina perdit,
uult curuo turmae felix sua comminus ictu
Armenii dux ferre leuis, sol, te quoque pila.

19
Alme, may age raise your laurels up into the stars;
by your light you mark the proud, O consul without limit.
With Mars set aside you serenely scorn the duties of the Greeks,
and you cause the Medes’ scepters to return into the census.
As famous on the field he lays low the fierce Getae’s lights,
he wills, in the cavalry’s curved rank, fortunate in his close blow,
that the Armenian duke bear lightly — O Sun, you likewise with the javelin.

Sic et uicta refert exortos Dacia Francos.
Lege tuus tonso Rhenus tibi germinat exul
agmina, telorum subeant qui murmure bella.
Uincere florenti Latiales Sarmata ductu
rex tibi posse Getas uiso dat limite, ultor.

Thus Dacia, though vanquished, bears back the Franks that rose up.
By your law pruned, the Rhenus sprouts for you bands of exiles,
that those whose wars murmur with weapons may submit.
That a Sarmatian, in flourishing command, may conquer the Latian people,
the king, seen at the frontier, grants to you the power over the Getae, avenger.

Uidit te, summum columen, qua uelifer aestu
serus in Oceani pressit iuga Nysia pontus,
atque rudis radii scit lux exorta tropaea.
En, gaudent pietate *altis pars perpete age.
Tu uatem firmes dictus, te nunc lyra cantet:
aucta deo uirtus Musas magis ornat aperta.

He saw you, highest summit, where the sail-bearing swell
late in the Ocean the Nysian sea pressed the ridges,
and the crude light of rays knows trophies arisen.
Behold, rejoice in piety, O lofty part, act evermore.
You, called the steadfast seer, may the lyre now sing you:
with virtue increased by God the Muses are adorned more openly.

Solum uota notis late sua Romula dat plebs?
Sancta tuis alio permiscet uota tropaeis
uisitur et crescit pictorum gratia cantu.
Sit uis uicinis, per Thulen gratia pollens.

Does the Romula people alone widely give its vows to familiar rites?
Will it mingle sacred vows with your trophies of another,
be seen and increase by the grace of painters’ song?
May strength be with the neighboring peoples, mighty in grace through Thule.

Talis fixa suis signis lyra munera gestat,
orsa pari uates quae perfert, Delie, rythmo.
Lumine muriceo uenerandus dux erit ut Sol
legibus ut Iani teneas auus orbe tribunal,
egregios titulos pietatis habebis amore.
Tot freta pacis apex mutari munere gaudet,
India clauigeri Latium uult tangere naui,
Nileus messor sua tradit castra, uel agmen
Arctos, quam Carpi noscet uix Haemus, in ora.

Thus the lyre bears gifts fixed by its own signs,
which the poet, begun in equal rhythm, brings forth, Delie.
Revered in purple light you will be a leader like the Sun;
may you hold the tribunal of Janus, your grandfather, with laws for the orb,
you will have outstanding titles of piety by love.
The apex of so many seas rejoices to be changed by a gift of peace,
India desires to touch Latium with a nailed ship,
the Nilean reaper yields his own camps, or he gives his column to the Arctic shore,
which Haemus will scarce recognize as that of the Carpi, on the coast.

Sic istis cultus in rem curuantibus enses
te niuea iuuat arce frui. Ponti decus auget,
Roma soror, ueteres Tuscos, quos ore tuemur.
Alme, tuas laurus aetas sustollet in astra.

Thus, for those who bend their swords to the cause,
may it please you to enjoy a snow-white citadel. The glory of Pontus it augments,
sister Rome, the ancient Tuscans, whom we guard with our voice.
Nourishing one, may the years lift your laurels up into the stars.

20
Prodentur minio caelestia signa legenti.
Constantine, decus mundi, lux aurea saecli,
quis tua mixta canat mira pietate tropaea
exultans, dux summe, nouis mea pagina uotis,
aemula quam Clarii genitoris Calliopeae
composuit tali nunc mens perfusa liquore?
Uersificas Helicon in gaudia proluat undas,
clementique nouum numen de pectore uerset,
namque ego magnanimi dicam numerosa canendo
sceptra ducis.

20
Heavenly signs, painted in minium, will be shown to the reader.
Constantine, glory of the world, the golden light of the age,
who, with wondrous pietas mingled, shall sing your tropaea,
rejoicing, highest dux, my page with new vows,
a rival which Calliope of the sire Clarius composed—now is my mind poured forth with such a liquor?
May Helicon, in versifying, wash its waves into joys,
and may the new numen of the merciful one be turned out from my breast,
for I will speak, by singing in measured numbers, of the countless sceptra
of the dux.

Gazzae nobis dat Graecia dona,
saeclaque Blemmyico sociali limite firmas,
Romula lux. Condigna nouis florentia uotis
uoto scripta cano. Tali Mars cardine tecto
iam bellis totum Myseum perplectere ciuem
ut pateat Rubicon parili petit aethera iure.

Greece grants us the gifts of Gaza,
and you, Romulan light, make the ages firm by a Blemmyan allied boundary,
I sing things fittingly written, flourishing for new vows,
with such a Mars as hinge of the roof now, through wars embrace the whole Mysian citizen,
that the Rubicon lie open and seeks the heavens by equal right.

Nunc felix proprios pacis me scrupea uisus
iam stimulat signis exultans Musa notare,
gaudia laetus nunc per me notat auia Phoebus
retito quoque texta nouo cane laurea plectro,
arte notis picta felicia saecula plaudens.
Sic aestus uates fido duce, Pythie, carpens
nunc tutus contemnat, summe, procax; ego uero
nunc mare Sigaeum ualeam bene frangere remo,
carbasa Noctiferum totum si scrupea tendo,
pulpita deportans. uisam contexere nauem
Musa sinit; coniuncta tuo spes inclita uoto.

Now happy, the crystal aspect of my own peace
already stirs the exulting Muse to mark with signs,
and Phoebus, glad, now notes joyful omens through me,
the laurel woven anew also chanting with a novel plectrum,
art-painted, with familiar marks, applauding the fortunate ages.
Thus the seer, seizing the surge with you as faithful guide, Pythia, carping,
now, secure, may he despise, O highest one, the bold; I indeed
may now be able to break well the Sigaean sea with my oar,
if I stretch the whole noctiferous sail with crystal fabric,
bearing off the decks. The Muse permits me to devise to build a ship;
illustrious hope, joined to your vow, is my ally.

Mentem per tortum fessam non frangat hiulco
laus mea ficta pede stans magna mole docendi.
Signa palam dicam laetissima flumine sancto,
mente bona; contemnat, summis cum sibi agonem
uotis post fractum Martem clementia reddet?
Sic nobis lecto quo crescunt aurea saecla
mox Latio uincens iam bis uicennia reddes,
carmine quae pietas miro de nomine formet.

Let not my fabricated praise break a mind, weary through a tortuous furrow,
standing on a feigned foot beneath the great weight of teaching.
I will openly tell the signs, most joyful for the holy river,
with a good mind; shall he scorn them—when he wages a contest with the highest for himself—
will mercy restore Mars, after being broken, to his vows?
So, by the reading whereby the golden ages increase for us,
soon, conquering Latium, you will give back now twice twenty years,
which piety in song will fashion from a wondrous name.

Flore notans uotum uario dat pagina felix,
Augustae sobolis memorans insignia fata.
Iudice te uel teste pio condigna parentis
iungentur titulis felicia facta nepotum.

The fortunate page, marking the vow with diverse flower, bestows,
recalling the insignia and destinies of Augusta’s offspring.
With you as judge or as pious witness, deeds worthy of the parent
will be joined to titles — the happy acts of the grandchildren.

21
O si diuiso metiri limite Clio
una lege sui, uno manantia fonte
Aonio, uersus heroi iure manente,
ausuro donet metri felicia texta,
augeri longo patiens exordia fine,
exiguo cursu, paruo crescentia motu,
ultima postremo donec fastigia tota
ascensu iugi cumulato limite claudat,
uno bis spatio uersus elementa prioris
dinumerans, cogens aequari lege retenta
parua nimis longis et uisu dissona multum
tempore sub parili, metri rationibus isdem,
dimidium numero Musis tamen aequiperantem.
Haec erit in uarios species aptissima cantus,
perque modos gradibus surget fecunda sonoris
aere cauo et tereti, calamis crescentibus aucta,
quis bene subpositis quadratis ordine plectris
artificis manus in numeros clauditque aperitque
spiramenta, probans placitis bene consona rythmis,
sub quibus unda latens properantibus incita uentis,
quos uicibus crebris iuuenum labor haud sibi discors
hinc atque hinc animatque agitans augetque reluctans,
compositum ad numeros propriumque ad carmina praestat,
quodque queat minimum ad motum intremefacta frequenter
plectra adaperta sequi aut placidos bene claudere cantus
iamque metro et rythmis praestringere quicquid ubiquest.

21
O if Clio, measured by a shared boundary,
might mete in one law, from one Aonian spring
the verses that by hero's right endure,
grant auspicious texture to the meter's weaving,
to grow, enduring a long beginning's end,
with scanty course, with small increasing motion,
so that the final heights at last complete
the whole by ascent, a yoke of layered limits closed,
the first line numbering twice the elements
of what went before, compelling to be equal by retained law—
too small the little when compared with the long, and much discordant to the eye
in like time, by the same rules of meter,
yet half the number still equalling the Muses.
This form will be most fit for varied song,
and rich through modes and steps will rise the sounded voice
from hollow bronze and rounded reed, increased by growing reeds,
when skillful hands, with plectra squarely set beneath,
lock into numbers and unlock the breathings,
proving well the rhythms pleasing to the ear,
under which a latent wave, urged on by driving winds,
which in frequent turns the toil of youth not ill accords to itself,
here and there enlivens and stirs and augments resistingly,
gives to the composed its proper numbers and to the songs their due,
and what can, often trembling at the slightest motion,
follow open plectra or well close tranquil songs,
and now by meter and by rhythms bind whatever is everywhere.

22
Pauca quidem cecini fors friuola; his quoque iungam
ludicra: sic nostra panget tua iussa Camena.
Ambiet haec claudens felicis numine Phoebi
Calliope partita nouis sibi uincula curis,
flexibus ut primis discordi regula cultu
hinc alia sonet arte super Pythoia flexus.
Sic facies, totiens cum confirmauerit aestus,
sic animus nec uictus iners sit saucius.

22
I have indeed sung few things, perhaps frivola; to these I will also join playful pieces: thus will your commands, Camena, fashion my work.
Let Calliope, closing these with the auspicious numen of Phoebus,
assign to herself new bonds of cares, so that with first twists the discordant rule by cultivated flexions
may here, by another art, sound the Pythian inflections. Thus may the form, as often as the surge has confirmed,
thus the spirit be neither conquered nor inert nor grievously wounded.

Irim
impleri uarias metricae grauioris ob artes
tandem nosse dei meditantem uix licet aestus;
rite uelit, metro dum in agmine colocat astri
effigiem, trepidoque parans sermone latenter
dicere nec metuens uincto sic omnia ab ortu
pangere. sed rursum Bassus nunc prodere carmen
imperat: hic docilis Musae de fonte meabunt
ordine Castalio texti per nomina uersus.

Irim
scarcely is it allowed to know at last the swell, meditating on the god, to be filled with the various weightier arts of metre; may he rightly will it, while in a march of meter he places the effigy of a star, and, preparing with trembling speech to speak covertly, not fearing thus to compose all things bound from their origin. But again Bassus now commands a song to be produced: these verses, pliant to the Muse, woven through the Castalian order from the fountain, will forthflow by name.

23
Mirum opus est cunctos et tales edere uersus,
sicque locare hederis. Paulum tu, die, rogatus
mox ades. en quorsum rapies, qui praebeo fixas?

23
It is a wondrous work to publish all and such verses,
and thus to place them with ivy. Paulum, you, Day having been asked,
soon be present. Behold, whither will you rush, who I present fixed things?

Sum tuus, et primis tua discimus, ut tria felix
nec fallax tribuens audaci in munere clarum
aequiperes animum. nunc Clio carmina firmet.
Qui poterunt pangi?

I am yours, and from your first teachings we learn that, fortunate and not deceitful, in granting three things you would equalize the spirit of the bold in your splendid gift.
Now may Clio strengthen the songs. Who will be able to be composed?

ponam ceu stamina normas,
quae uerrant sese, quae uincula mitia curent?
Tu dabis has uires; tua rursum consere praemia.
Ausibus in magnis laeta ad contraria curras.

I will set the normas as if threads,
which sweep themselves away, which tend mild bonds?
You will give these strengths; sow again your rewards.
Rejoicing in great audacities you run toward contraries.

Aonidum nam fonte graui micat ars noua uenis.
Immanest prorsum amplexu aut tot ocius oras
prospicere, plantare modos, immittat uti tum
et proiiecta necet consumto ingloria libro.
Si sapiunt et nostra cui succrescere acumen
praesolidum densumque animi deducere uiua,
congruere cernant studiose, qui bona calles
legibus abstrusis, quod carmina conspicor a te,
blande animi iudex, qui moribus omni agis auctu;
praemiro ostendis studia in rectore polita,
treusicolasque tuos, auctus laetabile, sumens
intuitum quo prospera facta ac gaudia dones
publica: nil prius est quod ui et nomine curas.

From the Aonian spring a new art flashes in deep veins.
You now wholly embrace, or more swiftly survey the shores,
to foresee, to plant rhythms, to let them then be poured forth;
and may it slay what is cast away, inglorious, by the book consumed.
If they are wise and can to our wit add growth,
to draw down a pre-solid, dense living strength of mind,
they will discern, studious, to fit what you skillfully know,
those who tread the hidden laws of good, which songs I behold from you,
you, gentle judge of spirit, who in every custom act with increase;
I marvel that you display your polished studies in your guidance,
and, taking your threefold followers, a delightful increase,
by which sight you grant prosperous deeds and public joys:
there is nothing earlier that you care for in deed and name.

Fas sit Sidonii sensum in penetrale patroni
noscere quae possis. illic nitor ociter eius
conditur abstrusa generosum cogere censum
pauperie: flagrant geminis noua gaudia uotis.
Diues Apollineis deaurat foedera plectris;
hic nouit laudes doctus quaeque omine tanto
sunt praeuisa bonis.

Let it be permitted that you learn the sense of Sidonius in the penetral of his patron,
there the splendour of his spirit is set forth and hidden, to compel a generous reputation from poverty:
new joys blaze for the twin vows.
The wealthy gilds their treaties with Apollinean plectra;
here the learned man discerns praises and which things by so great an omen are foreseen for the prosperous.

tu dexter protinus esto
cum sanctis; insiste fide festinus in amplum.
Clementi haec nutu Augustus tibi dona beata
laudato tribuet, te consule praemia complet.
Hinc tua tunc festis noti sex nomina plausus
plurimus ac prudens rerum quis torpeat usus
degeneri ab spe molita plus ingruit.

be thou immediately the right hand with the saints;
press onward, hasten with faith into the ample.
To Clement by a nod Augustus will grant these blessed gifts to you;
praised, he will bestow, he completes rewards with you as consul.
Hence then your six names, known at the festivals by applause,
may many — and the prudent man of affairs — stand stunned,
when usage, wrought from degenerate hope, presses down more strongly.

hinc iam
suscipe uoto alacri hoc munus, uir bone, clare.

from here now
receive by an eager vow this gift, good man, illustrious.

24
Ingemui grauiter, Graecum miseratus amicum,
cui mea mens, admissa dolens, cupit omnia fari,
solus ut haec occulta legens se concitet ira,
unde queat plexum uinclis sontemque tenere,
sed uitans multos, quos foeda ad iurgia coiux
noluerit testes, neu candida femina Graecum
mox caris hebetet telis, nihil improba cygni
deposuisse uidens Helenam, cui gratia binis
maior adulteriis. do nomina cuncta libenter:
Musa sonat Graecis. Fryx coiux, crede canenti.

24
I groaned heavily, pitying my Greek friend,
whose mind, grief admitted, longs to speak everything,
that, reading these hidden things alone, anger might stir him,
from which he might braid bonds and hold the wanton fast,
but avoiding many whom the foul wife would not wish as witnesses to shameful quarrels,
and lest the fair woman soon blunt the Greek with her dear weapons,
seeing that the shameless Helen had put nothing aside of the swan, whose charm was greater in two adulteries.
I willingly give all the names: the Muse sounds for the Greeks. Fryx, spouse, believe the singer.

25
O qui Tartareas pede fauces proteris almo,
o miserate tuos, quis ignea templa supremi
annuis esse poli, pia lucis regna paternae,
tu uirtus aeterna dei; tecum omnia, Christe,
tunc pater exorsus, cum moles obsita pigro
squalore emersit, positoque adrisit operto
ante ortus hominum; sancto tu, diue, Tonanti
secretae uires, quem tutum mens genitoris
sola tenens prudensque dei deus interioris,
principii sobolem nullius, uasta cruento
quod Mors regnabat leto, rata gaudia fudit
ore medellifero, nec poena perpete frangi
depulsos homines placuit natalibus astris;
tum tu prostratis uitae uia, sed tamen olim
praesago admonitu te uatum fata canebant.
Te, quia fecundus porro ortus error agebat,
consilii ut summam rerum sator edidit ore,
o uere patris sapientia, Christe; opulento
exertus uerbo, detrusum in uincula mortis
mox hominem sumis, quaeque est uis una saluti,
infima dignare quod naturae ordine recto,
ut perculsa leues, inclinere ipse iacenti.
Non e terreno corpus tibi pondere tractum,
praecelso sed uirgo uterum de semine feta,
nec segni coitu natus, sed coniuge caelos,
corporeus uultu, deus actu: casus utrumque.

25
O you who with nourishing foot press the Tartarean jaws,
O pity your own, who nod to be the fiery temples of the supreme
sky, pious realms of the paternal light,
you eternal virtue of God; with you all things, Christ,
then the Father began, when a mass, beset with sluggish
squalor, rose, and, set aside, the revealed and the hidden
stood open before the birth of men; to you, holy, divine, O Thunderer,
secret powers, whom a mind of the Protector alone holding
and prudent god of the interior, offspring of no beginning,
which vast bloody Death reigned in ruin, poured forth sure joys
from a healing mouth, nor did it please that men driven away
be broken by perpetual punishment under their natal stars;
then you made a way of life for the prostrate, yet formerly
by prophetic admonition the fates of poets sang of you.
You, because onward a fruitful error was driving forth birth,
that the begetter of counsel might bring forth the sum of things with his mouth,
O truly wisdom of the Father, Christ; exerted by an opulent word,
soon you take up the man cast down into the chains of death,
and whatever force is one for salvation,
deign the lowest things which by right order of nature,
so that having been struck the light ones, you yourself incline toward the one lying.
Not a body to you drawn by earthly weight,
but from a lofty virgin the womb pregnant from seed,
nor born of sluggish intercourse, but spouse of the heavens,
bodily in visage, God in act: the case of both.

Inuitans iussa exemplis hominique dicatus
aequalis dominus, quia lis onerosa caduco
dicta sit humano, sperem ut diuina imitatu,
ipse hominis titulo incedis, teque profanis,
maxime, Iudaeis plectendum post pia mille
munia permittis, letumque salubre luisti;
mox necat humanas in se caro pendula noxas,
at pater in sedes natum recipitque uehitque.
Aeternum saluis signum dat machina sacra.

Inviting, ordered by examples and devoted to mankind, equal Lord: because a burdensome suit was laid upon mortal things, I hope that by imitating the divine you yourself walk under the title of man; and you permit yourself, most of all, to be punished by profane ones, the Jews, after a thousand pious offerings, and you endured a salutary death;
soon the flesh hanging on you destroys human offenses in itself, but the Father receives the newborn into his seats and bears him. The sacred machination gives an eternal sign to the saved.

26
Ardua componunt felices carmina Musae
dissona conectunt diuersis uincula metris
scrupea pangentes torquentes pectora uatis
undique confusis constabunt singula uerbis.
Carmina felices componunt ardua Musae
uincula diuersis conectunt dissona metris
pectora torquentes pangentes scrupea uatis
singula constabunt confusis undique uerbis.
Ardua constabunt torquentes carmina Musae
dissona componunt conectunt uincula metris
scrupea confusis diuersis pectora uatis
undique felices pangentes singula uerbis.

26
Arduous the blessed Muses compose songs,
dissonant they join bonds in diverse meters,
scruped, striking, twisting the poet’s pectora,
each thing will stand with words confused on every side.
Arduous the blessed Muses compose songs,
they join bonds in diverse meters, dissonant,
twisting the poet’s pectora, striking, scruped,
each thing will stand, from every side confused with words.
Arduous will stand the twisting songs of the Muses,
dissonant they compose, they join bonds in meters,
scruped the poet’s pectora in diverse confused ways,
on every side the blessed ones striking will fix each thing with words.

Carmina torquentes constabunt ardua Musae
uincula conectunt componunt dissona metris
pectora diuersis confusis scrupea uatis
singula pangentes felices undique uerbis.
Undique conectunt constabunt singula Musae
scrupea torquentes componunt pectora metris
dissona confusis felices uincula uatis
ardua pangentes diuersis carmina uerbis.
Singula constabunt conectunt undique Musae
pectora componunt torquentes scrupea metris
carmina diuersis pangentes ardua uerbis.

Twisting songs will stand firm, the arduous Muses
connect bonds, compose discordant in metra
hearts with diverse confused, the scrupulous bard
each singing happy things from every side with words.
From every side they connect, each will stand, the Muses
the scrupulous twisting, compose hearts in metra
discordant with confused, happy bonds of the bard
arduous singing, striking with diverse songs and words.
Each will stand, they connect from every side, the Muses
compose hearts, twisting the scrupulous in metra
songs with diverse, striking arduous with words.

Carmina diuersis felices ardua Musae
uincula pangentes conectunt dissona metris
pectora torquentes componunt scrupea uatis
singula confusis constabunt undique uerbis.
Ardua felices diuersis carmina Musae
dissona conectunt pangentes uincula metris
scrupea componunt torquentes pectora uatis
undique constabunt confusis singula uerbis.
Singula confusis pangentes undique Musae
pectora diuersis felices ardua metris
uincula conectunt constabunt scrupea uatis
carmina componunt torquentes dissona uerbis.

Poems in diverse strains, blessed and arduous, O Muse,
they bind bonds, composing pangent strains in discordant meters;
they twist hearts, the scrupous bard composes,
each thing will stand from all sides with confused words.
Arduous, blessed, in diverse strains the Muse's poems
join discordant elements, pangent bonds in meters they bind;
the scrupous bard composes, twisting the hearts,
from all sides each thing will stand with confused words.
Each thing, with confused pangs, will stand from all sides, O Muse,
the hearts in diverse meters, blessed and arduous,
they join bonds, will stand the scrupous bard,
the poems compose, twisting in discordant words.

Undique pangentes confusis singula Musae
ardua felices diuersis pectora metris
scrupea constabunt conectunt uincula uatis
dissona torquentes componunt carmina uerbis.
Dissona torquentes constabunt uincula Musae
undique conectunt componunt singula metris
ardua diuersis confusis carmina uatis
scrupea pangentes felices pectora uerbis.
Pectora felices pangentes scrupea Musae
carmina confusis diuersis ardua metris
singula componunt conectunt undique uatis
uincula constabunt torquentes dissona uerbis.

Everywhere the Muses composing each in mingled fashion
build lofty, happy hearts in diverse metres
and fasten and join the poet’s knotty chains
twisting discordant lays together in words.
Twisting discordant, the Muses will fasten chains
they join and put together every thing in metres
lofty poems, various and confused, by the poet
compose, the knotty links making happy hearts in words.
Happy hearts, composing, knotting the scrupous Muses
form poems, confused and various, in lofty metres
each thing they put together, and join from every side for the poet
they will fix the chains, twisting discordant in words.

Dissona ............... uincula Musae
undique ............... singula metris
ardua ................. carmina uatis
scrupea pangentes conectunt pectora uerbis.
Pectora conectunt pangentes scrupea Musae
carmina ................... ardua metris
singula ................... undique uatis
uincula ................... dissona uerbis.
Scrupea felices diuersis pectora Musae
ardua conectunt pangentes carmina metris
undique componunt torquentes singula uatis
dissona constabunt confusis uincula uerbis.

Dissonant ............... the chains of the Muse
on every side ............... the single things to meters
arduous ................. the poems of the poet
scrupea piercing bind the chests with words.
Hearts bind panging scrupea of the Muse
poems................... lofty to meters
single................... on every side of the poet
chains................... discordant with words.
Scrupea blessed, diverse, the Muse's chests
lofty they join, panging the poems to meters
on every side they compose, twisting the poet's single lines
discordant will stand the bonds with confused words.

Uincula confusis constabunt dissona Musae
singula torquentes componunt undique metris
carmina, pangentes conectunt ardua uatis
pectora diuersis felices scrupea uerbis.
Uincula componunt conectunt dissona Musae
singula constabunt torquentes undique metris
carmina felices confusis ardua uatis
pectora pangentes diuersis scrupea uerbis.
Scrupea diuersis pangentes pectora Musae
ardua confusis felices carmina metris
undique torquentes constabunt singula uatis
dissona conectunt componunt uincula uerbis.

Discordant bonds will stand firm in the Muse’s confused things,
each twisting, they compose from every side in measures
songs, the striking ones connect high things of the poet,
hearts happy with diverse, scrupose words.
Bonds compose, connect, discordant to the Muse
each will stand firm, twisting from every side in measures
songs happy, confused, high things of the poet
hearts striking with diverse, scrupose words.
Scrupose hearts striking with diverse of the Muse
high things, confused, happy songs in measures
from every side twisting will stand firm each of the poet
discordant they connect, they compose bonds with words.

Pectora pangentes confusis scrupea Musae
carmina felices diuersis ardua metris
singula constabunt conectunt undique uatis
uincula torquentes componunt dissona uerbis.
Dissona componunt torquentes uincula Musae
undique conectunt constabunt singula metris
ardua diuersis felices carmina uatis
scrupea confusis pangentes pectora uerbis.

Hearts composing with confused scruple, O Muse,
songs happy in diverse, arduous metres,
each will stand; they join from everywhere of the poet,
chains twisting compose discordant words.
Discordant they compose, twisting chains, O Muse,
from everywhere they join, each will stand in metres,
arduous, in diverse, happy songs of the poet,
scrupulous, with confusion composing hearts with pangs of words.

27
Praecelsae quercus frondenti in uertice pendens
testor templa loci Faunos celebrare frequentes,
disparibus compacta modis totidemque cicutis,
dulcisono Panum oblectans modulamine siluas,
Naiadum Dryadumque choros arcanaque Bacchi
orgia et heuuantis Satyros per musica tempe.
Me Pan ad thiasos docuit modulamina cantus,
et uariata sonis uinxit consortia primus;
Attis almus amans, tua maxima cura, Cybele,
e roseo terit ore deus mollique labello,
accenditque tuos Idaeos, mater, amores;
in me felices animauit carmine Musas,
me iudex formae alta gestauit in Ida;
me laeti sociam uoti uicina marito
Eoo lucis canit inuitata sub ortu.

27
From the lofty oak, its leafy summit hanging,
I attest the temples of the place celebrate frequent Fauns,
assembled in unequal measures and as many cicutae (hemlocks),
delighting Pan with sweet-sounding modulation through the woods,
the dances of Naiads and Dryads and the secret rites of Bacchus
and the Satyrs' wailing through musical valleys.
Pan taught me the modulations of songs for thiasoi,
and first bound varied harmonies together with sounds;
Attis, kindly lover, your greatest care, Cybele,
wears away the god's cheek with a rosy mouth and soft lip,
and kindles your Idaean loves, mother;
in me the Muses made the happy strains live,
in Ida the judge of beauty bore me aloft;
the joyful one sings me a companion, near to a husband by vow,
at the eastern rising of the sun, though unwelcome, under the orient.

28
Blanditias fera Mors Ueneris persensit amando,
permisit solitae nec Styga tristitiae.
Tristitiae Styga nec solitae permisit, amando
persensit Ueneris Mors fera blanditias.
Omnipotens pater huic semper concessit amori,
fecit nec requiem tot sibi fulminibus.

28
The fierce Death felt Venus’s blandishments in loving,
and did not permit the Styx’s accustomed sadness.
The Styx’s customary sadness he did not permit, in loving
the fierce Death perceived Venus’s blandishments.
The omnipotent Father always granted this to love,
and made no respite for himself by so many thunderbolts.

Fulminibus sibi tot requiem nec fecit, amori
concessit semper huic pater omnipotens.
Purpureus tibi flos uultum non pingit, Iacche,
monstrat nec mitem frons noua laetitiam.
Laetitiam noua frons mitem nec monstrat, Iacche,
pingit non uultum flos tibi purpureus.

The almighty Father ever granted respite to this love;
he did not make for himself so many respites with thunderbolts.
Purpureus tibi flos vultum non pingit, Iacche,
nec monstrat frons nova mitem laetitiam.
Frons nova mitem laetitiam nec monstrat, Iacche,
pingit non vultum flos tibi purpureus.

Occubuit minor hic fractis et uiribus aestu
torpuit oppressus Amphitryoniades.
Amphitryoniades oppressus torpuit aestu,
uiribus et fractis hic minor occubuit.
Incaluit iubar hoc externis ignibus ardens
fortius; ardorem Sol sibi congeminat.

He fell here, the younger, struck down by a surge and with his strengths broken;
Amphitryoniades, oppressed, was numbed by the heat.
Amphitryoniades, oppressed, was numbed by the heat;
with his strengths and bones shattered this younger one lay low.
The radiance grew hot, this burning more fiercely with outward fires;
the Sun redoubles the ardor to itself.

Congeminat sibi Sol ardorem; fortius ardens
ignibus externis hoc iubar incaluit.
Deposita face Nox quaesiuit lumina Phoebes,
uulnere sed blandus haec tenet Endymion.
Endymion tenet haec blandus sed uulnere, Phoebes
lumina quaesiuit Nox face deposita.

The Sun doubles its ardor for himself; burning more fiercely
with outward fires this radiance shone.
With his torch laid down, Night sought Phoebe’s eyes,
but gentle Endymion holds these with a wound.
Gentle Endymion holds these with a wound, but Phoebe,
with her torch laid down, Night sought the eyes.

Armipotens deus hoc suspirat pondere, uulnus
ferrea nec rabies aut furor exsuperat.
superat furor aut rabies nec ferrea uulnus,
pondere suspirat hoc deus armipotens.
Impatiens Uenus est, siluas dum lustrat Adonis,
carpit si Martem, iam cui conueniat?

The armipotent god sighs beneath this weight,
an iron wound that neither rage nor fury overcomes.
Fury or rage prevails not, nor the iron wound;
under the weight the armipotent god sighs.
Venus is impatient while Adonis ranges the woods,
if she should seize Mars, to whom now will she be fitting?

Conueniat cui iam, Martem si carpit? Adonis
lustrat dum siluas, est Uenus impatiens.

Whom should he seek now, if she seizes Mars?
While Adonis traverses the woods, Venus is impatient.

29
Nudus, egens, Ueneris naufragus in pelago.

29
Naked, needy, a shipwrecked lover of Venus at sea.

30
Auxilium Fortuna tibi, res perfida, Quinte,
et tulit in fronte grande supercilium.
Haut aliud credam, puteum puto te quoque, Quinte:
quanto altus magis es, tam mage despiceris.

30
Fortuna brought you aid, treacherous thing, Quinte,
and set upon your brow a great supercilium (a proud brow).
I will believe nothing else; I reckon you also a well, Quinte:
the higher you are, the more you are despised.