THE sons of Ogyges 1 call me Bacchus, Egyptians think me Osiris, Mysians name me Phanaces, Indians regard me as Dionysus, Roman rites make me Liber, the Arab race thinks me Adoneus, Lucaniacus 2 the Universal God.
OGYGIDAE 1 me Bacchum vocant,Osirin Aegypti putant,Mysi Phanacen nominant,Dionyson Indi existimant,Romana sacra Liberum,Arabica gens Adoneum,Lucaniacus Pantheum.
I AM Osiris of the Egyptians, Phanaces of the Mysians, Bacchus among the living, Adoneus among the dead, Fire-born, Twy-horned, Titan-slayer. Dionysus.
Αἰγυπιίων μὲν Ὄσιρισ ἐγώ, Μυσῶν δὲ Φανάκησ,Βάκχοσ ἐνὶ ζωοῖσιν, ἐνὶ φθιμένοισιν Ἀδωνεύσ,πυρογενής, δίκερως, Τυτανολέτης, Διόνυσοσ.
AGOAT, a ram, a wallet, a shepherd with his staff, an olive-tree, all in a monolith make up lithe 3 Corydon.
Αἲξ χίμαροσ πήδη ποιμὴν ῤαβδοῦχοσ ἐλαίη εἶσ λίθοσ ἐκ πάντων λιτὸσ ἐγὼ Κορυδών.
I, LESBIAN Sappho, adopted sister of the Muses, am ninth of the lyrists, 5 tenth of the Aonides.
LESBIA Pieriis Sappho soror addita Musis,εἰμ' ἐνάτη λυρικῶν, Ἀονίδων δεκάτη.
RISEN from the firth, received by earth, Heaven's child by birth, mother of Aeneas' line, I, kindly Venus, here do dwell.
ORTA salo, suscepta solo, patre edita Caelo,Aeneadum genetrix, hic habito alma Venus.
LET the proud Orient extol its Achaemenian looms: weave in thy robes, O Greece, soft threads of gold; but let fame equally renown Ausonian Sabina who, shunning their costliness, matches their skill.
LAUDET Achaemenias orientis gloria telas:molle aurum pallis, Graecia, texe tuis;non minus Ausoniam celebret dum fama Sabinam.parcentem magnis sumptibus, arte parem.
WHETHER thou dost admire robes woven in Tyrian looms, or lovest a motto neatly traced, my mistress with her charming skill combines the twain: one hand—Sabina's—practises these twin arts.
SIVE probas Tyrio textam subtemine vestemseu placet inscripti commoditas tituli.ipsius hoc dominae concinnat utrumque venustas,has geminas artes una Sabina colit.
SOME weave yarn and some weave verse: these of their verse make tribute to the Muses, those of their yarn to thee, O chaste Minerva. Put I, Sabina, will not divorce mated arts, who on my own webs have inscribed my verse.
LICIA qui texunt et carmina, carmina Musis,licia contribuunt, casta Minerva, tibi.ast ego rem sociam non dissociabo Sabina,versibus inscripsi quae mea texta meis.
HER I would have who will not, and her, who will, I would not: Venus would vanquish, not satisfy, the heart. Charms offered me I scorn, depreciate those denied: I would neither sate my heart nor torture it. Neither twice-girt Dian pleases, nor nude Cythere: the one gives no delight, the other overmuch. Be mine a mistress skilfully to display the art of attempered love, who can unite what “I would,” “I would not” mean. 3
HANG volo, quae non vult; illam, quae vult, ego nolo:vincere vult animos, non satiare Venus,oblatas sperno illecebras. detrecto negatas:nec satiare animum nec cruciare volo.nec bis cincta Diana placet nec nuda Cythere:illa voluptatis nil habet, haec nimium,callida sed mediae Veneris milli venditet artemfemina, quae iungat, quod volo nolo vocant.
CHRESTUS and Acindynus, own brothers but hapless children, bear names which belie their unhappy qualities: neither this one is “Gracious,” nor this “Riskless.” One letter can correct them both. If Chrestus should borrow alpha ("-less"), from his brother Acindynus, one will become “Risk” and his brother will be “Graceless.”
Χρῆστος, Ἀκίνδυνος, αὐτοαδελφεοί, οἰκτρὰ δὲ, τέκνα,moribus umbo malis nomina falsa gerunt:οὐδ' οὗτοσ χρηδτός, οὐδ' οὗτοσ ἀκίνδυνόσ ἐδτιν.una potest ambos littera corrigere.αἴ κεν Χρῆδτός, ἔχῃ παρ' ἀδελφοῦ Ἀκινδύνου ἄλφα,κίνδυνοσ hic fiet, ἄχρηδτοσ erit.
THESE are two own brothers, Chrestus and Acindynus. Both have been wrongly named: but that both may be set right, let Acindynus give his alpha to Chrestus, himself remaining without alpha; each will be an appropriate name.
MALE NOMEN IMPOSITUMGERMANI fratres sunt, Chrestos, Aeindvnos alter,falsum nomen utrique: sed ut verum sit utrique,alpha suum Chresto det Acindynos, ipse sine alphapermaneat: verum nomen uterque geret.
“TRIS uno in lecto: stuprum duo perpetiuntur, et duo committunt.” “Quattuor esse reor.” “Falleris: extremis da singula crimina et illum bis numera medium, qui facit et patitur.”
“TRIS uno in lecto: stuprum duo perpetiuntur.et duo committunt.” “Quattuor esse reor.”“Falleris: extremis da singula crimina et illumbis numera medium, qui facit et patitur.”
He who thinks he can say reminisco and speak Latin, would put cot where co is written, if he had any sense.
EST LATINUMQUI REMINISCO putat se dicere posse latinehic ubi en scriptum est, faceret cor, si cor haberet.
RUFUS the rhetorician, being once invited to a wedding—a thing oft done at crowded festivals-— to show his skill in grammar, expressed these wishes for the wedded pair: “May ye get sons of gender masculine, feminine and neuter.”
RITUS vocatus rhetor olim ad nuptias,celebri ut fit in convivio,grammaticae ut artis se peritum ostenderet,haec vota dixit nuptiis:“Ei masculini et feminini gignitegenerisque neutri filios.”
GLAD youth verging upon thy sixteenth year already was encircling thy soft cheeks' with down, young Glaucias. And already thou hadst ceased to seem boy or maid indifferently when the day came too hurriedly and bare off all thy comeliness. Yet neither shalt thou join company with the common throng of dead, nor shalt thou, a piteous shade, dread the Stygian pools, but thou shalt go thither as Persephone's Adorns, the son of Cinyras, or thou shalt be the Ganymede of Elysian Jove.
LAETA bis octono tibi iam sub consule pubescingebat teneras, Glaucia adulto, genas,et iam desieras puer anne puella videri:cum properata dies abstulit omne decus,sed neque functorum socius miscebere vulgonec metues Stygios flebilis umbra lacus,verum aut Persephonae Cinyreius ibis Adonis,aut Iovis Elysii tu Catamitus eris.
I USED to live: I became stone, and then being polished by the hand of Praxiteles, I now live again as Niobe. The artist's hand has restored me all but sense: that, when I offended gods, I had not.
VIVEBAM: sum facta silex, quae deinde politaPraxiteli manibus vivo iterum Niobe,reddidit artificis manus omnia, sed sine sensu:hunc ego, cum laesi numina, non habui.
AT Lacedaemon Pallas saw Venus armed. “Now,” quoth she, “let us contend, even with Paris for judge.” Venus replied: “When I am armed, rash maid, dost thou despise me, seeing that when I conquered thee I was bare?”
VENEREARMATAM vidit Venerem Lacedaemone Pallas.“Nunc certemus,” ait, “iudice vel Paride.”cui Venus: “Armatam tu me, temeraria, temnis,quae, quo te vici tempore, nuda fui?”
I, LAÏS, grown old, to Venus dedicate my mirror: let eternal beauty have the eternal service which befits it. But for me there is no profit in this, for to behold myself such as I am I would not, such as I was I cannot.
LAIS anus Veneri speculum dico: dignum habeat seaeterna aeternum forma ministerium,at mihi nullus in hoc usus, quia cernere talem,qualis sum, nolo. qualis eram, nequeo.
THOSE whom thou seest springing from a triple egg, declare their ancestry doubtful on either side. These Nemesis conceived, but pregnant Leda bare them in her womb; Tyndareus to them was father and Juppiter: the one believes he is, the other knows.2
ISTOS tergemino nasci quos cernis ab ovo,patribus ambiguis et matribus adsere natos,hos genuit Nemesis, sed Leda puerpura fovit:Tyndareus pater his et Iuppiter: hic putat, hic scit.
THE real Venus, when she saw the Cnidian Cypris, said: “Methinks, Praxiteles, thou hast seen me unclad.” “I have not seen thee, 'twould be sin: but 'tis with steel I finish every work. Steel is at the disposal of Mars Gradivus. Therefore my steel chisel has fashioned a goddess such as the Cythera whom it knew to have pleased its lord.”
VERA Venus Gnidiam cum vidit Cyprida. dixit:“Vidisti nudam me, puto, Praxitele.”“Non vidi, nec fas: sed ferro opus omne polimus.ferrum Gradivi Martis in arbitrio,qualem igitur domino scierant placuisse Cytheren,talem fecerunt ferrea caela deam.”
I AM a heifer, wrought in bronze by the chisel of Myron my creator: nay, I think I was not wrought but born, so does the bull make for me, so does the heifer by my side low, so the calf athirst seeks my udders. Dost wonder that the herd mistakes me? The master of the herd himself oft reekons me with his grazing beasts.
BUCULA sum, caelo genitoris facta Myronisaerea: nec factam me puto, sed genitam.sic me taurus init, sic proxima bucula mugit.sic vitulus sitiens ubera nostra petit.miraris, quod fallo gregem? gregis ipse magister 5inter pascentes me numerare solet.
WHY thrustest thou at the cold udders of a brazen dam, O calf, and seedkest milky liquid from bronze? That also would 1 supply had Heaven made me within as Myron without.
UBERA quid pulsas frigentia matris aenae,o vitule, et sucum lactis ab aere petis?hunc quoque praestarem, si me pro parte parassetexteriore Myron, interiore deus.
DAEDALUS, why wastest thou pains in idle craft? Rather expose me with Pasiphae enclosed within. If thou wouldst offer the allurement of a real cow, Myron's shall be for thee a living image.
DAEDALE, cur vana consumis in arte laborem?me potius clausa subice Pasiphae.illecebras verae si vis dare, Daedale, vaccae,viva tibi species vacca Myronis erit.
Myron's brazen heifer could low aloud, but fears to spoil the artist's craftsmanship. For to make me seem alive is more than to make me live; and not the works of God are wondrous, but the artist's.1
SUI RITUMAEREA mugitum poterat dare vacca Myronis:sed timet artificis deterere ingenium,fingere nam similem vivae, quam vivere, plus est:nec sunt facta dei mira, sed artificis.
I had stood here a brazen heifer; a cow was slaughtered to Minerva; but the goddess transferred to me the life breathed forth. And now I am twofold: part is brazen, part alive. This is ascribed to the artist's skill, that to the goddess.
AEREA bos steteram; mactata est vacca Minervae;sed dea proflatam transtulit huc animam,et modo sum duplex: pars aerea, pars animata.haec manus artificis dicitur, illa deae.
WHY seekest thou to make for me, lord of the herd, beguiled by appearance? I am no contrivance of Pasiphae, Minos' wife.
Quid me, taure, paras specie deeeptus inire?non sum ego Minoae maehina Pasiphaae.
ERE the sinking sun was set, evening now drawing on, the neatherd, while he drove his heifers home, left one of his own and chid me as though one of his.
NECDUM caduco sole, iam sub vespere,ageret iuveneas cum domum pastor suas.suam relinquens me monebat ut suam.
A NEATHERD chanced to have lost a single heifer, and, bidden to deliver up the tale, complained that I was missing because I would not follow the others home.
UNAM iuvencam pastor forte amiserat,numerumque iussus reddereme defuisse conquerebatur, sequiquae noluissem ceteras.
AT VALLEBANA 1 (a thing strange and scarce credible in a poet, but which is taken from a truthful tale) a male bird changed into female form, and an erstwhile peacock stood a peahen before men's eyes. All marvelled at the portent; but a girl softer than any lamb spake thus with maiden voice: “Fools, why so amazed to see a thing strange yet not unknown? Or do ye not read Naso's verse? Consus, old Saturn's son, changed Caenis to a boy and Tiresias was not always of one sex. The fount Salmacis saw Hermaphro'ditus the half-man 2: Pliny 3 saw a man-woman in the act. Nor is the tale yet old that in Campanian Beneventum a certain lad suddenly became a maid. Vet I would not cite you instances of old report: lo, I was changed from boy to girl.”
VALLEBANAE (nova res et vix credenda poctis.sed quae de vera promitur historia)femineam in speciem convertit masculus alespavaque de pavo constitit ante oculos,cuncti admirantur monstrum: sed mollior agna⟨talia virginea voce puella refert:1⟩“Quid stolidi ad speciem notae novitatis hebeti?an vos Nasonis carmina non legitis?Caenida convertit proles Saturnia Consusambiguoque fuit corpore Tiresias.vidit semivirum fons Salmacis Hermaphroditumvidit nubentem Plinius Androgynum.nec satis antiquum, quod Campana in Beneventounus epheborum virgo repente fuit.nolo tamen veteris documenta arcessere famae.ecce ego sum factus femina de puero.”
“PYTHAGORAS, Euphorbus' son, thou who dost renew the seeds of nature and to fresh bodies dost assign souls brought back to earth, say, what will Mareus be who has now felt fate's final stroke, if he return again to live in our air?” “Who is Marcus?” “One lately known as seducer and kidnapper, who has debauched the entire sex, an unnatural scoundrel, or, as the bard Lucilius says, a pilfering paederast.” “No bull, no mule, no hippocamel shall he be, no goat or ram, but he shall be a scarabaeus.” 1
“Pythagora Euphorbi, reparas qui semina rerumcorporibusque novis das reduces animas,dic, quid erit Marcus iam fata novissima functus,si redeat vitam rursus in aeriam?”“Quis Marcus? " " Feles nuper pullaria dictus,corrupit totum qui puerile secus,perversae Veneris postico vulnere fossor,Lucili vatis subpilo pullipremo.”“Non taurus, non mulus erit, non hippocamelus,non caper aut aries, sed scarabaeus erit.”
Lambere cum vellet mediorum membra virorum Castor nec posset vulgus habere domi, repperit, ut nullum fellator perderet inguen: uxoris coepit lingere membra suae.
LAMBERE cum vellet mediorum membra virorumCastor nec posset vulgus habere domi,repperit, ut nullum fellator perderet inguen:uxoris coepit lingere membra suae.
PRAETER legitimi genialia foedera coetus repperit obscenas veneres vitiosa libido: Herculis heredi quam Lemnia suasit egestas, quam toga facundi scaenis agitavit Afrani et quam Nolanis capitalis luxus inussit. Crispa tamen cunetas exercet corpore in uno: deglubit, fellat, molitur per utramque cavernam, ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat.
PRAETER legitimi genialia foedera coetusrepperit obscenas veneres vitiosa libido:Herculis heredi quam Lemnia suasit egestas,quam toga facundi scaenis agitavit Afraniet quam Nolanis capitalis luxus inussit.Crispa tamen cunetas exercet corpore in uno:deglubit, fellat, molitur per utramque cavernam,ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat.
WHEN Marcus was sick, Diodorus the soothsayer told him that no more than six days of life remained. But the doctor, Alcon, more potent than the gods and fates, straightway proved the divination false and touched his patient's hand who might have lived had he not touched; for straightway Marcus' six days came to an end.
LANGUENTI Marco dixit Diodorus haruspexad vitam non plus sex superesse dies.sed medicus divis fatisque potentior Alconfalsum convicit illico haruspiciumtractavitque manum victuri, ni tetigisset;illico nam Marco sex periere dies.
YESTERDAY Alcon touched Jove's statue. He, though of marble, felt the doctor's influence. To-day, Io, he is being carried off, bidden to be removed from his ancient place, for all he is a god and made of stone.
ALCON hesterno signum Iovis attigit, illequamvis marmoreus vim patitur medici.ecce hodie iussus transferri e sede vetustaeffertur. quamvis sit deus atque lapis.
EUNUS, why dost thou seek to win Phyllis, the scent-seller? Diceris hanc mediam lambere, non moiere. Look that the names of her wares do not deceive thee, or that thou beest not deceived by the scent of Seplasia,1 while you think rank and fragrant smell alike and that spikenard and stockfish have the same savour.
EUNE, quid adfectus vendentem Phyllida odores?dicetis hanc mediam lambere, non molere.perspice, ne mercis fallant te nomina, vel neaere Seplasiae decipiare cave,dum κύσθον κόστον que putas communis odorisel nardium ac sardas esse sapore pari.
UNHAPPY Eunus tastes and smells things much unlike: his nose has one sense, his tongue another.
Diversa infelix et lambit et olfacit Eunus:dissimilem olfactum naris et oris habet.
SMELL NEITHER SWEET NOR RANK PICKLES are one thing, balsam another: away with scents! Neither to smell rank nor to smell sweet pleases me.
BENE NEC MALE OLERESALGAMA non hoc sunt, quod balsama: cedite odores,nec male olere mihi, nec bene olere placet.
LAIS, Eros, and Itys. Chiron and Eros, Itys again, these names write down and take their initials, that thou mayest form a word describing what thou dost, schoolmaster Eunus. To name the infamy in Latin becomes me not.
LAIS Eros et Itys, Chiron et Eros, Itys alternomina si scribis, prima elementa adime.ut facias verbum, quod tu facis, Eune magister,dicere me Latium non decet opprobrium.
EUNE, quod uxoris gravidae putria inguina Iambis, festinas glossas non natis tradere natis.
LAMBEBATEUNE, quod uxoris gravidae putria inguina lambis,festinas glossas non natis tradere natis.
EUNUS Syriscus, inguinum ligurritor. opicus magister (sic enim docet Phyllis) muliebre membrum quadrangulum cernit: triquetro coacto.Δ. litteram ducit, de valle femorum altrinsecus pares rugas mediumque, fissi rima qua patet, callem.Ψ. dicit esse: nam trifissilis forma est. cui ipse linguam cum dedit suam..Λ. est: veramque in illis esse.Φ. notam sentit, quid, imperite,.P. putas ibi scriptum, ubi locare.1. convenit longum? miselle doctor,.S. tibi sit obsceno, tuumque nomen.Θ. sectilis signet.
EUNUS Syriscus, inguinum ligurritor.opicus magister (sic eum docet Phyllis)muliebre membrum quadrangulum cernit:triquetro coactu.Δ. litteram ducit.de valle femorum altrinsecus pares rugasmediumque, fissi rima qua patet, callem.Ψ. dicit esse: nam trifissilis forma est.cui ipse linguam cum dedit suam,.Λ. est:veramque in illis esse.Φ. notam.sentit.quid, imperite, P. putas ibi scriptum,ubi locari.I. convenit longum?miselle doctor, 8. tibi sit obsceno,tuumque nomen.Θ. sectilis signet.
SOME say that thou art deformed, Crispa: that I know not: for me thou art fair, 'tis enough since Ι am judge. Nay more, I long—for jealousy is yoked with love—that thou mayest seem to others ugly, comely to me alone.
DEFORMEM quidam te dicunt, Crispa: ego istudnescio: mi pulchra es, iudice me satis est.quin etiam cupio, iunctus quia zelus amori est.ut videare aliis foeda, deeora mihi.
FAIN would I have such a mistress as may lightly start a quarrel, nor be careful to speak as if an honest woman: pretty, saucy, hasty of hand, one to take blows and return them, and, if beaten, to take refuge in kisses. For if she be not of this character, but live chaste, subdued, shamefastly—I shudder to say it—she will be a wife.
SIT milli talis amica velim,iurgia quae temere incipiat,nec student quasi casta loqui:pulcra procax petulante manu,verbera quae ferat et regeratcaesaque ad oscula confugiat.nam nisi moribus his fuerit,casta modesta pudenter agens,dicere abominor, uxor erit.
THIS thing which they call love bring to an end or spread evenly, Cupid: either burn neither with thy flame or burn both.
Hoc, quod amare vocant, solve aut misceto. Cupido:aut neutrum flammis ure vel ure duo.
EITHER put out this fire wherein I burn, sweet Dione, or bid it pass over from me, or make it equal on both sides.
Aut restingue ignem, quo torreor, alma Dione,aut transire iube: vel fac utrimque parem.
A LAWYER who had a faithless wife approved of the Papian statute1 but disapproved of the Julian.2 Do ye ask why this difference? Effeminate himself, tearing the Scantinian, 3 he feared not the Titian Law.4
ADULTERAMIuris consulto, cui vivit adultera coniunx,paria a lex placuit, iulia displicuit,quaeritis, unde haec sit distantia? seemivir ipsescantin iam metuens non metuit titiam.
INGUINA quod calido levas tibi dropace, causa est: irritant volsas levia membra lupas. sed quod et elixo plantaria podiee vellis et teris incusas pumice Clazomenas, causa latet: bimarem nisi quod patientia morbum adpetit et tergo femina, pube vir es.
Inguina quod calido levas tibi dropace, causa est:irritant volsas levia membra lupas.sed quod et elixo plantaria podice velliset teris incusas pumice Clazomenas,causa latet: bimarem nisi quod patientia morbumadpetit et tergo femina, pube vir es.
EFFEMINATE thyself, Zoïlus, thou hast wedded an unchaste wife: how great a profit will ye twain earn at home, when thy debaucher pays thy wife, and her lover thee, the fees of shame! But lust, which now seems to you profitable, will soon, as age creeps on, cause loss: lovers will begin to sell you their services for pay, whom prostituted youth now makes your customers.
SEMIVIR uxorem duxisti, Zoile, moecham:o quantus fiet quaestus utrimque domi,cum dabit uxori molitor tuus et tibi adulter,quantum deprensi damna pudoris ement!sed modo quae vobis lucrosa libido videtur,iacturam senio mox subeunte feret:incipient operas conducti vendere moechi,quos modo munificos lena iuventa tenet.
HYLAS, the boxer, with Phegeus, skilled in wrestling, and Lyeus, famous on the Olympian track, asked Ammon at his Libyan shrine 1 whether they; all would win at the approaching games. Put the god (so wise was he) replied: “if Victory shall be assured you, if only ye take heed that none excel Hylas with the gloves, Phegeus in clinching, and thee, Lycus, in speed of foot.”
Doctus Hylas caestu, Phegeus catus arte palaestrae,clarus Olympiacis et Lycus in stadiis,an possent omnes venturo vincere agone,Hammonem Libyae consuluere deum.sed deus, ut sapiens: “Dabitur victoria vobisindubitata equidem, si caveatis” ait,“ne quis Hylam eaestu, ne quis certamine luctaePhegea, ne cursu te, Lyce, praetereat.”
A CRIMSON girdle bound Hermione's swelling breasts: and on the girdle this couplet was embrodered: “Thou who dost read this inscription, know that the Paphian commands thee to love me, and by thy conduct to forbid none to love.”
PUNICA turgentes redimibat zona papillasHermiones: zonae textum elegeon erat:“Qui legis hunc titulum, Paphie tibi mandat, ames meexemploque tuo neminem amare vetes.”
BEHOLD with how sweet and proud a death is fair Hylas blessed, tasting of joys that bring destruction! Doomed to perish amid kisses and fatal love, 'twere hard to say whether Naiads or Eumenides so afflict him.
ADSPICE, quam blandae neeis ambitione fruaturletifera experiens gaudia pulcher Hylas.oscula et infestos inter moriturus amoresancipites patitur Naidas Eumenidas.
YE rave, ye wanton Nymphs, with love as cruel as 'tis fruitless. That lad shall be a flower.
FURTTIS proeaees Naides amore saevo et irrito:ephebus iste flos erit.
WERT thou to desire another, Narcissus, then mightest thou win him. Of love thou hast abundance; 'tis the enjoyment fails.
Si cuperes alium, posses. Narcisso, potiri,nunc tibi amoris adest copia, fructus abest.
WHAT would a lover not surfer through the beauty of this youth who thus pines away for his own reflection?
QUID non ex huius forma pateretur amator,ipse suam qui sic deperit effigiem?
ALONG with thee, Narcissus, dies resounding Echo, her spirit passing with the last tones of thy voice: both while thou wert pining away, thy sighs she has hitherto answered with her plaints, and now also when she loves the latest words of thy voice.
COMMORITUR, Narcisse, tibi resonabilis Echo,vocis ad extremos exanimata modos:et pereuntis adhuc gemitum resecuta querellis.ultima nunc etiam verba loquentis amat.
BY Mercury begotten, conceived by Cythera, Hermaphroditus, compound alike in name and frame, combining either sex, complete in neither, neutral in love, unable to enjoy either passion.
MERCURIO genitore satus, genetrice Cythere.nominis ut mixti, sic corporis Hermaphroditus.concretus sexu, sed non perfectus, utroque:ambiguae Veneris, neutro potiendns amori.
THE nymph Salmacis grew one with the mate she desired. Ah, happy maid, if she is conscious of a man's embrace. And twice happy thou, O youth, united with a lovely bride, if one being may still be two.
HERMAPHRODTTOSALMACIS optato concreta est nympha marito.felix virgo, sibi si scit inesse virum:et tu formosae, iuvenis, permixte puellaebis felix, unum si licet esse duos.
PUT by thy bow, Paean, and hide thy swift arrows: not thee the maid flees, but fears thy shafts.
PONE arcum, Paean, celeresque reconde sagittas:non te virgo fugit, sed tua tela timet.
TOO envious bark, why hastest thou to overlap the maid? Laurel is Phoebus' due, if the damsel is denied.
INVIDE, cur properas. cortex, operire puellam:laurea debetur Phoebo, si virgo negatur.
WHOE'ER has seen Polygiton in a tub at the baths chafing the caked and rotting ulcers on his limbs, ranks such a sight above every comic show. First, he makes the air ring with his quavering howls, yells words suggestive of a brothel and sounds the full gamut of impurity. Next, he whirls his arms like a Maenad possessed by some spirit, while the itch strays at random, now in this part now in that, over his breast, legs, flanks, belly, thighs, loins and calves, his back, neck, shoulders, and his hinder parts. At length he droops with the heat of his scalding bath, and kind exhaustion makes him relax in a death-like swoon. Just as they say that men emasculate, when vain desire attacks them, exhaust themselves without fruition, mocked by pleasure unachieved; even so Polygiton relaxes his nerveless limbs. And, since at the last he must expiate his life, let him now make ready for the waters of Phlegethon.
THERMARUM in solio si quis Polygitona viditulcera membrorum scabie putrefacta foventem,praeposuit cunctis spectacula talia ludis.Principio tremulis gannitibus aera pulsatverbaque lascivos meretricum imitantia coetusvibrat et obscenae numeros pruriginis implet.brachia deinde rotat velut enthea daemone Maenas;pectus, crura, latus, ventrem, femora, inguina, suras,tergum, colla, umeros, luteae Symplegadis antrum.tam diversa locis vaga earnificina pererrat,donec marcentem calidi fervore lavacriblandus letali solvat dulcedine morbus.desectos sic fama viros, ubi cassa libidofemineos coetus et non sua bella lacessitiirrita vexato consumere gaudia lecto,titillata brevi cum iam sub fine voluptasfervet et ingesto peragit ludibria morsu:torpida non aliter Polygiton membra rescivit.et, quia debentur suprema piacula vitae,ad Phlegethonteas sese iam praeparet undas.
THAT Silvius “Good” who attacks my verse, has the more fully earned my lampoon, being a good Briton.1
SILVIUS ille Bonus, qui carmina nostra Incessit,nostra magis meruit disticha, Brito bonus.
“THIS is Silvius 'Good.'” “Who is Silvius?” “He is a Briton.” “Either this Silvius is no Briton, or he is Silvius ' Bad.' ”
SILVIUS hic Bonus est. “Quis Sibilis?” Iste Britannus.“Aut Brito hic non est Silvius, aut malus est.”
SILVIUS is called Good and called a Briton: who would believe a good citizen had sunk so low?
SILVIUS esse Bonus fertur ferturque Britannus:quis credat civem degenerasse bonum?
NO good man is a Briton. If he should begin to be plain Silvius, let the plain man cease to be good.
NEMO bonus Brito est. si simplex Silvius esseincipiat, simplex desinat esse bonus.
THIS is Silvius Good, but the same Silvius is a Briton: a plainer thing—believe me—is a bad Briton.
SILVIUS hic Bonus est, sed Brito est Silvius idem:simplicior res est, credite, Brito malus.
THOU Silvius art Good, a Briton: yet 'tis said thou art no good man, nor can a Briton link himself with Good.
SILVI, Brito Bonus: quamvis homo non bonus essefertis nec <se quit> iungere Brito Bono.