QUIDAM IN DESERTIS.
QUIDAM in desertis blanda me voce rogavit,
'Fraga quot in pelagi fluctibus orta putes?'
Nec male quæsitis hoc respondere videbar,
Salsa quot alecum millia sylva ferat.'
DIXTI heu! omnia vera, mi sodalis!
Bacchanalia nostra terminavi,
Cum vino et sale et omnibus cachinnis.
Fervens ille lepos, fluensque vinum,
Mollis circuitus facetiarum,
Et risus hilares, jocique belli;
Imo, omnis generosa vis Lyæi,
Seu quid suavius est elegantiusque,
Quod vivax dedit uva dissolutis-
Quales blanditias prius putabam
Orturas magis in dies et horas,
Aut ante expetii ipse, quam perirent,
Convivas numerarer inter Orci-
Cuncta hæc illecebris carent, nec udæ
Incendunt animæ protervitatem ;
Sed sive Euphrosynem peto jocosam,
Non inter calices, ut ante, ridet;
Nec si Cura sinum maligna torquet,
Mergenda est cyathi scatentis æstu.
Farewell, farewell, delusive dream!
The joy of youth, the poet's theme;
Enchanting scenes of mirth and glee,
When all was gay and all was free;
When infant love's first sparks were fanned,
Cemented friendship's strictest band,
And both together bore along
In union sweet the power of song.
Enchanting scenes, that fancy loves,
That friendship's sacred voice approves;
On which remembrance oft shall dwell
With sad delight-dear scenes, farewell !
Even so, I've passed the fatal line,
And other suns upon me shine :
But as the home-sick sailor sees
Mid the waste waves his native trees;
And thinks the wide-stretched watery scene
Fair meadows clad in vernal green:
So oft my fancy turns to view
Those forms my livelier moments knew,
Actum est: desinimus levis juventæ
Vatum et delicias inaniorum,
Ah quam somnia grata, somniare !
O dulces aditus, dies amœni,
Noctes aureolæ, mihi valete,
Quum festum fuit omne liberumque ;
Quando infans amor arsit in medullis,
Juncti fœderibus piis amici,
Et quicquid leve fulsit aut venustum
Dilectæ harmoniam lyræ docebat!
Quas non perdite amare mens recusat,
Nec voces comitum sacræ tacebunt,
Cordi quæ memori diu recurrent,
Ut solatiolum mei laboris,
O horæ ambrosiæ, mihi valete !
Dixti heu! omnia vera, mi sodalis-
Bacchanalia nostra terminavi,
Et soles alios tepere sensi.
Sed vasto veluti in maris profundo
Fessus nauta videt nemus paternum,
Pingitque in vitreis fretis aquarum
Verni pascua ruris atque flores :
Sic rerum mihi pertinax imago
Et desiderium redit priorum,
Quas in purpureis sequebar annis.
And kindling at delusions vain.
Believes and hopes them back again.
Then if I court their imaged charms,
My fevered soul is up in arms;
And sickening nature proves at last
The passion weak, the moment past.
THERE was a man of Thessaly,
And he was wondrous wise;
He jumped into a quickset hedge
And scratched out both his eyes:
And when he saw his eyes were out,
With all his might and main
He jumped into another hedge-
And scratched them in again.
Et priscos foveo arroganter ignes,
Credoque esse meos, libensque fallor.
Quod si jam simulacra læta capto,
Menti nescio quid febriculosæ
Certatim irruit, et pudet fateri
Quam vini levis avolet libido,
Quam fallax rosa, quam brevis juventus !
VIR THESSALICUS.
ἘΞ οὐ τυχόντων θέτταλός τις ἦν ἀνήρ,
ὃς ἔργον ἐπεχείρησε τλημονέστατον
ἀκανθοχηνοκοκκόβατον εἰσήλατο,
δίσσας τ ̓ ἀνεξώρυξεν ὀφθάλμων κόρας.
ὡς οὖν τὰ πραχθέντ ̓ ἔβλεπεν τυφλός γεγώς,
οὐ μὴν ὑπέπτηξ ̓ οὐδὲν, ἀλλ ̓ εὐκαρδίως
βάτον τιν ̓ ἄλλην ἤλατ ̓ εἰς ἀκανθίνην,
κἀκ τοῦδ ̓ ἐγένετ ̓ ἐξαῦθις ἐκ τυφλοῦ βλέπων.
THESSALUS acer erat sapiens præ civibus unus,
Qui mediam insiluit spineta per horrida sepem,
Effoditque oculos sibi crudelissimus ambos.
Cum vero effossos orbes sine lumine vidit,
Viribus enisum totis illum altera sepes
Accipit, et raptos oculos cito reddit egenti.
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