I HAVE been looking for a reply from you to the letter I wrote some time ago dealing playfully with your positively unnatural neglect of me and my own urgent demands; and since you have disdained to do me the courtesy of sending a favour in return, having found an old letter, half worm-eaten, which I once composed in a style of deliberate obscurity on oysters and mussels, now that I am older I have revised that careless effusion of my youth. But though recast, this composition still retains the same satirical and burlesque character, that now at least you may send an answer to my ditty in its newest guise, though by your silence you condemned it when new born. Oysters rivalling those of Baiae, which the surge of the ebbing sea fattens in the lush marshes of Médoc, I have received, dear Theon—a gift not beyond reckoning. But what was their number, the following single lines declare. As many were they as the forefinger thrice crossed with the thumb1 reckons up; as many as there were Geryons, if ten times multiplied; thrice as many as the decades told over in the Phrygian (Trojan) War, or as the journeys made by the flame-tressed Sun in a full month; as the nights which wandering Cynthia enjoys after she first shows her horns; as the days wherein Titan traverses each several Sign;2 as the years in which Phaenon (Saturn) accomplishes his circuit aloft; as the tale of years in which a Vestal maid does service,3 and as those o'er which the scion of Dardanus 4 prolonged his reign; as many as Priam's sons if twice ten are deducted, or, if you count them twice, as they who keep the Amphrysian Oracles, h as the young littered beneath the oaks by the Alban sow,6 and as the unit when there are ninety thirds—or as many hacks as are harnessed to a car at Bazas. But if the figure shadowed forth in story, and the number wrapped up in this learned rigmarole baffles a mind smothered deep in fat—that yon may know how to count in the common way at least, I will unfold the sum reduced to its factors. Thrice ten, methinks, or five times six, or two times five plus ten and ten, or four times six with twice three added; to seven times four add one and one, or to thrice four add nine twice over; take ten times two and one time ten, four times eight with two subtracted, two thirteen times plus a single four. Add also six to nine and eight to seven, or with twin sevens twice join eight, or—not to bother you with more—thirty in number were they all. The mussel not without mud-haunting oysters, makes up a course for early luncheon—a food delightful to the taste of lords and cheap enough for poor folks' kitchens. 'Tis not sought on the ship-wrecking deep so that the price grows great to match the danger, but is picked up in the nearest shallows after the sea's ebb, matching in colour the weed-strewn shore. For it is hidden in the cavern of a double shell which, warmed by the steam of boiling water, reveals the milk-white substance within. But too careless of cost this broad sheet is spreading out. See that thou abridge, my Muse, thy acreage of paper, and no longer let the furrow of the Cnidian reed proceed along the paths of the cloven-footed pen painting the surface of my poor parched page with Cadmus' dark-hued little daughters. Or from all the lines alike let a milk-white sponge blot out the dusky sepia. Let us spare the shortcomings of the folk at Dumnitonus, lest paper cost me more than the value of the oysters.
expectaveram, ut rescriberes ad ea, quae dudum ioculariter luseram de cessatione tua valde impia et mea efflagitatione, cuius rei munus reciprocum quoniam in me colendo fastidisti, inventa inter tineas epistula vetere, quam de ostreis et musculis adfectata obscuritate condideram, quae adulescens temere fuderam, iam senior retractavi. set in eundem modum instaurata est satirica et ridicula conciunatio, saltem ut nunc respondeas novissimae cantilenae, qui illam noviciam silentio condemnasti.Ostrea Baianis certantia, quae Medulorumdulcibus in stagnis reflui maris aestus opimat.accepi, dilecte Theon, numerabile munus,verum quot fuerint, subiecta monosticha signant:Quot ter luctatus cum pollice computat index;Geryones quot erant, decies si multiplicentur;ter quot erant Phrygii numerata decennia belli,aut iter ut solidi mensis tenet ignicomus Sol;cornibus a primis quot habet vaga Cynthia noctes;singula percurrit Titan quot signa diebusquotque annis sublimis agit sua saecula Phaenon;quot numero annorum Vestalis virgo ministratDardaniusque nepos regno quot protulit annos;Priamidae quot erant, si bis deni retrahantur,bisque viros numeres, qui fata Amphrysia servant;quot genuit fetus Albana sub ilicibus suset quot sunt asses, ubi nonaginta trientes,vel quot habet iunctos Vasatica raeda caballos.Quod si figuras fabulis adumbratasnumerumque doctis involutum ambagibusignorat alto mens obesa viscere,numerare saltim more vulgi ut noveris,in se retortas explicabo summulas.Ter denas puto quinquiesve senas,vel bis quinque, dehinc decem decemque,vel senas quater et bis adde ternas;septenis quater adde et unum et unum,aut ter quattuor adde bis novenis;duc binas decies semelque denas;octonas quater, hinc duae recedant;binas ter decies, semel quaternas,et sex adde novem vel octo septem,aut septem geminis bis octo iunge,aut — ne sim tibi pluribus molestus,triginta numero fuere cunctae.Iunctus limicolis musculus ostreisprimo conposuit fereula prandio,gratus deliciis nobilium cibuset sumptu modicus pauperibus focis,non hic navifrago quaeritur aequore,ut crescat pretium grande periculis;set primore vado post refugum marealgoso legitur litore concolor,nam testae duplicis conditur in specu,quae ferventis aquae lota vaporibuscarnem lacteoli visceris indicat.Set damnosa nimis panditur area.fac campum replices, Musa, papyriumnec iam fissipedis per calami viasgrassetur Gnidiae sulcus harundinis,pingens aridulae subdita paginaeCadmi filiolis atricoloribus.aut cunctis pariter versibus oblinatfurvam lacticolor sphongia sepiam.Pareamus vitio Dumnitonae domus,ne sit charta mihi carior ostreis.
I, AUSONIUS, send greeting to my dear Theon, here setting out in verse my wishes and complaints. Thrice hath Luna renewed her cloven-footed heifers,1 since thou, sweet friend, dost avoid my house. Ninety days without thee have I dragged out, my dearest comrade; add further, summer days: this makes them nearly twice as long for me. Wouldst have me say that nine times ten days or ten times nine are gone? A fourth part of the year is passed away. Sixty hours and two thousand and a hundred beside without thee have I spent—without whom even an hour hangs heavy. Miles twice nine hundred the laws' appointment bids men accused traverse to full reckoning in so many days.2 By this time could I have gone afoot to Rome, and afoot returned, since the time when a few miles have parted thee from me. Has a thatched cot at Dumnitonus such charms for a bard? My villa Pauliacos 3 would not weigh so with me. Or because by bond drawn up hard and fast money is owed to me, dost thou keep from me lest I claim it back? Those twice seven gleaming Philippes d' or of royal mintage,4 Theon, I had rather lose—they would not be worth so much—than that thou, who art so closely twined about my heart, shouldst desert me over this long stretch of time. So either send back now forthwith the aforesaid louis and buy back thy freedom slothfully to linger, or 1 will freely give as many more besides, provided I behold the face of one so dear, however poor he be.5 Haste hither, sped by boat, and spread the bellying canvas of thy sail: the breath of the south wind from Médoc will waft thee reclining beneath an awning and stretched upon a couch, that the bulk of so great a body be not shaken. One tide will bear thee from the shore of Dumnitonus right to the harbour of Condate,1 if only thou makest good haste, and in place of sail, whene'er thy favouring breezes die away, biddest the bark speed straight on propelled with oars. Thou shalt find ready a four-wheeled car with team of mules: soon wilt thou gain the Lucani- villa -acus. 2. Thou shalt learn to make verse with such split nouns: thus shalt thou be a copier of the bard Lucilius.
AUSONIUS salve caro mihi dico Theoni,versibus expediens, quod volo quodve queror.Tertia fissipedes renovavit Luna iuvencas,ut fugitas nostram, dulcis amice, domum,nonaginta dies sine te, carissime, traxi;huc adde aestivos: hoc mihi paene duplum est.vis novies denos dicam deciesque novenosisse dies? anni portio quarta abiit,sexaginta horas super et duo milia centumte sine consumpsi, quo sine et hora gravis.milia bis nongenta iubet demensio legumadnumerata reos per tot obire dies.iam potui Romam pedes ire pedesque reverti,ex quo te dirimunt milia pauca mihi.scirpea Dumnitoni tanti est habitatio vati?Pauliacos tanti non mihi villa foret,an quia per tabulam dicto pangente notatamdebita summa mihi est, ne repetamus, abes?bis septem rutilos regale nomisma Philippos,nec tanti fuerint, perdere malo, Theon,implicitum quam te nostris interne medullisdefore tam longi temporis in spatio,ergo aut praedictos iam nunc rescribe Darioset redime, ut mora sit libera desidiae,aut alios a me totidem dabo, dum modo cariconspicer ora viri. pauperis usque licet.Puppe citus propera sinuosaque lintea velipande: Medullini te feret aura 1 notiexpositum subter paradas lectoque iacentem,corporis ut tanti non moveatur onus.unus Dumnitoni te litore perferet aestusCondatem ad portum, si modo deproperesinque vicem veli, quotiens tua flamina cessant,remipedem iubeas protinus ire ratem,invenies praesto subiuncta petorrita mulis:villa Lucani- mox potieris -aco.rescisso disces conponere nomine versum:Lucili vatis sic imitator eris.
I, AUSONIUS the Consul, return greeting to Theon the Bard. Apples of gold thou sendest, Theon, but verse of lead: who would think these species were of the same substance? Both have one name, but both have differences: to call your apples quinces, alter your quinsied verse.3 Farewell, Theon, whose name is from the blessed gods, but often as a participle it means one running.4
AUSONIUS consul vatem resaluto Theonem.Aurea mala, Theon, set plumbea carmina mittis;unius massae quis putet has species?unum nomen utrisque, set est discrimen utrisque:poma ut mala voces, carmina verte mala.Vale beatis nomen a divis Theon,metoche set ista saepe currentem indicat.
EVEN as the thrush who, ravaging the olives or Picenum,5 fattens his waxen haunches,6 or who has torn the gleaming clusters from the vines and now hangs entangled in the nets which in the evening hour float loose like clouds, or in the morn are taut with dew—such are the birds I send thee from our wintry hedges, themselves glad to be caught, twice ten in all; for so many in the twilight of early dawn flew headlong into the net. Thereto I add full-grown ducks which a raid on the neighbouring meres supplies, web-footed birds whose broad beaks ravage the blue waters, with legs of crimson-red and plumage rich as the rainbow dight with various colours, with necks that rival doves. I have not cheated my own table to send these dainties: that thou shouldst eat them causes me more enjoyment. Fare thee well, that so I may fare well.
QUALIS Picenae populator turdus olivaeclunes opimat cereasvel qui lucentcs rapuit de vitibus uvas,pendetque nexus retibus,quae vespertinis fluitant nebulosa sub horisvel mane tenta roscido:tales hibernis ad te de saepibus, ipsoscapi volentes, misimusbis denos; tot enim crepero sub lucis eoaepraeceps volatus intulit.tum, quas vicinae suggessit praeda lacunae,anites maritas iunximus,remipedes, lato populantes caerula rostroet crure rubras Punico,iricolor vario pinxit quas pluma colore,collum columbis aemulas,Defrudata meae non sunt haec fercula mensae:vescente te fruimur magis.Vale bene, ut valeam.
I HAD believed that nought could be added to the sum of my affection whereby, mine honoured father, my love might be increased. Added (thanks to the gods above and to thy grandson, their instrument, who has laid upon our names a two-fold yoke), added is a title whereby my reverence for thee is increased, whereby I may teach my son what 'tis to love, a father. This grandson himself hath made thee a grandfather: to me he too is son, and to thee am I: his birth makes us both fathers. No longer doth natural affection alone inspire me with love for thee: as doubly a father I love thee now. For I seem made thy peer, because a little boy ennobles me too with the distinction of that name; not because our age is the same, since I somewhat approach thee in age and can pass as thy brother, nor does so great a span divide our years as the seasons which part others. I have seen brothers whose birthdays were separated by as many years as ours: names add no weight to years. Fair youth so blends with old age in thee, that thy earlier time of life lingers, while tin' present but begins. And, me-thinks, these two ages have agreed each to present itself without hurrying on their seasons, this gently gliding onwards, that approaching without haste, bringing ripe fruit while yet the flower remains. I vow, my dearest father, that I know not thy years, and account thine as many as I deem my own. Let no son know these, let the too hasty heir reckon them up, his heart set more on inheritance than loving wishes, teaching his sons to grow op after such bad pattern as to hope they too have no long-lived father. But I, born when my sire was in his earliest youth, will avow that I delight that our times of life are so nearly matched. What I owe as a son, my dear love for thy grandson moves me, his father, to increase, the more to honour thee as a grandsire. Thou too, my sire, rejoice in thy doubled title now that thy son in early youth hath made thee grandfather. A small thing 'tis to be a grandfather: may the kind powers be propitious, and by his own grandson may the grandfather be made great-grandfather. Even further the Fates will have power to prolong thine age: but those prayers, methinks, are rather answered which are moderate.
CREDIDERAM nil posse meis adfectibus addi,quo, venerande pater, diligerere magis,accessit (grates superis medioque nepoti,bina dedit nostris qui iuga nominibus)accessit titulus, tua quo reverentia crescat,quo doceam natum, quid sit amare patrem.ipse nepos te fecit avum: mihi filius idemet tibi ego: hoc nato nos sumus ambo patres,nec iam sola mihi pietas mea suadet amorem:nomine te gemini iam genitoris amo.quippe tibi aequatus videor, quia parvulus istonomine honoratum me quoque nobilitat:non aetas quia nostra eadem: nam subparis aevisum tibi ego et possum fratris habere vicem,nec tantum nostris spatium interponitur annis,quanta solent alios tempora dividere,vidi ego natales fratrum distare tot annis,quot nostros: aevum nomina non onerant,pulchra iuventa tibi senium sic iungit, ut aevumquod prius est maneat, quod modo ut incipiat.et placuisse reor geminis aetatibus, ut senon festinato tempore utraque daret,leniter haec flueret, haec non properata veniret,maturam frugem flore manente ferens,annos me nescire tuos, pater optime, testortotque putare tuos, quot reor esse meos.nesciat hos natus, numeret properantior heres,testamenta magis quam pia vota fovensexemploque docens pravo iuvenescere natos,ut nolint patres se quoque habere senes.verum ego primaevo genitus genitore fateborsubparis haec aevi tempora grata mihi.debeo quod natus, suadet pia cura nepotisaddendum patri, quo veneremur avum.tu quoque, mi genitor, geminata vocabula gaude,nati primaevi nomine factus avus.exiguum, quod avus: faveant pia numina divumdeque nepote suo fiat avus proavus,largius et poterunt producere fata senectam:set rata vota reor, quae moderata, magis.
***** This narrative also I owe to my cares for thee, my dearest son; although this troubled plaint for my gloomy fortunes scarce deserves so mild a term. Already o'er the sluggish surface of chill Moselle the bark had borne thee forward, O my son, and from the kisses and embraces of thy weeping sire the envious stream had parted thee. Alone! though compassed with a throng of friends, I was alone and offered yearning prayers for that fleeting craft; alone, though still I saw you, my child, and grudged the hasty speed of the swift oarage plying against the stream. What day was that? No longer is that year which Attic Meton 4 worked out with such patient skill. Forlorn I pace the empty, lonely shores. Now I strike down the sprouting willow-shoots, now I crush beds of turf and o'er green sedge I poise my slippery footsteps on the pebbles strewn beneath. So the first day passed away, so the second reached its bourne, so the two nights which wheeled revolving after each, so others: and the whole year for me will so pass by until thy destiny gives back me, thy sire, to thee. With this condition I may bargain even for death, that thou, my son, payest thy father the last tributes, surviving him. Ausonius the Grandfather to Ausonius his Grandson WHILE thy persistent master with coaxing pains was committing to thee, still of boyish years, thy earliest poems,1 and was training thy prentice ear and the faculties it guides, so that thy tongue, corrected of the unskilled palate's faults, might produce the words to be repeated with an obedient murmur,2 I, an old man, added naught severe lest anxious admonition might gall, or mar the sweet first-taste with bitterness. But now, when thou dost feel the stir and pulse of youth, and canst distinguish between the manly and the feeble and show thyself thine own councillor in behaviour as in speech, accept, not indeed precepts, but prayers of thy grandfather who entreats while rejoicing at the high festival of his grandson's birthday....... (I thank Heaven which) has consented that, recovered, I may spend my old age brought back from the Fates' borderland,3 and behold this happy day and the stars I scarce hoped to see, I who was well-nigh mourned as one dead. This, my sweet grandson, is a gift doubly profitable, in that thy birthday now occurs, and the prize of my own safety is by this the richer that the glory of thy ripening age now waxes, and that I, now old, behold my grandson attain to youth. Now comes round for thee the sixth period of three years since thou wert born, bringing back the Ides of September. The Ides is an auspicious day, observed too by the genii of gods. In Sextilis Hecate, Leto's daughter, claims the Ides; in May, Mercury, who was raised to the ranks of the gods. October's Ides are hallowed by the birth of Maro long ago. Oft mayest thou observe each Ides of all the twice six months, whoso shalt celebrate the Ides of my Ausonius.1 Farewell my sweetest grandson. Ausonius to his Son Hesperius BEING about to come myself, I send on ahead a booklet which I have amused myself by writing in the form of an exhortation to my little grandson, your sister's son. For this I prefer to reciting it myself, in order that you may feel less restraint in your criticism a faculty which is usually hampered by two circumstances: first that what is heard passes over our ears more quickly than what is read; and second the presence of the reciter handicaps the frankness of the critic. As it is, you have nothing to fear on either score, because both as you read you are free to linger, and as you come to criticize your feelings for me do not stand in your way. But look you, my dearest son, I have a caution to add.
…debeo et hanc nostris, fili dulcissime, curishistoriam: quamquam titulo non digna serenoanxia maestarum fuerit querimonia rerum.Iam super egelidae stagnantia terga Mosellaeprotulerat te, nate, ratis maestique parentisoscula et amplexus discreverat invidus amnis,solus ego et quamvis coetu celebratus amicosolus eram profugaeque dabam pia vota carinaesolus adhuc te, nate, videns; celerisque remulciculpabam properos adverso flumine cursus.quis fuit ille dies? non annus longior ille est,Attica quem docti collegit cura Metonis.desertus vacuis solisque exerceor oris.nunc ego pubentes salicum deverbero frondes,gramineos nunc frango toros viridesque per ulvaslubrica substratis vestigia libro lapidis,sic lux prima abiit, sic altera meta diei,sic geminas alterna rotat vertigo tenebras,sic alias: totusque mihi sic annus abibit,restituant donec tua me tibi fata parentem.hac ego condicione licet vel morte paciscar,dum decores suprema patris tu, nate, superstes.Condiderat iam Solis equos Tartesia Calpestridebatque freto Titan iam segnis Hibero:iam succedentes quatiebat Luna inveneas,vinceret ut tenebras radiis velut aemula fratris;iam volucres hominumque genus superabile curismulcebant placidi tranquilla oblivia somni;transierant Idus, medius suprema Decembertempora venturo properabat iungere Iano;et nonas decimas ab se Nox longa Kalendasiugiter acciri celebranda ad festa iubebat.
If any passages in these verses shall appear to you (and I fear that there are many such) to be composed with more brilliance than truth, and have more colour than vigour, know that I deliberately allow them to run on smoothly, so that these little bits maybe attractive rather than forceful, like those marriageable daughters— “whom their mothers seek to make Low-shouldered and tight-laced, to seem more trim” 1 —you know the rest. It only remains, then, for you to say: “Why do you wait for my criticism on what you yourself proclaim to be a faulty piece of work?” My answer, of course, will be that I blush for verses of this sort in public, but am less ashamed of them when between you and me; for 1 write them to suit his years rather than my own—or perhaps to suit mine also: old men are twice children! In short, goodbye to your strictures: I have to do with a child. Farewell, my darling son. To Ausonius my Grandson The Muses also have their own sports: hours of ease find place among the Camenae, my honey-sweet grandson; nor does the sour schoolmaster's domineering voice always harass boys, but spells of rest and study keep each their appointed times. As for an attentive boy to have read his lessons willingly is enough, so to rest is lawful. “School” has been called by that Greek name, that the laborious Muses may be allowed due share of leisure. Wherefore the more, assured that play follows work in turn, learn willingly: to beguile the weariness of long toil we grant spells of leisure. Boyish zeal flags unless serious work is interspersed with merriment, and workaday with holiday. Learn readily, and loathe not, my grandson, the control of your grim teacher. A master's looks need never cause a shudder. Though he be grim with age and, ungentle of voice, threaten harsh outbursts with frowning brows, never will he seem savage to one who has tutored his face to habitual calm. A child will love its nurse's wrinkles, who shrinks from its mother; grandchildren when they come at last, a new anxiety, prefer doddering grandsires and granddams to their parents. So Thessalian Chiron did not affright Achilles, Peleus' son, though he was quite half a horse, nor pine-bearing Atlas scare Amphitryo's youthful son, but both coaxingly used to soothe their young pupils with gentle words.
Nescis, puto, quid velim tot versibus dicere, medius fidius neque ego bene intellego: tamen suspieor. iam prima nox erat ante diem nonum decimum kal. Iam, eum redditae sunt mihi litterae tuae oppido quam litteratae. his longe iucundissimum poema subdideras, quod de tribus Suetonii libris, quos ille de regibus dedit, in epitomen coegisti tanta elegantia, solus ut mihi videare adsecutus, quod contra rerum naturam est, brevitas ut obscura non esset, in his versibus ego ista collegi:Europamque Asiamque duo vel maxima terraemembra, quibus Libyam dubie Sallustius additEuropae adiunctam, possit cum tertia dici,regnatas multis, quos fama oblitterat et quosbarbara Romanae non tradunt nomina linguae —Illibanum Numidamque Avelim Parthumque Vononemet Cara num, Pellaea dedit qui nomina regum,quique magos docuit mysteria vana Nechepsoset qui regnavit sine nomine moxque Sesostris …
You also be not afraid, though the school resound with many a stroke and the old master wear a lowering face: “fear proves a spirit degenerate.”1 But to yourself be true, mocking at fear, and let no outcry, nor sound of stripes, nor dread, make you quake as the morning hours come on. That he brandishes the cane for sceptre, that he has a full outfit of birches, that he has a tawse artfully hidden in innocent washleather, that scared confusion sets your benches abuzz, is but the outward show of the place and painted scenery to cause idle fears. Your father and mother went through all this in their day, and have lived to soothe my peaceful and serene old age. To that old age, for whatever space the Fates shall grant in the still coming years, do you, who bear your grandfather's name, my first-born grandson, with your first-born powers, afford the joy that springs from achievement or from promise. Now I see you a boy, soon shall 1 see you in years of youth, and by and by a man, if Chance so bid; or if this be grudged, yet will 1 hope—nor shall my prayers grow weary—that, not unmindful of your father and myself, you may ever strive to win through eloquence the hard-won prizes of the Muses, and some day tread this path wherein I have gone before and your father, the proconsul, and your uncle the prefect 1 now press on. Read thoroughly whatever is worth remembering: I will give you some first hints. You must open the pages of the Iliad's creator, study the works of lovable Menander: with modulation and with stress of voice bring out “measureless measures” with a scholar's accent, and infuse expression as you read. Punctuation enforces the meaning, and pauses give strength even to dull passages.3 Ah, when shall these gifts reward mine old age?
Haec tu quam perite et concinne, quam modulate et dulciter, ita iuxta naturam Romanorum accentuum enuntiasti, ut tamen veris et primigenis vocibus sua fastigia non perirent, iam quid de eloquentia dicam? liquido adinrare possum nullum tibi ad poeti eam facundiam Romanae iuventutis aequari: certe ita mihi videri, si erro, pater sum, fer me et noli exigere iudicium obstante pietate, verum ego cum pie diligam, sineere et severe iudieo. adfice me, oro, tali munere frequenter, quo et oblector et honoror. accessit tibi ad artem poetieam mellea adulatio, quid enim aliud agunt:Audax Icario qui fecit nomina pontoet qui Chalcidicas moderate enavit ad arces,
When shall those many poems by me forgot, those many links in the chain of history through the ages, those comedies, royal tragedies, and strains melic and lyric 4 by thine5 utterance be recalled? When wilt thou make an old man's clouded faculties grow youthful? With thee for guide, my grandson, once more may I dare to learn Flaccus' rhythmic strains and Maro's sonorous lines. Do thou, too, Terence, who with thy choice speech 6 adornest Latium, and with well-fitting sock7 trippest o'er our stage, compel my scarce-remembering age to new delight in thy dialogues. Now, Catiline, thy monstrous plot, now Lepidus' sedition, now from the year of Lepidus and Catulus 1 the fortunes and vicissitudes of Rome do I commence and trace their sequence through twice six years. Now read 1 of that war, not free from civil strife,2 which banished Sertorius stirred up with the aid of his Iberian allies. And not without skill do I, thy grandfather, counsel thee thus, but from the experience gained in training a thousand minds. Many from their infant years have I myself brought up, and, cherishing them in my bosom and hushing their complaints, have stolen their tender years from their fond nurses. Presently, as boys, with mild warnings and gentle threats I lured them to seek through sourness for ripe success and pluck sweet fruit sprung from a bitter root. I, too, when they assumed manhood's garb and reached their vigorous prime, led them on towards good living and sound learning and forceful speaking, even though they refused to bear the yoke of command upon their necks and submitted not their months to the jagged bits thrust upon them. Hard the control, rough the experience, scanty the result when viewed after long practice, to govern headstrong youth with mild correction! These toils did I endure until- when now my pains were becoming pleasant and kindly Custom was lightening my toil through use—until, invoked to the sacred task of an Emperor's instruction, I am exalted and compassed about with honours manifold, what time the golden Palace was bidden to obey me. Let Nemesis hold aloof, and may Fortune bear with my light speaking: I held sway o'er the Empire, while a schoolboy1 endowed with purple, sceptre, throne, submitted himself to a tutor's laws, and Augustus held my dignity above his own. That dignity in due time, when grown to manhood, he advanced to dizzy heights, so that I was created Quaestor by the Augusti, father and son; so that a two-fold prefecture2 and curule chair were mine; so that, for my reward, as consul was I invested with the purple robe and the embroidered toga, and was held pre-eminent in the annals of my year.3 Thus have 1 gained all possible advantage for my grandchild, thy consul-grandfather, and shine forth the beacon of thy life. Even though, long since distinguished even through thy father's fame, thou mightst seem graced, mightst seem laden;4 yet from me thou hast gained signal renown besides. This render thou no load, but by thine own efforts struggle to climb on high and hope for thine own insignia, thine own consulate. WHEN THE LATTER HAD SENT HIM A POEM ON THE KINGS, OF CHEAT LENGTH AND BASED ON TRANQUILLUS NOW had Tartesian Calpe hidden the Sun's coursers and Titan, now feeble, plunged hissing 6 'neath the Iberian wave; now was Luna lashing on her advancing heifers to vanquish darkness with her beams as though vying with her brother; now birds and human kind, so vulnerable by care, were wooing peaceful sleep and calm forgetfulness; the Ides were passed, and mid-December was hastening to link his last days with approaching Janus; and long Night was bidding the nineteenth day of the Calends 1 be summoned forthwith to celebrate the feast. You do not know, I expect, what I wish to say in all these verses. So help me Heaven! even I do not clearly understand: yet I have a glimmering. It was early in the night preceding the nineteenth day of the Calends of January2 when your wonderfully lettered letter was delivered me. Together with this you sent an extremely delightful poem wherein you have condensed the three books of Suetonius, which he devotes to the Kings,3 so gracefully that I regard you as having alone achieved what is contrary to the ordinary course of things— conciseness without obscurity. Amongst these verses I have picked out the following:— “Europe and Asia, Earth's two greatest members, whereto uncertainly Sallust adds Libya as appanage of Europe, whereas it might be called a third part of the globe, have been ruled by many kings whom Fame blots from her page, and whom their uncouth names perpetuate not in Roman speech —Illibanus, Numidian Avelis, Vonones the Parthian, Caranus who founded the dynasty of Pella,4 and he who taught the wizards unavailing mysteries. Nechepsos, or reigned and left no name, and afterwards Sesostris...” How skilfully and neatly, how harmoniously and sweetly have you delivered these names, conforming at once to the character of our Roman accent, yet not allowing the true and original sounds to lose their proper stress! And then what shall I say of your gift for expression? I can absolutely take my oath that for fluency in verse none of our Roman youths is your equal: at any rate, that is my opinion. If 1 am wrong, I am your father, bear with me and do not force from me a verdict which my natural feelings reject. Put in fact, while 1 love fondly, I criticise frankly and strictly. Bestow on me, I beg, such favours constantly, thereby both delighting and complimenting me. Your skill in poetry has the additional attraction of delicious flattery. For what else do these lines mean?—He who through rashness gave his name to the Icarian Sea And he who, prudent, winged his way to the Chalcidian hold,1 save that you call your own lively and soaring vigour rashness, but affirm that I, being both wary and one whom a son ought to imitate, am endowed with a wholesome cautiousness?2 But indeed the reverse is true. For you fly high in such wise that you do not fall: my old age is content to stay still. I make this brief pronouncement out of hand on the morning next after the evening mentioned; for your messenger is only waiting long enough to take back a reply. For if I have spare time, it will be a delightful occupation to maunder on at greater length to you, partly to draw you out, and partly to please myself. Farewell. TO Paulinus, Ausonius. Metre so bids, placing you before me and setting your name in front of mine. And yet before mine comes your name in our annals, and at Rome your curule chair of ivory has precedence of mine, and in poetry your palm is long since decked with ribbons1 which my palm lacks. 'Tis in the glory of prolonged old age alone I have the advantage—what matters that? The crow is not therein above the swan, nor, because he lives a thousand years, does the bird of Ganges 2 surpass the kingly peacock with his hundred eyes. I am beneath you in genius as far as I am above you in age; my homely Muse rises in deference to yours. Live, keep well, and in the time to come link New Year to New Year as oft as did your father or mine. WHAT kind treatment of me, that my complaint is dealt with without even being delivered, my son Paulinus! Fearing that the oil you sent had not given satisfaction, you repeat the gift and, by the addition of some Barcelona sauce called muria, 3 in- crease its measure. Put you know that I am neither accustomed nor able to pronounce that name nutria which is popularly used, though the most learned of the ancients, even while disdaining to use Greek terms, have no Latin name by which to call garum.1 But by whatever name that “Liquor of the Allies” 2 is called, “I'll flood my plate: this juice, too little used By our forefathers, must overflow the spoon.” But what could be more friendly or more generous than that you, to give me a share, should cheat yourself of your own dainties just when freshly coming into season? O friend sweeter than honey, O more delightsome than the Graces' charms, O worthy to be clasped by everyone in a fatherly embrace! However, these and other tokens of a generous nature some other, perchance, some day, though but rarely, may reveal: as for your talent shown in the scholarliness of your letter, in the sweetness of your poem, in imagination and in apt composition, I swear by everything that it will never be imitable by any man, however much he admit that it deserves imitation. As for the work itself, I will do as you bid. I will work over the whole minutely, and although it has received the highest finish at your hands, I will apply my chisel to give a superfinish however needless, but rather to obey yon than to add aught to what is perfect. Meanwhile, however, that your messenger may not return without a douceur of verse, I think 1 must make a preliminary gambol in a few iambics while the work in heroic strains which you want of me is beginning. But—so may I have you and Hesperius safe! — since they are dashed off in a single evening (though this they in themselves will guarantee), have had no further pains bestowed upon them. Farewell. Iambus than Parthian or Cydonian dart, Iambus than wings of birds more fleet, than rushing Padus' current more impetuous, than the downpour of rattling hail more searching, than lightning's dazzling flash more darting, even now speed through the air borne by Perseus' winged sandals and with the eap of the Arcadian god.1 If 'tis truly told that Hippocrene gushed forth at the hoof-beat of the impatient courser, thou, begotten in the very fount of Pegasus, wast first to link new rhythmic feet and, while the nine holy Muses sang in harmony, didst urge the lord of Delos to slaughter of the dragon.2 Bear this my greeting, fleetfoot, winged-foot, even to the town where Paulinus dwells, I mean Hebromagus, and straightway, if, his strength now regained, brisk vigour nerves his refreshed frame, bid him “hail,” then demand of him a return. Tarry not at all, and return now ere I cease to speak, after the example of that author of thy source,3 who o'er Chimaera with her triple blast of raging flame flew safe from the fire so near. Say “hail to thee,” say “greetings to thee sends thy friend and neighbour and thy patron, the source of thine honours,1 the fosterer of thy intellect.” Say also “master,” say “father,” say every caressing name of hallowed affection. And having said “Hail,” say “Farewell” and instantly return. But if he ask what judgment my ripe and not unskilful age pronounces on his latest writings, say thou knowest not, but that soon there will be ready a waggon full of heroic verses. Thereto 1 will yoke a pair of three-legged screws, back-broken with the lash, taken from the labyrinths of the mill, where by the heavy crank they turn the millstones, that by these may travel three jovial messengers. Perchance, too, he will ask who are these jovial fellows whom thou dost say are coming in a troop? Then say: “I saw three-jointed Dactyl ready on a heartbreaking hack;2 slow-footed Spondee was tramping in his company—he who at equal intervals checks my career—and one much like me but always facing about, neither equal to me nor unequal, who is called Trochee.” Thus speak: then in haste fly hither straight without delay, bringing back meanwhile some little gift from the abundance of that storehouse of poetry.
nisi ut tu vegetam et sublimem alacritatem tuam temeritatem voces, me vero, et consultum et quem filius debeat imitari, salutari prudentia praeditum dicas? quod equidem contra est. nam tu summa sic adpetis, ut non decidas: senectus mea satis habet, si consistat. haec ad te breviter et illico vesperis illius secuto mane dictavi; ita enim tabellarius tuus, ut epistulam referret, instabat, nam si mihi otium fuerit, oblectabile negotium erit ad te prolixius delirare, te ut eliciam, mihi ut satisfaciam. vale.PAULINO Ausonius, metrum sic suasit, ut essestu prior et nomen praegrederere meum,quamquam et fastorum titulo prior et tua Romaepraecessit nostrum sella curulis ebur,et, quae iamdudum tibi palma poetica pollet,lemnisco ornata est, quo mea palma caret,longaevae tantum superamus honore senectae.quid refert? cornix non ideo ante evenum;nec quia mille annos vivit Gangeticus ales,vincit centum oculos, regie pavo, tuos.ccdimus ingenio, quantum praccedimus aevo;adsurgit Musae nostra Camena tuae.Vive, vale et totidem venturos consere ianos,quot tuus aut noster conseruere patres.Quanto me adfecit beneficio non delata equidem, sed suscepta mea querimonia, Pauline fili! veritus displicuisse oleum, quod miseras, munus iterasti, addito etiam Barcinonensis muriae condimento cumulatius praestitisti, scis autem me id nomen muriae. quod in usu vulgi est, nec solere nec posse dicere, cum scientissimi veterum et Graeca vocabula fastidientes Latinum in gari appellatione non habeant, sed ego, quocumque nomine liquor iste sociorum vocatur,Iam patinas implebo meas, ut parcior illemaiorum mensis applaria sucus inundet.Quid autem tam amabile tamque hospitale, quam quod tu, ut me participes, delicias tuas in ipsa primitiarum novitate defrudas? o melle dulcior, o Gratiarum venustate festivior, o ab omnibus patrio stringende complexu! sed haec atque alia huius modi documenta liberalis animi aliquis fortasse et aliquando, quamvis rarus: illud de epistularum tuarum eruditione, de poematis iucunditate, de inventione et concinnatione iuro omnia nulli umquam imitabile futurum, etsi fateatur mutandum, de quo opusculo, ut iubes, faciam, exquisitim universa limabo et quamvis per te manus summa contigerit, caelum superfluae expolitionis adhibebo, magis ut tibi paream, quam ut perfectis aliquid adiciam. Interea tamen, ne sine corollario poetico tabellarius tuus rediret, paucis iambicis praeludendum putavi, dum illud, quod a me heroico metro desideras, incohatur. isti tamen, ita te et Hesperium salvos habeam, quod spatio lucubratiunculae unius effusi, quamquam hoc ipsi de se probabunt, tamen nihil diligentiae ulterioris habuerunt, vale.Iambe Parthis et Cydonum spiculis,iambe pinnis alitum velocior,Padi mentis impetu torrentior,magna sonorae grandinis vi densior,flammis corusci fulminis vibratior,iam nunc per auras Persei talaribuspetasoque ditis Arcados vectus vola. si verafama est Hippocrene, quam pedispulsu citatam cornipes fudit fremens,tu, fonte in ipso procreatus Pegasi,primus novorum metra iunxisti pedumsanctisque Musis concinentibus novemcaedem in draconis concitasti Delium.Fer hanc salutem praepes et volucripesPaulini ad usque moenia, Hebromagum loquor,et protinus, iam si resumptis viribusalacri refecti corporis motu viget,salvere iussum mox reposce mutuum,nihil moreris iamque, dum loquor, redi,imitatus illum stirpis auctorem tuae,triplici furentem qui Chimaeram incendiosupervolavit tutus igne proximo,dic “te valere,” dic: “salvere te iubetamicus et vicinus et fautor tuus,honoris auctor, altor ingenii tui.”dic et magister, dic parens, dic omniablanda atque sancta caritatis nomina,haveque dicto dic vale, actutum et redi.Quod si rogabit, quid super scriptis novismaturus aevi nec rudis diiudicem:nescire dices, sed paratum iam foreheroicorum versuum plenum, essedum.cui subiugabo de molarum ambagibus,qui machinali saxa volvunt pondere,tripedes caballos terga ruptos verbere,his ut vehantur tres sodales nuntii,fors et rogabit, quos sodales dixerissimul venire? dic: “Trinodem dactylumvidi paratum crucianti canthcrio:spondeus illi lentipes ibat comes,paribus moratur qui locis cursum meum,mihique similis, semper adversus tamen,nec par, nec impar, qui trochacus dicitur.”Haec fare cursim nec moratus pervola,a liquid reportans interim munusculide largitate musici promptarii.
MANY and various are the causes 1 have for gratitude to you, which both circumstance, arising from time to time, happily introduces, and the ready generosity of your nature voluntarily invites, my son Paulinus. For in that you deny me nothing when I demand, you whet my effrontery rather than blunt it; as now again you will realize in the matter of Philo, formerly my bailiff, who, after storing at Hebromagus1 goods which he has bought up on various estates, is in danger of being driven inconveniently from the shelter which your people afforded him. And unless you kindly grant this my request—namely that he be permitted to stay on there as suits his purpose, and that a barge or some sort of vessel be furnished him, that a little of my corn may be transported as far as the town, thereby delivering Lucaniacus2 from famine betimes—a literary man's whole household there will be reduced, not to Cicero's Speech on the Com Supply? but to the Weevil of Plautus. That I may the more easily obtain this boon, or that you may fear greater bother if you refuse, I send you a letter composed in iambics, and duly sealed, that you may not say the messenger has been tampered with, should he come to you without the guarantee of a seal. Yet I have sealed it, not, as Plautus says— “With wax and thread and signs significant,” 4 but with a poetic stamp: this you may regard more as a brand burnt in than a seal impressed.5 Philo, who is bailiff of my estate, or as he himself wishes, the administrator (for your Greekling thinks that a fine-sounding name which shows the gilt of the classic tongue), unites with his complaints my prayers, which reluctantly I myself dispatch. You shall see the man himself as he stands close by me, the very image of his class, grey, bushy haired, unkempt, blustering, bullying, Terence's Phormio,1 with stiff hair bristling like a sea-urchin- or my lines. This fellow, when light harvests had oft belied his promises, came to hate the name of bailiff; and, after sowing late or much too early through ignorance of the stars,3 made accusation against tin-powers above, carping at heaven and shifting the blame from himself. No diligent husbandman, no experienced ploughman, a spender rather than a getter,4 abusing the land as treacherous and unfruitful, he preferred to do business as a dealer in any sale-market, bartering for “Greek credit,” and, wiser than the Seven Worthies of Greece, has joined them as an eighth sage. And now he has provided grain at the price of old salt,0 and blossoms out as a new trader; he visits tenants, country parts, villages and townships, travelling by land and sea; by bark, skiff, schooner, galley, he traverses the windings of the Tarn and the Garonne, and by changing profits into losses and losses into frauds,1 he makes himself rich and me poor. He now has sailed right up to your villa Hebroinagus and made it the depot for his goods, that thence by barge grain may be carried down for my service, as he avers. This guest, then, lest you be burdened, speed on his way in a few days, that, transported forthwith by the help of your vessel as far as the township's harbour, he may deliver Lucaniacus from famine by now, by now Perusian, by now Saguntine.2 If I receive this boon I ask of you, you shall be worshipped above Ceres: old Triptolemus or, as some call him, Epimenides, or Buzyges,3 the bailiff's patron, will I arrange to make inferior to your godhead, for this corn will become your gift.
multas et frequentes mihi gratiae tuae causas et occasio subinde nata concinnat et naturae tuae facilitas benigna conciliat, Pauline fili. nam quia nihil poscente me abnuis, magis acuis procaciam quam retundis: ut nunc quoque in causa Philonis procuratoris quondam mei experiere, qui apud Hebroniagmn conditis mercibus, quas per agros diversos coemit, concesso ab hominibus tuis usus hospitio, inmature periclitatur expelli, quod nisi indulseris rogante me, ut et mora habitandi ad commodum suum utatur et nauso aliave qua navi usque ad oppidum praebita frugis aliquantum nostrae advehi possit, Lucaniacus ut inopia liberetur mature: tota illa familia hominis litterati non ad Tullii frumentariam, sed ad Cureulionem Plauti pertinebit. Hoc quo facilius impetrarem, aut quo maiorem verereris molestiam, si negares, concinnatam iambis signatamque ad te epistulam misi, ne subornatum diceres tabellarium, si ad te sine signi fide veniret, signavi autem, non, ut Plautus ait,Per ceram et linum 1 litterasque interpretes;sed per poeticum characterem: magis notam inustam, quam signum impressum iudicares.Philon, meis qui vilicatus praediis,ut ipse vult, ἐπίτροποσ,(nam gloriosum Graeculus nomen putat.quod sermo fucat Dorius)suis querellis adserit nostras preces,quas ipse lentus prosequor.videbis ipsum, qualis adstet comminus,imago fortunae suae,carnis, comosus, hispidus, trux, atribux,Terentianus Phormio,horrens capillis ut marinus asperisechinus aut versus mei.hic saepe falsus messibus vegrandibusnomen perosus vilici,semente sera sive multum praecoquaet siderali inscitiacaelum lacessens seque culpae subtrahensreos peregit caelites.non cultor instans, non arator gnaruris,promusque quam condus magis,terram infidelem nec feracem criminansnegotiari maluitmercator quo ⟨libet⟩ foro venalium,mutator ad Graecam fidem,sapiensque supra Graeciae septem virosoctavus accessit sophos.et nunc paravit1 triticum casco salenovusque pollet emporus;adit inquilinos, rura, vicos, oppidasoli et sali commercio;acatis, phaselis, lintribus, stlattis, rateTarnim et Garumnam permeatac lucra damnis, damna mutans fraudibusse ditat et me pauperat.Is nunc ad usque vectus Hebromagum tuam.sedem locavit mercibus,ut inde nauso devehat⟨ur triticum 1⟩nostros in usus, ut refert,hunc ergo paucis ne graveris hospitem⟨cura diebus ut meet,⟩adactus ut mox navis auxilio tuaead usque portus oppidiiam iam Perusina, iam Saguntina fameLucaniacum liberet.Hoc si impetratum munus abs te accepero,prior colere quam Ceres:Triptolemon olim, sive Epimenidem vocant,aut viliconum Buzygem,tuo locabo postferendos numini,nam munus hoc fiet tuum.
TO EVERYTHING ELSE WITHOUT PROMISING TO COME WE are shaking off a yoke, Paulinus, which its tried equableness once made easy, a yoke lightly laid and worthy the respect of those it joined, which mild Concord used to guide with even reins; which through so long a line of rolling years never an idle tale, never a peevish complaint has stirred, nor quarrel thrust from its place, nor anger, nor misapprehension, nor Suspicion which, lending too ready ears to Persuasion's trumped-up pretexts, forms from them grievances to look like truth; so gentle, so easy a yoke which both our fathers drew on into old age from the beginning of their life, which, laid upon their duteous heirs, they would have had remain throughout till length of days broke up our lives. And remain it did, while there was joyous trust and no laborious care to maintain exchange of good offices, but they flowed freely, keeping unbroken their unguarded course. This yoke so mild Mars' horses would endure with obedient neck, and those wild steeds stolen from the stable of Diomedes, and even that team which, when another than the Sun held their reins, plunged lightning-blasted Phaethon in the Padus. Yet it is being shaken off, Paulinus; and that, not through the fault of both, but of one alone—of thee. For my neck will ever bear it gladly. It is the partner of my toil deserts me, and 'tis not so easy for one, when his fellow fails, to carry on alone that which the two bare as comrades. Heart and strength fail not, but unfair is the condition of carrying a burden, when both loads are laid on the partner left and the weight of another's charge is added. So one ailing member in a man involves the sound body in infection, and the peril even of a tiny limb makes the whole knitted frame totter in all its countless joints. Yet let me even be crushed if only loyalty to my old friend fail not while 1 endure, and memory deep-planted in the years bring back—vain consolation!—my errant comrade. Ah, heartless! From Peirithous thou couldst part Theseus and separate Euryalus from the company of his dear Nisus; urged to flight by thee, Pylades would have left Orestes, and Sicilian Damon would not have kept his bond! What general delight, what good men's prayers have thus been cheated of their looked-for gain! They all were speaking words of congratulation: already they were about to enter our names in the lists of friends belonging to nobler days of old. Pylades was giving place, Phrygian Nisus also now was growing less famed, and Damon who met his promised bail. We showed less tragic tokens of friendship, even as great Scipio and Laelius, long-lived in wisdom: we, with pursuits and hearts the same, were marvellous to all, the more for this that we were equals though unequal-aged. Sooner, methinks, could the Pellaean war-lord have loosed the lashings of that fate-fraught yoke, although their beginning was concealed from view and their end hidden by a double knot. Some presumptuous word we surely spoke, that the vengeful queen of Rhamnus thus made onslaught on our excessive hopes; as in old days when, angered at the vaunting of Arsaces' royal son, the avenging goddess, crushing his presumptuous boasts, withstood his purpose to set up in the land of Cecrops' sons a memorial of the Median arms, and just when she was to be raised to support a trophy of Greek arms, deliberately took her stand as Attic Nemesis to mark the Persian rout.1 What caprice of thine is this to harass nobles of the seed of Romulus? Against Medes and Arabs, thy natural foes, advance through clouds and chaos black: from men of Roman name keep thou afar. There rather seek thou friendships to assail, where that jealousy of thine and rankling venom estranges hearts well-fitted for thy deceits. For Paulinus and Ausonius, men whom the sacred purple of Quirinus and the golden tissue of the consul's robe have enwrapped, to yield to the stratagems of a foreign goddess is not seemly. Wherefore do I complain and cry out on the ravage of an eastern monster? 'Tis western Tagus' shores, 'tis Punic Barcelona that does me hurt, 'tis the Pyrenees whose snowy crests join sea to sea, thou thyself also dost me hurt, thou who abandonest thy friends without a cause, deserting thy town and, perchance, the native fashion of thy dress and speech, thou who now dwellest among new friends, whom the extent of a wide province parts from me beyond mountains 'neath an alien sun, beyond rivers and cities and all the land and sky which lie outspread betwixt Merida by Ana's streams and the wide flood of the Garonne. If only the division were narrow and interposed a separating space not too formidable (albeit they think every place far off who seek to be together), even so affection's self would make the places near, spanning the interval with a bridge of words; even as Saintes keeps touch with Bordeaux, and she again with Agen and the folk who till the country parts of Aquitaine; and as two-fold Aries1 links to herself at equal distances the roofs of Alpine Vienne and Narbonne; and then thou, Martian'2 Narbonne, alliest with thee five-fold Toulouse.3 If such the distance severing our neighbouring towns, then would I clasp thee, ready to my embrace, and the air of my complaint would be breathed into thy ears. Now for thee beyond the Alps and stony Pyrenees, Saragossa is thy home,1 Tyrrhenian Tarragona 2 is near by, and Barcelona built above the oyster-bearing sea: me hills, me rivers in triple array 3 part from Bordeaux and from the common throng, and in my leisure the vine-clad hills engage me, the rich glebe with its blithe peasantry, now the green meads, now the copse with its dancing shades, the church 1 thronged with crowding villagers, and all those my domains hard by each other in Novarus village, which enjoy such change at the various seasons throughout the year, that the chill winters are warm for them and in the furious summer heats soft north winds breathe over them a gentle coolness. Yet without thee the year advances, bringing no grateful change The rainy Spring flits by lacking its flower, the heat-bringing Dog-Star parches, Pomona brings not variety of sweet autumn fruits, and with outpoured water Aquarius makes gloomy all the winter. Dost thou perceive thy fault, my dearest Pontius? For my loyalty remains steadfast and, never to be changed, my regard for the Paulinus of old days endures, even as the harmony betwixt my sire and thine. If Ulysses' bow was easy to be strung by any man, or if Achilles' spear could be wielded save by its lord, then shall the queen of Rhamnus loose us from so long a bond. Hut why weave I such sad refrain in mournful verse, why does my heart not turn to nobler prayers? Ear be that fear! Sure is my confidence that, if the Father and the Son of God accept the reverent words of those who seek, thou canst be restored at my prayer, that I may weep not for a home scattered and ravaged, for the realm rent in pieces between a hundred owners, once Paulinus's, and for thee, that, wandering with a range as wide as the extent of Spain, unmindful of old friends thou dost trust in strangers. O hasten hither, my pride, my chiefest care, summoned with vows, good omens, and with prayers speed thee hither, while thou art young and while my old age to win thy favour preserves its vigour unconsumed. Ah, when shall this news break on my ears? “Lo, thy Paulinus is at hand: now he leaves the snowy towns of Spain, now reaches the fields of Tarbellae, now approaches the homesteads of Hebromagus, now enters his brother's domains hard by, now glides down stream, and now is in sight: now the prow is being swung out into the stream:1 now he has passed the thronged entrance of his home-port, outstrips the whole host of folk who hurry to meet him, and passing his own doors now, even now beats at thine.” “Do I believe, or do those who love feign dreams for their own selves.” 2
discutimus, Pauline, iugum, quod nota fovebattemperies, leve quod positu et venerabile iunctistractabat paribus Concordia mitis habenis;quod per tam longam seriem volventibus annisfabula non umquam, numquam qucrimonia movit,nulla querella loco pepulit, non ira nec errornec quae conpositis male suadac credula causisconcinnat veri similes suspicio culpas;tam placidum, tam mite iugum, quod utrique parentesad senium nostri traxere ab origine vitaeinpositumque piis heredibus usque manereoptarunt, dum longa dies dissolveret aevum,et mansit, dum laeta fides nec cura laboratoffleii servare vices, set sponte ferunturincustoditum sibi continuantia cursum.Hoc tam mite iugum docili cervice subirentMartis equi stabuloque feri Diomedis abactiet qui mutatis ignoti Solis habenisfulmineum Phaethonta Pado mersere iugales,discutitur, Pauline, tamen: nec culpa duorumista, set unius tantum tua. namque ego sempercontenta cervice feram, consorte laborumdestituor, nec tam promptum gestata duobusunum deficiente pari perferre sodalem,non animus viresque labant, sed iniqua ferendocondicio est oneri, cum pondus utrumque relictoingruit acceduntque alienae pondera librae,sic pars aegra hominis trahit ad contagia sanumcorpus et exigui quamvis discrimine membritota per innumeros artus eonpago vacillat.obruar usque tamen, veteris ne desit amicime durante fides memorique ut fixa sub aevorestituant profugum, solacia cassa, sodalem.Inpie, Pirithoo disiungere Thesea possesEuryalumque suo socium secernere Niso;te suadente fugam Pylades liquissct Orestennec custodisset Siculus vadimonia Damon.quantum obleetamen populi, quae vota bonorumsperato fraudata bono! gratantia cunctiverba loquebantur: iam nomina nostra parabantinserere antiquis aevi melioris amicis.cedebat Pylades, Phrygii quoque gloria Nisiiam minor et promissa obiens vadimonia Damon.nos documenta magis felicia, qualia magnusScipio longaevique dedit sapientia Laeli:nos studiis animisque isdem miracula cunctis,hoc maiora, pares fuimus quod dispare in aevo.ocius illa iugi fatalis solvere loraPellaeum potuisse ducem reor, abdita opertisprincipiis et utroque caput celantia nodo.Grande aliquod verbum nimirum diximus, ut seinferret nimiis vindex Rhamnusia votis;Arsacidae ut quondam regis non laeta triumphisgrandia verba premens ultrix dea Medica bellisistere Cecropidum in terris monumenta parantiobstitit et Graio iam iam Agenda tropaeoultro etiam victis Nemesis stetit Attica Persis.Quae tibi Romulidas proceres vexare libido est?in Medos Arabasque tuos per nubila et atrumperge chaos: Romana procul tibi nomina sunto.illic quaere alios oppugnatum sodales,livor ubi iste tuus ferrugineumque venenumopportuna tuis inimicat pectora fucis.Paulinum Ausoniumque, viros, quos sacra Quirinipurpura et auratus trabeae volavit amictus,non decet insidiis peregrinae cedere divae.Quid queror coique insector crimina monstri?occidui me ripa Tagi, me Punica laeditBarcino, me bimaris iuga ninguida Pyrenaei.⟨laedis et ipse tuos qui deseris ultro, relictis⟩moenibus et patrio forsan quoque vestis et oris⟨more, interque novos qui nunc versaris amicos⟩quemque suo longe dirimat provincia tractutrans montes solemque alium, trans flumina et urbeset quod terrarum caelique extenditur interEmeritensis Anae lataeque fluenta Garunmae.Quod si intervalli spatium tolerabile limesponeret exiguus (quamvis longa omnia credant,qui simul esse volunt), faceret tamen ipsa propinquoscura locos, mediis iungens distantia verbis;Santonus ut sibi Burdigalam, mox iungit Aginnumilla sibi et populos Aquitanica rura eolentes;utque duplex Arelas Alpinae tecta Viennae,Narbonemque pari spatio sibi conserit, et moxquinquiplicem socias tibi, Martie Narbo, Tolosam.hoc mihi si spatium vicinis moenibus esset,tunc ego te ut nostris aptum conplectcrer uluisadflaretque tuas aures nostrae aura loquellae.Nunc tibi trans Alpes et marmoream PyrenenCaesarea est Augusta domus, Tyrrhenica propterTarraco et ostrifero super addita Barcino ponto:me iuga Burdigala,1 trino me flumina coetusecernunt turbis popularibus otiaque intervitiferi exercent colles laetumque colonisuber agri, tum prata virentia, tum nemus umbrismobilibus celebrique frequens ecclesia vieototquc mea in Novaro sibi proxima praedia pago,dispositis totum vicibus variata per annum,egelidae ut tepeant hiemes rabidosque per aestusadspirent tenues frigus subtile Aquilones.te sine set nullus grata vice provenit annus,ver pluvium sine flore fugit, Canis aestifer ardet,nulla autumnales variat Pomona saporeseffusaque hiemem contristat Aquarius unda.agnoscisne tuam, Ponti dulcissime, culpam?nam mihi certa fides nec conmutabilis umquamPaulini illius veteris reverentia duratquaeque meoque tuoque fuit concordia patri,si tendi facilis cuiquam fuit arcus Ulixeiaut praeter dominum vibrabilis ornus Achilli,nos quoque tam longo Rhamnusia foedere solvet.Set cur tam maesto sero tristia carmina versuet non in meliora animus se vota propinquat?sit procul iste metus, certa est fiducia nobis,si genitor natusque dei pia verba volentumaccipiat, nostro reddi te posse precatu,ne sparsam raptamque domum lacerataque centumper dominos veteris Paulini regna fleamusteque vagum toto quam longa Hispania tractu,inmemorem veterum peregrinis fidere amicis.Adcurre, o nostrum decus, o mea maxima cura,votis ominibusque bonis precibusque vocatus,adpropcra, dum tu iuvenis, dum nostra senectusservat inexhaustum tibi gratificata vigorem.ecquando iste meas inpellet nuntius aures?“Ecce tuus Paulinus adest: iam ninguida linquitoppida Hiberorum, Tarbllica iam tenet arva,Hebromagi iam tecta subit, iam praedia fratrisvicina ingreditur, iam labitur amne.secundoiamque in conspectu est: iam prora obvertitur amni:ingressusque sui celebrata per ostia portustotum occursantis populi praevertitur agmenet sua praeteriens iam iam tua limina pulsat.”Credimus an, qui amant, ipsi sibi somnia fingunt?